Chris Montez returns to El Camino College!

Pop music legend performs
Friday, November 19th!
With sneak preview of the Chris Montez biopic!

It'll be a rock 'n' roll homecoming for pop icon Chris Montez when he plays at El Camino College on November 19th, along with another sneak preview of his film bio-in-the-making.

Montez grew up in nearby Hawthorne, California, and enrolled at the Torrance college back in the Sixties, after he washed out of the rock 'n' roll factory after hits like Let's Dance and Some Kinda Fun-- and before his rediscovery by Herb Alpert, which led to a revived career and classic cool hits like Call Me and The More I See You.

Film fans will recall that his hit Let's Dance served as the soundtrack to the frat house comedy classic, Animal House.


Sharing the bill with Chris Montez is Help Light, a band that fashioned a fresh new sound by incorporating the best musical elements from the Sixties, Seventies, Eighties and Nineties. Help Light’s musicianship and songwriting has earned high praise and admiration from a long list of fans and industry insiders, including Beatles producer and arranger George Martin.

The show is the latest stop in a Chris Montez revival that included a rousing appearance at the NY Metro Fest for Beatles Fans in March, and a intimate performance with jazz guitar virtuoso Sid Jacobs at the Pacific Palisades Film Festival in May, and a rocking show that included a set by Gary Busey at the Paso Robles Digital Film Festival last November. At each stop, the music was accompanied by a preview screening of El Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story.


The nonfiction film is still in production by our pals at Frozen Pictures, and features famous names like Herb Alpert, Tommy Roe and Andrew Loog Oldham. The preview focuses on Montez's 1963 concert tour of England, which featured the Beatles as the opening act-- just as Beatlemania was breaking out-- and Montez's distinct but little-known influence on the group's style and sound.


The concert is a fundraiser for the El Camino College Foundation and the Friends of the El Camino College Library’s Living Archives Project.

Showtime is Friday, November 19 at 8:00 pm in Marsee Auditorium on the El Camino campus.

General admission is $25.00, plus $2.00 for a parking permit. For tickets call: 310 329-5345 (toll free at 800 832-ARTS), or visit the Marsee Auditorium box office, Monday – Friday, 10 am to 6 pm.

Preview of The Chris Montez Story gets outdoor screening at the Pacific Palisades Film Festival this Saturday, May 15th

A new, expanded, special preview of El Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story, the nonfiction musical feature film from our pals at Frozen Pictures, will be featured Saturday night at the Pacific Palisades Film Festival off Sunset Boulevard.

Making the outdoor screening and cocktail party even more special and historic will be a special, intimate performance by Chris Montez.

The film about the legendary, influential and many-faceted Mexican-American musician from Hawthorne, California, has been in production over the past year, and in an unlikely turn of events, a preview section, devoted to Montez's time headlining the Beatles' first national tour of England amid the first rumblings Beatlemania, has proven to be a hit with screenings at The Fest for Beatles Fans in Chicago and New Jersey, and at the prestigious Paso Robles Digital Film Festival in California.


This latest preview contains fresh Montez performances as well as appearances by music legends including Tommy Roe, Andrew Loog Oldham (manager and producer of The Rolling Stones) and Herb Alpert (above).

The film preview will be screened outdoors at a home on Toyopa Drive in The Palisades. The evening kicks off at 6:30 p.m.

Ticket information for the Saturday, May 15th event can be found at the Friends of Film website.

The Frozen team opened last year's Palisades film fest with their Neil Innes musical comedy, The Seventh Python, which is set to be released by The Little Film Company.

Postscript: Chris Montez at Beatlefest

The NY Metro Fest for Beatles Fans is history, but the buzz is only building after Sixties pop legend Chris Montez rewrote Beatles history in his festival debut. Chris, who headlined a UK tour in March 1963 just as the first wave of Beatlemania broke across England, was on hand to share his memories and to introduce a preview of the new nonfiction film, El Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story, which demonstrated how he not only influenced the Beatles' choice in electric guitars but their taste in fashion as they copied the round, collarless jackets he wore on stage.

The film from our pals at Frozen Pictures played twice to enthusiastic audiences on Saturday and Sunday, filming continued at the Fest and Chris rocked the packed ballroom two nights in a row with his triple-threat combo of Call Me, The More I See You and Let's Dance.

Backstage with The Chris Montez Story producer
and director of photography JB Blunck

Rehearsal with topnotch Beatles band Liverpool

Montez was only one of a group of crowd-pleasing cultural legends on hand including Mark & Brett Hudson, Martin Lewis, Spencer Davis, Andrew Loog Oldham and Denny Laine and Denny Seiwell of Wings.

Panel discussion on The Chris Montez Story with the Frozen partners

Chris with former Rolling Stones manager & producer Andrew Loog Oldham
(a name we remember from those album covers)
and Chris' publicist on that Match 1963 tour with the Beatles

Legendary publicist Sam Peters (second from lower left,
at the hairline of the big head in the corner)
adds his bongo beats to the nonstop Beatles music celebration
in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza

Chris Montez at the Fest for Beatles Fans

In his Fest for Beatles Fans debut, pop star Chris Montez is proving to be a surprise hit-- and full of surprises-- as he performs, meets fans, and, above, meets the crowd after a screening of a Beatlescentric preview of the new documentary El Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story. Opening last night's all-star performance, Chris won the crowd over with his classics Call Me and The More I See You before bringing down the house and dancing with fans during Let's Dance. The Fest-- and Chris-- rock on today.

