A nice batch of jazz LP is going up on eBay right now with more to come...see what I have right here. Let me know if you have any questions.
May 31, 2011
Tower Records doc on Kickstarter
Here's an interesting project currently up on Kickstarter for funding - a documentary on Tower Records and its founder, Russ Solomon, entitled All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records. Check out the trailer below, and visit their Kickstarter page to donate.
May 30, 2011
Watch the Closing Doors: A History of New York's Musical Melting Pot
Somewhat quietly, UK label Future Noise Music has been amassing a catalog of excellent reissues, and smart compilations that put the proper perspective on different musical genres. A big part of their efforts has been long time music writer, music maker & scene shaper, Kris Needs. After putting together two excellent volumes of Dirty Water: The Birth of Punk Attitude
, with liner notes worthy of a book, Needs and Future Noise subsidiary Year Zero have recently announced the release of a massive undertaking beginning on June 20th - the release throughout this year of a five volume, double album series entitled Watch the Closing Doors: A History of New York's Musical Melting Pot. This is surely the soundtrack equivalent to Tony Fletcher's 2009 book, All Hopped Up & Ready To Go
, and then some!
Needs, who lived in NYC during the 1980's, will be hopefully be sending along some exclusive tidbits to Stupefaction in the near future to put a bit more focus on his perspective. We worked together at Bleecker Bobs for a couple of years, and we certainly had a time of it.
Here's everything you need to know for a start...
WATCH THE CLOSING DOORS
A HISTORY OF NEW YORK’S MUSICAL MELTING POT VOL. 1: 1945 – 1959
YEAR ZERO
RELEASED JUNE 20TH
Watch The Closing Doors: A History of New York’s Musical Melting Pot is a five volume, double CD series, by renowned journalist and author Kris Needs. This ambitious project is released throughout 2011 via Year Zero and it is aiming to capture the fast-vanishing magic of New York City while documenting major musical landmarks and developments, decade –by-decade from post-war New York of the mid 1940s through to 2000s.
The first volume focuses on the 1940s and 50s, setting the scene for a further five sets, straddling the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s, each accompanied by a book containing the relevant musical and social history, artist biographies, illustrations and Needs’ own stories and recollections of the city that once never slept. For some local perspective and occasional advice on inclusions, Needs is pestering names he has encountered during his 35 years as a writer, starting with Suicide’s Martin Rev. For the distinctive artwork, he is applying the graffiti techniques he picked up in New York in the early 80s.
The first volume includes jazz giants such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Cozy Cole, Horace Silver, Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk, Machito the Mambo king, the burgeoning activism-fired folk and blues movements represented by Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers, Harry Belafonte, Josh White, Dave Van Ronk, New Lost City Ramblers, Allen Ginsberg heading up the Beats, John Cage and Raymond Scott the avant garde and Cab Calloway the Cotton Club street-slicker, before Big Joe Turner ushers in the rock ‘n‘ roll revolution along with Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters and the Honeycones. Singing the blues are Danny ‘Run Joe’ Taylor, Sonny Terry and Big Maybelle. The singers which the city became renowned for are beautifully here in the spine-tingling soul forms of Nina Simone, Faye Adams and Billie Holiday, while the mighty cavalcade of vocal groups who, for many, define New York City, include the Paragons, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Five Satins and the Embers.
Explains Needs, who recently compiled and annotated two volumes of the highly-successful Dirty Water; The Birth Of Punk Attitude, ‘I first became fascinated with New York City in the 60s through Dylan’s early albums and Phil Spector’s girl group sound spearheaded by the Ronettes, further stoked by anarcho-poets the Fugs and wild side narratives of the Velvet Underground. The 70s saw Latin hot sauce, before the whole CBGBs-fostered punk invasion and the parallel disco explosion plus, it has to be said, gritty TV programmes like Kojak adding fuel to a burning desire to experience New York’s evident buzz for myself. The early 80s erupted in a post-disco boogie wonderland, which couldn’t help spilling into post-punk’s wildly-disparate innovations and the hiphop explosion.
