Coming Soon
WE WERE FAMOUS, YOU DON’T REMEMBER: THE EMBARRASSMENT
2022
Director
Danny Szlauderbach
Daniel Fetherston
Starring
Bill Goffrier
Brent "Woody" Giessmann
John Nichols
Ron Klaus
Runtime
96 minutes
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Ignited by punk's invasion of the Great Plains, America's gawkiest and greatest lost rock band battles conformity in Reagan-era Kansas.
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.
"The best music documentary of the year!" - SPIN
"By the end, you are so drenched in the essence of The Embarrassment you are baffled as to why it took so long to hear about them. WE WERE FAMOUS is a marvelous testament to the power of imagination to shape amazement from unending miles of boredom." - Michael Talbot-Haynes, Film Threat
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.
"The best music documentary of the year!" - SPIN
"By the end, you are so drenched in the essence of The Embarrassment you are baffled as to why it took so long to hear about them. WE WERE FAMOUS is a marvelous testament to the power of imagination to shape amazement from unending miles of boredom." - Michael Talbot-Haynes, Film Threat