Redd Kross Kickstarter Trailer #2

Redd Kross are one of my favorite bands.  They're my favorite band currently recording or touring.  As a major music geek that's (as Bananarama once said), "really saying something." Jeff and Steve McDonald and director Andrew Reich are raising funds to create a Redd Kross documentary. I don't have a pot to piss in but do have a window to throw it from - if you like that sort of thing.  But should you have $10.00 or 100 or more bucks lying around to help make this happen* you should check out the Kickstarter page (here) for the goodies offered for contributors to the cause. There's everything from autographs to your very own backyard concert. The funding period is down to the wire.  Make it happen.  HIT IT!

 

In 1978, in the Southern California beach suburb of Hawthorne, the
same town that was home to The Beach Boys, two brothers Jeff and Steven
McDonald aged 15 and 11 respectively, started a band called The
Tourists. The first time The Tourists played in front of anyone was at
Black Flag's legendary rehearsal space, The Church in Hermosa Beach. The
older band gave The Tourists not only their seal of approval but a new
name - Red Cross. The spelling was later changed to Redd Kross after the high school-age brothers received a cease and desist order from the International Red Cross. Jeff's response was to change their name to "Redd Kross" in an homage to comedian Redd Foxx.

Born Innocent is directed by Andrew Reich an Emmy Award-winning television comedy writer/showrunner, best known as an Executive Producer on Friends. And the film's producer is Emmy Award winning Julian Cautherley. The documentary has already filmed interviews with Jeff and Steve and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Buzz Osbourne and Dale Crover (The Melvins) and original Red Cross member Greg Hetson (Bad Religion, Circle Jerks). With the help of the Kickstarter campaign the filmmakers will interview many other musicians and artists influenced by the seminal Redd Kross.
 

Redd Kross has long been a cult band, a band's band, a secret code word among music fans

that signifies taste and cool. But unlike many cult bands, their music

is eminently accessible. If you like The Beatles or The Ramones or Cheap

Trick, basically if you're a rock and roll fan, you'll like Redd Kross. 

INTERVIEWS WILL INCLUDE

They already have hours of interviews filmed with Jeff and Steve McDonald.

We have also interviewed Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) Buzz Osbourne and

Dale Crover (The Melvins) and original Red Cross member Greg Hetson (Bad

Religion, Circle Jerks). With your support we hope to film additional

interviews with most if not all of the following fans of the band and

key figures in the Redd Kross story:

• Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Off!)
• Charlotte Caffey (The Go-Go's)
• Rodney Bingenheimer (KROQ)
• Mike Watt (The Minutemen)
• Chuck Dukowski (Black Flag)
• Pat Smear (The Germs, Nirvana)
• Belinda Carlisle (The Go-Go's)
• Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth)
• Jonathan Poneman (Sub Pop Records)
• Mark Arm (Mudhoney)
• Kim Thayil (Soundgarden)
• Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam)
• A.C. Newman (The New Pornographers)
• Anna Waronker (That Dog)
• Dave Markey (Director, Desperate Teenage Lovedolls and The Year That Punk Broke)
• Jordan Schwartz (We Got Power fanzine)
• John Doe (X)
• Milo Aukerman (The Descendents)
• Lee Burger (Burger Records)
• Anthony Keidis (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
• Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
• Mac McCaughan (Superchunk, Merge Records)
• Raymond Pettibon (artist)
• Jack White (White Stripes)
• Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers)
• Steven Malkmus (Pavement)
• J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.)
• Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs)
• Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees)
• Jack Antonoff (fun.)
• Ron and Russell Mael (Sparks)

They will also film interviews with current or former Redd Kross
band members: Brian Reitzell, Robert Hecker, Gere Fennelly, Dez Cadena,
Janet Housden, Roy McDonald, Ron Reyes, Jack Irons, Jason Shapiro, and
Dale Crover.

                     

*Update 9/30/2019 The goal has been reached & the film will be made.

