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DVD

Title: The Cramps Live At Napa State Mental Hospital Publisher:   Target Video Country: USA Format: DVD Date: 10 Feb 2004 Region Code: Region 0 Cat#: DR-73 Genre: Music, Documentary Rating: 10.0  Rate Collection:   I Own It     I Want It  Community:  2 Own Price Guide: Valuation Page » Search eBay #AD  » Search Amazon #AD This site contains affiliate links for which we may be compensated.

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Notes

In June of 1978, The Cramps played to a room full of enthusiastic patients at the Napa State Mental Institute and the results are captured on this DVD. The original B&W Super 8 film was transferred to video then transferred to this DVD so the visual componenent is very lo res. The 20 mins. of footage of The Cramps playing though is probably some of the most disturbing concert footage ever.
Tracklist
Live At Napa State Mental Hospital 20:21
1 –The Cramps Mystery Plane
2 –The Cramps Way I Walk
3 –The Cramps What's Behind The Mask
4 –The Cramps Human Fly
5 –The Cramps Domino
6 –The Cramps Love Me
7 –The Cramps Twist & Shout
8 –The Cramps TV Set
Bonus Target Video
9 –Various Part 1
10 –Various Part 2

Images

Number: 1015073  THUMBNAIL Uploaded By: Lee Wrecker Description: Cover

Number: 1015074  Uploaded By: Lee Wrecker Description: Back Cover

Number: 1015075  Uploaded By: Lee Wrecker Description: DVD

Comments and Reviews

Richard Vollin 5th Jul 2017		The performance took place on 13 June 1978 at the Napa State Hospital, Napa, California. It was a free concert by the Mutants, from San Francisco, and The Cramps from New York City. The event was arranged by former CPS (Child Protective Services) activities specialist Bart Swain, through booking agent; Howie Klein. The band originally booked to appear on this occasion was the Readymades, a notable San Francisco based new wave/punk band, but either by divine providence or fate, The Cramps and Mutants performed the show. Video footage of The Cramps was taped using a battery powered Sony Portapak two piece camera/recorder unit (possibly the AV-3400, with a ½" U-Matic S 20 minute cassette). It is believed either Target Video founder/director Joe Rees, or associate Jill Hoffman-Kowal videotaped the show. It should also be noted that many still photographs were captured by photographer Ruby Ray, who can be clearly seen documenting the event throughout. Many of her images can be found on the Internet (mostly uncredited). Mutant band vocalist Freddy Mutant (Fritz Fox), and lead guitarist Brendan Earley both contend that their performance should have been documented on video. However, Ruby Ray did photograph them. Excerpted quote by Target Video founder Joe Rees, from an interview conducted for the L.A. Record by Chris Ziegler, entitled "TARGET VIDEO: LIKE WATCHING SOMETHING BIBLICAL", published 30 April 2009, regarding the Napa State video: "...The same with the Napa State Mental Hospital. You think that could go on today? No way! There would be like fifteen lawyers standing outside the gate licking their chops. One of the greatest things about that event—even to this day I am so moved when I watch that video over and over. But the thing of it is—those people who were going through such a heavy experience in life and were confined to that mental institution, the freedom and the happiness that they had that day during that event was almost like a miracle! It was almost like watching something biblical—something from a Cecil B. DeMille film but in a real sense, a true sense. Nobody was acting and I have never seen anything in my life so moving and I’ve been told that a thousand times. We were at the right place at the right time but we had the right thing in our hearts. We wanted to have an experience and it all came together with magic." footnote # 1: This contributor first stumbled into The Cramps traveling medicine show during their first foray outside of New York City's Bowery, (as I like to refer to as) my "Baptism by Fire" on 07 April 1978, at the Atlantis Club in Washington, D.C., two months prior to their Napa event. I had heard of The Cramps in drips and drabs, in the pages of Richard, and Lisa Robinson's Rock Scene magazine, a rag devoted primarily to NYC glam rock, and the burgeoning punk rock movement. Needless to say, The Cramps opened many doors, and left an incalculable, indelible, life long impression on me. I was now totally corrupt, and, as I won't retrace the circumstances leading up to this moment, suffice to say, it had to do with an employee of a local record store; the Penguin Feather, seeking a gig as a DJ, and my giving him a lift to the Atlantis Club that evening, and as The Cramps lay waste... footnote # 2: The Atlantis Club was located at 930 F Street, NW, in the Atlantic Building, adjacent to Ford's Theatre (where U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated). Atlantis owner Paul Parson's was quoted in the day's following The Cramps ill-fated booking with support group, The Puppets as: "...too controversial, too destructive. No club is ready for that kind of destruction. The Cramps are not healthy." The Cramps were told 'never to return.' Soon after, the Atlantis closed it's doors, and the building was purchased and re-christened the Nightclub 9:30 on 31 May 1980, and there, The Cramps enjoyed many a return engagement.
Lee Wrecker 28th Mar 2016		The most disturbing 20mins of Rock 'n' Roll ever filmed? Most likely it is and like a train wreck you can't look away. The Cramps are in fine form live but it is the crowd and their interaction with the band that steal the show here.

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Crucifix And M.D.C. - Target Video - USA (1983)

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