Flaming Pablum

Day of the Demon

While it's entirely inarguable that he's revoltingly misogynist, indefensibly avaricious, shamelessly megalomaniacal and worryingly supportive of the Republican party, Gene Simmons will always be a hero of mine. Kiss was the first band that I ever really loved, and that love runs deep enough for me to overlook all of its members' myriad faults, flaws and foibles. They also wrote some damn fine tunes which they never seem to get very much credit for. Here's one of them. Today is Gene's birthday. I'd say "raise a glass," but Gene doesn't drink. Well, not alcohol, anyway. Cheers to EV for pointing out this auspicious occasion.

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Ear to The Ground

I'm stealing this in its entirety from my good buddy Hot Johnny, but I just thought it was too cool not to share here. Shot around the streets of Chinatown, Soho and Triebeca in 1982, "Ear to The Ground" is a film by "performance art percussionist" David Van Tieghem wherein he coaxes music from the very streets. But as HJ said, imagine the hell this guy's neighbors go through!

 

Recent Things

Surprise! I'm not done after all. As I mentioned back in this post, I bought a digital camera right when my oldest child, Charlotte, was born in 2004. The speed and convenience (such a dirty word) of digital photography largely rendered my old, trusty cameras somewhat obsolete. In very short order, I ended up shooting pictures exclusively with my handy digital camera. 

Coupled with the time demands of parenthood, my opportunities to stroll around New York for the sole purpose of taking pictures dwindled. I still walked all around Manhattan, but now I was pushing a stroller. As such, many of the pictures I took feature said stroller and/or just Charlotte in the shot. These pictures may lack the more "artsy" approach (filter, wide angles, etc.) I ham-fistedly attempted to apply to all those earlier pictures, but I still think some of them are nice. These shots stretch back to 2004 through the present and are not in any order. See what ya think.

.... and there will be more.

Because It's Friday

"I Want My NYC!"

Because I simply REFUSE TO BE OUTDONE by my comrade EV Grieve in our back'n'forth competition of who can cite the most music videos that prominently feature the great C of NY, herewith another clutch of them. It should be noted that some are better than others.

First up is a tragically grainy one by Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul.  Little Steven Van Zandt is beloved of many a slackjawed mook for being both a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and a cast member on the slavishly overrated "Sopranos." Personally speaking, I've never given the slightest whiff of a damn about either of those hoarily oversung blights to popular culture. The only reason I ever gave a toss about The Disciples of Soul was simply because it was the band bassist Jean Beauvoir (he of the white mohawk -- or `frohawk, if you will) decamped to after he left the almighty Plasmatics.  In any case, "Forever" is a nice little ditty which features the boys all over the town circa 1982. Sorry again about the video quality.

Next up comes "When I Get You Alone" by Robin Thicke, son of ersatz late-night icon Alan Thicke. There are precious few things I hate with more of a white hot vengeance than contemporary R'NB, but I immediately warmed to this clip upon its 2003 debut, not least for it's amazing footage of New York (the singer - then trading solely on his last name --  plays a bike messenger), but for its creative cribbing of Walter Murphy's classically discofied "A Fifth of Beethoven." Critics lambasted Thicke's lillywhite soul appropriations (think:  Jamiroquai) and the album quietly went nowhere.  A couple of years later, Thicke re-emerged with a second album (produced by Pharrell Williams), and he's now fully "reputable" in the Hip Hop/R'NB community. Who cares about any of that claptrap, though? I think this is a damn entertaining clip. When I worked over at MTV News, Thicke actually came through the offices, and he seemed like a perfectly decent dude. Good luck to'im.

 

Alright, enough of the crap, here's one of my all-time favorites.  "All that I Wanted" by Belfegore was directed by maverick lensman Zbigniew Rybczynski. It's a gloriously nauseating four minutes and fifteen seconds of dizzying motion, following a horde of terrified citizens (among them punks, arab sheiks, toilet-brandishers and Vegas showgirls) repeatedly running down Pier 23 in TriBeCa (just opposite of N. Moore Street) from an unseen, unspeakable menace. The band plays on throughout, of course. This clip dates back to about 1984. Prescient of September 11th, 2001? You decide.

Lastly, arguably the greatest music video featuring NYC as a backdrop, "This Is Radio Clash" by -- wait for it -- The Clash!

Would You Choose to Walk or Stay?

Spotted this today on my way to work. Not sure what to make of it....

The Physical Manifestation of Music is an Endangered Species

Yeah, maybe we all saw it coming, but like the Ice Age, there's evidently no stopping it. As reported in PC World, not only are the independent, mom'n'pop standalone music stores vanishing, but now even the big retailers are cutting back their in-store compact disc sales. Read it and weep.

Matinee Memories

Other Things

I know I said this the last time I posted a bunch of these picture, but this is probably the very last batch for while, or at least until I go through several boxes in my closet. In any case, with the exception of the above pic taken in 1986 of the late, lamented Lone Star Cafe on Fifth Avenue and 13th Street, most of these shots are from the last nine years or so. Again, if you enjoy these, do also click on...

Things That Are Not There

More Things That Are Not There

Things The May or May Not Still Be There

Also, check out my original photo album, Vanishing Downtown, although the information in there is quite out of date by this point. In any case, please enjoy these ones too. Cheers.

Video City Music Haul

In what is becoming an entertaining cyber-conversation, I am now answering EV Grieve's last post of music videos that feature New York City. Herewith another clutch of my favorites:

Here's Brooklyn via Biohazard. I once sat directly in front of these dudes at a Kiss concert in 1997 (the Psycho Circus tour, pedants). They look plenty scary, but they're actually hilarious guys.

Here's David Bowie's "I'm Afraid of Americans," featuring Trent Reznor in an homage to both Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" and "After Hours". Some lovely shots of Soho and the West Village.

Here, the Beastie Boys run rampant in Greenwich Village.

Here, House of Pain muck about at Old Saint Patrick's on Mott Street, terrorize the Old Town Bar & Grill on 18th Street, and cause trouble at the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Here, Henry Rollins also mines "Taxi Driver," featuring some great interior shots of the (since-vanished?) Munson Diner on 12th Avenue.

The Rolling Stones famously loiter on St Marks Place (with Peter Tosh) and hold court in the since vanished St. Marks Bar & Grill.