Israel Baseball League crashes Beatlesfest!

Among the Beatles memorabilia vendors at the marketplace of the NY Metro Fest for Beatles Fans in Secaucus, New Jersey was Art Shamsky, member of the 1969 miracle Mets and Manager of The Year of the sole year of the lamented Israel Baseball League, the coverage of which, led by Our Man Elli In Israel, led to a much-publicized Pulitzer Prize nomination that was rejected out of hand by that schmuck Sig Gissler. The Beatles played Shea Stadium and Art was signing baseballs and copies of his book, The Magnificent Seasons. (Last year's New York Metro Beatles Fest odd man out booksigner was Butch Patrick, known to you as Eddie Munster.)

Fest for Beatles Fans is on

The NY Metro Fest for Beatles Fans launched tonight with Sixties pop star Chris Montez (who headlined over the Beatles in a March 1963 tour of the UK) among the celebrity Beatles friends and colleagues including Denny Laine of Wings, Spencer Davis and Tabloid Baby pals Mark and Brett Hudson. A preview of the Montez biopic, El Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story, from our pals at Frozen Pictures plays at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Chris Montez to rewrite rock history at this weekend's NY Metro Fest for Beatles Fans

The NY Metro Fest for Beatles Fans that kicks off tonight and runs through Sunday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Secaucus, will feature for the first time Sixties pop star Chris Montez, who'll perform his hits and talk about the March 1963 UK tour he headlined with The Beatles as the opening act.


He'll also reveal how he influenced the Beatles in ways few have realized or acknowledged (as hinted above).


The Fest will also feature an exclusive screening of the nonfiction film in progress, El Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story, (from our pals at Frozen Pictures, in an early bird sceening at 11 a.m. Saturday as well as Sunday afternoon.

Watch this space for live blogging and updates...

Exclusive! Chris Montez returns to his roots with new original song, Con Esa Locura!

Hawthorne, California's Chris Montez has been a hitmaker in many genres, from rock 'n' roller with Let's Dance to lounge-flavpurd balladeer with hits like Call Me and The More I See You, to international star with latin hots like Ay No Digas. But now, for the first time, he's reaching back to his Chicano roots with original songs in the traditional Tejano style he grew up with.

Above, Montez is seen in Deerwood Studios in Simi Valley, California, with producer Vic Germano, recording one of those instant classics, Con Esa Locura. Fans of Latin radio, call in your request now!


Montez is the star of El Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story, the nonfiction film now in production by our pals at Frozen Pictures. And he'll be a special guest at the NY Metro Fest for Beatles Fans, March 26-28th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Secaucus, where he will be rewriting Beatles history!

EXCLUSIVE! THIS JACKET IS THE MISSING LINK IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEATLES!

This jacket is the missing link in the secret history of the Beatles.

This is the jacket that inspired the collarless suits the Beatles wore as they took the world by storm in the first flushes of Beatlemania, immortalized onstage and on the cover of the smash I Want To Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There single.

According to the official history of The Beatles, the famed collarless suits they were made by London tailor Dougie Millings, inspired by similar suits created by French designer Pierre Cardin.

That is wrong. Millings did not get his inspiration from Cardin.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon got their inspiration from a man they brought to Millings' shop in 1963. It was here that McCartney informed him that they would be appropriating the style of the jacket he wore, and which had been designed for him exclusively in Hollywood.

Pictured above is the actual jacket that inspired them. This jacket was discovered in recent days in Los Angeles by our pals at Frozen Pictures. It will be on display and the story behind it will be revealed by filmmakers Burt Kearns, Brett Hudson and Joachim Blunck at the 36th annual NY Metro Fest for Beatles Fans at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Secaucus, New Jersey on Saturday, March 27th.

Joining them will be the man who wore it-- the man the Beatles copied.

"Beatles history will be rewritten," says Frozen partner Kearns.

"This is monumental, and Beatles fans will be a part of this," adds Hudson.

Developing...

THE MISSING LINK IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEATLES!

Chris Montez to star at Beatles Fan Fest

The official poster for the NY Metro Fest for Beatles Fans has been released, along with word that legendary rocker and pop singer Chris Montez wil be among the special guests performing live at the three-day fest beginning March 26th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Secaucus, NJ, a tunnel away from Manhattan.

A special Beatlescentric preview of El Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: the Chris Montez Story, the new Montez documentary from our pals at Frozen Pictures, was a surprise hit of the Fest for Beatles Fans in Chicago last summer. The film will also get free screenings this time around, with a special twist: Q&A and performance from the man himself.


The Fest for Beatles Fans is the original and longest-running Beatles celebration (since 1974). Ticket information here.

Montez doco information here.

Cool photos from The Fest for Beatles Fans

The Fest for Beatles Fans that roared into Chicago over the weekend was not only a great prelude to the 09.09.09 release of the remastered Beatles CD collection (and for the youngsters, the Beatles RockBand game). It also showcased the first preview of the new Chris Montez biopic (from our pals at Frozen Pictures), introduced Montez and his Beatles connections to the Beatlephile crowd and was witness to great rock 'n' roll performers like Ronnie Spector, Mark & Brett Hudson, Earl Slick and the ukulele-toting former Carsman Greg Hawkes.


YouTube and Facebook are full of videos and photos from the Fest. As we got back to business, we found an excellent set of pix from Fest star Sharon Paige, who was gracious enough to allow us to post them.

Photos © Sharon Paige

Ronnie Spector, Mark Hudson and Allan Tannenbaum close Fest for Beatles Fans