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142-627: Spheeris was born in New Orleans, Louisiana . Her Greek -immigrant father owned the Magic Empire Shows carnival and was a side-show strong man. Her mother, of Irish heritage, was raised in Kansas and later worked as a ticket taker for the carnival. Her father was 40 years old and her mother was 19 when they began a relationship. Spheeris has three full siblings, plus a number of older half-siblings from her father's first marriage. She

284-568: A cult following . In 2002, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress , and was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry . It has been credited with "effectively" launching the mockumentary genre. Filmmaker Martin "Marty" Di Bergi is filming a documentary about English rock band Spinal Tap 's 1982 United States concert tour to promote their new album, Smell

426-590: A "per capita income [that] was second in the nation and the highest in the South." The city had a role as the "primary commercial gateway for the nation's booming midsection." The port was the nation's third largest in terms of tonnage of imported goods, after Boston and New York, handling 659,000 tons in 1859. As the Creole elite feared, the American Civil War changed their world. In April 1862, following

568-525: A 1994 CD-ROM by The Voyager Company that included the entire film in QuickTime format. In 2000, MGM Home Entertainment released a special edition with more or less the same extras from the Criterion edition, plus a new audio commentary track with Guest, McKean and Shearer performing in character throughout, commenting on the film entirely in their fictional alter-egos, and often disapproving of how

710-460: A 96% rating on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes based on 67 reviews, with an average rating of 8.60/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Smartly directed, brilliantly acted, and packed with endlessly quotable moments, This Is Spinal Tap is an all-time comedy classic." On Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 92 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Roger Ebert of

852-412: A United States Air Force base. Judas Priest , the heavy metal band that Rob Reiner saw in preparation for the film, has had many drummers in its career (eight in total), which the website Ultimate Classic Rock described as "positively Spinal Tap-worthy". Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery later described the run of five drummers in a year between his band's first two albums as "like Spinal Tap". In

994-1096: A brief period as Republican governor of Louisiana, becoming the first governor of African descent of a U.S. state (the next African American to serve as governor of a U.S. state was Douglas Wilder , elected in Virginia in 1989). New Orleans operated a racially integrated public school system during this period. Wartime damage to levees and cities along the Mississippi River adversely affected southern crops and trade. The federal government contributed to restoring infrastructure. The nationwide financial recession and Panic of 1873 adversely affected businesses and slowed economic recovery. From 1868, elections in Louisiana were marked by violence, as white insurgents tried to suppress black voting and disrupt Republican Party gatherings. The disputed 1872 gubernatorial election resulted in conflicts that ran for years. The " White League ", an insurgent paramilitary group that supported

1136-400: A budget of 2 million dollars. Virtually all dialogue in the film is improvised. Actors were given outlines indicating where scenes would begin and end and character information necessary to avoid contradictions, but everything else came from the actors. As often as possible, the first take was used in the film, to capture natural reactions. Reiner wanted to list the entire cast as writers on

1278-636: A complex system of levees and drainage pumps in an effort to protect the city. New Orleans was severely affected by Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005, which flooded more than 80% of the city, killed more than 1,800 people, and displaced thousands of residents, causing a population decline of over 50%. Since Katrina, major redevelopment efforts have led to a rebound in the city's population. Concerns have been expressed about gentrification , new residents buying property in formerly close-knit communities, and displacement of longtime residents. Additionally, high rates of violent crime continue to plague

1420-611: A concern into the 1740s for governor Marquis de Vaudreuil . In the early 1740s traders from the Thirteen Colonies crossed into the Appalachian Mountains. The Native American tribes would now operate dependent on which of various European colonists would most benefit them. Several of these tribes and especially the Chickasaw and Choctaw would trade goods and gifts for their loyalty. The economic issue in

1562-418: A concert attended by Bart and Milhouse which escalates into a riot after the band's early exit, then having their tour bus run off the road by Otto in the school bus. The Internet Movie Database normally allows users to rate films only up to ten stars, but specifically for Spinal Tap , the site allows users to rate the film eleven stars, referring to the " Up to eleven " scene. On IGN , This Is Spinal Tap

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1704-498: A daughter, director Anna Spheeris Fox, born in 1969. Since September 9, 1998, Spheeris has been in a relationship with a man known as Sin, whom she met while filming the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part III . In a 2015 interview, she revealed that he was in an institution in Florida after he stopped taking his medication (he has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder ) and ended up in jail. She has described him as

1846-585: A documentary about the Ozzfest , produced by Sharon Osbourne , which explored life on the road. Other films Spheeris has directed include The Beverly Hillbillies ; The Little Rascals (for which she co-wrote the screenplay); the Chris Farley / David Spade comedy Black Sheep ; the Marlon Wayans - David Spade team-up Senseless ; and The Kid & I starring Tom Arnold . In 2006, she

1988-507: A labor of love." In 2002, This Is Spinal Tap was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry . Critics praised the film not only for its satire of the rollercoaster lifestyles of rock stars but also for its take on the non-fiction film genre. David Ansen from Newsweek called

2130-830: A large contingent of Tennessee state militia, Kentucky frontiersmen and local privateers (the latter led by the pirate Jean Lafitte ), to decisively defeat the British , led by Sir Edward Pakenham , in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. The armies had not learned of the Treaty of Ghent , which had been signed on December 24, 1814 (however, the treaty did not call for cessation of hostilities until after both governments had ratified it. The U.S. government ratified it on February 16, 1815). The fighting in Louisiana began in December 1814 and did not end until late January, after

2272-466: A major hit in Japan and that Ian wants to arrange a tour there. David bitterly refuses, but later, as Nigel watches the band performing from the wings, David relents and invites Nigel to join the band onstage, delighting the crowd but infuriating Jeanine. During the performance, Mick explodes on stage. Ian is rehired as the group's manager, and Spinal Tap (now with Joe "Mama" Besser as their drummer) performs

2414-469: A parallel to the "Shit Sandwich" incident, Quiet Riot's fourth album Condition Critical was given the two-word review of "Prognosis: Terminal" by J. D. Considine in Musician magazine. His review of the short-lived band GTR 's eponymous debut LP in the same magazine was "SHT". R.E.M. 's Mike Mills described the band's early tours as "very Spinal Tap", citing, among other things, they had played at

2556-481: A popular hit. She directed the Wayne's World music video work for Queen 's " Bohemian Rhapsody ", which earned a Grammy Award nomination. She had difficulty working with Myers, while acknowledging him as "profoundly talented," and in an Entertainment Weekly article stated she believes Myers dissuaded Paramount Pictures from hiring her for the sequel . In 1996, she directed We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n Roll ,

