[Tom on Vermont Avenue]

Raw footage of Los Angeles examining the up and coming area on Vermont Avenue.

00:22Copy video clip URL Tape begins.

00:25Copy video clip URL Michael, Stewart, and Bryan who work at Amok Books are introduced.

01:25Copy video clip URL Book categories used by the store include: Control, Exotica, Mayhem, Natas (Satan spelled backwards) Neural Politics (named after the Timothy Leary book), Orgon, Parallax (alternate history), Pulse (fiction), R&D (research and development), Scratch and sniff (pop culture found interesting by the store owners), Sensory Deprivation (all forms of art and expression), Sleaze (e.x. Hollywood biographies), Tactics (all forms of “how to”).

04:44Copy video clip URL Stewart commenting on the Tactics section, “One of the completely uncensored aspects of our store is that… these potentially really dangerous books are here and available. We leave it to our buyers to decide what they’re going to do with it.”

05:13Copy video clip URL Interviews with Stewart and Bryan outside the store.

06:44Copy video clip URL Tom asking about the street’s development, “People are saying this is the way Melrose started.”

07:50Copy video clip URL Stewart in reference to Melrose, “I felt comfortable in Melrose twelve years ago, but now I can’t even go there… It just seemed like the intelligence level kept going down.”

09:34Copy video clip URL Bryan: “You notice that… in other cities as opposed to L.A. you can walk to get some groceries, you can walk to see a movie, then you can walk to buy some books. You can do all that in one stretch of a mile at the most and in L.A. you’ve got to get into your car to get to 7-Eleven half the time, let alone anything else.”

10:32Copy video clip URL Amok also is a publisher of multiple forms of media.

11:20Copy video clip URL One example of Amok’s publishing, a Slovenian art collective’s book, is shown.

12:38Copy video clip URL Amok also publishes a “how to” autopsy tape originally from the U.S. Army, obtained from the the Library of Congress.

13:01Copy video clip URL Stewart on the autopsy tape, “As U.S. citizens we used our right to public domain and put it out.”

14:17Copy video clip URL Bryan: “Books don’t kill people, people kill people.”

15:15Copy video clip URL Amok purchased the last copies of the book, “War Against War” published by a German pacifist after WWI showcasing atrocity pictures of people in German war hospitals. The store put a special display of these books when the Gulf War broke out.

17:33Copy video clip URL Tom notices a picture of one of his childhood heroes, Ed Wynn. Discussion on the block’s development continues.

20:20Copy video clip URL Extra Large, the store next-door, was funded by Mike D from the Beastie Boys.

20:41Copy video clip URL Tom enters the Extra Large Store.

21:11Copy video clip URL Eric, the man responsible for running the store, and a customer discuss Hip Hop albums.

21:36Copy video clip URL Tom is greeted by a young customer named Matt who regularly watches a show Tom produces, “The 90’s”. He continues to speak to Tom about his favorite episodes.

21:56Copy video clip URL Matt explains hair dye to Tom and takes Tom to a nearby store to show Tom some dye he had specially ordered. Tom continues to explore the store.

23:36Copy video clip URL Tom learns the boy’s name who showed him the hair dye to get permission to use his name on T.V. His full name is Matt Nailer.

23:49Copy video clip URL A shot opens on the Y-Que storefront and Tom continues down the street and around the neighborhood. He reconnects with his fellow cameraman for the shoot, Skip.

25:04Copy video clip URL Tom is inside a new store. The UPS man has just delivered “Genuine Horse Shit Cigarettes.”

26:38Copy video clip URL One of the store owners responding to a question about nudity on television–after displaying a comic featuring nudity, “I would like to see though, like a lot of European countries, where you’re allowed to show certain amounts of nudity, like breasts.”

27:05Copy video clip URL The same store owner labels himself, “The undiluted king of B’s, boobs, sleaze, exploitation. Nobody can touch me; I’m confident with that. I hold my head high because of it.”

28:16Copy video clip URL Tom back interviewing Eric in the Extra Large Store.

30:36Copy video clip URL Eric on the neighborhood, “My brother and I grew up in this neighborhood… a lot of people from New York moved out here…the Beastie Boys live in this neighborhood now.”

32:26Copy video clip URL “There’s a store in Japan opening.” Eric’s father is in showbiz, but the store didn’t push his name. Eric’s father put up most of the money to start the store.

34:11Copy video clip URL Eric’s friend Kevin enters the store and informs Eric that Trent Reznor, the front-man from the band Nine Inch Nails has offered to “mix down their tape” and that he enjoyed the sample of what he heard.

36:16Copy video clip URL Tom zooms in on a pencil drawn sketch on the wall of a face and the words “We are all the dreamers of the dreams.”

38:27Copy video clip URL Eric introduces another store owner named Stacy and her store.

39:36Copy video clip URL Eric and Stacy get into an argument over payment for products from each others stores. Eric, “Why would you charge me? Stacy, “Because you steal things!” Eric, “Fuck that, you know I don’t!” Stacy begins to grill Eric over what the discount is that she receives at Extra Large.

41:45Copy video clip URL Stacy’s store is decorated with lots of Roy Rodgers memorabilia, but asks not to be filmed after the argument with Eric.

43:18Copy video clip URL Flea, the bassist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers stops in to make some purchases. Tom continues to tape the store.

45:16Copy video clip URL Eric from extra large on marijuana after realizing he was being taped and faking a cough, “Are we talking about weed? Yeah, Fox television. Kids smoke weed, it’s really good for you. It helps everything you do.” Flea in response, “I second that.”

46:34Copy video clip URL Flea on visiting Stacy’s store,”I’m so lame, I live like three blocks away and I’ve never seen it!”

49:32Copy video clip URL Flea on the street changing, “It’s nice because Los Angeles is so spread out (so) it’s nice to have a little community,and it’s a good community. There’s a good bookstore, theres good food, this is a really nice place to be here. This is a soulful little joint… I love it here. I feel home when I walk around here.”

51:53Copy video clip URL Stacy’s store used to be on Heliotrope, and co-owned the store.

53:16Copy video clip URL Stacy,”Chicago…what a mess.”

53:34Copy video clip URL End tape.

 

0 Comments

You can be the first one to leave a comment.

Leave a Comment

 
 




 
Copyright © 2024 Media Burn Archive.
Media Burn Archive | 935 W Chestnut St Suite 405 Chicago IL 60642
(312) 964-5020 | [email protected]