I blogged previously about this, but since the screenings are tomorrow and Wednesday, I thought I’d give it another plug. The Alamo Drafthouse Downtown is holding screenings for Nancy Higgins’s Viva Les Amis tomorrow night at 9:45 and Wednesday night at 7:00. I don’t think I mentioned it last time, but there’s a 10-minute selection of clips from the documentary on the recently released Criterion Collection edition of Slacker, which used Les Amis as a location in several scenes.
The film uses Les Amis and its history to explore the demise of “Old Austin” and the broader themes of large national chains moving in and pushing out local businesses. I didn’t frequent Les Amis much when it was open, but I can certainly attest to the change in the city over the last 15 years that I’ve lived here. Marc Savlov, who had to give up writing for Austin Metblog to focus on his day job, wrote a feature on the film in last week’s Chronicle.
Since Marc mentions them, I included a shot of the mighty Big Boys playing in the parking lot next to Inner Sanctum Records and Les Amis on May 7, 1983. Unfortunately, I never saw them live myself, but bought all of their stuff from Bill’s Records as a young lad in Dallas. They were truly an amazing band. You can see more photos from that date and check out more about the band here.
