Daily Travels: 16 Barrow Street, NYC

Another West Village rent increase victim: Bleecker Street Records to close in April? Tropicalia In Furs closed now!

Bleecker Street Records, 239 Bleecker Street, New York, NY (photo source)

According to a recent report by 1010 WINS, Bleecker Street Records will be most likely be closing its doors in April due to that all-too-often occurring reason these days - a rent increase. According to the report, ...1010 WINS’ Carol D’Auria reported the store will probably close in April, because the new landlord plans to jack up the rent to $27,000 a month. Chris Simunek believes that trend is ruining the Village.

“It’s absurd,” he said. “You know, what’s going to go in there is a Starbucks or something , or just something that we already have plenty of.” 

So it seems we'll be bidding yet another New York record store farewell, possibly around the same time that Bleecker Bob's goes away. Obviously, this is not the first or last time we'll hear this story. If you currently have a favorite record store, you'd better hope they have a long term lease, and a really good business emergency plan, in place.



UPDATE: Courtesy of EV Grieve comes the news, just posted today, that East Village vinyl spot, Tropicalia In Furs, has also closed its doors. Located across the street from the now-relocated-to-Los Angeles Gimme Gimme Records, they specialized in an interesting selection of Brazilian, garage, and punk rock from the sixties & seventies.

Strider Records to close physical location in two weeks

The good news is that after 32 years, Strider Records is staying in business. The bad news is that, after 32 years, Strider Records will be closing their physical location at 22 Jones Street in the West Village at the end of this month. There have been close calls before, but this time it's for real. I confirmed this with the owner last night via phone.

Long one of the best sources for oldies, and long out-of-print vinyl, they will remain open online at StriderRecords.com. Now through the end of the month, most of the inventory is discounted. Get yourself down to 22 Jones St or call 212-675-3040 for more information.

Hell in Paradise by Pat Ivers

After posting the above ad for the famous Hell In Paradise show (June 1978, Paradise Garage) last month, I invited Pat Ivers (of Nightclubbing video fame, along with Emily Armstrong) to write a remembrance of the night since I've never read, or heard, anything about the show. In fact, the only reason I know about it is because of Pat & Emily. I've been lucky enough to see some of their footage from this evening, and the idea of these acts playing in the hallowed disco ground of the Paradise Garage is reason enough to get the story...I hope you enjoy this, and a huge thank you to Pat! Be sure to visit their website - link below. Take it away, Pat:

Maybe it was just an idea whose time had not yet come, but I remember thinking at the time, "Wow! Punk at the Paradise Garage, our music taken to the next level of visibility. Maybe it really is going to be a viable thing , not exactly mainstream, but playing to a larger audience…people actually making money." ...It didn’t exactly work out that way.

The lineup was great: The Senders, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, the Contortions, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Great mix of styles, something for everyone. Emily Armstrong and I started negotiating with the guys who ran Paradise Garage to come in and videotape what we thought would be an historic night, which it was...for all the wrong reasons.

Paradise Garage exterior, 84 King Street

First, nobody came. There seemed to be maybe 100 or 150 people in attendance. In a space like the Paradise Garage, it looked like the worst prom ever. With the disco ball spinning in the darkened room, the space looked sinister and a little sleazy. And then as The Senders played, the electricity failed. This happened over and over again over the course of the evening.

Still, everyone soldiered on. Lydia played a short show. The Contortions roared through a set. James Chance left after his performance with some girl for a date in the cemetery on 2nd Street. Richard Hell, I seem to remember, threw beach balls or something into the audience while he played. It was grim.

At the end of the night, James returned to find Hell being told by management that no one was getting paid. Threats and counter threats ensued. James stopped them in their tracks, breaking a beer bottle and cutting himself with the words, “You can’t scare me”. The stunned management paid them.

I haven't seen most of the video from that night in years. It is one of the many tapes I can't wait to see, as Fales Library begins its restoration of our collection.

If you're as much of an ephemera or original source geek as me, you'll be happy to see this photo of the actual tapes from the Nightclubbing collection of that infamous show.

Nightclubbing - official website & Facebook

Friday Ephemera - Hell In Paradise

1978

Daisy goes to the Kevin Cummins Joy Division book launch

Daisy checks in with a write up of the recently mentioned launch at White Columns for Kevin Cummins new book, Joy Division:

A good time was had by all at the KEVIN CUMMINS book launch at the White Columns gallery on West 13th Street in New York on Monday even tho I had read the invitation incorrectly. I had the impression that Bernard Sumner (guitarist from Joy Division and later New Order) was going to be there and have a conversation in the gallery. Ooops. The conversation is in the book. Jay McInerney does the introduction in the book. He wasn't there either but I didn't mind that. The book is published by Rizzoli and it's a very beautifully paced visual story of Ian Curtis (born Ian Kevin Curtis 15 July 1956). It includes some handwritten song lyrics and set lists and postcards from tour and it knocked me for six to see his young beautiful face.

