Flaming Pablum

Taking Back the Towers

Quite recently, a pair of photo-bloggers from Berlin, of all places, reached out to me inquiring about the photograph that’s been at the top of this blog for the past several years. They kindly asked if they could include it in a project they were compiling called MY WTC. I spoke a bit about the origins of my WTC photo back on this post.

Here’s a bit of their official description:

This blog’s aim is to create a comprehensive collection of private photographs of the former World Trade Center in NYC. The idea behind this project of Robert Ziegler and Stefka Ammon is to document and describe analytically the specific aura, meaning and significance of this architectural and cultural complex from the angle of visitors’ and tourists’ images from all over the World.

This blog does not include images of September 11th’s events and does not intend to comment on them either. It wants to explore how a symbolic architecture enters private narratives and claims global consciousness alike.

If you curious, check out MY WTC here.

Chung Finds the Funk

Yesterday, after I posted this entry about the 1974 commercial for Parliament’s Up for the Down Stroke, I posted it on Facebook. As I’d hoped, my friend Chung Wong checked on it and immediately went to work in trying to pinpoint the location.

I’d asserted that the park in the opening scene looked a bit like Father Fagan place, where MacDougal intersects with Prince at Sixth Avenue. Check out what Chung had to say beneath.

I am not totally certain...but this could be NYU with Judson Memorial Church in view. The peaked roof on right could be NYU law school at MacDougal and 4th St...but that would mean the open space on left side is Washington Square. The angle seems off for it tho. [Alex - I think this is certainly MacDougal. To the left would be what is today that shitty bar, Off The Wagon].

Building at MacDougal and Prince seen in 1977 Edmund V Gillon jr photo from Father Fagan Square.

Same building at MacDougal and Prince from Father Fagan Square.

Basketball court at 6th Ave and Houston...ad is on building at 260 Sixth Ave...will post another pic of it from 1972 next.

Basketball court at 6th Ave and Houston with ad at 260 Sixth Ave by Richard Greene in 1972.

I think that is Congress House (185 West Houston)...the fence is the basketball court at 6th Ave and Houston.

Convinced that we’d sussed it out, I was out for a walk with my kids again today, and sure enough we found ourselves briefly in Father Fagan Place, so I had the kids pose with the directive, …”do something funky.”

Here's the full commercial again.....

And here's the title track.... everybody get up!

Remembering Mr. Zig-Zag

Following closely on the heels of this allusion to Amos Poe’s “The Foreigner,” I was out and about with my son Oliver yesterday afternoon, and we found ourselves walking east on Great Jones Street. As such, I was struck with an idea.

Just as a bit of backtracking, “The Foreigner” is this strange little film made back in the late 70’s during the gestation of all things NYC punk. Ponderous and stiff in parts, the film is sort of like a cross between “Alphaville” and “After Hours,” following bizarre protagonist/secret agent Max as he tries to navigate his way through the Lower East Side of the late 70’s on a star-crossed clandestine mission. Along the way, he encounters some notable characters like Debbie Harry and The Cramps.

While the film is sometimes ploddingly slow in its narrative, it's compelling in how it captures lower Manhattan (and the punk scene of the day) in a manner that is, of course, strikingly at odds with what’s here today. It’s tough to find, but worth tracking down.

In any case, at one point in the proceedings, Max is being chased through the streets by a carload of merry cutthroats, all the while gleefully chanting “We Love You, Mr. Zig-Zag!” (referring to the serpentine manner in which Max is trying to outrun the car).

The chase careens down the Bowery, hangs a left on Great Jones and then onto Lafayette Street. Back on this post, I took a couple of screengrabs. Below is our fleeting homage to poor Max.

1978

2015... finding Oliver (in brand new red sneakers...yay!) in roughly the same spot....

We had fun, at least.

Here's a trailer of the film in question....

 

More ….
Exhuming ‘the Foreigner’
Back to Great Jones Alley
‘We Love You, Mr Zig Zag’
Cramped in the Men’s Room

Follow That Funk!

Filmed just a year after Funkadelic’s amazing, NYC-centric video (or “promotional film,” as they’d probably have called it back then) for "Cosmic Slop" in 1973, this commercial for Parliament’s 1974 opus, Up for The Down Stroke shows some similar funkiness on the streets of New York City.

It’s a little grainy, but can anyone name the locations?

Here’s a better version of the opening …. kinda looks like the Village?? That opening shot looks like George Clinton (purportedly wearing Gene Simmons' boots circa Dressed to Kill) acting funky in Father Fagan Place, where MacDougal Street intersects with Prince Street at Sixth Avenue.

Here's that spot today via Google Maps...Could be, right? 

 

And just because it’s so goddamn excellent, here’s “Cosmic Slop” again … finding the P-Funk Mob running amok in Central Park and Times Square. It’s awesome.

