Episode 49 – 'Monterey Pop'&'Gimme Shelter' - a podcast by Phi Phenonenon

It’s obviously not just the film industry that’s having trouble during the pandemic; the music industry’s working bands have found their main revenue stream of touring currently not an option for this last year. On this episode is Laura Colwell and Stephen Salisbury of the Austin, TX band Sun June, who, between their dreamy “regret pop” and self-directed videos, have a foot in both industries. Here we discuss:

- these two Bay Area concert docs of the late ’60s;
- Janis Joplin and Otis Redding’s iconic performances in the former;
- the snuff film aspects of the latter;
- the forced-mythologized bookending of both;
- their cameramen directors D.A. Pennebaker and the Maysles Bros;
- and other contributors such as Shelter’s co-director and -editor Charlotte Zwerin.

Also:

- How Sun June literally started out in an editing room;
- what their working band entails now with members across multiple cities;
- rock critic Robert Christgau’s clear-eyed essay “Anatomy of a Love Festival”;
- what Albert Maysles told me when I interviewed him in 2000;
- how wildly different the industry was financially between now and 1967;
- and what techniques these docs can have for a modern band making their own videos and controlling their own image.

Colwell, along with being lead singer and keyboard player for Sun June, works in the film industry and has edited features and docs, including Also Starring Austin, about the city’s history on film. Salisbury, Sun June’s guitarist, also worked in the film industry on films such as Knight of Cups, Song to Song, and the doc Becoming Leslie. He is currently in the graduate program studying microbiology at the University of North Carolina. They both also write songs for the band.

Sun June’s sophomore album, Somewhere, was just released via Run For Cover and Keeled Scales. You can find out more at the band’s website, such as where to stream live performances and, when bands can do so again, tour dates. Checking out their videos page is also highly recommended, too.

Monterey Pop and Gimme Shelter are both, respectively, streaming on HBO Max and both, respectively, physically on the Criterion Collection.

Further episodes of Phi Phenomenon

Further podcasts by Phi Phenonenon

Website of Phi Phenonenon