Flaming Pablum

'It's Just a Matter of Time': East Village 2007

In the wake of my post the other day, that photograph of the “tragedy selfie” gaggle has gone viral to the extent that it's leapt offline and into print, specifically the cover of the New York Post, emblazoned with the predictable-albeit-entirely-applicable headline, “Village Idiots.”

Personally speaking, I’m solidly of the opinion that these ladies have earned all the scorn they’re currently enjoying (scorn being the operative word when it comes to the readership of the Post). That said, I have encountered a few people inclined to let them off the hook. While I applaud the impulse towards forgiving kindness, I can’t say I share the opinion. I don’t believe smiling is an instinctual reaction when a camera is raised. It only takes a nanosecond to recognize the context of a situation and discern that it demands respect. More to the point, not every situation begs for a friggin’ selfie.

Anyway, I’ve already covered all that. No, the reason I’m posting today is that I came across the little clip below on YouTube this morning, and felt compelled to share it here.

Much like the Murrays’ panoramic photograph of the affected strip of Second Avenue in that other post, the video below shares a fleeting glimpse of the same area circa 2007, when Love Saves the Day was still anchoring that corner. For that alone, this video is worth a glance.

Beyond that, this clip is pretty odious, featuring a somewhat cloying voiceover (the narrator has a hard time properly pronouncing gentrification) clumsily delivering some cringe-inducing, revisionist copy. I started jotting down the zingers that made my brow furrow, but there ended up being too many. Suffice to say, if you hate the same shit I do, it’ll probably ruin your day.

#SaveNYC on WNYC

Jeremiah Moss appeared on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show on Thursday, talking up the #SaveNYC campaign. In case you missed it, check it out here.

A couple of the callers are ridiculously misinformed and just plain ol' stupid. JM handles it with aplomb.

Find out more about #SaveNYC here. 

This awesome logo, by the way, was designed by Flaming Pablum friend Mike Joyce. Check his other stuff out here.

Two Pictures

I just walked over there again today. It’s a surreal scene to be sure. St. Mark’s Place and East 7th both remain closed to traffic (though you can go down St. Mark’s by foot). At the mouth of Third Avenue, you can only stand around the corner by Gem Spa, but that’s about it. Those looking to get their fill of disaster porn might be disappointed.

I suppose you cannot blame folks for being curious to come check it out, however ghoulish in some cases (see below). As the the dust continues to settle — literally and figuratively — it’s hard not to worry about how this event is going to further transform this community. Surrounding local businesses are already starting to feel the pain, to say nothing of those caught immediately in the crossfire. It’s unimaginable how those directly affected by this must be coping.

And what will become of the site of the disaster itself? How will justice be meted out to the homeowners and businesses from those four buildings? Will they be compensated? What will come next? Some new, antiseptic condo tower? Maybe a public plaza? Somehow, I strenuously doubt the latter.

If you’re looking for more pictures of the devastation, I’m sure there is no shortage of them already floating around social media, but I’ve been struck by two more pictures pertaining to this whole story (much like the 1981 shot I put up on Thursday). Both are heartbreaking, albeit for entirely different reasons.

My blogging comrade Jeremiah Moss posted the shot below on his Facebook page on Friday, and it really put the hook in me. Taken by James and Karla Murray, the couple behind the amazing “Store Front” photographs, here’s a lovely shot of the affected stretch of Second Avenue between East 7th and St. Mark’s Place. Click on it to enlarge.

Here’s how they captioned it.

The collapse now spans to corner. Small stores affected by yesterday's gas explosion/fire on Second Avenue near East 7th Street in the East Village. Three buildings have now collapsed as a result of the fire. Our hearts go out the injured and to everyone who lost their home or business. Panoramic photo from 2001 appears in our book "Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York.”

I love that this photo shows both Loves Saves the Day and the original incarnation of Toy Tokyo,…two of my favorite spots on a strip that also included, back in the day, two amazing record stores, Wowsville and Freebeing (both long gone, of course).

But, again, beyond favorite shops and restaurants, it’s prudent to remember that while this neighborhood has gone through its hills and valleys as a destination for all stripes of demographics (from bohemians, poets and punks through frat boys, yupsters and nightlife revelers), it is first and foremost a place many people call HOME, regardless of its reputation. For some, it’s now a sad to place to visit. For others, it’s the end of their world.

This point is precisely why this other photograph that’s been making the rounds on social media has left me so flabbergasted. Have a look.

Yes, here’s a gaggle of women posing for a “selfie” just up the road from the collapse site (first spied on the Facebook page of another fellow blogger, EV Grieve, who found it on Twitter). My first reaction was simply, “Why the FUCK are they smiling?” Did it not occur to a single one of those seven whistleheads that what they were doing was slavishly inappropriate and in spectacularly bad fucking taste? Is a group “Tragedy Selfie” really the best way to document this experience?

It just makes me vibrate with incredulous rage. I'd love to see a statement from one of them at one point, but I'm not holding my breath.

