Lights, camera, action. Benny-TV is rolling.
This innovative, "Lonely Planet of the dance world" is unashamedly named after its host/creator, but it’s all about capturing the essence and culture of nightlife. It’s about the music, the artists that create it, the voices that sing, the people who dance and the places it’s heard.
"Music is a vibration. What I’m after is what makes people motivated, happy, what makes them dance," explains Benny Bach. "And in Whistler, that’s only what you see with your eyes. You can see even more when you use more than your eyes, more so in Whistler than any other place I’ve been in the world. I’ve danced on the beaches of southern seas and on volcanoes and mountains. I keep coming back to Whistler because it’s my home but also because I think it’s the biggest source for that greater vibration in the music."
Bach’s vision is to bring all that is interesting about the resort after dark to the rest of the world. As he explains it, Whistler is an eclectic group of people with big personalities who have the freedom to reinvent themselves as they choose. This positive energy is drawn together each night by the universal language of music.
And of course, this phenomenon isn’t unique to Whistler. Bach hopes this will be a pilot for an ongoing project that explores dance clubs around the world.
"The first episode is going to be shot in Whistler, but over the next six months I hope to travel around the world and shoot about six episodes and then return to Whistler for a follow up in about January and show what we do now that the snow has fallen. I’m hoping that I can take this first episode though and show investors and syndicate television networks and hopefully be able to get this up to world syndication. I’m thinking bigger than just Whistler or Canada. There’s also the possibility of a Web page and broadcasting on the internet," he enthuses.
Bach is no stranger to the world of film and television. He works steadily in the Vancouver film industry as a motion picture playback co-ordinator, acting as a technical right hand man to such directors as John Frankenheimer and Dave Cass Sr. Recognizable faces in front of his cameras include Ben Afleck, Burt Reynolds, David Arquette, Luke Perry and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But perhaps Bach’s biggest claim to fame is as a tasty treat for a giant dinosaur.
"I’m the snowboarder who got eaten by Godzilla for the Kokanee commercial during the Olympics," he laughs.
Whistlerites already seem keen on Benny-TV. Response to Bach’s proposals by management at various establishments around the resort was instantly positive.
"I went to a few promoters around town to see who they had coming in to spin in one week. Those who didn’t have anyone specific planned, I asked if I could pack them up for a night. For example, I’ve got DJ Jeffree coming into Tommy’s on the Friday night. So what I’ve done is taken some major action that would’ve happened in maybe a month, and packed it into four days. Originally the idea was to do it all in one night, but I just couldn’t do that to Whistler.
"Then I walked around town and just asked other people ‘If I bring cameras in here, what’s your reaction going to be?’ Every single person said ‘bring your cameras to Whistler.’ So I took it a step further, without revealing too much of what I had planned, and asked Lee at the Brasserie, for example, ‘If I bring a camera in here, can you just talk to me. Could we just be friends or buddies with cameras over our shoulders?’ And they said ‘Fuck, yeah!’"
Shooting is scheduled for Aug. 20-24 starting with Jungle ’n Breaks night featuring 10 sui at Tommy Africa’s on Tuesday, Matt the Alien, Kilo C., Queen Bee and Spincat at Maxx Fish on Wednesday, DJs Milton and James Brown at the Savage Beagle on Thursday and the party wraps up at a secret location on Friday, so be on the lookout for the cameras. These will be regular club nights, open to anyone who shows up at the door. So if you’ve got excessive energy and an irrepressible aura, get there early to insure you’re part of the action.
"I don’t expect to make a million on this," concludes Bach. "This is just a dream I had, and no matter what, I’m not going to bury it. If no one buys it, then I’ll print off a hundred thousand copies and give them to Whistler and say ‘Thanks for the best time I ever had!’"