2698-457: A press conference crowd that the 1992 Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour seemed "so Spinal Tap." This tour was in support of Metallica 's own " black album ". Shortly after the tour started, Metallica's James Hetfield suffered third-degree burns on his arms after he stood too close to a pyrotechnic device. Earlier in that tour, backstage at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert , Metallica met with Spinal Tap and discussed how their "black album"

2840-562: A pretentious band to be told they were funnier than Spinal Tap. As George Lynch put it, the more seriously a band took themselves, the more they resembled Spinal Tap. After seeing a 1986 performance by metal band Venom , singer Henry Rollins compared them to Spinal Tap. In their respective Behind the Music episodes, Quiet Riot 's Rudy Sarzo and Ratt 's Robbin Crosby compared their own bands to Spinal Tap to some extent. For example, as

2982-421: A racial dispute. In a 2015 interview, Spheeris stated that her father had come to the aid of an African-American man who had been struck on the back of the head with a cane by a white man over a dispute about cutting in front of him in line. The white man soon after returned and stabbed Spheeris' father. She states that her father's killer served no jail time, the man's legal defense apparently resting entirely on

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3124-534: A record label producer for The Brian Setzer Orchestra , and an ex-business partner of character Maxwell Sheffield ( Charles Shaughnessy ). Drescher's regular character Fran Fine believes Flekman is attempting to seduce Sheffield, and impersonates her to stop it. Outside the world of music, J. K. Rowling cited Spinal Tap ' s series of drummers as an inspiration for the Harry Potter series, in which something bad happens to every teacher of Defence against

3266-480: A screenplay with McKean, Guest and Shearer, based on the Spinal Tap characters. They realized after a few days of writing that no script could capture the kind of movie they wanted to make, so they decided instead to shoot a short demo of the proposed film. They shopped the demo around to various studios but had no takers, until television writer-producer Norman Lear decided to back the project, providing them with

3408-564: A series of public meetings during 1765 to keep the populace in opposition of the establishment of Spanish rule. Anti-Spanish passions in New Orleans reached their highest level after two years of Spanish administration in Louisiana. On October 27, 1768, a mob of local residents, spiked the guns guarding New Orleans and took control of the city from the Spanish . The rebellion organized a group to sail for Paris, where it met with officials of

3550-633: A series of sold-out shows in Japan. Michael McKean and Christopher Guest met while in college in New York City in the late 1960s, and they played music together. They worked with Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner on a TV pilot in 1978 for a sketch comedy show called The TV Show , which featured a parody rock band called Spinal Tap. During production of that sketch (while being burned with oil from an on-stage effect) McKean and Guest began to improvise, inventing characters that became David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel. Guest had previously played guitar under

3692-403: A volume control that goes to eleven. The term has entered the vernacular, as with an autistic 's description of sensory overload vis-à-vis a neurotypical 's routine filtering. Fran Drescher reprised the role of Bobbi Flekman during the fifth season of her hit television sitcom The Nanny ; it was the season's third episode, titled "The Bobbi Flekman Story". In the episode, Flekman is now

3834-431: Is a 1984 American mockumentary comedy film co-written and directed by Rob Reiner (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Christopher Guest , Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as members of the heavy metal band Spinal Tap , who are characterized as "one of England's loudest bands". Reiner plays Martin "Marty" Di Bergi, a documentary filmmaker who follows them on their American tour. The film satirizes

3976-400: Is a sister of singer Jimmie Spheeris and a first cousin of musician Chris Spheeris and Greek- French director Costa Gavras , which she says has made her consider that a genetic component exists to her vocation. Spheeris told author Paul Stenning , "I believe each of us is born with certain characteristics that we genetically inherit, some of which are good, some not so good. My mother

4118-445: Is almost eaten by a sea monster, only to be rescued by Eddie Vedder , playing a lifeguard. The Canadian heavy metal band Anvil , whose drummer is named Robb Reiner, have been called "the real Spinal Tap" based on the misadventures depicted in their documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil . In 2008, Empire magazine ranked This Is Spinal Tap #48 on its list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time . The New York Times placed

4260-572: Is named after the Roman emperor Aurelian , originally being known as Aurelianum. Thus, by extension, since New Orleans is also named after Aurelian, its name in Latin would translate to Nova Aurelia. Following the defeat in the Seven Years' War , France formally transferred the possession of Louisiana to Spain , with which France had secretly signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau a year earlier, in

4402-491: Is said to have exclaimed, "That's us! How'd they make a movie about us?" Glenn Danzig had a similar reaction when comparing Spinal Tap to his former band the Misfits saying, "When I first saw Spinal Tap, I was like, 'Hey, this is my old band.'" Rock Mountain lead vocalist Patty Albigese-Robbins left the theater after seeing Spinal Tap, and remarked, "I feel like my whole life just flashed before my eyes." Lars Ulrich told

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4544-510: The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four and wrote " This Is Spinal Tap is one of the funniest, most intelligent, most original films of the year. The satire has a deft, wicked touch. Spinal Tap is not that much worse than, not that much different from, some successful rock bands." Ebert later placed the film on his ten best list of 1984 and would later include it in his Great Movies list in 2001 where he called it "one of

4686-576: The Company of the Indies , founded a convent in the city in 1727. At the end of the colonial era, the Ursuline Academy maintained a house of 70 boarding and 100 day students. Today numerous schools in New Orleans can trace their lineage from this academy. Another notable example is the street plan and architecture still distinguishing New Orleans today. French Louisiana had early architects in

4828-649: The Democratic Party , was organized in 1874 and operated in the open, violently suppressing the black vote and running off Republican officeholders. In 1874, in the Battle of Liberty Place , 5,000 members of the White League fought with city police to take over the state offices for the Democratic candidate for governor, holding them for three days. By 1876, such tactics resulted in the white Democrats ,

4970-559: The Gallic community would have become a minority of the total population as early as 1820. After the Louisiana Purchase, numerous Anglo-Americans migrated to the city. The population doubled in the 1830s and by 1840, New Orleans had become the nation's wealthiest and the third-most populous city, after New York and Baltimore . German and Irish immigrants began arriving in the 1840s, working as port laborers. In this period,

