Step back in time, and step into Hurrah, circa 1980. Music by Pylon.
Showing posts with label Hurrah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hurrah. Show all posts
Oct 24, 2012
Oct 5, 2012
Nightclubbing gets gaga over Frankie
This week, Pat & Emily go slumming with Sinatra, and discuss Ol' Blue Eyes' influence on the punk generation...the results may surprise you.
Still, it’s a little surprising that a mere 21 years separates the release of “Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely” in 1958 and the above video of Iggy Pop covering the LP’s iconic track, “One for My Baby,” at Hurrah’s in 1979. At first glance, the culture wars of the ’60s would seem to render irrelevant the bars, broads and bruisers ethos that Ol’ Blue Eyes represented. But for the generation that made up the original punks, those childhood memories of cigarette smoke, parents’ late nights and Sinatra’s music ran deep. Continued here.
As always, visit Go Nightclubbing.
Jul 14, 2012
Nightclubbing heads west
 |
| Pat Ivers & Emily Armstrong (1979) |
This week's episode of Nightclubbing finds Pat & Emily leaving New York and heading west to California where they stay at the Sam Wong Hotel, and make friends with the Dead Kennedys.
For die-hard NYC punks, the West Coast seemed a little daunting. It was so bright! But in the fall of 1979, we went to Los Angeles to be on a panel at an early MTV music video conference. We stayed at the Tropicana Hotel, which was the preferred accommodation for traveling rockers. Jim Morrison and Tom Waits had lived there – on this trip, it was Nina Hagen and The Slits hanging at the pool. Continued here.
Aug 23, 2011
Jul 22, 2011
Kickstarter projects of note: The VJ Diaries and Riot On The Dance Floor
The VJ Diaries:
Before MTV there was HURRAH, the club where the video jockey was born. Merrill Aldighieri is the first video jockey who chronicled a year of life in music video at HURRAH, a trend setting club in NYC. Her video recordings, like pages from a diary, will form the backbone of this documentary. New interviews with the bands, DJ's, club people, and lots of original animation will combine with the historic stereo concert footage of bands such as New Order, Gang of Four, Sun Ra, Suicide, Material, Magazine, Pylon, Defunkt, Richard Hell, and many more.
Each night Merrill improvised live video mixes of original animation and stock footage to interpret the DJ's music. Her public experiment caught on like wildfire, spreading to all the hot spots in town and MTV itself. Now an Emmy award winning animator and documentary filmmaker, Merrill creates an authentic view of musical history from an artist's perspective.
More info & donation information for The VJ Diaries here.
Riot on the Dance Floor:
What does it take to turn a lifeless, concrete bunker into a legendary club that hosted some of the ‘80s and ‘90s biggest bands? What does it take to forge a thriving, vital scene in a downtrodden, dangerous and marginalized city like Trenton, New Jersey, with nothing but flyers, postcards and pre-internet word-of-mouth? It takes passion, vision and, above all else, a dedication to the independent spirit that drove the underground music scene. It requires the ear of someone attuned to diversity and a set of balls big enough to book the envelope-pushing bands that most promoters wouldn’t touch. That man was Randy Now, and this is his story.
More info & donation information for Riot On The Dance Floor here.
Before MTV there was HURRAH, the club where the video jockey was born. Merrill Aldighieri is the first video jockey who chronicled a year of life in music video at HURRAH, a trend setting club in NYC. Her video recordings, like pages from a diary, will form the backbone of this documentary. New interviews with the bands, DJ's, club people, and lots of original animation will combine with the historic stereo concert footage of bands such as New Order, Gang of Four, Sun Ra, Suicide, Material, Magazine, Pylon, Defunkt, Richard Hell, and many more.
Each night Merrill improvised live video mixes of original animation and stock footage to interpret the DJ's music. Her public experiment caught on like wildfire, spreading to all the hot spots in town and MTV itself. Now an Emmy award winning animator and documentary filmmaker, Merrill creates an authentic view of musical history from an artist's perspective.
More info & donation information for The VJ Diaries here.
