Fast Times At Ridgemont High

August 13th, 1982 saw the debut of one of the great teen movies of all time, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, including future stars Forrest Whitaker, Sean Penn, and more. I loved it because of the music references and moments running throughout, plus a great soundtrack with then-famous artists like Billy Squier and Sammy Hagar. Click here for the ticket scalper scene (“Got any Blue Oyster Cult?”).

First time director Cameron Crowe went on to make such classics as Say Anything, Singles, and Almost Famous, all with great soundtracks of their own.

Roy Orbison’s Black and White Night

(This is the third in a short series of Bruce Springsteen-related posts leading up to his concert this Saturday night in North Charleston, SC)

One of my favorite Bruce moments is this 1998 music video, a concert film shot in a stylish black and white, that paired the legendary Roy Orbison up with a batch of big-name admirers as a backing band. Look closely, and in addition to Springsteen trading guitar licks with Orbison, there’s Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Jackson Browne, James Burton, and more on stage with him.

Springsteen once famously commented when asked about his inspiration for Born To Run that he wanted to sing like Roy Orbison and make a wall of sound with his band like Phil Spector’s 60′s productions. I can only imagine how much fun he was having on this particular night, playing lead guitar alongside one of his musical heroes. Courtesy of YouTube, here’s “Pretty Woman” from Black and White Night.