[Culture] SECRET CINEMA !!!

[Benseraglio2]

There are two events listed in this message: Your last reminder of Saturday's big rock show at Tritone, and a film screening next week at Moore. Warm weather is predicted for Saturday, so all (?) that snow should be off the roads for sure. So, no need to rent videos and stay in! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Secret Cinema produces another pop night at Tritone with the A-Sides, the Swims The Secret Cinema will produce another music night this Saturday, March 20. That's when the latest installment of POPISM! takes place at Tritone, starring TWO fiery young pop bands, The A-Sides and The Swims, plus a fine selection of rare power pop vinyl and '60s sides from D.J. (and Secret Cinema boss) Jay Schwartz. POPISM! Saturday, March 20 9:00 pm - 2:00 am Admission: $5.00 Tritone 1508 South Street, Philadelphia (215) 545-0475 The A-Sides' barnstorming live shows over the last year have made them many local tastemakers' pick-to-click in the pop scene, and they're sure to soon make a splash outside Philly as well. Their short/fast/intense songs and tight rave-up harmonies (reminiscent of both Merseybeat and Mission of Burma) shows them holding their own with any "new garage" hype band you care to name. Check their "Going Gone/Seeing Suzy" 45 on the Prison Jazz label, or check their deluxe website (complete with music downloads) at www.a-sides.net. The Swims will be hurdling down the highway from Scranton, Pa., where Capitol Records once pressed many a fine Beatles platter. This heritage is done proud, as the guys and gal of this upbeat band craft a melodic pop brew that belies their youthful youth. Their colorful website cites the Hollies, the Zombies, the Monkees and the Velvet Underground as just a few influences but don't take my word for it, go to www.theswims.com and check the mp3's. Soon they will be joining the A-Sides on the Prison Jazz label roster, but you can hear them together nearly now, at Tritone. D.J. Jay Schwartz struggles to find a clever D.J. name that the kids can relate to but still keeps carrying boxes of a long-building record collection to clubs all over Philly, for more than 20 years(!). OK, there's been some big gaps of D.J. inactivity over that time span, but in the last few years he's spun theme nights featuring mod/garage ("Friday on my Mind"), sunshine pop/bubblegum ("It's a Sunshine Day!", 1960s music from Spain ("Megaton Ye Ye"), exotica/lounge (at EXOTICA MUSIC FILMS screenings), that trendy post-punk ("Rebellious Jukebox"), dirty blues and jazz (behind the STAG MOVIE NIGHT screenings), and, of course, power pop ("Popism!", which this night is). Expect to hear many vinyl treasures that were purchased (or just as often, scored for free!) during the original power pop era of the '70s and early '80s. Jay is also the programmer/ projectionist/presenter of the Secret Cinema film series, and is, also, me. THE A-SIDES WEBSITE: www.a-sides.net THE SWIMS WEBSITE: www.theswims.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ and next week... The Secret Cinema at Moore College of Art & Design presents VINTAGE HOLLYWOOD, LIVE AND UNCENSORED Friday, March 26 8:00 pm Admission: $6.00 Moore College of Art and Design 20th & Race Streets, Philadelphia (215) 568-4515, ext. 4099 Three of the most popular Secret Cinema shows of the last few years were UNCENSORED ANIMATION, programs of classic yet politically obsolete cartoons, which featured unrestrained and often insensitive ethnic portrayals. Audiences flocked to see these sometimes funny, sometimes shocking works from Hollywood's golden age, all of which are currently not shown on television and cable outlets due to the controversy surrounding them. On Friday, March 26, we present the logical follow-up program. VINTAGE HOLLYWOOD, LIVE AND UNCENSORED, is a collection of live-action shorts and clips spanning the silent and sound eras, all sharing extremely "incorrect" depictions of race and ethnicity. The second half of what will be an extra-value, double-feature program, will be a surprise screening of a famously suppressed feature film that is currently difficult to see elsewhere (no, we're not going to name it). There will be one complete show, starting at 8:00 pm. Admission is $6.00. (The shorts program will run about 90 minutes; the feature part of the program is about the same length and will start sometime between 9:30 and 10:00 pm) All Secret Cinema presentations are projected in 16mm film on a giant screen (NOT video). While current regimes of moral guardianship would prefer that unsavory examples of our pop-culture past be hidden forever, in the foolhardy belief that rewriting history and silencing bad ideas will eliminate bad ideas, we at Secret Cinema believe the opposite. We believe that a full look at our cultural past, both good and bad (and hopefully with an understanding of the context in which such culture existed), will provide the best illumination of our present condition. And if that high-falutin' wish isn't quite achieved, hopefully these films will provide some laughs and gasps of astonishment at what used to be shown in movie theaters (as future generations will undoubtedly react to the entertainments and moral policies of today). Just a few highlights from VINTAGE HOLLYWOOD, LIVE AND UNCENSORED are: MINSTREL DAYS (1941) - When this Warner Brothers theatrical short was released, the days of the blackface minstrel show were already passed, providing Bud Jamison (a character actor familiar to all Three Stooges fans) a chance to host this nostalgic look back at a now-notorious period of American entertainment. The short includes clips of legendary performers as Al Jolson and Bert Williams, plus an authentic recreation of a minstrel show. FLAMING FATHERS (1927) - Max Davidson, though now forgotten, starred in a successful series of Hal Roach silent comedies as "Papa Gimplewart," a highly-exaggerated Jewish character who is the head of an ever-troubled family. This, one of the best entries in the series, was co-directed by Stan Laurel and Leo McCarey. FUN ON THE FARM (1905) - This, one of the earliest surviving films produced in Philadelphia by Siegmund Lubin, has a somewhat improvised plot, which climaxes in the tar-and-feathering of a black man who was caught stealing pumpkins. Plus much more, AND A SURPRISE FEATURE FILM. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SECRET CINEMA WEBSITE: www.voicenet.com/~jschwart B15