We Were Famous, You Don’t Remember: The Embarrassment
@ The Hideout
1354 West Wabansia Ave, Chicago, IL 60642
Opening Sunday, July 9th, at 7:30PM
Documentary screening followed by director Q&A and solo set by Bill Goffrier
With Westonworld DJs Bob and Carrie Weston
Join the documentary’s directors and the Embarrassment’s Bill Goffrier for an evening of film, music, and conversation celebrating Wichita’s most influential band.
TRAILER: https://youtu.be/i8P7Mvv5x2I
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: https://www.embosdoc.com/
SPIN FEATURE: https://www.spin.com/2023/06/almost-famous-the-embarrassment/
SYNOPSIS: Surrounded by wheat fields, cowboys, and cars, four bespectacled misfits in Kansas — Bill Goffrier, Brent Giessmann, John Nichols, and Ron Klaus — grabbed instruments and blasted out “a ravenous strain of rock ‘n’ roll” as tuneful, brainy, and enthralling as anything coming from the coasts. They worshipped the Stooges and witnessed the Sex Pistols bring punk to the Great Plains, igniting within them an uncontrolled prairie fire to do-it-themselves. As the Embarrassment, they threw a house-wrecking party and invited “a thousand loving friends” into their secret world of “weirdo new wave freaks” in Wichita and beyond. They played Chicago, D.C., and New York, drawing the attention of influential figures like Allen Ginsberg, John Cale, and Jonathan Demme — but their independence and refusal to sell out sparked tension within the group and kept mainstream success at bay. Through original interviews, restored concert footage, and appearances by fans including Evan Dando, Freedy Johnston, Grant Hart, and Thomas Frank, this documentary shows how the Embarrassment rose out of nowhere to become a post-punk legend that’s almost been forgotten — until now.
Official Website
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Tags: Bill Goffrier, Bob Weston, The Embarrassment, The Hideout, Westonworld
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