Shot by: Anton Corbijn

David Byrne by Anton Corbijn

Low Fidelity - The Photographs of Bobby Grossman 1975-1983

 Low Fidelity - The Photographs of Bobby Grossman 1975-1983 by Bobby Grossman

Bobby Grossman

The recently published Low Fidelity - The Photographs of Bobby Grossman 1975-1983 is a hugely credible addition to the steadily growing collection of catalogs, books & films looking back at the mid-70's thru mid-80's. Bobby Grossman definitely pushes the envelope of hip. 

Starting in 1975 when he met future Talking Heads Byrne, Frantz & Weymouth at the Rhode Island School of Design, Grossman moved on to NYC and joined the in-crowd downtown. His subjects included the Talking Heads, of course, as well as folks like Andy Warhol, David Bowie, William Burroughs, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Debbie Harry, Fab 5 Freddy, and others, at places like CBGB and the Mudd Club. Special mention goes out for Bobby being the official photographer of Glenn O'Brien's TV Party cable access show!

Read the excerpt below written by Chris Frantz & Tina Weymouth (check out their excellent new Tom Tom Club album here). It's one of the many contributions from the impressive list of Bobby's subjects & friends that you'll find inside. Big thanks to Bobby for the images & text.

 Order Low Fidelity here. Visit Bobby's official website here. 

Bobby is represented by Vertu Fine Art in Boca Raton, FL.

Glenn O'Brien

On the set at TV Party

Anya Phillips

Talking Heads in the studio

Rhode Island School Of Design in the mid seventies was a real hothouse of interesting characters ready to bloom. After four increasingly ambitious years in Providence, we had explored Benefit Street from one end to the other and we were ready to make our mark in the world of art. For some of us, there was never any question that this would mean moving to New York City. In New York we hoped to rub shoulders with our heroes Andy Warhol, Lou Reed and John Cale, Robert Raushenberg and John Cage.

We knew that New York would become our city, too, and that one day we would be identified not as artists who came to New York, but as artists who came from New York. We used to say things like "When I'm rich and famous,H but what we really meant was not that we wished to become rich and famous. but that we hoped our art would be remembered by kids like us in the future.

There was a bar called CBGB on The Bowery of all places, and this is where some of us would make history. Our friend Bobby Grossman from RISD had the foresight to bring his camera to CBGB and to start shooting photos that chronicle those very intense and important early days. We are older now, but we remember that intensity very well and are so pleased to have been among his subjects. Bobby photographed the cover for a song we would become famous for, "Psycho Killer," that we had written when we were still students at RISD. It was that great art school education that set us apart from most of the other bands. We had been taught to always put something unique unto ourselves into our art. This what we did, and this is what Bobby did, too. We hope you enjoy these images as much as we do.

- Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club)

The Eight Track Museum comes to Roxbury NY on Saturday

The next time I hear someone complain about a lack of things to do in the Catskills I'll send them here:

The Eight Track Museum is pleased to announce that the world's only museum dedicated to 8 track tapes and technology will open the second only museum dedicated to 8 track tapes and technology this October in Roxbury, New York. This permanent outpost of the Dallas museum will be located in the historic Roxbury Corner Store building and will be operated in conjunction with the Orphic Gallery - an art gallery featuring only music related art. The grand opening will be October 13th from 4-8 pm and feature the unveiling of the world's rarest 8 track and a meet & greet with Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth.

Downtown Rockers: New Tom Tom Club video

Here is the new video from the Tom Tom Club which features quick cameos from Debbie Harry & Richard Hell. "Downtown Rockers" is an unapologetic nostalgic love letter in the form of a list to the NYC music scene of the 70's. A nice return to form from one of the nicest couples I've ever had the pleasure of meeting...For buying & social links visit tomtomclub.net.

Movie of the Week: Talking Heads at CBGB's (Dec. 1975)

9/15/75 Village Voice "Choices" column excerpt. Courtesy of Its All The Streets You Crossed (who else?!)

Seven songs filmed in the early amoeba-like days of both CBGB and Talking Heads...wonderful!

TALKING HEADS: Early Mixes

Fear of Music (Early Mix)

01. Cities
First minute is unfortunately somewhat garbled, but source tape is fine after that.
02. Electric Guitar
03. Life During Wartime
04. Drugs
05. I Zimbra
06. Mind
07. Heaven (Basic)
08. Heaven (#2)
09. Animals

Download here.

