SILVER

"Somebody told me you people are crazy, but I'm not so sure about that…you seem to be all right to me." So says Lux Interior, lead singer of punk rock band The Cramps, challenging the mainstream stereotype of the crowd assembled before him at the Napa State Hospital.
On June 13, 1978, The Cramps played a show at Napa State, a psychiatric hospital in the small town of Napa in northern California. Opening for them were The Mutants, an eclectic septet of art-school punks from nearby San Francisco. Seminal Bay Area art collective Target Video was also there to capture the show using one of the first video cameras available to the public, democratizing a medium normally controlled by mainstream media outlets. The resulting VHS tape of the show is one of the most legendary documents in music history and a cult classic tape. Both Napa performances have been remastered by Dino Everett at the Punk Media Research Collection, University of Southern California, HMH Foundation Moving Image Archive. Screening in between the Napa performances is the short documentary WE WERE THERE TO BE THERE which goes into the background of Target Video and how the Napa State show happened, with rare photos and interviews from people who were at the show. The documentary also explores the deep history of Napa State and how then-Governor Ronald Reagan's policies regarding mental health facilities are still affecting people today.

THE MUTANTS AT NAPA STATE
The long-lost tape of The Mutants playing at Napa State, unedited and fully remastered from the original reel-to-reel videotape. DIR Joe Target Rees. U.S., 1978, b&w, 22 min. NOT RATED

WE WERE THERE TO BE THERE
A short documentary about how the 1978 Napa State punk show happened and its lasting effect. DIR Mike Plante, Jason Willis. U.S., 2021, color/b&w, 27 min. NOT RATED

THE CRAMPS AT NAPA STATE
The full tape of The Cramps' show at Napa State, unedited and fully remastered from the original reel-to-reel videotape. DIR Joe Target Rees. U.S., 1978, b&w, 23 min. NOT RATED

No AFI Member passes accepted.