Documentary about the new wave band will screen Sept. 28 at The Texas Theatre
Gerald Casale. Photo by David Driscoll.
Dallas VideoFest announced this year’s Ernie Kovacs Award recipient is musician, artist and music producer Gerald Casale, best known for his work in the new wave band DEVO. Casale will receive the award at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, at The Texas Theatre downstairs.
A VIP meet-and-greet reception will be upstairs before the award presentation. The new DEVO documentary, which premiered in January at Sundance Film Festival, will screen the night before at Texas Theatre.
Ernie Kovacs was an American comedian, writer and actor known for a visually experimental and often spontaneous style that influenced many television comedy programs. He died in 1962.
“Just as Ernie Kovacs set the aesthetic and for the template for late night and most TV comedy, Jerry Casale’s iconic music videos set the paradigm for how a band could define their image and tell their story through music video,” said Bart Weiss, founder and artistic director of VideoFest.
Known as a primary force behind DEVO’s creative vision and responsible for the bands visually striking concert stage shows and its costumes that include the signature red “Energy Dome” hats, Casale has directed nearly 100 music videos since 1973. Videos for bands such as Rush, Silverchair and The Cars; he directed the first Foo Fighters video and the final video for Soundgarden.
Casale has reportedly mentioned Kovacs’ work as an inspiration for DEVO’s creative choices. DEVO is best known for the 1980 hit “Whip It.”
Joshua Mills, the son of Kovacs’ widow Edie Adams, will attend. He wrote “Ernie in Kovacsland.”
Admission – Tickets/passes at https://kovacs.eventive.org/
$20 – Documentary screening Saturday
$20 – Kovacs Award event Sunday
$35 for both the documentary screening and the Kovacs Award event.
$75 VIP Meet & Greet with documentary and Kovacs Award event
Texas Theatre is at 231 W. Jefferson Blvd., in Dallas’ Oak Cliff area.