WE JAM ECONO-THE STORY OF THE MINUTEMEN

"This is the acclaimed documentary on the too-brief life of one of the most revered, intriguing, and inspired American bands ever.
Childhood friends Mike Watt and D. Boon combined unbridled creativity and point-blank politics to make groundbreaking music that
refused to be categorized as Punk. Tales from Watt and drummer George Hurley plus new interviews with over 50 musicians, artists,
and friends help tell the Minutemen story, from their humble beginnings in the harbor town of San Pedro, California,
to the tragic 1985 death of D. Boon in a highway accident in the Arizona desert."

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2 Disc DVD Edition including over 3 1/2 hours of Bonus Interviews and Vintage Live Footage.

DISC 1:
-Feature "We Jam Econo - The Story of the Minutemen" (90 minutes)
-Original Music Videos for: "This Ain't No Picnic", "Ack Ack Ack Ack", and "King of the Hill"
-19 Deleted Scenes and Interviews
-English Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired

DISC 2:
-62 Live Songs from Three Full Performances:
A. The Starwood, Los Angeles, California, November 18th, 1980.
B. 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., 1984.
C. Acoustic Blowout (Cable Access Show), Hollywood, California, 1985.

"Start your own band, paint your own picture, write your own book, poem." -- Mike Watt of the Minutemen.

