For a great many folks, I’d imagine, mention 2B on Avenue B -- otherwise known as The Gas Station -- and the first thing to spring to mind will be a notorious early summer performance in 1993 by these photogenic fellows…..
Yes, it was GG Allin & the Murder Junkies (who I’ve spoken about here a few times) who arguably put The Gas Station on the map (and probably helped spell its demise). That GG Allin's legacy is inexorably connected with The Gas Station is probably a sore spot for the artists who originally conceived of the place, but that can't be helped now.
I’ve written about the Gas Station itself a few times myself (notably here and here) but Jeremiah Moss posted a great entry on Vanishing New York yesterday that goes into much greater depth about the origins of the former art space/performance venue, largely thanks to a recently unearthed video that goes way beyond its status as merely the final battlefield of GG Allin’s famously putrid campaign of degradation.
If you’re still curious about that fabled GG Allin show, merely google “GG Allin’s last show” or “…last day alive,” or simply click here. Of course, you should be warned. It ain’t pretty.
That video was circulating on VHS for years. I remember in the outside scene, after the show fell apart (not that it ever really got going), there was a dude in a white jumpsuit walking around with his finger in GG's ass. Ah, gotta love JC and his loyal band of followers!
Posted by: Gaylord Perry | January 24, 2015 at 04:13 PM
Actually the early days of The Gas Station long preceded Corey Staff's video and GG Allin. It was founded in 1986 by Osvaldo Gomariz, Xavier Domingo and Ruben Garcia. Osvaldo was an Argentinian-Spanish painter who moved to NY in the early 80s; Xavier a Catalan doctor-phototographer. Ruben, a local artist, I hardly knew. The original idea was a performance/art studio gathering space for local artists, poets, musicians to collaborate and reclaim some of the apocalyptic landscape that was then the East Village. Allen Ginsberg and Basquiat hung out there in the early days; it was a very mixed crowd. Local artists, junkies, visiting painters/musicians from Latin America and Europe, street kids. When I was in college I would help out serving Osvaldo's famous vodka watermelon drinks at weekends. Osvaldo was my brother-in-law, long departed now. He died of AIDS in the mid-90s around the time the video was made.
Posted by: c. marie | August 21, 2018 at 08:44 PM
PS. Great posts about the old East Village, thanks! I left in 1989 and haven't really been back...I'm sure I'd be shocked.
Posted by: c. marie | August 22, 2018 at 09:19 AM