I genuinely wanted to solve this mystery myself. In the last couple of days, I even walked up and down Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue South looking for buildings that resembled the surrounding facades in the photograph. But a clever reader named Woodside Al had a hunch and landed the plane, and it turns out that I was way off. The location of the manhole that Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick and Chuck Wein were photographed posing in and around by noted shutterbug Burt Glinn in 1965 (click here to see the more famous black & white shot) is on the eastern end of East 58th Street, not foo far from the site of the iconic poster shot from Woody Allen’s “Manhattan."
In any case, for those of you who don't have the time run over to Sutton Place to pay homage, here's a simulated visit thanks to Google Maps.
I have zero idea what “New York Band Stand” is … or, more accurately, was … but my friend Sybil of Farced fame posted the below video of Bauhaus lurching through a lip-synch of “Stigmata Martyr” on Facebook, and I was duly intrigued. You can see further rough footage from the (presumably public access television) broadcast by clicking here -- including some richly awkward interviewing -- and more performance here. The host of the show seems like a pushy, hyperactive jerk, but I’m sure he was well-intentioned. Listen closely to the banter on the interview link and hear a shout-out to the East Village’s notoriously eye-patched John “Gringo” Spacely. From Bauhaus' stage-wear and instrumentation, I’d say it’s a fair guess this program was taped around the same few days that these photos by Eugene Merinov were taken, but can’t be sure.
In any case, enjoy these fleeting tastes of a freakier NYC scene.
Here's another great image cribbed from This Isn't Happiness. Unfortunately, the source material doesn't say anything (well, in English, anyway) about the specifics of the photograph. I want to say I vaguely recognize the movie theater in the background. I could be entirely mistaken -- perhaps it's not even New York City -- but I still think it's a captivating photograph.
Anyone have any ideas about it?
ADDENDUM: I hang my head in shame. The locale below is none other than the legendary GEM SPA on the corner of St Marks Place and 2nd Avenue (home to many a mighty egg cream and made infamous by The New York Dolls).I think I was thrown by the TE-AMO awning. In any case, mystery solved. Cheers!!
Herewith another great shot I came across on Flickr the other day of Astor Place, presumably snapped some time in the mid-to-late 80s (given the old edifice of the Carl Fisher clock). To check out more of this photographer's work, click here. To see more of my favorites from Flickr (i.e. other people's pics), click here. To see some of my own pics on Flickr, click here.
Although their sound is "retro" in the manner that handily encapsulates the type of music I'd have rushed to the radio to turn off in 1983, Cut/Copy's new album, Zonoscope features what I would consider a pretty awesome album cover. If you're curious, they sound like this.
Although it boasted a great, Manhattan-centric album cover (see above) and featured the sprawling proto-hip-hop-crossover opus "Rapture," Autoamerican was never my favorite Blondie album. While I'd loved both Eat to the Beat and Parallel Lines that preceded it, I kinda felt that the rot had set in by this record (although they'd soldier on for one more, 1982's universally-reviled The Hunter, before pulling the plug). I never really warmed to the the ersatz-reggae trot of "The Tide is High" (a cover of a song by Jamaican ska band, The Paragons) replete with sickly strings and cheeseball horns. It lacked all the urgency that made earlier Blondie tunes so compelling. Hell, my step-father even liked it (this was never a good sign). It was just flaccid and flabby, to my ears.
Thirty years (!!!) later, I still don't really like it, but I stumbled upon this video this afternoon on YouTube and found it to be somewhat entertaining. Sure, there's a ridiculously flimsy narrative about traveling to space to seduce a pining Darth Vader character (or something), some deplorably un-special effects and some heroically undercooked lip-synching by lovely Deborah Harry (shame about those bangs, though), but what really caught my eye about this clip were the fleeting shots of Soho street corners -- specifically, I think, the northeast corner of Mercer and Broome streets. Suffice to say, that little cross-section of streets looks dramatically different today. Also keep your eyes peeled for cameos by fellow "Downtown 81" co-stars Glen O'Brien, Fab Five Freddie and fiddle-sawing Walter Steding (complete with ridiculous flashing sunglasses).
Just to cheekily reinforce the oft-touted notion that I live exclusively in the past, here's a clip I stumbled across on the Tube of You which finds our dear Johnny Rotten being interviewed on the hard streets of London in between leaving the ranks of the Sex Pistols and officially starting Public Image Ltd. I thought it was amusing. Also, love the hat.
Who can name the street? I'm thinking either somewhere off lower Fifth Avenue (like 10th or 11th or so) or somewhere on the Upper East Side. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Recent Comments