The VJ Diaries:
Before MTV there was HURRAH, the club where the video jockey was born. Merrill Aldighieri is the first video jockey who chronicled a year of life in music video at HURRAH, a trend setting club in NYC. Her video recordings, like pages from a diary, will form the backbone of this documentary. New interviews with the bands, DJ's, club people, and lots of original animation will combine with the historic stereo concert footage of bands such as New Order, Gang of Four, Sun Ra, Suicide, Material, Magazine, Pylon, Defunkt, Richard Hell, and many more.
Each night Merrill improvised live video mixes of original animation and stock footage to interpret the DJ's music. Her public experiment caught on like wildfire, spreading to all the hot spots in town and MTV itself. Now an Emmy award winning animator and documentary filmmaker, Merrill creates an authentic view of musical history from an artist's perspective.
More info & donation information for The VJ Diaries here.
Riot on the Dance Floor:
What does it take to turn a lifeless, concrete bunker into a legendary club that hosted some of the ‘80s and ‘90s biggest bands? What does it take to forge a thriving, vital scene in a downtrodden, dangerous and marginalized city like Trenton, New Jersey, with nothing but flyers, postcards and pre-internet word-of-mouth? It takes passion, vision and, above all else, a dedication to the independent spirit that drove the underground music scene. It requires the ear of someone attuned to diversity and a set of balls big enough to book the envelope-pushing bands that most promoters wouldn’t touch. That man was Randy Now, and this is his story.
More info & donation information for Riot On The Dance Floor here.
