The Us Generation: The Making of the 1982 US Festival DVD

For those readers too young to remember, the first US Festival took place over Labor Day weekend in September 1982. Held in San Bernardino, California the event was sponsored by Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, with the music end of things handled by veteran promoter Bill Graham. Ever the visionary, Wozniak felt that if the 1970s was the “Me Generation” then the decade of the 1980s could be the “US Generation,” and the festival was conceived to combine music and technology and to encourage people to be more community-oriented.

Wozniak paid for the bulldozing and construction of a state-of-the-art venue for the event, which was held during some terribly hot weather and resulted in a loss of around $12 million. Graham lined up some heavy hitters for the festival, and the diverse group of artists performing included punks and new wavers like the Ramones, the Cars, the Talking Heads, and the Police as well as classic rockers like the Kinks, Santana, Fleetwood Mac, and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

A second US Festival was held over the Memorial Day weekend in May 1983, with promoter Barry Fey taking the reins and Wozniak again paying the bills. The second festival featured some repeat performers from the first, including the English Beat, Oingo Boingo, and Stevie Nicks, performing solo. The Memorial Day event eventually conceived as a three-day festival, with performers on each day slotted under “New Wave Day,” “Heavy Metal Day,” and “Rock Day” but a fourth “Country Day” was added. Performers at US2 included the Pretenders, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, U2, Van Halen, David Bowie, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings, among others.

The second festival also lost a reported $12 million but, taken together, the two events proved to be enormously influential on a generation of rock fans. The festivals have been sliced and diced and released on home video in various formats, with individual performances by Triumph, Quiet Riot, the English Beat, and Willie Nelson released. The festivals evidently had a profound effect on award-winning filmmaker and rock ‘n’ roll documentarian Glenn Aveni, who had previously made An Ox’s Tale: The John Entwistle Story. Working with co-director Jay Cedarholm and producers Bruce Gibb and Rich Schmig, Aveni has created The Us Generation: The Making of the 1982 US Festival, an in-depth look behind the scenes at the influential rock festival.

Scheduled for August 10th, 2018 release on DVD and Blu-ray disc by MVD Entertainment, The Us Generation is the authorized (by ‘Woz’) story of the 1982 festival. The film features re-mastered live performances by artists like Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Santana, the Cars, the Police, Fleetwood Mac, the B-52s and others, and if that’s not enough to convince you to add check it out, the film also includes interview footage with Steve Wozniak, Mick Fleetwood, Eddie Money, Marky Ramone, Stewart Copeland (The Police), and Mickey Hart (The Grateful Dead), among others. The two-disc Blu-ray is going for less than $20 on Amazon so what are you waiting on – this is an essential addition to any fan’s collection of rock ‘n’ roll documentaries.

Buy the Blu-ray from Amazon.com: The Us Generation

Summer 82 - When Zappa Came to Sicily DVD

During the summer of 1982, rock ‘n’ roll legend Frank Zappa and band were to conclude their European tour in Palermo, Sicily – home of Zappa’s paternal family. In an interview, Zappa once remembered, “I wanted to see the town that my father was born in and I went there and I saw it and then we played the concert and the next thing you know, you have the army and the police; each with their own general telling them what to do; an audience that had brought their own guns; and they're shooting tear gas and tearing up this stadium that we were playing in. We played for an hour and a half in this riot with tear gas in our face and everything else, and when it was all over we went off the stage and we were trapped inside this place. The audience was circling around outside shooting at the police and the police were shooting back.”

Italian filmmaker and Zappa fan Salvo Cuccia had a ticket to that concert, but never made it to the show due to the rioting. Instead, Cuccia decided to make a movie commemorating the event. Thirty years after the ill-fated performance, Cuccia looks back with Summer 82 - When Zappa Came to Sicily, a documentary film that recreates the event through a combination of rare concert and backstage footage, photographs, stories from Zappa’s family, band members, and concert-goers, with Zappa biographer and friend Massimo Bassoli providing insight into the event.

Cuccia personalizes the film with his own memories of the summer of ’82, and the film includes footage of the return of the late rocker’s family – wife Gail and children Dweezil, Moon Unit, and Diva – to Sicily to meet their relatives there for the first time. On December 8th, 2017 our friends at MVD Entertainment Group will release a Blu-ray edition of Summer 82 - When Zappa Came to Sicily, and the film will also receive screenings in Los Angeles (November 5th), Philadelphia (November 17th), and Boston (November 20th). The L.A. screening will include a Q&A session with Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa and guitarist Steve Vai while the Philly and Boston screenings will include a Q&A with Dweezil. Check out the movie’s trailer, below and use the Amazon.com link to grab a copy!

Buy the Blu-ray from Amazon.com: Summer 82 - When Zappa Came to Sicily

Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records on Blu-ray

Alligator Records has arguably done more to advance the cause of the blues than any other company. Formed in 1971 by blues fan Bruce Iglauer, who was working as a shipping clerk for the legendary Delmark Records label at the time, the first album released by Alligator Records was the debut by Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers. Alligator subsequently released ground-breaking and career-making albums by legends like Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, Lonnie Brooks, Son Seals, and others throughout the 1970s and ‘80s. More recently, Alligator has discovered and developed young blues talents like Selwyn Birchwood, Jarekus Singleton, and Michael “Iron Man” Burks.

Originally released in 1992, Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records is part documentary and part concert film. Pride and Joy was created by respected filmmaker Robert Mugge, who collaborated with music writer Robert Palmer the year before on the influential and essential documentary Deep Blues, which introduced fans to talented artists like R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. The film offers musical highlights from one of the four-hour-plus concerts along the Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Tour, including performances by Lonnie Brooks, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, Koko Taylor, Elvin Bishop, and others. The film also includes profiles of key performers and label staff members as well as a look behind the scene at Alligator’s Chicago offices.

On April 22nd, 2016 MVD Entertainment Group will release Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records on Blu-ray DVD for the first time. The movie has been newly transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and stereo audio masters and carefully restored by the director Mugge. Also included on the Blu-ray are ten bonus songs taken from Alligator’s original 1992 tour and soundtrack CD, as well as Mugge’s new ‘making of’ video, Alligator Tales. Altogether, Pride and Joy provides an in-depth look at one of longest-running independent labels in America and the artists who contributed to Alligator’s success and legacy.

Buy the Blu-ray from Amazon.com: Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records