5112-627: The Haitian Revolution , both whites and free people of color ( affranchis or gens de couleur libres ), arrived in New Orleans; a number brought their slaves with them, many of whom were native Africans or of full-blood descent. While Governor Claiborne and other officials wanted to keep out additional free black people, the French Creoles wanted to increase the French-speaking population. In addition to bolstering

5254-687: The Louisiana Purchase of 1803. New Orleans in 1840 was the third most populous city in the United States, and it was the largest city in the American South from the Antebellum era until after World War II . The city has historically been very vulnerable to flooding , due to its high rainfall, low lying elevation, poor natural drainage, and proximity to multiple bodies of water. State and federal authorities have installed

5396-751: The Melbourne International Film Festival , the Sundance Film Festival , and the Temecula Valley International Film Festival . TV movies Critical, public, and commercial reception to films Spheeris has directed. New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in

5538-434: The Mississippi River and that the use of the same name for the settlement relates to Native American concepts of the close interaction between rivers and their surrounding land. The name of New Orleans derives from the original French name, La Nouvelle-Orléans , which was given to the city in honor of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans , who served as Louis XV 's regent from 1715 to 1723. The French city of Orléans itself

5680-405: The New Orleans streetcar strike during which serious unrest occurred. It is also credited for the creation of the distinctly Louisianan Po' boy sandwich. By the mid-20th century, New Orleanians recognized that their city was no longer the leading urban area in the South. By 1950, Houston , Dallas , and Atlanta exceeded New Orleans in size, and in 1960 Miami eclipsed New Orleans, even as

5822-532: The Pearl Jam documentary Pearl Jam Twenty , the members jokingly refer to the fact that while the core lineup of the group has remained unchanged (singer Eddie Vedder , guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard , and bassist Jeff Ament ), the band has had five drummers. They describe this as "very Spinal Tap of us". In the documentary, a mock silent film called The Drummer Story is shown explaining what happened to their previous drummers. In it, one of them

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5964-1052: The Rock's Backpages web site. Spheeris' work has received recognition from the Directors Guild of America , The Recording Academy , Stinkers Bad Movie Awards , the Chicago International Film Festival , the Chicago Underground Film Festival , the Deep Ellum Film Festival, the LA Femme International Film Festival , the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival , the Los Angeles Silver Lake Film Festival ,

6106-484: The Treaty of Paris of 1763. The Spanish renamed the city Nueva Orleans ( pronounced [ˌnweβa oɾleˈans] ), which was used until 1800. The United States, which had acquired possession from France in 1803, adopted the French name and anglicized it to New Orleans . New Orleans has several nicknames, including these: La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was founded in the spring of 1718 (May 7 has become

6248-420: The port remained one of the nation's largest, automation and containerization cost many jobs. The city's former role as banker to the South was supplanted by larger peer cities. New Orleans' economy had always been based more on trade and financial services than on manufacturing, but the city's relatively small manufacturing sector also shrank after World War II. Despite some economic development successes under

6390-408: The "most unique" in the United States, owing in large part to its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. Additionally, New Orleans has increasingly been known as "Hollywood South" due to its prominent role in the film industry and in pop culture. Founded in 1718 by French colonists, New Orleans was once the territorial capital of French Louisiana before becoming part of the United States in

6532-737: The Americans held off the Royal Navy during a ten-day siege of Fort St. Philip (the Royal Navy went on to capture Fort Bowyer near Mobile , before the commanders received news of the peace treaty). As a port , New Orleans played a major role during the antebellum period in the Atlantic slave trade . The port handled commodities for export from the interior and imported goods from other countries, which were warehoused and transferred in New Orleans to smaller vessels and distributed along

6674-519: The Atlantic world. Its inhabitants traded across the French commercial system. New Orleans was a hub for this trade both physically and culturally because it served as the exit point to the rest of the globe for the interior of the North American continent. In one instance the French government established a chapter house of sisters in New Orleans. The Ursuline sisters after being sponsored by

6816-523: The Civil War, fought against Jim Crow. They organized the Comité des Citoyens (Citizens Committee) to work for civil rights. As part of their legal campaign, they recruited one of their own, Homer Plessy , to test whether Louisiana's newly enacted Separate Car Act was constitutional. Plessy boarded a commuter train departing New Orleans for Covington, Louisiana , sat in the car reserved for whites only, and

6958-616: The Confederate cause, his order warned that such future occurrences would result in his men treating such women as those "plying their avocation in the streets", implying that they would treat the women like prostitutes. Accounts of this spread widely. He also came to be called "Spoons" Butler because of the alleged looting that his troops did while occupying the city, during which time he himself supposedly pilfered silver flatware. Significantly, Butler abolished French-language instruction in city schools. Statewide measures in 1864 and, after

7100-473: The Dark Arts at Hogwarts, causing them to leave the job without completing a full school year. A biographical comic book was released in 2018, That Was Spinal Tap , telling both the fictional story of the band and the real-life tale of the actors and others who created the characters and music. It was scripted by Rock 'N' Roll Comics co-creator Jay Allen Sanford . A sequel, The Return of Spinal Tap ,

7242-646: The Di Bergi short and the Joe Franklin clip. Sometime in the 2000s a workprint version of the film was uploaded online. This version is 270 minutes long. It includes many scenes never released in any home media release. Harry Shearer , who played Derek Smalls , went on to become one of the main voice artists on The Simpsons , providing voices for Principal Skinner , Mr. Burns , Waylon Smithers , Ned Flanders and many others. The members of Spinal Tap reprised their roles in " The Otto Show ", first playing on

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7384-648: The French government. This group brought with them a long memorial to summarize the abuses the colony had endured from the Spanish. King Louis XV and his ministers reaffirmed Spain's sovereignty over Louisiana. Nearly all of the surviving 18th-century architecture of the Vieux Carré ( French Quarter ) dates from the Spanish period, notably excepting the Old Ursuline Convent . During the American Revolutionary War , New Orleans

7526-520: The Glove . The band comprises childhood friends David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel on vocals and guitar, bassist Derek Smalls, keyboardist Viv Savage, and drummer Mick Shrimpton. The documentary shows Spinal Tap's early days as the skiffle group The Originals; they renamed themselves the New Originals when it was discovered another band was already called The Originals, only to change it back when

7668-658: The MGM DVD, plus an interview with Nigel about Stonehenge, as well as the performance of "Stonehenge" from the band's Live Earth performance. It does not include the commentaries from the Criterion Collection DVD, even though MGM had stated that they would be included in the earliest press release for the Blu-ray version (most likely due to legal issues), and does not feature a "create your own avatars" element teased in publicity. However, this version does restore

