Now Playing: The Black Panthers

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

The Velvet Underground Map of New York

 The Velvet Underground Map of New York

John "Hoppy" Hopkins RIP

John "Hoppy" Hopkins - RIP

Hoppy's website

Paul Gorman on Hopkins' photography

The 59 Club, 1964, by John "Hoppy Hopkins

 

Shot By: Frederick Wilfred

Visit FrederickWilfred.com

Documentaries of Note: Take Me To The River & Rock Your Baby

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Manny Roth RIP

Manny Roth - RIP

Photo by Robert Walker

Leee Black Childers RIP

Leee Black Childers - RIP

Lost & Found: Marvin Gaye's 1964 Passport

This is the sort of story you hear maybe once every ten years or so. A Motown Museum employee, who also happens to be a crazy Motown collector, bought a bunch of Motown records for himself. And what fell out of one the LP's? Marvin Gaye's US passport, dated October 16, 1964. Wow... Appearing with the item on a recent episode of Antiques Roadshow, the lucky finder found it appraised at $20,000. Not bad! (via Fact Mag)

Gary Grimshaw RIP

Gary Grimshaw by Leni Sinclair

Gary Grimshaw - RIP

Visit GaryGrimshaw.com

Christmas hairdo

So far underground you'll get the bends: More Lou Reed than you can shake a stick at

Since he passed away on October 27, there's been an overly abundant supply of Lou Reed content - bootlegs, video, what have you - popping up online. I thought I'd share here some links to a few items that have caught my attention.

Below, Lou gets interviewed by Anthony DeCurtis at the 92nd Street Y in NYC a few years back. I was lucky enough to be there, and I'm glad to see this again. DeCurtis seems a bit nervous at times, but he's good enough to give Lou space & let him finish his thoughts. I'm  sure it wasn't an easy gig. This video, and many others, can be found amongst the treasure trove of content that the 92nd Street Y recently made available here.

Secondly, and always good sources for tasty & choice live recordings, Doom & Gloom From The Tomb, and Aquarium Drunkard, have both have shared some great files from various sources recently. First up, from the Infinite Fool via Doom & Gloom, we have Lou Reed & The Tots - Alice Tully Hall, New York City, NY, January 27, 1973. This is a recording of one of the shows that the poster at the top of this post comes from. 

Then, from Music For Maniacs via Doom & Gloom, we have Pre-VU - an incredible collection of pre-Velvet Undergound recordings that involved Lou to some degree or another. Here's the track listing:

01. Jades - Leave Her for Me
02. Jades - So Blue (time-1002, 1958)
03. Lewis Reed - Merry Go Round (1962)
04. Lewis Reed - Your Love
05. The All Night Workers - Why Don’t You Smile Now
06. The Beachnuts - Cycle Annie (1965)
07. The Beachnuts - I’ve Got A Tiger In My Tank
08. the Hi-Lifes - Soul City (1965)
09. The Primitives - Sneaky Pete
10. The Primitives - The Ostrich
11. The Roughnecks - You’re Driving Me Insane

And then, perhaps the coolest of all, is a recording of Lou guest DJ-ing on the short lived WPIX rock station here in NYC in 1979. As Aquarium Drunkard writes, "Lou is in fine, fighting form here, peppering his commentary with scathing diatribes against Robert Christgau, Rolling Stone magazine, Jimmy Carter and NYC taxi drivers. He even takes some calls — witness the hilarious, surreal moment when Lou “Take No Prisoners” Reed admonishes a caller for using foul language. The music he plays is fantastic, too, with some classic doo wop, tracks from his then-unreleased The Bells LP, and a truly bizarro segue from Al Green to Nico. Lou even comes out in favor of disco.." Download a zipfile of this great show here.

And just for kicks, here are the Velvets doing "I'm Not A Young Man Anymore" which will be included with the forthcoming deluxe issue of White Light/White Heat.

I think thats it for now, but I know there will be more...It always comes back to the rain. And with that, I'll leave you with this classic shot of Lou & John Cale looking all festive back in 1977 as shot by Miss Kate Simon. I originally ran this last Christmas day with Kate's awesome playlist. And by the way, Kate, if you're reading this, don't forget that new Christmas playlist you've promised me this year.

