Metropolis Video
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Metropolis Video was a group of filmmakers and video makers who documented the early years of the punk rock scene in New York City, starting in 1975. The New York Times music critic John Rockwell wrote that because of Metropolis Video's work and their cable TV series, "the efflorescence of the New York underground rock scene at the CBGB club will live on past the present moment.[1]
History
In 1975, seven film and videomakers in their early 20s came together to document the punk rock music scene at CBGB, which in 1975 was a relatively new music club on the Bowery, in Manhattan, New York City. The members of Metropolitan Video met while they were working at Manhattan Cable TV's public access television (MCTV) department, where community members could get free training in video production, borrow equipment and schedule their programs for broadcast. In 1972 the FCC had mandated that cable TV systems in the top 100 markets must provide public access, and by 1975, MCTV had become a major distribution hub for video experimentation, the YouTube of its day.
In August of 1975, Metropolis Video members convinced CBGB's owner Hilly Kristal to let them shoot performances. The group descended into the then little-known club with a multi-camera, live-switched, live-mixed audio/video system and despite the limitations of their set up, produced some of the most complete documentation of the early New York Punk Rock music scene in existence. The collection of films and videos is now represented by Historic Films.[2]
Founding members
Metropolis Video was founded by Paul Dougherty, John Hazard, Jeff Hodges, Pat Ivers, Steven Lawrence, Michael Owen and Tom Zafian.
Programs
Metropolis Video’s first project, the CBGB Festival of Unrecorded Bands, in August 1975, captured Blondie, Joe and Blake, the Heartbreakers with Richard Hell (their third live performance), and the Talking Heads (as a trio). Metropolis Video shot the Talking Heads on two other occasions, in October and December of 1975. The December concert is excerpted in the 2011 film produced by Eagle Rock Talking Heads: Chronology. [3]
Other bands recorded by Metropolis Video at CBGBs were The Shirts, the Tuff Darts (featuring Robert Gordon), Ruby and the Rednecks, and Orchestra Luna. Elephant's Memory was also documented in a show in New Haven in 1976; this was Metropolis Video’s last project as a group.
Cable television
Rock from CBGB's was a three-part series that aired on Manhattan Cable's Public Access Channel D in 1975, showing excerpts from the collection of bands.
Public Screenings
Metropolis Video showed their work, in a multi-monitor format, in two sold-out shows at The Kitchen, an art and performance space in Manhattan, on October 6 and 8, 1977. The hour-long event featured performances by Talking Heads, Tuff Darts, Heartbreakers and Orchestra Luna.
