Today’s Music Video Monday is a memorial of sorts.
Daniel Clarke of Crockett Hall says “I’ll Be True” took on new meaning between the time of its recording and release. “It’s a special song to me because I got to work with two friends of mine, Tommy Lee Williams and Ben Cauley,” he says. “Tommy and Ben both played at various times as members of the Memphis Horns and the Bar-Kays. Originally we planned to film this video together but Ben passed away in September. To honor what his friendship and support meant to me any many other musicians in Memphis, Stax gave us permission to film the video under their marquee.”
To honor Cauley’s legacy, all proceeds from “I’ll Be True” will be donated to the Soulsville Foundation. You can purchase the song and make a donation at the Crockett Hall Bandcamp page.
Music Video Monday: Crocket Hall
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
“Until We’re All Free (Ain’t Nobody Free)” is a collaboration between Memphis folk rocker John Kilzer and saxophonist Kirk Whalum. Archer Records tapped director Laura Jean Hocking to bring its egalitarian message to life. “Ward Archer and I went through several ideas before settling on this one,” Hocking says. “When we got Amurica photography owner Jamie Harmon and director of photography Sarah Fleming on board, they helped flesh out the concept. Jamie’s kind of like the Wizard of Oz, promising these children things that are supposed to be their inalienable rights, but which are not available to a lot of Americans. I didn’t have much experience working with children before this, so I had a little trepidation going in. But I was so fortunate to get a great cast. They made my life easy. Our hero kid Solly Philips was a dream. He took direction better than a lot of grown ups do.”
Music Video Monday: John Kilzer and Kirk Whalum
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Today’s Music Video Monday has an excessive number of guitars.
But excessive is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to rock and roll, and if you have a quintuple-necked guitar on hand, why not use it? Zigadoo Moneyclips, fresh off a killer set at the recent Memphis Does Bowie benefit, have released their first music video. “Telephile” was directed by Ally Aycock. “I’d like to thank Zak, Leigh, and Lena Baker, all of the members of Zigadoo Money Clips—especially Jamie Davis, Leigh Davis, all of the yogis, Tyson and High Point Pizza, and finally, Trevor Finney and Blake Heimbach of Hot Keys Studios,” she says. “When I was approached by Leigh and Zak to produce and direct ‘Telephile’, I knew Zak already had a vision for it. It was difficult at times for me to walk his vision so I eventually scrapped my entire concept and asked Zak, ‘What is your song trying to say?’ Once Zak and I established exactly what his message was, the storyline evolved quite organically, which, to me, is always an indication of a successful endeavor. Creating stories and producing videos is a labor of love—emphasis on love. If your story is making you miserable, you’re probably not approaching it from the best angle. By the end of the video process, Zak and I were both enamored by the product and I think the release will establish why we were so thrilled.”
Music Video Monday: Zigadoo Moneyclips
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Neighborhood Texture Jam was the first band I saw at the Antenna, and they blew my 18-year-old mind. The Memphis punks were crass, cerebral, hard, political, and fun. Memphis music has always been a polyglot of styles, and nobody personifies it better than NTJ, who mixed Madison Avenue hardcore punk with southern rock, funk, country, Bowie-esque theatricality, and forays into noise. This video, credited to “Marks/Wilson”, is from 1991, and it only hints at what a tremendously powerful live band they were—and still are, if you catch one of their periodic reunion shows.
Music Video Monday: Neighborhood Texture Jam
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Lisa Mac says she knew she wanted to direct the video to her first single “Hurricane” while she was recording it. She and Isaiah Conyers shot the video at Memphis’ Studio688 because it “…holds a special place in my heart because it’s where my whole creative journey began. So, as my song’s production began to take shape in the recording studio, a vision for my video began to take shape in my head. A whole team of people came together, including my parents, to help bring my vision to life. My stylist, the talented Tara Skelley, played a huge part in helping bring it all together. We created the whole set ourselves, with the help of my mom, who is exceptionally crafty. We Pinterested, thrifted, and DIYed until my whole vision for the video was complete. Everything that you see in the video was either handmade, or recycled and repurposed from used items. The white Valentine’s box of chocolates that you see in the video was originally purchased off of Amazon, and it was definitely past Valentine’s season:) I threw out the chocolates, spray painted the whole box, and then decorated the outside with rhinestones and ribbon. My mom replaced the old chocolates with handmade heart-shaped white chocolates.”
Music Video Monday: Lisa Mac
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This Music Video Monday invites you to an exclusive party.
