Since things changed a handful of months back, an interesting thing happened. Starting with the amazing Other Music documentary, video production and distribution companies started reaching out to record stores and other indie outlets for documentary rentals. From there we've seen a couple other non-documentary offers and it's continued to grow. Your rental through Bull City Records actually benefits the shop too, as we receive a portion of the ticket sales. Pretty cool! Here's a current list of our upcoming and active rentals....
WHITE RIOT: Rock Against Racism Documentary
|| RENT / WATCH TRAILER HERE ||
Britain, late-1970s. Punk is exploding. The country is deeply divided over immigration. The National Front, a far-right and fascist political party, is gaining strength as politicians like Enoch Powell push a xenophobic agenda. Outraged by a racist speech from Eric Clapton, music photographer Red Saunders writes a letter to the music press, calling for rock to be a force against racism. NME, Melody Maker, and Sounds all publish the letter. Flooded with responses, Red discovers many share his views. Teaming up with like-minded creatives Roger Huddle, Kate Webb, Syd Shelton and Australian graphic designer Ruth Gregory, the team bands together to create Rock Against Racism (RAR) and a fanzine, Temporary Hoarding. Speaking directly to the youth, Temporary Hoarding reports stories and issues that the mainstream British media ignores, like immigration, the Catholic side of the Northern Ireland conflict, and the police’s controversial “suspected persons” (sus) powers. They give a voice to the voiceless. The National Front begins to strike back, committing acts of violence against RAR supporters and petrol-bombing their HQ. Despite this, RAR spreads virally across the UK and into Europe, becoming a grassroots youth movement. The Clash, Steel Pulse, Tom Robinson and other top bands of the day jump on board. White Riot is a moment in time when music changed the world. When a generation challenged the status quo. It’s Woodstock meets the March on Washington, punk-style.
BILLY THE KID Documentary
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A provocative coming-of-age story, Jennifer Venditti's debut film, BILLY THE KID (2007), is an acclaimed odyssey into the soul of an American teenager. Venditti follows Billy as he navigates small town Maine, grappling with isolation and first-time love, and traversing the frustrating gap between imagination and reality. Exhilarating and heartfelt, the film grants an intimate, empathetic view of an expressive and seemingly fearless outsider and provides an unvarnished and unique snapshot into what it’s like to grow up in America.
ALL I CAN SAY: Shannon Hoon Documentary
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Shannon Hoon, lead singer of the rock band Blind Melon, filmed himself from 1990-95 with a Hi8 video camera, recording up until a few hours before his sudden death at the age of 28. His camera was a diary and his closest confidant. In the hundreds of hours of footage, Hoon meticulously documented his life – his family, his creative process, his television, his band’s rise to fame and his struggle with addiction. He filmed his daughter’s birth, and archived the politics and culture of the 90’s, an era right before the internet changed the world. Created with his own footage, voice and music, this intimate autobiography is a prescient exploration of experience and memory in the age of video. It is also Shannon Hoon’s last work, completed 23 years after his death.
CREEM: America's Only Rock'n'Roll Magazine Documentary
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Capturing the messy upheaval of the '70s just as rock was re-inventing itself, the film explores CREEM Magazine's humble beginnings in post-riot Detroit, follows its upward trajectory from underground paper to national powerhouse, then bears witness to its imminent demise following the tragic and untimely deaths of its visionary publisher, Barry Kramer, and its most famous alum and genius clown prince, Lester Bangs, a year later. Fifty years after publishing its first issue, "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine" remains a seditious spirit in music and culture.
AMATEUR ON PLASTIC: Butch Willis Documentary
|| RENT / WATCH TRAILER HERE ||
Butch Willis is a Washington, D.C. rock legend. Born and raised in 1960s suburban Maryland, Byron Henry "Butch" Willis came of age in the late '70s post-hippie subculture. After sharing an apartment with infamous local music icon Root Boy Slim, Butch was inspired to become a rock'n'roll star himself. The unique and unusual brand of "outsider music" that Butch Willis & The Rocks created captivated the local music scene beginning with their appearance at the seminal Primitive Night in 1984. AMATEUR ON PLASTIC chronicles Butch's life and career from the beginning all the way through to present day. It features a host of Butch-appointed band managers Joe Lee (Joe’s Record Paradise), Jeff Mentges (No Trend), Jeff Krulik (Heavy Metal Parking Lot), and director Mark Robinson (Unrest/Teen-Beat). Also co-starring is Al Breon, the Rocks' innovative "throat guitarist." The film combines archival footage, interviews with Butch, and performances of his hit songs "Drugs," “The Garden’s Outside,” "TV's From Outer Space," and “The Girl's on My Mind."
Amateur on Plastic also parallels the 1990’s era of seminal indie record label Teen-Beat. Behind-the-scenes glimpses of the label’s concerts and private parties provide much of the background and feature members of the bands Unrest, Versus, Tuscadero and more.
Appearances by : Butch Willis, Jeff Krulik, Mark Robinson, Gibby Haynes, Ian MacKaye, Guy Picciotto, Karl Hendricks, Brendan Canty, Phil Krauth, Logan Perkins, Joe Lee, Nancy Marion, Amanda Riecken, Al Breon, Ron "Blelvis" Wooten, Ray Wallace, Dean Evangelista, Jonathan "Cap'n Jon" Curlin, Jeff Mentges, Steve Lorber, Dick Bangham, Pat Carroll, John Heyn, Florence Willis, Phil Milstein, Ken Rudd, Keith Waldron, Curtis Lafley, Foster MacKenzie III, Adele Abrams, Karl Straub, Chris Callahan, Miguel Gomez, John Lindaman, Johanna Bauman, Pat Ramos, James Baluyut, Stuart Chandler, Alice Despard, Natalie Mencinsky, Tom Krauth, Charlotte Moore, Mat Lewis, Rob Christiansen, Jonny Cohen, Lauren Feldsher, Michelle Tiger, Jenny Toomey, Tracy Shedd and many more.