Someone on the No Wave Facebook page posted the above photo of the nascent Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, arguably the preeminent band of the No Wave ….er… wave, then featuring drummer Bradley Field, a bass player named Reck, the great James Chance (later to front his own band, The Contortions) and the inimitable firebrand that is Lydia Lunch. This uncredited photo was supposedly snapped in 1977.
But the thing that jumped out at me the most, from this photo, wasn’t one of the preternatural coolsters pictured, but the surrounding environs. Acting on a hunch, I did a quick Google search and struck oil. I walk by that distinctive doorway pretty frequently on my daily treks to my office.
The band is pictured posing in front of 335 Greenwich Street, in what is today known as TriBeCa. WikiPedia suggests that TriBeCa -- a portmanteau of "Triangle Below Canal" -- was actually coined in the early `70s, but who knows? I didn’t really start exploring TriBeCa until about 1989, but even as late as that, it was still a comparatively desolate part of town.
Today, however, …. not so much. The door they’re standing in front of is now the entrance to a venture called Joseph Carini Carpets, a bespoke rug emporium specializing in high-end wool products colored with rarified Nepalese and Tibetan botanicals. Suffice to say, nothing sold by this business can be described as cheap.
To that same end, if you were to want to purchase an apartment in this building, it’s probably going to set ya back about $3 million, so … y’know … maybe break open that change jar.
Across the street to the north is Sarabeth’s, an upscale bistro where you can pay $22 for a “smashed avocado.”
So, yeah, TriBeCa has changed a bit since the `Jerks were loitering around its streets.
Photos from the same shoot -- I'm still trying to divine the name of the photographer -- made their way onto gig flyers.
Start your morning off with a bang with some vintage Teenage Jesus....
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