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| By Rennie Ellis, via |
Jun 30, 2011
Jun 29, 2011
NYNS - Old farts preaching poetry
Originally posted at The New York Nobody Sings: Rifts, and a general love/hate vibe, between the New York & London sectors of the early punk scene have existed for years. The influence of the New York Dolls, as well as the first Ramones album, on London can't be underestimated. However, a certain member of the Dolls, along with his merry band of Heartbreakers and a certain groupie that followed them over to London from NYC, was blamed for the introduction of heroin to the London punk scene - specifically to Johnny Rotten's best friend, John "Sid Vicious" Ritchie.
As you'll notice at the start of the clip below, Rotten, calls out the entire early NYC punk scene as "old farts preaching poetry." With references to Max's Kansas City, "Pills" (by Bo Diddley recorded by the Dolls), and "Looking For A Kiss" (a Dolls original) in "New York," an angry Johnny Rotten can be articulate, quite funny, and poetic himself.
Think it is well playing Max's Kansas
You're looking bored
And you're acting flash
With nothing in your gut
You better keep yer mouth shut
You better keep yer mouth shut
In a rut
As you'll notice at the start of the clip below, Rotten, calls out the entire early NYC punk scene as "old farts preaching poetry." With references to Max's Kansas City, "Pills" (by Bo Diddley recorded by the Dolls), and "Looking For A Kiss" (a Dolls original) in "New York," an angry Johnny Rotten can be articulate, quite funny, and poetic himself.
Think it is well playing Max's Kansas
You're looking bored
And you're acting flash
With nothing in your gut
You better keep yer mouth shut
You better keep yer mouth shut
In a rut
Jun 28, 2011
Laura Levine: Musicians - photography exhibit opens in July
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| Alan Vega, 1983 |
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| Glenn Branca, 1981 |
"Laura Levine's photos are as vividly alive as the music of her subjects. Sometimes when you catch them out of the corner of your eye you'd swear they actually move." - Luc Sante
Steven Kasher Gallery is pleased to present Laura Levine: Musicians, an insider’s look at the artists at the forefront of rock, punk, indie rock, post-punk, hip-hop, New Wave, and No Wave. This is the first one-person gallery exhibition featuring Levine’s photography, including her vintage gelatin silver prints - many one of a kind. The show will feature over 35 vintage and modern prints.
Laura Levine: Musicians is being presented at Steven Kasher Gallery in conjunction with our exhibition Rude and Reckless: Punk/Post-Punk Graphics, 1976-82, the first New York exhibition surveying the extraordinary diversity of punk and post-punk graphic design.
Levine is highly esteemed as a photographer and documentarian of the downtown NYC, London and Los Angeles music scene in the 1980s and early 90s. Her portraits of such seminal figures as Bjork, R.E.M., the Clash, Afrika Bambaataa, Tina Weymouth, DNA, the Ramones, Beastie Boys, Iggy Pop, Chrissie Hynde, Joan Jett, Madonna, and many others are valued for their unpretentious intimacy and emotional power.
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| Exene & John Doe (X), 1982 |
Levine was the Chief Photographer and Photo Editor of the important underground paper New York Rocker. She published frequently in the Village Voice, Sounds, Rolling Stone, Spin, the New York Times, Trouser Press, and Creem. She worked for numerous record labels. Levine enjoyed wide access to musical greats, many of whom became close friends.
During the 1980s Levine was active in the downtown NYC gallery scene, showing frequently at East Village galleries such as the Fun Gallery and Bridgewater Gallery. More recently, Levine’s work was shown at Museum of Modern Art, where ten photographs were showcased in the exhibition Looking at Music 3.0. Other recent shows include Vivienne Westwood 1980-1989 at The Museum at FIT, and Backstage Pass: Rock and Roll Photography at the Portland Museum of Art. Her work is part of a current traveling exhibition Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present, originating at the Brooklyn Museum.
Levine’s photographs are in the collections of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Jerome de Noirmont, Michael Zilkha and many more.
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| Johnny Feedback (Kraut), 1982 |
Laura Levine: Musicians will be on view from July 21st through August 19th, 2011. Steven Kasher Gallery is located at 521 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 10011. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm.
Jun 26, 2011
Jun 25, 2011
Rolling Stones in Montreal 1965
Here's an excellent 2 part TV interview with the Stones in Montreal 1965.
