Bad Brains - 1982 - CBGB

Bad Brains

1982

CBGB

Venom, Slayer, + Exodus - 1985 - Sudio 54, NYC

The Ultimate Revenge: Combat Tour Live 

Venom 

Slayer 

Exodus

Recorded  on April 3, 1985 at Studio 54 in New York.

Wild look back at a truly classic line up of heavy hitting, extreme, and underground metal acts. The footage of Slayer and Exodus comes directly from the filming done at the April 1985 Studio 54 show, but the Venom performance clips come from earlier releases. Not sure why this the case but I vaguely remember hearing Mantas was sick and Venom used replacement guitarists for this gig, so perhaps that's the reason. Backstage interviews provide some comic relief as well as insight into band dynamics and attitudes.

Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981)

I have multiple airings on early eighties cable television to thank for turning me on to Fort Apache, The Bronx, a modern age noir, crime drama. Paul Newman stars as a veteran cop, trying to do good and keep on the straight and narrow while policing a very active section of New York City. Ken Wahl makes the scene as his equally minded partner with Ed Anser amping up his stern glares and barely checked anger as the newly installed captain. Exploitation favorite Pam Grier vies for a lions share of viewers attention in a too slim role as a malevolent junkie hooker.

During filming local resident groups protested the movies negative depiction of both the area and those living within and threatened to file lawsuits against the production.  

In 1982 director Daniel Petrie followed up Fort Apache, The Bronx with the oddly hypnotically watchable but poorly received Kenny Rogers vehicle Six Pack.

the trailer

the feature

Iron Reagan - 2015 - Brooklyn

Here's some great footage of Iron Reagan 

from their recent 2015 tour with Noisem and Angel Du$t. 

I lucked out and won tickets to their Boston show, 

the night before the one below in Brooklyn at Saint Vitus.

Big Black - CBGB - 1986

Big Black
at CBGBs
July 1986

Big Black - CBGB - 1987

The three piece (plus drum machine Roland) Big Black created some amazing noise skronk during their tenure from 1981 to 1987. Even though my time living in the Chicago area overlapped with their existence, I never got to see them live mainly because I was under twenty-one and never obtained a fake i.d. Here is some footage from 1987 when they played CBGBs on their final tour in support of their Songs About Fucking record.

Live in N.Y.C.! '91 (1991)

Live in N.Y.C.! '91

Filmed in 1991 at New York City venue The Ritz, this documentary features Agnostic Front, Sick of It All, and Gorilla Biscuits live on stage. Also included are interview segments with members of those three bands plus others such as Jimmy Gestapo from Murphy's Law and Harley Flanagan from the Cro-Mags.

Blitzkrieg Bop (1978)

Blitzkrieg Bop  (1978)

With footage from 1977, this documentary focuses on the CBGB punk rock scene with interviews and performances from The Ramones, Blondie, and the Dead Boys plus those around them; such as CBGB owner/Dead Boys manager Hilly Kristal.