Steve Gebhardt: Cincinnati Filmmaker, a one-hour special looking at two films by this Cincinnati native, will be re-broadcast on WVXU/WMUB on Saturday, November 7, at 11pm. Mr. Gebhardt passed away at his home in Cincinnati on October 15 at the age of 78. He had visited the WVXU studio several times over the years to talk about his film career with Frank Johnson, Ron Esposito, and David Delegator.
To read Steve Gebhardt's obituary in the New York Times, click here.
David Delegator interviewed Steve Gebhardt on May 25, 2011 about two of his films, Carla Bley’s jazz opera Escalator Over the Hill and Twenty to Life: The Life and Times of John Sinclair. (Here's a clip from Twenty to Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTQg-7ewgy4)
This one-hour program includes music from Carla Bley’s “Escalator Over the Hill” album, John Sinclair’s albums, and John Lennon’s song, “John Sinclair.” [Carla Bley is a jazz composer, big band leader, and musician who was well-known in the 1960’s free jazz movement. John Sinclair is a poet, disc jockey, and political activist who recorded a jazz album with Ed Moss & the Society Jazz Orchestra at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Cincinnati on January 15, 1994. He was a longtime New Orleans resident where he did a blues show on WWOZ for many years, and he has recently lived in Amsterdam for at least 5 years where he produces his own internet radio show. He was also the first manager of the seminal, protopunk Detroit band, MC5.
Steve Gebhardt founded the UC Film Society in 1961 and later taught film courses at Antioch College and the University of Cincinnati. After moving to NYC, he filmed many world-famous musicians including John Lennon & Yoko Ono and the Rolling Stones. Mr. Gebhardt also worked on the film, Bill Monroe: Father of Bluegrass Music which came out in the 1990’s.