This has already been making the rounds (I spotted it over on Jeremiah’s site yesterday), but it’s really not to be missed if you’re a fan of old school New York Hardcore. As JM described, former CBGB-scenester-turned actress Brooke Smith (best known as the senator’s daughter who is reluctant to “put the lotion in the basket” in “The Silence of the Lambs”) submitted a clutch of photos to the blog Street Carnage of her days rubbing tattooed elbows with the cognoscenti of 80’s NY hardcore. Herein you’ll find some vintage shots of folks from Murphy’s Law, Agnostic Front, Bad Brains, The Cro-Mags, Youth of Today et al. and their friends, fans and followers, mostly hanging out in the East Village, the Ritz and at the fabled CBGB hardcore matinees. In 2010, it’s once again hard to fathom how much that particular little strip of the Bowery has changed.
In perusing this collection, I was bemused to stumble across a photo of one Natalie Jacobson. I fleetingly worked with Natalie in the very early 90s at a small independent music mag called The New York Review of Records. I'm not sure where our managing editor found her, but he swiftly drafted her into our ranks, and she added a refreshing dash of tough, smart-mouthed femininity into our boys club of music dorks. We briefly bonded over our complimentary tastes in bands, and I started seeing her at a couple of shows at the Ritz after that, but there was always something strangely familiar about her that I couldn't quite place. It wasn't until a couple of years after we'd both left the magazine and had long since stopped running into each other that I connected the dots and figured it out. She was the same Natalie profiled in that fabled 1986 New York magazine cover story about punk rock who was the girlfriend of Murphy's Law's Jimmy Gestapo. A couple of years after that, Natalie put in a spoken-word cameo on the Home Alive compilation (now a 90s artifact well-worth seeking out). In 1997, Natalie penned a novel called "No Forwarding Address." What's happened to her after that, I have no idea. I doubt she'd remember me, but I'd be curious to catch up with her now and talk to her about her days in the NYHC scene.
For another compelling glimpse of that scene, click right here.
Gnat was no joke. And a good friend in the 80's.
She worked for some newspapers in Seattle then LA I think then was back in NYC working on a novel possibly? No doubt a good, interesting, writer.
Also the 1st woman to have a book put out on 2.13.61
I too have wondered how she was doing and where she is these days.
Let me know if you hear from her.
Posted by: GEF | January 23, 2011 at 02:31 PM
Natalie was f'n awesome. Last I heard she had moved to Seattle, but that was ages and ages ago. I still miss her...
Posted by: H.F. | January 24, 2011 at 02:08 PM
Hey people It's Natalie, a friend just sent me this link. I'm back on the east coast and I'm working on a new book, a graphic novel called Outlaw Efforts. I miss the bad old days in NYC when we ran the streets. I hardly recognize the LES now. So many great memories, I am glad there are photos documenting that time. - Gnat
Posted by: Natalie Jacobson Shearing | November 09, 2011 at 11:18 AM
Hey Natalie Please please please wherever u are we want to hear from u We def need to catch up. I have so many questions for u and would love to make them
Public. U have a million fans dying to know about what u are up to these days Please contact me at 917-698-6587 or my email [email protected] Ur books are awesome and we would love more and to hear from u
Posted by: Edgar diaz | June 09, 2019 at 04:45 PM