Huge! Vinyl LP Record & CD Yardsales in Woodstock, NY: Labor Day Weekend 2016 - THREE locations!

Just jumping back in here to let folks know about this event I'll be participating in. Three great record sales with 9 or 10 dealers all told. Lots & lots of (mostly) affordable vinyl. And some CD's as well. Facebook event page here. Please stop by & say hello!

2015: The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers or Where do we go from here?

Things have been awfully quiet 'round these parts recently, and I'm not completely sure thats going to change much in the immediate. I'm reserving the right to play it by ear.

In the meantime, the end of this calendar year is turning out to be quite the doozy with Lemmy leaving the building, and just a few minutes ago, John Bradbury of the Specials going as well. Life is hard, and then it gets harder.

If you're so inclined, please keep up with my current goings on at my much more active places:

Facebook

eBay

Twitter

Instagram

YouTube
Tumblr 

Otherwise, vote for Bernie Sanders.

Blowout eBay auction sale on (mostly) vinyl!

I’m having a blowout auction sale in my eBay store. Many interesting records starting at only .99¢!!! Have a look - maybe you’ll find something: http://stores.ebay.com/Stupefaction-Music/_i.html?rt=nc&LH_Auction=1. And please let your music-minded friends know. Thanks!

Holly Woodlawn RIP

Holly Woodlawn - RIP.

James Chance: Australia 2016

jameschanceofficial.blogspot.com

facebook.com/JamesChanceOfficial

Wednesday night: Hell & Sante at McNally Jackson, Soho NYC

 

This just in from Richard Hell:

Tomorrow is the final reading/signing event I have scheduled for my new book Massive Pissed Love: Nonfiction 2001-2014 (the latest press for it is at Paper magazine).

At 7:00 PM tomorrow, Wed 18 Nov, Luc Sante - whose juicy, meticulous, and, as ever, piercingly put, new book is a study of the poor person's Paris, largely in the 19th century, entitled The Other Paris  - and I, will commence an evening comprising short readings by each of us, then a discussion with each other about our books, then a Q & A, then book signing.

The event takes place at McNally Jackson bookstore, 52 Prince St. in Manhattan. Their listing of it:

http://www.mcnallyjackson.com/event/mcnally-jackson-live-richard-hell-and-luc-sante.

Thursday night: Bowery Mission Women's Program Benefit / Mudd Club Rummage Sale

MUDD CLUB RUMMAGE SALE - BENEFITING THE WOMEN’S PROGRAM of THE BOWERY MISSION

Steve Mass by Kate Simon

Featuring famed treasures and priceless trash collected from an elite of couturiers, rock stars, artists, luminaries, bigwigs and significant somebodies

Thursday, November 19th

7:30 pm – 10:30pm

Roxy Hotel

2 Avenue of the Americas, New York City

Honorary Chair:

Steve Mass, a.k.a. Dr. Mudd

Co-Hosts:

Glenn O'Brien, Maripol & Paul Sevigny

Host Committee:

Victoria Bartlett, Richard Boch, Jeffrey Deitch, Phoebe Fitch, Eric Goode,

Kim Gordon, Deborah Harry, Kim Hastreiter, David Hershkovits, Pat Irwin

Daryl Kerrigan, Humberto Leon, Debi Mazar,

Patrick McMullan, Robert Molnar, Kate Pierson, Lisa Rosen, Lola Schnabel,

Kate Simon, Anna Sui, threeASFOUR & Linda Yablonsky

Tickets

Platinum Circle $200: 7:30 – 10:30

Entitles holder to 10% discount on all sale items. Live Music, Kate Pierson & Pat Irwin of B-52’s, Lenny Kaye of Patti Smith Group, special guests, Dance Music, Open Bar & Curated Hors D’oeuvres. Complimentary Entry to Backstage Hawaiian Love Shack Party on White Street, 10:30-2:00.

Gold Circle $100: 7:30 – 10:30

Live Music, Kate Pierson & Pat Irwin of B-52’s, Lenny Kaye, of Patti Smith Group, special guests, Dance Music, Open Bar & Curated Hors D’oeuvres.

