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This Is Spinal Tap

Director: Rob Reiner Run Time: 82 min. Format: DCP Rating: R Release Year: 1984

Starring: Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Rob Reiner

Nitehawk’s MUSIC DRIVEN presents midnite screenings of the classic THIS IS SPINAL TAP.

Largely improvised by director Rob Reiner and his cast, This Is Spinal Tap looks and sounds like a “real” documentary, with Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest as David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls, and Nigel Tufnel, the key members of a going-nowhere British heavy metal band called Spinal Tap. The “group” started as an informal skiffle band, eventually maturing into an R&B act called the Thamesmen (their hit was “Gimme Some Money”). After going through a psychedelic period with “Listen to the Flower People,” the band mutated into Spinal Tap, a hard rock outfit responsible for such albums as “Intravenous DeMilo,” “The Sun Never Sweats,” and “Bent for the Rent.” This Is Spinal Tap finds them in the midst of their first American tour in years as they support their new LP Smell the Glove, with filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner), who specializes in TV commercials, on hand to document the occasion.

As an added bonus, Mass Appeal will present two videos by the Code Cut Crew, a multimedia mega squad comprised of The Alchemist, DJ Qbert, Mix Master Mike, and Jason Goldwatch. CCC is dedicated to creating a new experiential art form that is political in tone and conscious in voice and where sign and sound are inseparable. The result is a collection of videos that wow, shock and awe and immerse the mind and body in sights sounds and breaking grounds.

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