Trailer for Tour Without End by Laura Parnes
Tour Without End
Single Channel Video, Installation, 2014-2021
Tour Without End is an experimental fiction/doc hybrid that casts real-life musicians, artists and actors as bands on tour, expanding into a cross-generational, Trump-era commentary on contemporary culture & politics.
“Following the fictional band Munchausen through New York’s alternative music scene, Laura Parnes’s satirical doc-fiction hybrid Tour Without End chronicles a milieu pinched by local hyper-gentrification and spun by national politics.
Supported by a veritable who’s who of downtown luminaries (Eileen Myles, Gary Indiana, Kathleen Hanna, K8 Hardy, and more) playing versions of themselves, Munchausen (played by the The Wooster Group’s Kate Valk and New York City Players’ Jim Fletcher) serve as our guide to a contemporary DIY world as vibrant as it is precarious (of the 14 venues featured in the film, at least four have been forced to shutter).
Elder statesman of New York bohemia, Munchausen thread the needle between several decades of New York art subcultures, mixing with an inter-generational group of artists and taking a long view of a shared culture dominated by the young.
Shot between 2014 and early 2018, the film never leaves the political situation far from the frame, with our players entering the eye of the storm on a brief sojourn to Cleveland during the RNC and rallying the community in the post-election spiral, exemplified by a show stopping performance by The Julie Ruin the night after Trump’s election.
Between performances by bands like Eartheater, Shannon Funchess, Macy Rodman and Youthquake, Parnes stages semi-scripted scenes creating a portrait of a living artistic community; gossiping backstage, humoring tone-deaf marketing pitches, enduring patronizing interviewers, comforting one another, enjoying each other’s work, and attempting to make sense of our increasingly disturbing historical moment.”
-Nellie Killian, Film Comment, 2018
Tour Without End received a Creative Capital Award in 2016.
It has been shown as a full installation + screening at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, and Human Resources, Los Angeles.
Tour Without End has screened with live performances at The Kitchen, NYC and at Pioneer Works with live performances by The Blow (Melissa Dyne and Khaela Maricich), Macy Rodman (with Matthew McAuley of BB TAY VEE), and CRICKETS (JD Samson, Michael O’Neill, Roddy Bottum), some of whom are featured in the film. The photos are taken in collaboration with Justine Kurland.
Tour Without End is available at Video Data Bank.
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Matthew Asti
Lizzi Bougatsos
Becca Blackwell
Christen Clifford
Adrian Dannat
Alexandra Drewchin
Nicole Eisenman
Johanna Fateman
Jim Fletcher
Florian Franks
Shannon Funchess
Lia Gangitano
Cy Gavin
Alessandra Genovese
Michelle Handelman
Kathleen Hanna K8 Hardy
Andrew Haynes
Gary Indiana
Adam Khalil
Sylvestre Leon
T De Long
Erin Markey
Tom McGrath
Eileen Myles
Rachel Mason
Neon Music
Kembra Pfahler
Brontez Purnell
Rogelio Ramos
Sam Richardson
Kenya Robinson
JD Samson
Rafael Sanchez
Kate Valk
Conrad Ventur -
In Tour Without End, you will see performances by:
Eartheater
Fluct
Shannon Funchess
IUD
The Julie Ruin
Rachel Mason
Macy Rodman
The Younger Lovers
YouthquakeAt Tour Without End screenings, there have been live performances by:
Crickets
JD Samson (LeTigre), Roddy Bottum (Faith No More), and Michael O'Neill (Men)
Macy Rodman
BB TAY VEE
The Blow -
“Guilt”
Written by Barry Reynolds
Performed by Munchhausen
Lizzi Bougatsos, Jim Fletcher, Kate Valk
”Live Out Loud”
Written by Shannon Funchess
and Neon Music
Performed by Shannon Funchess
”Untitled (Cookie’s Birthday)”
Written by Alexander Drewchin
Performed by Alexander Drewchin
”Houses for my Secret Skies”
Written by Rachel Mason
Performed by Rachel Mason
”Always Got That Red Paint”
Written by Alexander Drewchin
Performed by Alexander Drewchin as King Concubine
”Metamorphelexible”
Written by Alexander Drewchin
Performed by Eartheater
Courtesy of Hausu Mountain
”We can Take it Slow “
