Chris Montez & Brian Wilson’s 50-year reunion: A clip from Burt Kearns’ Montez documentary is his latest exclusive on PleaseKillMe.com

A piece of rock ’n' roll history has been revealed this week, as music legends Brian Wilson and Chris Montez talk about their days at Hawthorne High in their first meeting in fifty years!

The story and video come from Burt Kearns, who's been better known for his documentary and television work the past two decades, but who recently has been exhibiting his writing chops on PleaseKillMe.com, his old pal Legs McNeil’s literary and pop culture website (in March, Burt and Jeff Abraham cooked up a much-lauded piece on sixties comedy album star and sexual revolutionary Rusty Warren).

The reunion took place during the filming of El Viaje Musicial de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story, the documentary that has shown up in a “preview form” at film festivals around the country.  The story on PleaseKillMe.com tells the story of the still-in-progress film work, what led to the reunion -- and even includes a cameo from Gary Busey.

Most impressive however, is the reunion film clip.

You can click here to see it on the Please Kill Me site.

(By the way,  'Please Kill Me’ is the name of the punk oral history written by Legs and Gillian McCain, which was recently released in a 20th anniversary edition and has been recognized and awarded as a modern literary classic.

Brian Wilson (second from left) onstage at Hawthorne High

Chris Montez returns to Hawthorne High with a film crew

Chris Montez movie-in-the-making gets a sneak preview August 15th at the Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans

Lucky participants at the Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans are about to become a very select film audience on the morning of Saturday, August 15th, when they get the first sneak preview of El Viaje Musical de Ezekiel Montanez: The Chris Montez Story.

And of course, it's a got a Beatles twist.

Tommy Roe and Chris Montez, who headlined a UK tour in 1963.
The Beatles were their opening act.

We've been hearing about the Chris Montez film bio project since last summer, when it was announced by our pals at Frozen Pictures. While the guys have spent the past twelve months running their Neil Innes biopic, The Seventh Python, through film festivals and special screenings around the country and the world, they've also been shooting the definitive work about the influential and diverse rock and pop musician who went to school with the Beach Boys, launched the lounge movement, and is hailed as the successor to the first Mexican-American rock star, Ritchie Valens.

Chris Montez at the site of the Wilson brothers' childhood home
(a California Registered Historical Landmark),
where he'd jam with the future Beach Boys

We caught up with them earlier this month at the Grammy Museum, where Chris was participating in a tribute to Ritchie Valens, and their crew has been filming around Chris' hometown, Hawthorne, California.

In March 1963, Chris headlined a tour of England with Tommy Roe. The opening act was a group called The Beatles. That month will be the focus of the preview shown in the ballroom of The Hyatt Regency O'Hare on Saturday morning, August 15th.

"We're looking forward to the fans at the Beatles Fest," says director Burt Kearns. "We got a great reception when we screened The Seventh Python and now we're able to give a little back with some Beatles history. Chris' Beatles tour took place at the cusp of Beatlemania. Their first album was released midway through, the fans were wild-- the audience will be very surprised at the revelations."

"Including the truth about Chris' fist fight with John Lennon. It's been forty-seven years, and no one's gotten the story right until now," says producer Brett Hudson, who will also be performing at the Fest with Mark Hudson-- another third of The Hudson Brothers.

The Seventh Python-- the hit of last year's Chicago Beatles Fest-- won't be forgotten. The film is being screened at the world-renowned Comedy Shrine club in neighboring Naperville on Friday, August 14th.