We're better than this, aren't we?

Aren't we?

Up on The Roof Redux: Those Were The Days

Now a quick break from the East 7th Street story. Honestly speaking, I don’t believe there’s anything I can really say to do justice to the unexpected magnitude of its affect on the neighborhood. It’s quite literally overwhelming. It has to be seen with one’s own eyes.

But as a lighter, incongruous diversion…

My daughter had to do a report on the Chrysler Building for a social studies class not too long back. In the course of same, Charlotte learned a bunch of facts about the storied landmark, but was fishing around for extra things should could mention that might distinguish her presentation from the rest of the pack. I can’t say I knew much about the fabled skyscraper that she hadn’t already addressed. I’ve been inside it once, to visit a headhunter whose normal clientele were so far above my paltry pay grade that their ears must have been popping. I remember gazing out that woman’s windows in genuine awe. It was the only good thing to come out of that exchange.

Beyond that, the only other thing that sprang to mind was the below clip by Matt Johnson’s The The, a cover of Hank Williams' “I Saw The Light” (which, you might recall, I cited in this unsolicited round-up of music videos shot on NYC rooftops). In it, we see Johnson and his hearty henchman playing manfully atop the Manhattan skyline, while Johnson boldly croons from on top of the head of one of the Chrysler Building’s art decco gargoyles. I can’t say for sure, but it looks like he actually did it (i.e. it’s not a special effect against a blue screen). Kudos for that. Here `tis again....

I showed the clip to Charlotte, who dutifully watched for a couple of seconds before getting bored.

In doing so, however, I was suddenly reminded of another clip that found a lead singer serenading the city from that same lofty perch, that being Natalie Merchant, then of 10,000 Maniacs. In re-exhuming “These Are The Days,” however, it looks like Natalie completely punked out — that’s clearly a blue screen she’s warbling in front off. Points off for that.

If I’m not mistaken, my friend Sara worked as a production assistant on this video shoot. I remember her saying that Merchant was a completely po-faced pill during the proceedings and bitterly complained about staffers smoking during a break. Sounds about right.

Inconceivable

Following up on the previous post, here's the corner of East 7th Street and Second Avenue today. Heartbreaking and inconceivable. Photograph by Dean Neistat via Gawker. Click on it to enlarge.

East 7th Street & 2nd Avenue

Someone posted the above photo on the Facebook group NYC 1950 to Present several weeks back, and it immediately struck a chord with me (click on it to enlarge). The poster didn’t know the photo’s origin (it turns out it was taken by one Sven Kierst in 1981). This is, of course, the corner of East 7th Street at Second Avenue. In later years, this corner would become the vintage shop Love Saves the Day (immortalized in “Desperately Seeking Susan”) and later still a restaurant called Sushi Park.

The gent at the phone booth is, most likely, one Nick Marden of the Stimulators (I initially misidentified him as drummer/future Cro-Mag Harley Flanagan). I also love the flyers adorning the walls advertising upcoming gigs by then-prominent East Village bands like Von Lmo and The Senders. This photograph handily encapsulates almost everything I love about an era of Downtown Manhattan that simply does not exist anymore.

But yesterday, this photo took on a little extra resonance.

I was uptown yesterday afternoon when my iPhone started buzzing with texts from friends telling me that St. Mark’s Place was on fire. By the time I got back downtown around 6:30 pm, it was utter chaos around Astor Place and points east. Between the sirens and the thick, acrid smoke that was blowing west, there was an eerie familiarity to proceedings. Wanting to get a closer look, I strolled around Cooper Union, but couldn’t seem to get any further than Third Avenue. But looking beyond the fire trucks and swarms of fire fighters, reporters, cops and onlookers, all I could see was smoke engulfing the entire block.

I walk down East 7th Street between Third and Second Avenues pretty frequently. As regular patient at East Village Chiropractic, you can find me strolling down that way at least once a week. I’m also a big fan of Jimmy’s 43, the subterranean bar just beneath Burp Castle and, of course, McSorley’s. But beyond the dozen or so businesses that operate off of East 7th, there is also that storied Ukrainian church, community center and scores of homes. I can’t help but think of all those lives displaced. You just don’t expect a street you regularly walk down to suddenly be the scene of such catastrophe.

As far as I know, the building in the picture at the top of this post has collapsed. My sincere condolences and best wishes go out to everyone in this community.

Rooftop Ramones

I normally wouldn’t follow up a recent post on inane Ramones trivia with another post about inane Ramones trivia, but while waiting for the Third Avenue bus with my kids earlier this week, I was struck by another arguably crucial revelation from Marky Ramone’s book that illuminated a question I’d posed here on Flaming Pablum a while back.

Those with a disarming amount of untapped cerebellum in their skulls may remember an entry I posted back in 2013, wherein I speculated that both the cover of Blondie’s Autoamerican and the video for the Ramones’ “We Want the Airwaves” took place on the roof top of 108 Leonard Street, otherwise known as the Clocktower Gallery.

