(TV) Early film footage of Television on VH1 Tonight

["Casey, Leo J" <CaseyL@VOLPE.DOT.GOV>]

>From Today'a Boston Globe Arts Section:

25 Years of Punk in VH1 Film Tonight

Brad Abramson was in junior high during the punk rock explosion of the late 70s, but he bought albums of the Ramones and dug what the noise was all about.  Now at 35, he serves as the supervising producer on "VH1 ALL Access:  25 Years of Punk", which airs tonight.

"Everyone loves anniversaries", he says.  "We wanted to pay respects to this great music." VH1 partnered  with Spin magazine, which has dedicated its current issue to the same topic.

The VH1 folks have done their homework:  vintage video of Television, the Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, the Clash, Talking Heads, and others.  "It was really a challenge to cover a quarter of a century in one hour." says Abram son.  "We set out to talk with as many founding fathers as we could---all the Ramones, X's John Doe, Wayne Kramer, Fear's Lee Ving."  Latter musicians influenced by early punk such as Foo Fighters Dave Grohl pop up.  A few oversimplifications and generalizations aside, VH1 gets the history right and conveys the power of punk.

"We try to draw a thread through the hour," he says of "this anti-movement, of DIY (do-it-yourself philosophy), and beyond the history, the culture of the music, and how the new wave was co-opted by commercialism."  Part of the blame for that little bump in the road goes to sister channel MTV, but Abramson kept his nose out of that one.

	Leo

PS: Given VH1's partner for this venture is Spin magazine (Spin's April 2001 issue's egregious omission of Television/Marquee Moon from their 100 most influential albums of 25 years of punk), and the straitjacket format length of just hour, I'm keeping my expectations quite low.  Besides I thought the only surviving footage of (70's) Television was without sound and had previously been shown on 1995 PBS Robert Palmer Rockumentary?!?  
Is there other existing footage?        
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