Flaming Pablum

Thanks for the Memories...

It's Memorial Day weekend.... well, it will be in a few hours, at least. M'self and my little brood are bound for my long-suffering mom's place out in Lawn Guy Land (say it out loud for a fleeting moment of mirth). Blog-wise, I have a few irons in the fire (notably the big reveal of my last Flaming Pablum Photo Quiz location), but until then, here are two vids I wasted large swathes of my morning viewing.

First up, here's yet another doc-in-the-works about No Wave. I remember getting all psyched up years ago for the last No Wave documentary, that being the ultimately spotty and unsatisfying "Kill Your Idols." This one, being that it's being put together by someone who was actually there, seems more promising. Check it out.

Next up is a little vintage NYHC from 1985, starring those endearingly intimidating thugs in Agnostic Front. I'm not going to lie: While I loved the band's records like Cause for Alarm and Victim in Pain (despite the pointedly tasteless cover art of the latter), I demurred from ever attending one of their shows, as I was concerned that I might get duly scalped and pulverized for being the ninety-pound sissymary I inarguably was in 1985. Ah well, my loss.

Have a nice weekend, everyone. Drive safely.

Sk8 NYC Redux

Some of you may remember a post of not too long back wherein I confessed to being a woefully inept skater in my now-quite-distant youth. Seriously, it was a skill I never even came close to mastering. I was hopeless.

In any case, my colleague Drew forwarded me another vintage clip of skaters tear-assing around New York City in 1985. Even if you’re not a fan of watching a bunch of teenage nogoodnicks terrorizing their fellow citizens with ill-advised feats of daring do, you should at least check it out for the fleeting footage of Manhattan locales. My favorite bit involves them skating beneath the marquee of Radio City Music Hall (which cites Supertramp and the Motels – quite a strange double-bill – as an upcoming performance). Enjoy.

Astor Place Disgrace

Based on EV Grieve's report on the latest developments regarding the impending glass rectangle of doom that will soon blot out the sun and crush the hopes, dreams, spirits and imaginations of all who dare to walk within in its looming shadow of abject avarice and chronic, soul-immolating mirthlessness, I thought I'd revisit a clip that made the rounds not too long back. Take a moment to soak in this lovely footage of Astor Place from a simpler, less harried age. We shall probably not see this type of languid tranquility in this neighborhood ever again.

There's something oddly fitting about this film being silent, as well. I'm not sure what day of the week (or what time of day, for that matter) this film was shot, but notice how no one seems to be a frightful hurry? I find it oddly soothing.

The Tao of 9 Second Avenue

I was just recently in an exchange with Bog Egan from PopSpots NYC, discussing some of the since-vanished buildings in the vicinity of 1st Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery, and I remembered this great find by Jeremiah Moss from a little under a year ago. "The Tao of 9 Second Avenue" is an amazing little documentary from around 2008 about this particular neighborhood. Sure, it's the former turf of storied locales like Mars Bar, XOXO Bar, the notorious McGurk's Suicide Hall and Extra Space, the formerly decrepit back alley behind the also-missing CBGB, but it's prudent to remember that New York City isn't just about bars and clubs and punk rockers and hipsters and drinking and ultimately trivial bullshit like that. It's about people. It's about neighborhoods. "The Tao of 9 Second Avenue" is a heartbreaking profile of how gentrification directly affected a community with a long history and swept it all aside in the name of real estate development.

With my work schedule and parental obligations, I'm not often afforded the opportunity to walk around the city as much as I used to do. As such, I haven't made it down to this area since the demise of the Mars Bar. I've only caught glimpses from images on Vanishing New York, Bowery Boogie, EV Grieve and the like. I'd obviously never set foot in 9 Second Avenue, nor its adjoining chapel. I certainly took a pile of photographs of its exterior over the years, not actually knowing what it was beyond being a cool-looking edifice on a street that formerly oozed what I'd always considered cool Lower East Side mystique. As you'll see from this documentary, this place was so much more than that, and meant a great deal to certain people. Do check it out.

Closed for Business: 5 Great Missing NYC Dive Bars

I posted my teary paean to the impending demise of the great Lakeside Lounge on Facebook at the beginning of this week, and my friend Paul Wallfisch (he of Botanica, late of Firewater, among myriad other pursuits) had this to say.....

