Review: Teen A Go Go (2012)

[Mark R. Leeper]

TEEN A GO GO
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

CAPSULE: Melissa Kirkendall takes a look at the Rock
and Roll explosion following the fame of the Beatles,
1964 to 1972. The unlikely scene of a lot of the
action was Fort Worth, Texas, home of an entire
culture of "garage bands." This was a pivotal change
in American culture, and it was kids in their mid to
upper teens. Kirkendall tells us the story of the
Rock and Roll youth movement and those exciting eight
years. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10

I was around for but not into the 1960s Rock and Roll scene that
followed the British Invasion with the popularity of the Beatles.
The "Ed Sullivan Show" featured the Beatles on March 13, 1964, and
overnight the style of long hair, English mannerisms, and bands
with four or five musicians became the standard for teens all over
the United States.

I did not participate but was the right age and I remember the
revolution and what was really the invention of what we now call
the "youth culture." Also this is about the phenomenon that swept
the country but one of the centers of the excitement was, of all
places, Fort Worth, Texas. Now normally Fort Worth is not even the
cultural leader of the twin cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. But
it did seem to be the center of garage bands--bands of kids in
their early to mid-teens who formed groups and practiced typically
in their garages because there parents would not allow the loud
noise in the house. In this time Fort Worth became to Rock and
Roll sort of what Roger Corman was to American cinema. It was a
kind of proving ground for what was to come in Rock and Roll.
Several teen Go-Go clubs opened in town, and if your group was
booked for an A Go-Go, you were pretty much already a star.

TEEN A GO GO is Melissa Kirkendall's reminiscence of that exciting
time. It tells the story of what happened but concentrates mostly
on interviews with the musicians, the disk jockeys, executives, and
fans. It moves back and forth between telling the story and
interviews with participants. There are plenty of musicians still
around. None of the Fort Worth crowd seems to have made more than
negligible money from their music--that has gone to the
corporations. But this was a wholesome creativity. Rock and Roll
comes off as well adjusted compared to the rock that followed. In
telling the story I do not believe there is ever an occasion in the
film even to use the word "drug". Sex is never mentioned much more
than to say the guys really liked to have girls screaming for them.
(There are two murders mentioned in one story, but they do not
appear to having anything to do with the music.) These are people
who in those eight years from 1964 to 1972 had a fun and creative
time as teenagers and then went on to do something else with their
lives. Records were made of the teens, frequently with just one
take of the song. Many of these records have become valuable
collectors' items. Most of the music is unfamiliar (to me at
least) though the premiere group, The Elites did have a song, "One
Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four" that did get national play.

Curiously there is no mention of the fact that there are very few
girls in the bands. A girl band is discussed, but there are no
bands of mixed gender, with the possible exception of bands with
Go-Go girls who were pretty much just stage decoration.

Kirkendall co-produces, directs, and edits, each for the first time
on a feature film. The technical work could use some work. There
are occasional jumps in sound level between scenes. When music
historian Joe Nick Patowski is interviewed his glasses
distractingly reflect bright light and street scenes.

TEEN A GO GO is a reminder of a simpler and more innocent time when
"Rock and Roll" was enough by itself and did not need to be "sex,
drugs, and Rock and Roll." I rate the film a +1 on the -4 to +4
scale or 6/10.

Film Credits: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1811328/>


Mark R. Leeper
mle...@optonline.net
Copyright 2012 Mark R. Leeper
TEEN A GO GO
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

CAPSULE: Melissa Kirkendall takes a look at the Rock
and Roll explosion following the fame of the Beatles,
1964 to 1972. The unlikely scene of a lot of the
action was Fort Worth, Texas, home of an entire
culture of "garage bands." This was a pivotal change
in American culture, and it was kids in their mid to
upper teens. Kirkendall tells us the story of the
Rock and Roll youth movement and those exciting eight
years. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10

I was around for but not into the 1960s Rock and Roll scene that
followed the British Invasion with the popularity of the Beatles.
The "Ed Sullivan Show" featured the Beatles on March 13, 1964, and
overnight the style of long hair, English mannerisms, and bands
with four or five musicians became the standard for teens all over
the United States.

I did not participate but was the right age and I remember the
revolution and what was really the invention of what we now call
the "youth culture." Also this is about the phenomenon that swept
the country but one of the centers of the excitement was, of all
places, Fort Worth, Texas. Now normally Fort Worth is not even the
cultural leader of the twin cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. But
it did seem to be the center of garage bands--bands of kids in
their early to mid-teens who formed groups and practiced typically
in their garages because there parents would not allow the loud
noise in the house. In this time Fort Worth became to Rock and
Roll sort of what Roger Corman was to American cinema. It was a
kind of proving ground for what was to come in Rock and Roll.
Several teen Go-Go clubs opened in town, and if your group was
booked for an A Go-Go, you were pretty much already a star.

TEEN A GO GO is Melissa Kirkendall's reminiscence of that exciting
time. It tells the story of what happened but concentrates mostly
on interviews with the musicians, the disk jockeys, executives, and
fans. It moves back and forth between telling the story and
interviews with participants. There are plenty of musicians still
around. None of the Fort Worth crowd seems to have made more than
negligible money from their music--that has gone to the
corporations. But this was a wholesome creativity. Rock and Roll
comes off as well adjusted compared to the rock that followed. In
telling the story I do not believe there is ever an occasion in the
film even to use the word "drug". Sex is never mentioned much more
than to say the guys really liked to have girls screaming for them.
(There are two murders mentioned in one story, but they do not
appear to having anything to do with the music.) These are people
who in those eight years from 1964 to 1972 had a fun and creative
time as teenagers and then went on to do something else with their
lives. Records were made of the teens, frequently with just one
take of the song. Many of these records have become valuable
collectors' items. Most of the music is unfamiliar (to me at
least) though the premiere group, The Elites did have a song, "One
Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four" that did get national play.

Curiously there is no mention of the fact that there are very few
girls in the bands. A girl band is discussed, but there are no
bands of mixed gender, with the possible exception of bands with
Go-Go girls who were pretty much just stage decoration.

Kirkendall co-produces, directs, and edits, each for the first time
on a feature film. The technical work could use some work. There
are occasional jumps in sound level between scenes. When music
historian Joe Nick Patowski is interviewed his glasses
distractingly reflect bright light and street scenes.

TEEN A GO GO is a reminder of a simpler and more innocent time when
"Rock and Roll" was enough by itself and did not need to be "sex,
drugs, and Rock and Roll." I rate the film a +1 on the -4 to +4
scale or 6/10.

Film Credits: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1811328/>


Mark R. Leeper
mle...@optonline.net
Copyright 2012 Mark R. Leeper