More Songs About Buildings and Food (Early Mix)

01. With Our Love (5.4MB)
02. Stay Hungry (4.0MB)
03. Big Country (8.4MB)
04. The Good Thing (4.7MB)
05. Artists Only (5.5MB)
06. Warning Sign (6.0MB)
07. B. Angel (3.4MB)
08. Take Me To The River (7.8MB)
09. I’m Not In Love (7.0MB)
10. Girls (5.5MB)
11. Found A Job

Download here.

Daily Travels - Exile at Bowery Electric, 2.7.12

Chris Frantz & Tina Weymouth discuss the finer art of meeting trannies on tour in Paris, circa 1978, with James Wolcott. Read a nice write up about the recently released Talking Heads' DVD, Chronology, over at Dangerous Minds. Photo courtesy of Godlis.

Talking Heads Chronology on DVD

For you Talking Heads nuts out there, here's a nice new collection of career-spanning live performances from Eagle Rock...Chronology pulls together live performances from across Talking Heads' career. It starts with their earliest days at CBGB and The Kitchen in New York City in the mid-seventies, through their breakthrough years in the late seventies and on to global success in the eighties. They completed their last tour in 1983 although they would continue to make very successful albums throughout the eighties before officially breaking up in 1991. The DVD concludes with their "reunion" performance of "Life During Wartime" at their induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame in 2002. Order from Amazon here.

Tracklisting:
1) Mic Test (1976)
2) With Our Love (1975)
3) I'm Not In Love (1975)
4) Psycho Killer (1975)
5) Intros Montage (1976)
6) The Girls Want To Be With The Girls (1976)
7) Don't Worry About The Government (1978)
8) Dressing room fan footage: Found A Job (1978)
9) Thank You For Sending Me An Angel (1978)
10) Warning Sign (1978)
11) Artists Only (1979)
12) Take Me To The River (1979)
13) Crosseyed And Painless (1980)
14) Animals (1980)
15) Love - Building On Fire (1982)
16) Cities (1982)
17) Burning Down The House (1983)
18) Life During Wartime (2002)

Friday Ephemera - Talking Heads promotional jigsaw puzzle

More Songs About Building & Food promo item, Sire Records, 1978. This rare bit of Talking Heads history can now be yours for $85.00.

Before and After: Take Me To the River

Before - Al Green (on Soul Train, 1975 - excellent!):


After - Talking Heads (at My Father's Place, Roslyn NY, 1978 - yowza!):

Randy goes to concerts

My friend Randy recently checked in with a couple of new concert photo sets. First up is long time garage faves, the Mummies, who have been off of the live circuit for quite some time. They are back now and packed them in at Southpaw in Brooklyn on June 10.

Randy says, "Outside of playing a festival in Spain last year, San Mateo's kings of "No Budget" garage rock, THE MUMMIES, haven't gigged together regularly since '92. Performing in front of a rowdy sold-out crowd at Southpaw in Brooklyn, these groovy ghoulies brought down the house with a potent mixture of their 7" singles and album tracks." See the full photo set here.

On June 8, he was at Prospect Park to witness the latest David Byrne extravaganza in full force.

Randy says, "David Byrne ushered in the 2009 "Celebrate Brooklyn!" summer festival at Prospect Park this past Monday, June 8th. The theme for the evening was Byrne's many collaborations with Brian Eno, most recently bearing fruit with last year's "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" album. Most of the setlist was pulled from the legendary Talking Heads albums "Fear of Music" and "Remain In Light." The crowd was especially delighted to hear "Take Me To The River" and "Burning Down The House" during the encores. I personally was thrilled to hear "Air." As you'll see from these photos, age is agreeing with Mr. Byrne.

Don't miss the photos at the end of the set of Byrne in a tutu!" See the whole photo set here.

September 29, 1979

Talking Heads
Stardust Ballroom
Los Angeles

Artists Only
Stay Hungry
Cities
Paper
Mind
Heaven
Electric Guitar
Air
New Feeling
Love Goes To a Building On Fire
Found a Job
Psycho Killer
Crowd
Life During Wartime
Take Me To The River

Fantastic quality!

NY Rocker 1976-78

NY Rocker

NY Rocker 1980