School of Rock
Salinas Californian 1/6/07
There CSUMB's Karen Davis, informed by her own history as a punk musician, prepares to teach a unique course called "Movie Mania! Rock 'N' Roll Films."
The class, which starts Jan. 22 with the spring semester, puts the music of giants such as Elvis and Bob Dylan center stage. The work of mere mortals, Fabian being one, may also show.
It's open to the general public, with some seats still available.
"We're covering rock and its place in pop culture," Davis said. "Race, sex, gender, generational themes, Latino and black roots of the music. Lots of topics."
How events shape the music, in other words, and how the music shapes the events.
Students will focus on rock movies, concert films, music videos and musicals such as "Tommy," the 1975 rock opera from Pete Townshend and The Who.
Davis will also show "This is Spinal Tap," the cult classic and mock rock documentary from 1984.
The course starts, though, with rock's beginnings, with blues and R & B and the 1955 film "The Blackboard Jungle," in which Bill Haley & His Comets play the break-through hit, "Rock Around the Clock."
Instructor still sings
It moves on to "Jailhouse Rock," the Elvis Presley showcase,
and the Beatles' "Hard Day's Night," as well as punk music,
funk music, Prince's "Purple Rain," Michael Jackson's "Thriller"
and more.
Davis has first-person ties to some music her class will explore. From 1980 to 1993, she played electric bass and sang vocals in punk and post-punk bands mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area.
She played with "Wilma," for example, an early all-female punk band. Weighted by trench coats and plenty of mascara, Wilma opened for several top groups, including Dead Kennedys, an in-your-face act whose lyrics ripped at society's conventions.
"I was a blonde, a brunette and a redhead," Davis said. "All at the same time."
Named after Wilma Flintstone, the band cut two albums. Singles included "Fast Fascist," about Ronald Reagan.
Wilma made it into a Rolling Stone guide to women in pop music. Andy Warhol's "Interview" magazine featured the group.
From time to time, Davis still sings backup for rock groups. She'll even sing a number for her CSUMB class.
New technology explored
Elvis shows prominently during the course. His pouty lips, swinging
hips and vocal presence, after all, cannot be denied.
"He's the white man so close to the singing and the movement style of black music," Davis said. "He brought rock to white audiences."
The 1986 film, "La Bamba," written and directed by Luis Valdez, is on the course schedule. Valdez is founder of CSUMB's Teledramatic Arts and Technology department through which Davis presents her class.
Another film, made in 1986, is "Sid and Nancy," about the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious and his American girlfriend.
Students might see excerpts from "Apocalypse Now," the Vietnam War film backed by music from The Doors.
The course won't neglect the evolving technology of sound and music videos. Such technology freed rock from live performances. Multi-tracking and "layering in" of additional sounds expanded the acoustic universe, Davis said.
"Improved technology meant movies were no longer just soundtrack-dependent," she said.
For five years at CSUMB, Davis has taught the "Movie Mania" course. She's also taught a variation at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and at San Francisco State University.
Students will, she hopes, exit her class with greater insight into
both pop music and culture and into film, she said.