Flaming Pablum

Walk the Night

By this point, the New York Times and several of my blogging compatriots have covered this, so I don't really have much to add. I'm certainly curious to check out Ken Schles' "Night Walk." Here's the book trailer below (as also seen on EV Grieve and elsewhere)....

This is me being petty and pedantic, but why do they score a photographic essay of NYC in the 1980's with "100%" by Sonic Youth? I mean, yeah -- it's a fine tune, and certainly by an appropriate band, but "100%" came out in 1992 (it's the lead track on the Dirty album). 

Why not something Sonic Youth recorded during the era in question? Or something by ESG or the Bush Tetras or SWANS or Liquid Liquid or Konk or..... y'know, something more timely?

Just a quibble.

Escape from 2014

This was not a good year for my family and I.

At the risk of sounding cryptic, melodramatic and needlessly alliterative, 2014 left me feeling helpless, humbled, humiliated and heartbroken. As far as I’m concerned, it cannot end soon enough. I’m not foolish enough to assert that 2015 will be better, but I have hopes that it might heal the wounds and lift the curse that was this year. Time will tell.

In the interim, herewith this year's answering of this year-end survey.

1. What did you do in 2014 that you'd never done before?
Buy a headstone.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I’ve pretty much lost faith in resolutions. It’s not that I don’t believe in endeavoring to make positive changes, it's just that I’m no longer going to make them all contingent to some vague, annual promise to myself.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Some friends had babies, yes, but no one in my immediate orbit.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes, my mother-in-law and my step father both left us this year in fairly quick succession.

5. What countries did you visit?
Didn't

6. What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014?
Gainful employment of the sort I was stripped of in July 2014.

7. What date from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory?
Honestly speaking, there were several notable dates, but I’d rather not have any bit of 2014 etched on my memory.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting through it.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Losing my job.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I didn’t, no, but certain individuals very close to me continue to.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A replacement pair of my contraband Nike Dunk-Low Black `n Tans.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My friends who showed me unconditional support in some very dark times.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Some former colleagues, although circumstances conspired against us all, I suppose. Maybe I’m being too charitable.

14. Where did most of your money go?
COBRA and tuition.

15. What did you get really, really excited about?
I found myself getting really excited — in a negative way — about a few things. In a positive way, I was quite excited about my running regimen, until I hurt my knee. That said, I will return to it.

16. What song will always remind you of 2014?
I cannot say that music played as major a role in my life this year, as I was otherwise quite distracted.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
Much sadder.

18. Thinner or fatter?
The holidays have made me fatter, but, overall, stress and running kept me reasonably slim.

19. Richer or poorer?
Pointedly poorer.

20. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Succeeding, earning, problem-solving.

21. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Failing, fretting, despairing.

22. How did you spend Christmas?
Quietly with family at home.

23. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
Honestly, I have no idea.

24. Did you fall in love in 2014?
I was already very much in love.

25. How many one night stands in this last year?
Zero. I’m happily married.

26. What was your favorite TV program?
“True Detective” truly blew me away, and I remain a devout “Mad Men” fan.

27. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Yes, but it’s not healthy to dwell on it.

28. What was the best book you read?
I was particularly engrossed by Peter Bebergal’s “Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll."

29. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Didn’t do much music-discovering. Spent some time re-examining the back catalogs of some of my favorite artists. That said, when I did finally manage to check out the still-appallingly-named Eagulls, I fell entirely in love with their debut album. Great, great stuff.

30. What did you want and get?
Nothing springs to mind.

31. What did you want and not get?
A new job and….the answer to an ongoing problem.

32. What were your favorite films of this year?
Hated “Boyhood.” Underwhelmed by “Birdman.” Left indifferent by “Gone Girl.” I’d say “Mr. Peabody and Sherman” was the best new film I saw.

33. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
47, and spent it at home with my wife and kids.

34. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not losing my job. Not losing a couple of loved ones. Some other things.

35. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2014?
There was no concept.

36. What kept you sane?
I was not kept sane.

37. What celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
None.

38. What political issue stirred you the most?
I was honestly distracted by other things.

39. Who did you miss?
John E. Newman and Mary Boulos.

40. Who was the best new person you met?
I can’t say I remember that many new folks this year.

41. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014
Don’t ever imagine that it cannot get worse. It always can.

42. Song lyric that sums up 2014:
There is no music for this year.

Beastie Babies ... Boxing Day Edition

Yep, it's another one of these. Here, my little kindernauts replicate Arabella Field's photograph from Washington Square Park that would later turn into the Cookie Puss sleeve....

 

Happy Holidays from Flaming Pablum

The Blondie Puzzle: SOLVED

Okay, so after yesterday’s revelation from photographer Roberta Bayley that the above shot of Blondie’s Clem Burke, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein (and friends, including Punk Magazine’s Legs McNeil) was taken “somewhere in Chelsea over in the West 20s,” Chung Wong over on the Manhattan Before 1990 Facebook group weighed back in with the following postulation.