Jun 24, 2011
Rockin' like its 1982 - The Individuals, Raybeats & Yo La Tengo at Maxwells 6/29
My band from the early 80s the Individuals will be playing a benefit for our friend Danny Amis at Maxwells on June 29. We will be rocking it like it's 1982 (isn't that the year Prince wrote "1999"?) along with Danny's old band the Raybeats (their first re-union), Tall Lonesome Pines, Purple Knif, the Schramms and Ira and Georgia from Yo La Tengo. Here's a couple of picks to check out:
http://nymag.com/listings/nightlife/a-benefit-for-danny-amis/
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2011/06/danny_amis_reco.html
Killing Joke documentary coming...
Hat tip to Louder Than War. "Teaser trailer for the upcoming music documentary feature film from New Zealand's ILC Productions, Jaz Coleman and British independent Coffee Films. Following Czech journalist Jana Trzilova's investigation into the turbulent musical history of the band that influenced Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Soundgarden, Korn, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Faith No More, The Cult and many more. Jana follows the trail of Killing Joke and charismatic frontman Jaz Coleman from Czechoslavakia to Iona and on to Glastonbury Tor, Egypt, Iceland, the Nazca Lines in Peru and New Zealand. Discovering a web of mysticism, numerology, white heat experiments, a recording session in the heart of the Great Pyramid, occult rituals and prophecy she discovers more than she ever imagined; coming soon."
Jun 21, 2011
Edwyn Collins on Daytrotter
Our man Edwyn Collins has a recent session with the folks at Daytrotter available for listening & downloading. The five tracks include Falling & Laughing, A Girl Like You, Losing Sleep, What Is My Role?, and What Presence!? Check it out here.
Jun 19, 2011
Before We Went Madchester...
Manchester, home of Coronation Street and Manchester United. Home of Morrissey and me, too. It's been a while since I lived there. Today, I decided to look back on my youth in the Rainy City. You should be warned; I have a gnarliness when it comes to things Mancunian, or 70s, or 80s. Or pretty much anything, to be honest. A healthy misanthropic bent never hurt anyone, surely...well, maybe a few people, maybe even a lot of people, but that's not the point. The world has changed a lot since the Peterloo Massacre, or even the Factory Nights at the Russell Club. The way we not only experience life, but indeed the way we package and present it as well. "Life" isn't a marketing metaphor here; I'm not talking about McFood containers, I'm talking about the language and media we use to express ad invent ourselves. When people today discuss music and its place in culture I marvel at how self-conscious we've become. By "recently" I probably mean "in the past ten years". Somewhere between the advent of the Web and the current debilitating social network epidemic, youth credibility became homogenized. Not so, back in the '70s. As an eleven year old, I was hooked on the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and The Stranglers. Today's kids want to find tickets to the Big 4 Tour, or - Lord help us - go to the Lollapalooza festival.
A "festival" back in the '80s often consisted of a few dozen flea-bitten pseudo-hippies hopped up on Paisley Underground music and something naughty but nice, and a few rain-lashed tents. Kids today wouldn't be able to live with that. I blame technology and soft parenting, but who knows, maybe the latest crop of young geeks will prove to be a bridge to another Punk era. If they do, let's hope their landmarks are as interesting as ours were. We took our world for granted, but it must have been more interesting than we realised. When mundane places we frequented twenty-five years ago are now pictured on t-shirts, thanks to "iconic" images like Salford Lads Club, you have to ask yourself what kind of behind-the-scenes promo went into it? Who was the first person to market those images? Tony Wilson? LS Lowry?
The Smiths never actually went to Salford Lads Club (as I'm sure you know), so the whole thing is based on an arranged photo. The story is that the Smiths would never have dared attend a rough inner-city youth club such as that, but today's hipsters wouldn't either, so perhaps it's become symbolic of that. The Hacienda is now a block of flats called (funnily enough) The Hacienda. What an amazing coincidence. The owners of the flats have licenced the club's name from Peter Hook, who owns the trademark. I well remember going into the Hac in 1983, when art student poseurs still ruled the place, before the bad boys took over. It was all long trenchcoats, weird boots and Flock of Seagulls haircuts. The line outside at half-seven on a Saturday night (if there even was a line), full of hand-wringing angst-riddled men with eye-liner on or a trilby with a blue feather in, was radically different from the masses who flocked there a few years later.In the early-80s, Lou Reed wasn't played on the radio. The Doors and Jimi Hendrix were considered underground, even by cool people. We gratefully discovered California's Paisley Underground scene and Robyn Hitchcock. The harmonies and psychedelic terror of the Rain Parade and Naked Prey sent us silly in innumerable flats around my neighbourhood. When the Stone Roses did eventually appear it was old hat to us. Paisley Underground had nourished us for several years by then. It saved our lives; anything was better than the mainstream crap they were into in 1984: Paul McCartney concerts, U2's latest tours and tickets to see Def Leppard. Amazingly, all three of those abominations are still touring in 2011. It's probably further proof that even the dross from those innocent times are as good as anything the young 'uns of today can put out. Shocking.
