Those in the know have spoken and consensus dictates that, while yes, that’s certainly Stephen Ielpi from the False Prophets making some odd cameos, that other figure in "Desperately Seeking Susan" is definitely NOT Sir Vincent of Stigma from Agnostic Front. Oh well.
Hey, it was just a fleeting fancy. Can’t be right all the time.
In any case, as a mea culpa, let me post this. This trailer surfaced late last year -– cannot wait to see the actual film.
As a frequent liaison between vendors and executives at my office, a very big part of my job consists of “hurry up & wait.” I collect detailed directive from execs, relay those to my vendors and then wait for the ensuing work to arrive that hopefully reflects the specifications of the original directive. Sometimes it flows seamlessly, while other times, some things get lost in the translation, so to speak. Right now, I am embroiled in something of an eleventh-hour scramble to get a certain piece of content in shape in time for a work event next week (the one I first weepily cited here). While I’d been assuming we were in the home stretch, some considerable last-minute setbacks have ….er ... set us back several steps, and I’m now furiously trying to expedite the venture to get it done in time. The biggest obstacle here, however, is that in my capacity as strictly a liaison, I am fully reliant on the chops, stealth and diligence of my vendors. I can’t do what they do. I can only advise and hurry them along as emphatically-yet-diplomatically as I am able, and strenuously hope that the work they eventually deliver lives up to the oft-fickle standards of the execs. Usually we get there, but it’s sometimes pretty hectic.
Right now, I’m in that space. Last-minute revisions and changes-of-direction landed like a scud missile, but those changes have been relayed, and I’m now waiting as the vendors perform some triage on the project. As I wait nervously, I am filing the time by exhuming a post from a couple of weeks back that I’d abandoned. While no longer timely, maybe it’ll still be interesting. Or not. Let’s find out.
ACTUAL POST:
Madonna turned 60 back on August 16, and the rapturous coverage of same inspired me to re-visit her big screen breakout, Susan Seidelman’s “Desperately Seeking Susan.” I’ve posted about the film in question, here, a few times, and I’ve always had a soft spot for it (certainly more so than for Seidelman’s earlier opus, “Smithereens”). In any case, while “Desperately…” is already invaluable as a time-capsule-worthy document of mid-80’s New York City (right up there with favorites like “Downtown `81” and “After Hours”), this particular viewing revealed to me a whole new level of punk cognoscenti hidden within.
Obviously, Richard Hell, Anne Magnuson, Rockets Redglare and DNA’s Arto Lindsay all make fairly prominent cameos (although Hell’s screen time is pretty fleeting), but in this recent viewing, I also spotted Richard Edson of Sonic Youth/Konk fame (also an actor in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and a couple of Jarmusch films), Anne Carlisle from “Liquid Sky” and the stately silhouette of John Lurie of the Lounge Lizards, seen serenading Roberta and Dez with a saxophone from a nearby window. Shortly after starting to compose this entry, I spotted this similarly inclined article, that verifies some of the names above, but also cites Darinka’s Gary Ray and Annie Golden of the Shirts.
Although that article does not cite him -- nor is he cited on IMDB -- I also spotted Stephan Ielpi from the False Prophets in the scene wherein Roberta pursues Susan down St. Marks Place. Look at the top of the post, and that's his elbow in the leather jacket with yellow armband. Here's another shot with his face...
...and here he is again behind Rosanna Arquette's Roberta. Pardon the grainy quality. This was shot off my television, as DVD's prevent one from duplicating screen grabs.
So, yeah, that’s all well and good, but there was one other spotting that I cannot verify. Now, I could be COMPLETELY MISTAKEN, but in the scene wherein Roberta’s duplcitous, tub-hawking husband Gary revisits Love Saves the Day (r.i.p.) on Second Avenue, I really want to say I see fabled NYHC punk rocker, Agnostic Front guitarist and storied Lower East Side fixture, Vinnie Stigma.
Here's the wide shot. I’m talking about the figure on the right with his back to the screen. Notice the NYHC logo on the back of his jacket?
Here’s a closer shot.
Here's a better shot..
Anyway, it’s certainly not unheard of that Stigma would have been recruited, probably not unlike the way his buddy Fran Powers was recruited for "After Hours." Still, neither Stephan Ielpi nor Vinnie Stigma are cited in the cast & crew on IMDB.
What do we think?
To refresh your memory, here's Stephan with the False Prophets...
And here's Vinnie Stigma with Agnostic Front circa 1985, when "Desperately Seeking Susan" came out ..
Peter Missing shared this video below — only uploaded yesterday — on the official Missing Foundation Facebook page, so I thought I’d share it here as well, given that footage of Missing Foundation in action from this particular era is fairly hard to come by.
According to the person who originally posted this fifteen plus minute clip on YouTube, this is Missing Foundation in 1990 at the Marquee, then situated on the way western end of West 21st Street. It’s a venue I’ve spoken about many times here — most recently here — but I simply do not remember Missing Foundation ever gracing that particular stage. That’s not to say it didn’t happen or that YouTuber Jess 77714 is mistaken, but I simply don’t remember it, and it surely would’ve been something I’d otherwise have attended.
The first show I ever remember attending in that space was actually the Pretty Hate Machine-era Nine Inch Nails. At the time, the venue was a club called Sonic’s, and had sort of a schlocky “surface of the moon” interior design aesthetic, for some reason. Shortly afterwards (like, within the year?), it turned into The Marquee, and started playing host largely to alternative bands, British indie acts and loads of noise and industrial outfits … like Missing Foundation, I suppose. I guess I’m just surprised MF played there, given their pronounced reputation for inciting riots and inflicting wanton property damage. Still, I guess the Marquee management was either unaware of that, or simply strenuously understanding of MF’s singularly confrontational approach to live performance.
Anyway, this is probably the best footage of the clamorous and chaotic live Missing Foundation experience I’ve seen since that Jane Hotel video from some years back. Turn it way up and brace yourselves.
As the yang to the previous post's yin, here is the obligatory entry about the weekends my family was lucky enough to spend squatting at my mom's place out on Long Island's East End. Apart from the wife and I's brief sojourn in the Middle East, we spent all our free time, this summer, out there. Here with some highlights.
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