Riot on the Dance Floor:
What does it take to turn a lifeless, concrete bunker into a legendary club that hosted some of the ‘80s and ‘90s biggest bands? What does it take to forge a thriving, vital scene in a downtrodden, dangerous and marginalized city like Trenton, New Jersey, with nothing but flyers, postcards and pre-internet word-of-mouth? It takes passion, vision and, above all else, a dedication to the independent spirit that drove the underground music scene. It requires the ear of someone attuned to diversity and a set of balls big enough to book the envelope-pushing bands that most promoters wouldn’t touch. That man was Randy Now, and this is his story.
More info & donation information for Riot On The Dance Floor here.
Apr 21, 2010
More Specials
I'm looking forward to the Specials show tonight especially as Brooklyn Vegan had good things to say about last night's show. The shot above is last night's setlist from Terminal 5 courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan.
I also wanted to point out that, in honor of the shows, Godlis dug out some oldies but goodies from his endless photo archives. The shot below is one them, and they all date back to a daytime press conference the band did at Hurrah in January of 1980. See them here. Do bands do press conferences anymore? What a quaint idea.
Jun 26, 2009
Jim Fouratt on the Colbert Report
Just in case you missed it, or don't feel like watching the entire episode over at ComedyCentral.com (although you should - lots of funny gay jokes), here is Jim Fouratt's appearance for last night's Colbert Report. I'm proud to say I know him...
Jun 25, 2009
Jim Fouratt on Colbert tonight!
Congratulations to Jim Fouratt are in order as he'll be the guest on the Colbert Report tonight at 11:30 PM EST on Comedy Central. For many years, Jim has been extremely active on the front for the fight for gay rights, as well as working in the music business. To put it mildly, the New York club scene of the 70's & 80's would not have been the same without him. Neither would gay civil rights. You can read about his activist history here. You can also read a more general history on his myspace page.
Jim Fouratt before:
And after:
Jim Fouratt before:
And after:
Mar 13, 2009
Friday ephemera - Del Byzanteens
Despite what you might read, they were not a No Wave band. Post punk, maybe. New Wave, maybe. No Wave? Definitely not. Learn your genres, kids!
Del Byzanteens on YouTube
Del Byzanteens on Myspace
Del Byzanteens on Wikipedia
Jan 9, 2009
Sep 12, 2008
More Nightclubbing news
Hot on the heels of the very recent showing of Pat Ivers & Emily Armstrong's Nightclubbing collection comes their new website! Visit Go Nightclubbing now if you know whats good for you! Below is a list of the bands they shot as well as where & when (click on the image for a closer look). It looks like they may be making some headway towards getting that long promised DVD out as well...this is a special collection of performance videos. Treasure it.
Thanks to Randy for the find.
Sep 4, 2008
Nightclubbing...We're Nightclubbing
Tuesday, Sept. 9 - THE THEATRES AT 45 BLEECKER STREET
10.00 PM. NIGHTCLUBBING by Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong
Described by the New York Times as "The Lewis and Clark of rock
video", Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong spent their nights from
1975-80 documenting the burgeoning punk scene in nightclubs
around New York City. Taped on location at CBGB's, Mudd Club,
Danceteria among others, bands include Bad Brains, Ballistic
Kisses, Blondie, Bush Tetras, John Cale, Contortions, Cramps,
Dead Boys, Dead Kennedys, DNA, Go-Gos, Heartbreakers, Richard
Hell and the Voidoids, Levi and the Rockats, Lounge Lizards, Iggy
Pop, Suicide, Talking Heads,and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.
NIGHTCLUBBING offers a unique insight into a culture that had far
more effect on the world than its movement could ever have
imagined.
See my previous post on this great collection of performances.
Thanks to Joly for pointing this out.
Apr 6, 2006
Nightclubbing Notes
As part of the Downtown Show that recently closed at the Grey Art Gallery (NYU), last Friday 3/31, there was a great presentation of video as shot between 1975-1980 by two pioneering female videographers, Pat Ivers & Emily Armstrong. The pair presented 25 performances shot at nightclubs, almost all in NYC.