I finally got to visit New York in the early 80s. It was every bit as exciting, dangerous and artistically volcanic as I’d hoped for, so I spent a lot of time there, living there for nearly five years in which I experienced every aspect, from cathartic gigs and clubs to jail and hospital. Even when I became a victim of the city’s mercilessly savage dark side in the late 80s, I still got the same buzz from traversing the streets, riding cabs and the subway, listening to the 24 hour radio stations and hitting the bars and clubs.
Over the last decade this has grown into a more scholarly obsession, investigating everything from the history of the subway to the bottomless well of music to be found in genres that I’ve only recently really began to appreciate, such as jazz. During the course of this foraging, it often occurred that, while there have been many sets documenting the city’s groundbreaking artists and seismic musical scenes, they usually focus on one particular genre, scene or era. There hasn’t really been a project which brings together all the different ingredients in New York City’s musical melting pot as they happened in parallel neighbourhoods since the war. The sets will aim to reflect the different forms of music which gestated in local scenes, often before exploding onto the world stage; jazz, folk, mambo, rock ‘n’ roll, soul, avant garde, psychedelia, electronic, punk, hiphop, disco, electro, house and post-punk’
Since time immemorial, those who visit New York for the first time have come back reporting similar epiphanies, whether that first senses-blasting glimpse of the skyline from a yellow cab, or the unique energy coursing through the teaming streets and whichever gigs and clubs selected from the multiple choices available every night of the week. This century has seen those feelings increasingly tempered with a realisation that the funky New York of legend and infamy is vanishing as Times Square turns into Disneyland and once no-go Lower East Side streets become safe to navigate through the next trendy bar or café. The Downtown spirit which fired up so much great music has been smothered by sky-high rents, Mayor Giuliani’s ‘zero tolerance’ crime blitz and closing of long-running venues such as CBGBs. August Darnell, one of New York’s most celebrated exports in his Kid Creole persona, says he cries when he goes back to the city where he grew up. “New York has changed so drastically. The thing that bothers me most is the melting pot aspect is gone. Manhattan has become an island for the very wealthy.”
One of the aims of the series is to document and celebrate this lost world before it totally disappears, give it some unity and due respect, while striving to explain why the New York of the last half of the 20th century was the most exciting place on Earth. The buildings and individuals might be disappearing, but that indefinable spirit which affected so many has thankfully been captured for posterity on countless records, standing like snapshots of a bygone age, the tip of a mighty iceberg which will be gathered on these albums like an old photo album.
Like the subway system is the lifeblood artery of the city, we will pinball through neighbourhoods and boroughs, musical trends and styles, accompanied by a bit of local background to conjure something of a backdrop as, quite often, the music was born out of the environment, whether positive or negative. There will also be the odd incident which may prompt the age-old sigh, ‘Only in New York’.
, with liner notes worthy of a book, Needs and Future Noise subsidiary Year Zero have recently announced the release of a massive undertaking beginning on June 20th - the release throughout this year of a five volume, double album series entitled Watch the Closing Doors: A History of New York's Musical Melting Pot. This is surely the soundtrack equivalent to Tony Fletcher's 2009 book, All Hopped Up & Ready To Go, and then some!Here's what Suicide's Martin Rev has to say about this series: "No doubt this is a major work of total uniqueness and scholarship. I'm sure it's the first and definitely only of such depth and breath of knowledge.
The booklet is a major document in itself, an important historical volume. The notes from these releases should be printed together as a separate entity in book form.
Absolute congratulations. It's a rare sensibility that would and could put something like this together."
Needs, who lived in NYC during the 1980's, will be hopefully be sending along some exclusive tidbits to Stupefaction in the near future to put a bit more focus on his perspective. We worked together at Bleecker Bobs for a couple of years, and we certainly had a time of it.
Here's everything you need to know for a start...
