The Regent Theatre is offering the chance to check into spooky season and get a music trivia fix — simultaneously. The Arlington movie house tonight (September 7) hosts the Boston premiere of Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel and Other Rock & Roll Stories, a documentary dedicated to the Manhattan landmark that collecting culture-forward bohemians within its dingy walls.
Andy Warhol once praised the Chelsea as “a glamorous vortex of artists, celebrities, and eccentrics.” Sid Vicious (understandably) labeled it “an artistic tornado of death and destruction and love and broken dreams.” In this new release from director Danny Garcia, guests can marvel at the concurrent realities, following the film as it flits around the building’s early days — where guests might find Mark Twain dodging creditors, or Thomas Wolfe drunkenly reciting his own work — through its freaky peak in the 1960s and 70s.
Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel and Other Rock & Roll Stories arranges its tales within a succinct audiovisual scrapbook, using interviews to reveal brushes with an uncharacteristically vulnerable Dee Dee Ramone, anonymous (and amorous) hauntings, and every genius-weirdo hybrid in between. It’s a fast-moving walking tour that lauds the Chelsea’s iconic randomness, revealing a place where custodians were just as likely to find The Grateful Dead jamming on the roof as they were to encounter Bob Marley amidst a spliff-rolling session with copies of the New York Times.
The screening kicks off at 7:30 p.m. tonight, followed by a live Q&A with Garcia. Snag your seat for $15 here, and check out the trailer below.