TEEN-A-GO-GO a little film about history

“If you were booked at an a-go-go, you were a star.”

LARRY ROQUEMORE – LARRY AND THE BLUE NOTES

For information contact: Jon Keeyes 817-528-9395 [email protected]

Synopsis:

On February 9, 1964 Rock and Roll changed forever when premiered live on the Ed Sullivan show. An estimated 73 million viewers (over forty percent of the entire U.S. population at the time) was tuned in. Teens all across America were glued to their TV sets as they witnessed a true turning point in Rock history.

On February 10, 1964, it would seem that 10 million teens had something new to do. With their jaws still on the floor and inspiration stirring within, thousands of youngsters knew that their destiny lay in rock and roll. From that point on, every meaningful change that rock and roll has gone through started with some teenagers, alone in a garage, banging away at three chords. The Teen Scene was born.

What were the teen scenes like? What happened to these bands? Who made it big, who didn’t and why? Why is this music still influencing young rock and rollers today?

Teen A-Go-Go explores these questions and answers them through the eyes and hearts of musicians across the country and one particularly unique and influential community in Texas. The musicianship and influence this community contributed to rock and roll is both unprecedented and impressive in it’s almost “kept secret” state. Music these teens made in “one take” recordings in 1965 through 1968 has become highly collectable and in some cases continues to receive radio play.

Through a series of interviews with the musicians themselves, industry experts, super 8 footage, archival TV footage and photographs, Teen A- Go-Go takes the viewer on an entertaining, nostalgic ride into the teen scenes and into the lives of the people who lived it.

Featuring:

Lenny Kaye (critic, musician, compiler, and producer), Ira Robbins (co-founder of Trouser Press), Billy Miller (Founder of Norton Records), the 5,6,7,8’s (featured in Kill Bill V. 1), King Coffee (Butthole Surfers), Bruce Channel (‘Hey Baby’ and HOF), Johnny Reno (Stevie Ray Vaughan's Triple Threat Revue, Lounge Kings), Joe Nick Patoski (writer, contributor, editor, biographer, Rolling Stone, Texas Monthly), Ron Chapman (TV’s "Sump'N Else", Texas Radio HOF), Bobbie Wygant (TV critic, personality and host), John Nitzinger (Guitrist, ), Bugs Henderson (Mouse and the Traps), Rusty Burns (Point Blank), ThElite, Larry and the Blue Notes, The Barons, The Cynics, The Mods, Jack and the Rippers, The Novas, Kandy Kanes, The Excels (Rockabilly HOF), (Record Producer, ‘Hey, Hey Paula’, ‘Hey Baby’).

Production Company: Teen-A-Go-Go LLC

Director: Melissa Kirkendall

Producer: Mark A. Nobles

Co-Producers: Jon Keeyes Melissa Kirkendall

Movie category: Documentary, drama

Target Audience: Males & Females 25 - 65

Technical Info: HD in 24p

Companion Book several publishers have expressed interest in publishing a companion coffee table book of interview excerpts and photos from the movie.

Soundtrack CD to be released in support of the movie

Similar Movies: The Festival Express, The Mayor of Sunset Strip, Tom Dowd and the Language of Music, End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Standing in the Shadows of Motown

Marketing

The baby boomers are seventy-five million strong and are being aggressively marketed to with multi million dollar advertising campaigns hawking everything from retirement plans, luxury sedans and E.D. pills. Oddly enough, the entertainment industry (movies, music and television) chiefly ignore this large, wealthy demographic. The period from 1964-1968 is when rock and roll grew up and found its voice. It was no longer rockabilly; it was truly rock and roll. The British Invasion (BI) and Beatles, Stones, Kinks and Yardbirds (BSKY) played an undeniable role on this uniquely American musical genre. BSKY stories and influences are well documented in hundreds of books, docs and websites which are readily available. If you want to know their stories, you won’t have trouble finding material. TAGG will exploit this familiarity. Many of the songs sound similar, songs written by Jagger/Richards, Van Morrison, Ray Davies are sprinkled about the original compositions and visually the bands look like BSKY with their Beatles suits, boots, hairstyles and Nehru jackets. What makes TAGG unique and interesting is that, for the first time, the contributions and impact on the boomers will be told from their viewpoint. They are the stars. The boomers are at that point in life where they want to look back, reminisce and pat themselves on the back a bit. TAGG appeals to their sense of nostalgia and ego. Younger audiences are looking at this period for inspiration and information. This period birthed every rock sub-genre of the next forty years; acid rock, heavy metal, punk, new wave, grunge, whatever, these guys are the daddies, granddaddies or great granddaddies of all rock styles except for the occasional rockabilly revival. In essence, TAGG is capitalizing on the popularity, familiarity, sound and style of the BI and BSKY while also appealing to the ego and self importance of the boomers. The popularity of garage music is just as intense internationally. Compilation CD’s sell as well in Europe and Japan as in the U.S. Many songs still receive airplay on overseas radio. Several musicians reported receiving calls and letters from fans overseas. The collectors market is strong. The two largest demographic groups for Teen-A-Go-Go are 45 to 60 and 25 to 40 year olds. These two groups are the strongest in DVD and tape purchasing for documentaries and reality based programming. There also is a hardcore group of collectors of garage band music and paraphernalia and an ardent fan base that span a large and varied age group. These three demographic groups are sizable and fervent in their support of music documentaries.

About Us

Director/ Co-Producer: Melissa Kirkendall Melissa brings over seventeen years of experience in the areas of music and film production. She has worked as a Production Manager, Location Manager, Music Supervisor and Producer on eight films, several music videos and the Fox television program Prison Break. Melissa has also worked as a Producer, Programmer and Production Coordinator for major festivals, concerts and special events. Her extraordinary knowledge and experience in the music and film industries makes her uniquely qualified to portray the Teen-A-Go-Go story.

Director of Photography: James Sterling Johnson Director of Photography Sterling Johnson has 20+ years of experience shooting and editing material for television and film. Mr. Johnson has won 20 regional Emmy Awards in the Heartland, Boston, and Northeast regions. Sterling shoots and edits projects on Final Cut Pro HD. He recently completed 13 episodes of a local lifestyle show, “Grin and Barrett” for KXAS-TV as well as directing and cutting segments for Orion Multimedia’s “American Safari”. He edited a pilot program for FOX “The Vegas Show” which starred Howie Mandell and Shenna Easton. Sterling is currently editing a documentary project in Denver Colorado.

Producer: Mark A. Nobles Mark has over thirteen years experience as a scriptwriter of children’s Educational, music video and documentary programming. Mark has done production work for NPR as well as writing and co-producing a weekly two-minute module for radio called Texas Music Minutes, which was syndicated on public radio stations throughout Texas. Mark is currently focusing on Teen-A-Go-Go and has other projects in various stages of development.

Co-Producer: Jon Keeyes Mr. Keeyes is a successful film director, screenwriter and producer. Among his credits are American Nightmare (director/writer/producer), Suburban Nightmare (director/writer/producer), Living & Dying (director/writer), Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know (director), and the forthcoming Fall Down Dead (director). Along with a constant flow of feature film work, Jon has directed episodes of the Danica McKellar show “Inspector Mom” for The Lifetime Channel.