Back in the mid-60s, five American GIs stationed in Germany start a band after their hitch is up. Two German ad execs/art students turn this band into something new and terrifying — the anti-Beatles, THE MONKS.
Dressed in dark uniforms, with tonsure-cuts and nooses as ties, they strove to make the most minimal, primitive, repetitive, noisy rock yet in existence — rhythm-heavy howlers and stompers with electrified banjo and feedback. Their audiences were often perplexed or angry, but their musical legacy (one album on Polydor and hundreds of German live and TV appearances) lives on in the punk, heavy metal, techno and art rock that followed to the present.
Surprised to find they had a following (they came back to the USA penniless), all five Monks are interviewed (just in time, two have passed on since) about their experiences.
Even if you don’t like their music very much, anyone would like their story. My wife did!
Tuesday, June 16 at 7 p.m. we will have a pre-release short showing of Clevelander Brad Ricca’s film Last Son about the Cleveland origins of Superman. Seems the Man of Steel was created right here in our fair city, back in the 1930s, by Glenville High graduates Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
This film played at Ingenuity Fest last summer and at the Akron Film Festival. It’s not yet in general release, so there are few opportunities to see it. And along with the film itself (this version is about an hour long), Brad will be here to answer questions and talk about the research and filming of this Cleveland original movie.
This film is more than suitable for all ages of Superman fans.
As the summer winds down, we have a fun option for the whole family ready to roll!
Enjoy 1. a movie 2. on our lawn/patio 3. on a giant screen 4. after hours.
Movies start at 9 pm. Hey, it has to be dark out! Bring blankets or lawn chairs if desired (we’ll have a few chairs and benches as well), as well as refreshments.
Tomorrow, August 8th:
August (get it?) Rush
Freddie Highmore, Liv Tyer,
Keri Russell, Robin Williams
Warner Bros.; Directed by Kirsten Sheridan
Rated PG; 100 minutes; 2007
Two young musicians have a chance encounter but when they are torn apart they leave an infant in their wake. Young August Rush, orphaned by circumstance, uses his unique inherited musical talent to seek the parents from whom he was separated at birth.
Friday, August 15th:
Finding Nemo
Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneris
Walt DIsney Pictures; Directed by Andrew Stanton
Rated G; 100 minutes; 2003
A father-son underwater adventure featuring Nemo, a boy clownfish, stolen from his coral reef home. His timid father must then travel to Sydney, and search Sydney Harbour find Nemo
The world’s first electronic musical instrument is played by waving your hands in midair, as demonstrated by the device’s inventor, Leo Theremin. Looks easy, but the instrument is really hard to play (trust us, we have one in Discovery Works and you can try it yourself)….
On Monday, October 29th at 7:00 pm, Robert Wheeler will show us how its done right in our Gallery. Mr. Wheeler is a member of Cleveland’s legendary avante-garage band, Pere Ubu, and also has a farm in Milan, Ohio.
Sunday, October 14 at 1:30 p.m. we’re holding our first Sunday Matinee. For October, we’re going with a Halloween theme: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Come with a friend for a howling good time!
And don’t forget our coming Monday Matinee, this Monday, Sept. 24: The Best of the Tonight Show: King of Late Night.
Monday, Sept. 24, we’re hosting our second Monday Matinee at 1:30 p.m. We’re showing The Best of the Tonight Show: King of Late-Night.
If you have ideas for future Monday Matinees, please leave a comment. Our license won’t let us show everything, but it will let us show most American large-run movies out on DVD.
Hope you’ll come and join us. Should we serve popcorn?
Five years have gone by, the pain and the heroism are still with us. This Sept. 11, Avon Lake Public Library will remember the heroes of September 11 and our loss with a day-long screening of films revolving around the events of that day in 2001.
At 9:15 we’ll screen 9/11: The Filmmakers’ Commemorative Edition, a film by Jules and Gedeon Naudet and James Hanlon. This documentary follows a firefighter into the Twin Towers on September 11. Maybe the only footage shot from inside before the Towers fell, this tribute to those who gave their lives to save others won two Emmys.
At 1 p.m. see Twin Towers: The True Story of Two Brothers Whose Courage Will Never be Forgotten. Two brothers – one a firefighter, one a police officer – are remembered for their bravery in New York City on September 11. This documentary won an Academy Award.
And at 2 p.m we’ll screen Eleven Minutes, Nine Seconds, One Image: September 11 (this movie is also known by the title 9′ 11′ 01)by Youssef Chahine and ten other directors from 11 countries. Each director has contribute an 11-minute, 9-second short, reflecting on the events of 11 September 2001. Each short film is another look, from another country, on the events of that day. This last film, or series of films, is very challenging, as well as notably uneven. Some of the films are tributes to those who died or to those who risked all that day. Some of these films ask us to experience the suffering of other people in the world who have endured other atrocities, in some cases at the hands of Americans. Not all of the films work very well. Some maybe work too well.
I hope each of the movies will deepen our reflection on this tragedy, on our experience of being Americans and on our role as Americans in the world. These movies are not for everyone. They contain violent scenes and harsh language. They ask us to remember, to empathize with those in pain (and with our own pain) and to reflect. I hope you will join us for this Commemoration.
We will show these films in the Gallery, making use of our new state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment. Along with the films, we’ll display our September 11 flag with the names of those who died in the Towers and a journal to record any thoughts you’d like to share. You are welcome to come and go quietly to the films that interest you or as your time allows. Between and after the films you may wish to discuss your reactions and your hopes for the future with other viewers.
It’s mostly for entertainment. It never stops moving. And it doesn’t seem overlong, either. .. the curse of far too many movies. Not everyone agrees, however…., but maybe some people are reading too much into it.
For further research:
Here’s the Frank Miller Graphic Novel this was based on.
Here’s another novel based on the Battle Of Thermopylae, and we have enough copies for you to have a Book Discussion!
“I am Arthur Frayn, and I am Zardoz. I have lived 300 years, and long to die.”
So begins one of the strangest, and yet most compelling, sci-fi movies ever made. Sean Connery’s first film after retiring as Bond, and John Boorman’s first film after Deliverance meant high expectations for this (shot entirely in scenic County Wicklow, Ireland). They were not met.
Who cares.
Too many miss the point behind the weird futuretalk, immortals wearing strange hats, inflatable buildings, green bread, random psychedelia, mutant exterminators and of course the Flying Stone Head. Heavy issues of mortality, power, deception, arrogance and existence itself are explored, leaving images that will scar you for a lifetime, like this:
Hi, I’m Cindy Maxey. I’m one of the Adult Services / Reference Librarians at ALPL. Besides helping patrons find all kinds of information and choose good books, I do book talks, lead book discussions, teach patrons to use the catalog and our electronic databases, choose lots of the nonfiction books and plan programs for adults.
Just for a change of pace, let me tell you about one of the new movies in our collection. Bobby is written and directed by Emilio Estevez who also has a small role in the movie. The story follows the day of 22 different people in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on the day Robert Kennedy was assassinated. From a wealthy couple on vacation trying to reconnect to one another, to two Latino kitchen workers trying to make their way against racism, from an African-American campaign worker whose last hope is Bobby Kennedy to the young woman about to marry a man to keep him out of Vietnam all the stories come together when Kennedy is shot.
Estevez’s use of archival news footage from 1968 blends seamlessly with his 2006 movie footage. One moment we’re looking at his all-star cast and the next we’re looking at Kennedy himself. Estevez handles his story well. Despite the huge cast, we never become confused between the characters or lose the individual threads. Through most of the movie it’s not clear what most of these people have to do with Kennedy other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but by the end of the movie the theme is clear.
In one scene, a wise chef (Laurence Fishburne) counsels a young kitchen worker (Freddy Rodriguez) that he is the “once and future king.” And by the end of the movie, we are left musing: what once might have been and might it yet be again?
Posted by Gerry 
Posted by cindythelibrarian 
Posted by Gerry 
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