Trending
The documentary "Stiv" opens with a quote from Rolling Stone journalist Charles M. Young -- "If he wasn't the last true rock star, he was one of the most colorful warriors in that rare tribe of artists who forged their values before the Reagan era and refused to change as greed and fear infected the world around them."
Girard native Stiv Bators, who died in 1990 after being hit by a car in Paris, France, was the lead singer of the Dead Boys in the 1970s and Lords of the New Church in '80s.
He appeared on MTV and in the movies "Polyester" and "Tapeheads," he dated such famous women as MTV VJ Martha Quinn and model Bebe Buell, and was played by Justin Bartha in a terrible movie about the '70s New York punk scene ("CBGB").
Director Danny Garcia, who lives in Spain, generally avoids Bators' personal life (outside of his penchant for mooning people while "car surfing" on top of a moving vehicle) to focus on Bators' legacy as a punk rock frontman and performer.
"Stiv is one of the last true original rock 'n' roll frontmen the world has ever seen, but not everybody knows about that, apparently," Garcia said in an email interview. "Hopefully, this film will help."
The documentary will have its world premiere Saturday at the Cleveland Cinematheque. Garcia won't be there (he's attending the London premiere on Sunday), but the Cleveland screening will be followed by a Q&A with several of Bators' former bandmates and collaborators.
Frank Secich, who lives in Hermitage, Pa., played with Bators in a later incarnation of the Dead Boys and co-wrote several of the songs on Bators' 1980 solo album "Disconnected." He is interviewed in the film, and "The Stiv Bators Ghost Tour" by his current band, the Deadbeat Poets, is one of several songs on the soundtrack.
"I love it," Secich said of the movie. "Its a very moving tribute to Stiv, very lovingly done, very positive, very focused on him. It celebrates his life."
Secich also served as tour guide for Garcia's producer Mick Kniseley, who shot the Cleveland-area interviews and footage in Girard and the Mahoning Valley.
"Growing up in a working class neighborhood, going to Catholic schools definitely shaped him," Secich said. "Stiv always said he was the product of 12 years of Catholic education."
Considering Bators' reputation for outrageous onstage antics, that's an endorsement the Catholic church might not want.
Garcia has directed documentaries on The Clash ("The Rise and Fall of The Clash"), Johnny Thunders ("Looking for Johnny") and Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen ("Sad Vacation").
"I always like Stiv, but I never thought I'd make a film on him," Garcia said. "Then for years people in different countries kept asking me about it, so at some point I started to think that this could be done. Stiv is present in my two previous documentaries, especially in 'Sad Vacation,' so I guess it was meant to happen."
Secich and Jeff Reding, a longtime Bators / Dead Boys fan who hosted the Cleveland public access cable show "VidMag TV," helped Garcia track down some rare performance footage, not only of the Dead Boys but also Bators' earlier bands Frankenstein and Mother Goose.
"I'd say the Frankenstein and Mother Goose footage is really the icing on the cake, not only because it is unseen footage but because of its historical importance," Garcia said. "And in it you can see that Stiv was already very entertaining to watch in the early '70s."
Reding became an executive producer on the film. He first saw the Dead Boys in 1978 and later befriended Bators. He filmed the Lords of the New Church's 1986 show at Lakewood's Phantasy Theater for "VidMag TV."
"I got to know him pretty well," Reding said. "He was just a great guy … his humor, his talent, his showmanship, the way he cared for other people.
"I know it's going to be emotional, even though I seen a screener, to see it with a crowd of people on a big screen. It will be a full-circle moment for myself. I'll do whatever I can to keep his music and his memory alive."
A series of theatrical screenings are planned in the next month, including an April 6 showing at Pittsburgh's Regent Square Theater. Secich said there has been talk of a local screening, but details haven't been finalized.
Garcia said a vinyl edition of the film's soundtrack will be released April 13 for National Record Store Day with a DVD / digital release slated for late April.