BY ED FELIEN
Twenty years ago, Marty and Martha Roth used to write reviews of films and theater for Southside Pride, and their son, David, used to go to First Avenue. Now David works for KTCA and has produced a 60-minute documentary of what First Avenue meant to his generation. We asked Marty and Martha what they thought of his work:
“The music venue First Avenue, in downtown Minneapolis, rises from its ashes.The lingering echoes achieve full voice in a film about its 40-year history that has just been released and made available online by your friendly public television station. We can’t deny that one of the producers is our son, but we’d have loved it anyway. It’s that good in its blend of video, stills, voiceover and talking heads. The film includes priceless footage of Prince, Ike & Tina Turner, the Replacements and many other touchstones of the rock (r)evolutions in popular culture.”
Steve McClellan, the tastemaker who booked the bands through the torturous history of First Avenue, will be hosting a New Music Showcase live at the southsidepride.com website every Friday and Saturday night from 8 to 10 p.m. starting soon.
Watch this space!
Steve McClellan wants to correct my assessment. He says he was just a cog in the machine, and there were a multitude of collaborators, both staff and musicians, “that were DEFINITELY major players in guaranteeing the venue survived the hard times, allowing it to still be open today.”
