THE T.A.M.I. SHOW

 

The weakest act in the otherwise superlative 1964 rock concert film, THE T.A.M.I. SHOW is The Barbarians, a garage band that plays only one song, "Hey Little Bird." Ever heard of 'em? Me neither.

Otherwise there's a ton of vintage rock material to enjoy in this groundbreaking, landmark film. Surfer boys Jan and Dean serve as the emcee's (and even skateboard!) for a star studded lineup that includes Motown acts The Miracles (with Smokey Robinson), Marvin Gaye and The Supremes (with Diana Ross), British invasion bands Gerry and the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, girl singer Lesley Gore, rock godfather Chuck Berry and surf music kings The Beach Boys. All of these acts perform several of their biggest hits but it's the final two acts of the film that stand out.

James Brown shows why he was named "the hardest working man in show business" in an electrifying penultimate set in which he and The Famous Flames bring the house down with an absolutely incredible performance that left Brown, the audience (and me) drained. I have had surgery on both of my knees and they still give me problems now and then. So I could only wince in astonishment when Brown, still clutching the microphone stand and singing, fell to his knees repeatedly during "Prisoner of Love". You can see the stains on the knees of his pants as this man continually pushed his body to the breaking point only to recover practically instantaneously and keep going. 

Unfortunately, The Rolling Stones had to follow Brown as the closing act, a move that Keith Richards has called the biggest mistake of their careers. They deliver a killer set and Mick Jagger does a great job of strutting, spinning and dancing but his gyrations and acrobatics are nothing compared to those of Brown.

I flat out loved this movie. It was a gas to see all of those acts performing live in front of a wildly screaming audience at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (home of the Academy Awards broadcast for several years). The performers are backed by an energetic team of young go-go dancers, both black and white, male and female (one of whom was Teri Garr). They prance and "Frug" with wild abandon but never upstage the featured acts. 

The whole affair is a cross between an episode of AMERICAN BANDSTAND and the performance segments of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (also released in 1964). THE T.A.M.I. SHOW prefigured two network television series, HULLABALOO which ran on NBC from 1965 to 1966 and SHINDIG! which aired on ABC from 1964-1966. 

I listened to all of this music when I was young. I heard these songs (and many more) broadcast daily on radio station KNOW-1490 AM here in Austin, Texas. I never had any albums by these performers until later in life although my sister did have a few Beach Boys records that I listened to. Years later I saw both The Beach Boys and Diana Ross in concert.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, T.A.M.I stands for Teenage Awards Music International, which is kind of a misnomer as no awards of any kind are mentioned.

That's a minor quibble though because this is one hell of a blast from the past. If you're a child of the sixties like me, you'll love every minute of this terrific film. Other performance films would follow but THE T.A.M.I SHOW stands as the Rosetta Stone of rock and roll concert movies.

Highly recommended.