With wits, cunning and a lot naivety a bunch of L.A. music enthusiasts set out to organize their own DIY concerts in the middle of the Mojave in the early 1980s. (Oddly enough, even the West Berlin underground played a partnin that.) Almost 40 years later, the documentrary captures this spirited moment in time and one might wonder about the crucial social parallels to our present ... With original film clips, never shown before archival footage and memoirs by the protagonists and participating bands, Desolation Center is a film as lucid as it is touching!
Desolation Center
2018
Action / Documentary
Desolation Center
2018
Action / Documentary
100% - Critics
7.4Plot summary
The untold story of a series of Reagan-era guerrilla punk and industrial desert happenings in Southern California that are now recognized as the inspiration for Burning Man, Lollapalooza, and Coachella. Interviews and rare performance footage of Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Redd Kross, Einstürzende Neubauten, Survival Research Laboratories, Savage Republic, Swans and more.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 870.49 MB
1280*714
English 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
Reviewed by
From L.A. and West Berlin into the Mojave
Reviewed by
Wish I Was There!
All I can say is that I wish I had been there, and am grateful that Stuart made this documentary so that people like me who are interested can learn more about these bands, and Mark Pauline/SRL. Stuart did an excellent job with this film - both informative and entertaining - never a dull moment! An interesting piece of history now set down in film for those of us who missed out. Thanks, Stuart!
Reviewed by
Desert sessions
"We played in the middle of the Mojave Desert at a festival called the Gila Monster Jamboree . . . It was a magical night, one of my favorite (Sonic Youth) shows ever. "
- Kim Gordon, bassist of Sonic Youth, from her book Girl In A Band: A Memoir
Before the corporate alt-rock explosion of the '90s birthed the likes of the Burning Man, Lollapalooza, and Coachella rock festivals, there was the Desolation Center: a punk rock version of Woodstock held out in the Mojave Desert that hosted the performances of Sonic Youth (1994: The Year Punk Broke),Minutemen (morphed into Firehose; music featured in A Matter of Degrees),Meat Puppets (soundtracks to Lovedolls Superstar, Love and a .45, SubUrbia, Losers Take All),Perry Farrell (of Jane's Addiction),Redd Kross (Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, Spirit of '76),Einstürzende Neubauten, Survival Research Laboratories, Savage Republic, and the Swans.
Image of Uncut Magazine article courtesy of MU Productions and CWPR It all began in 1983 in the mind of a then 23-year-old Stewart Swezey, and Bruce Licher of Savage Republic, so as to provide a venue for bands, such as Black Flag, forced out of Los Angeles by a police department and local government that saw fit to raid clubs and instigate riots at punk rock shows. So the duo chose a site just outside of Mecca, California, three hours south of Los Angeles, to provide a safe, creative outlet for bands and their fans.
Desolation Center became available on Tuesday, June 23 for streaming via Apple TV (iTunes),Google Play, and the Amazon Instant Video platforms. Pair this one up with Social Distortion and Minor Threat in the Another State of Mind and Penelope Spheeris's The Decline of Western Civilization for a night of retro-punk viewing.