The Rhode Island School of Design welcomed back class of 1974 alums Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz for a screening of “Stop Making Sense,” a concert film for their band Talking Heads. The film was first released in 1984 following the group’s tour for their 1983 album “Speaking in Tongues.”
The screening was presented by RISD’s Fleet Library in association with the Brown Arts Institute and A24. Held at the Martinos Auditorium in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, the screening was followed by a Q&A, moderated by Daniel Cavicchi PhD’96, a professor of history at RISD.
Frantz and Weymouth first met in 1972 at RISD where they were also introduced to fellow student David Byrne — later the lead singer of Talking Heads. While Frantz and Byrne performed together in a band called the Artistics, Byrne soon dropped out of RISD and moved away from Providence.
After completing their RISD degrees, Frantz and Weymouth moved to New York City where they reunited with Byrne. The trio — Frantz on drums, Weymouth on bass and Byrne on guitar and vocals — adopted the name Talking Heads. They later recruited Jerry Harrison to play the keyboard. Frantz and Weymouth eventually married in 1977.
The film was shot over three nights of concert performances. Weymouth said during the Q&A that the goal was for the camera to act as a “really sensitive eye.” After debuting in 1984, the film was re-released in theatres in 4K in 2023.
The film was shot with the goal of immersing the audience in a concert, allowing the viewer to feel as if they were watching the band live.
Courtesy of Thad Russell via RISD
The film was shot with the goal of immersing the audience in a concert, allowing the viewer to feel as if they were watching the band live. Filled with powerful vocals and all the band’s biggest hits, it has stood the test of time as “one of the greatest concert films of all times,” RISD President Crystal Williams said when introducing the film.
Following the screening, Weymouth and Frantz shared stories from their time at RISD and gave the audience a look into the original formation of the band. Frantz said that his goal was to create a rock and roll band that was “a little bit off kilter, a little bit weird and a little bit unusual.”
Weymouth got involved with the band later, originally playing folk guitar and flute, not bass. She recalled living in a small loft in New York and going to CBGB, a popular New York music club where the band performed in their early days.
Each night of the filmed tour for “Speaking in Tongues” was a “joyful, loving experience,” Weymouth said. Throughout the tour, the band was joined by singers Lynn Mabry and Ednah Holt, guitarist Alex Weir, Bernie Worrell on the keys and percussionist Steve Scales.
Along with concerts, the band released music videos that were often aired on MTV. The most famous were “Burning Down the House,” “Once in a Lifetime” and “This Must Be the Place.”
“Our songs were so perfect for visual artists to make little short films to, because they didn’t have a story,” Weymouth joked.
Frantz and Weymouth also shared that the band valued owning all of their own work, including financing their videos themselves. This was one of the reasons why making the film was “daunting,” Weymouth said, as the band had no guarantees they weren’t going to lose money from its production.
Frantz hoped “people understand the amount of joy the band was experiencing on stage.” Weymouth added that she felt like the concert was a collaboration of “shared love,” which is the legacy the band hopes to leave.
Editor's Note: This article was updated to include the Brown class year of Daniel Cavicchi PhD’96.