Well, as it turned out, that was incorrect in both instances. The cover of Autoamerican — though a painting — was based on photographs snapped on the roof of a building on 8th Street and Broadway (see that whole explanation by clicking here and scrolling down).

Meanwhile, the Ramones did film a video on the Clocktower Gallery rooftop, but it wasn’t for “We Want the Airwaves.” It was for their cover of the theme from the “Spider-Man” cartoon. It’s a fun little clip, apart from the segments featuring Drew Barrymore needlessly expounding on a cartoon series that was on the air well before she was born. Here `tis…

For the longest while, I never did determine where the video for “We Want the Airwaves” was shot — but, once again, leave it to Marky Ramone’s “Punk Rock Blitzkrieg” to divulge the details.

According to Marky, the video for “Airwaves” was shot on the roof of Joey’s apartment building at the time, that being 115 East 9th Street (the big building below as seen from Third Avenue). That actually makes more sense, given the visual proximity to nearby landmarks like the Consolidated Edison clock tower on the corner of 14th Street and Irving Place.

Anyway, now ya know. Here it is, once again.

And, because no one asked for it....here are more videos filmed on Manhattan rooftops!

When All Was Quiet on the Western Front

As I mentioned back on this post, there was a great quote about New York City in “Girl in a Band,” the recently published memoir of Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, that being the following…



"Any place I depended on once to be deserted now teems with bodies and long black cars and faraway accents all day, all night.”



It’s a line that practically leapt off the page at me when I read, as I’ve been thinking the same thing for eons.



There used to be vast swathes of Manhattan that were simply empty, quiet and desolate. It seems inconceivable today, but the Meatpacking District, SoHo, TriBeCa, Hell’s Kitchen and wide patches of the Lower East Side used to be whisper quiet and seem virtually uninhabited.



This is largely no longer the case today, of course (although, as I mentioned in this post, there is still a pervasive sense of desolation along the western edges of Hell's Kitchen). Being that there are no frontiers left on the island, and brand new development is everywhere, the days of finding a quiet patch of Manhattan concrete (for whatever reason, nefarious or otherwise) are gravely endangered. Once the rail yard project is completed, even those remaining areas in the far reaches of Hell's Kitchen will be teeming with people.



I’ve cited the photography of Gregoire Alessandrini here a number of times, but he’s recently updated his amazing photoblog, New York City 1990’s, with a great installment about stretches of the wild West side that used to seem entirely deserted. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, his images of these barren locations are in stark contrast to the reality of today. 



Check more of them out here. Tell’em Flaming Pablum sent ya.

Get Back to Get Back to Work

Earlier today, I was looking to augment a post-in-the-works about a certain building with a photograph of The Cramps standing in front of what I believed to be the same building. In looking for that photo, I turned to my semi-long-neglected Tumblr site, the unimaginatively titled Get Back to Work.

I started Get Back to Work about five years ago whilst I was toiling as a contracted homepage editor for MSN.com. During fleeting spells of downtime, my similarly inclined colleague Drew and I ended up e-mailing each other countless bits of visual ephemera that either made us laugh, sparked a debate or spoke to our mutual interests.

I decided, at one point, to store these and similar images in a Tumblr site, ideally as something of a side dish to the entree that is Flaming Pablum. Get Back To Work also became a quick and easy way to store images for later use on the blog. Some made it. Others didn’t. Some may yet still. 

Regardless, half-a-decade later, there are precisely 255 pages of Get Back to Work, each filled to the gills with images of exactly the type of crap that I care about. If you dig what you read here, please feel free to avail yourselves to it. It doesn’t involve a lot of heavy lifting. Just click through it and let your eyes enjoy.

Back to the Jungle: Solved

This one stretches back a little ways, but remember this one? Having discovered that photographer George DuBose shot the cover images for the Rameones' 1983 album Subterranean Jungle in an actual subway station (and not via some artful mock-up), I wondered aloud if anyone could pinpoint the actual station platform. No one tried.

Thinking it was a dead issue, I didn't follow it up. But upon finishing Marky Ramone's surprisingly excellent memoir, "Punk Rock Blitzkrieg" (which I also discussed here) this week, I smiled upon reading the below passage:

For the album cover shoot, we visited the real subterranean jungle -- the New York City subway. The photographer, George DuBose, had the idea to use the stop at Fifty-Seventh and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. It was the end of the line for the B train. At night, there was about a twenty-minute layover before the train left on its next run. It was a lot cheaper then renting out a station or building a set.

Mark goes on, of course, to discuss the fateful decision to have him seated, at one point during the shoot, inside the train looking out the window, while Johnny, Joey and Dee Dee stood in the doorway, a telling juxtaposition that presciently spelled out his separation (and eventual dismissal) from the band. Mark was replaced by one Ritchie Ramone, and -- fleetingly -- Clem "Elvis Ramone" Burke of Blondie, before returning to the familial fold several years later. Honestly speaking, if you're a Ramones fan, Marky's book is well worth your time.