!!!! SCREEING HELD September 13, 2006 @ CB's Gallery 315 Bowery film @ 7:30pm
bands featured in the film played after the screening, David Peel Status Quo No Show Shakerleg Dana Fuchs Vernon Reid !!!!!!

Director/Producer Roy Szuper , brother-in-lawand music fanatic Concert Joe, and punk rocker Tony Petrozza , set out to create the 1st Annual Williamsburg Music Festival as a statement of protest against the incoming Republican National Convention. Joe acts as our guide through the New York music scene while Szuper borrows money, seeks advice, and secures talent for the festival.

Along the way we meet legendary activist/musician, David Peel, who entertains us with his history of political irreverence and activism. We also interview another New York legend in Hilly Kristal , founder of CGGB’s, who touches on topics such as the corporatization of music and the impending closing of CB’s.

After endless red tape created by the city beaurocracy in their pre-RNC paranoia, the festival takes place as scheduled, 9 days before the RNC. Despite all the hard work and expectations, torrential rains put a damper on the festival. Despite the rains, 8 bands performed including David Peel, Tony Petrozza and his band SQNS, Dana Fuchs, the city’s most intense subway performer Shakerleg, and headliner Vernon Reid.
Despite the financial disaster for producer Roy Szuper, the spirit of the festival carries us through to the RNC. Once there, we experience the largest protest in the history of any political convention in history and the premiere activist concert of RNC week featuring Tom Morello and Michael Franti and Spearhead.

The film also features appearances Agnostic Front lead guitarist and Hardcore Tattoo Founder Vinnie Stigma,Dana Beal, leader of the Yippies, legendary TV/radio host Joe Franklin , Jake Hill, Publisher of SpinMagazine, the festival’s main sponsor, and Punk Magazine founder John Holmstrom.

Roy Szuper and Jim Bessman

Roy Szuper: Producer/Director
Szuper can currently be seen filming punk rock bands and freak shows in New York city as well as graffiti artists, musicians, and subway performers searching for their groove. A native New Yorker, Szuper has a B.A. in Political Science from Fairfield University which helps explain his penchant for infusing his films with politics and subversion. He began working on concert production with Metropolitan Entertainment in the early 90’s and went on to produce CONCERT JOE: A NY STORY. As with all of Szuper’s projects, this 40 minute film was shot guerrilla style and completed in 2000. It told the story of one man’s quest of getting into the Guinness Book for seeing the most concerts. The film was featured on VH-1 and MTV. In 2002, Szuper wrote, directed and produced a short titled CHARCOAL. Based on an event that happened to his own family in the days after 9/11, the film chronicles one ethnic family’s post 9/11 barbeque gone dangerously awry.