Customer Reviews

The Shield Around the K - The Story of K Records

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This 2000 documentary on Olympia, WA indie label K Records doesn't stink as much as it's not very good. A shame because the subject deserves better, and it could have worked if more thought and planning went into it. It evades the basic rules of journalism and documentary filmmaking to present an incomplete timeline of the career of Beat Happening, with sidebars added for flavor and context. Interviews are squandered on he said/she said and "oh yeah, I remember" trivia, and there's no bigger picture than whatever is on the screen. Now there's a chance a better film won't ever be made because this is, as Bill McNeal hated admitting, adequate.

Maybe The Shield Around The K was meant to be no more than a walk down memory lane for Olympia indie scenesters, and as such it can't fail because a goodly number of original participants are on screen in what's definitely fancier than a home movie. It tries to be more, at least in the proto-K opening, but the absence of an outline and mission statement cripple its chances. A documentary has to do two things right: seamlessly answer the Five W's of who, what, where, when, how, and why, and also present a winning argument there's a larger meaning and importance. Everything has to combine to say this is big and worthy of your time. Jean Smith of Mecca Normal is on screen throughout to be sarcastic, flighty and improvise unfunny comedy. Not knowing she's a small "g" lo-fi inde goddess I wondered why this snarky person was given so much time. It would help greatly to be in lurve with K Records to make it through its 1:25 running time, bulked up with full performances when samples would have kept things moving. I like Beat Happening and Lo-Fi well enough, so I was looking forward to a good time. If The Cramps were 1950's beatniks they'd be Beat Happening.

Writer/Director Heather Rose Dominic had access to soft-spoken Calvin Johnson yet didn't make him the charismatic center of the film as he was the center of K Records and the local scene. She interviews Ira Robbins of The Trouser Press and zine kingpin Jack Rabid, yet Rabid says little while Robbins churns out vague memories and cursory opinions. Johnson should have been the tour guide of local lore with Robbins and Rabid providing the bigger picture. I wanted to know more about the "hipster punk rocker types" vs. the lo-fi college kids from Evergreen State College, where there are no grades, no tests, no required courses and no tenured professors. I pray one day my heart surgeon isn't an Evergreen grad. Shoulda coulda woulda, that's all I have to say!

A fun story from the film is how K started as a DIY label with the motto of the "Cassette Revolution". When the first Beat Happening single came out someone asked Calvin about the slogan, and his reply was "Didn't you hear? We Won!" The woman who stood on her guitar and kicked and scraped the strings with her shoes is also noteworthy. They should have asked her what that was all about. Dominic had access to everything she needed, from participants to videos and concert footage - she just didn't know what to do with them.

I'd heard some negative things about this documentary, but I had to check it out anyway. I grew up in Olympia at the same time K Records and Beat Happening were starting. It's not an overstatement to say that these things and the general ethos of Calvin Johnson changed my life. So anyway, yeah I guess I was predisposed to like this - or hate it. I'm not sure how much someone not already familiar with K would get out of it. There's a lot missing. Some vital bands aren't even mentioned; The Go Team (not THAT Go Team!), Some Velvet Sidewalk, The Pastels, Heavenly, Kicking Giant the whole Riot Grrl movement are pretty much ignored. What you get are mostly Beat Happening, Mecca Normal, Lois and Tiger Trap. There is just a lot more to it than that. More than just bands. Other than a few great videos, directed by Pat Maley and Lois Maffeo, this movie just doesn't "feel' like Olympia. The interviews are randomly structured and unfocused. You don't get a chronological feel for things or understand how this label works. Just poor editing really. Still, it's worth a looksie. I was just hoping for something more definitive.

I watched this last night. Terrible production. Interviews done on a home video camera. Sound is bad.
Not enough interviews. Could have been so much better. I love the subject matter, but boy, was this a waste of time.