In the Q&A that followed (hosted by noted downtown filmmaker Amos Poe), what was interesting was to try remembering a world before digital media which we take for granted. These women lugged heavy gear and cameras in & out of buildings, up & down stairs, in all sorts of neighborhoods...many of these clubs weren't in exactly decent locations, at the time at least. They were usually the first to arrive at a venue (to set up), and the last to leave (after breaking their gear down). They weren't paid for their work...they did it because they loved the music, and this was their contribution to the culture of the time & place. As they stated, if you were in the scene at the time, everyone did something...whethere it was playing in a band, running a club, DJ'ing, shooting film, acting...whatever. And it was all very social. They are currently working on a documentary about this period in their lives and their prescient work.
I had the honor of watching the show with the esteemed Jim Fouratt, excellent music writer (and co-worker) Michael Azerrad, the ubiquitous Joly from PunkCast, and new friend Jason from awesome music website, Perfect Sound Forever. I'm a hip motherfucker.
Here's the program in order:
- Blondie (CBGB 1975) - doing a lousy version of the Velvet Underground's Femme Fatale.
- Heartbreakers w/Richard Hell (CBGB 1975) - the original line-up.
- Talking Heads (CBGB 1975) - the original 3 piece line-up performing an early version of Psycho Killer.
- Dead Boys (CBGB 1977) - performing the Stooges Search & Destroy if memory serves.
- Dead Kennedys (Hurrah 1979) - Jello Biafra looking so young, wrestles with a female audience member during their song - hilarious!
- Lounge Lizards (CBGB 1979) - a great performance suggesting further investigation of a band I haven't ever really attempted to get into beyond the odd compilation cut.
- Teenage Jesus & the Jerks (Paradise Garage 1978) - a 20 or 30 second long song, a young Lydia Lunch reeking of attitude.
- Contortions (Paradise Garage 1978) - from the same show as Teenage Jesus, the sound quality is horrible but the performance is intense, James Chance as cool as ever.
- Dead Boys with Divine (CBGB 1978) - yes, that Divine and a couple of dancing girls in bikinis.
- Stilettos (CBGB 1978) - with Tish & Snooky of Manic Panic fame, reminded me of Lorraine Newman on Saturday Night Live for some reason...they were thin, it was the 70s...I don't know.
- Richard Hell & the Voidoids (CBGB 1978) - Robert Quine was as cool as all get out.
- Suicide (Danceteria 1980) - perhaps my fave perfomance of the night. When they made these guys, they broke the mold...hell, there never was a mold.
- DNA (Mudd Club 1979)
- Iggy Pop (Hurrah 1979)
- Levi & the Rockats (CBGB 1979) - much better than I remember
- Cramps (Irving Plaza 1980) - It might've been Garbage Man, Bryan Gregory was another icon with the polka dotted flying-V guitar.
- Heartbreakers (Irving Plaza 1980) - Too Much Junkie Business.
- John Cale (Irving Plaza 1980)
- Offs (The Rat 1979) - shot at the Rat in Boston, the only non-NYC performance shown.
- Max Blagg (Danceteria 1980) - a scathing anti-heroin rant/poem, very intense & heartfelt.
- Bush Tetras (Danceteria 1980) - Tight & funky, Pat Place is a seriously cool guitar player.
- Bad Brains (CBGB 1979) - playing 12XU by Wire, not the best I've ever seen them, but a poor Bad Brains is better than most band's best.
- Go-Go's (Danceteria 1980) - Not as bad as I remember but nevertheless fluffy.
- Pylon (Danceteria 1980) - Some interesting idea's but I still don't understand people love for this Athens GA band...their tunes never quite did it for me but they had a great bass sound.
- Ballistic Kisses (Danceteria 1980) - Never knew much about these guys but I seem to remember them being something of a staple on the downtown club circuit in New York.
So that's it...if you made it this far I hope you learned something. I know I did...and keep an eye out for the DVD when it's finally released. If you've missed the Downtown Show in New York, future showings this year include Austin TX, and the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh PA. It's worth the trip...I like both cities!
