Don't Knock the Rock Festival

The Don’t Knock the Rock Festival kicks off again this Thursday. Screenings take place each Thursday night at 8:00 PM at the Cinefamily at 611 N. Fairfax.

Schedule:
7/8/10 – Screening of The One Man Beatles (Emitt Rhodes Documentary) followed by an Emmitt Rhodes tribute show featuring The Parson Red Heads and others and a Q&A with producer Tony Blass (Emitt and drummer Joel Larson will be in attendance) [THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT]

7/15/10 – Screening of Dogs in Space (Australian post-punk film starring Michael Hutchence) and We’re Livin’ On Dog Food (documentary surrounding Dogs in Space)

7/22/10 – Krazy Kings Fanklub Night: Do It Again (doc about an attempt to get the Kinks to reunite) shown with Mondo Kinks Video Mix! (hour of rare Kinks footage)

7/29/10 – Target Video Presents: SoCal Punk Rockers (two hours from the Target Video archives – including Black Flag, the Screamers, TSOL, etc..)

8/5/10 – Deconstructing Dad: The Music, the Machines and Mystery of Raymond Scott plus The Secret Animated History of Raymond Scott (Jerry Beck guides you through Scott’s work as featured in Ren & Stimpy, The Simpsons, Duckman, Animaniacs and more)

8/7/10 – Roundtable discussion on Music in Film, TV and New Media

8/12/10 – Lee Hazlewood Rare Films Bonanza!: Cowboy in Sweden shown with Nancy & Lee in Las Vegas and N.S.V.I.P.’s (Not…So…Very…Important…People)

8/19/10 – An Evening with Thom Anderson: Screening of Get Out of the Car! and “-- -------“ and Olivia’s Place

8/26/10 – Vince Martin Night: Vagabondo! Plus Vince Martin Tribute Show

Sinking with Sylvia (and Sometimes Todd) Reminder

Don't forget to listen to Sinking with Sylvia (and Sometimes Todd) on Little Radio on Thursday from 11:00AM to 1:00PM PST. This Thursday's guests will be the Deadly Syndrome. They'll be sharing some of their favorite music and chatting with Sylvia and Todd. I also have a weekly pick each Thursday. The plan is to do a little blog on each week's pick, but I'm still behind....

On 8/9, my pick was Lee Hazlewood's "Hey Cowboy" (stream it on this Myspace page). I picked this track as a tribute to Lee who succumbed to cancer five days before. The track comes from his Cowboy in Sweden album which evolved out of a television show Lee wrote and produced after moving to Sweden. I'm not the world's foremost authority on Hazlewood, only becoming familiar with him after Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth reissued a slew of his records in 1999. He was a huge producer who recorded some of Gram Parsons first recordings in the International Submarine Band and helped make Nancy Sinatra a huge star. But he's a huge cult figure because of his own albums. He was a psychedelic cowboy and a unique artist. I just love the playful mood of this whole track. His deep baritone matches so well with Nina Lizell's sweet voice. Unfortunately a lot of these albums have gone out of print again. Keep your eyes peeled and pick them up if you see them (especially any of the records from the late 1960s to mid 1970s).

Read the BBC's obituary
See the All Music Guide entry
Download the Sinking podcast from 8/9/07

Rest In Peace - Lee Hazlewood

If you're not familiar with Lee Hazlewood, do yourself a favor and pick up one of his albums. Some of the original vinyl is tough to find (although last year I picked up a NM copy of Nancy & Lee at a thrift store near my parents' house for $1) but Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth reissued several of them on CD a few years back. Hazlewood was a very unique artist who wrote dark lyrics (often about cowboys and other manly things) and delivered them with a deep baritone and a bit of a flat delivery. His biggest selling album (pictured above) was with Nancy Sinatra; their voices meshed well together. He's been covered by Primal Scream, Dean and Britta and Slowdive amongst others. Hazlewood passed away from cancer on Saturday, one year and one day after Arthur Lee's death.