The Velvet Forum

lurid wrote: ↑10 Jun 2022 17:47 I originally got it on a VHS tape but some years ago a fellow fan put it onto a DVD for me. I will need to try to find it - I moved house recently and can't remember where it is!

If you find it, please do share it. I would love to watch it too.

Many thanks in advance.

Hi! I have that film somewhere. I uploaded the sequence on youtube some time ago. PM me if you’d like a copy!

lurid wrote: ↑10 Jun 2022 17:47 I originally got it on a VHS tape but some years ago a fellow fan put it onto a DVD for me. I will need to try to find it - I moved house recently and can't remember where it is! The theme of the film is Merce Cunningham's dance troupe so I found most of it very boring....the small segment on YouTube is all that is VU-related.

hallucalation wrote: ↑10 Jun 2022 12:52

It is possible to share whole film here as link? Would love to watch it.

Hey Lurid I am that fellow fan! I still have that transfer if you want it again!

What is the source of the audio to this footage -- Gymnasium?

Sheila Klein wrote: ↑01 Jul 2022 18:30 What is the source of the audio to this footage -- Gymnasium?

It is the actual audio from the Merce Cunningham Benefit.

It is the actual audio from the Merce Cunningham Benefit.

What are you basing that information on?

Sheila Klein wrote: ↑02 Jul 2022 00:29

It is the actual audio from the Merce Cunningham Benefit.

What are you basing that information on?

In the 1990s, a friend of mine contacted the original film maker to enquire about any unused material. There was no such material, but he said that he recorded the VU while they were performing.

Do you mean that he stated that he audio-recorded the band? Do you think we can expect that the dancers are in sync to the music we hear? Forgive me for my skepticism, but we've been burned so many times on matters like this -- the audio of Ronald Nameth's movie being asynchronous, for instance, with the visuals it's timed to.

Sheila Klein wrote: ↑02 Jul 2022 02:51 Do you mean that he stated that he audio-recorded the band? Do you think we can expect that the dancers are in sync to the music we hear? Forgive me for my skepticism, but we've been burned so many times on matters like this -- the audio of Ronald Nameth's movie being asynchronous, for instance, with the visuals it's timed to.

At first I thought he could have recorded the audio separately (with a non-sync recorder) to the film and edited it on afterwards - in which it would not even have to be in sync (but could be resynced). But there are cuts in the audio that perfectly sync with edits in the footage - in the middle of the songs - and I'm not sure anyone would deliberately add edits like that. Also the crowd voices in the last section. It sounds authentic and even it was stripped in from a totally different source, it's not from the Gymnasium concert we already have.

There are other ways that could've happened, but your suggestion does seem the most reasonable. The audio fidelity is, of course, not great, but it's far from unlistenable and the performance -- what slim portions we hear of it -- are magnificent. What's so frustrating about that is the indication, when coupled with the Gymnasium tape, that the group was at one of its peaks during (at least) mid '67, yet we have no more than a few tantilizing bits from then to enjoy.

I've located some further information about the documentary this clip is from. Its titled 498 3rd Ave., and was directed by Klaus Wilderhahn. I presume that's the person lurid's friend communicated with, although it'd be helpful if he's able to verify that with him.

I've found another, slightly different (and longer) iteration of the Glass House footage online, that might (I haven't compared them yet) have the music a bit louder than the one linked above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6hSFq6xI-Y