"TV Party," a Cocktail Party That Could Be a Political Party by Nitzan Koshet May 16, 2005 @ 6:18 PM - New York

"TV Party," a Cocktail Party That Could Be a Political Party By Nitzan Koshet May 16, 2005 @ 6:18 PM - New York

“TV Party,” a documentary film directed by Danny Vinik of Brink Films and produced by Kai Eric and Vinik, recently debuted as part of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. It follows the making of Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party, the colorful do-it-yourself cable TV show that aired from 1978 to 1982 in NYC and includes interviews with the crew and guests looking back on the crazy times. Yesterday, Brink DVD (www.brinkdvd.com ) released “TV Party” the documentary in a limited addition 3 DVD box set along with two originals episodes of TV Party.

Hosted by Glenn O’Brien, a column writer for Andy Warhol’s “Interview” magazine, it also featured Chris Stein, the guitarist of Blondie, Walter Steding as the experimental orchestra leader of the show and an eclectic group of their bohemian friends directed by underground film director Amos Poe.

Half talk show and half wild party, “TV Party” the show captured the trends of the time such as public access cable TV, punk rock, and radical fashion statements. Most shows opened with O’Brien saying, “Welcome to TV party, The TV show that is a cocktail party, but which could be a political party,” with his dry and oh-so-charming sense of humor.

Says O’Brien, the show was based on Hugh Hefner’s Play Boy After Dark TV show, the first show to be held in the format of a party. The attendees were mostly artistic icons of the time - Andy Warhol, Jean Michel Basquiat, Fab Five Freddy (host of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’), Tim Wright (of DNA), Debbie Harry (of Blondie) were all regular guests. Others simply followed the friendly call of O’Brien, “If you can find us, you can join” - partying together, playing live music, talking, doing drugs - not necessarily in that order - all on live TV.

Fashion Wire Daily talked to Vinik about the controversial happenings of the ‘80s and the documentary he directed about it. Vinik is the creator of Brink Media, a company

that creates web solutions and marketing campaigns with clients such as Kevin Spacey’s filmmakers community site (www.triggerstreet.com) and Christy Turlington. SEARCH He also launched The Brink, a group of entertainment companies and Brink Films that released SPUN (2003), Porn Star Pets (2005) and TV Party (2005).

How did you become involved with “TV Party?” Articles I was aware of “TV Party” many years ago during the show itself when a friend of mine, performance artist Bruce Geduldig, had just been on the show. Fast forward to Photos present day and my partner (in Brink Media) Kai Eric, was asked by Glenn O'Brien for some advice on how to archive and save the tapes from decomposing. You are currently What were the 80's about for you? logged in as All of my ideas about fashion and art were completely formed by 1979. The eighties sammy67 didn't have much to do with that for me, although that was a decade of great creative + YOUR ACCOUNT freedom for artists. I myself spent the first half of the eighties in a drug induced stupor + LOGOUT and the other half getting out of that stupor.

SIGN UP FOR A FREE What’s the message of TV Party? DAILY FIX I don't really see it as having much of a message; it's more of a document of a time that has passed. A moment came and gone. It's a close look at the origins of a particular strain of fashion and art virus that continues to infect young people today.

What was it about downtown Manhattan of the '80s that inspired you? Following the pathetic hippies of the seventies, anything seemed possible. We were winning. It was a time when petty rebellion really did work and really pissed people off. This was before the right wing got their s**t together and made all media meaningless, like it is today.

How did the scene change since? People from those times have either bought real estate and today live well or have became very poor and are living very poorly.

Do you think TV Party influenced the media? Where is DIY TV today? TV Party not only influenced the media, it was the media. Then the media swallowed it whole and now Rupert Murdoch (CEO of News Corporation) owns every thought. How do you feel about reality TV? Sometimes it makes me laugh, but mostly it bores me s**tless.

Where is the underground scene today? The underground doesn't exist anymore in geographical "places" like New York or San Francisco. Now it exists on the Internet at domains like www.brink.com and www.heavy.com...The corporate world will try to once more absorb it, but hopefully the Internet is anarchistic enough to resist that.

Who do you think will enjoy this film? Just about any man, woman, or child with eyeballs.

Drugs seemed to play a big part in TV Party. Did you get any negative reactions to that aspect while working on the film or screening it? It was expensive keeping the editor supplied with grass. I like what Robert Aaron says in the film, ‘Sure it was drug fueled, so what? A lot of great artists walked the earth during that time.’”

Did you make any discoveries while working on this project? Chris Stein (Blondie) is an amazingly cool person.

Do you support the ideas of TV Party (Anarchy, self-expression, and so on)? Well, it's not like anyone is taking contributions....but sure I support free thinking and fun and socialism in the way the visionary political thinker Glenn O'Brien imagined it....‘If you want to be a socialist you have to be social. Socialism means going out every night. Call up your friends and discuss the issues with them...’"

Where can we see TV Party after Tribeca Film Festival? BrinkDVD is distributing the documentary domestically, along with (over time) 10 episodes of the show. We also hope to be able to have some sort of limited theatrical run and we are currently exploring our options there. Stay tuned to www.brink.com for more information.

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