M. Henry Jones & The Downtown Scene

On Thursday night I went to see my friend Atticus’, dad’s movie screening at Anthology Film Archives. His dad is M. Henry Jones and the show was titled “M. Henry Jones & the downtown scene”. I have know Henry for a very long time since Atticus and I were friends for what seems like forever. Henry has always been such a character, one of the most crazy and cool dads around. Henry and Atticus are always at Henry’s crazy, disorganized and fun animation studio, SnakeMonkey. And it gets even more fun when Rachel Amadeo, (Atticus’ mom) a film maker and another downtown character drops in. This movie screening really showed what New York was like back in the day where what Henry calls “Aggressive Hipsters” ruled the scene. Henry hung out with Dee Dee Ramone (from The Ramones), Cindy Sherman, Harry Smith and other hipsters in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Henry has been creating animation movies, the most artsy television commercials and experimental 3D art work.... all done in the East Village where he still resides in today. Henry mixes sound, color and investigates motion in his genius short films. Some of my favorite films of the night were Soul City (an artsy music video of the Fleshtones), The Three Fertnuckles ( a film based on a book Henry wrote in the 3rd grade...), Brand New Cadillac ( a great music video of The Zantees) and I completely loved his unique “America’s Best” TV commercials. I also enjoyed The Book and Go Go girl. The show was packed and what seemed like the whole east village was there. It was so packed that Anthology Film Archives opened another screening later on that night. After each movie played, Henry told stories about what influenced his movies and stories that revolved around them. This continued in the discussion after wards with DJ Spooky and Henry’s college teacher and film critic, Amy Taubin. I was thrilled to be there!
You can see some of Henry's 3D art work on the walls of Nublu...
-- Revolutionary Cat