The Placebo

8pm, Friday June 20th at the Placebo, 411 12th St, Eureka

18 mind-blowing works, most of which can only be seen through this fest.

When curator William Burgess came to Los Angeles, he uncovered hives of “video art”- trapped in galleries and classrooms, films which inspire little more than restful sleep in the creative person. But through time one or two projects would grab him, unexpectedly with emotion. These were the incidental videos, the unknowns that came out of bedrooms or could only be seen on a hi-8 camera while huddled in the corner of a dorm room. These works had real moments, real feelings but would probably end up like most video tapes- rotting in a closet, never to be seen again.

Having the opportunity to curate a weekly show at the now defunct art and performance venue “Il Corral” in Hollywood, Burgess established the Druid Underground in 2006 as a forum to present works, which would act as a sort of spiritual combat against the hollow mass of tedious video art.

Selected from over 400 entries, the Best-Of the Druid Underground Film Festival features:

• SKATEBANG
  Damon Packard
• STEVE IRWIN SONG
  Christian Cummings and Lee Lynch
• REFLECTIONS OF TERROR AT 5
  Cara Elizabeth
• JIMMY JEINSEITS
  Romeo Grunfelder
• DECORATION AND YOU
  Trulee Grace Hall
• BUG SHOW
  Aimee Goguen and Kyle Haefs
• LET’S MEAT
  Ben Cuevas
• I LIVE IN THE WOODS
  Max Winston
• I’M A BIG GIRL NOW
  Margie Schibbe
• APRIL’S FOOL
  Moises Jimenez
• KABIR SONG
  Anal Shah
• DIGITOPIA
  Miwa Matreyek
• KEEP-A-KNOCKIN’
  JSDB
• HALLOWEEN THRILLER
  Timothy Dwelle
• TV SABOTAGE
  Kid Mankowitz
• BUFFY DREAMS
  John Allee
• SON OF SATAN
  JJ Villard
• HORS-HUMAIN
  Yann Minh
• FANTASYCORE
  Tasman Richardson

We need some new merch, folks, and we need people to make it. We’ll be doing silk-screening, button making, and transfers. Come up with your own Placebo-related designs and get ‘em produced on the spot. Bring yer own t-shirt and get it silk-screened - with the Placebo design of your choice - for free!
You don’t need to have any prior experience and you can drop by anytime between 4 and 8pm to help out.

Oh yeah, we’ll also be watching some quality science fiction shows you might never’ve heard of; we like to call it…. indoctrination :D

When: Friday, October 26 from 4pm to 8pm
Where: 47B W 3rd St, Eureka [map]
Cost: Free!

Sorry folks, last minute cancellation

on Olsen will be with us again, this time to present the no-budget films of Bluesmoke, a comedic indy film series out of the UK

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When: Wednesday, February 28; doors at 7pm, film at 8pm
Where: The Placebo, 47B West 3rd St, Eureka
Cost: $1 plus annual membership ($2) required

Local director (also actor, producer, writer, and video maven) John Olsen will show his critically acclaimed film, Ape Canyon.

From Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In:

Obviously we’re into goofball territory here, a sort of ultra-low-budget cross between “King Kong” and “I Spit On Your Grave.” The plot line is so thin that it would fall apart entirely if it weren’t for some outstanding performances by Clover Lutter, as the lovesick Juliet with a poetry journal so excruciatingly bad that it makes Sasquatch clutch at his ears in pain, and Chris Henry, as the dimwit cuckold with a sidearm. The climactic sequence is very funny, but too disgusting to reveal here and I should go ahead and warn you, there’s an abundance of bodily-function humor that will be popular down at the frat house but might be too intense for their more squeamish girlfriends.

In other words, it’s the finest Bigfoot rape-revenge flick ever made by people with way too much time on their hands.

I loved it, of course.

When: Wednesday, February 21 — doors at 7pm, film starts at 8pm sharp
Where: The Placebo 47B West 3rd St, Eureka (map)
Cost: $1 (plus $2 Placebo annual membership, if you don’t have yours yet!)

Free Popcorn! All ages!

Back in February, HSU’s Ethnic Studies Collective and Black Student Union brought AfroPunk to Arcata. A bunch of Placebo folks saw it there and we were intensely impressed. So. We’re bringing the film to Eureka so more people can see it, talk about it, and have thinky thoughts about the scene. Also? This time, there will be hardcore.

Afro-Punk, a 66-minute documentary, explores race identity within the punk scene. More than your everyday, Behind the Music or typical “black history month” documentary this film tackles the hard questions, such as issues of loneliness, exile, inter-racial dating and black power. We follow the lives of four people who have dedicated themselves to the punk rock lifestyle. They find themselves in conflicting situations, living the dual life of a person of color in a mostly white community.

The style of the documentary inter-cuts interviews from scores of black punk rockers from all over the nation with scenes from our four protagonists’ lives. They come from different regions, generations, genders, and sexual preferences but their stories are amazingly similar.

Afro-Punk features performances by Bad Brains, Tamar Kali, Cipher, and Ten Grand. It also contains exclusive interviews by members of Fishbone, 247- spyz, Dead Kennedys, Candiria, Orange 9mm and TV on the Radio to name a few.

PLUS 8/01 Warning

When: Friday, October 20th
Where: The Placebo
Cost: $3-5, sliding scale

It’s Your Scene, Take Care Of It!