Early 80s. Big Daddy Ed Roth teaches you, hilariously, step by step, how to go into business making silkscreen t-shirts. Dead serious stuff to a guy like Roth, the indy businessman, operating on a marginal profit as a way of life.
I really doubt any of the info is obsolete. But that's not its real appeal. The real appeal is watching Roth. Legendary craftsman / pop culture hero, working out of his garage at home.
About those jumpy edits. Don't get upset. It's not me. You're not missing anything. It's how it came to me on VHS. Roth probably hand edited the way I use to edit tape. Using two VCRs. That gives you some dandy glitches. I love Roth's focus. Ice cream trucks, kids and cats, lawn mowing, smart alec videographers, nothing takes his attention from the task at hand.
I think it's sentimental stuff to go in tight on Roth's hands as he shows you how to do a tight screen stretch. Those are the hands that did fiberglass work on The Beatnik Bandit and other timeless designs. Men used to have pocket knives that they sharpened with wet rocks. Sharpened to scalpel sharpness. They worked with their hands.
I bought three video tapes from Roth back in the mid 80s from his mail order operation. One is the Von Dutch interview that is already on youtube. 10 minutes worth of it. I'll upload the whole thing.
The third one is something I bought to see if he was serious. I used to live in Oklahoma City. Roth was there for a convention. OKC is the intersection of I-35 and I-40. Roth stationed himself at that point, the statistically richest point in the country for semi truck travel, and videotaped....Semi trucks going by. The way some fighter aircraft fighter enthusiasts loiter around the edges of Miramar and videotape Tomcats.
If I kept a copy of that I'll upload it as well.
The quality was slightly better on the original videotape. Thankfully I transferred this to DVD and still had a copy of it. Now I have it as an MP4. And you have it on Youtube. My job as archivist is done.
I'm assuming, based on seeing the Von Dutch interview, that there is no Roth estate trying to block this sort of material. I'm not monetizing it. I just want to share it. -- plazpastic
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