"First-time director Elgin James has had a very unique journey to filmmaking - from spending time in the foster care system to forming the notorious FSU gang to serving a year in a maximum-security prison. Homeless as a teenager, Elgin James was a fixture in Boston's hardcore punk scene, helping found a national street gang that targeted neo-Nazi skinheads and drug dealers. He has now put his violent past behind him with his striking directorial debut Little Birds.

15 year-old Lily (Juno Temple) and her best friend Alison (Kay Panabaker) live on the shores of the Salton Sea among rundown trailer parks, rotting household items, drained pools and decaying streets. What was once an oasis for the wealthy and famous has become a near ghost town, leaving its residents fighting for breath in the deep end. Juno Temple and Kay Panabaker shine in this mesmerizing coming-of-age story of finding escape and innocence lost. The film was one of the most buzzed about premieres at Sundance last year and features an all-star cast including Leslie Mann and Kate Bosworth."

Back in 2010 we pointed out that FSU "street gang" founder Elgin James, pictured with all his muscles above, is now a filmmaker with a movie called Little Birds. It played at Sundance 2011 (as the synopsis above points out). It's now August 2012 and we can report that Little Birds is opening in NY and LA theaters on the 29th of this month, but you don't need to wait that long to see it... BrooklynVegan is proud to present a FREE screening of Little Birds at Knitting Factory Brooklyn on Monday, August 20 (that's the flyer up above). The free screening starts at 8pm, and is first come, first served (we've rarely ever had to turn anyone away).

The soundtrack for the film is out digitally this Tuesday, August 14, via Lakeshore Records. It features four original tracks from the film's director Elgin James, as well as tracks by Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Linée, and Big Star. Pick up your copy at iTunes, but first listen to Elgin James and the Suicide Gang's "I Will Die Young", one of the album's songs that is making its premiere in this post. You can stream it, along with the film's trailer, below...

Continue reading "Elgin James' "Little Birds" opening in theaters, but first you can see it for free (a BV Presents Free Screening)"

by BBG

A Tribe Called Quest takes it to the stage.

The Sundance Film Festival is the pre-eminent independent film festival in the US, and 2011 features some interesting competitors in the way of music (and music related) film. First up is a new documentary on a legendary hip hop crew, A Tribe Called Quest. directed by Michael Rapaport (yes, that one). Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest chronicles the internal battles between Q-Tip & Phife Dawg and features appearances from Nas, De La Soul, The Roots, Mos Def, Kanye West, Large Professor, Prince Paul, all four members of ATCQ, and many many others. Trailer for the film is below.

Elgin James has distanced himself from his FSU past, and now he's stepping behind the camera for a new film etitled Little Girls. James serves as Director and Screenwriter for this feature...

"Amidst the stark landscape of the Salton Sea, two 15-year-old girls test the limits of their friendship when one follows the other to Los Angeles. Cast: Juno Temple, Kay Panabaker, Leslie Mann, Kate Bosworth, Kyle Gallner."

I didn't see the words "edge", "core", or "scene" anywhere in that synopsis. And yes, that Leslie Mann and Kate Bosworth.

James Taylor & Carole King will be the subject of Troubadours "A musical journey tracing the lives and careers of ...[these] pillars of the California singer/songwriter scene, which converged in and around LA's Troubadour Club in the late 1960s and early 1970s." This documentary is directed by Morgan Neville, who helmed docs on Stax Records, Iggy Pop, Johnny Cash, and many others.

Last but not least, Sing Your Song examines the man that I best knew for soundtracking my favorite Beetlejuice scene, Harry Belafonte. Besides sunny songs, the film "unearths his significant contribution to and his leadership in the civil rights movement in America and to social justice globally."

Full list of Sundance films is here, and you can check out the (must see) ATCQ trailer below.

Continue reading "A Tribe Called Quest documentary & other Sundance films"

"CHICAGO--The self-proclaimed founding member of a street gang that purports to exert control through use of violence over hardcore punk rock music in clubs and concert venues in major cities nationwide was arrested yesterday by FBI agents in Los Angeles on a federal extortion charge filed in Chicago. The defendant, Elgin Nathan James, allegedly extorted $5,000 from an unnamed victim, a popular recording artist from the Chicago area, while the victim's band was on tour in late 2005 and early 2006, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today." [FBI]

The street gang they're referring to is the notorious straight-edge crew FSU which stands for Friends Stand United, or as most know it... Fuck Shit Up (or as the FBI document refers to it, "F(_ _ _) S(_ _ _) Up"). The charges continue...

On Nov. 27, 2005, the victim and several friends left a bar in Orlando, Fla., and were jumped by a group of men, some of whom were wearing clothing with logos that said "FSU" and "FSU Nation." The victim escaped with one friend. But another friend and that friend's brother were severely beaten by the gang, the charges allege. About an hour later, the victim received a telephone call from James, and according to the victim, James asked how the victim's trip to Florida was going when the victim had never told James that the victim would be traveling in Florida......

.....On Feb. 25, 2006, under FBI surveillance, the victim met James outside the southern California club and handed James an envelope containing $5,000, which the FBI had provided to the victim, according to the charges

As stated above, these charges are just coming now - over 3 years after the above incident happened. Since then Elgin James moved to LA, released a short film starring Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz and became a Sundance recognized-filmmaker! More about FSU and Elgin below...

Continue reading "FSU's Elgin James charged by FBI w/ using "Violence to Control Hardcore Punk Rock Music Scene""