Reep on Kockin by Pia Santaklaus

19 November 2008

Hey Brett, I really enjoyed last week’s Cinematheque show, Keep on Rockin! I’d seen it on TV as a young child, but it was beautiful to watch it on the big screen and I particularly appreciated how you turned up the sound volume so that the experience washed over the room.

COSMIC RAY (1962 – filmed in 1961) is a daring, sexy and strange B&W short film by American counterculture beatnik artist and filmmaker Bruce Conner (b.1933) featuring Ray Charles’ song WHAT’D I SAY, Conner uses innovative, fast-cut proto-psychedelic visuals which seem vastly incongruent and trippy alongside the somewhat dated Ray Charles hit. Visually ahead of its time, the film screams Sex and Revolution… The sensual sirens, ‘sex-bombs’, look and act like they sprung from the naked liberated later years of the 60s. This is a most beautiful experience for those looking for some 60s style turn-on.

KEEP ON ROCKIN’ is an essential document directed by the now legendary D.A Pennebaker. With the help of at least 8 other camerapersons he covered a lot of ground. The cameras seeped into the atmosphere capturing the intimate minutiae and incidents; especially prevalent amongst the crowds was footage of beautiful, youthful ladies…

Filmed 13 September 1969 and released in 1972, KEEP ON ROCKIN’ (the title named after a comment Janis Joplin made whilst watching an early screening) is basically a documentary of a Rock and Roll Revival Festival which featured many Rock and Roll greats. These artists had been big names over a decade earlier and here they were again to try and show a young crowd how to do 50s RnR properly.

Many other artists such as Gene Vincent, The Doors and John Lennon played at the show but didn’t make it into this particular film, though we did catch a glimpse of Ray Manzarek as part of the cavalcade of transport heading to the venue and John Lennon in a white suit and ginger beard was also spotted exiting a limo.

First up on stage we see Bo Diddley (1928-2008). He played song after pumping song with a broken guitar string while the invasive camera nudged in for some extreme close-ups, so much so that at moments it was literally only centimeters from Bo’s strumming hand, below hip level.
The band was cool. The stage was shaking. Here was a heavy-handed hound that heated the crowd with his ‘hambone’ stomping Rock and Roll blues.

Adding to the mix, the camera was drawn to the entourage which included a beautiful and sexy dark-skinned lady in a provocative mini-dress playing the tambourine and singing. At times the camera went so low that the viewer would virtually get a perve up her skirt.

Next up we saw Jerry Lee Lewis (b. 1935). For the first few songs it was fascinating and out-of-place to see JLL strumming on a Fender Stratocaster guitar when he is so well-known for climbing all over a piano. Showing his versatility, he soon mounts his trusty piano and belts out a good mix of classic songs… Jerry Lee did seem a little subdued on the day, but nevertheless performed great covers of some huge Elvis Presley hits and his own hits including Great Balls Of Fire. His Elvis impersonation was spot on.

Chuck Berry was up next. Arguably the most hard core of the bunch in the film, he treated the crowd to a long medley of his own songs… a kind of innovative live mix. During his rendition of ‘Johnny B Goode’ (1958 –written in 1955), he broke out his trademark one-leg hop march (often mistaken for his other trademark, ‘duck-walk’).

The feigned panic in his eyes as he did the splits was completely hilarious. Years later Eddie Murphy will often put on that exact same expression.

Chuck Berry exuded radiance… this poet shared his early vigorous anthems with this new tarnished generation… He riffed in a style at once sweaty, sweet, sure, sexy and scary. This singular showman in many ways one could imagine him to be Jimi Hendrix’s hip older brother. He wore a vibrant matching pants-and-vest set over a white shirt and shiny patent leather shoes.
One can only imagine how many times Chuck Berry had performed those songs up until then, yet he still seemed excited by them. He provided a raw, restless freshness which imbued the songs with renewed vitality and energy. A truly incredible performer!

Born in 1926, he is a dapper 43 year old man on stage blowing the minds of this crowd of young, (perhaps unworthy) worshippers…The man can still be found playing live shows today, almost 40 years later!

John Lennon once said: “If you tried to give Rock and Roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’”

One could call Chuck a real muse in his own right… He strongly inspired both the Beatles and the Stones; both bands shared a great respect for this talented musician and changed the world...

Finally as night descends, Little Richard (b. 1932) hit the stage. Flamboyant, camping it up in a sparkling tunic that made him look like a human mirror-ball, the deep well from which his energy flowed seemed bottomless. He stood astride his grand piano with a huge cheesy grin; his manic antics and rapport with the audience reveal him to be a somewhat feel-good alien strutting. He teases and taunts the crowd offering them the boots off his feet and even his glittering outfit, eventually leaving him shirtless, dripping in sweat and pulsing pure Rock and Roll.

All that day Canadian flags unfurled amongst the crowded lines of the hordes; some fine, some swine and some divine, particularly the beautiful wide-eyed muses lighting up the many camera lenses.

Ultimately, the camera must return to these great musicians-songwriters. These are not young men, yet they show the much younger crowd a vitality that seems missing in those lives. These old rockers resemble priests or healers injecting old-world spunk into a generally lifeless brood.

With so many cameramen capturing so much, often we lose sight of the great performers as edits focus on images of the crowds and the ambience; a pity to take one’s eye away from the stage, but still a wonderful way to get a fuller picture of the day and the times.

One feels a part of the experience. It’s very immediate.

50’s Rock and Roll never pumped so clearly and loud. It comes a little late, but better late than never. Oh to have had these cameras and sound equipment during the 1950s. Imagine the energy!

To paraphrase Jerry Lee Lewis, these beings are not as young as they used to be, but they’re not as old as some people think. They did this material over a decade earlier, but here, in 1969, their songs colour the air with a kind of youthful kick and naïve primal power. These ‘fathers’ of Rock and Roll, giants in their field, seem like Old Gods of a dangerous core - their inner fire and great commercial sense bring them back to revisit the Earth to shine their glorious magic on the sleeping millions.

Thanks for another top viewing experience.

Pia Santaklaus.