"Rock 'N' Roll Rarities" at Oddball Films October 30, 2009

Event: “Rock ‘N’ Roll Rarities” Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rare rock, proto-rock, psych and a gob of punk performance on film. Anchored by two episodes of John Byner’s wild, anarchic, 1970 “Something Else” TV program (featuring full performances by CCR, 3 Dog Night, Mephistopheles, Frijid Pink, Roberta Flack and more), clips and shorts will include: “The Wildest”, with Louis Prima/Sam Butera & The Witnesses; Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Two on Star Route; “Black Sabbath Parade”, SF throws a tranny parade for Ozzy and the boys; “The Monkees”, out-takes from the TV show; “The Sex Pistols at Winterland”, a short clip from their notorious final concert. Plus! “I Hear a New Song”, a Christian anti-rock ‘n’ roll tirade!
Date: Friday, October 30, 2009 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com

"Rock ‘N’ Roll Rarities”
Screen at Oddball Films

On Friday, October 30, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rare rock ‘n’ roll TV, clips and shorts. West Coast proto-rockers The Collins Kids and Louis Prima, 1970s freak-rock, folk and soul on the rare and obscure “Something Else” television program, Johnny Cash in prime late 1950s form, one-of-a-kind footage of Monkees out-takes, and a pair of San Francisco treats: the 1970 Black Sabbath parade and the Sex Pistols final moments as a band at Bill Graham’s Winterland. Plus, a suitably ridiculous Christian anti-rock ‘n’ roll clip and more!
Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00. Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Featuring:

“Something Else” (Color, 1970)
Actor/comedian John Byner hosted 25 episodes of this television music program in1970, capturing some incredibly rare and unique performances by the known and obscure. It’s astonishing to think that you could turn on the telly and catch total freakouts by Frijid Pink and Mephistopheles, as well as Creedence and Roberta Flack- amidst an anarchic comedy and wild hippy dance numbers. With The Action Faction Dancers and featuring: Creedence Clearwater Revival, Three Dog Night, Mephistopheles, Frijid Pink, Phil Ochs, Norman Greenbaum and Roberta Flack.

“Star Route: A Salute to Johnny Cash” (B+W, 1964)
Star Route was a syndicated TV show hosted by cowboy film star Rod Cameron and featured a house band with Glen Campbell and the (mostly grown up) Collins Kids. The salute to Johnny Cash episode features Johnny and the Tennessee Two performing Big River, Come Pickin’ Time, Cry Cry Cry, Five Foot High and Rising, and I Got Stripes. Performances date from the late 1950s.

“The Wildest” (B+W, 1958)
Filmed on the South Sore at Lake Tahoe, this super rare short features Louis Prima with Keely Smith and Sam Butera and the Witnesses. A very loose plot serves to feature the high-energy band tearing through When You’re Smiling, Birth of the Blues, Listen to the Mockingbird and more. Crazy lakeside capris pants twist action!

“Black Sabbath Parade” (Color, 1970)
One-of-a-kind footage of a pre-gay pride parade welcoming Black Sabbath to San Francisco. Full freak flags were flying for this Embarcadero parade- trannies, hippy busses, weird floats- all in honor of future reality TV show star Ozzy Osborne and the Sabbath.
It's every British band's dream to play the States. When we got there finally, we fucked as many groupies as we could. In San Francisco, they even had a Black Sabbath parade! Coming from Birmingham, England, where the fuckin' sun never shines, it was magic to us. – Ozzy Osbourne

“Monkees Out-takes” (Color, 1967)
Silent out-takes from the Monkees TV show- backstage shenanigans and flubbed takes.

“Sex Pistols at Winterland” (Color, 1978)
The notorious final show by The Sex Pistols was at Bill Graham’s Winterland (since torn down) with local punk legends The Avengers and The Nuns. This extremely short clip captures the death of punk. Were you there? See if you are in the crowd!

PLUS! “I Hear A New Song” (Color, 1969) Christian anti-rock ‘n’ roll propaganda and a few surprises!

Curator Biography:
Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave. A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

Upcoming Programs
Fri Oct 30 - Rock n’ Roll at the Movies
Sat Oct 31 - Terror Noir- The House on Telegraph Hill in SF + Halloween Wet Dream
Fri Nov 6 - Hollywood Underbelly- The Big Knife
Sat Nov 7 – Lost Animation III
Fri Nov 13 – Weirdsville – Oddities From The Archives

About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.  
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.

Official Website: http://www.flarerecord.com/?p=370