I've got several posts in the works that I'm really excited about -- one about a lost hardcore punk record shop in the East Village circa 1987, a couple of other photo quizzes (notably one about a King Crimson gig in Central Park in 1974), and a long-coming rumination about songs of the summer, but who knows if I'll get to that one in time.
In any case, I had grand designs of bringing one or more of those to fruition this evening, but it just didn't happen. It's too hot, I guess.
In the short term, however, I was going to post an enjoyably skewed slice of Lower East Side skronk circa 1989, namely "Lydia's Black Lung" from the great Alice Donut, taken from their excellently-named LP,Bucketfulls of Sickness and Horror in an Otherwise Meaningless Life. I'm still waiting to see their movie.
But because life is shitty, the ability to embed the video for "Lydia's Black Lung" has been "disabled by request," which is lame. Click here to watch it. Not only is it an outstanding `choon, but it features lots of grainy, gritty and grimey footage of the NYC of the era. Cranketh accordingly.
As I was walking up Broadway yesterday morning on my way to work, I was stopped in my tracks by very distinctive face. Stuck to a utility box on a lamppost around 28th street was the iconic image of the late Klaus Nomi under the legend "Revel in New York." I immediately assumed the worst, thinking it was probably some new line of bullshit clothing or nightclub party series liberally appropriating Nomi's image in much the same manner a car ad might sample a favorite song to assert some sort of hip cachet.
I was pleased to learn, however, that Revel in New York: A Look at the City Through its People is something very different. A series of guide books and video profiles, Revel in New York is a campaign that strives to showcase members of the city's creative communities from across the spectrum, from dance to architecture to photography to music to theatre and beyond, seemingly composed in a manner that is intelligent, informed and reverent of the city's illustrious past (not just mooching off it). It certainly seems like a cool idea.
I spotted the above photo via a link on J.Yuenger's rocktastic blog. From the entirely excellent book, "Murder in the Front Row," a photographic homage to the East Bay Area thrash community of the 80's (this is a book I MUST OWN), the above pic finds various members from Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, Exodus and Possessed engaging in some very metal bonhomie. Dorks like myself will find solace in the face that amidst this horde of none-more-metal dudes, Slayer drummer extraordinaire Dave Lombardo is pictured wearing a Johnny Rotten shirt, whilst the gent at the very top of of the hirsute pyramid (metalheads -- who here can name him?) is wearing A FUCKING DEVO SHIRT! That guy is my goddamn hero.
I posted that Buzzfeed link to the pics from this book on my Facebook page, and my friend John Darnielle (of the Mountain Goats -- Christ, I'm such a shameless namedropper!) shared it, making the very astute comment...
Keep meaning to pick up that book. Thrash-and-extreme metal pics from the 80s are somehow the most evocative 80s pictures for me, they look so much like people carving out their own space.
Amen, brother. I vividly remember buying a copy of Metallica's Ride the LightningENTIRELY UNHEARD but purchased solely for the fact that on the back cover, guitarist Kirk Hammett was pictured wearing a Discharge t-shirt (the same one he's wearing the photo below).
I rightly figured that if these gents were into Discharge and similar bands, they had to be doing something right. These bands were DESTROYING PARAMETERS left and right. Having been torn between my love of punk, hardcore, metal and new wave, I'd long been dreaming of a world where extreme metalheads were enlightened enough to listen to Devo and the like and vice versa.
Of course, decades later, as I approach the regrettable age of 45, I don't give an angry rat's ass about narrow genre snobbery. I like and listen to what I want, regardless of alleged incongruity. What? I'm not allowed to like both the Cocteau Twins AND Celtic Frost? I can't appreciate both Digital Underground AND Cat Stevens? Whatever -- fuck you. Get over it.
And speaking of rock t-shirts, my colleague Drew forwarded this onto me today, and I wholly endorse it. Fly the colors!
First, dependable Erik of Light Bulb Head fame weighed in with the following:
I'm guessing 248 W. 14th Street.
I was able to find a mention of a Blarney Rose on 14th near 8th amidst some rambling entry of long forgotten watering holes. That led me to google Blarney Rose 14th street and uncover this gem!
Yes, they failed a food inspection.
As far as the photograph, I suppose I could google it with the information I've gleaned but I want to see if someone knows it without that help.
I’ve attached a copy of the KISS photo that I found on Bob Gruen’s website. So that’s the “photographer” answer.
I’m in agreement with ERIK on 248 West 14th Street as where the photo is taken, mostly from a photo of the Blarney Rose entrance I found on the library digital files., attached, and later in a “clues’ photo I put together..
I happened to walk the Highline with some friend today and I ended up catching the train back uptown at at - you guessed it - 248 West 14th Street, so I took some pix, as it’s hard to see the front of 248 West 14th on Google because of the trees.
The key matchup is that , on the building to the left and behind Kiss, the second floor window panes are made of a line of small frames over large ones, as you can see in the photo of the Subway store that shares the building with The Darby nightclub.
Now I have to go rock and roll all night because I’ll be partying all day tomorrow.
Living the KISS life,
Bob
So, there you have it, quizlers! It is indeed a Bob Gruen photograph, snapped in front of 248 West 14th Street (see Bob's pics below... click on them to enlarge).
As a marginally historic side note, right adjacent to the former Blarney Rose (the next address to the west) once stood a popular club called Nell's at 246 West 14th. Nell's held court on that little strip of W.14th from the late 80's into the mid-2000's, and prided itself on being wicked exclusive in the worst way.