Ian Hough, a native of Manchester, was transplanted to the USA in 1993. He continues to dwell on his hometown, but denies missing the place. He is a liar. His two books, Perry Boys
, and Perry Boys Abroad
, have been critically acclaimed and won the adoration of Manchester’s musicians and soccer hooligans alike. Hough remains interested (some would say obsessed) with society’s underbelly, especially the parts that have been misreported or never discovered at all by the media. He seeks to put this to rights. Described by Irvine Welsh as “our sharpest cultural commentator,” he can be found online at The Nameless Thing, where you can buy his books and read some of his rantings.
Clarence Clemons RIP
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| photo by Karen Kuehn |
Clarence Clemons - RIP
It took me a very long time to appreciate Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. Being the good contrarian, when I was a youngster I could never appreciate it for what it was without all of baggage & peripheral stuff clogging up the old enjoyment factor. A few things started to change that over time:
2. Everything But the Girl covering "Tougher Than The Rest"
3. And finally, actually seeing Springsteen and company at the Meadowlands when they got back together in the late 90's. I treated my friend Russ (always a champion of Bruce) as an apology of sorts for infractions long since forgotten.
Its #3 there that's maybe the most important part of this small part of my musical history. It was there that I learned how important Clarence Clemons was to the E Street Band, and how he was probably the fan favorite. It was strange seeing & hearing them play...I knew so many of the songs note for note, like you do classic rock songs from albums that you never actually owned, because you heard them on the radio so often. For some reason, every time Clarence stepped up and started playing his parts & solos, I was surprised. This guy wasn't just a saxophone player - he was an integral part of the band. Arguably as important as Springsteen himself. He also had a sound as identifiable, if not the skills, of a Coltrane or Parker. Of course any Springsteen fan might tell you this, but I needed to figure it out for myself. And I at that moment did.
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| Born To Run photos by Eric Meola |
Jun 18, 2011
Stupefaction Tech Report - Music Apps & Turntable.fm
Every once in a while I come across apps that I really dig, or think I should mention, and I never seem to get around to it. Well that stops today! Below are a couple I'd like to mention plus a website I was recently turned on to.
The first app, I helped out in the production of. It was put together for the recently released (and first for a very long time) new album from Gavin Friday, catholic
. Not all that different from apps I've seen for many of my favorite radio stations (WBGO, WFMU) or musical outfits (Echo & the Bunnymen, Daptone Records). It's free and you never know...there might be a time when you need it! Check it out here.
The second one was brought to my attention via the ever excellent ModCulture website, and is called The 45 Fix (info here). Currently only available (or useful) for UK record nuts, its basically an record store app. According to ModCulture, many second hand shops are currently not listed, but that will change over time. I hope the developers of this one can get it together for the States. What an amazingly useful idea!
Lastly, we have turntable.fm, proving that many times the best ideas are obvious & simple. Turntable.fm combines two old ideas into one new, and quite fun one - playing music with friends & chatting about it. Basically, there are virtual rooms which are user created. Each room can have up to 5 DJ's, along with unlimited listeners, and each DJ takes a turn playing a song. And everyone can chat...it's quite addictive, and a great way to listen to music...I'm sure the RIAA & music publishers will find some way to fuck these folks over, but I hope not. Anyway, have a go while you can. Its a blast!
The first app, I helped out in the production of. It was put together for the recently released (and first for a very long time) new album from Gavin Friday, catholic
. Not all that different from apps I've seen for many of my favorite radio stations (WBGO, WFMU) or musical outfits (Echo & the Bunnymen, Daptone Records). It's free and you never know...there might be a time when you need it! Check it out here.
The second one was brought to my attention via the ever excellent ModCulture website, and is called The 45 Fix (info here). Currently only available (or useful) for UK record nuts, its basically an record store app. According to ModCulture, many second hand shops are currently not listed, but that will change over time. I hope the developers of this one can get it together for the States. What an amazingly useful idea!