Gold Circle ticket sales end 3pm November 18th.

CLICK EVENTBRITE LINK FOR TICKET OPTIONS

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/mudd-club-rummage-sale-event-benefitting-the-bowery-mission-womens-centers-tickets-19262318112

*$50 is the non-tax deductible portion of each ticket. Sale items are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Art Work & Items Donated from the Ateliers, and Attics of,

Agnes B

Allan Tannenbaum

Anna Sui

Brett De Palma

Bill Komoski

Bob Gruen

Bobby Grossman

Chris Stein

David Godlis

Deborah Harry

Dike Blair

Duncan Hannah

Eric Goode

Ericka Beckman

Pat Place

Maripol

Fred Schneider

George Dubose

Glenn O’Brien

Humberto Leon

Hunt Slonem

James Nares

Jeffrey Deitch

Izhar Patkin

Jim Jarmush

John Miller

Kate Pierson

Kate Simon

Keith Sonnier

Kim Gordon

Lisa Rosen

Lola Schnabel

Marc Jacobs

Jo Shane

Richard Boch

Patrick McMullan

Paul Sevigny

Phoebe Fitch

Ralph Pucci

Robert Molnar

Sally Gall

Steve Mass

Sting

Timothy Greenfield Sanders

Tom Otterness

Walter Robinson

William Coupon

Billy Sullivan

More names, more art, more rummage added everyday!

Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor RIP

Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor - RIP

Tonight In NYC: MARCIA RESNICK BOOK SIGNING PARTY

Tuesday, November 10th, 2015

6:30 - 8:30 PM

Howl! Happening: An Arturo Vega Project

6 East 1st Street

New York, NY 10003

Howl! Happening: An Arturo Vega Project and Insight Editions invite you to meet punk legends photographer Marcia Resnick and writer Victor Bockris at a book signing, slide show, and reading from their new book:

Victor Bockris & Marcia Resnick, 1977

Punks, Poets, and Provocateurs : New York City Bad Boys 1977-1982

Photographs by Marcia Resnick

Text by Victor Bockris

Featuring rockers Joey Ramone, David Byrne, Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger; poets William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg and provocateurs John Waters, Andy Warhol and John Belushi among many other stars of drop-dead glamorous New York nights – presented here for your personal inspiration and pleasure.

Resnick's magnificent series of portraits of the cutting edge artists from three generations combined with Bockris' enlightened texts give us this first portrait of the beat punk age.

Be sure to join us for Marcia’s full exhibition at Howl! Happening this February.

News from the desk of Richard Boch: artist, writer and former Mudd Club doorman

As I continue work on my Mudd Club chronicles, an enduring labor of love, I find that history occasionally does repeat itself. November 2015, leaves are falling, and another chapter is writing itself; I'm once again working with Steve Mass! That's the short of it. From the offices of the Mudd Club Rummage Sale Host Committee, to benefit the Bowery Mission Women's Program, here's the rest:

Steve Mass, aka Dr. Mudd, the genius behind the legendary Mudd Club (1978-1983) where nightlife was truly an art form, quietly slipped out of New York at the turn of the millennium, when downtown was still in the shadow of the twin towers. He moved to Berlin. There things were, perhaps, more like the New York he loved than what New York has now become. And now, as suddenly as he vanished, he has reappeared to the joy of all Mudd graduates turning up in lower Manhattan on White Street just a few blocks from the legendary 77 White Street site of the Mudd Club. Steve is now back in town to have a huge birthday party/Bowery Mission Charity event.