However unlikely as it may sound, I did manage to get into Nell's during the height of its popularity in 1989, although the caveat was that it was because of an office party. I was interning at SPIN at the time, and they threw a big shindig there. The musical guest of the evening was a little-known hip-hop act called A Tribe Called Quest who inexplicably wore monk-like robes and performed the same song about three times (that song being "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo"). From what I can recall, it was quite an evening.
I never made it back to Nell's after that. The videos for the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa" and U2's "One" were later filmed in Nell's interior, after my inauspicious visit. You can actually catch glimpses of West 14th street in the beginning of the former and the ending of the latter. After Nell's , the space became Plumm, co-owned by Chris Noth, a.k.a "Mr. Big" from "Sex and The City." Now, evidently, it's a place called Darcy.
Technically, the actual date was yesterday, but I was nowhere near a computer. In any case, yesterday marked the seventh anniversary of Flaming Pablum. Were it a child, it'd be in second grade and talking back.
Just a quick follow up to this unfortunate saga. Website New York Natives interviewed Harley Flanagan this week to get his take on the events of the evening of Friday, July 6th. You can read Harley’s account by clicking right here. Not to be outdone, my pal Chris Harris wrote up an update of his own, showcasing John Joseph’s retort. Read that here.
ADDENDUM: My comrade Bryan K from This Ain't the Summer of Love was in town for the CBGB Festival and shot the below video of Harley speaking at the "American Hardcore" screening. This was the night before the fracas/melee/incident/etc. at Webster Hall. I'm no longer convinced we'll ever know the whole story.
Okay, after the somewhat protracted quiz of Lunch with the Buzzcocks, I thought I'd toss out an easy one for you all.
Normally, I ask first to identify the individuals in the photograph, but if you can't figure that one out from the get-go, then why are you even reading this weblog?
In any case, this is indeed KISS -- back before they'd become a fatuous, avaricious embarrassment intent on sullying their own legacy (and way, way before having their likenesses inexplicably painted on an East Houston street wall). I know the answers to these questions already but what I'm posing to you, dear reader, is:
WHO TOOK THIS PHOTOGRAPH? and CAN YOU CITE THE EXACT LOCATION?
I was honestly never the biggest fan of Little Steve & the Disciples of Soul. At the time -- circa 1982 -- I was much more enamored of bands like the Circle Jerks, Venom and the Lords of the New Church than with the extracurricular doings of a member of Bruce Springsteen's band. That all said, Little Steven was (and remains) inarguably the coolest member of Bruce's little organization, well prior to his high profile turn on "The Sopranos" and/or his excellent radio program. More to the point, the fact that the Disciples of Soul counted Jean Beauvoir in its ranks (then recently absent from another favorite band of mine at the time, The Plasmatics) automatically made me stand up and salute them.
The single I'm highlighting below was probably the closest the band ever came to notoriety before Little Steven was re-absorbed back into the E-Street Band. The then-nascent MTV put this video in semi-regular rotation. I always found myself wanting to like it more than I did, but at the time, my narrow convictions wouldn't let me truly appreciate any band with a fuckin' flute player. I mean, as if!!!!
Thirty years later (eeeeyouch!), I absolutely adore both this song and this video. Not only is it simply a great, catchy fucking tune, but the video is entirely worthy of being put in a time capsule for singularly capturing a New York City that is no longer recognizable. I've written about it here before I believe, but soak in the sight of Minetta Lane, Carmine Street, Times Square and beyond as the Disciples dart and weave around the island of Manhattan before converging on their rehearsal space. I especially adore the footage of the proudly mohican Beauvoir biking through the city like a badass. This is great stuff and the perfect summer in New York City song, full stop.
Jump in front of it as if it were a spewing, gushing hydrant of cool.
Okay, I think I left this one on the burner too long. In any event, everyone who weighed in seems to agree on the location. My good friend Erik of LightBulbHead fame (among various other `Net locales over the years) had this to say:
I actually recognized the band (a first!) and with some goggling I came up with 20 Mott Street as the location for the Buzzcocks to be standing. I haven't confirmed, but the Amazon "look inside" at the index of the book it's from (I swear I didn't check tumblr till after I found it) lists an Ian Dickson photo of them. This could be his.
Meanwhile, the enigmatically monickered MildMannered Pervert offered:
It was at 20 Mott Street (or at least it was in 1940! - that NYPL directory website is A-MAZING!) Don't bother looking it up on Google Maps as all you're gonna see is scaffolding and blue plywood.
But, again, leave it to Bob Egan of PopSpots to put in the hours and do some hands-on reporting. Here's Bob's take and his requisite photographic evidence beneath. Click on it to enlarge:
Hi Alex,
I thought I’d weigh in on the Buzzcocks photo quiz as it provided me a fun afternoon wandering around Chinatown asking questions.
As you can see from my attached photo, I’m going to agree with commenter #3, MildManneredPervert , that the photo as taken at 20 Mott Street.
Be reversing the photo you can see the word HOP on the awning across the street , right where the WO HOP restaurant has been for 30 years.
And there is also, above the WO HOP awning, a similar brickwork style in both pictures, something discovered and pointed out to me by Robert K Chin, a New York photographer , one of whose specialties is stock photography of Chinatown (you can Google Robert K Chin Photography to see his photos ) who was aiding me on my search.
I also spoke to two long time Mott Street store owners from the 20 Mott block who remember eating in the China Lane and remember it having stairs leading to a basement.
So that’s what I’ve got. Is that enough proof? It’s not the killer wide shot photo of the band in front of the building, but circumstantially it’s not so bad.
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