Written by Rogelio Ramos
Performed by Rogelio Ramos
”Hey Jody”
Written by Brontez Purnell
Performed by The Younger Lovers
Brontez Purnell, Ezra Rabin, Sean Teves
”Lazy Girl”
Written by Macy Rodman
Performed by Macy Rodman
”Heart Explodes”
Written by Rachel Mason
Performed by Rachel Mason
”Untitled”
Written by Alexander Drewchin
Performed by Alexander Drewchin
”Honey Wagon”
Written by Neon Music
Performed by Youth Quake
Henry Ellis, Neon Music, Anna Wolinsky, Stephen Zerbe
”Girls Just Wanna”
Written by Lizzi Bougatsos and Sadie Laska
Performed by IUD
Lizzi Bougatsos and Sadie Laska
Courtesy of The Social Registry
”Birds Eye”
Written by Alexander Drewchin
Performed by Alexander Drewchin
”Untitled”
Written by Lizzi Bougatsos and Sadie Laska
Performed by IUD
Lizzi Bougatsos and Sadie Laska
” Daddy”
Written by Lizzi Bougatsos and Sadie Laska
Performed by IUD
Lizzi Bougatsos and Sadie Laska
Courtesy of The Social Registry
” Utterfly FX”
Written by Alexander Drewchin
Performed by Eartheater
Courtesy of Hausu Mountain
“Time is Up”
Written and Performed by The Julie Ruin
Carmine Covelli, Kathleen Hanna, Sara Landeau, Kenny Mellman, Kathi Wilcox
Courtesy of Hardly Art Records -
Kim Abrams
Robert Adonto
Emma Brenner
Luisa Caldwell
Xinyi Cheng
Christen Clifford
Tali De’Mar
Josh Diamond
Angela Dimoff
Coco Dolle
Silas Drewchin
Nora Dubdoub
Max Eisenberg
Victoria Guillem
Pati Hertling
Kerry Farias
Dia Felix
Abbe Firelly
Gregg Fox
Cy Gavin
Olivia Hall
Sigrid Lauren
Asher Lewis
Ana Lieberman
Monica Mirabile
Erik Moskowitz
Joseph Moore
Alexander Paris
Naomi Raddatz
Melissa Ragona
Amanda Salane
Marianne Shaneen
Dennis Sears
Darwin Sepulveda
David Schlaegel
David Sobol
Joshua Solondz
John Stiff
Elisabeth Subrin
Amanda Trager
Cat Tyc
Stephanie Vella
Leilah Weinraub
Samuel Weissberg
Pawel Wojtasik -
Directed, Produced and Edited by Laura Parnes
Written in collaboration with the participants.Director of Photography
Adam Khalil
Camera A
Sam Richardson
Camera B
Jeffrey Akers
Jack Berner
Cate Giordano Venessa Gully-Santiago
Erik Moskowitz
Laura Parnes
Liz Zito
Shuang (Cookie) Yu Hua
Sound
Zack Khalil
Anthony Simon
Make Up
Naomi Raddatz
Charles Zambrano
Costume Design
GGrippo
Assistants
Zeljika Blaksic
Shuang (Cookie) Yu Hua Jiuxun Jin
Yasmine Laraqui
Rosana Liang
Sam Richardson
Liz Zito
Assistant Editing
Zeljika Blaksic
Glenn Fogel
Jordan Freeman
Jennifer Thomas
K.E. Altmann at VXN Studio
Adam Khalil
Colorist
Marcy Robinson at BLiiNK COLOR
Sound Mix
Quentin Chiappetta, Media Noise, NYCWeb Design
Alisha BhowmikPoster Design
Klaus Kemenaars (xSITE) -
Tour Without End was shot on location at:
Body Actualized, Brooklyn
Black Bear Lounge, Brooklyn
Bridget Donahue Gallery, NYC
DCTV, Dirty Looks Benefit, NYC
Hayeem Family, NYC
Hotel 17, NYC
Irving Plaza, NYC
Leon’s Zen Fusion, Delaware Water Gap, PA
Lovett/Codagnone, NYC
Media Noise, NYC and Brooklyn
PARTICIPANT Inc., NYC
Outpost, Ridgewood, NY
Poppers Locarno, Ridgewood, NY
Secret Project Robots, Brooklyn
Shea Stadium, Brooklyn
Silent Barn, Brooklyn
Von, NYC
xSITE, NYC
Nicole’s Birthday hosted at Leidy Churchman’s Garage space, Brooklyn -
Tour Without End has received production and promotional support from:
New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship
Creative Capital 2016
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Sini Anderson
Stephanie Barber
William Basinski
Lizzi Bougatsos
Rick Brown
Patty Chang
Leidy Churchman
Tom Cole
Chris Cochrane
Brittni Collins
John Colpitts
Merri Cyr
Jen DeNike
Liz Deschenes
Nora Dubdoub
Greg Fox
Sue Garner
Arfus Greenwood
K8 Hardy
Liselot Van der Heidjen
Claudia Joskowicz
Ruth Kahn
Craig Kalpakjian
Nellie Killian
Klaus Kempenaars
Jay Kinney
Justine Kurland
Sadie Laska
Alex Lemke
Rebecca Chamberlain
Lovett/Codagnone
Franziska Lamprecht
Mary Magsamen
Erin Markey
Hajoe Modergger
Erik Moskowitz
The Nayeem Family
Natalia Nayeem
Bradford Nordeen
Amy Pilkington
Julianne Richards
Maureen Sarro
David Shapiro
Enat Sidi
Guy Richards Smit
Elisabeth Subrin
Eve Sussman
Karina Svirsky
Lumi Tan
Amanda Trager
Ela Troyano
Kate Valk
David Watson
Michael Waugh
Ana Wolovick
Lia Gangitano
Enat Sidi