Punked Out: Goodbye to the Old St. Marks

Last weekend, I paid a most-likely final visit to the picked-over ruins of St. Marks Sounds, whose very last day is “probably tomorrow.” They continued to not sell me those Misfits and Plasmatics posters I’ve been asking for since about 1983, but I did bring an arguably rare Soul Coughing promo to the counter. “Just take it,” they said, “…and have a good one.”

While I hadn’t really considered Sounds to have been a crucial shop for some time now, I did indeed feel a bit of remorse as I walked down the steps of that storied stoop for the last time and back onto St. Marks Place.

Between Sounds' shuttering and the impending relocation of Trash & Vaudeville just up the block, we seem to be seeing the final gasp of St. Marks’ incarnation as a destination for a certain variant of music fan.

While, true, you can still buy a wide array of silly rock t-shirts at the otherwise-innocuous Funky Town or spend an inordinately high sum of money on punky regalia at Search & Destroy, both shops are comparative newcomers on that strip of St. Marks, dating back to the mid-90’s (an era that still seems deceptively recent to the naive likes of me).

But more than places to just buy stuff, Sounds and Trash & Vaudeville both exuded such senses of place. Hell, back in the 80’s, Sounds was a just a great spot to simply hang out at, whether you intended to buy anything there or not. I remember being yet another brat sitting on that stoop for hours on end, just soaking up the vibe of the street, and I remember salvaging a blind date in the early 90’s that was in grave peril of death-by-ennui until we repaired to the aisles of Sounds (which, once upon a time, always seemed to be open, day or night) to discover a mutual-if-begrudging affinity for Shout at the Devil by Motley Crue.

Meanwhile, Trash & Vaudeville -- captured above circa 1983 by the great Godlis -- just seemed to sum it all up. Sure, nowadays, they’re not entirely cheap either, but their t-shirt selection remains pretty unimpeachable, be you a fan of certain eras of UK and NYC punk rock.

Immortalized in an opening montage of visceral New York sights in the 1983-84 season of “Saturday Night Live,” that neon “TRASH” sign seemed to embody the snarling heart of St. Marks Place. I will be genuinely incredulous when that sign goes away (even if only a block or so to the south).

Much like the stoop at Sounds, the stoop at 4 St. Marks Place — just adjacent to the entrance of Trash & Vaudeville — also used to be an invitation to loiter. As discussed recently in this post, I’m hoping author Ada Calhoun will delve into the historical minutia of some of these addresses, but 4 St. Marks Place used to be a permanent perch for teenage punks. I’m reminded of the 1980 photo below by Dave 'Daze' Parsons of Rat Cage Records of the Virus kids (whose ranks, for a time, included Jack Natz … later of Cop Shoot Cop), hanging out on 4’s stoop. I also love the “SAMO” tag behind them,….the work of the roving Jean-Michel Basquiat, along with the brazenly ignored "NO LOITERING" stencil.

In scrounging around on this subject, I came across this other great shot circa 1985 of the stoop at 4 St. Marks, credited to the New York Historical Society.

Keen-eyed minutia-heads might spot tattered flyers on the door behind the “people in punk-type clothing” (as Getty calls them) for Von LMO, SWANS and the Midnight Records Fuzz Fest (see that flyer below).

Granted, it’s a bit much to be lamenting the demise of all things punk in 2015. As I mentioned in this ancient post, that ship left the dock some time ago, and St. Marks Place (and its surrounding East Village) has continued to (d)evolve for better or worse. I just find it a bit sad that its last vestiges are gradually being squeezed out like zits to accommodate a bland, new future.

What will take the places of Sounds and Trash & Vaudeville once they are gone? What concerns will occupy those spaces? Will they be reduced to hosts for a veritable parade of doomed ventures (like the former site of Mondo Kim’s)? We shall see.

Will, like the swallows that used to flock to the cliffs of Capistrano, the kids who still adhere to the dubious protocols of punk dutifully come back to St. Marks? Would there be any point?

After all, nobody sits on the stoop of number 4 anymore.

Comments

[URL Brenner]

I think at the heart of just about all of these changes in New York is that it's seriously lost its value as a place you can come to and (especially for young people) de-program yourself from the life you led, or were forced to lead, in the mainstream world outside of the city. That's the kind of place this town was for a very, very long time. We're talking generations. People like to argue that the city has always changed. Perhaps it has..physically. Spiritually is another matter. The spirit that was here for decades and decades is now dying a slow death and that's really sad but what's even sadder is that most of the people you see flooding in here now are just fine and dandy with that.

[Jeff Jotz]

In 2015, the Sock Man soldiers on.

[Michael]

Walking into Trash and Vaudeville was like walking into CBGB. You knew immediately that you were in a Place. You had to keep up your end of the bargain of course. Would return to Queens with a t shirt that people would go cross-eyed with envy over. "Where'd you get it?" "The Village." That info was only for best friends.

[DrBOP]

Somewhat off/on topic.....

Here's a brand new CBC sitcom (starting tomorrow night) authored by and starring Bruce McCulloch of KidsInTheHall fame. It's the story of his growing up in 1980 Calgary as a punk-wannabe. They are also claiming that the soundtrack will be 100% Canadian punk/new wave. Clips look good, but no recommendation here, simply a heads up.....and 'ya GOTTA love the title, eh?

http://www.cbc.ca/youngdrunkpunk/

[Clay]

The up side is it is a lot cleaner. I know people think it had "character" when it was a trash strewn, Graffiti'd up mess. And perhaps that is absolutely true.

But, it was also a lot more dangerous (which again, probably gave it a lot more mystique). What is contributing to a lot of this change is not only corporate America's foothold, but also the advent of the internet, where people are just not seeking their society outwardly like they were back then.

For the prior generations it was a necessity, for ours it is an option, amongst a sea of options. One could easily make the argument that we need physical socialization, and there is definitely a powerful case for this. But even stating this truth abruptly would not be encompassing a conversation about the very fact that this generations nervous system, because of so much contact with computers, is just intrinsically different in terms of its environmental reactions than the prior generations nervous systems.

That can change of course, and I hope more balance comes our way in terms of inner and outer environments, but it is a fact nonetheless.