Loaded: Lou Reed & John Cale at Lou's house in New York, Christmas 1977 - by Kate Simon

Stupefied: The Andy Schwartz Playlist

This week's edition of the Stupefied Playlist© is brought to us by one of my favorite writers, and someone I'm happy to call a friend, Mr. Andy Schwartz. Andy contributes a wonderful essay & playlist based on the blue eyed soul genre. I can say with certainty that having his writing on this blog definitely classes the joint up. Thank you Andy! Hit play and read along...

Andy Schwartz by Tim Broun, 2013

Blue-Eyed Soul: Trying to precisely define the term describing black music performed by white artists can be a slippery slope - while some of the genre’s greatest practitioners are among its most obscure.

By Andy Schwartz

One night in early December, I sat with music-business veteran and fellow Hall of Fame voter Gregg Geller in a Manhattan nightclub. When the conversation turned to the topic of this essay, he reflected: “ ‘Soul’ as a vocal quality is timeless, eternal. But ‘blue-eyed soul’ is a moment in time.”

Gregg was referring to a pop–music phenomenon whose rise and fall paralleled that of African-American soul music itself. Among its spiritual predecessors were Bing Crosby, whom bandleader Artie Shaw called “the first hip white person”; Johnnie Ray, whose histrionic style borrowed heavily from black gospel and early rhythm & blues; and Elvis Presley, who scored across–the–board hits on the pop, country and R&B charts alike.

When I e-mailed some twenty music aficionados around the country, informally soliciting their favorite “white soul” artists and recordings, their enthusiastic replies cited nearly seventy artists, spanning the musical alphabet from Mose Allison to Timmy Yuro. A New York label entrepreneur’s all–British list included Tom Jones, the Bee Gees, and Simply Red. A Georgia journalist named prewar jazzmen Bix Beiderbecke and Jack Teagarden. A New Jersey memorabilia dealer vouched for Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad and the Four Seasons’ Frankie Valli. (Continued after the jump.)

Shot by: Joel Meyerowitz

New York City, 1965 by Joel Meyerowitz

New York City, 1963 by Joel Meyerowitz

New York City, 1963 by Joel Meyerowitz

 (Source)

Movie of the Week: American Hot Wax (1978)

Hat tip to Rama Lama

Movie of the Week: The Diggers of San Francisco

The Diggers movement began in San Francisco in the mid 60's. Post-beat, running parallel to the hippies but not really of them, leaderless & anarchic, somewhat formless & unorganized, its perhaps because of this they've never really gotten the attention they deserve. 

For more on the Diggers, check out The Digger Archives, and read Emmett Grogan's amazing memoir, Ringolevio: A Life Played for Keeps (I've read it twice).

Hat tip to the mighty Joe Nolan.

Movie of the Week: The Troggs Documentary (1994)

The Troggs - Official website

Movie of the Week - Johnny Kidd & The Pirates: Jukebox Heroes

Hugely influential in the UK, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates are perhaps best known for two singles, "Shakin' All Over" (covered by the Who, the Flamin' Groovies, Generation X, and many  others), and "Please Don't Touch" (probably best known Stateside via the joint version by Girlschool and Motorhead). Not only did these guys rock, but they had a somewhat nasty image that Malcolm McLaren later took into consideration when forming all of his ideas for his clothing shop, and finding his own little rock & roll band to run.

Band leader & namesake, Johnny Kidd, died in a car crash in 1966, but the band has lived on in many permutations over the years earning some dough from their brief time in the spotlight.

  Hat tip to Anorak Thing

Shadow Morton RIP

 Shadow Morton - RIP

Rick Huxley (Dave Clark Five) RIP

Rick Huxley - RIP

Goodnight Shindiggers everywhere

With the recent passing of Jimmy O'Neill, Peteski over at This Isn't Happiness was kind enough to dig up this youtube clip of O'Neill in action on Shindig.