When Oxford/Nashville band Light Beam Rider wanted to film a video for their song “A Place To Sleep Among The Creeps”, they turned to their old friend Nathan Ross Murphy.
“I’ve actually known [singer/guitarist] Thomas [Swift] since we were kids, fresh on the high school scene in Collierville. So I guess you could say this collaboration was just a matter of time.” says Murphy. “When Thomas sent me the song the band wanted to put visuals to, I was ecstatic—not just because it’s a great song but because it took me on a journey. It’s exactly what I love about LBR. Their music is the kind you daydream to.”
Murphy, who can be seen in the upcoming Old School Pictures comedy Bad, Bad Men, says he based the video on a short film concept he had been developing. “I immediately began to see this story unfolding where this haunted, centuries-old party collects victims through temptations of grandeur. I imagined these poor souls whose selfish desires outweigh the thinness of the facade around them. It’s a trap. Inevitably, they become doomed to an eternity of fake smiles—condemned to welcome the next unsuspecting victim with a martini in hand, and all at the doing of one questionably villainous Doorman deity played by my friend and fellow actor Donald Meyers. The visual goal was to create a ghostly, Victorian atmosphere that appears to have swallowed a collection of guests spanning various decades. This was achieved by the superb talents and crew contributions of Ryan Earl Parker, Jordan Danelz, Mona Kaiserseder, Blake Heimbach, Lauren Cavanaugh, Stephanie Marie Green, and Trevor Finney as well as an amazing mixture of friends and strangers-turned-friends who lent their time and cooperation so that we could make some cool art.” Here’s the video, featuring actors Leah Beth Bolton-Wingfield, Jacob Wingfield, and Jesse Davis.
Music Video Monday: Light Beam Rider
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Music Video Monday is usually for Memphis acts only, but today, we make an exception for David Bowie.
David Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth, 1976
Bowie, who passed away last night, two days after his 69th birthday, was hugely influential in the development of the music video form, even though his career began long before the term was coined. The modern music video has its roots in “promo clips”, short films made by record labels to promote their acts, intended to be played on TV shows like “American Bandstand” or “The Old Grey Whistle Test”. Promo clips’ primary function was to introduce English artists to American audiences, or visa versa, as it was much cheaper to produce a 3-minute short film than it was to mount a transatlantic tour. Bowie’s first promo clip was released in July, 1969, intended to coincide with the first moon landing.
Music Video Monday Special Edition: David Bowie 1947-2016 (7)
But Bowie’s ascent to international superstardom didn’t begin in earnest for another couple of years, when he became the face of what would be called glam rock. This promo clip from 1971 is all about showing the audience Bowie’s new look.
Music Video Monday Special Edition: David Bowie 1947-2016
The album Hunky Dory and its followup The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars made Bowie a household name in England, with the help of this 1972 performance of “Starman” on Top Of The Pops.
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In 1973, at the height of Ziggy’s popularity, The Spiders From Mars played a show at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. Director D.A. Pennebaker was there to shoot a couple of songs for new promo clips that would accompany Bowie’s anticipated U.S. tour, but he was to taken with Bowie that he ordered his cameramen to film the entire show. Unbeknownst to him—and to the rest of the band—Bowie announced that night would be his last show as Ziggy. The resulting movie is now regarded as one of the greatest concert films of all time. Here’s “Moonage Daydream” from Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture. In 2014, this song would end up on the Guardians Of The Galaxy soundtrack.
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Ditching Ziggy was the first of Bowie’s many reinventions of himself. In the mid-70s, he commandeered a Philly soul band and produced a series of huge hits, including “Fame”, which he co-wrote with John Lennon. With the next slightly awkward clip, Bowie became one of the first white artists to appear on Soul Train.
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In the second half of the 1970s, Bowie’s drug habits had gotten completely out of control. He holed up in Berlin with Iggy Pop, who was also trying to kick, and former Roxy Music keyboardist turned producer Brian Eno for a trilogy of experimental art rock albums whose sound people are a still trying to emulate. The middle of the three albums—and Bowie’s second album released in 1977—was called “Heroes”.
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Bowie had starred in the science fiction film The Man Who Fell To Earth a few years before, and as he became more interested in film, his promo clips became more elaborate. In 1980’s “Fashion”, the dialectic between Bowie and punk rock was on full display.
