Make something happen. A love letter to Green Bay, DIY and punk rock | Press Times
A documentary with a title like Green Blah! – based on a derogatory nickname for the city – may not sound like much of a love letter, but the two Green Bay natives who co- wrote and directed it can assure you that it is.
Green Blah: The History of Green Bay Punk Rock, described on its event page as “a documentary that tells the story of the punk rock and independent music scene of Green Bay, WI and its neighboring communities,” premieres this weekend with four showings at the Historic Tarlton Theatre. After each showing, current and former members of Green Bay’s punk scene will reunite onstage for a concert for a total of 13 bands across 3 days.
The project is the brainchild of James Baker and Chris Pretti, self-professed “DIY-ers” who have been active in Green Bay’s music scene since their high school days, when they formed a band in one of their parents’ basements using instruments they had on hand.
“Chris and I were both really involved in the music scene here, especially the independent/punk rock scene,” said Baker. “And as we were getting older, we knew how impactful this was on the history of Green Bay and the music scene.”
Hoping to preserve Green Bay’s colorful past, Baker reached out to Pretti about making a documentary. Neither had any prior filmmaking experience.
“If you want something to happen, make it happen,” Baker explained. “There wasn’t any documentation of this, so we just had to figure out how to do it.”
To reflect their inexperience, Pretti and Baker called their production team A Bunch of Morons Productions, a callback to a band they once formed with a group of friends.
Filming began in December of 2012, with the pair “DIY-ing” camera and lighting techniques to produce quality footage using a video camera that Pretti had picked up after seeing it on a commercial.
“I had just talked to a guy from the Cleveland area who was in a punk band called Zero Defects,” said Pretti. “ He had done a film about Cleveland punk called Cleveland screaming. So I kinda picked his brain a little bit, like, ‘How did you do this kinda thing?’”
The pair also sat down with Norb Rozek, a former bandmate who Baker described as “a big figure in the community,” who gave the pair a list of the top 25 people they needed to interview for the documentary.
“It kinda snowballed a little bit – and by ‘a little bit,’ I mean we went from 25 to 90 different interviewees,” said Pretti. “It’s pretty comprehensive.”
In addition, the filmmakers sifted through artifacts ranging from show fliers, fanzines and student newspapers to cassette tapes and archival footage with the help of UW-Green Bay’s Cofrin Library and Archives, Brown County Library and Howard Suamico Historical Society.
“We stood over, I would estimate, thousands of fliers and promotional materials,” said Baker. “We had lots of personal photographs that were shared with us from lots of the scene members as well.”
Only two weeks ago, the pair received an additional 80 photos from a friend in the community.
“Everybody that was involved in the scene did fan zines or they were in bands, and a lot of the time when you would send out letters, they would put ‘Green Blah [instead of Green Bay],’” Baker explained.
“If you look at some of the old fliers that were handmade by people in the scene, somebody would put ‘Green Blah’ because nothing happens,” added Pretti. “It’s Green Blah. There’s nothing.”
Punk culture, therefore, was born out of creating something to do: starting a band, dyeing your hair, or making fanzines to share with your friends, for example.
“There’s a lot of creativity that came out of that,” said Baker. “We wanted to make things happen, so we made things happen.”
In 2015, Pretti and Baker crowdfunded $19,500 through Kickstarter to produce the documentary.
“Hopefully us doing this and documenting this inspires someone else to do a DIY thing – whether it’s a documentary or a band, or art – hopefully it inspires somebody to do something awesome,” said Baker. He argued that this drive on a community level is what helped to shape Green Bay into what it is today, citing owners of local businesses like Green Bay UFO Museum Gift Shop and Records, Jake’s Pizza, and Cheesesteak Rebellion who, without formal business training, relied on other resources available to them to set up shop.
“You can sit on the couch and complain or whatever, or you can make stuff happen,” Pretti added. “Jim and I had zero background, but I think we put something together that’s pretty good, and we just wanna see people enjoy it.”
So far, the forecast for Green Blah! looks promising. Tickets for the original two showings sold out, prompting organizers to add an additional show. This, too, sold out. So they added a fourth.
As of Monday, tickets for that show had sold out, too.
“We kinda knew there would be some interest in the project because people really enjoyed the music scene that everyone built,” said Baker of their ticket sales. “It’s great. It’s excellent. I like it.”
“We’re very happy that people have stuck with us along the way, and now that it’s happening, it’s very much appreciated,” said Pretti.
Green Blah! will premiere at the Historic Tarlton Theatre on Friday, Nov. 1.
Tickets for all four showings are sold out, but you can find more information on the documentary, A Buncha Morons and Green Bay’s punk scene atgreenblahfilm.com.