It’s funny to see Steve, in many ways the ultimate New Yorker, visiting the city today. He’s like a tourist from another dimension, full of wonder and bemusement. His presence stands out as a magnificently preserved specimen from another time: a perfect prankster idealist hoping to make the world a better place and have fun doing it. During the late 70’s, early 80’s, the heyday of the Mudd Club, Steve was such a very generous host to the young creatives pouring into a then desolate Tribeca helping to facilitate a magical design laboratory where you could work and get by on very little money. The Mudd Club was THE creative epicenter. This contributed in no small way to today's boom in art, music and film. It is all part of the Mudd's legend and lore. At that time talented people didn’t need to have a full time day job to get by. Still it was difficult for many talented young people, especially women, who were changing the world against the odds. Steve recalls the greatness of the late Gia Carangi, Edwige Belmore, Tina L’Hotsky, Anya Phillips, Sara Charlesworth, Abbijane Schifrin, Anita Sarko and the difficulties they faced. And they were the successful ones.... although ultimately suffering tragically.

Today it is so much harder to eat, to keep a roof over one’s head in this city. It is not surprising that there are many college educated and once employed homeless in New York City. Now fortunately there is a program which sponsors vulnerable women at The Bowery Mission. Their Women’s Center provides residential private accommodation for women suffering from homelessness due to the many pitfalls of the city including domestic violence, addiction, financial exploitation, job loss, and health crises.Therefore we are asking for your help in reaching out to friends, Mudd Club members and habitues as well as their descendents and heirs and to ask them to participate in the MUDD CLUB RUMMAGE SALE.

As a friend of the Mudd Club we ask that you and your friends lovingly donate an historic work of art, photographs, couture treasures, accessories, memorabilia, designer sample and/or cultural curios (hopefully from the Mudd Club days but any period is acceptable) in memory of our youth, friends lost and the special lives we now live. In addition we are asking you to purchase tickets to the event and if possible make a donation to The Bowery Mission. 

Ticket sales:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mudd-club-rummage-sale-event-benefitting-the-bowery-mission-womens-centers-tickets-19262318112

Movie of the Week: Ghost On The Highway - A Portrait of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the Gun Club (2006)

 

Official film website

Anita Sarko: A remembrance by Richard Boch

Richard Boch & Anita Sarko, 2010

Remembering Anita Sarko:

1979 and 1980, Mudd Club, 77 White. Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane” (live version, Rock ’n Roll Animal), “Public Image” PiL, “The Lost Sheep” Adrian Munsey—baaaa baaaaaaa baaaaaaaa—clearing the dance floor at 4AM. Anita Sarko’s spinning records and I’m working the door; that’s when and where we became friends. Early mornings, her place on Jones Street, more music and whatever else was lying around. A sharp wit, Anita’s sweet and not too scary, still beautiful at 9AM. The daybreak hours gone, I walk out into the sunshine morning: dark glasses, a cigarette, brain cells still burning. I’m heading home, having a laugh, knowing we’d both be back for another round, another night on White Street. 

Anita left her job at Mudd before I did. Thirty-six years came and went fast. I missed her then. I miss her now.

Richard Boch

Below, Anita discusses the early days of her career with videographer Merrill Aldighieri in 2013 - they worked together at Hurrah.

Obituaries of Note: Anita Sarko, Joe Moss, Mark Murphy

Anita Sarko - RIP

Joe Moss - RIP

Mark Murphy - RIP

Now Playing: The Black Panthers

For screenings around the country (including NYC now thru Oct 27), visit theblackpanthers.com.

Peter Dougherty RIP

Peter Dougherty RIP. I took this pic a few years back at an event in NYC (L-R: Peter, Don Letts, Bob Gruen).

Peter constantly surprised me with the depth & range of musical tastes. Although I didn't know him until the last 10 years or so, he always treated me like an old friend. He was one of the few (the only?) Americans who I could discuss the career of Davey Henderson in depth with. And he was friends with the Pop Group! Every once in a while I'd get an email from him with a download of a live Orange Juice recording, or something just as interesting.

He was a big part of getting Yo! MTV Raps on the air, as well as launching MTV Europe. He directed videos for the Pogues and others. He & his brother Paul are well known in the downtown NYC crowd for their archives of countless live recordings & ephemera - much of which is now housed in the Downtown Collection at NYU's Fales Library.

