The T.A.M.I. Show

I saw this film in La Crosse, Wisconsin with my twin sister and best friend when we were 13/14 years old. We wore our Beatle hats and matching coats and screamed all the way through the movie which was filmed in black and white. For years I searched for the music for this show - found the theme for the show done on a CD by Jan and Dean called "Command Performance". One great memory but why isn't this available for purchase?

1964's The T.A.M.I. Show (T.A.M.I. is short for Teenage Awards Music International) was the very first live-concert movie of the rock era. And, believe me, this long-unavailable, landmark film is a real groovy treat for any ardent fan of early pop music.

Featuring a bevy of over-zealous go-go dancers and hysterically screaming fans, The T.A.M.I. Show proficiently showcased the budding talent of early-1960's pop music sensations from both sides of the Atlantic.

Filmed in b&w, at Santa Monica's Civic Auditorium (a 3000-seat venue), The T.A.M.I. Show's biggest highlights were The Beach Boys (performing "Surfer Girl"), The Supremes (performing "Baby Love"), and The Rolling Stones (performing "Time Is On My Side").

Directed by Steve Binder - This 2-hour music extravaganza also featured the singing talents of James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Lesley Gore, to name but a few of the 14+ performers.

I started collecting 16 mm films in the 1970's--jazz films mostly. Every now and then, though, something outside my area of interest would catch my eye in the film catalogues available on the underground market to collectors. The deliriously entertaining and rockin'100 minute TAMI Show was up for grabs in this format from one collector I knew (who was making prints from a negative he'd struck from a master print in his collection) for a mere $200.

In 1978 not a whole lot of people were hip to this amazing little documentary or to many of the artists performing in it; I remember its being briefly released theatrically in the mid-1960's when I was in high school as a Rolling Stone concert film. It was much more than that.

Filmed in 1964 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in "Electronovision" (i.e., videotape later transferred to film), the TAMI Show is a record of one truly great concert hosted by the marginally talented Jan and Dean, featuring a mixture of groups and individuals and musical styles that pretty much summed up popular music of the era: American rock and roll(Chuck Berry); Motown (The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and Marvin Gaye--who was himself backed by Darlene Love and the Crystals, though the latter are credited as 'The Blossoms', their SHINDIG name from television); California surf music (the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean; sadly enough, the true pioneers of surf music, such as the legendary Dick Dale, are not represented here); American garage band (the Barbarians); the uncategorizable (but described in the TAMI theme song, sung by Jan and Dean, as representing New York City) Leslie Gore; the British Invasion (Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Rolling Stones); and the incandescent James Brown and His Famous Flames.

The whole spellbinding production was masterminded by Jack Nitzsche and directed by Steve Binder (who later gave us 'The Singer Special', the unforgettable 1968 Elvis Comeback Special).

Before screening The TAMI Show in Austin, TX, at a girlfriend's theater, I would briefly explain the film's background: T. A. M. I. stands for "Teenage Music International", a foundation devoted to providing music scholarships to teens. The film itself was to be shown at the TAMI Foundation's first annual awards ceremony, where the scholarship winners would receive a TAMI, an award like an Emmy or an Oscar. Evidently the foundation never made it that far. As I've said, the film was released to theaters, then quickly withdrawn and never seen again.

The Beach Boys segment was included in the theatrical release print, but my print included none of their performance. In fact, except for the opening sequence--a montage of film clips of the audience members and the show's performers arriving at the auditorium (including a WONDERFUL shot of Diana Ross applying her lipstick)--and some brief shots of them and the rest of the performers massed together onstage as the Stones perform 'Dipsy Doodle' (!) at the show's conclusion, we never got to see The Beach Boys performing.

That changed when the DVD of the film was finally released in a letterbox format with the missing Beach Boys sequence included. The transfer to digital is sharp and clear and the sound is magnificent. The Blu-Ray version is truly outstanding.

It's true that actress Teri Garr is among the TAMI Show's SHINDIG-like dancers (wearing a sweatshirt with what looks like a target on the front); also true is that Glen Campbell and Leon Russell appear in the house band, in tuxes no less. NOT true is that Ann-Margret dances behind Chuck Berry during his performance of "Sweet Little Sixteen" and caught the eye of some Hollywood hosebag who sought her out and made a movie star out of her. The young lady in question does look like A-M, but it's not her; besides, she was already deeply involved in show biz by this time.

