Rebus Cinema: "Flashback: Don't Walk"

The scenes in front of and inside the 538 Club, which was on Harrison St., were shot the day the proprietors lost their beer license in the spring of 1983. They decided to just give away what beer was left, because they were out of business.



Once word got around the neighborhood, the free beer drew quite a crowd. Eventually that momentum led to the graffiti treatment to the outside of the building, then the total trashing of the interior of the club.

This three-minute film was assembled by me, using old Super 8 footage that was transferred to video over 20 years ago, then recently converted to digital. The soundtrack is borrowed from R. Crumb's Keep-on-Truckin' Orchestra (1972); the tune is "Wisconsin Wiggles."

Other footage was shot at High on the Hog parties on Libby Hill, between 1980 and 1983. Those who were part of the local rock 'n' roll scene in those days will recognize lots of faces in this collection of moving snapshots.

Rebus Cinema: Tex-Wisc closing Pt. 1

The Texas-Wisconsin Border Café was a popular Fan District watering hole, a quirky saloon that served Pabst Blue Ribbons, bratwursts and bowls of outrageously hot chili to the willing -- white collars, blue collars and no collars, alike -- for 17 years (1982-99). On Saturday afternoons live music was presented.



After The Border closed, I wrote a piece about the place for Richmond.com. As it closed, I shot some S-VHS video tape of the process, itself.

Now I'm learning how to use Windows Movie Maker by slicing and dicing old footage. The YouTube video above is the result of a day's effort to edit some of that material into a semi-coherent package to document what happened. The seven-minute product is called "Closing the Border: Part One -- Mar. 14, 1999."

Joe Seipel (click here for more on him), who one of the restaurant's three original owners, is the most visible character featured. At the time, Seipel was also the chairman of VCU's sculpture department.

Update: Part Two shows The (Burnt) Taters performing and the auctioning off of The Border's wild collection of art and artifacts from its walls to benefit a scholarship in Jim Bradford's name. Bradford was also an owner and an art professor; he did in 1997.

Click here to see "Closing the Border: Part Two" at YouTube.

No. 9 Show: Dec. 17, 2008

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band once asked the musical question, "Can blue men sing the whites?"

Below are links to various attempts by white musicians to work in the blues genre. I tried to get a variety of takes on this quirky theme, rather than simply go for the most obvious overwrought guitar-driven white guy bands that have mostly tried to imitate authentic blues bands made up of black guys.

Click on the links for nine songs via YouTube.

One ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Five ... Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine.

Rebus Cinema: "The Dove"

"The Dove" (De Düva) was nominated for an Academy Award in 1968. This short black and white film parodies the somber work of the great Swedish director, Ingmar Bergman. It mixes a Swedish-like double-talk gag with the plots of two of his 1950's introspective masterpieces, "Wild Strawberries" and "The Seventh Seal."

This slapstick art film also marked Madeline Kahn's first appearance on the big screen. It was a popular comedy short that showed at repertory theaters like the Biograph, here in Richmond. But if you don't know the two Bergman flicks, it may make no sense at all.

No. 9 Show: Dec. 1, 2008

Sometimes we need to hear the blues played with raw sincerity. Sometimes we want to cry in our beer, listening to a song that takes us back to a powerful memory. But fortunately, music can touch us in other ways, too, because music can be just for fun.

Occasionally music is meant to be funny, sometimes even silly. Here are nine links to music videos at YouTube that are strong on silly in some way. In at least one case, it's mostly the picture, but not entirely.

An ex-squeeze of mine used to call this sort of material, "joke music," especially when she'd heard enough of its genre. And, I wanted to play more of it, but it was late and time for the party to end, etc. Of course she had a point, but at this time of year, with the days still getting shorter, I'll take any help to brighten the moment.

Now, just for laughs, click on the links in order.

One ... Two ... Three .... Four ... Five ... Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine.

Rebus Cinema: "Freznell" and "Matinee Madcap"

The footage for "Freznell" was shot by me in Super 8 over several years; it was assembled in 1983. The film's concept was mostly an editing exercise without a plot. The effort yielded a montage of images to do with motion, graffiti and females.

Originally, I wrote and performed music for its soundtrack. That version of the film was shown a few times in the '80s at artsy happenings.

Later I changed the soundtrack to what I was imitating in my original effort -- the music of Joy Division. In this instance "She's Lost Control."

Below is the 16mm film I co-directed with Trent Nicholas in 1974. It's called "Matinee Madcap." Shot at Richmond's Biograph Theatre in 1974, it's a chase-scene-driven homage to the lean plots of silent one-reel comedies. The soundtrack was done in post-production by Dave DeWitt and myself.

No. 9 Show: Nov. 23, 2008

Obviously, change is in season. Everybody likes a little bit of variety.

Change is inevitable. Change is good. Most of us want to change our bad habits, but changing one's own evil ways is usually easier said than done.

Here are nine songs to do with change, via YouTube:

One ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Five ... Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine.

No. 9 Show: Nov. 21, 2008

D.A. Pennebaker directed a film -- "Monterey Pop" -- shot in 16mm, documenting the Monterey Pop Festival, which took place over a weekend (June 16-18) that did much to give rise to calling 1967's summer the Summer of Love.

Staged in the Monterey County Fairgrounds, it was the first big outdoor rock 'n' roll festival. Shot two years before Woodstock, Pennebaker's documentary set the template for how to make such films.

