Helen Does the Frug

Alright, it's party season, time for some off-topic. This clip appeals to my fondness for 1960s/70s Bollywood films, someone shapely in a miniskirt, nifty dance moves and driving instrumentals.

The clip is from the 1972 film Yaar Mera and, to quote a certain Britain's Got Talent deep space deviant, it ticks all the boxes. GI

48-hour film marathon with Deus Milano

If you're going the the EICMA bike show, or if you just happen to be in Milan over the next couple of days, get down to Deus Ex Machina where they'll be showing a marathon 48 hours of films on the theme of women riders, starting on Monday 7 November at 8.30pm. Free entry, come and go as you please. It's all happening at the Deus Leica Theatre, via Thaon di Revel 3, Milano.

Psychomania at the BFI

Thanks to our friend Tom Baldwin for alerting us to this:

Spotted that the latest film review in Sideburn, "Psychomania," (one of my long time guilty favourites) has just been remastered for HD DVD, and will be released on the 19th September. To coincide with this, they're showing it at the BFI (British Film Institute)with a Q and A session with the lead actor, Nicky Henson. Find out more at BFI Flipside Psychomania.

Hope it's of interest to you, and perhaps to other Sideburn readers? 
All the best, Tom


READ ABOUT PSYCHOMANIA IN SIDEBURN 25.

Motorcycle Film Festival

The 4th annual International Motorcycle Film Festival is being held in New York next month. We haven't been to this event, but it seems to be going from strength to strength. One of the organisers was behind the recent Country Mile flat track race we featured in Sideburn 25.

There's a likey to be a wide mix of navel-gazing shorts over-reliant on dolly-mounted panning shots and ernest talk of building not buying and warmed over, 'racing is life everything else is just waiting' sentiment, but there's fun too.

I wasn't expecting to see How To Be Deadly, a Wayne's World-esque comedy included in the programme.

If you're in the area, 14-17 September, be sure to check out the Motorcycle Film Festival. G

Lisbon Motorcycle Film Fest

Our friend Manuel Portugal (he's from Portugal and that's his real name), has a new baby, the Lisbon Motorcycle Film Fest. It sounds like a good excuse to visit and brilliant city. G

My kind of dry cleaners - update

This never happens when I pop in to have the stains taken out of my velveteen loin cloths. Apologies for my continuing obsession with Monica Vitti, here paired with Claudia Cardinale in Qui Comincia l'Avventura (1975), released as Lucky Girls elsewhere. MP

Harley, you're right, and here's why:

Ears of Death

More Italian psych-pop, this time from the band I Rogers performing 'Cristina' (1970) and backed by footage from the film 'Noi Donne Siamo Fatte Cosi' (Us Women Are Made This Way). I'd pay good money to have my ears pulled by a wall of death-riding Monica Vitti. MP

Kes, Chicken Tikka Dinner by Vic and Bob

The original classic 1969 film of Kes by Ken Loach, based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave, by the Barry Hines. BP

James Brown in Vietnam, 1968

Hey, it's off-topic Sunday! Remember, if you came to this site for motorbikes, you came to the right place. There are over 5000 posts on this blog, pick a subject from the labels list at the side and dive in. Or buy the magazine. Sometimes though, we want to talk about other things. This is one of those times...

I watched the James Brown biopic, Get On Up (co-produced by The Walking Dead's* Mick Jagger) on DVD. I really enjoyed it, but struggled catching some of the mumbled dialogue. It is obviously a dramatisation of a long and action-packed life (abandoned as a child, spousal abuse, laugh a minute), but I don't know how much it gilded the lily.

One great section is when James Brown (aka the Godfather of Soul, Mr Dynamite, Minister of the New New Super Heavy Funk, The Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness, Mr Please Please Please, Soul Brother Number One) and his band are on a troop transporter plane to Vietnam to play to the US soldiers, in June 1968. Part of the dramatisation is clearly enhanced, but they really did perform in Vietnam, when it was the last place of earth anyone really wanted to be. These superb photos are from the performance, and I found them on the internet, so apologies to the photographers for not crediting.

Perhaps it's just me, but I've watched quite a lot of Vietnam movies over the years and I don't remember seeing any that show just how many black GIs were in action. Just look at the crowd here. Clearly if Johnny Cash was playing you might expect fewer black faces right at the front, but the US government didn't fly in a rent-a-crowd to make JB look good. Anyway, just a thought. G

* Sorry, I mean The Rolling Stones

Dirt Quake IV Video Snippet

Dirt Quake IV Trailer 1 from SIDEBURN on Vimeo.
Here's the first morsel of the new Dirt Quake IV video.
Filmed, directed and animated by Drifter Visual.
Illustration, animation by Ryan Quickfall.

We're premiering the whole thing on Thursday night in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, because that's where Tom of Drifter Visual and Ryan live.

We'll have DJs, free Dirt Cakes from Pet Lamb Patisserie, merch stand with good deals, the pub are running a burger and beer promo... G

A Weekend with Nick Ashley

Lily Ashley sent us a film about sheep a while back which we really loved. Here's a new one about her sister Edie, and dad Nick racing at Dirt Quake IV on a Cheney Triumph (her) and a Harley WL45 (him). BP

Flattrack by Dial M Films

Flattrack from Dial M Films on Vimeo.

