Ship to Shore PhonoCo, 14 Record and the Tiny Tim Fan Club have just released the "lost" Tiny Tim July 4th Concert Film "One Man Parade" on DVD and Vimeo on Demand. The private concert film was recorded in Dallas, Texas on July 4th, 1994, and originally made available as a mail-order VHS release - which sold a mere 10 copies at the time.
Working with the best possible materials, this one-man patriotic party MC'd by the one and only Tiny Tim - or in this case, a jingoistic Uncle Tim - can now be enjoyed by Tiny Tim fans old and new. This DVD package also features original artwork and a new introduction by the video's curator Big Bucks Burnett, who also served as Tiny Tim's manager from 1984 to his passing and produced the Eternal Troubadour's final album, Girl. Says Big Bucks:
"In 1994, I had Tiny in Dallas for almost a whole week, and we did numerous, important creative projects. I think my favorite out of all the things we did that week; on July 3rd, I got an idea - knowing how patriotic Tiny was... I suggested to him that we could film playing at a private house party the evening of 4th... and he would do only patriotic songs. Well, he was very excited about that and said 'yes' immediately. So I called around and Paul and Tammy Gore in the Lakewood Area of Dallas said they would have Tiny perform at their July 4th party and he did and it turned out fantastic. I thought I knew what to expect. There was no discussion of which songs. No rehearsal. We just turned the camera on and what you're about to see is what came out. I was surprised that I hadn't heard about ninety percent of the songs, some of which were from the late 1800s, early 1920s. Even more enjoyable than the music for me - and he did a great job - he, as you'll see, would interrupt songs or before he would start a song, give what is today called a rant. Angry denouncements of... 'cowards who fled to Canada instead of serving their country in Vietnam.' He was quite angry about it and he told me at the time he repeatedly tried to enlist and got rejected for the course of several wars. Enjoy, Tiny was a great patriot, a great American, this is Tiny Tim: One Man Parade, filmed July 4th, 1994, in one live take!"
Tiny Tim was an ardent patriot. He was famously turned down when he tried to enlist in the US military to fight in the Korean War and in the late-50s was thrown out of a recruitment office for unironically telling an officer that he wanted to join the US Air Force to "go to the moon." Patriotic songs were staples of his live shows. At the height of his celebrity, he clashed with record executives at Reprise Records over his desire to release his covers of forgotten World War One songs at the height of public protest against the Vietnam War.
Sitting stoically in front of an old standup piano and an American flag, and aided by a few beers, Tiny Tim delivered a 45-minute, flag-waving oration. In this incredible video, originally made available on VHS via mail order to members of the Tiny Tim Can Club, Tiny Tim details his views on American politics, dishes on his attempts to join the Army, and performs a host of Patriotic numbers both beloved and obscure.