Stuff You Might Have Missed

Like so many cherished albums before it, Filth by SWANS is getting an umpteenth re-release. Personally speaking, I already own at least three iterations of the damn thing (including the comparatively rare version from 1990 that appended the 1982 e.p.....which, like a dick, I also own on vinyl). This new version, however, promises more. Here's what Young God Records have to say about it...

The expanded Deluxe 3CD version of Filth is now available for pre-order on the Young God Records webstore. It now includes 29 bonus tracks including live material from CBGB's 1982 and 1983, Heaven in London in 1984 and much more. All copies sold though the web store are hand signed by M.Gira.

Get more info and order your copy here.

On other fronts, Annie Zaleskie, a freelance music journalist from Ohio, wrote a really nice, thoughtful piece for Salon about the emotional travails of parting with the physical manifestation (be it vinyl or compact discs) of your music collection. Normally, articles on this subject make me splutter bile all over my keyboard, but this one hits all the right notes. Read it here.

Meanwhile, evidently Duff McKagan -- arguably the shrewdest/least-lamentable former member of Guns 'N' Roses -- has penned a (second) book. Who knew? In any case, in it, he cites some of his favorite albums and, with few exceptions, it's a pretty decent list to my mind. Check it out here.

Here's a nice spin on the locative trend: Hardcore Architecture, a new Tumblr devoted to pinpointing and picturing the specific, formative locales from American hardcore.

Keeping on the music geek tip, here's a compelling video of the visuals Genesis strove (and frequently failed) to provide their live audiences with during performances of "Back in New York City" from their Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour in the mid-70's. Here's a better explanation....

These are the original slides used on the live 'Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' tour of 1974-1975. The album tells the surreal story of a half Puerto Rican juvenile named Rael living in New York City, who is swept underground to face bizarre creatures and nightmarish dangers in order to rescue his brother John. This would be Peter Gabriel's final tour with the band. 

This is available on the 2008 remastered dvd version of the album included in the Genesis 1970-1975 box set. Watching this in DTS surround sound is fantastic.

I Saw the Light: Finding Todd's Corner

This one didn’t seem to take long at all.

Alas, I wasn’t entirely correct with my guess of Greene Street just south of Broome. Longtime reader/friend Chung Wong was technically the first to chime in with Greene and Grand Street, and Bob Egan of PopSpots also weighed in with the same answer. In typical form, Bob also showed his work….

Today, with the intention of going to pick up some items at soon-to-vanish Pearl River on Mercer Street (well, technically it’s on Broadway, but I prefer the Mercer Street entrance), I swung over to Greene to verify the sleuth work.

It looks indeed like Lynn Goldsmith shot this lovely photograph of Todd Rundgren in 1983 on the southwest corner of Greene Street at Grand. Here it was this afternoon.....

Usually, I have my kids star in the photo replications, but … they’re at school, so you’re stuck with me. In hindsight, squeezing my 47-year-old frame into a vintage, form-fitting Sisters of Mercy t-shirt and donning my requisite pair of sunglasses only serves to make me resemble Simon Pegg’s protagonist in “The World’s End,” but some things just can’t be helped, alas.

Here’s a bit more Todd….

Todd on The Streets

I’ve never been an especially big admirer of Todd Rundgren, although — in retrospect — I guess I should be. I’m a huge fan of “Open My Eyes" by his Nuggets-era band, The Nazz, and I think his production work — notably on “Love My Way” by The Psychedelic Furs, Skylarking by XTC and the first New York Dolls album — is unparalleled, despite his reputation as an iron-willed task master. And, sure, there are a couple of Utopia tracks I like. I guess I am kind of a Rundgren fan.

The only reason I recently got to thinking about him is an article I came across on the A.V. Club yesterday, We Let One of Our Dads Interview Todd Rundgren. That struck the perfect note, as Todd does seem to now embody Dadrock.

Once implanted in my brain, however, Rundgren also seemed timely given the robustly high temperatures in recent days. For one reason or another, his seminal, early 70’s lite rock classic, “Hello It’s Me” — for me — almost single-handedlly captures the vibe of summer in the city. I can’t put my finger on why, exactly — it’s just those opening keyboards just remind me of hot days in Central Park, sitting on shady stoops under the criss-crossing shadows of fire-escapes, breezy Saturdays wandering around Manhattan. I wish I could explain it better. It just sounds like the summery New York City of my childhood. Here it is, one more time….

One thing that bugs me about it….there really should be a comma between “Hello” and “It’s.” Just sayin’, Todd.

In any case, while listening to this again, I found myself combing the web for a nice shot of Todd to augment this post with, and came across this great portrait of him from 1983, taken by the amazing Lynn Goldsmith.

You can feel the question coming, can’t you?

WHERE WAS THIS SHOT TAKEN?

I want to say Greene Street just south of Broome, but am not sure. What say you?

'Tell Your Children Not to Walk My Way...': Retracing Danzig's Footsteps

Okay, I’m not giving you very long to ruminate on this one, as I believe it’s pretty easy.