7810-504: The Mississippi River watershed. The river was filled with steamboats, flatboats and sailing ships. Despite its role in the slave trade , New Orleans at the time also had the largest and most prosperous community of free persons of color in the nation, who were often educated, middle-class property owners. Dwarfing the other cities in the Antebellum South, New Orleans had the U.S.' largest slave market. The market expanded after

7952-626: The United States ended the international trade in 1808. Two-thirds of the more than one million slaves brought to the Deep South arrived via forced migration in the domestic slave trade. The money generated by the sale of slaves in the Upper South has been estimated at 15 percent of the value of the staple crop economy. The slaves were collectively valued at half a billion dollars. The trade spawned an ancillary economy—transportation, housing and clothing, fees, etc., estimated at 13.5 percent of

8094-403: The United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Thereafter, the city grew rapidly with influxes of Americans, French , Creoles and Africans . Later immigrants were Irish , Germans , Poles and Italians . Major commodity crops of sugar and cotton were cultivated with slave labor on nearby large plantations . Between 1791 and 1810, thousands of St. Dominican refugees from

8236-423: The United States. Before the arrival of European colonists, the indigenous Choctaw people called the area of present-day New Orleans Bulbancha , which translates as "land of many tongues". It appears to have been a contraction of balbáha a̱shah , which means "there are foreign speakers". In his book Histoire de la Louisiane , Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz wrote that the indigenous name referred to

8378-404: The United States. The rate of lynchings of black men was high across the South, as other states also disfranchised blacks and sought to impose Jim Crow. Nativist prejudices also surfaced. Anti-Italian sentiment in 1891 contributed to the lynchings of 11 Italians , some of whom had been acquitted of the murder of the police chief. Some were shot and killed in the jail where they were detained. It

8520-670: The administrations of DeLesseps "Chep" Morrison (1946–1961) and Victor "Vic" Schiro (1961–1970), metropolitan New Orleans' growth rate consistently lagged behind more vigorous cities. During the later years of Morrison's administration, and for the entirety of Schiro's, the city was a center of the Civil Rights movement . The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was founded in New Orleans, and lunch counter sit-ins were held in Canal Street department stores. A prominent and violent series of confrontations occurred in 1960 when

8662-463: The antebellum period. It was the nation's fifth-largest city in 1860 (after New York, Philadelphia , Boston and Baltimore) and was significantly larger than all other southern cities. From the mid-19th century onward rapid economic growth shifted to other areas, while New Orleans' relative importance steadily declined. The growth of railways and highways decreased river traffic, diverting goods to other transportation corridors and markets. Thousands of

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8804-470: The authority of the " Fifth Military District " of the United States during Reconstruction. Louisiana was readmitted to the Union in 1868. Its Constitution of 1868 granted universal male suffrage and established universal public education . Both blacks and whites were elected to local and state offices. In 1872, lieutenant governor P.B.S. Pinchback , who was of mixed race , succeeded Henry Clay Warmouth for

8946-419: The band and their manager, Ian Faith, as several shows are canceled due to low ticket sales, and major retailers refuse to sell Smell the Glove because of its sexist cover art. David's girlfriend Jeanine, a yoga and astrology devotee, joins the group on tour and participates in band meetings. Nigel and Ian dislike Jeanine's ideas for Spinal Tap's costumes and stage presentation. Without consulting Spinal Tap,

9088-526: The band is billed below a puppet show, the band finds their repertoire is severely limited without Nigel. At Derek's suggestion, the band improvises an experimental "Jazz Odyssey," which is poorly received. On the last day of the tour, David and Derek consider ending Spinal Tap and exploring other projects, such as a musical about Jack the Ripper called Saucy Jack . Before they go on stage, Nigel arrives and tells them that Spinal Tap's song "Sex Farm" has become

9230-523: The band's record label releases Smell the Glove with an entirely black album cover. Despite Ian's assertion that it could have a similar appeal to the Beatles ' White Album , Smell the Glove fails to sell. Nigel suggests staging a lavish, Druid-themed glam rock show and asks Ian to order a Stonehenge trilithon . However, Nigel mislabels its dimensions, and the resulting prop is only 18 inches (46 cm) high rather than 18 feet (5.5 m), making

9372-617: The behavior and musical pretensions of rock bands and the perceived hagiographic tendencies of rock documentaries such as The Song Remains the Same (1976) and The Last Waltz (1978), and follows the similar All You Need Is Cash (1978) by the Rutles . Most of its dialogue was improvised and dozens of hours were filmed. This Is Spinal Tap was released to critical acclaim , but its initial release found only modest commercial success. Its later VHS release brought it greater success and

9514-413: The broader Gulf Coast region of the United States . New Orleans is world-renowned for its distinctive music , Creole cuisine , unique dialects , and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras . The historic heart of the city is the French Quarter , known for its French and Spanish Creole architecture and vibrant nightlife along Bourbon Street . The city has been described as

9656-448: The city attempted school desegregation, following the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). When six-year-old Ruby Bridges integrated William Frantz Elementary School in the Ninth Ward , she was the first child of color to attend a previously all-white school in the South. Much controversy preceded the 1956 Sugar Bowl at Tulane Stadium , when the Pitt Panthers , with African-American fullback Bobby Grier on

9798-416: The city volunteered for the first regiments of Black troops in the War. Led by Brigadier General Daniel Ullman (1810–1892), of the 78th Regiment of New York State Volunteers Militia, they were known as the " Corps d'Afrique ". While that name had been used by a militia before the war, that group was composed of free people of color . The new group was made up mostly of former slaves. They were supplemented in

9940-449: The city with New Orleans experiencing 280 murders in 2022, resulting in the highest per capita homicide rate in the United States. The city and Orleans Parish ( French : paroisse d'Orléans ) are coterminous . As of 2017, Orleans Parish is the third most populous parish in Louisiana, behind East Baton Rouge Parish and neighboring Jefferson Parish . The city and parish are bounded by St. Tammany Parish and Lake Pontchartrain to

10082-493: The city's expansion. The most ambitious development during this period was a drainage plan devised by engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood , designed to break the surrounding swamp's stranglehold on the city's geographic expansion. Until then, urban development in New Orleans was largely limited to higher ground along the natural river levees and bayous . This is Spinal Tap This Is Spinal Tap (also known as This Is Spın̈al Tap: A Rockumentary by Martin Di Bergi )

