The Cleveland Cinematheque will be screening, for one night only, Bob Rafelson’s 1968 film Head starring the Monkees, on the 21st of November at 7:00PM. I was in the audience when the Cinematheque ran the film seven years ago. I think Jack Nicholson wasn’t far from the mark when he said Head is “the best rock and roll picture ever made” even if, having co-authored the script, he is biased.

A report commissioned by the National Recording Preservation Board entitled Survey of Reissues of U.S. Recordings makes some interesting points regarding the history of recording: “Although other copyrighted works routinely enter the public domain, there are virtually no public domain US sound recordings,” including recordings made in the 1890s—due to a decision that effectively gives pre-1972 recordings protection until 2067.

One of the basic assumptions made in the study is not a commonly realised point of view amongst rights holders: “ …distribution of created works plays a crucial role in the preservation of those works, for one of the most reliable guarantees of preservation is the widespread dissemination of copies to interested individuals and archives.”

(A pdf version is available at the Council on Library and Information Resources site.)

I don’t love the ’80s. That makes the show even more enjoyable. This third series of I Love the 80s came as a surprise, though—I didn’t see them continuing after I Love the 90s (Part Deux).

PBS ran the new BBC Sherlock Holmes production The Case of the Silk Stocking last night, which was enjoyable for what it was. Rupert Everett struck me as too young to portray Holmes at the stage of his life implied, but that’s forgivable. The design of the police station seemed too parallel to CSI: and Without a Trace. I liked Neil Dudgeon’s Lestrade the most— he’d make a great Claud Eustace Teal.

Rebecca Eaton of WGBH/PBS served as one of the film’s Executive Producers, a role played during the peerless Jeremy Brett Granada series.

The AP republished a scarce photo of the famously private Bill Watterson in its coverage of the release of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. (It’s said that Watterson regrets having posed for the photo in question, and according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, attempts were subsequently made to purchase the negative.)

We’ve been to Chagrin Falls. It’s lovely, beyond being Calvin’s birthplace.