*
I JAM ECONO
The film starts with a melange of early American punk fliers
Almost as if to say "Wake up from your American Coma"
"magic chemistry" of the trio
Beginning with hashing out 2 notes repeatedly and apparently ad nauseum style
to the thrill of their respective supportive mothers
progressing to practicing Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" relentlessly for two straight years
total DIY
according to Watt, the initial proto Punk 76/77 movement was the catalyst for the band,
a flux in which art, originality, and "weirdos" were completely celebrated and truly inspired the band
The Minutemen represented immediacy, intensity, honesty, and exploration,
and additionally what I would term a "total-energy-expression" in a way that reminded me
of the Detroit Vision and rock&roll stylings of the MC5
To see things like drummer George Hurley sporting a Saccharine Trust T-Shirt
or to see Joe Baiza of Saccharine Trust himself
trying to replicate guitarist D. Boon's trademark cutting ultra-treble-ly dentist's drill guitar tone
is the stuff of cool punk dreams
Drummer George Hurley was one of the most inventive drummers ever, both live and on The Minutemen recordings
The Minutemen epitomized the very idea and sense of "freedom" in music
Black Flag was the initial musical-evil-California-twin that propelled The Minutemen into the limelight
with the first Minutemen release "Paranoid Time", the second venture in the SST catalog
It is really something to hear Ian MacKaye waxing intelligently about that record
and it's instant, immediate influence on him and the entire coalescing DC Punk and Hardcore scene
Dec 5, 1985 I saw The Minutemen open for REM
At The Mosque (now The Landmark Theater) in Richmond Virginia when I was in 10th Grade
I had already seen Husker Du, Negative Approach, Government Issue, and Black Flag (quite a few times)
And being from a small Southern town in Virginia,
this was an accomplishment considering demographics, geography, and the peer group I belonged to,
I mean outside of one friend that I had, Andrew Ruscus,
no one listened to any American Punk or Hardcore or Avant or New Wave,
Let alone all of the British and European Punk, Post-Punk, Avant, and Electronic music I was listening to
It was The Fables of the Reconstruction Tour
Michael Stipe made the crowd give The Minutemen an ovation
and I remember him saying "The Minutemen are my favorite band."
I remember this acute intensity in The Minutemen's performance,
The set being real direct and unrelenting, like the aural equivelent of true and actual Direct Action,
very terse and reducing the crowd to a fine powder
REM was brilliant and truly MAGIC but was a slow-cooker comparatively
To say The Minutemen destroyed would be very much of an understatement
more like earthquake-like
these seismic bursts
it was like they just knelt down and lit this fuse to a powder-keg of originality and intensity in a live concert context
a fuse that i will never forget as far as it being profound in the history of seeing concerts
"This one's for Ronald Reagan!"
That show changed EVERYTHING for me, the combination of THE MINUTEMEN and REM
in their respective primes and wholly full-tilt and full-throttle,
that was fucking ART like Rene Magritte !
I met up with Mike Mills from REM last year in September 2005 and talked with him about this show
He said he totally remembered it and that he felt that it was MAGIC as well
I told him how it just changed the course and direction of my life
And he graciously smiled and laughed and he KNEW what I was talking about,
it was really that special and life affirming, one of the greatest moments I've ever had,
It was Cali-Georgia Punk-Southern Gothic Uncomprising-Jangly Thought Provoking-Intoxicating Bliss
Running straight out of Civil War-Like Richmond down Train Tracks of High School-Era Rock&Roll Dream Worlds
That left me with an eternal optimism that will not be relenquished by me in this current corporeal incarnation
In the documentary, Thurston Moore talks of D. Boon representing a sort of utter conviction
and drummer Hurley playing in this type of Prog-Jazz fury
Watt talks about how Punk led him to the study of Art Movements like Dada, the Futurists, and Surrealism
I find this particularly interesting because for me, I studied these Art Movements on my own firstly
and the spirit present with these Europeans led me to things like Punk, kind of the very reverse of Watt's experience
He also said that Punk led him to John Coltrane which is tripped-out I think,
the thread linking Punk to Coltrane's Sheets of Sound and improvisation that was Watt's path
I mean how many American Punk Rockers really listened to or got Coltrane? Watt sure did.
Watt also talks about the influence of bands like Blue Oyster Cult, CCR, and T.Rex on him
and suggests that D. Boon also shared an affinity for musical acts like these with him
Watt also talks about being influenced by Wire and George Clinton's Funk escapades
Watt also talks of Captain Beefheart and The Stooges, his personal connection with them musically,
and how he felt that they were Punk long before the Punk Movement (which I fully endorse)
Rock journalist Richard Meltzer said in the documentary that he thought that The Minutemen were "part of the solution".
Watt says that he and D. Boon both thought very highly of Meltzer, possibly, if I understand correctly, sort of heroically
Watt talks about the need for people, as he sees it, to "Come up with their own ideas" in our current times
The Minutemen played off-kilter 32 song sets (on the average) which they 100% believed in, it was so real for them
J. Carducci talked about how The Minutemen "Made their own world which is even more rare than being a good band."
There is a great moment in the film when Watt points from the stage to the crowd in the middle of a furious song
and yells "You poseur!" When he does this, it has a weight and unpretentiontious quality that is inescapable and mighty,
like a Holy Man in an moment of righteousness, not like when somebody says it to me on the telephone
Albums like "What Makes Man Start Fires", "Buzz Or Howl Under the Influence of Heat",
"Project:Mersh", and "Three-Way Tie For Last" also get the full documentary treatment
However, it is the focus on the perennial fan favorite that is easily one of the greatest Rock&Roll albums ever,
the "Double Nickels On the Dime" album that is obviously a high point of the documentary
A 45 song (the original SST double vinyl release in 1984 contained 45 songs over the four sides)
masterpiece double LP, "Nickels" is almost everything one could possibly want in a great record,
Songs like "Shit From An Old Notebook" and "God Bows to Math" represent trademark Minutemen brilliance,
Yet to single out specific songs for attention to the omission of any of the other of the 45 songs would be a mistake
As it should be listened to in total, for it is all necessary in The Minutemen world,
a Sacred Passport to a Pedro Dimension of Unearthly Passion and Ultimate Rock Execution -- dig?
"Nickels" is so rewarding and satisfying and continually, even today, defies the Realm of Expectation.
Listen to it and feel the fucking Grail, man.
For me, the album is particularly significant beyond even all of this, as the 38th song on the recording
is the song "June 16th", which is, and always has been, my birthday.
You've probably heard the phrase "Embarrassment of Riches" many times before.
Now check out the very definition of that phrase.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Nickels_on_the_Dime∞

There is a great moment in the documentary when Watt discusses his song
"Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs" from the album "What Makes Man Start Fires"
The Minutemen were THE band that chose freedom within the context of collaboration
D. Boon says in the film, "There should be a band and record label on every block."
This DIY spirit is at the SOUL of The Minutemen.
Many bands tried to or have laid claim to a DIY aesthetic, yet few have arrived at the DIY glory of The Minutemen.
Watt talks of "Taking things into our own hands" and "You make up your own entertainment, your own activities."
That they surely did.
D. Boon talks of the song "Little Man With A Gun" and says, "That song is about dealing with oppression and stopping it."
D. Boon died of a highway accident in Arizona on December 22nd, 1985.
That effectively ended The Minutemen.
The film is full of many different excellent quality live performances through-out their career.
The Minutemen invented their own slang and personal Rock&Roll language that they used on recordings,
in inteviews, and in their daily lives -- much like the participants in Hip-Hop Culture.
In the final scene of the documentary, an interviewer asks Watt to describe The Minutemen.
He responds quickly and simply, "We jam econo."

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