Upon first glance of the above photo (originally spotted on The Quietus, but also used in a Village Voice piece — I have no idea who shot it), I was thrilled to notice that our Glenn was glaring manfully from a spot in mine very own `hood.

My big hint, of course was this ancient flyer.

The Ritz as a concept and a going concern is ancient history, but the building remains. That building, of course, is now Webster Hall on East 11th Street between Fourth and Third Avenues.

In the photo up top, Glenn Danzig is pictured standing on Fourth Avenue at East 11th Street, but a burly armed stone’s throw from the doors of Webster Hall.

Essentially, Glenn’s photographed directly behind Grace Church …. worryingly close to its grade school and fittingly nearby the Halloween superstore and the ludicrous Gothic Renaissance … two businesses of which I’m sure Glenn slavishly approves.

To seal the deal, during a post-dinner stroll with my wee ones last night, we paused briefly to pay homage to the great man in megapixels.

Sadly, I couldn’t find any shot of that Misfits gig at the Ritz, but here’s a nice clip from a spirited performance (circa 1983) of the Earth A.D.-era Misfits. The end was near.

If The Misfits, .... Wear It

Pardon the quasi-pun, but I make no bones about being an unapologetic fan of The Misfits, Samhain and Danzig. Yes, there’s inarguably something genuinely silly and juvenile about them, but I still absolutely love those bands, those records, that music and the whole ridiculous aesthetic. I should preface this by saying that, with all due respect to Jerry Only, I don’t really consider any incarnation of the Misfits without Glenn Danzig in its ranks to be worthy of the name. It’s well established that they don’t get along, but The Misfits without Glenn simply are not The Misfits. Full stop.

I think the first track of theirs I ever heard was either “She” or “Halloween,” courtesy of a mixtape from my grade school friend Rich K (an influential friend who, in later years, did a veritable 180 and became a devout acolyte of the Grateful Dead). After playing that tape to death, I remember eagerly seeking out all the Misfits vinyl I could find back in the mid-80’s. I still have a couple of prized 7”s of theirs (including the afore-cited “Halloween”). For years, I was unable to find a copy of Walk Among Us as it was between printings. I eventually prized a copy for a princely sum at Subterranean Records on Cornelia Street (long gone)….only to see the LP re-released multiple times afterwards.

Anyway, enamored of the band’s stealthy, blunt-force-trauma rock and tirelessly ghoulish image, I dutifully followed Danzig’s progress into Samhain and later Danzig, although I believe my enthusiasm started to wane around 1994’s Danzig IV (although I did inexplicably spring for 2001’s Live on the Black Hand Side). Somewhere along the line, Glenn seemed to have lost a bit of his muse, to say nothing of his sense of humor.

Rumors of a reunion of the most celebrated line-up of The Misfits (that being Glenn, Jerry Only, Doyle and Robo) are routinely circulated, but litigation and sensibilities still keep Glenn and Jerry in separate, acrimonious corners. Glenn has patched things up with Doyle, however, who has been making appearances with Danzig for a few years now. Sadly, I’ve yet to see one of those shows.

This year, meanwhile, Glenn Danzig has kicked it up a notch and released an entirely bizarre offering called the Danzig Legacy Special, essentially a program loosely based on Elvis Presley’s fabled 1968 television special. If you’re a fan, it’s pretty required, although be warned — age is a bitch (although Doyle’s still looking fit). Proceed with caution.

Most striking, to my mind, is footage of the notoriously thorny frontman coming across like a chummy, cheeky chappy. There’s a disarming amount of smiling going on.

Anyway, I thought I’d share it with you here. You’re welcome.

In the process of putting this post together, meanwhile, I happened upon a photo of our frowny frontman here in New York City.

I’ve already figured it out, but CAN YOU NAME THE LOCATION?

Here’s a big hint….

 

Charlotte

In the wake of Will & Kate bestowing the name “Charlotte” on their newest addition, I’m starting to see all these pieces pop up about the rigors, torments and odious travails of either having the name “Charlotte” yourself or having a daughter named “Charlotte,” … to which I say this: Pfffft!

What the royals choose to name their offspring could not possibly mean less to me. I mean, no offense. If anything, I suppose I should commend them on their taste.

But do I now regret naming my own daughter Charlotte eleven years before they chose to do same with their child? No.

Do I fear for my own little girl’s sanity now that she shares a name with a British royal? Again — no.

Why should I? I know a few Charleses, Dianas,Wills, Elizabeths, Harries and more Kates than I can shake a bejeweled royal scepter at, and they all seem to get along just fine. I don’t know any Fergies, but perhaps that’s just as well.

I first suggested the name Charlotte based on three things. Firstly, I just think it's a beautiful name. Secondly, I'd worked with a couple of Charlottes, and they were -- without fail -- absolutely lovely, delightful people. Thirdly, because of this particular recording of this song....