10224-539: The city's occupation by the Union Navy after the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip , Gen. Benjamin F. Butler – a respected Massachusetts lawyer serving in that state's militia – was appointed military governor. New Orleans residents supportive of the Confederacy nicknamed him "Beast" Butler, because of an order he issued. After his troops had been assaulted and harassed in the streets by women still loyal to

10366-511: The city's population. The city became 63 percent black, a greater proportion than Charleston, South Carolina 's 53 percent at that time. On January 8-11, 1811, about 500 enslaved Africans in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes rose up in rebellion against their enslavers, killing two white men in the process. They proceeded to march south toward New Orleans and were eventually controlled by

10508-580: The claim that he was justified in murdering Spheeris senior as "he was defending a black." After her father's death, Spheeris and her three siblings moved with their mother to California , generally living in trailer parks with a succession of stepfathers. She spent her teenaged years in Orange County , graduating from Westminster High School , where she was named 'most likely to succeed'. After high school, Spheeris attended California State University Long Beach , where she majored in art. She admired

10650-526: The colony, which continued under Vaudreuil, resulted in many raids by Native American tribes, taking advantage of the French weakness. In 1747 and 1748, the Chickasaw would raid along the east bank of the Mississippi all the way south to Baton Rouge . These raids would often force residents of French Louisiana to take refuge in New Orleans proper. Inability to find labor was the most pressing issue in

10792-630: The competing interests of France, Spain, and England, as well as traditional rivals. Notably, the Natchez , whose traditional lands were along the Mississippi near the modern city of Natchez, Mississippi , had a series of wars culminating in the Natchez Revolt that began in 1729 with the Natchez overrunning Fort Rosalie . Approximately 230 French colonists were killed and the Natchez settlement destroyed, causing fear and concern in New Orleans and

10934-406: The cover. U2 guitarist The Edge said in the documentary It Might Get Loud that when he first saw Spinal Tap , "I didn't laugh: I wept," because it summed up what a brainless swamp big-label rock music had become. In a 2023 interview Chris Frantz of Talking Heads said "we watched Spinal Tap and I thought, ohh, I can never take myself seriously again." It became a common insult for

11076-415: The early 20th century when medical and scientific advances ameliorated the situation, the city suffered repeated epidemics of yellow fever and other tropical and infectious diseases . In the first half of the 19th century, yellow fever epidemics killed over 150,000 people in New Orleans. After growing by 45 percent in the 1850s, by 1860, the city had nearly 170,000 people. It had grown in wealth, with

11218-502: The end of the 1960s, a large gap in income levels and educational attainment persisted between the city's White and African American communities. As the middle class and wealthier members of both races left the center city, its population's income level dropped, and it became proportionately more African American. From 1980, the African American majority elected primarily officials from its own community. They struggled to narrow

11360-414: The film "a satire of the documentary form itself, complete with perfectly faded clips from old TV shows of the band in its mod and flower-child incarnations". Even with cameos from Anjelica Huston , Billy Crystal and Patrick Macnee , Spinal Tap still managed to trick many of its moviegoers into believing the band existed. Reiner observed that "when Spinal Tap initially came out, everybody thought it

11502-427: The film on their list of The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made . In January 2010, Total Film placed This Is Spinal Tap on its list of The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time . When Entertainment Weekly compiled their list of The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time , the publication included the film as "just too beloved to ignore". In 2011, Time Out London named it the best comedy film of all time. In November 2015,

11644-825: The film presents them; 70 minutes of deleted scenes (some of which were not on the Criterion DVD); a new short , Catching Up with Marty Di Bergi (where it is revealed that the members of Spinal Tap were very disappointed in Di Bergi for making a "hatchet job" of their film); the Heavy Metal Memories promo and six additional TV promos; music videos for "Gimme Some Money", "Listen to the Flower People" and "Big Bottom"; and segments of Spinal Tap appearing on The Joe Franklin Show . The special features were produced by Automat Pictures . However, this version of

11786-483: The film to acknowledge their contributions, but the Writers' Guild objected, and so only he, Guest, McKean, and Shearer received writing credit. Veteran documentary cameraman Peter Smokler worked as cinematographer on the film. Smokler had great instincts for camera placement on set, according to Reiner, and is responsible for the film's handheld cinéma vérité style —although the cinematographer did not understand what

11928-443: The film was missing the subtitles that appear throughout the film (for example, introducing band members, other personnel, and location names) and did not include the commentaries from the Criterion edition. The MGM DVD is missing the subtitles burned into the film; they have been replaced with player generated subtitles. A 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Disc release was released on July 28, 2009. It includes all bonus features from

12070-530: The film was ranked the 11th funniest screenplay by the Writers Guild of America in its list of 101 Funniest Screenplays . Stephen Sondheim listed it among his favorite films of all time. This Is Spinal Tap at 35: Tribeca Film Festival (The Guardian) The film is recognized by American Film Institute in this list: On October 17, 2016, actor Harry Shearer filed a $ 125 million fraud and breach of contract lawsuit against both StudioCanal , who owns

12212-430: The film's director Rob Reiner , joined the lawsuit against StudioCanal and Vivendi, seeking $ 400 million in damages. In the same month, Vivendi made an attempt to move the court to dismiss the case. In September 2017, a judge dismissed Shearer, Reiner and McKean from the case. In October 2017, Spinal Tap revised their case by adding Universal Music Group (UMG, another division of Vivendi, whose Polydor label released

12354-424: The film's rights, and Vivendi , which owns the studio. Shearer claimed that he and the other co-stars of the film received only $ 179 for sales of merchandise and music over the prior three decades. Shearer's lawsuit was specifically directed at StudioCanal by ordering the studio to terminate the copyright to This Is Spinal Tap . In February 2017, Shearer's co-stars Christopher Guest and Michael McKean , as well as

12496-463: The film's soundtrack) as a defendant, as well as the right to reclaim their copyrights to the film, its songs and characters. In August 2018, another judge ruled that Guest, Reiner, McKean and Shearer could pursue the fraud claim against Vivendi. The case related to sales of the soundtrack was settled out of court by November 2019, with UMG retaining the distribution rights but with the music rights eventually returning to Shearer, Guest, and McKean in

12638-611: The first season of the television series Saturday Night Live . Her first feature film was The Decline of Western Civilization ( 1981 ), a punk rock documentary that she produced and directed. She followed up with Suburbia in 1983, produced by Roger Corman , The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years , this time about the Los Angeles heavy metal scene of 1988, with footage and interviews of legendary metal bands such as Kiss , Ozzy Osbourne , Aerosmith , Megadeth , and Motörhead . She later returned to

