''The Tale of the Dog'' is a documentary film produced and directed by Dan Obarski and Scott Montgomery. The film unearths the story of the Family Dog Denver, a music venue opened in 1967 by Chet Helms' San Francisco-based

Family Dog Productions Chester Leo "Chet" Helms (August 2, 1942 – June 25, 2005), often called the father of San Francisco's 1967 " Summer of Love," was a music promoter and a counterculture figure in San Francisco during its hippie period in the mid- to-late 1960 ...

and

Barry Fey Barry Fey (1938 – April 28, 2013) was an American rock music, rock concert promoter (entertainment), promoter from Colorado who was best known for bringing prominent music acts to the United States for the first time. Early life Music ...

. The Family Dog was pivotal in changing the cultural course of the city of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

by bringing in up-and-coming acts like

The Doors The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...

, the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...

, and many others, subsequently creating a nexus for the

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

movement to flourish in the otherwise western and conservative town. Prior to the documentary this historic episode had been lost to time. The film ends up delivering a broader, previously unknown chapter in the history of the

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong and Buzz ...

in America, and in particular that of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

the blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African- ...

psychedelic poster Psychedelic art (also known as psychedelia) is art, graphics or visual displays related to or inspired by psychedelic experiences and hallucinations known to follow the ingestion of psychedelic drugs such as lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, psilo ...

art, and the infamous culture clashes between hippies and mainstream society of that decade. As a result, the film serves as a definitive reference for the significance that the venue and many of the individuals involved in it had on the city and on the rock and roll era. The film stars

Canned Heat Canned Heat is an American band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. The group is noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists and rock music. It was founded by two blues enthusiasts Alan Wilson and Bob ...

Stanley Mouse Stanley George Miller (born October 10, 1940), better known as Mouse or Stanley Mouse, is an American artist who is notable for his 1960s psychedelic rock concert A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several Ameri ...

Victor Moscoso Victor Moscoso (born July 28, 1936) is a Spanish–American artist best known for producing psychedelic rock posters, advertisements, and underground comix in San Francisco during the 1960s and 1970s. He was the first of the rock poster artists of ...

, Raphael (Bob) Schnepf,

Roger McNamee Roger McNamee (born May 2, 1956) is an American businessman, investor, venture capitalist and musician. He is the founding partner of the venture capital firm Elevation Partners. Prior to co-founding the firm, McNamee co-founded private equity f ...

, and features Family Dog Denver employees, bands that played there, the people who hung out there, and the Denver police who tried to shut it down. The film premiered at the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

in February 2020, and was distributed by

Cinedigm Cinedigm Corp. is an American entertainment company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Cinedigm's businesses encompass digital cinema, streaming channels, content marketing, and distribution. History Early years Cinedigm Corp was founded ...

on major streaming platforms in 2021. Reception to the film has been overwhelmingly positive.

Plot

''The Tale of the Dog'' tells the previously unknown story of

The Family Dog Denver The Family Dog Denver (also known as The Family Dog or simply The Dog) was a concert dance hall located at 1601 West Evans Avenue in Denver, Colorado. Opened from September 1967 to July 1968, it is regarded as a seminal music venue that launche ...

through first-person interviews of those who were at "The Dog" during the dramatic ten months it was opened, from September 1967 to July 1968. Narrated by Rick Lewis, a long time classic rock radio DJ at

KRFX KRFX (103.5 FM) is a commercial radio station in Denver, Colorado, serving the Denver metropolitan area. It is owned by iHeartMedia, and airs a classic rock radio format. The KRFX studios and offices are located on South Monaco Street in the ...

in Denver, the film is rich in history and contains numerous storylines. It begins by framing the cultural zeitgeist of the city in the mid-20th century, sets the stage for the drama that would follow the opening of The Dog, and unfurls the explosive events that occurred in the ensuing months, leading to numerous municipal and federal court cases. Along the way the film introduces the legendary psychedelic poster artists and the posters they did for the shows, the pioneering

liquid light show Liquid light shows (or psychedelic light shows) are a form of light art that surfaced in the early 1960s as accompaniment to electronic music and avant-garde theatre performances. They were later adapted for performances of rock or psychedelic m ...

that was to be the precursor to the modern concert light show, and

Lothar and the Hand People Lothar and the Hand People were a late-1960s American psychedelic rock band, known for their spacey music and pioneering use of the theremin and Moog modular synthesizer. The band's unusual appellation refers to a theremin nicknamed "Lothar", wit ...

, who had an outsized impact on the rock and roll era. It also details the rise of

, who would go on to become one of the most influential concert promotors in the world. The film also presents the Denver police officers who, with the backing of the city leaders and community, were in constant conflict with the Family Dog. Central to the film's dramatic arch is the bust of

prior to a show at The Dog, and the resulting impact it had on their career.

Cast

*Marc Arno Richardson *G. Brown *Paul Conly *

Fito De La Parra A unit prefix is a specifier or mnemonic that is prepended to units of measurement to indicate multiples or fractions of the units. Units of various sizes are commonly formed by the use of such prefixes. The prefixes of the metric system, such a ...

*Melody Duggan *Paul Epstein *

*Dan Fong *John Gray *James Grayer *Tony Guillory *Scot Haseman *Jerry Kennedy * Rick Lewis *

*Scott Montgomery *Dan Obarski *Mary Oswald *Bob Pannetta *

Kenny Passarelli Kenny Passarelli (born October 28, 1949 in Denver, Colorado) is an American bass guitarist. Passarelli was a founding member of the Joe Walsh-led band Barnstorm, co-writing the hit "Rocky Mountain Way". He later served as a contract player for ...

*Robert Pitler *Mike Reinhardt *Raphael "Bob" Schnepf *

Corky Siegel Mark Paul "Corky" Siegel (born October 24, 1943) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and composer. He plays harmonica and piano. He plays and writes blues and blues-rock music, and has also worked extensively on combining blues and cl ...

*Cynthia Slade *

Larry Taylor Samuel Lawrence Taylor (June 26, 1942 – August 19, 2019) was an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee Le ...

* Otis Taylor *Skip Taylor *James Denny Townsend *Marilyn Wanamaker *Roy Wanamaker *Brent Warren

Reception

The film won fourteen awards across numerous film festivals in 2020, including Best US Documentary, Best Music Feature, and Best Feature Documentary – Silver/

References

External links

*
The Tale of the Dog Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tale of the Dog, The Documentaries about music American documentary films 2020 documentary films 2020 films Psychedelic artists Psychedelic music 1960s Rock and roll Blues Blues musicians Folk rock Hippie movement Hippie films 2020s American films