1991 doc tackles the entire history of Coney Island, an American institution.

Curated by Whitney Weiss

Total Runtime: 1:09:31

From Wikipedia:

Coney Island is a 1991 documentary film that traces the history of Coney Island, the westernmost part of the barrier islands of Long Island, New York. The film covers the island's 1609 discovery by Henry Hudson, its 1870s incarnation as a respectable beach destination for city-dwellers and showcase of the new developments ushered in by the machine age, the early 20th century, when amusement parks and innovative attractions attracted hundreds of thousands of people each day, and the gradual demise of the amusements.

The film is narrated by Philip Bosco. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival^[1] and broadcast nationally on PBS as part of the American Experienceprogram in February 1991.

On-camera appearances include Al Lewis, Vincent Gardenia, Eli Wallach, Elliot Willensky, Frederick Fried and Mae Timpano. Voice-over actors include Judd Hirsch, Nathan Lane, John Mahoney, Jerry Orbach, George Plimpton, Lois Smith, Frances Sternhagen and Andrei Codrescu.^[2]

Collection - Surf Rock

Catch a wave...

Curated by Robert Bellach

Total Runtime: 0:27:47

Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music.^[6] It has two major forms: largely instrumental surf rock, with an electric guitar or saxophone playing the main melody, pioneered by acts such as Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, and vocal surf pop, including both surf ballads and dance music, often with strong harmonies that are most associated with The Beach Boys. Many notable surf bands have been equally noted for both surf instrumental and surf pop music, so surf music is generally considered as a single genre despite the variety of these styles.^[6] During the later stages of the surf music craze, many groups started to leave surfing behind and write songs about cars and girls; this was later known as hot rod rock.^[7] Surf music is often referred to as simply surf rock, even though the genre has many forms.^[8]

Surf music began in the early 1960s as instrumental dance music, almost always in straight 4/4 (or common) time, with a medium to fast tempo. The sound was dominated by electric guitars which were particularly characterized by the extensive use of the "wet" spring reverb that was incorporated into Fender amplifiers from 1961, which is thought to emulate the sound of the waves.^[6] Guitarists also made use of the vibrato arm on their guitar to bend the pitch of notes downward, electronic tremolo effects and rapid (alternating) tremolo picking.^[9] Guitar models favoured included those made by Fender (particularly the Mustang, Jazzmaster, Jaguar and Stratocaster guitars), Mosrite, Teisco, or Danelectro, usually with single coil pickups (which had high treble in contrast to double coil humbucker pickups).^[10] Surf music was one of the first genres to universally adopt the electric bass, particularly the Fender Precision Bass. Classic surf drum kits tended to be Rogers, Ludwig, Gretsch or Slingerland. Some popular songs also incorporated a tenor or baritone saxophone, as on "Surf Rider" and "Comanche".^[11] Often an electric organ or an electric piano featured as backing harmony.

By the early 1960s instrumental rock and roll had been pioneered successfully by performers such as Duane Eddy, Link Wray, and The Ventures.^[12] This trend was developed by Dick Dale who added the distinctive reverb, the rapid alternate picking characteristic of the genre, as well as Middle Eastern and Mexican influences, producing the regional hit "Let's Go Trippin'" in 1961 and launching the surf music craze, following up with songs like "Misirlou" (1962).^[6] Like Dale and his Del-Tones, most early surf bands were formed in Southern California area, with Orange County in particular having a strong surf culture, and the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa hosted many surf-styled acts.^[13]^[14] In late 1961, the Beach Boys had their first chart hit, "Surfin'" which managed to reach the Billboard top 100.^[15] In mid 1962, the group released their major-label debut, Surfin' Safari. The song hit the Top 20 and helped launch the surf rock craze into a national phenomenon.^[16] Groups such as The Bel-Airs (whose hit "Mr. Moto" was released months before Dale's "Let's Go Trippin'"), then The Challengers released their album "Surfbeat", and then Eddie & the Showmen followed Dale to regional success.^[17] The Chantays scored a top ten national hit with "Pipeline" in 1963 and probably the single most famous surf tune hit was "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris, known for their cutting-edge lead guitar and drum songs, which on the Hot 100 hit number 2 in 1963 and number 16 in 1966. The group had two other global hits "Surfer Joe" and "Point Panic".^[18] In 1963, the Beach Boys released one of the most well known surf rock songs, " Surfin' USA" which incorporated surf lyrics and the melody from Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen".^[19]