12780-466: The foreign trends as well. The French colony of Louisiana was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the 1763 Treaty of Paris , following France's defeat by Great Britain in the Seven Years' War . After the French relinquished West Louisiana to the Spanish, New Orleans merchants attempted to ignore Spanish rule and even re-institute French control on the colony. The citizens of New Orleans held

12922-471: The free people of color as mulatto , a term used to cover all degrees of mixed race. Mostly part of the Francophone group, they constituted the artisan, educated and professional class of African Americans. The mass of blacks were still enslaved, working at the port, in domestic service, in crafts, and mostly on the many large, surrounding sugarcane plantations. Throughout New Orleans' history, until

13064-543: The funniest movies ever made". Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune also awarded four out of four, writing, "It is so well done, in fact, that unless you are clued in beforehand, it might take you a while to realize that the rock group under dissection in This Is Spinal Tap does not really exist." Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised it as "a witty, mischievous satire, and it's obviously

13206-590: The future. A settlement between Vivendi, StudioCanal, and the cast on the merchandising aspect was reached in September 2020 with final details to be resolved in the following months. This Is Spinal Tap was first released on VHS in 1984 by Embassy Home Entertainment, and in 1994 as part of the Criterion Collection on LaserDisc under the title This Is Spinal Tap: Special Edition . It has also been released twice on DVD . The first DVD release

13348-405: The gap by creating conditions conducive to the economic uplift of the African American community. New Orleans became increasingly dependent on tourism as an economic mainstay during the administrations of Sidney Barthelemy (1986–1994) and Marc Morial (1994–2002). Relatively low levels of educational attainment, high rates of household poverty, and rising crime threatened the city's prosperity in

13490-411: The group a laughingstock. The group blames Ian, and when David suggests Jeanine should co-manage the group, Ian quits. The tour continues, rescheduled for much smaller venues, and Jeanine and David increasingly marginalize Nigel. At a gig at a United States Air Force base, Nigel is upset by an equipment malfunction and quits mid-performance. At their next gig, in an amphitheater at an amusement park where

13632-411: The hall was so strong that I couldn't stay there any longer." According to Harry Shearer in the Criterion edition DVD commentary, keyboard player John Sinclair had just returned from touring with Uriah Heep when principal photography was about to begin, and told them how they had been booked to play an Air Force base. They subsequently used the story in the film. In post-production, Christopher Guest

13774-595: The institutionalizing of laws governing slavery within the colony. These laws required that slaves be baptized in the Roman Catholic faith, slaves be married in the church; the slave law formed in the 1720s is known as the Code Noir , which would bleed into the antebellum period of the American South as well. Louisiana slave culture had its own distinct Afro-Creole society that called on past cultures and

13916-775: The last two years of the War by newly organized United States Colored Troops , who played an increasingly important part in the war. Violence throughout the South, especially the Memphis Riots of 1866 followed by the New Orleans Riot in the same year, led Congress to pass the Reconstruction Act and the Fourteenth Amendment , extending the protections of full citizenship to freedmen and free people of color. Louisiana and Texas were put under

14058-475: The later decades of the century. The negative effects of these socioeconomic conditions aligned poorly with the changes in the late-20th century to the economy of the United States, which reflected a post-industrial, knowledge-based paradigm in which mental skills and education were more important to advancement than manual skills. In the 20th century, New Orleans' government and business leaders believed they needed to drain and develop outlying areas to provide for

14200-459: The latter's population reached its historic peak. As with other older American cities, highway construction and suburban development drew residents from the center city to newer housing outside. The 1970 census recorded the first absolute decline in population since the city became part of the United States in 1803. The Greater New Orleans metropolitan area continued expanding in population, albeit more slowly than other major Sun Belt cities. While

14342-616: The legislature passed a constitutional amendment incorporating a " grandfather clause " that effectively disfranchised freedmen as well as the propertied people of color manumitted before the war. Unable to vote, African Americans could not serve on juries or in local office, and were closed out of formal politics for generations. The Southern U.S. was ruled by a white Democratic Party. Public schools were racially segregated and remained so until 1960. New Orleans' large community of well-educated, often French-speaking free persons of color ( gens de couleur libres ), who had been free prior to

14484-601: The local militia, with numerous casualties on both sides. The uprising has been called the "largest slave rebellion in US history." During the final campaign of the War of 1812 , the British sent a force of 11,000 in an attempt to capture New Orleans. Despite great challenges, General Andrew Jackson , with support from the U.S. Navy , successfully cobbled together a force of militia from Louisiana and Mississippi , U.S. Army regulars,

14626-433: The love of her life. Spheeris appeared on WTF with Marc Maron on June 29, 2015. She appeared on Ken Reid 's TV Guidance Counselor podcast on October 18, 2016. In December 2021, she appeared on the fourteenth episode of The Ghost of Hollywood , where she discussed her work career in filmmaking, with a focus on Suburbia in particular. An interview with Penelope Spheeris and journalist Barney Hoskyns appeared on

14768-520: The most ambitious people of color left the state in the Great Migration around World War II and after, many for West Coast destinations. From the late 1800s, most censuses recorded New Orleans slipping down the ranks in the list of largest American cities (New Orleans' population still continued to increase throughout the period, but at a slower rate than before the Civil War). In 1929

14910-399: The movie would be plotless. Actress Victoria Tennant was briefly considered for the role, but June Chadwick won the part, thanks to her chemistry with the cast and her improvisation skills. Robert Bauer played the same character, Moke, in another Rob Reiner movie, The Sure Thing (1985). This Is Spinal Tap is widely regarded as one of the best films of 1984. The film holds

15052-617: The name "Nigel Tufnel" on Michael McKean and David Lander 's album Lenny and the Squigtones . The entire film was shot in Los Angeles over a period of about five weeks on handheld 16mm cameras. The visit to Elvis Presley 's grave was filmed in a park in Altadena , with a mock-up of the grave site. The band sings " Heartbreak Hotel " because that was the only Elvis song for which producer Karen Murphy could obtain rights. Rob Reiner procured $ 60,000 from Marble Arch Productions to write

15194-419: The north, St. Bernard Parish and Lake Borgne to the east, Plaquemines Parish to the south, and Jefferson Parish to the south and west. The city anchors the larger Greater New Orleans metropolitan area , which had a population of 1,271,845 in 2020. Greater New Orleans is the most populous metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in Louisiana and, since the 2020 census, has been the 46th most populous MSA in

