Movie Details
| Title: | 930 F Street | |
| Director: | Tarik Dahir, Jeff Gaul | |
| Year: | 2004 | |
| Genre: | Documentary | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 02.20.06 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 02.20.06 | Music Monday | Music Monday this week is a documentary about the famous nighclub 9:30 that was originally located at 930 F Street in DC. Lots of interviews with a notable lack of performance here, considering that it's about a nightclub. since I've been to both the old and new 9:30 club more than once, it was cool to see pics and some video of both venues and reminisce about the times that I was there, but I am a bit conflicted with my thoughts on the actual documentary. There's some good stuff about the history and flavor of the club itself but the story here is really about the straight-edge movement, Dischord records, and the whole general trend of hardcore music that started out and burgeoned at the club. Most of the musicians interviewed and virtually all of the music performance clips fit that story well, but then you have groups like R.E.M. and Clutch who were clearly from a completely different place being interviewed as well. Both R.E.M. and Clutch are completely justified in being in a 9:30 club doc (R.E.M. played there like 18 times and Clutch, who are from Silver Spring, practically live there) but because of this movie's structure and focus they seem wildly out of place. So to me it felt like the movie wasn't quite sure of what it was about. I get the feeling that the directors started off just wanting to do a straight history but then stumbled upon this great stuff with Ian Mackaye and that whole "scene" with the all-ages shows and matinee shows and dischord bands and stuff like that, and that's cool but I think they should've cut some of the stuff that didn't have anything to do with that OR toned that down and went for more of a general picture by including several other offshoots that the club was there for. Why there's a whole sequence on moshing/slamdancing in the pit I have no clue... I suspect it's just because they had the footage. Speaking of footage, one unique aspect about the original 9:30 is that there was a crow's nest up in the corner where a dude would always be filming the band so it could broadcast on all the closed-circuit TVs set up around the club, so you know there has to be tons and tons of amazing performances somewhere just screaming to be gone through and presented in a movie exactly like this. So all the stuff about the club itself I loved, the stuff about the audience, the bands, the promoters and owners, all that stuff was great. BUT, and maybe this is just because it doesn't fit my personal memory of the club, having most of the musician interviews be attached to that one specific genre of music kind of bugged me. They use several calendar playbills as chapter heading devices so you can get quick little glimpses of the wide range and variety of bands that played there... not every night was Minor Threat hardcore night... and not every Minor Threat show was at the 9:30 club. |
