Like a Pop-Music-Addled Schoolgirl from 1964, I Shriek, “TAMI, I Love You!”

After hearing about it for years, The TAMI Show was finally released to DVD (I don’t think it was ever even on VHS), and man-oh-man, it’s fucking fantastic.
(I’m not gonna give a detailed review/synopsis/track listing, but for that sort of thing, please check out the various links provided (those highlighted bits).)

The TAMI Show is an incredible rock/pop music documentary that needs to be watched with ATTENTION.
You just can’t put this on as background noise or as a video wallpaper at a party (well, you could, but you really should watch it for reals first).

The TAMI Show DVD is a thing of beauty: The transfer is crisp, with great performances by an eclectic collection of groups.
And I was completely engaged with how the show was shot—I liked its straightforward TV-style aesthetics, with many lingering close-ups of performers, like Diana Ross (fronting The Supremes) during “Where Did Our Love Go.”

If you like the rock (or the pop), you must check this movie out.

The footage isn’t available from the intertubes, but during TAMI, Lesley Gore (who was supposedly/probably the biggest act to perform in the show) sings what is now one of my new fave songs, “Hey Now.” I gotta gets me an mp3 of this song, toot sweet!

Here’s Ms. Gore’s 45 version of “Hey Now”



(Dig “Hey Now”’s B-side: how prophetic!)


BTW, the DVD supplementals feature John Landis’ commentary from Trailers From Hell about the flick’s trailer—and guess what? Landis was at The TAMI Show! His seventh grade class all went, and Landis has some great memories and insights. Like, after the mind-blowing perf by James Brown and the Flames, of course The Rolling Stones would suck!

And speaking of the Godfather of Soul, Mr. Dynamite, Soul Brother Number One, Sex Machine, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, The King of Funk, that is to say
Mr. James Brown—
Well HOLY SHIT, we’re talking God here. The performance by James Brown and the Famous Flames is the stuff of legend, rightly stealing the show.
And I wish to all that I consider unholy that I could dance as well as The Famous Flames. Perfection!

Here’s Mr. Brown and The Flames doing “Out of Sight” on The TAMI Show—pay special attention to those dance movies. Wow!




But the weirdest moment of The TAMI Show is Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas performance of “Little Children.”

No TAMI footage of this on YouTube, but here’s Billy and his boys performing it on “Top of the Pops.”



Jeepers, is that creepy or what? Is this song an excuse for pedophilia?!?
And during the performance on The TAMI Show, Billy strikes me as a combo of Andy Kaufman and Ian Curtis: oozing discomfort and creepiness. (Was this song used in Todd Field’s movie of the same name? IMDB doesn’t say that it was, although the song would be perfect, I think—but what do I know, I haven’t seen this movie…)
But I’m so glad there’s a touch of uncomfortable weirdness in the midst of all this teen joyful shrieking.

The TAMI Show: watch it ASAP; you’ll feel better, promise.

[And yes, this post is in direct philosophical contradiction to this post. So sue me.]