The growing popularity of the genre led groups from other areas to try their hand. These included The Astronauts, from Boulder, Colorado, The Trashmen, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who had a number 4 hit with "Surfin Bird" in 1964 and The Rivieras from South Bend, Indiana, who reached number 5 in 1964 with "California Sun".^[6] The Atlantics, from Sydney, Australia, were not exclusively surf musicians, but made a significant contribution to the genre, the most famous example with being their hit "Bombora" (1963).^[6] Also from Sydney were The Denvermen lyrical instrumental "Surfside" reached number 1 in the Australian charts.^[20] Another Australian surf band who were known outside their own country's surf scene was the Joy Boys, whose hit "Murphy the Surfie" (1963) was later covered by the Surfaris.^[21]

European bands around this time generally focused more on the style played by the Shadows. A notable example of European surf instrumental is Spanish band Los Relampagos' rendition of "Misirlou". The Dakotas, who were the British backing band for Merseybeat singer Billy J. Kramer gained some attention as surf musicians with "Cruel Sea" (1963), which was later covered by The Ventures and eventually other instrumental surf bands, including the Challengers and the Revelairs.^[22]

The surf music craze, with the careers of almost all surf acts, was effectively ended by the British Invasion beginning ca. 1964.^[6] The emerging folk rock and blues-rock and later psychedelic rock genres also contributed to the decline of surf rock.^[25]^[26] Only the Beach Boys were able to sustain popularity into the mid-1960s, producing a string of hit singles and albums including Pet Sounds in 1966, which made them the only American rock or pop group that arguably could rival the Beatles.^[15]
The use of instrumental surf rock style guitar for the soundtrack of Dr. No (1962), recorded by Vic Flick with the John Barry Seven, meant that it was reused in many of the films in the James Bond series, and influenced the music of many spy films of the 1960s.^[27] Surf music also influenced a number of later rock musicians, including Keith Moon of The Who ^[6] East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys and Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago.^[28] During the mid- to late 1990s, surf rock experienced a revival with surf acts, including Dick Dale recording once more, partly due to the popularity of the movie Pulp Fiction (1994), which used Dale's "Misirlou" and other surf rock songs in the soundtrack.^[6] New surf bands were formed, including Man or Astro-man?, The Mermen and Los Straitjackets.^[29] In the 1980s, skateboard punk band JFA (band), combined the Dead Kennedy's "Police Truck" with the Chantay's "Pipeline" to create the revved-up surf/skate homage "Pipe Truck."^[30]

Movie - Gidget (1959)

Seminal 1950s movie stars Sandra Dee, is so totally the precursor to "Blue Crush."

Curated by Whitney Weiss

Total Runtime: 1:35:28

"GIDGET" is enough to make anybody leave one of the neighborhood theatres, where it opened yesterday, and light out for Long Island Sound. Pictorially, this mild little Columbia frolic, about a teen-age girl with boy trouble, seems an ideal way to usher in the beach season. Most of the story spills along a balmy California shore, with the young folk soaking up sun and endlessly skimming the waves on surfboards.

As a surf portrait of adolescent America, the film has a relaxed air befitting its nice young people and some random, knowing observations about growing up.

Frederick Kohner's novel, as adapted by Gabrielle Upton, just might rate idle reading this summer, and certainly on a beach. However, as a portrait of a sweet, honest-minded child who won't force herself to chase boys, the film can't touch Jeanne Grain's "Margie" of thirteen years ago.

"Gidget" is the affectionate nickname given to the tomboy heroine by a group of self-appointed "beach bums" —reasonably sturdy lads, all —after she turns to them protectively, and with the expected complications. It means "girl-midget."

Sandra Dee manages to be an appealing little hard-head, as she becomes smitten with James Darren and Cliff Robertson, who does especially well as the group's leader. As her parents, Arthur O'Connell and Mary La Roche, are also appealing, especially the latter. Three tunes are tossed in at random. The direction of Paul Wendkos is also random, excluding a few bright scenes. Parental trust is fine, but Mr. O'Connell and Miss La Roche, in a late frenzy, might have thought twice about unleashing their sprouting 16-year-old before sensible but red-blooded beach athletes.

Even so, as for all that surf and sun and "Gidget" herself—no harm done.

-Howard Thompson, The New York Times, April 23, 1959

Doc - Coney Island (1991)

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Doc - Coney Island (1991)