James R. Petix's It Came From Detroit documentary film is making its L.A. debut this Thursday, July 23rd, as part of the city's annual Don't Knock The Rock festival. The yearly event was launched several years ago by acclaimed film director (and major rock 'n' roll fan) Allison Anders (Gas, Food, Lodging; Grace of my Heart; Sugar Town). The great (but since shuttered) MC5 documentary, A True Testimonial, also made its West Coast debut at the same event a few years back. I'll never forget the audience actually giving the band a standing ovation in the theater, right in the middle of the film, following one magnificent live performance that was fortunately captured on celluloid.
Allison refers to Detroit as "her second favorite city of rock" in her description of the film, which she describes as documenting a "new wave of Detroit garage bands, including the Von Bondies, White Stripes, the Gories, Outrageous Cherry, and more!" (The Kentucky native holds L.A. nearer and dearer to her heart, of course, since she's lived there for decades now.) There will also be a Q&A session with director Petix immediately after the screening -- which, ironically, takes place at West Hollywood's Silent Theatre (nothing silent about this flick) and there will reportedly also be live music, although the band hasn't officially been announced yet. (Would be cool if was Redd Kross, though, who are longtime friends of Anders as well as big D-town aficionados.) The Amoeba Records table on the patio outside the theater will also be selling Detroit-based rock CDs and dollar LPs as well as offering free swag before and after the screening. Sounds like Detroit in truly going Hollyweird this week.
We're just hoping that means we're getting a little closer to seeing a DVD release of It Came From Detroit. Like Denny Tedesco's truly wonderful The Wrecking Crew film (which made its debut at last year's Don't Knock The Rock fest), it's waaaay overdue. We've heard from Mr. Tedesco (who was kind enough to send us a DVD screener last year) that his film should officially be on DVD in early 2010. Here's hoping we'll be able to report the same about Petix's documentary in the very near future...
