The TAMI Show Remembered

By Steve Rosen

(Originally Published: 10/29/2004, Los Angeles Times)

The Rolling Stones were there, along with James Brown, the Beach Boys, the Supremes, Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye and more, filmed live before their screaming fans as dancers -- including Teri Garr -- pranced all around while Jan & Dean hosted.

It was called the TAMI Show, and when the concert took place 40 years ago at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, it featured the most star-studded lineup that had ever been assembled.

The film shot during the event, held Oct. 28 and 29 in 1964, is considered by many to be among the best concert films ever. Entertainment Weekly has ranked the show as the 49th most important rock 'n' roll event in history. Just this month, the footage was screened at the Library of Congress as a candidate for inclusion on the National Film Registry.

While concert copies of dubious origin and quality are available through the Internet, the company that holds the rights, Dick Clark Productions, said it has no immediate plans for DVD release. As a result, it's rarely seen in full.

The project grew out of an attempt to book the biggest names across the pop-music spectrum circa 1964,  from surf music to the blues, from the British Invasion to Motown. Yet its origins, and many of the details, are still shrouded in mystery.

Even for those familiar with the event and film, it has been tough figuring out its history -- beginning with what exactly TAMI means. Publicity for the show referred to it alternately as an acronym for both Teenage Awards Music International and Teen Age Music International. But in its opening title sequence, the film identifies itself as Teenage Command Performance.

"I think it's in the top three of all rock movies," said filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who owns a 16-millimeter print. Concert highlights abound. The Beach Boys with Brian Wilson, in striped surfer shirts, performed "I Get Around," "Dance, Dance, Dance," "Surfer Girl" and "Surfin' USA." Marvin Gaye, nonchalantly cool in a resplendent white tuxedo, crooned "Can I Get a Witness" as two dancers shimmied alongside him. And while teen-idol Lesley Gore's rendition of her million-selling "It's My Party" may seem dated now, her aching version of "You Don't Own Me" remains transcendent and prescient in its youthful, defiant rebelliousness.

The penultimate act was Brown, who mesmerized the crowd with his raw screams and agile footwork. "I tell you, it's a masterpiece and the beginning of my career in one way," Brown recalled of the TAMI Show during a recent telephone interview. "It was great for me. I'd been getting that kind of response for a long time, but white people didn't get a chance to see me because they didn't go to the venues I was playing at." (Getting Top 40 airplay with "Out of Sight" at the time, Brown didn't become a true rock star until months later, thanks to "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag.")

Following Brown were the still-new Stones, coming off an "Ed Sullivan Show" appearance and enjoying their first major U.S. hit, "Time Is On My Side." This crowd-pleasing performance has become legendary because of reports that the Stones were frightened to follow Brown. In Old Gods Almost Dead, Stephen Davis writes that Gaye had to tell the Stones, "Just go out there and do your thing."

Steve Binder, the director of TAMI, can still remember Brown's reaction when told that the Stones would be the final act. "He said, 'Nobody could follow me,' " Binder says. "But I think to this day it's still one of the greatest Stones performances of all time. I felt whoever followed James Brown would be pushed to their limit."

Binder, 65, had a varied career after the TAMI Show, working on, among other things, TV's "Hullabaloo" show as well as directing Elvis Presley's " '68 Comeback Special." He recalled meeting the colorful entrepreneur behind the TAMI Show, the late William "Bill" Sargent Jr., when he hired Binder to produce and direct a Los Angeles benefit for the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

Broadcast on closed-circuit TV, it introduced both men to working together on rock 'n' roll indirectly. One of the skits Binder put together featured Edmond O'Brien, Edward G. Robinson, Ed Begley and Agnes Moorhead reading the lyrics of Jan & Dean's 1963 hit "Surf City." Subsequently, Sargent told Binder about his dreams for Electronovision. In the days before videotape, electronic-camera live-television broadcasts were recorded and preserved on kinescopes, a form of film. Sargent felt his Electronovision could improve the picture quality of these well enough for quick theatrical release of filmed live events. In early 1964, he showed a stage version of Richard Burton's "Hamlet" in movie theaters. Next up, he wanted to rock -- and hired Binder to direct.

Sargent appeared to have grandiose plans for his TAMI enterprise. A rare souvenir booklet of the event states that "TAMI is an international nonprofit organization. Its purpose: to understand teenagers, to recognize their needs, their wants, their attitudes and their principles. And most important, to help them establish a position of respect in their communities, and in our total society."

To do so, a special board was to create a TAMI awards competition -- voted on by teenagers -- with winners announced on a national telecast.

Binder says none of that happened because Sargent lost control of plans to American International Pictures, his distributor. Still, Sargent was an entrepreneur, constantly looking for ways to improve picture quality enough to turn live events into theatrical releases. "Bill was way ahead of the curve," Binder said.



Update: The T.A.M.I. Show: Collector's Edition will be released on DVD by Shout! Factory on March 23