Media Burn Archive
@mediaburn.bsky.social
Media Burn is a nonprofit dedicated to video’s overlooked histories and its most fiercely independent voices, from the 1960s to today.
Excited to announce we got an FY26 IAC grant! We are so grateful to the Illinois Arts Council for supporting arts across our state.
November 13, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Excited to announce we got an FY26 IAC grant! We are so grateful to the Illinois Arts Council for supporting arts across our state.
RIP Tony Adler. Here's a lovely video of him teaching poetry to senior citizens from the 1970s.
November 12, 2025 at 1:04 PM
RIP Tony Adler. Here's a lovely video of him teaching poetry to senior citizens from the 1970s.
Ratso the puppet interviews Sleater-Kinney for Chic-A-Go-Go, from July 2000. Carrie and Janet (aka "Mitzi") show off their juggling skills. Talk of favorite foods, their new album, and how many Grammys the band would win if Ratso joined.
Sleater Kinney interviewed by Ratso the puppet on Chic-A Go-Go! (From July 2000)
YouTube video by Media Burn Archive
www.youtube.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Ratso the puppet interviews Sleater-Kinney for Chic-A-Go-Go, from July 2000. Carrie and Janet (aka "Mitzi") show off their juggling skills. Talk of favorite foods, their new album, and how many Grammys the band would win if Ratso joined.
Studs’ Place: The Lost Sitcom That Put Working-Class Life on TV. Our latest blog post by scholar and guest author Jason J. Nebergall offers an analysis of how Studs Terkel's radical, working-class ethos was translated into the emerging television medium. Read more at: https://loom.ly/JDD26kA
November 6, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Studs’ Place: The Lost Sitcom That Put Working-Class Life on TV. Our latest blog post by scholar and guest author Jason J. Nebergall offers an analysis of how Studs Terkel's radical, working-class ethos was translated into the emerging television medium. Read more at: https://loom.ly/JDD26kA
Watch the full episode of Chic-A-Go-Go's "Monster Party" Halloween episode here!
mediaburn.org/videos/chic-...
mediaburn.org/videos/chic-...
October 31, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Watch the full episode of Chic-A-Go-Go's "Monster Party" Halloween episode here!
mediaburn.org/videos/chic-...
mediaburn.org/videos/chic-...
Spooky Halloween music from the legendary Chic-A-Go-Go. Dance along with Miss Mia and Ratso to Chicago's Team Satan!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfm6...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfm6...
Chic-A-Go-Go Monster Party musical performance by Team Satan!
YouTube video by Media Burn Archive
www.youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Spooky Halloween music from the legendary Chic-A-Go-Go. Dance along with Miss Mia and Ratso to Chicago's Team Satan!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfm6...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfm6...
This Nov, celebrate Siskel & Ebert's 50th!
See their favorite "hidden gem" films each Wednesday (Nov 5, 12, 19, 25).
Don't miss a live "Sneak Previews" performance on Nov 22
Location: Chicago Cultural Center 78 E. Washington St. Chicago, IL 60602
TICKETS: https://loom.ly/V2_oo_s
See their favorite "hidden gem" films each Wednesday (Nov 5, 12, 19, 25).
Don't miss a live "Sneak Previews" performance on Nov 22
Location: Chicago Cultural Center 78 E. Washington St. Chicago, IL 60602
TICKETS: https://loom.ly/V2_oo_s
October 30, 2025 at 12:59 PM
This Nov, celebrate Siskel & Ebert's 50th!
See their favorite "hidden gem" films each Wednesday (Nov 5, 12, 19, 25).
Don't miss a live "Sneak Previews" performance on Nov 22
Location: Chicago Cultural Center 78 E. Washington St. Chicago, IL 60602
TICKETS: https://loom.ly/V2_oo_s
See their favorite "hidden gem" films each Wednesday (Nov 5, 12, 19, 25).
Don't miss a live "Sneak Previews" performance on Nov 22
Location: Chicago Cultural Center 78 E. Washington St. Chicago, IL 60602
TICKETS: https://loom.ly/V2_oo_s
The world lost a special person this week. Read Media Burn founder Tom Weinberg's tribute to artist, poet, actor, and Chicagoan, Tony Fitzpatrick, “a roisterer, a prodigious giant with gigantic appetites.” https://loom.ly/CTAFD28
October 15, 2025 at 3:04 PM
The world lost a special person this week. Read Media Burn founder Tom Weinberg's tribute to artist, poet, actor, and Chicagoan, Tony Fitzpatrick, “a roisterer, a prodigious giant with gigantic appetites.” https://loom.ly/CTAFD28
Don’t miss this special 20th anniversary screening of Forgiving Dr. Mengele with Media Burn board member Bob Hercules in person.
Event Details: [October 16th ] [7:00 PM] Wayfarer Theater, Highland Park
Tickets: $15 | FREE for Wayfarer Unlimited Members
More info: https://loom.ly/Ib_NkuY
Event Details: [October 16th ] [7:00 PM] Wayfarer Theater, Highland Park
Tickets: $15 | FREE for Wayfarer Unlimited Members
More info: https://loom.ly/Ib_NkuY
October 13, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Don’t miss this special 20th anniversary screening of Forgiving Dr. Mengele with Media Burn board member Bob Hercules in person.
