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. 

Happy birthday Alan Vega!

Photo by Pierre René-Worms

Heartfelt & sincere birthday wishes go out to Mr. Alan Vega.

Bruce Springsteen thanks fans with letter & stunning version of Suicide's Dream Baby Dream

Its not exactly a secret that Bruce Springsteen is a Suicide fan, but for some reason it always surprises me. Anyway, I posted this back in 2008, but Springsteen has just put out a new version of Vega & Rev's "Dream Baby Dream" with a video tribute to his fans as he wraps up the current tour. It accompanies the above letter (posted on BruceSpringsteen.net), and its quite powerful & beautiful. Say what you'd like about him, but the guy gets it.

Fantabulous New York Rock Party, New York, May 30, 1976

Here's a poster for an event I've never heard of before - the Fantabulous New York Rock Party - which took place at the Manhattan Center (which is still there) in New York on May 30, 1976. According to the site where this image is from, and this poster is available to purchase, this was a benefit for Wayne County, as well as quite an interesting mix of the (then) old school & present school of the downtown/art/music scene in New York. Read more, and if you're wealthy, purchase this here.

Sonny Vincent, Suicide, and living to tell about it

The Dogs, Distance & Suicide at The Circus, St. Marks Place, NYC, October 1971

Sonny Vincent

Sonny Vincent is one of those New York guys...the type of musician who has always been around...played the right places at the right time with the right acts, but for some reason never really made it (although you wouldn't know that from his discography). Always a part of the underground, you really need to dig a little deeper to find out about these types. And they usually have interesting stories to tell.

Thanks to Peter Dougherty for pointing me to this pretty amazing interview with Vincent over at Victim of Time. While the entire thing is definitely worth reading, it was the story about Suicide that really interested me. I've excerpted that below, but make sure you check out the entire interview right here. And keep up with Vincent's current stuff via his Facebook page and website.

What was your most lasting impression of Suicide and what was your first encounter with seeing them?

Ahhh Suicide. In the early days I would see Alan and Marty pushing gear down the street in a shopping cart, Didn’t know who they were, but it definitely looked odd seeing them walking along the sidewalk on St. Marks Place or Canal Street pushing an A&P cart with a keyboard that had no protective case sticking out of the cart. The first time I played a show with them was at a place called The Circus/Playwrights Workshop. It was originally called The Electric Circus where all the 60’s groups like Hendrix and The Doors played. Then a bit later, it was called The Dom, and Moe Tucker and Sterling Morrison told me they played there early on when it was shortly called The Balloon Farm, and also they did a lot of the Velvet Underground / Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable performances there when it was The Dom. I think Andy rented the place sometime to put on his events. (Continued after the jump.)

Movie of the Week: Suicide live at Primavera (2011)

Source

 

This is how its done, kids. We're all fuckin' Frankies.

Shot by: George DuBose

The Alan Vega Band: Sesu Coleman, Mark Kuch, Alan Vega & Lary Chaplan

Visit george-dubose.com

ROIR loves you!

Our friends at the ROIR label are offering a 10 track compilation for free download for Valentines Day. It includes James Chance's "Melt Yourself Down" from the Lost Chance album as well as many other like-minded favorites...Grab it here.

Shot by: Adrian Boot

S.T.Y.L.E.: Suicide outside CBGB, circa 1979, by Adrian Boot. I wonder whose Caddy that is?

Suicide & Bush Tetras in NYC, Nov 29

Too many creeps? Lets hope so...Get your tickets here.

Before and After - Dream Baby Dream

Before - Suicide


After - Nenah Cherry & The Thing (The Cherry Thing)

Friday Ephemera - Suicide

Suicide album ad, ZigZag magazine, 1980

Before and After: Ghost Rider

Before - Suicide (Suicide (First Album))


After -

Paul Haig (Warp of Pure Fun)


Soft Cell with Jim 'Foetus' Thirlwell

Before and After: Dream Baby Dream

Before - Suicide:

Suicide on Amazon

After - Bruce Springsteen:

Bruce Springsteen on Amazon

Before and After: Frankie Teardrop

Before - Suicide:

(Shout out to Paul Dougherty! Indeed, this is what we were up against.)

After - Lydia Lunch:

I could have been there

This would make a nice poster, wouldn't it? A friend had an extra ticket, and all I had to do was get my ass over to London. Couldn't swing it.

Suicide, Ramones, Senders at Max's Kansas City

Thanks to the Max's Kansas City twitter feed, I found out about some cool "found footage" of the Ramones, Senders, and Suicide performing there which was recently posted on Rolling Stone.com. This is part of the advance press push for the upcoming Abrams published book about Max's, due in September. Apparently there is a documentary coming as well.

I mentioned the book a few weeks ago over at Eugene Merinov's site as it will include one of his photos. Stay tuned for Max's related news by signing up for their newsletter.

As always, don't forget to check out "Max's Kansas City - the Dates & Details" over at This Ain't The Summer of Love.

Alan Vega getting hopped up at Brooklyn Public Library

In the continuing promotion of his new book, All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927-77, author Tony Fletcher has yet another discussion/reading scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 10, at the Brooklyn Public Library with the one and only, true rock & roll hero, Alan Vega. As enticing as his other events have been, this for me is the one!

Thursday, December 10 at 7:00PM
Brooklyn Public Library - Central Library
Grand Army Plaza
Brooklyn, NY 11238
718-230-2100

Read a nice round up of Tony's recent promotional shenanigans at iJamming. Included is Jim Fouratt catching Tom Verlaine browsing through books at the Strand which is sort of special if you're a Television fan.

Some posters - most available #7

I've recently started putting together my lifelong collection of posters with the purpose of trying to sell most of them. I'm open to offers of cash or even a trade if I'm interested in what you have to offer. I don't want to put them on eBay just yet. I've sold posters on eBay before & they can be a pain in the ass. However, if it comes to that, I'll do it eventually.

If you're interested, you can download a close-to-complete list of what I have here. There are no measurements or descriptions, just a list. If you need more information, just ask.

Friday ephemera - No Wave gigs