//Dennis Hopper and Satya de la Manitou photographed by Wim Wenders in Taos, 1978 (c) Wim WendersStiftung 2016//

Along For The Ride is the wild and suitably idisoyncratic documentary from LA-based artist Nick Ebeling about male friendship –  in particular the relationship between Ebeling’s cinematic hero Dennis Hopper and his right-hand man, “El Hombre Invisible” Satya de la Manitou – and the often fraught nature of film-making.

//Satya de la Manitou in Along For The Ride//

With a score by Gemma Thompson of Savages and produced by Sheri Timmons, the core of Along For The Ride lies in stories of de la Manitou’s 40-year friendship with Hopper, as related to Ebeling over coffee in various LA diners.

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Tags: Along For The Ride, Coco Morier, David Lynch, Dean Stockwell, Dennis Hopper, Ed Ruscha, Frank Gehry, Gemma Thompson, Gorillaz, Gunwolf, Julian Schnabel, Michael Madsen, Miss Kittin, Nick Ebeling, Philippe Mora, Satya de la Manitou, Savages, Taos, The Last Movie, Wim Wenders

Beat This: A Hip Hop History is an hour-long documentary broadcast by BBC in its Arena strand in 1984 and directed by Dick Fontaine (who I interviewed for my Goldie book back in the early 00s).

In one section Malcolm McLaren talks about his August 1981 introduction to Afrika Bambaataa’s Zulu Nation in the south Bronx.

This was effected by artist/filmmaker/writer Michael Holman; his often overlooked achievements include actually naming the genre “hip hop” in his East Village Eye column, founding the noise group Gray with Jean-Michel Basquiat (Holman also wrote the 1996 Julian Schnabel-directed biopic), running the world’s first hip-hop club (Negril, on 11th Street), creating the New York City Breakers and making the films and TV shows Catch A Beat, Beat Street and Graffiti Rock.

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Tags: Afrika Bambaataa, Bow Wow Wow, Dick Fontaine, Duck Rock, Goldie, Graffiti Rock, Gray, Imhotep Gary Byrd, Jarrell Mason, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, Michael Holman, Negril, Rock Steady Crew, Rory Johnston, The Ritz, Zulu Nation