On August 2, four new bands performing original songs together for the very first time will converge at the historic Hi-Pointe Theatre. Urgh! A Band Lotto serves as the opening act for the evening’s feature presentation: a one-time screening of Urgh, A Music War, a British-produced punk and new wave documentary from 1982. The concert and film pairing is one of many events that have brought live music back to the movie theater’s stage since last spring.
According to Hi-Pointe Theatre event coordinator Josh Jenkins, the theater has roots in live music dating back 100 years. Jenkins moonlights as an adjunct professor teaching motion graphics at St. Louis Community College, and he also fronts post-punk multimedia projects Trauma Harness and Jenerator Jenkins. When the opportunity to combine his favorite pastimes arose, Jenkins jumped at the chance to welcome the local arts community to join in.
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Jenkins grew up on the other side of the river in Milstadt, Illinois, where he developed an affinity for DIY music early in life. He started booking bands at VFW Halls, gyms, and rehearsal spaces—basically anywhere he could congregate with likeminded music lovers—and kept the performance calendar at Illegal Tone Recordings in Belleville busy with touring artists from 2007 until it closed in 2012. Since then, he has played countless shows in St. Louis and beyond.
After joining Hi-Pointe as a staff member two years ago, Jenkins began working with Cinema St. Louis theatre programming and operations director Brett Smith to brainstorm ways to utilize the impressive natural acoustics in the century-old space as a sonic canvas for community collaboration. “We kind of started talking a lot about the history of Hi-Pointe Theatre. Alongside cinema, there was a lot of music legacy,” Jenkins says. “Back when it opened in the 1920s, all kinds of bands performed in the theater hall into the groovy ‘80s and 2000s. The side building also had a concert venue in it.”
In March 2024, Jenkins petitioned to bring Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble In Mind to the big screen for one night only, and a light bulb went off. “Following that, we talked about getting films coming out that were music documentaries and getting local acts that had similar aesthetics or attitudes toward the subject of the film to kind of represent the history of the building itself and the music that was attached to it,” he says. “I think it’s fun to intermix the two things.”
Last October, the first hybrid event featured the Midwest premiere of S/He is Still Here/E – The Official Genesis P-Orridge Documentary, paired with experimental electronic music performers Radiator Greys and Dour. Subsequent pairings include We Are Fugazi From Washington D.C. with Piracy and Fault; Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story with Shitstorm; Pavements with Space Quaker; and Love & Mercy with Kitz Row. The Midwest premiere of Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex is slated for next October.
“One of the coolest things with these screenings is seeing the mix of movie and music fans,” Jenkins says. “It’s great to see multigenerations of fans all together in one room in St. Louis, all in celebration of these different acts.”
“Urgh! A Band Lotto” represents his most ambitious endeavor at the venue yet, featuring an open call to area musicians to participate. To carry out the vision, Jenkins enlisted the aid of fellow organizer Zo Talkin. Talkin, who performs in Chorus Truly and Algae Dust, co-organized a local covers tape and subsequent release show called STL Secret Admirer with fellow musician Mere Harrach last spring.
For STL Secret Admirer, Talkin built a website for sign-ups and wound up with 20 different acts, who were each assigned to record covers of another band or musician’s song. The songs came out via cassette tape on Valentine’s Day. “It really felt like a love fest. Just to see that collection of talent and skill on that compilation is really affirming and so exciting. We have a lot of really amazing creative folks making music, so it’s so fun to see people have appreciation toward each other and their music in a unique way,” Talkin says.
Jenkins hoped to continue that level of communal momentum with a River City band lottery. Talkin designed a sign-up website for the band lotto, and the duo utilized a randomization process to form groups based on individuals’ provided instrumentation. “We sent out the band assignments and set people free,” Talkin says.
“I almost view it like a summer camp of musicians,” Jenkins adds. “Everybody was paired up together on June 15 and was pretty much working through the summer for this project. I’m looking forward to that end of the dog days of summer kind of feel-good event and just everybody showing the fruits of their labor.”
The bands—named Lockjaw, Beds Amirite, Swear Jar, and Gummy Hair—will each perform a 10-minute set with a custom projection, and it will all be recorded by filmmaker Mark Willey. The grab bag of talent on display will serve as an action-packed counterpart to Urgh, A Music War, which features professionally captured concert footage in rapidfire succession. “I’ve always just thought it was a fun buffet of the rising alt subculture of the ‘80s. You get a good glimpse into so many styles,” says Jenkins, who anticipates a similarly diverse mixture from the band lotto.
“We’re truly excited to see what kind of music will come out of this,” Talkin says. “It’s just been really fun, and we can’t wait to see what happens in that kind of magical alchemy of many different people coming together.”
Urgh! A Band Lotto takes place at the Hi-Pointe Theatre on Saturday, August 2. Doors open at 7 p.m., with vendors tabling inside. Music starts at 8 p.m., with Urgh, A Music War following at 9:30 p.m. General admission costs $11 ($8 for students and seniors). All proceeds go to The Northside Resilience Fund.
