Sonicsgate Documentary Gets an Assist from Shawn Kemp

Today, an updated version of the grassroots documentary Sonicsgate was to have re-aired on CNBC, but thanks to Facebook’s IPO being hot news, they’ve been bumped for later. The filmmakers are not taking this lying down, though: You can still watch Sonicsgate: Requiem for a Team at the previously announced time, online.

UPDATE: No, you can’t. Just got word that the Sonicsgaters would like take-backsies on that news release. They can’t offer the new version online. But you can still watch the ’09 Director’s Cut, below.

The new 2012 version of the film will be free for 24 hours starting at 5:00 p.m.(PDT) on Monday, May 14. If you follow the Sonicsgate Twitter feed, they’ll let you know when it’s live. Besides new archival footage, director Jason Reid has scored new interviews with Sonics forward Shawn Kemp, and Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament.

The rebroadcast was to follow its national broadcast premiere on April 27 (repeated on April 29). Apparently it was popular enough for CNBC to bring it back for a third time, to the likely chagrin of former Sonics owner Howard Schultz.

Ironically, given producer Adam Brown’s ejection from Howard Schultz book-signing at Costco in 2011, director Reid is joining Reign Man Kemp for a DVD signing at the SoDo Costco from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. this Thursday, May 17. It looks like you need to be a Costco member to get in, in which case you already know the address: 4401 4th Avenue South. (This is your chance to get some of your own back, Howard!)

Why Costco? Because they are carrying the new Sonicsgate on DVD, at 12 warehouse locations in the Seattle, Portland, and Sacramento markets. (Around Seattle, besides the SoDo location, your Costco-purchase options are Aurora Village, Issaquah, Kirkland, Woodinville, South Center, and Covington.) Why Kemp? Well, he’s also got a new restaurant, Oskar’s Kitchen on Lower Queen Anne, to promote.

If you can’t wait until 5 p.m., tide yourself over with this 2009 director’s cut: