Teenage Awards Music International (T.A.M.I.) was intended to be a nonprofit organization benefiting teens around the world, one that would draw attention through a series of concerts and awards shows. The organization quickly fizzled, but the 1964 kickoff show was one for the ages—the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, James Brown, Chuck Berry and eight other top-level acts of the day, all at the peak of their abilities, relentlessly rocking a madly enthusiastic audience of 3,000 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The whole shebang was caught on film in a manner befitting the manic mood onstage, with director Steve Binder (later to helm Elvis Presley’s historic 1968 comeback TV special) editing live and sound man Lionel St. Peter mixing the music down on the spot. The resulting movie premiered in Los Angeles only a couple of weeks later, and afterward disappeared into oblivion—although its cult fame was kept alive by acolytes like Sting, who famously namechecked it in the Police classic “When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around.” Now the movie has reached DVD at last, and it more than lives up to its considerable legend—the energy given off by the acts is at a fever pitch throughout, and the brisk transitions from one performer to the next make the movie’s 112-minute running time go by in a flash. Now that the T.A.M.I. Show is available again, no student of rock history can afford to miss it. – CN