The list of performers who participated in the three-day show is astounding. Nearly all of them performed for free. A good part of the proceeds were donated to charity. Lou Adler (who later produced the "The Rocky Horror Picture Show") and John Phillips (of the Mamas & the Papas) put the event together.

This post's No. 9 Show is a set of links to YouTube videos from the festival. I assume all the footage is from Pennebaker's film. While it's chilly outside, take a few minutes to hop aboard the Wayback Machine to a warm summer weekend, 41 years ago. As usual, for the best result click on the links in order.

One ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Five ... Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine.

PS: And, here's one last little tidbit.

Rebus Cinema: Triple feature about power

Many of the best scenes in feature films are good enough to stand alone. All three of the selections in this post are driven by music. The scene above from "Performance" (1970) works, no matter whether you know the midnight show classic starring James Fox and Mick Jagger, or not.

The second in our great scenes triple feature is the wonderful dance with a balloon globe from Charlie Chaplin's mock-fest of Germany's then-head of state, "The Great Dictator" (1940).


To finish the show for this time here's a fascinating cloudy montage from "Koyaanisqatsi" (1984) with the music of minimalist composer Philip Glass as its dance partner.

No. 9 Show: Nov.13, '08

In August of 1981 MTV was launched. Almost instantly, it made stars of Adam Ant, Duran Duran, The Go-Gos and other safely punk/new wave acts. At that same time the local live music scene, rock 'n' roll bands based mostly in the Fan District, was quite lively. Some said then it rivaled any on the East Coast.

And, when bars started using MTV on television for entertainment, some observers saw MTV's format as a potential threat to the live music scene.

In August of 1982 Color Radio began its two-year run. I signed on Color Radio with the first Number 9 Show two months later. That first studio was over the Track Restaurant on Cary St. (For background on Color Radio, click here.) The volunteer DJs at what amounted to an off-shore, unregulated radio station played whatever they wanted. Most of them were involved in the local music scene in some way.

Here are nine songs from that era. All were by acts I saw perform live. Their records were played on my weekly radio show. So, hop aboard the Wayback Machine to the time when MTV played nothing but music videos and Color Radio could be heard on Channel 36 on Continental Cablevision in Richmond and Henrico.

One ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Five ... Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine.

No. 9 Show: Nov.9, '08

Ah, blondes. What could we say new about them? You can't live with them ... you can't forget how they look with a fresh tan.

This episode features nine songs, via YouTube, from blonde female vocalists. Unless you click on them in order you won't get the full effect.

One ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Five ... Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine

No. 9 Show: Nov. 2, '08

With election day less than 48 hours away and songs about politics and the way of the world on my mind, here's a sampling of music to do with that side of life.

One ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Five ... Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine

No. 9 Show: Oct. 20, '08

There must be thousands of songs about loneliness. Here are nine recordings via YouTube. Click on them in order for the best effect:

One ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Five ... Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine

Rebus Cinema: 'Thank You Masked Man' and 'Blaze Glory'

"Thank You Masked Man" (click above) is a seven-minute cartoon collaboration between comedian Lenny Bruce (who died in 1966) and filmmaker John Magnuson, who, previous to this effort, had shot/directed a documentary of a Bruce performance in a San Francisco night club.

"Thank You Masked Man" was made in 1971, using an old Bruce comedy routine about the Lone Ranger. As Bruce was known for pushing limits of censorship, it has a little bit of rough language. Maybe it would get a PG rating today.

"Blaze Glory," (click below) produced by Chuck Menville and Len Janson, is a 10-minute spoof of the Spaghetti Westerns that were the rage in the late-1960s. It's one of the best examples of an animation technique known as "pixillation." By the way, it was made in 1968, well before Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles," which was was released in 1974.

Rebus Cinema: 'La Jetée'

"La Jetée" is one of my favorite films, long or short. It uses a technique with still photos that gives it an eerie lost-in-time quality that is haunting.

Made by Chris Marker in 1962, it is just 28 minutes long.

My first viewing of "La Jetée" was at the Biograph Theatre, in my initial year as its manager (1972); it was a popular art house film. Now, through the magic of YouTube, you can watch the entire film. Its pace is slow and the story is a little creepy at times, so don't try to watch it too late in the day/night.

No. 9 Show: Oct. 19, '08

Nine songs about dreams:

One ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Five ... Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine.

Imaginary Theater

This is the first post for my new blog. While less than a manifesto, it should give my reader a sense of what I intend to do here.

This new blog -- post-graph theatre -- comes after five years of doing SLANTblog, so, this is yet another spin-off from that first blog.

Of course this effort has everything to do with my show biz jones that stems from my days as manager of the Biograph Theatre (1972-83) and promoting live music shows (1978-95). Plus, I once had a radio show -- The Number 9 Show on Color Radio (1982-84) -- where I could play whatever I liked at the moment. Most deejays don't get to do that anymore.

Ever since those times I have missed finding and presenting movies and music to audiences.

At this web site I will present both short films and music. The posts will fall under two categories: the Rebus Cinema and the Number 9 Show. For now, my source will be YouTube. We'll see, down the road, where this experiment takes us.

When viewing/listening at YouTube note the options for "full-screen," and sometimes a better quality picture.

For the music videos under the banner of the Number 9 Show, I will usually opt for the best sound, sometimes the visual is interesting, sometimes it's not. For the short films and television clips under the banner of Rebus Cinema, I will try to find the best quality in picture that's available.

No doubt, this effort must be dedicated to those who influenced me, who opened doors for me ... a long time ago.