This one is a good candidate ....311 10th Ave at 28th St...two window sills at right spot, 2nd window exact match, external extension at right spot, line below windows at right spot....but no background building by the High Line for comparison. The more i look at this one, the more i think this is the right spot.

So, this afternoon --  in lieu of Christmas shopping -- I took a soggy stroll over to that neck of the woods, and I’m now firmly of the opinion that Chung’s got it right. See photographic findings below.

Here, once again, is the original photo...

Here's the corner Chung's suggesting today... West 28th & 10th Avenue...

Here's the hotly contested little window...

Here's a wider pan of the corner in question...

Here's the mysterious background shed....

All told, I'm convinced that this is indeed the original corner...

That's nice, and all....but that still doesn't explain where these shots below were taken....

Anyway, good work, rock sleuths! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Merry Depressmas: Exhuming Dan Fogelberg's 'Same Old Lang Syne'

I have long railed against Christmas music being played before December, but it seems “Christmas Season” now officially starts as soon as Halloween is wrapped up.

With Christmas 2014 only a day or so away, it seems odd to grumble about this now, but I heard this tune again this morning, and can’t let it go.

For a start, while I was never — ever — a fan of Dan Fogelberg's, it should be noted that the poor guy passed away from prostate cancer in 2007 at the tragically young age of 56. That sucks. He certainly deserved better.

Anyway, I’m still going to bitch about Fogelberg’s 1980 Christmas single, “Same Old Lang Syne.” Let’s review, shall we?

Okay, so let me get this straight: Fogelberg’s protagonist (presumably this song is autobiographical, so let’s just say Fogelberg himself) runs into an old flame in a grocery store on Christmas Eve. They have an awkward exchange, but they then decide to go get a drink. Fair enough, only they can’t find an open bar. So, what do they do? They buy a six pack of beer at a liquor store (you can’t do that here in New York City, by the way) and then decide to go drink it in her car. Ummmm….okay.

Once in the car, they get a bit buzzed and start reminiscing and toasting and griping about the disappointments of their respective lots in life in the wake of their star-crossed romance. She married some dude, but it ain’t evidently all rosy. Fogelberg’s a (lite) rock star now, but bitches about his touring schedule. Fogelberg then gets out of the car, and lets his ex drive away … gallantly allowing her to helm her vehicle after she’s consumed about three beers (I mean, if they evenly split that six-pack).

And then it starts raining, presumably making her driving even that more hazardous.

Can you name a more depressing Christmas song?

Picture This: Roberta Bayley Weighs In on the Blondie Puzzle

You didn't think I’d forgotten about this one, did you?

Opinions and speculations were divided about the location of Roberta Bayley’s photo of Blondie above (and others from the same shoot). I’d originally postulated that the picture may have been snapped at the mouth of Great Jones Alley, but — alas — certain elements didn’t add up. Gradually, others started to suggest that maybe the location wasn’t in Manhattan at all, but rather somewhere in Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx.

During the course of all this, I shot a note to Roberta Bayley herself via Facebook. I wasn’t sure if she’d engage, but it seemed worth a shot. It took a while, but sure enough, Ms. Bayley got back to me. Here’s what she said….

I was reading your blog, and yes I took all those Blondie photos, it was for a Punk magazine Fumetti commissioned by High Times magazine 1976. It's not Gary Valentine, only Clem showed up for the shoot (plus of course Debbie & Chris). The other guys are Legs McNeil, Tom Katz, & somebody else. The location is somewhere in Chelsea over in the west 20s as I recall.

So, there you have it. Where does that leave us, kids?

Read the backstory….

Spend Black Friday with Blondie
One Way or Another...I'm Going to Find Blondie's Corner
Seemed Like the Real Thing, But I Was So Blinde: Revenge of the Blondie Puzzle

Twelve Years Gone

As ridiculous as it sounds, I still find it strange that Joe Strummer's dead. 

My kids and I went off an a walkabout through the East Village yesterday, and paid our respects (although they mostly only know the man as the gent responsible for daddy's ringtone).

The Joe Strummer mural -- now a fixture of an otherwise contsantly changing neighborhood -- has undergone several alterations over the past twelve years. I did a little tribute of my own to it, but check out this page on Flickr for a righteous collection of images.

Here, meanwhile, is one of the great man's last live appearances in New York City at the Roseland Ballroom (which is also no longer with us)... 

Beastie Babies .... Pizza Edition

Couldn't resist...

Circa `87... Beastie Boys on northwest corner of St. Marks Place and First Avenue....

 

2014...my little two in the same spot...

Just to be clear, Stromboli's Pizza on University Place closed earlier this year but the St. Marks incarnation is still going.

 

'Some Punk Kid'

Hey, that's me!

 

HARDCORE RULES. Paper thin #80s Rock Hotel tee. Found a pic of some punk kid wearing the same shirt. Marked size large but seems more like a men's small $42 #friendsvintage

A photo posted by Friends Vintage (@friendsvintage) on Dec 12, 2014 at 2:18pm PST

For more on the Rock Hotel, click here.