Everybody is just great: Chuck Berry opens and trades off with Gerry and the Pacemakers, a peripheral British Invasion band that NOBODY I knew listened to (though Gerry Marsden was a pretty decent guitarist); Smokey Robinson and the Miracles follow with some choice material, ending with Smokey singing "Mickey's Monkey" and everybody dancing. Marvin Gaye does his thing next backed by the aforementioned Crystals.

Petite Leslie Gore, whose hair has been lacquered with hairspray for the occasion--it was a different world then, y'all--sings her hits, including "You Don't Own Me", which never failed to get a cheer from the audiences to whom I showed the film. Missing was the execrable "Sunshine and Lollipops", an inexplicable hit written by the no-longer-worth-maligning Marvin Hamlisch.

Jan and Dean follow with a few of their hits; Dean Torrance's falsetto sounds absurd onstage. The Beach Boys sequence follow with 4 songs: 'Dance, Dance, Dance,''Surfin' USA,' 'Surfer Girl,' and 'I Get Around'.

Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas (Kramer's friend John Lennon - who wrote "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" for him - suggested that Kramer add the "J" to his name) follow with their three great Lennon/McCartney-penned hits "I'll Keep You Satisfied," "From A Window," and the beloved "Bad To Me." I could never watch Billy J without someone commenting on how much he resembles Andy Kaufman.

Next in this lineup are the original Supremes. When this film was originally distributed, the sound for the Supremes sequence was out of synch with the visuals; even the trailer for the film contained this annoying flaw. The DVD release corrected. Look for actress Teri Garr as a dancer in this segment.

The Boston group The Barbarians follow; they're remembered for two hits "Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl?" and "Moulty," which is about the band's drummer, Victor Moulton, who had lost a hand in an accident and holds a drumstick in a claw? "Moulty" Moulton was backed on the song by Bob Dylan's band, listed as "Levon and the Hawks" on the 45. The Barbarians sing one song on the TAMI Show, but it's a good one, characterized by more of a '60s garage band/'80's punk band sound.

THEN--James Brown enters from stage left, skating one-legged the whole way. An electrifying entrance. James Brown sequence pulls out ALL the stops, dropping to his knees (hard too), dancing faster than God usually allows, shouting, whispering, screeching, imploring, and shutting down everything that came before. At the end of his set, even the hardened studio musicians backing everybody up stand to applaud him. And he's called back from the wings at least twice to a sustained ovation.

The Stones are next; and to this day Keith Richards says that following James Brown at the TAMI Show was the biggest mistake of their lives. But they put on a pretty damn fine show nonetheless; in fact, it still stands as my own favorite Stones performance.

A brilliant show. It's available to buy on dvd for about 12 bucks.

Thanks for the great background information on the TAMI show, Wiluxe2.

It was certainly a defining moment in my musical life.

I saw it as a teenager when it first came out and will confirm that the segment by James Brown was the mother of all show-stoppers. I went to the movie to see the Rolling Stones segment, but left remembering James Brown signing Please, Please, Please. He was the real deal. I've seen some versions listed on e-bay with Ike and Tina doing Please Please Please, and other ones where it's JB. Perhaps over the years the movie segments have been cut and spliced so that the original show would be hard to recognize.

By the way, Leslie Gore's 'You Don't Own Me' was also great. She really has a wonderful melodic voice.

I'd be interested in the full length version in Video or DVD if it's available. JTL

I'm going to my 40th high school reunion this year. Wouldn't it be great to have this showing on a big screen during the evening. I remember seeing it at a drive-in theater in Pensacola, Florida. Before too long we were all out of cars dancing on rooftops, hoods and on the ground. Keith Richards was so cool. Go-go dancers were dancing all around him and he was chewing gum acting as if he was oblivious to the whole thing. I had never seen James Brown before. His "Please, please, please" was unforgettable. The capes and the whole act with the band and all were more than I could asked for. And of course we were all in love with Leslie Gore. I wonder if she is the reason so many of my friends girls are named Leslie? The whole production was a statement of what music was all about in 1965. Will we ever see it again? Dick Clark, "Let us have it"