I'm glad I got to spend a day with him just a few months back. He showed me around his house proudly showing off what hung in the walls - an amazing array of posters & artwork of a life well lived and passion pursued. You'll be missed Peter.

Here is his Pogues video:

Movie of the Week: I Thought I Told You To Shut Up!! (2015)

ithoughtitoldyoutoshutup.com

facebook.com/IthoughtItoldyoutoshutup

Movie of the Week: Kmart Store Background Music & Announcement Cassettes

From the uploader: OK, I have to admit this this is a strange collection. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, I worked for Kmart behind the service desk and the store played specific pre-recorded cassettes issued by corporate. This was background music, or perhaps you could call it elevator music. Anyways, I saved these tapes from the trash during this period and this video shows you my extensive, odd collection.

Until around 1992, the cassettes were rotated monthly. Then, they were replaced weekly. Finally sometime around 1993, satellite programming was intoduced which eliminated the need for these tapes altogether.

The older tapes contain canned elevator music with instrumental renditions of songs. Then, the songs became completely mainstream around 1991. All of them have advertisements every few songs.

The monthly tapes are very, very, worn and rippled. That's becuase they ran for 14 hours a day, 7 days a week on auto-reverse. If you do the math assuming that each tape is 30 minutes per side, that's over 800 passes over a tape head each month.

Finally, one tape in the collection was from the Kmart 30th anniversary celebration on 3/1/92. This was a special day at the store where employees spent all night setting up for special promotions and extra excitement. It was a real fun day, the store was packed wall to wall, and I recall that the stores were asked to play the music at a much higher volume. The tape contains oldies and all sorts of fun facts from 1962. This may have been one of the last days where Kmart was in their heyday - really!

One last thing for you techies, the stores built in the early 1970's (such as Naperville, IL Ogden Mall Kmart #3066, Harwood Heights, IL #3503 and Bridgeview, IL #4381) orignally had Altec-Lansing amplifiers with high quality speakers throughout the store. When you applied a higher quality sounding source, the audio was extremely good. Later stores had cheaper speakers and eventually the amps were switched out with different ones usually lacking bass and treble controls.

The tapes are available for listening at Archive.org. Amazing!

Hat tip to Chart Attack.

New Books of Note: Suicide, Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, Lou Reed & Flexipop!

The season of consumption is fast approaching, so I have some catching up to do. Here are some book of interest that have recently come across my radar, and may interest you.  First up is Suicide: Dream Baby Dream, A New York Story by old Bleecker Bob's running mate, and long time UK journalist, Kris Needs. I'm looking forward to this one as there's only been one prior Suicide bio, and it really sucked. I won't even mention the title here. Read an excerpt from Needs' book, and an interview with him over at the Quietus now.

Next up are a couple that you very well may know about already. We have Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello. The review from the NY Times is tentative but curious, and makes the book sound interesting.

And of course there's Patti Smith's new one, M Train, which the NY Times gushed over. I'm not the world's biggest fan of Smith's but I absolutely loved Just Kids, so I'm looking forward to this one as well.

Dirty Blvd: The Life and Music of Lou Reed, by Aiden Levy, is a brand new title I only found out about by coming across it in my local book shop. After leafing through it, I decided to take a chance on it, and brought it home. I haven't gotten to it, but my hopes remain optimistic. 

Lastly, we have Flexipop! The Book brought to us by the same folks who published the magazine back in the early 80's. It was always a fun magazine as each issue came with an exclusive flexi-disc, and bands like Kajagoogoo sat comfortably next to Infa Riot. It was all over the place, and definitely didn't take anything too seriously. Mail order from their website, and receive a special bonus issue, as well as a brand new flexi-disc with music from Spandau Ballet and Marc Almond. 

On The Scene: Tame Impala at Terminal 5, 10.7.15 by Liz Maher

Still sweaty from their Radio City show, Australian 1-5 piece, Tame Impala pounded Terminal 5 with a light show worthy of any Friday teen metal night that ever went down at the Hayden Planetarium. From our seating we were spared the gimmicky stage show and instead focused on the impressive menu of pedals and fuzzboxes TI’s white coated roadies arranged for Kevin Parker on a Persian carpet. Parker took the stage barefooted and used his toes to squeeze various gadgets throughout the night, often forgetting he once played guitar.

A full house of worshipping TI fans licked up Parker's dance-psych wizardry as though it were acid soaked stamps printed on images of superheroes. Fans sang along to most songs, swaying and yelling for Parker as he drenched them with Poland Spring his brand of holy hallucinogenic water.

The Kev's pedal fetish comes in a sumptuary array of pedal porn, both left and right boards. A garage band this is not. He seems to use a Boss heavy metal delay on most songs and an Electro-Harmonix phase shifter for the TamImp signature sound, which is really about goofing the universe and making your world appear to flicker. Sophie Sleigh-Johnson from These New Pilgrims has a show where she stands and delivers her Chthonic Index at Focalpoint in London: Focal Point Gallery - Current Exhibition. You should check up on this before you have the same old thoughts you have always had and will again always have had. Really, there is so much more to say, but it is all footnotes about obscure peds, mostly non-tube little gee-gaws, do-dads, and jabberwockies dreamed up by geeks in a Roald Dahl fantasmagoria of applied techi-crunchi toe-jam lickin' on the magic Persian carpet delight. Kev is a true ped-o-phile, but remember kiddies, it is all about the flicker, not the means of mental abduction.

Tame Impala does not fall into the classic mold of psych music - more of a molly rush than the traditional 13th Floor Elevator acid variety. That being said, Tameye’s musical peers and critics consider Parker's project as one of the most influential bands since Zeppelin. Forget Nirvana, White Stripes (who, according to Jack White, everyone copies), Jay Z, Dav Gagguetta and fill-in-more. Rising stars of Brooklyn-based alt bands, Sunflower Bean penned a devotional ode in their honor.

Did I post a review of the Sunflower Bean gig here? No. Here it is: Minor chords emphasized like Coldplay, only Sunflowers do it better with less annoying personalities. Julia Cummings is promising but needs to find more of her own voice to keep up. She sounds like she's afraid to sing in public. Loads of potential there.

Back to Tame I. Parker evolves psych by steering clear of the stale high-treble and Rick formula that would only result in a 13th generation psych bar band. Parker blends club music technique with trance pounding distortions that appeal to today’s music buyers. It’s a brilliant marketing scheme where Parker gets it both ways-alt cred and mainstream income.

Parker’s lyrics continue to cleverly reveal so many universal truths - about himself. He flaps his arms a lot and thanks the crowd often but doesn't interact much beyond that.

No stranger to pop music, Parker saw the limited appeal of a one piece and gave up the bliss of solitude to transition to a five man for Currents. He seems to have lost muscle tone in the transformation though. Cause he’s a man of course.

The evening’s setlist was almost a mirror image of their Radio City show with the insertion of Oscilly and Walk On. Settled into TI’s current transition theme, Parker stuck mainly with Currents material vocals and foot pedaling, using his guitars mainly as cool props. Shimmery waves of reverb and other fun noise gimmicks muffled Parker’s sinewy vocals. Live, their performance amplifies the psych connection that outshines their recordings by parsecs.

Toward the middle of the night, a strategically placed Elephant perked up the crowd after a rather introverted Less I Know the Better. Cause I’m a Man is my new feminist anthem. It explains so much.

As wayfaring as TI’s choreographing is intentioned, everything that happened so far was anything Parker controlled skillfully executed without undermining Parker’s mock Yessuz serendipity. From the uniformed roadies to the merch, TI/Parker is the new rock god of the universe.

East Village Eye nostalgia

This one goes out to the nostalgia junkies. I recently discovered that the East Village Eye has made several issues available in PDF format. They've also done up a few of their swell covers on t-shirts. I await my May '79 t-shirt as I type. 

Of course real paper copies are always available via places like 98 Bowery and eBay, but this is good opportunity to try before you buy.

Check out PDF's here, and the t-shirts here.