Fair point, I thought, but I'm still sad about it. The whole episode got me thinking about some of the other great, divey bars that used to pepper this fine city's shadowy backstreets and less lustrous avenues.

Sure, I've repeatedly lamented the vanishing of my beloved Cedar Tavern, the dissolution of the P&G and the gutting of the collapsed former-speak-easy Chumley's here on many an occasion, but in this instance, I'm talking more about the less established drinking institutions. Here's a quick list -- in no particular order -- of some of my old favorites. Don't bother looking for them today, as they're all gone.

1. Alcatraz (132 St. Marks Place): It's a brightly-painted sushi bar today, but back in the late 80's and into the 90's, this corner of Avenue A was home to an endearingly seedy joint that catered to acolytes of all things loud, boozy and rude. Largely patronized by the East Village's populace of punks, bikers, metalheads and barflies, Alcatraz was a regular stop for my friend Rob and I. Of course, it didn't last. By the way, I prized the photo above from this weblog.

2. The Hog Pit (22 9th Avenue): I already wrote a lengthy post about this favorite place of mine. Today, much like the neighborhood that surrounds it, it's gone pointedly upscale as an outlet of Billy's Burger Bar. They opened a new incarnation of the Hog Pit over in the 20s between Sixth and Fifth Avenues, but I'm just not really interested in that. As far as I'm concerned, the Hog Pit is dead.

3. Siberia Bar: (West 50th Street 1 or 9 stop/40th Street & 9th Avenue): There were actually two incarnations of Siberia, and I miss them both quite a bit. The original one was tucked discreetly away in a subway station right near my old office at TIME Magazine. Legend has it that this tiny little space used to be a clandestine meeting place for KGB agents during the Cold War. It was here in this decrepit closet that they'd exchange microfilm and secrets about national security, like some creepy scene in "Marathon Man" or "Three Days of the Condor." In any case, sometime in the 90's, the place was opened up as a disarmingly intimate but incredibly cool dive bar (with an amazing juke box) that was decked out in entirely in Russian art and Soviet propaganda posters. It was just way too cool.

Typically, it didn't last. Today, that space plays host to either a Subway sandwich shop or a Dunkin' Donuts, and it's a damn shame. In any case, the proprietor of Siberia moved to a great new location in Hell's Kitchen that was vast compared to its former locale. I had my doubts about it, but it ended up being just as cool, albeit in a different way, than its previous incarnation. There was, however, a strange policy wherein they'd actually throw you out of the place for cursing and/or gratuitously hitting on women. I'm not kidding. They'd totally do it. Regardless, they closed the place in 2007.

Here's a little documentary about the original location. Enjoy:

 

4. Bellevue Bar (538 Ninth Avenue): The Bellevue was a truly enjoyable place right around the corner from the second location of Siberia. I believe there was a rumor that there was a secret passage that connected to two, but who knows? In any case, this was yet another place with an awesome jukebox and a cool vibe. My fondest memory of the Bellevue is pumping the jukebox full of coin and watching a retired mailman in his sixites frug like a madman to "Mother" by Danzig. This place was so goddamn cool. And, of course, it's gone. The awesome photo above comes from this MySpace page.

5. Scrap Bar (116 MacDougal Street): The Scrap Bar, in retrospect, was a bit goofy, but in the early 90's, it was quite a scene. High on style, it was not at all uncommon to run into local heavy metal luminaries hanging about. Losing the Scrap Bar wasn't the end of the world, but I did kinda enjoy it for a little while. The lovely photo above comes courtesy of this weblog.

6. King Tut's Wah-Wah Hut (112 Avenue A at 7th Street) After it was hardcore hotbed A7 and before it was Jesse Malin's Niagara (which it continues to be today), this corner space on the edge of Tompkins Square Park was a funky, arty little bar called King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. Much like many of the other bars cited here, the accent was on rock. I remember propping up the bar one night and hearing "You Got Another Thing Comin'" by Judas Priest come on, and the entirety of the establishment's patronage began banging their heads in unison. It was a beautiful thing. Speaking of beautiful things, see more amazing photos of King Tut's at this Facebook page.

I know I'm omitting a veritable ton of other spots. Some other old, vanished faves include Barramundi and the Ludlow Street Cafe on Ludlow Street, McGovern's on Prince Street, The Village Idiot on West 14th Street, Downtown Beirut and The Lismar Lounge on First Avenue (pictured up at the top of this post), Beowulf on Avenue A, McHale's on Eighth Avenue and many, many more.

