Rena KosnettTarget Video screens a 2-hour compilation video at MOCA's Geffen Contemporary, as part of the CineMOCA festival.
Photos by Rena Kosnett.
Blood brothers: Germs drummer Don Bolles and the night's music programmer, Henry Rollins.
The turn-out for the Target Video screening was solid, mostly 30 and 40 somethings fanning the flame of the old mohawk spirit, but there were younger curious people as well, many of whom, when asked, had never heard of Target Video. The Gun Club portions of the screening were what really captured my attention, as Jeffrey Lee Pierce's haunting wail has always occupied a chamber in my heart; but I couldn't shake the distraction of the odd setting. On one end there was a film playing highlighting 1980s punk kids and their battle to tape up homemade flyers, and on the other end was an Infiniti for sale.
And an Infiniti salesman.
Talkin' shop.
Not to mention $8 Heinekens, and $6 hot dogs. And the chips? I think they were $2.50. Punk rock.
A confusing mixture of endorsements. Hypocritical? Perhaps. Oxymoronic? Maybe. But it definitely sucked all of what was left of the revolutionary appeal of those Target videos right out. Why hold a screening to pay homage to a certain time when the very thesis of the movement in question is being negated by the surrounding corporate sponsorship? There's nothing wrong with getting paid, and the arts are definitely underfunded in this country–it's just that when you hold the purpose up to be something it isn't…I hate to use the words “douche bag,” but if the shoe fits…
More photos:
Target Video founder Joe Rees.
Videothing gets Jim Freek's take.
These kids were saying they're in a band…parents, please stop them or they'll end up like these guys:
But that actually wouldn't be so bad. These people were sweet as hell.
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