Lastly, we have turntable.fm, proving that many times the best ideas are obvious & simple. Turntable.fm combines two old ideas into one new, and quite fun one - playing music with friends & chatting about it. Basically, there are virtual rooms which are user created. Each room can have up to 5 DJ's, along with unlimited listeners, and each DJ takes a turn playing a song. And everyone can chat...it's quite addictive, and a great way to listen to music...I'm sure the RIAA & music publishers will find some way to fuck these folks over, but I hope not. Anyway, have a go while you can. Its a blast!
Jun 17, 2011
NYNS - Hello Michael Des Barres
Previously on the New York York Nobody Sings: Future actor Michael Des Barres squawks about that oh-so-seventies rock subject, life on the road, on "Hello New York," the opening track from Silverhead's second album, 16 and Savaged. The short lived glam-ish, hard rock band also included future Blondie bassist, Nigel Harrison.
Have you done the Left Side Rock yet?
or here. Damn, its a fucking great record! Hopefully there will be a video soon for lead song, "Left Side Rock." Until then, here are a couple of more tracks to start off the weekend...Strange Attractor by Brian Olive
You Can't Hide It by Brian Olive
Here are the latest tour dates (with more to come):July 23 Newport, KY The Southgate House (Record Release Party)
August 6 Cleveland, OH Open Air Market Square
August 6 Cleveland, OH The Happy Dog
August 10 Cambridge, MA T.T. The Bears
Blank City DVD giveaway at the Vinyl District
If you live in the Washington DC area:
To celebrate a screening there of the wonderful Blank City, our friends at The Vinyl District are giving away a pair of tickets, as well as a cool poster signed by a bunch of folks in the movie...very nice! Visit the Vinyl District for more info.
Jun 16, 2011
Jun 14, 2011
Jun 13, 2011
Watch the Closing Doors: Kris Needs remembers living in NYC
. All lovingly compiled & notated by UK music writing great Kris Needs, volume one will cover the years 1945-1959. I had mentioned in the initial post that Kris & I had worked together at Bleecker Bobs Records on West 3rd Street for a couple of years in the mid 80's. As a special exclusive to Stupefaction, Kris was kind enough to put together this list of his top memories of living here at the time. And wouldn't you know? It was exactly like this! BIG THANKS to Kris for the contribution! For more info on these releases visit the Year Zero/Future Noise website.10 NEW YORK MOMENTS FROM THE 80s by Kris Needs
2. Walking into CBGBs for the first time, thinking, ‘Is this where it all happened?’, then watching amazing sets by Certain General and the Band Of Outsiders [two criminally overlooked downtown bands]. A few weeks later the two bands joined forces to form the Dead Rabbit Gang and I ended up singing with them on that hallowed stage. Both groups became friends, helping me immeasurably while I was there, so I returned the favour by bringing them to the UK [and will be featuring them on future WTCD sets]. Seeing Suicide there a few years later remains one of the greatest gigs I’ve ever witnessed; the perfect soundtrack to the city, which had not yet been sand-blasted by gentrification.
4. My first foray down the subway, at Union Square station. There was a distant rumble in the tunnel before the number six train came roaring in, screeching and sparking, covered top to bottom in full car graffiti. From then on, I rode the subway just to look at this mobile art gallery, met some writers and started doing it myself [hence the sleeve art on my compilation!].
6. It was always good to catch up with friends in visiting UK bands, seeing how they went down in NYC and often writing about them for Creem. These included Big Audio Dynamite, the Cult, Billy Idol, Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction. When I first lived in the city I was hanging out with Rick Rubin a lot and he nearly signed the last bunch to Def Jam!
7. Hearing New York radio for the first time. To me, the city wasn’t just about great bands and venues, it was the whole experience, sound-tracked by the incredible 24 hour black music radio stations; KISS FM, WBLS and KTU and their astonishing master-mixes. Tapes of these stations were like gold dust back in London, so Ruth found it highly amusing when I made straight for the radio, plonked a cassette in her sound system and recorded relentlessly. First thing I caught was a master-mix of Grandmaster Flash’s ‘White Lines’ and Liquid liquid’s ‘Cavern’. I was just sitting there with my mouth hanging open, listening to the future. Then I decorated the cassettes with paint markers to look like subway cars. I was in rather deep!
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