COOL CATS/GIRL GROUPS
The Preshow Entertainment was: Billy Joel videos. The pizza came pretty fast, and I guess we started the tape later than usual, so we only got to see a few videos. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you. This is a 2 tape set of Billy Joel videos called BILLY JOEL: THE VIDEO ALBUM (Volume One and Volume Two), released in 1986, before he was, in his own words, "musically insignificant." There are 10 videos on each tape, but from what I see, maybe 7 of the 20 were actually videos that aired. Meaning, some of these were most likely made just for this compilation. And wow, do they suck.
We saw PIANO MAN, ALL FOR LEYNA, TELL HER ABOUT IT, and some of HONESTY. PIANO MAN was obviously made way past 1975, when the song originally came out. It's one of those "lideos," (literary videos) where the makers have no imagination, so they act out the words of the song. For example, the fat, bald bartender turns away from the patrons to sob as he draws a beer as the lyrics state "I'm sure that I could be a movie star if I could get out of this place." Etc. You get the idea. Oh, and way to ruin a pretty great song.
ALL FOR LEYNA is very ‘80s. It had Billy making a zombie face directly into the camera as he plays his electric piano. Very funny. Very bad. You all (probably) know TELL HER ABOUT IT. It's the Motown-y one with the Ed Sullivan clone introducing "B.J. and the Affordables", (which clone-Ed calls "William Joel" at the end of the song). And a cameo from Rodney Dangerfield getting upstaged by Petruska the dancing bear. We didn't see much of HONESTY. I don't even remember it. I think he just sat at a piano.
Now, remember awhile back I mentioned that RMC will also include TV movies as well as some odds and ends? Well...
March's Random Movie was...
Two documentaries. GIRL GROUPS and COOL CATS. Yes, it was a night of music at The Nathanson Compound. Both of these were produced in the early 80s, so it was a bit weird for them to be talking about a time that happened 20 years ago, when it is now 40 years. Get that?
GIRL GROUPS was fascinating. Lots of great footage (including some rare and timely Phil Spector stuff), and lots of history. And people singing at a zoo. See what you missed if you didn't come?
COOL CATS: 25 YEARS OF ROCK 'N ROLL STYLE, made by the same people who did GIRL GROUPS, is not as good. They were short on interview subjects, for one. It was a lot of Brian Setzer, John Entwhistle, and either Phil or Don Everly. While the footage was fun, the doc didn't really offer up anything too cool. Too slapdash.
But at the end of the evening, it was pizza, music, and friends. Nothing wrong with that.
Tags: random movie club, cool cats, girl groups, billy joel