Attention Old & Young Punks! Desolation Center Theatrical Trailer

Desolation Center, the indie music festival documentary which has played numerous film festivals worldwide, is set to begin a national theatrical rollout starting on September 13th in Los Angeles. The film

is the untold story of a series of guerrilla music and art performance

happenings in the 80s which inspired the birth of contemporary festival

culture including Burning Man, Lollapalooza and Coachella. The film

combines interviews of punk and post-punk luminaries with rare

performance footage of Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Perry

Farrell, Redd Kross, Swans,

Einstürzende Neubauten, Survival Research Laboratories, Savage Republic

and more, giving viewers unprecedented access to a time when pushing the

boundaries of music, art, and performance was like an unspoken

obligation. Directed by the creator and organizer of the original

events, Stuart Swezey, Desolation Center tells the true story of how the

risky, and at times even reckless, actions of a few outsiders were able

to incite seismic cultural shifts.

The film explores an almost lost subcultural story that will also be a catalyst

to future generations to question assumptions and carve out new

possibilities to express themselves. As Thurston Moore also described to

the New York Times, the mood was "one of complete joy and

wonder at being together in a place that might as well have been another

planet." He said the most radical attribute of Desolation Center was that "it asked no permission," and he called the show "one of the great moments" in the history of Sonic Youth. 

*No DVD date as yet, but prick up your ears in about 6 months.

FEATURES: Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Perry Farrell, Redd Kross, Einstürzende Neubauten, Survival Research Laboratories, Savage Republic

"Hundreds of punks hit the desert.... The modern music festival was born. These
anarchic desert happenings didn't last long . . . but now their history
is chronicled in a documentary called Desolation Center." - The New York Times

Book Review: Kim Gordon, Girl In A Band: A Memoir

Kim Gordon's recently published book Girl In A Band: A Memoir), touches upon varied subjects as she is a complex and intelligent woman with a myriad of talents and interests. For fans little tidbits about backstage events or songs being recorded, such as "Kool Thing" are gems mined for you via Gordon's memories. Sonic Youth "Kool Thing" from the album Goo Book Review: Girl In A Band: A Memoir, by Kim Gordon The world of rock music (and music journalism) is one big boys club. And it’s no surprise that the title of Kim Gordon’s memoir, Girl in a Band, is partly in reference to the incessant query “What’s it like to be a girl in a band?” Despite possessing two X chromosomes, Gordon adeptly chiseled her own space in music with her own rules, coupled with intelligence and dignity. As far as her emotions, she has historically played her cards close to her chest, even appearing aloof, but when she performed “Aneurysm” at Nirvana’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, my body tingled and I was momentarily slack jawed. I don’t care what anyone else says about it, and opinions vary wildly, but Gordon’s performance was one of the most visceral, authentic, fearless, perhaps cathartic, but certainly intense moments I’ve ever witnessed in rock ‘n roll. So despite only being a casual fan of Sonic Youth, I was excited at the prospect of reading Gordon’s book. Girl In A Band elucidates upon Gordon’s extensive background in visual arts and her experience with art as a citizen of old school New York City. It’s about how women, particularly of a certain age group, have to fight against being “people pleasers.” It’s about how our family, and in this case siblings in particular, can form our self image and the image we project. The book is about the life of Kim Gordon, but it is not strictly a Sonic Youth book, nor is it specifically about the dissolution of marriage between Gordon and long-time husband and bandmate Thurston Moore. In the latter case, Gordon manages to sum up the lack of extensive love story regalia with the quote “knowing what I know now, it’s hard to write about a love story with a broken heart.” She explains the situation in a way that is both honest and respectful. Anyone who has experienced divorce or a messy break-up can relate to many of the posed but unanswered questions and the new found practice of second guessing and re-evaluating one’s own history. Of course the marriage and band are mentioned, because they are part of Gordon’s life story, just as being a good mother is some—but not all—of who she is (which is something only a woman in a band would have to explain). Gordon makes it apparent she has many more aspects to her life, including many forms of art, to pursue. She seems to hold a bright future doing just that.