I've probably mentioned it a couple of times here before, but I was lucky enough to see Black Flag play live back in the balmy days of 1986. Truthfully, while it's nice to be able to say that, it wasn't that great a show. Had I realized at the time that the band was to acrimoniously fall apart shortly afterwards, I probably would have invested more into my enjoyment of the proceedings.
I was a freshman at Denison University in Ohio, and Black Flag were playing in nearby Columbus at the Newport Music Hall. Being a New Yorker, I had never bothered to procure myself a fake I.D. as, at the time, clubs in NYC were pretty lax about such things...or at least, NYC clubs were pretty lax until later that summer, when Robert Chambers (who I went to school with, I'm still bemused to say) was arrested for the strangling of Jennifer Levin in Central Park after he picked her up at Dorian's Red Hand on the Upper East Side, but that's a whole `nother sordid story. In any case, since I'd never needed a fake I.D., I was forced to witness Black Flag from the comparatively yawnsome (and beer-free) confines of the upper mezzanine. I wasn't thrilled about it, but I was still psyched to be seeing Black Flag.
Another problem with the show was that evidently shortly before the gig, Henry Rollins had been bitten by something or someone, and was hobbling around the stage like a pained cripple as opposed to the feral, combative force of supernature he was otherwise renowned for being. The band's set list was peppered with newer material and long, sludgy jams and featured very few (if any) gems from the band's earlier period. Obviously, Kira, Chuck, Dez, Robo and others were all long gone by this point. Honestly speaking, it was not Black Flag at their best.
So why am I talking about all this now? Well, filmmaker and former Painted WIllie drummer David Markey has just put his 1986 documentary abut that Black Flag tour, "Reality 86'd," up on the Web. I have yet had the time to sit through all of it, so I'm very curious if there's any footage from that show at the Newport Music Hall featured.
Regardless, there is some great, vintage footage herein. Click here to watch. Tell'em Flaming Pablum sent'cha.
ADDENDUM: After a few days, Markey apparently got the below notification:
This is to notify you that, as a result of a third-party notification by Greg Ginn claiming that the material is infringing, we have removed or disabled access to the material that appeared at http://www.vimeo.com/23499919.
Recent Comments