There was also a rather nice black box of postcards ($40).

Kevin Cummins, (born 14 July 1953) a fellow Brit, looked natty in his suit and fancy shoes. He signed "Manchester has a lot to answer for." I have a friend called Hulme and I nearly asked him to cross out "Manchester" and put "Hulme" as that is where a lot of Mr. Cummins photos of Mr. Curtis were taken - most notably the photos in the snow (none of the lads wearing enough warm clothes) and on a flyover above a motorway...but it was noisy and I'm not sure that Ms. Hulme does have a lot to answer for. Not as much as Manchester, that's for sure.

Matthew Higgs was in the gallery. He happened to be sitting on a sofa in one of Kevin's photos of Joy Division at band practice, back in the day. Now here he was, the director & curator of the space we were in. He'd brought his milk crate of vinyl from Factory Records along. It was a joy (pun intended) to see the needle in the groves. I particularly liked "English Black Boys" by XODUS - the only reggae record Factory put out. The soundtrack to the evening also included a dark and gravelly Grace Jones. I didn't know she'd recorded on Factory records. (I don't think she did. - Tim)

My friends John and Sabine came along. The room was cozy and as we looked around, we all thought of back in the day when clubs were about this many people and how you would just talk to people and how you would say, "where are you going tomorrow?" and hear about another good band playing and probably see the same crowd there when you turned up the next day.

At the end of the night, Matthew played the vinyl Joy Division. I have to admit, it was a bit much. Now that I am so much older than the fresh faced photogenic Ian Curtis, who hanged himself 18 May 1980 at the age of 23, I had to reach for a tissue and leave for some cold autumn air. He would have been 53. I would have talked to him.

KEVIN CUMMINS' JOY DIVISION - Book Launch and Exhibition at White Columns

WHITE COLUMNS + RIZZOLI ARE PROUD TO PRESENT:

A BOOK LAUNCH + A ONE NIGHT EXHIBITION OF KEVIN CUMMINS' SEMINAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF JOY DIVISION

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2010 AT 6PM
KEVIN CUMMINS WILL BE PRESENT TO SIGN COPIES OF HIS EXTRAORDINARY NEW BOOK 'Joy Division' feat. AN INTRODUCTION BY JAY MCINERNEY AND A CONVERSATION WITH BERNARD SUMNER
AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE ON THE NIGHT, PRICE $45.00

FACTORY RECORDS SOUNDTRACK BY MATTHEW HIGGS
DRINKS + REFRESHMENTS
ALL WELCOME
ONE NIGHT ONLY

WHITE COLUMNS
320 WEST 13TH STREET
(ENTER ON HORATIO STREET BETWEEN 8TH AVENUE + HUDSON)
NEW YORK 10014
WWW.WHITECOLUMNS.ORG

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Godlis

Photo by Godlis.

Godlis checks in with a write up about the Tuesday night appearance of LaLa Brooks a the screening of the Phil Spector movie. I had mentioned this event last week.

"When the documentary, "The Agony And The Ecstasy of Phil Spector" now playing at the Film Forum, ended and the lights in the theater came up, in she walked - the other Great Voice fronting the Spector Wall of Sound - Delores LaLa Brooks. She was just 15 when she sang lead vocals with The Crystals on "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me". Answering questions at the Film Forum last night she looked positively radiant." Continued here.

LaLa Brooks at the Film Forum

In conjunction with the Film Forum's showing of The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector, the Crystals' very own LaLa Brooks will be making an appearance at the theater next Wednesday. Here's the scoop:

The Crystals' LaLa Brooks - IN PERSON!
Wednesday, July 7, 8:00 show

ABOUT LaLa BROOKS:
LaLa Brooks was the youngest member of The Crystals, just 15 when she sang lead vocal on the “Wall of Sound” classics Da Doo Ron Ron and Then He Kissed Me at Gold Star studios in Los Angeles for producer Phil Spector. She also sang He's a Rebel at their live shows. “A cloudburst of handclaps, Don Randi's driving piano triplets and honking saxes, Hal Blaine’s drum fills rattling like gunfire, ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’ is probably the most irrepressibly exhilarating song that Spector ever recorded. LaLa Brooks’s vocal a gust of sheer, heart-lifting lovestruck joy.” - Mick Brown, Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector

ABOUT THE FILM:
Legendary pop music genius, record producer Phil Spector created the “wall of sound” behind some of the greatest hits of the ’60s: Be My Baby, He’s a Rebel, Da Doo Ron Ron, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, to name just a few. Today he is imprisoned serving 19 years to life for the murder of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson. During his first trial (a hung jury), Spector gives a rare freewheeling interview to Vikram Jayanti, filmed at his castle, seated before the white piano which he bought with John Lennon, for Imagine. He lucidly holds forth on his life and work: his father’s suicide when he was a child; the process through which he achieved his distinctive sound; his friendship with Lennon; and his case that (despite Paul McCartney’s position), he salvaged the Beatles’ album, Let It Be. Then there is Spector’s curious enmity toward Tony Bennett and Buddy Holly (“he got a postage stamp even though he was only in rock ’n’ roll three years”), and a grandiosity that has him likening himself to Bach, da Vinci, Michelangelo and Galileo. And, yes, there is an endless parade of hairstyles and flamboyant outfits.

Read the review by Perfect Sound Forever's Jason Gross here.

A trailer and advance tickets are available here.

Vaughn Oliver and 4AD Records

I just found today, unfortunately, about a sold out, cool event taking place today at Bumble & Bumble (of all places) on the 3rd floor of 415 West 13th St. Presented by the organization for designers, AIGANY, it's a talk with iconic UK graphic artist Vaughn Oliver. If you don't know who he is, you've definitely seen his work. Designing artwork for 4AD Records for the last 30 years, the label would not be what it is without his serious contribution. He is to 4AD what the more well known Peter Saville was to Factory Records. And despite the decline of vinyl since the late 80's, Oliver's work has remained no less imaginative, striking, or ground breaking.



"The wildly prolific Vaughan Oliver is best known for his revolutionary designs for the independent record label 4AD, for which he has been creating memorable designs with imagination and craftsmanship for thirty years. Think The Cocteau Twins, the Pixies, The Breeders, and his mysterious and iconic album covers come to mind.

Together with Chris Bigg from 1988 until 2009, in a studio called v23, they specialized in work for the music industry, yet they have also attracted very diverse projects, including identities for the Albanian choreographer Angelin Prejlocaj and international film production companies, magazine design such as huH, Raygun Publishing, book design, and film direction and graphic design for various TV commercials (Microsoft, Sony Playstation), print advertising for the fashion industry, museum and theater posters and most recently branding of the Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Is there anything he can’t do? Come and find out!"

- v23 website
- 4AD Records website

Even though it's sold out, here's the info - maybe you can sneak in:

Friday 4 June 2010
6:30–8:00PM
Bumble and Bumble, 3rd floor auditorium
415 West 13th Street Between Ninth Avenue & Washington St.

New Tom Waits book news

PLEASE NOTE: The Los Angeles appearances & times have been updated.

To promote his new Tom Waits biography, Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits, author Barney Hoskins will be making some appearances shortly. Personally, I can't wait to read it!

In New York City:

MONDAY 11TH MAY - 7:00PM
(with the great GARY LUCAS playing a set of Waits songs)
THE CENTER
725 Washington @ 11th St
NY, NY 10014
(917)287-0079
www.CultureCatch.com | (917) 287-0079

TUESDAY 12TH http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifMAY - 6:30PM
PETE’S CANDY STORE
709 Lorimer Street ,
Williamsburg, Brooklyn 11211
(718)302-3770
www.petescandystore.com

In Los Angeles:

FRIDAY 15TH MAY - 7:00PM
Mr. Musichead Gallery

SATURDAY 16TH MAY - 5:00PM
Book Soup
West Hollywood, CA

Now Strider Records to close?

After tipping us off to Manny's closing earlier this past week, Lost City is now reporting that longtime West Village oldies vinyl store, Strider Records, will be closing. Fuck!

Not the sort of place you'd go to for the latest releases but the sort of place you'd go to for that rare, out of print 45 you heard on some radio station. A museum of vinyl. And a hell of a nice guy too. If you have any interest at all in these types of places and have been putting off visits, you better get your ass in gear.

"A concerned reader wrote in recently to say that Strider Records, the small Village store devoted to vinyl, could close any day now. The man got the word from owner Bob Noguera himself, whom the reader described as "being at peace" with the reality." Continued here.

Visit the Strider Records website here.

Daily travels

Back on March 26 I had posted a picture, taken on Gansevoort Street, of this guy:



Yesterday, while crossing the street at the intersection of Avenue A & 7th Street, painted on the white traffic stripe right in the middle of the street, this caught my eye: