Cinema Cycle - Monterey Pop

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE: 10/29/2014

TITLE: Monterey Pop

FORMAT: LaserDisc

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 19 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 20.4 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 638.3 miles

SYNOPSIS: That Other 1960s Concert Film

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: We were all young, exuberant and optimistic once upon a time.  We need films like this to remind us so we don’t forget.

PROS AND CONS: When viewing a lot of the concert discs and opera discs for this project, I have a set of wireless headphones that I plug into the video system.  These really paid off while watching this film.  I found that I pedal a lot faster and get a better workout when I am watching/listening to really good music.

This is the other concert film from the summer of love, the more well known film is the one documenting Woodstock.  This film is shorter and more intimate, having been staged at a smaller venue near San Francisco and produced by Mark Phillips of the Mamas and Papas fame.

What really hit me while watching this film was the innocence on the faces of the young people who were present at the show.  We have lost some of the wide-eyed optimism and purity in the ensuing decades as our youth gave way to corporate greed and manipulation by ‘The Man’.  

All the performances here are good and some are downright exceptional.  Keith Moon at his manic best as The Who’s drummer in ‘My Generation’.  Mama Kass watching in amazement as Janice Joplin sings ‘Ball and Chain’, Jimmy Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire after his performance of ‘Wild Thing’ and Ravi Shankar proving that the sitar is indeed a rock instrument.

Songs featured in the film, in order of appearance:

1. Scott McKenzie—"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)"*
2. The Mamas & The Papas—"Creeque Alley"* and "California Dreamin'"
3. Canned Heat—"Rollin' and Tumblin'"
4. Simon & Garfunkel—"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"
5. Hugh Masekela—"Bajabula Bonke (The Healing Song)"
6. Jefferson Airplane—"High Flyin' Bird" and "Today"
7. Big Brother & The Holding Company—"Ball 'n' Chain"
8. Eric Burdon & The Animals—"Paint It, Black"
9. The Who—"My Generation"
10. Country Joe & The Fish—"Section 43"
11. Otis Redding—"Shake" and "I've Been Loving You Too Long"
12. The Jimi Hendrix Experience—"Wild Thing"
13. The Mamas & The Papas—"Got a Feelin'"
14. Ravi Shankar—"Dhun" ("Dadra and Fast Teental") (mistitled as "Raga Bhimpalasi")

To read an overview of this project, check out the initial post for this series.

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

The summary of the project and a glimpse of what is coming up next can be found on my public LaserDisc spreadsheet.