As a young NYU film student in 1970, director Allan Arkush made ends meet by working at the legendary Fillmore East as a crew member helping to put on concerts by all the most iconic performers of the Aquarian Age. That experience informed this raucous, star-studded comedy about a music venue almost exactly like the Fillmore East, run by impresario Max Wolfe (based the creator of the modern rock concert, Bill Graham.)

GET CRAZY’s musical personae are all based on classic rock bands acting out real events from rock history. Reggie Wanker( Malcom McDowell) can be identified by eagle-eyed scholars of the time as an amalgam of Mick Jagger/Rod Stewart. Captain Cloud & the Rainbow Telegraph (Howard Kaylan of the Turtles) resemble The Grateful Dead and The Incredible String Band. Lou Reed plays a legendary poet/singer much like Bob Dylan. Piggy (Lee Ving) is Iggy Pop. The character King Blues stands in for BB King and Chuck Berry. And so on, and so on, delightfully.

The movie is packed with Rock History Easter Eggs, but a degree in music history is not required because this is a masterful, fast-paced comedy that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Allan Arkush will join us to talk about the film, his experiences making it, and his long career that started with his film professor Martin Scorsese, continued through his long association with Roger Corman, and later as an Emmy winning television director. Arkush is still thriving today as a film professor and through his work on the site Trailers From Hell and elsewhere.