Event Details: [October 16th ] [7:00 PM] Wayfarer Theater, Highland Park
Tickets: $15 | FREE for Wayfarer Unlimited Members
More info: https://loom.ly/Ib_NkuY
Event Details: [October 16th ] [7:00 PM] Wayfarer Theater, Highland Park
Tickets: $15 | FREE for Wayfarer Unlimited Members
More info: https://loom.ly/Ib_NkuY
We're so excited to be part of this special trivia night at the Hideout, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Sneak Previews, the legendary TV show that paired newspaper critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert to talk (and argue) about the movies. October 15, 7:30pm! https://loom.ly/IjsJPVQ
October 6, 2025 at 3:04 PM
We're so excited to be part of this special trivia night at the Hideout, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Sneak Previews, the legendary TV show that paired newspaper critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert to talk (and argue) about the movies. October 15, 7:30pm! https://loom.ly/IjsJPVQ
Throughout Media Burn’s recordings of performance art, few performers stand out as much as the untouchable Gurlene and Gurlette Hussey (Randy Esslinger and Doug Stapleton). Their drag is, in Gurlene’s words, 'Hairy, horny, tattooed, shameless, saucy, mischievous.” Read more: https://loom.ly/g40Hb1I
August 22, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Throughout Media Burn’s recordings of performance art, few performers stand out as much as the untouchable Gurlene and Gurlette Hussey (Randy Esslinger and Doug Stapleton). Their drag is, in Gurlene’s words, 'Hairy, horny, tattooed, shameless, saucy, mischievous.” Read more: https://loom.ly/g40Hb1I
RIP Ryno
Ryne Sandberg on what makes Wrigley Field so great
YouTube video by Media Burn Archive
www.youtube.com
July 30, 2025 at 9:05 PM
RIP Ryno
Last week, CBS announced that it would be canceling The Late Show, the ratings leader by a large margin. Its host, Stephen Colbert, had used his platform to criticize CBS’s “big fat bribe.”
Like so many other famous Chicagoans, Colbert shows up in Media Burn’s archive: https://loom.ly/WjJM5oY
Like so many other famous Chicagoans, Colbert shows up in Media Burn’s archive: https://loom.ly/WjJM5oY
Stephen Colbert in the Media Burn archive - Media Burn Archive
Stephen Colbert has been on TV since the 1990s, when he, Amy Sedaris, and Paul Dinello showed up on Comedy Central with the sketch show Exit 57 and the revered skewering of...
mediaburn.org
July 23, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Last week, CBS announced that it would be canceling The Late Show, the ratings leader by a large margin. Its host, Stephen Colbert, had used his platform to criticize CBS’s “big fat bribe.”
Like so many other famous Chicagoans, Colbert shows up in Media Burn’s archive: https://loom.ly/WjJM5oY
Like so many other famous Chicagoans, Colbert shows up in Media Burn’s archive: https://loom.ly/WjJM5oY
Last month we lost P. Adams Sitney, unquestionably the most important and influential scholar of avant-garde film.
Here is a remarkable interview with him, recorded in 1974 just after the publication of "Visionary Film," on what makes avant-garde films unique.
Here is a remarkable interview with him, recorded in 1974 just after the publication of "Visionary Film," on what makes avant-garde films unique.
P. Adams Sitney on the avant-garde cinema and poetry in film, 1974
YouTube video by Media Burn Archive
www.youtube.com
July 7, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Last month we lost P. Adams Sitney, unquestionably the most important and influential scholar of avant-garde film.
Here is a remarkable interview with him, recorded in 1974 just after the publication of "Visionary Film," on what makes avant-garde films unique.
Here is a remarkable interview with him, recorded in 1974 just after the publication of "Visionary Film," on what makes avant-garde films unique.
ACT UP Goes Shopping!
Judith Binder follows ACT UP activists to the Sherman Oaks Galleria, where they pass out pamphlets about safe sex and HIV/AIDS, and condoms, until security kicks them out.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UteQ...
Judith Binder follows ACT UP activists to the Sherman Oaks Galleria, where they pass out pamphlets about safe sex and HIV/AIDS, and condoms, until security kicks them out.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UteQ...
Act Up Goes Shopping
YouTube video by Media Burn Archive
www.youtube.com
July 1, 2025 at 7:41 PM
ACT UP Goes Shopping!
Judith Binder follows ACT UP activists to the Sherman Oaks Galleria, where they pass out pamphlets about safe sex and HIV/AIDS, and condoms, until security kicks them out.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UteQ...
Judith Binder follows ACT UP activists to the Sherman Oaks Galleria, where they pass out pamphlets about safe sex and HIV/AIDS, and condoms, until security kicks them out.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UteQ...
Reposted by Media Burn Archive
While my grandfather suffered from being incarcerated without charges or evidence after Pearl Harbor, I hope to honor him by telling his story so that the courts will exercise their duty to check the Trump Administration’s overreach in their deportation zealotry.
