Overshined by LPs, CDs and cassette tapes, 8-track tapes are the ugly duckling of audio formats. As the first portable format, 8-tracks ruled the market through the 60s and 70s, giving consumers freedom to listen to what they wanted wherever they may be. Cassettes (nearly) killed the 8-track star by the 80s. Oddball obsessives have kept the format alive.

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Russ Forster, a DJ, nurse, and filmmaker, celebrated 8-tracks through the quarterly zine 8-Track Mind, that brought together other enthusiasts. SO WRONG THEY’RE RIGHT (1995) is a chronicle of Russ traveling across America to find other collectors, to give the format its just due. Shot on 16mm, the movie is set up like a film version of the zine - it plays like a cut-paste collage of an underground subculture and an ode to the red headed child of recorded audio. (Alohie Tadessie)

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The film will be screened from the director's personal 16mm copy, with director Russ Forster in-person performing music and an 8 track giveaway! Come beforehand to listen to 8-tracks, read some zines, and learn more about the format that “flew too close to the sun.”  

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dir. Russ Forster, 1995
United States, 16mm projection
92 min

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SATURDAY, 8/22
7:30 DOORS
8:00 SCREENING

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$14 general admission.

Basic & Microcinephile members, please log-in to your account at checkout for your discounts to apply. Don't have a membership? Get one here.

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Presented by T.A.P.E. - a Los Angeles based 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to facilitating support for analog media through free digitizing, education, hands-on training, equipment rentals and volunteer opportunities. Teach, archive, preserve, exhibit.

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‍Whammy! is located at 1200 N Alvarado St, near the intersection of Sunset & Alvarado and in between Tierra Mia Coffee and Manly & Sons Barbershop. Street parking only, please do not park in the library parking lot, as your vehicle will get locked in when the library closes. The corner of Sunset & Alvarado is served by 3 major bus lines, the 2, the 4, and the 93.