BEFORE: I've got just three more states to profile in this Semi-Quincentennial historic year's Doc Block, and it looks like I'm going to run out of documentaries before I run out of states - don't worry, it's all part of the plan, I've taken care of everything. Including the fact that the Ventures were a band formed in and often based in the state of WASHINGTON, which I have not profiled and I saved just for them. So let's Get to Know a State...
Date admitted to the U.S.: November 11, 1889 (42nd state)
Claim to fame: Umm, Seattle? The Space Needle and grunge rock?
Nickname: "The Evergreen State"
State Motto: "Alki" which is Chinook for "by and by", apparently
State Flower: Rhododendron
State Bird: Willow goldfinch
State Tree: Western hemlock
State Mammal: Marmot?
State Fish: Steelhead trout
State Gemstone: Petrified wood
State Insect: Green darner
State Sport: Pickleball
Notable Sports Teams: Umm, Mariners in baseball, and they used to have the Seahawks in football, I'm not sure if they're still active. Well, I guess they are. I think it's the basketball team that moved away? There's still a WNBA team, the Seattle Storm, and there's an NHL team, the Kraken, and the Seattle Sounders soccer team, I know them.
Fun Facts: George Washington the President never made it to the state that got named for him, he died well before that happened and I think he never went that far west, anyhow. Washington the state made a constitution in 1878 but it was never officially adopted, so I guess that means that everything is legal there? Not sure. There was a very famous volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens back in 1980, I remember that, it flattened the forest for 12 miles and killed 57 people, and many states eastward were caught in a big cloud of ash. The state also has Mount Rainier, the Cascade Mountains and the Olympic Mountains, so really this should be called the Mountain State and Colorado should have to come up with something else.
I have not been to Washington, the state, so my total stands at 28 states visited out of 48 states profiled. I think I'm only going to be able to add one more place I've been. Jimmy Page carries over from "Becoming Led Zeppelin".
THE PLOT: Documentary film on the instrumental group The Ventures. The story of their rise to fame in the 1960's right up to now as they celebrate their 60th anniversary.
AFTER: Even if you don't know who the Ventures are, you probably know who the Ventures are. They had a bunch of instrumental hits that started with "Walk, Don't Run" in 1960 and then another version of that same song charted again in 1964, which was technically a different decade (because there was no year zero, it's complicated) so they were the first band to have the same song in the Top 10 in two different decades. They popularized the use of the electric guitar and the whammy bar and the reverb and the fuzzbox, pretty much anything you can use to change the sound of a guitar electronically, they did it first and inspired everyone from Peter Frampton to Jimi Hendrix to Slash. They were one of those bands that "launched a thousand other bands" and they got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.
They started just as two guys, Don Wilson and Bob Bogle who worked as bricklayers together who also played a little guitar, and they started their band as a duet, with one basically doing a drum part on his guitar and the other simulating a bass part too, but soon the group grew into a foursome and they got a real drummer and a real bass player, then the guitar guys could REALLY take off and do whatever they wanted, exploring different sounds and rhythms, and playing what would come to be called "surf music" before there was even a need for surf music in the culture.
While they did not write the theme to "Hawaii Five-O", when that show's theme song became popular, a longer version was needed than the one made for the show, so the Ventures recorded a longer version, and that was a hit, too. And then no matter what became popular throughout the decades, the Ventures would record a version of it, whether it was Carpenters music or the theme from "Shaft", they were right there to add their famous twangy sound to it, which meant they released over 200 albums over the years, including a Christmas album and albums that taught teenagers how to play the guitar, I don't think they ever made a Beach Boys album, though, because really the whole Beach Boys thing was copied from the sound of the Ventures.
Somehow, impossibly, the Ventures are still active and touring today, even though all of the original members have passed away, Don Wilson and Bob Bogle and Nokie Edwards and honestly, more drummers than "Spinal Tap", but that's how influential they were, every guitar player worth his salt knows their songs or their style or tried to duplicate what they did with a fuzzbox and a whammy bar. The current drummer is the son of one of their most prominent early members, so by now it's probably like a family thing. Or everyone in the Seattle music scene knows everybody else, and they've all just decided to keep this crazy thing going.
And if they were well known in the U.S., they were even more famous in Japan, the original band toured there several times and the Japanese music scene created a whole new genre of music based on their style, called "teke-teke" which sounds kind of like the fast-paced strumming of a guitar on a Ventures song. Punk music fans love the Ventures, surf music fans love the Ventures, Billy Bob Thornton loves the Ventures, that's the main point this doc tries to get across, and it's not wrong, they're just kind of universally known and loved, and come on, you know them even if you don't know them, right?
Directed by Staci Layne Wilson
Also starring Don Wilson, Danny Amis, Randy Bachman (last seen in "Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind"), Jeffrey "Skunk" Baxter (last seen in "Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary"), Mel Bergman, Liz Brasher, Joe Carducci, Del Casher, Jeff Cook, Josie Cotton, Nicole Damoff, Jack DeFranco, Deke Dickerson, Seymour Duncan, Bill Englehart, Mark Farner, Roger Fisher, John Fogerty (last seen in "Travelin' Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall"), Bill Ford, Les Fradkin, Shermy Freeman, Pleasant Gehman, Barry Goudreau, Leon Hendrix, Mars Homeworld, Lisa S. Johnson, Wayne Kramer (last heard in "Super Duper Alice Cooper"), Giddle Partridge, Deanna Passarella, Tim Polecat, Raiyuki, Marky Ramone (last seen in "Rock 'n' Roll High School"), Robert Reissdorf, Eric Roberts (last seen in "Bob Fosse: It's Showtime!"), Joe Rosignolo, Ruiko, Denny Sarokin, Lalo Schifrin, Bob Spalding, Billy Bob Thornton (last heard in "The Electric Slate"), Waddy Wachtel, Paul Warren, Christian Wilde, Josie Wilson,
The Neptunas, The Surfragettes,
with archive footage of Tommy Allsup, Jeff Beck (also carrying over from "Becoming Led Zeppelin"), Rodney Bingenheimer, Hal Blaine (last seen in "The Beach Boys"), Bob Bogle, Bill Botrell, Glen Campbell (last seen in "Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind"), Chevy Chase (last seen in "John Candy: I Like Me"), Mark Christopher, Bobby Darin, Mickey Dolenz, Tommy Dorsey, Nokie Edwards, Mick Fleetwood (last seen in "Stevie Nicks: Wild at Heart"), Jimi Hendrix (ditto), Peter Frampton (last seen in "The 100th: Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden"), Billy Joel (ditto), Tom Hanks (also last seen in "John Candy: I Like Me"), Elton John (last seen in "Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion"), Howie Johnson, Davy Jones, Casey Kasem (last seen in "Luther: Never Too Much"), Carol Kaye, Kris Kristofferson (last seen in "Pee-Wee as Himself"), Kathy Marshall, Gerry McGee, Semie Moseley, Michael Nesmith, Les Paul, Joe Perry, Elvis Presley (also carrying over from "Becoming Led Zeppelin"), Bonnie Raitt (last seen in "Roy Orbison Forever"), Leon Russell, Gene Simmons, Slash, Leon Taylor, Mel Taylor, Peter Tork, Steven Tyler, Bobby Vee, Joe Walsh (also last seen in "Roy Orbison Forever"), Alan White,
The B-52's, The Go-Go's, Iron Butterfly, Mungo Jerry and the Stray Cats
RATING: 6 out of 10 Fender guitars (and Mosrite guitars, but only between 1963 and 1968)
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