15336-489: The original Originals broke up. They later had a hit as the Thamesmen, "Gimme Some Money," before changing their name to Spinal Tap and achieving a significant hit with the flower power anthem "Listen to the Flower People"; they subsequently began performing heavy metal music . Several of the band's previous drummers died under strange circumstances: John "Stumpy" Pepys died in a "bizarre gardening accident" that police said

15478-468: The original twenty-minute short they shot to pitch the film; two trailers that feature Rob Reiner showing a film about cheese rolling (because "Spinal Tap" itself was still in the editing room); a TV promo, Heavy Metal Memories ; and a music video for "Hell Hole". Sales of this edition were discontinued after only two years and the DVD has become a valuable collector's item. Much of this material had appeared on

15620-490: The price per person, amounting to tens of billions of dollars (2005 dollars, adjusted for inflation) during the antebellum period, with New Orleans as a prime beneficiary. According to historian Paul Lachance, the addition of white immigrants [from Saint-Domingue] to the white creole population enabled French-speakers to remain a majority of the white population until almost 1830. If a substantial proportion of free persons of color and slaves had not also spoken French, however,

15762-676: The province who were trained as military engineers and were now assigned to design government buildings. Pierre Le Blond de Tour and Adrien de Pauger , for example, planned many early fortifications, along with the street plan for the city of New Orleans. After them in the 1740s, Ignace François Broutin, as engineer-in-chief of Louisiana, reworked the architecture of New Orleans with an extensive public works program. French policy-makers in Paris attempted to set political and economic norms for New Orleans. The city acted autonomously in much of its cultural and physical aspects, but stayed in communication with

15904-547: The request and threatened to resign. The game went on as planned. The Civil Rights movement's success in gaining federal passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 renewed constitutional rights, including voting for blacks. Together, these resulted in the most far-reaching changes in New Orleans' 20th century history. Though legal and civil equality were re-established by

16046-521: The rest of the territory. In retaliation, then-governor Étienne Perier launched a campaign to completely destroy the Natchez nation and its Native allies. By 1731, the Natchez people had been killed, enslaved, or dispersed among other tribes, but the campaign soured relations between France and the territory's Native Americans leading directly into the Chickasaw Wars of the 1730s. Relations with Louisiana's Native American population remained

16188-602: The roster, met the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets . There had been controversy over whether Grier should be allowed to play due to his race, and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia's Governor Marvin Griffin 's opposition to racial integration. After Griffin publicly sent a telegram to the state's Board Of Regents requesting Georgia Tech not to engage in racially integrated events, Georgia Tech's president Blake R. Van Leer rejected

16330-545: The situation for slaves in the New World . Afro-Creole was present in religious beliefs and the Louisiana Creole language. The religion most associated with this period was called Voodoo . In the city of New Orleans an inspiring mixture of foreign influences created a melting pot of culture that is still celebrated today. By the end of French colonization in Louisiana, New Orleans was recognized commercially in

16472-462: The so-called Redeemers , regaining political control of the state legislature. The federal government gave up and withdrew its troops in 1877, ending Reconstruction . In 1892 the racially integrated unions of New Orleans led a general strike in the city from November 8 to 12, shutting down the city & winning the vast majority of their demands. Dixiecrats passed Jim Crow laws, establishing racial segregation in public facilities. In 1889,

16614-480: The southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana . With a population of 383,997 according to the 2020 U.S. census, it is the most populous city in Louisiana and the French Louisiana region; the third-most populous city in the Deep South ; and the twelfth-most populous city in the southeastern United States . Serving as a major port , New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for

16756-577: The state legislature passed more restrictions on manumissions of slaves and virtually ended it in 1852. In the 1850s, white Francophones remained an intact and vibrant community in New Orleans. They maintained instruction in French in two of the city's four school districts (all served white students). In 1860, the city had 13,000 free people of color ( gens de couleur libres ), the class of free, mostly mixed-race people that expanded in number during French and Spanish rule. They set up some private schools for their children. The census recorded 81 percent of

16898-455: The streets of Los Angeles and the punk rock scene in 1998 for the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part III . She was offered the chance to direct This is Spinal Tap , but declined. In addition, she worked as a writer for the television series Roseanne (1988-1997). In the 1990s, she directed Wayne's World , a comedy based on Mike Myers' sketches from Saturday Night Live . The movie grossed over $ 183 million and became

17040-591: The subtitles that introduce band members/locales/events/etc. that were missing from MGM's DVD. The alternative, Region B, UK edition of this version additionally features a new hour-long documentary featuring famous fans, the "Bitch School" promo, the EPK for the "Back From The Dead" album, an interview with the late Reg Presley discussing the influence of the Troggs tapes on the film, and the first hour (ending with an abrupt edit) of The Return Of Spinal Tap . It does however lose

17182-626: The teachings of George Falcon, a behavioral scientist. From his influence, Spheeris went on to study psychobiology at the University of California, Irvine , in Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles . Working as a waitress at Denny's and IHOP , she put herself through film school. She majored in film and has a master of fine arts degree in theater arts from UCLA . Spheeris launched her career by producing short subjects for comedian Albert Brooks , many of them being highlights in

17324-778: The territory's French-speaking population, these refugees had a significant impact on the culture of Louisiana, including developing its sugar industry and cultural institutions. As more refugees were allowed into the Territory of Orleans , St. Dominican refugees who had first gone to Cuba also arrived. Many of the white Francophones had been deported by officials in Cuba in 1809 as retaliation for Bonapartist schemes. Nearly 90 percent of these immigrants settled in New Orleans. The 1809 migration brought 2,731 whites, 3,102 free people of color (of mixed-race European and African descent), and 3,226 slaves of primarily African descent, doubling

17466-673: The traditional date to mark the anniversary, but the actual day is unknown) by the French Mississippi Company , under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville , on land inhabited by the Chitimacha . It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans , who was regent of the Kingdom of France at the time. His title came from the French city of Orléans . As a French colony, Louisiana faced struggles with numerous Native American tribes , who were navigating

17608-533: The war, 1868 further strengthened the English-only policy imposed by federal representatives. With the predominance of English speakers, that language had already become dominant in business and government. By the end of the 19th century, French usage had faded. It was also under pressure from Irish, Italian and German immigrants. However, as late as 1902 "one-fourth of the population of the city spoke French in ordinary daily intercourse, while another two-fourths