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Bowie’s greatest music video was also from the Scary Monsters and Super Creeps era. “Ashes To Ashes” was produced in 1980, When MTV was launched in August, 1981, they were desperate for content, and so this strange, groundbreaking music video was the first glimpse the MTV generation got of David Bowie.
Music Video Monday Special Edition: David Bowie 1947-2016 (4)
In 1983, Bowie filmed this video for “Let’s Dance” in Australia. Buoyed by constant rotation on MTV, it would become the biggest commercial success of his career.
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Thanks to YouTube, there’s a lot of great videos of Bowie playing live on the web. I’m especially fond of this one from Tokyo, recorded in 1978. In July 1985, Bowie was invited to play Live Aid, a benefit concert for African famine relief that became a huge media event, commanding what was at the time the biggest television audience in history. Bowie was between tours, so with the help of synth pop legend Thomas Dolby, Bowie put together a pick up band to create a set that would function as a primer to his entire career. Each artist was allotted 17 minutes to play, and Bowie chose “TVC-15”, “Modern Love”, “Rebel Rebel”, and “Heroes”
As the sun set over London’s Wembly Stadium, Bowie played to an estimated TV audience of 1 billion. Before Live Aid, “Heroes” was a rather obscure number that Bowie continued to keep in his show just because he liked it. After this performance, it would become his signature song.
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Bowie continued to record and tour in various guises until he was felled by a heart attack onstage in 2004. He retired from touring, but made a comeback album The Next Day in 2014. For “The Stars Are Out” video, he enlisted Tilda Swinton as co-star.
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Bowie was diagnosed with cancer 18 months ago, but he kept his ailment secret as he recorded one last record, Blackstar, with his producer and friend Tony Visconti. As the end approached, he created one final music video, which was released two days ago. Today, as news of Bowie’s death was announced, Visconti confirmed that Blackstar was meant as a “parting gift” to his fans. “His death was not different from his life—a work of Art.”
Music Video Monday Special Edition: David Bowie 1947-2016 (9)
Today’s Music Video Monday is going straight to the top!
Our first video offering of the new year is a gem from Memphis singer/songwriter Alex da Ponte. Director Laura Jean Hocking based this video on Hotel Monterey, a 1972 feature film by Belgian experimental filmmaker Chantel Ackerman. Shot in Downtown’s historic Shrine Building, the video depicts da Ponte’s songwriting process as a vertical journey from the lobby to the roof.
Music Video Monday: Alex da Ponte
If you’d like to get in on some of this sweet Music Video Monday action, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
This year of Music Video Mondays ends with a note of holiday melancholy.
Folk rock supergroup supreme Memphis Dawls has announced that their show tomorrow night at Lafayette’s will be their last for the foreseeable future. It’s sad news for Memphis music fans that is happening for a happy cause: singer/guitarist Holly Cole recently got married and is moving to Hawai’i with her new hubby.
The Memphis Dawls (left to right) Jana Missner, Holly Cole, and Krista Wroten Combest
The three high school friends leave behind a rich, if too short, legacy of songs, and a couple of great music videos, like last year’s “Skin LIke A Cage”, directed by Jared B. Callahan. The video was shot at Midtown musical landmark the Buccaneer and stars Memphis actress Annie Gaia.
Music Video Monday Special Edition: Memphis Dawls (3)
The Dawls first video was for “Hickory”, from their self-titled debut EP. The haunting video, which artfully combines archival footage from the 1960s and live images of the band shot at Beale Street Studios, was directed by Laura Jean Hocking.
Music Video Monday Special Edition: Memphis Dawls (2)
Since the director of “Hickory” also happens to be my wife, I was at the video shoot, which took place just before Christmas, 2011. After we’d wrapped, we were celebrating and the band started talking about the cover of a holiday standard they had worked up for their next show. We convinced them perform the song while we turned on the camera one last time. This is the result.
Music Video Monday Special Edition: Memphis Dawls
Best wishes to the Dawls, and Happy Holidays from the Memphis Flyer film blog. Next week, we’ll reveal our Best Memphis Music Video of 2015. If you have a music video you shot in 2015 which you would like to put into consideration for the Best Memphis Music Video, please email a link and details to cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Today’s Music Video Monday is dressed to the nines.
“Black Tux”, the lead single from Memphis rapper Marco Pavé’s new EP Perception is about the corrosive effect of the pursuit of status. It’s also a total banger. Director Drew Fleming created this high-energy video for the song, which mixes a moving, black and white narrative with color performance footage.
Music Video Monday: Marco Pavé
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
