All the legendary rock figures of the 1960s have archives full of “lost” footage, i.e. film and video clips they haven’t seen fit, for one reason or another, to make available commercially.
While the Beatles used a lot of their “lost” stuff for the 10–hour Anthology, there still exist hours upon hours of live material, TV appearances, press conferences and primitive music videos.
Consider the Rolling Stones, whose legendary 65–minute Rock and Roll Circus didn’t see the light of day until 28 years after it was filmed in 1968. And like the Beatles, the Stones created “short films” to promote a lot of their ‘60s songs (they didn’t call them videos back then), and only some of them are readily available. I recently saw one for the Stones’ 1968 B–side, “Child of the Moon,” that I had no idea ever existed.
Bob Dylan is the icon least likely to suffer the camera gladly. Although a whole bunch of really cool ‘60s footage turned up the Martin Scorsese–directed No Direction Home documentary, Dylan has at least two complete movies that he’s kept out of the public eye for decades.
There’s Eat the Document, filmed during his 1966 British tour with the Band, and the four–hour Renaldo and Clara, directed by Bobby D himself during the infamous Rolling Thunder Revue tour in ’75.
I’ve seen them both via bootleg DVD. Except for the in–concert footage, Renaldo is insufferable, and in my opinion it’s no wonder that Dylan didn’t want it out there. Still, it’s historical, which gives it a certain cache.
Be that as it may, Dylan remains one of the most important and beloved figures in popular music, and the audience of people who want to see and hear everything he does is astronomical.
Jim Reed falls squarely in that category. The president of the Psychotronic Film Society is a confirmed Dylanophile, and this Sunday (May 23) he plans to screen six hours of rare and unreleased Dylan concert and video footage.
Along with segments from Document, he’ll sample Hard to Handle (live in Australia with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) and tons of rare stuff.
It’s 5–11 p.m. at Indigo Arts Center, with a suggested donation of $5. The material won’t be shown in chronological order, so you can arrive at any time.
The occasion? May 24 will be Dylan’s 69th birthday.
Going Galactic
This week, our friends at SCAD finally announced the G. Love & Special Sauce concert in Forsyth Park, which we told you about in mid–April. New Orleans’ funk–jam masters Galactic will also play at the free “New Alumni” show, as will Crash Kings. It starts at 6 p.m. Friday, May 28 ....