17750-480: The war, it was spared the destruction through warfare suffered by many other cities of the American South . The Union Army eventually extended its control north along the Mississippi River and along the coastal areas. As a result, most of the southern portion of Louisiana was originally exempted from the liberating provisions of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln . Large numbers of rural ex-slaves and some free people of color from

17892-415: The young colony. The colonists turned to sub-Saharan African slaves to make their investments in Louisiana profitable. In the late 1710s the transatlantic slave trade imported enslaved Africans into the colony. This led to the biggest shipment in 1716 where several trading ships appeared with slaves as cargo to the local residents in a one-year span. By 1724, the large number of blacks in Louisiana prompted

18034-466: Was a 1998 Criterion edition in letterbox format which used supplemental material from the 1994 Criterion LaserDisc release. It is the only double sided DVD in their catalogue, and it is now out of print . It included an audio commentary track with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer; a second audio commentary track with Rob Reiner, Karen Murphy, Robert Leighton and Kent Beyda; 79 minutes of deleted scenes; Spinal Tap: The Final Tour ,

18176-514: Was a homage to Spinal Tap's Smell the Glove . This was captured on the Metallica DVD A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica . In a 1992 interview, Nirvana explained declining an offer to be part of the film Singles . Kurt Cobain goes on to say, "There's never really been a good documentary on rock and roll bands." Dave Grohl then cuts in saying, "Except for Spinal Tap , [that]

18318-406: Was a real band... the reason it did go over everybody's head was that it was very close to home". The film resonated with many musicians. Jimmy Page , Robert Plant , Jerry Cantrell , Dee Snider and Ozzy Osbourne all reported that, like Spinal Tap, they had become lost in confusing arena backstage hallways trying to make their way to the stage. When Dokken 's George Lynch saw the film he

18460-406: Was able to understand the language perfectly," and as late as 1945, many elderly Creole women spoke no English. The last major French language newspaper, L'Abeille de la Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans Bee), ceased publication on December 27, 1923, after 96 years. According to some sources, Le Courrier de la Nouvelle Orleans continued until 1955. As the city was captured and occupied early in

18602-536: Was about The Band . The scene where Spinal Tap becomes lost backstage was inspired by a video of Tom Petty at a venue in Germany, walking through a series of doors trying to find the stage, but ending up on an indoor tennis court. Rob Reiner also went to see the English heavy metal band Judas Priest in concert as part of his preparation for the film. He later said, "It physically hurt my chest. The reverberation in

18744-553: Was an important port for smuggling aid to the American revolutionaries , and transporting military equipment and supplies up the Mississippi River . Beginning in the 1760s, Filipinos began to settle in and around New Orleans. Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez successfully directed a southern campaign against the British from the city in 1779. The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800 restored French control of New Orleans and Louisiana, but Napoleon sold both to

18886-429: Was arrested. The case resulting from this incident, Plessy v. Ferguson , was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896. The court ruled that " separate but equal " accommodations were constitutional, effectively upholding Jim Crow measures. In practice, African American public schools and facilities were underfunded across the South. The Supreme Court ruling contributed to this period as the nadir of race relations in

19028-419: Was better left unsolved, Eric "Stumpy Joe" Childs died choking on someone else's vomit, and Peter "James" Bond exploded on stage . Nigel shows Marty his extensive guitar collection, as well as a custom-made amplifier that has volume knobs that go up to eleven ; Nigel believes this makes the amplifier "one louder" than most other amplifiers, which have "ten" as the highest volume setting. Tensions rise between

19170-588: Was broadcast and released on video in 1992 to promote Break Like the Wind . It consisted mostly of footage from an actual Spinal Tap concert at the Royal Albert Hall . In it, the "Stonehenge" joke from the original movie is referenced, as the new, large prop is too big to get into the venue. In May 2022, director Rob Reiner announced that he is working on a sequel to the film, which will include him returning to play DiBergi, and McKean, Shearer, and Guest as

19312-479: Was extremely compassionate, my father more of a barbarian. My father was passionately ambitious, where my mother was not. The most significant traits I learned from my parents were a strong sense of survival and unfaltering tenacity." Spheeris spent her first seven years traveling around the American South and American Midwest with her father's carnival. Her father was murdered in Troy, Alabama , after intervening in

19454-482: Was set to direct the still-unfilmed Gospel According to Janis , about Janis Joplin . The Portland Oregon Women's Film Festival named Spheeris its guest of honor for 2013. The moving image collection of Penelope Spheeris is held at the Academy Film Archive . The Academy Film Archive has preserved several of Penelope Spheeris' films, including Bath , Hats Off To Hollywood , and Shit . Spheeris has

19596-450: Was supposed to be funny about the movie. With Smokler behind the camera, the film was shot not as a feature film, but as a documentary, without a script or traditional shooting schedule. So much footage was filmed (over 100 hours) that it eventually required three editors to complete the film. Inspirations for the film included the documentaries Dont Look Back (1967), which was made about Bob Dylan , and The Last Waltz (1978), which

19738-426: Was the largest mass lynching in U.S. history. In July 1900 the city was swept by white mobs rioting after Robert Charles, a young African American, killed a policeman and temporarily escaped. The mob killed him and an estimated 20 other blacks; seven whites died in the days-long conflict, until a state militia suppressed it. New Orleans' economic and population zenith in relation to other American cities occurred in

19880-453: Was the only DVD—and seemingly the only thing reviewed on IGN—to get 11 out of 10. This scene was also used in some news reports on the death of James Charles "Jim" Marshall , founder of the famous amplifier company whose equipment is featured in the scene. Richard D. Titus, UX&D Controller for the BBC, adopted a Spinal Tap -inspired suggestion from a colleague that the BBC iPlayer should have

20022-473: Was the only rock movie worth watching," which Cobain agreed with, as well as mentioning Dont Look Back , by D.A. Pennebaker. According to a 1997 interview in Spin magazine with Aerosmith rhythm guitarist Brad Whitford , "The first time Steven [Tyler] saw it he didn't see any humor in it." When the film was released, Aerosmith's then-latest album, Rock in a Hard Place , depicted Stonehenge prominently on

20164-411: Was very concerned with the verisimilitude of the finger positions on the band's instruments during the concert scenes, and even re-shot some footage after the movie was edited to ensure their hands appeared in sync with the music. The character of Jeanine, David's disruptive girlfriend, was added during the production to provide a storyline to the material—in part to mollify studio executives who worried

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