Shot at the DTRA meeting before last year's Dirt Quake. The first voice you hear is Sideburn Ben. Then there's Drogo, more Ben, me and David Death Spray. G

Directed and Edited by Joe Marcantonio
Produced by Death Spray Custom and Dial M Films
Camera by Andrew Lawrence and Joe Marcantonio
Sound by Neil Johnston and Tom Joyce at Factory

Bugs vs Ann-Margret

There's an uploader to YouTube, fardonbeat66,  who puts up a steady flow of garage and beat stuff always accompanied by edited clips of films from the era. Some work, some don't, but this is worth a look. The tune is the brilliantly messy 1966 B-side, Slide, by short-lived Massachusetts band The Bugs. The clips are from the 1964
shock-flick Kitten With a A Whip starring the impossibly desirable
Ann-Margret, as it happens the subject of a heartbreaking feature in Sideburn #17. Great (though brief) hand-held camera work in the manic fight scene. MP

Valley Uprising

I went over to the San Sebastien Film Festival in late-September to watch the premiere of On Any Sunday: The Next Chapter and Greasy Hands Preachers. These two motorcycle films were part of the Savage Cinema section of the Spanish festival: 'a section dedicated to adventure and action sports films'.

While I was there I also managed to see this great climbing film - Valley Uprising. Neither myself or Mrs I, who accompanied me, know a thing about climbing and it didn't matter, this is superb. It's a story of the development of climbing, told by different generations who concentrated on climbing one small area of Yosemite National Park.

While we're covering film, Sideburn has a feature on the making of the original On Any Sunday, in which we interviewed Bruce Brown, Mert Lawwill, Malcolm Smith and super fan, Eric Bostrom. It's in Sideburn 10. G

The Bride

Doesn't this make you want to:
1: Ride through tunnels in a black suit on a debadged Yamaha Fazer 600?
2. Watch Kill Bill?

Thanks Quentin. G

Motorcycle Film Festival

A press release...

After a successful first year, the 2nd Annual Motorcycle Film Festival will be held on September 24–27, 2014 at The Gutter (200 North 14th Street, Williamsburg) in Brooklyn, New York. The festival will feature official screenings of short- and feature-length documentaries and narratives alongside more experimental films. Other events include screenings of classic films, filmmaker talks, an art exhibition, bands, bowling, and more! On the final day, a distinguished panel of judges comprising filmmakers, writers, custom builders, and esteemed motorcycle enthusiasts will select winners from each film category. A full list of films, filmmakers, and schedules can be found at Motorcycle Film Festival tickets

 Returning judges include Paul D’Orleans a.k.a. The Vintagent, JP of The Selvedge Yard, Stacie London of Triple Nickel 555 and East Side Moto Babes. We’re just as thrilled to welcome our new judges for this year: Paul Cox (Paul Cox Industries), Ultan Guilfoyle (Guggenheim Museum’s Art of the Motorcycle), Shinya Kimura (Chabott Engineering), Chris Logsdon (Godspeed Co.), Amos Poe (filmmaker/artist), Hayden Roberts (Hell On Wheels MC), Roland Sands (Roland Sands Design), Peter Starr (film accolades…Take it to the Limit) and last year’s ‘Best of Festival’ winner Eric Ristau (Best Bar In America). 

And this from our mate, ace sketcher, Martin Squires    

Also as I'm sure you've seen I've got a short film at this years Motorcycle Film Festival. I'm going to be going out to NYC for a week sketching at a couple of workshops including Hugh Mackie's and Paul Cox's places, before the festival. I'm hoping it will be a productive trip. Attached is a copy of my poster for my film (in case you feel the need to post it up on the blog) which is going to be shown at 5 on the Friday. I will keep you up to date with it all.

Below is Martin's panoramic sketch of the Dirt Quake III pit sheds.

Greenfilms W&W film trailer

Can't beat new-age radio-controlled helicopter shots.

Motorcycle Film Festival, NY

We've been asked to tell people JULY 1 is the submission deadline for The Motorcycle Film Festival, events are slated for September 25-27th in NYC, this is the submission form - http://bit.ly/MFFsubmission

The Fast Of The Forest: Showing at the TT

The Fast of the Forest
01/06/2014 – 07/06/2014
11am –Manx Museum –Free.
Follow Finnish newcomer Juha Kallio as he fulfills his dream of racing in the 2013 Isle of Man TT. Film Premiere and meet the producer: 11am Mad Sunday
Showing by kind permission of Antti Jääskeläinen
Film duration: 70 min.
Admission Free. - See more at: Manx National Heritage

Mad Max in Sideburn #17

In the latest issue of Sideburn, we run two pieces on the first, the rough and the dirty... Mad Max. We interviewed key players in the film's making, including the director George Miller, cinematographer David Eggby, Hugh Keays-Byrne (bike gang leader The Toecutter) and Bertrand Cadart, who made the fairings for the (mainly) Kawasaki Z1000s. We even managed to talk to Dale Bensch, reputedly killed when the infamous bridge stunt went wrong (see clip below). He seemed remarkably chatty for a bloke 36 years dead.

On top of that, in a separate feature we asked Repo Man and Straight To Hell director Alex Cox for his views on what has become a post-apocalyptic benchmark, shot on a budget, featuring Melbourne bike gang members as stunt men and that only made it to the screen thanks to long nights and hard graft by a couple of blokes with a vision. There you go, just two reasons of many to pick up Sideburn #17. MP