In the Q&A that followed (hosted by noted downtown filmmaker Amos Poe), what was interesting was to try remembering a world before digital media which we take for granted. These women lugged heavy gear and cameras in & out of buildings, up & down stairs, in all sorts of neighborhoods...many of these clubs weren't in exactly decent locations, at the time at least. They were usually the first to arrive at a venue (to set up), and the last to leave (after breaking their gear down). They weren't paid for their work...they did it because they loved the music, and this was their contribution to the culture of the time & place. As they stated, if you were in the scene at the time, everyone did something...whethere it was playing in a band, running a club, DJ'ing, shooting film, acting...whatever. And it was all very social. They are currently working on a documentary about this period in their lives and their prescient work.
I had the honor of watching the show with the esteemed Jim Fouratt, excellent music writer (and co-worker) Michael Azerrad, the ubiquitous Joly from PunkCast, and new friend Jason from awesome music website, Perfect Sound Forever. I'm a hip motherfucker.
Here's the program in order:
- Blondie (CBGB 1975) - doing a lousy version of the Velvet Underground's Femme Fatale.
- Heartbreakers w/Richard Hell (CBGB 1975) - the original line-up.
- Talking Heads (CBGB 1975) - the original 3 piece line-up performing an early version of Psycho Killer.
- Dead Boys (CBGB 1977) - performing the Stooges Search & Destroy if memory serves.
- Dead Kennedys (Hurrah 1979) - Jello Biafra looking so young, wrestles with a female audience member during their song - hilarious!
- Lounge Lizards (CBGB 1979) - a great performance suggesting further investigation of a band I haven't ever really attempted to get into beyond the odd compilation cut.
- Teenage Jesus & the Jerks (Paradise Garage 1978) - a 20 or 30 second long song, a young Lydia Lunch reeking of attitude.
- Contortions (Paradise Garage 1978) - from the same show as Teenage Jesus, the sound quality is horrible but the performance is intense, James Chance as cool as ever.
- Dead Boys with Divine (CBGB 1978) - yes, that Divine and a couple of dancing girls in bikinis.
- Stilettos (CBGB 1978) - with Tish & Snooky of Manic Panic fame, reminded me of Lorraine Newman on Saturday Night Live for some reason...they were thin, it was the 70s...I don't know.
- Richard Hell & the Voidoids (CBGB 1978) - Robert Quine was as cool as all get out.
- Suicide (Danceteria 1980) - perhaps my fave perfomance of the night. When they made these guys, they broke the mold...hell, there never was a mold.
- DNA (Mudd Club 1979)
- Iggy Pop (Hurrah 1979)
- Levi & the Rockats (CBGB 1979) - much better than I remember
- Cramps (Irving Plaza 1980) - It might've been Garbage Man, Bryan Gregory was another icon with the polka dotted flying-V guitar.
- Heartbreakers (Irving Plaza 1980) - Too Much Junkie Business.
- John Cale (Irving Plaza 1980)
- Offs (The Rat 1979) - shot at the Rat in Boston, the only non-NYC performance shown.
- Max Blagg (Danceteria 1980) - a scathing anti-heroin rant/poem, very intense & heartfelt.
- Bush Tetras (Danceteria 1980) - Tight & funky, Pat Place is a seriously cool guitar player.
- Bad Brains (CBGB 1979) - playing 12XU by Wire, not the best I've ever seen them, but a poor Bad Brains is better than most band's best.
- Go-Go's (Danceteria 1980) - Not as bad as I remember but nevertheless fluffy.
- Pylon (Danceteria 1980) - Some interesting idea's but I still don't understand people love for this Athens GA band...their tunes never quite did it for me but they had a great bass sound.
- Ballistic Kisses (Danceteria 1980) - Never knew much about these guys but I seem to remember them being something of a staple on the downtown club circuit in New York.
So that's it...if you made it this far I hope you learned something. I know I did...and keep an eye out for the DVD when it's finally released. If you've missed the Downtown Show in New York, future showings this year include Austin TX, and the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh PA. It's worth the trip...I like both cities!
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