TV PARTY TIME & MAKE-UP SHOW
Glenn O’Brien says “TV Party is interesting as a TV show, but it’s
a pretty good painting too.” This show opens with a still frame. Just
when you’re ready to go nuts, a voice reassures: “There is nothing
wrong with your television set.” And mad action begins. TV Party was cable
TV as pop art. It appeared sloppy and crude but it was deliberate sloppiness
and crudeness. This episode plays with ideas of time and space, (“time
is money” and “dead air”) alternating between aggressive boredom
and quick wit. The TV Party Orchestra (Walter Steding on violin, Lenny Ferrari
on the New Yorker magazine, and Tim Wright on guitar) jams while host O’Brien
performs the sublime feat of rolling a joint blindfolded while smoking a joint.
The now legendary fashion photographer Steven Meisel joins the gang, performing
a makeover on a hillbilly gal found in the bar across the street. Percussionist
extraordinaire David van Tieghem makes music with toys and kitchen utensils.
Tim Wright and his girlfriend Marianne are “Fifi and Claude” performing
a punk Parisian accordion/guitar duo. Ferrari’s “Italian cousin”
sleight of hand artist Luigi Ciccolini performs magic. Richard Sohl of the Patti
Smith Group, artists Fab Five Freddie and Ronnie Cutrone and guitarist Robert
Fripp answer phone calls from home viewers. It’s all about “the
makeup of time.”
GLENN O’BRIEN’S TV PARTY produced by GLENN O’BRIEN directed
by AMOS POE with GLENN O’BRIEN CHRIS STEIN WALTER STEDING DEBBIE HARRY
LENNY FERRARI TIM WRIGHT STEVEN MEISEL DAVID VAN TIEGHEM LUIGI CICCOLINI RICHARD
SOHL FAB FIVE FREDDIE RONNIE CUTRONE ROBERT FRIPP Brodcast live from ETC Studios,
August 19, 1979
Re-Issue produced by DANNY VINIK
Extras (from the TV Party Archives):
GEORGE CLINTON
GLENN & WALTER ON SOCIALISM
LUIGI CICCOLINI
HOW DRUGS WORK
TVP AT MUDD CLUB
TV SHOW REISSUE: Approx. 59 Minutes / Color / Digitally Mastered / Region Free
SPECIAL "BOX SET" DISCOUNT: BUY THE BRINK FILMS TV PARTY DOCUMENTARY AT THE REGULAR PRICE OF $19.99 AND GET ANY OR ALL OF THE TV PARTY EPISODES FOR JUST A PIECE! Discount is taken automatically in the shopping cart. Limit one set of episodes per documentary.