A HISTORY OF NEW YORK’S MUSICAL MELTING POT VOL. 1: 1945 – 1959
YEAR ZERO
RELEASED JUNE 20TH
Watch The Closing Doors: A History of New York’s Musical Melting Pot is a five volume, double CD series, by renowned journalist and author Kris Needs. This ambitious project is released throughout 2011 via Year Zero and it is aiming to capture the fast-vanishing magic of New York City while documenting major musical landmarks and developments, decade –by-decade from post-war New York of the mid 1940s through to 2000s.
The first volume focuses on the 1940s and 50s, setting the scene for a further five sets, straddling the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s, each accompanied by a book containing the relevant musical and social history, artist biographies, illustrations and Needs’ own stories and recollections of the city that once never slept. For some local perspective and occasional advice on inclusions, Needs is pestering names he has encountered during his 35 years as a writer, starting with Suicide’s Martin Rev. For the distinctive artwork, he is applying the graffiti techniques he picked up in New York in the early 80s.
The first volume includes jazz giants such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Cozy Cole, Horace Silver, Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk, Machito the Mambo king, the burgeoning activism-fired folk and blues movements represented by Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers, Harry Belafonte, Josh White, Dave Van Ronk, New Lost City Ramblers, Allen Ginsberg heading up the Beats, John Cage and Raymond Scott the avant garde and Cab Calloway the Cotton Club street-slicker, before Big Joe Turner ushers in the rock ‘n‘ roll revolution along with Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters and the Honeycones. Singing the blues are Danny ‘Run Joe’ Taylor, Sonny Terry and Big Maybelle. The singers which the city became renowned for are beautifully here in the spine-tingling soul forms of Nina Simone, Faye Adams and Billie Holiday, while the mighty cavalcade of vocal groups who, for many, define New York City, include the Paragons, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Five Satins and the Embers.
Explains Needs, who recently compiled and annotated two volumes of the highly-successful Dirty Water; The Birth Of Punk Attitude, ‘I first became fascinated with New York City in the 60s through Dylan’s early albums and Phil Spector’s girl group sound spearheaded by the Ronettes, further stoked by anarcho-poets the Fugs and wild side narratives of the Velvet Underground. The 70s saw Latin hot sauce, before the whole CBGBs-fostered punk invasion and the parallel disco explosion plus, it has to be said, gritty TV programmes like Kojak adding fuel to a burning desire to experience New York’s evident buzz for myself. The early 80s erupted in a post-disco boogie wonderland, which couldn’t help spilling into post-punk’s wildly-disparate innovations and the hiphop explosion.
I finally got to visit New York in the early 80s. It was every bit as exciting, dangerous and artistically volcanic as I’d hoped for, so I spent a lot of time there, living there for nearly five years in which I experienced every aspect, from cathartic gigs and clubs to jail and hospital. Even when I became a victim of the city’s mercilessly savage dark side in the late 80s, I still got the same buzz from traversing the streets, riding cabs and the subway, listening to the 24 hour radio stations and hitting the bars and clubs.
Over the last decade this has grown into a more scholarly obsession, investigating everything from the history of the subway to the bottomless well of music to be found in genres that I’ve only recently really began to appreciate, such as jazz. During the course of this foraging, it often occurred that, while there have been many sets documenting the city’s groundbreaking artists and seismic musical scenes, they usually focus on one particular genre, scene or era. There hasn’t really been a project which brings together all the different ingredients in New York City’s musical melting pot as they happened in parallel neighbourhoods since the war. The sets will aim to reflect the different forms of music which gestated in local scenes, often before exploding onto the world stage; jazz, folk, mambo, rock ‘n’ roll, soul, avant garde, psychedelia, electronic, punk, hiphop, disco, electro, house and post-punk’
Since time immemorial, those who visit New York for the first time have come back reporting similar epiphanies, whether that first senses-blasting glimpse of the skyline from a yellow cab, or the unique energy coursing through the teaming streets and whichever gigs and clubs selected from the multiple choices available every night of the week. This century has seen those feelings increasingly tempered with a realisation that the funky New York of legend and infamy is vanishing as Times Square turns into Disneyland and once no-go Lower East Side streets become safe to navigate through the next trendy bar or café. The Downtown spirit which fired up so much great music has been smothered by sky-high rents, Mayor Giuliani’s ‘zero tolerance’ crime blitz and closing of long-running venues such as CBGBs. August Darnell, one of New York’s most celebrated exports in his Kid Creole persona, says he cries when he goes back to the city where he grew up. “New York has changed so drastically. The thing that bothers me most is the melting pot aspect is gone. Manhattan has become an island for the very wealthy.”
One of the aims of the series is to document and celebrate this lost world before it totally disappears, give it some unity and due respect, while striving to explain why the New York of the last half of the 20th century was the most exciting place on Earth. The buildings and individuals might be disappearing, but that indefinable spirit which affected so many has thankfully been captured for posterity on countless records, standing like snapshots of a bygone age, the tip of a mighty iceberg which will be gathered on these albums like an old photo album.
Like the subway system is the lifeblood artery of the city, we will pinball through neighbourhoods and boroughs, musical trends and styles, accompanied by a bit of local background to conjure something of a backdrop as, quite often, the music was born out of the environment, whether positive or negative. There will also be the odd incident which may prompt the age-old sigh, ‘Only in New York’.
Speaking of Creation Records...
Eagle Rock Entertainment, who have brought us the excellent series of classic album documentary DVD's, are releasing one for Primal Scream's Screamadelica. This includes a full concert from the Scream's recent Screamadelica anniversary shows in the UK. For more info click here. Here's the trailer:
Thanks to Blurt for the heads up.
. This includes a full concert from the Scream's recent Screamadelica anniversary shows in the UK. For more info click here. Here's the trailer:Thanks to Blurt for the heads up.
May 29, 2011
:
: Bunny Lee & Black Ark:Upside Down: The Creation Records Story now available on DVD
, and Blu-Ray
. There is also a soundtrack CD
available. I'm fairly sure this release is UK-only at the moment so if you're not in the UK be sure to check the region when purchasing.
May 28, 2011
HOP FARM UK - Iggy, Patti (acoustic), Lou and Morrissey (headline)
2 JULY Line up at HOP FARM festival in the UK includes Lou Reed, Patti Smith (acoustic), Iggy AND the Stooges, and Morrissey, who will headline.
The day before you can catch The Eagles, and Bryan Ferry.
Hmmm. What to pack? I guess the flared trousers for friday and the black leather pants for Saturday. Oh, and the air mattress (for my old aching back) and the binoculars (for my old fading eye sight).
Seeing how old all these bands are, do you suppose the lights on the farm will go out around midnight and the "trance disco" tent might be a bit empty?
Probably not.
That's probably my imagination, running away with me.
I'll bet the yoof are going to want to see these Mega Stars before they burn out.
-posted by daisy
NYNS - J'ai vu New York
(Republished from the New York Nobody Sings) "Empire State Building oh! Rockfeller Center oh! Internationnal Building oh! Waldorf Astoria oh! Pan American Building oh! Bank of Manhattan oh!" Basically a list of New York landmarks (I saw New York! It's high!), circa 1964, who better to capture the sexy, sleek, international flavor of mid-60's New York than Serge Gainsbourg with his "New York USA"? Hat tip to Mr. Lee for the inspiration.
May 27, 2011
Vinyl events coming up in NYC and Woodstock
Here are the details:
Zip’s Ziggurat presents another Huge! Insane! Music Yard Sale
10,000s of LPs , CDs, 45s +12”s - rock, pop, hip hop, country, dance, world, folk, reggae, soul, alt.rock, jazz, funk, punk, r+b, metal, classical, techno, new wave, house, old-timey, breaks, spoken, 80’s, electro, blues, promos, DVDs (music + features), tons more.
Insultingly low prices. As low as $0.50 (hey, some are even “cheaper than free”.
Listen before you buy - Free refreshments too! - Memorial Day Weekend
Saturday + Sunday + Monday 10am – 6pm
May 28th, 29th and 30th
All covered, so it’s RAIN OR SHINE
Osnas Lane
Near Rt 212 + Glasco Turnpike junction (Next to Red Onion Restaurant)
Woodstock / West Saugerties NY 12498
http://nyrecordfairs.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, June 18 till Sunday June 26, everyday, 11 am to 6pm.
