It’s been quite a week in the world of rock, roll, and retro. Thanks for all the kind words about the “Charlie Is My Darling” story. That’s the title btw of a great Stones movie from 1966 about two days in a Stones tour of Ireland in 1965. It’s on Blu-ray now and well worth it.
This early bad boy period was such a departure from Beatlemania. “We piss where we want to.” It is one of the things I point to when I assert the Stones were the first Punk band. Rad but true, the 60s music world had an avant-garde as well as a punk band that were consistent chart toppers. Let me take you down.
“When three hundred thousand members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hells Angels at San Francisco's Altamont Speedway, the bloody slash that transformed a decade's dreams into disillusionment was immortalized on this film.” —IMDb
It is also weird attempting to gloss over the memories of Altamont. Less than four months after Woodstock, the whole peace and love thing comes crashing around a high and drunk crowd in the darkness of a racetrack outside San Francisco. Security on wheels provided by Hells Angels. Bad choices, bad drugs, scary confusion, deadly results. Everybody gets sh-sh-sh-shattered.
People aren’t supposed to die at rock shows, much less get murdered. So much made it to film in the disturbing Gimme Shelter (1970), which includes performances from the obviously rattled Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Tina Turner, and The Flying Burrito Brothers.
Speaking of being caught in the middle of a Crossfire Hurricane, that’s the title of the second feature on this double bill, a worthy doc that celebrates the Stones 50th anniversary. And it’s almost ten years old!
Much older is the final installment in the Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), “Captain Marvel’s Secret,” in color and Ultra 4K. It is the first live action cinema of a comic superhero.
Tom Tyler (1903-1954) traded his cowboy hat for the short cape—he starred in 999 westerns in a career that began in the silent era in 1924. If you decide to binge his entire career, don’t miss the uncredited performances as a charioteer in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) and as an officer during the evacuation of Atlanta in Gone with the Wind (1939).
Don’t skip the extras! From the early 90s, banished Matt Lauer subs for Bob Costas on Later and does a 20-minute interview with Charlie Watts! And the Stones cartoons are a mixed bag including fan art as well as a compilation of Stones appearances and references on The Simpsons.
Enjoy the shows! Let’s Spend the Night Together!