Read this moving and infuriating blog post from Daniel Mayeda about the US government's shameful history of employing the Alien Enemies Act against immigrants and minorities, including his own family.
The Incarceration of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor and the Alien Enemies Act - Media Burn Archive
Shortly after the Pearl Harbor attacks, the United States Government invoked the Alien Enemies Act to justify the imprisonment of thousands of American immigrants of Japanese descent. Later, under a.....
mediaburn.org
June 30, 2025 at 10:55 PM
While my grandfather suffered from being incarcerated without charges or evidence after Pearl Harbor, I hope to honor him by telling his story so that the courts will exercise their duty to check the Trump Administration’s overreach in their deportation zealotry.
Read this moving and infuriating blog post from Daniel Mayeda about the US government's shameful history of employing the Alien Enemies Act against immigrants and minorities, including his own family.
The Incarceration of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor and the Alien Enemies Act - Media Burn Archive
Shortly after the Pearl Harbor attacks, the United States Government invoked the Alien Enemies Act to justify the imprisonment of thousands of American immigrants of Japanese descent. Later, under a.....
mediaburn.org
June 30, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Read this moving and infuriating blog post from Daniel Mayeda about the US government's shameful history of employing the Alien Enemies Act against immigrants and minorities, including his own family.
“People stop me on the street and say, ‘Jesus Christ, I read your book, Working, and I’ll never talk to a telephone operator that same way. I’ll never treat a waitress the same way, or look at a truck driver the same way. You’ve changed the way I think.’”--Studs Terkel. More: https://loom.ly/5b2_nhY
June 11, 2025 at 7:20 PM
“People stop me on the street and say, ‘Jesus Christ, I read your book, Working, and I’ll never talk to a telephone operator that same way. I’ll never treat a waitress the same way, or look at a truck driver the same way. You’ve changed the way I think.’”--Studs Terkel. More: https://loom.ly/5b2_nhY
An amazing early 1970s sketch from Second City, starring Joe Flaherty as William F. Buckley and John Belushi as Truman Capote. Shot by Anda Korsts.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwD4...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwD4...
Vintage Second City sketch featuring Joe Flaherty and John Belushi
YouTube video by MediaBurnArchive
www.youtube.com
June 9, 2025 at 2:19 PM
An amazing early 1970s sketch from Second City, starring Joe Flaherty as William F. Buckley and John Belushi as Truman Capote. Shot by Anda Korsts.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwD4...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwD4...
The day is finally here! We are launching the brand new mediaburn.org, which will make it easier for you to find new videos and learn about this history of independent media production.
Please take a look and let us know what you think! We welcome your input and your eagle eye.
Please take a look and let us know what you think! We welcome your input and your eagle eye.
June 3, 2025 at 6:23 PM
The day is finally here! We are launching the brand new mediaburn.org, which will make it easier for you to find new videos and learn about this history of independent media production.
Please take a look and let us know what you think! We welcome your input and your eagle eye.
Please take a look and let us know what you think! We welcome your input and your eagle eye.
Reposted by Media Burn Archive
RIP George Wendt
2 + 1 - Media Burn Archive
Sitcom pilot starring Mary Gross, Tim Kazurinsky, and George Wendt. Gross and Wendt are a couple, and Kazurinsky is staying with them after a divorce. The plot revolves around it being Wendt's 30th bi...
mediaburn.org
May 20, 2025 at 8:35 PM
RIP George Wendt
We're pleased to be co-presenting a screening in partnership with The West Ridge Artists Group and FORA (Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America) of videos produced by activist filmmaker Mirko Popadic. At FORA, 6435 N California in Chicago's West Ridge neighborhood.
May 15, 2025 at 6:15 PM
We're pleased to be co-presenting a screening in partnership with The West Ridge Artists Group and FORA (Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America) of videos produced by activist filmmaker Mirko Popadic. At FORA, 6435 N California in Chicago's West Ridge neighborhood.
Reposted by Media Burn Archive
RIP Michael Miner. Chicago was so much richer and more interesting thanks to him.
Journalist and editor Michael Miner on why the Chicago Reader is important
YouTube video by MediaBurnArchive
www.youtube.com
May 4, 2025 at 1:21 PM
RIP Michael Miner. Chicago was so much richer and more interesting thanks to him.
RIP Michael Miner. Chicago was so much richer and more interesting thanks to him.
Journalist and editor Michael Miner on why the Chicago Reader is important
YouTube video by MediaBurnArchive
www.youtube.com
May 4, 2025 at 1:21 PM
RIP Michael Miner. Chicago was so much richer and more interesting thanks to him.
Reposted by Media Burn Archive
Happy May Day from Studs Terkel, via @mediaburn.bsky.social
Studs on May Day: "These four guys were hanged for you!" - Media Burn Archive
May Day likely originated as a pagan celebration of spring, but it’s probably better known today as International Workers’ Day. Although not officially recognized by the US government, which favors a ...
mediaburn.org
May 1, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Happy May Day from Studs Terkel, via @mediaburn.bsky.social