Once again there's tons of LPs, CDs, books, video and DVDs - everything and anything music related that we have more than two of! Plus the Yardsale items from various estates donated to us.
Remember most CDs at our sale are cheaper than downloading one song! This year specials include more Jazz + Blues LPs than usual • CDs donated by Nonesuch Records • Celtic Corner – stacks of Irish traditional and modern CDs • Classical 45s from the 50s from Decca • MINT condition comedy LPs and much MUCH more!
Don't forget you can JOIN the ARC and mix with other ARC members at our fab COCKTAIL PARTY, Thursday evening, from 6 - 9pm, June 16. Not only can you shop early, but once again Mike from Bonnie's Grill in Brooklyn will be supplying vats of his famouse hoty wings, and if we're lucky it will be champagne again from the lovely folks at the Bubble Lounge. Champagne + hot wings, who could ask for anything more?
Archive of Contemporary Music
54 White Street
NY NY 10013
212-226-6967
arcmusic@inch.com
http://arcmusic.org
The Adolescents - Live At the Casbah - 2007
Here's the final in this week's punk rock special live collection - an older, wiser, but still intense Adolescents, filmed in 2007. Arguably Orange County's finest.
Pyramid Club building up for historical status?
The Village Voice blog mentioned today a story about the possibility of the Pyramid Club (well, the building the club has been in for the last 25 or so years) getting historic landmark status...read about it here. Too bad it never happened for CBGB.
May 26, 2011
DOA - Smash The State - 1978-1983
Here's the second of the DOA collections...Smash The State compiles full length concert performances of high powered mayhem.
May 25, 2011
DOA - Greatest Shits - 1978-1998
Here's one of two DOA films coming this week. I feel that DOA is often overlooked or forgotten about when it comes to who people talk about as the upper echelon of North American punk bands. In the day, these guys were intense, topical, and funny...not to mention nice. They consistently hit all of marks...This collection compiles many of their high points. Purchase on DVD
.
.May 24, 2011
The Stooges - Live in Detroit - 2003
Its hard to believe this show is eight years old already...even so, to me, the experience of the Stooges, live or otherwise, can be life changing. This is the sound of freedom. Purchase on DVD
.
Watch more free documentaries
.Watch more free documentaries
May 23, 2011
Bad Brains - CBGB - 1982
This week, just for the hell of it, I'll be running some live punk/hardcore concerts here. Hat tip to Garage Punk Hideout for the links...Today we have the Bad Brains, filmed at the arguable peak of their powers, in 1982 at CBGB. Easily one of the best live bands I've ever witnessed, if you've never seen them, or this performance DVD, you're in for a treat. Purchase on DVD
.
. May 21, 2011
Fleet Foxes on Fallon
Fleet Foxes perform "Sim Sala Bim" from their new album Helplessness Blues
on Jimmy Fallon last night. I have a couple of Daily Travels-style shots from their show the other night here in NYC. I'll post 'em soon.
John Cale Sampler over at Ze Records
Following their recent Lizzy Mercier Descloux giveaway, Ze Records is now offering a John Cale sampler at their website...all they ask for is your email address. Grab it here.
Proxy Music - Yes!
Thanks to my pal, Gary W, for turning me on to this...the best cover version I've heard since Tropic of Cancer did "Upside Down." It's new UK band Proxy Music. I'm guessing they're mostly a Roxy tribute band, or maybe thats how they started? Anyway, on June 4 they have an excellent single coming out which is a reworking of "Lucky Number" by Lene Lovich. And yes, it sounds like Roxy Music playing it. The b-side is a more faithful version of Eno's "Baby's On Fire."
May 20, 2011
May 19, 2011
May 17, 2011
May 15, 2011
:
:1967
If you haven't visited It's All The Streets in a while I suggest you do. Signed DC is really on a roll.
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