Which ones do you miss?

New York City By Day

It's been a busy week, so sorry for the sparsity of meaningful content here. I promise to have some click-worthy material up soonest. In the interim, please bear with me.

That all said, I was chatting yesterday with my co-worker Drew, and we started ruminating on what an under-praised gem "Desperately Seeking Susan" is. That's right, you read that right. Sure, it's a Madonna movie (if not the the first Madonna movie), but it's actually pretty damn great (and I'll take it over "Evita" or "Truth or Dare" or "Who's That Girl?" or "Swept Away" or "Dick Tracy" or .....). If only she'd given up after this film!

Disregarding the fact that it stars the material girl, "Desperately Seeking Susan" features a host of coolster cameos, notably Richard Hell, Arto Lindsay, Anne Magnuson, Steven Wright and Rockets Redglare. I'm sure I'm omitting someone important there. There are also some tantalizingly fleeting shots of the East Village of yore and the interiors of Danceteria. In a way, the film serves as an excellent love letter to NYC. If you haven't watched it in a while, give it a glimpse, do.

Herewith a video from an instrumental on its soundtrack which will probably ring a bell, fitting titled "New York City By Day."

Something from Nothing

What I credibly know and like about Hip Hop probably wouldn’t fill up a lot of pages. But growing up in NYC, it was everywhere, so I simply absorbed a lot of it even against my inclinations. While I may have been more interested in listening to bands like Devo, Venom and the Circle Jerks during my high school days, the steady diet of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Houdini, Kurtis Blow and Run-DMC that routinely played in the student commons of my high school infiltrated my brain via osmosis.

I eventually cultivated my own tastes for Hip Hop, thrilling to certain records by Public Enemy, N.W.A., Ice-T, Digital Underground, Das-EFX (why their first album isn’t more celebrated, I’ll never know), Ice Cube, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, the Wu-Tang Clan, Busta Rhymes and a couple of notable others. I was always a fan of the Beastie Boys as well, although they’re practically a genre unto themselves by this point.

I don’t listen to much Hip Hop these days, and couldn’t honestly give a single crap about Lil Wayne or Kanye or Nicki Minaj, who just seems like she’s TRYING SOOO HARD. Forget that crap. I must begrudgingly admit to liking some of Jay-Z’s stuff, but I’m kind of tired of hearing how godlike he is. Yawn. Enough already.

Anyhoo, one person of mine who DOES know his shit about Hip Hop is my friend Glen. He shot me a note extolling the merits of the film in the trailer below, and waxed at greater length about it on his website. It does look pretty authoritative. At the very least, if this is anything to go by, it will at least feature some lovingly-shot footage of NYC. Check it out.

Back Underground

Not only is this 1986 documentary (in two parts) compelling for any die-hard Velvets fan, it also features some lovely archival footage of NYC. Turn it up and enjoy.

Back to Astor Place

This has been widely making the rounds, but filmmaker/regular reader/all-around cool-gal Karen Gehres is making a documentary about Astor Place hairstylists. Back in the 80's, Astor Place felt like the center of the universe, and right there, smack dab in the middle was Astor Place hairstylists. It's still there (albeit in a slightly diminished capacity). I frequently take my little son to have his locks lopped off there.

In any case, Karen's trying to raise some dough to finish the project. Chip in here, and watch a clip below.

Recent Hits & Misses

Hey gang. For those fair weather readers who are averse to scrolling yet are haunted by the notion of having missed something (I mean, god forbid, right?), herewith a handy breakdown of some recent, arguably noteworthy posts from here on Flaming Pablum. Why not open up your gaping maw and sink your canines into....

High speed city: Take visual sprint through the Manhattan of 1968.

What a gas: Avenue B's old Gas Station makes a fleeting cinematic cameo. 

Youth gone wild: Sonic Youth before Goo. 

Long Gone Kong: A look back at the bicentennial's biggest monster movie. 

Punks in the park: Cheetah Chrome, Lenny Kaye and more combat racism in the bandshell. 

Awesome photographs of vanished Manhattan (and other things), as glimpsed on Flickr. 

Exhuming Channel 2's expose on "combat rock cult" Missing Foundation.