A year or so ago some friends of mine asked me if I wanted to help out on this movie they were working on, a documentary focusing on the no wave cinema scene that emerged in NYC in the late 70s. I talked my way into becoming the “music supervisor” of their movie, Blank City, and began suggesting music to use. I didn’t realize how serious the project was until I finally saw the rough cut, which was about 8 hours long. The film was beautifully shot, excitingly edited, masterfully directed…and covered so much more than just no wave cinema. While the no wave film of the late 70s and the cinema of transgression of the 80s are the focal point, the movie goes further back to discuss influences in NYC and underground film, from Warhol and Jack Smith through the punk films of Amos Poe. And in discussing the scenes, they paint a more expansive picture of the times, the artists, the musicians, the lifestyle. So while the focus is certainly on the movies that were made, the movie should interest anybody with an interest in that time period.

I haven’t seen the final final cut yet, so I don’t know if all my favorite parts and all my favorite music made the cut, but movie goers will likely hear selections like imPLOG!, Glenn Branca, Ut, Patti Smith and tons of other great stuff.

The movie was accepted into the Tribeca Film Festival as part of it’s Encounters programming and has gotten great advance buzz. The festival site for the film is here, and you can purchase tickets here. The premiere, this saturday, is already sold out, but you may be able to get tickets to showings on Monday April 27th or Friday May 1st.

I know it seems like every time there’s an Arthur Russell related event in town I somehow get myself involved. Maybe it’s because I can’t even put into words how much I love his music? It’s really that simple. This time is going to be special. A bunch of Arthur’s old friends and collaborators have formed a band called Arthur’s Landing to play his music. Peter Gordon described it: “It’s a large, lively band, playing his disco music, songs and instrumental compositions seamlessly.” They will be joined by Nomi of Hercules & Love Affair, Nick Hallett, Alex Waterman and Rafael Sanchez. On the DJ front, I will be playing a mixed set of Arthur related disco not disco and downtown art musics before and between the live bands, while neo-disco superstars Lee Douglas and Just Vandervolgen will be DJing well into the evening.

This takes place Saturday, April 4th at Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St, NYC. Doors at 10, 12$ adv., 15$ day of. More information can be found on the Facebook event page.

Coming soon…another Lines update. Maybe this blog should be called “the Arthur Russell DJ event and Lines update blog.com?” While I have your attention, I did my first Viva radio show in a thousand years, now that they’ve finally fixed things. I actually did it weeks ago when I had a free minute, but didn’t get to upload it till now. It’s called “Chain or Reaction” and features some classic New Zealand stuff, a bit of the Chills but mostly of the Peter Jefferies/Xpressway axis. It’s all good.

Coming later…another Acute CD, some Acute vinyl, some more DJ gigs and other ways to be cool.