My dream is on the screen

Debbie, Chris, and Will Hermes at the NYPL, March 27, 2013. Starts at around the 13 minute mark.

Down at the Rock and Roll Club

Brendan Toller, director of the upcoming Danny Says, did a great interview on Dave the Spazz's show last week, and was featured in the Village Voice blog a few days ago.  Just now when I went to get the link for that, I noticed the V.V. blog also did a recent piece on John Joseph's Lower East Side walking tours.

Get dishpan hands at the Norton Records Wash-a-Thon tonight if you can --or if you're not local, drop a few Paypal'ed bucks into their Superstorm Sandy recovery fund.

Via the Bomp List Bookshelf Facebook group, I was hipped to this vintage piece on Lou Reed by Bruce Pollock, and learned that memoirs from Marty Thau and Richard Hell are due to be published soon.  And speaking of those fellas--while browsing at Sonic Boom the other day I chanced upon a DVD entitled Punk Revolution NYC, which I couldn't recall hearing about before.  (Indeed, even after I bought it on impulse, I could find only two reviews for it on the entire internet.)  I've only watched the first disc so far (it's a two-disc, three-hour-tour production), but it's quite a thorough documentary, covering the NYC punk scene from its proto- to prime eras. The film has a pretty straightforward format--i.e., interview segment/performance clip/interview segment/archival photo display/interview segment--but all the clips are well-chosen and they talk to many of the right people.  (I didn't see any Talking Heads among the talking heads though.  Have I made that dumbass joke before in regard to another vintage punk documentary?  Probably.)  Here's an excerpt from it, about the NYC scene's influence on the U.K.



I devoured the new Peppermint Twist book in a matter of hours.  It's more of a mob story than a music book (in fact, I think Chapters and Indigo are shelving it under True Crime), and it also seems to focus more on the Miami Peppermint Lounge than the New York original.  That was O.K. by me, as it put me in the right frame of mind to watch the episodes of Magic City that my great buddy Flipped Out loaned to us....but still, as much as I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes tough stuff, I would have preferred a bit more emphasis on the hip-swiveling happenings within both clubs.  (As is my wont, I've also gotta nitpick on a factual error I noticed very early on in the text--Vernon and Irene Castle were husband and wife, not "a popular brother-sister dance team"!)




Coincidentally, and further to that picture of the Action House included in my last post, here's a quote from Chris Dreja which I saw in Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page:  "The people who ran the promotions, especially in America, were mainly mafia.  I remember playing Vanilla Fudge's club in Long Island and being introduced to truly menacing people who were eight feet tall, with chewed up ears and smashed-in faces, and had names like Vinnie."

Weird news travels fast

I was gonna save these links for the intro to my next post on ads, but I may as well round them up here, in reverse order of how I found out about them.


Bleecker Bob's to become a Starbucks--via JVNY and GV Daily Photo. Thanks to Caryn Rose for the head's up.  [UPDATE, mere seconds after my inital post--the Holiday is closing too!]  [UPDATE 1/27/2012: Yesterday there was a NY Times article on this as well, which also stated that Southpaw is closing.  Today JVNY reports that BB's is looking for space in the East Village.]

CBGB festival and talk of a possible revival of the club--via Bowery Boogie, Gothamist, EV Grieve, WCBS-FM, Brooklyn Vegan, and the Observer.  Thanks for Bryan at This Ain't the Summer of Love for the alert.

The Court Tavern in New Brunswick to close--via the Village Voice blog.



Not news but interesting stuff from before my time--FB page for after-hours club the Nursery.  Thanks to NY Rocks head honcho Ray S.

And hopefully this might cheer you up a little, or at least offer some useful distraction--go get lost within this massive NYU archive of Greenwich Village photos (link via Flaming Pablum).

1978 Ads: CBGB and CBGB Theater

Selected 1978 Voice ads for CBGB.

1/2/78 issue.

1/2/78 "Choices" column excerpt.

1/2/78 issue.

1/2/78 issue--well wishes from Max's Kansas City.

1/2/78 issue.

1/9/78 issue.

1/16/78 issue.

1/23/78 "Choices" column excerpt.

1/23/78 issue.

1/30/78 issue.

2/6/78 issue.

2/6/78 issue.

2/13/78 issue.

2/13/78 issue.

2/13/78 issue.

2/20/78 issue.

2/20/78 issue.

2/27/78 issue.

2/27/78 issue.

3/6/78 issue.

3/6/78 issue.

3/6/78 issue.

3/13/78 issue.

3/28/78 "Choices" column excerpt.

3/20/78 issue.

3/20/78 issue.

3/27/78 issue.

3/27/78 issue.

3/27/78 issue.

4/3/78 issue.

4/3/78 issue.

4/3/78 issue.

4/3/78 issue.

4/10/78 issue.

4/10/78 issue.

4/17/78 issue.

4/17/78 issue.

4/24/78 issue.

5/1/78 issue.

5/8/78 issue.

5/15/78 issue.

5/22/78 issue.

5/22/78 issue.

5/29/78 issue.

6/5/78 issue.

6/12/78 issue.

6/19/78 issue.

6/26/78 "Choices" column excerpt.

6/26/78 issue.

7/3/78 issue.

7/3/78 issue.

7/3/78 issue.

7/10/78 issue.

7/10/78 issue.

7/17/78 issue.

7/24/78 issue.

7/31/78 issue.

8/7/78 issue.

8/14/78 issue.

8/21/78 issue.

8/21/78 issue.

8/28/78 issue.

9/4/78 issue.

9/4/78 issue.

9/11/78 issue.

9/18/78 issue.

9/25/78 issue.

9/25/78 issue.

10/2/78 issue.

10/2/78 issue.

10/9/78 issue.

10/16/78 "Choices" column excerpt.

10/16/78 issue.

10/23/78 issue.

10/30/78 issue.

11/6/78 issue.

11/6/78 issue.

11/13/78 issue.

11/13/78 issue.

11/20/78 issue.

11/20/78 issue.

11/20/78 issue.

11/27/78 issue.

11/27/78 issue.

12/4/78 issue.

12/11/78 issue.

12/18/78 issue.

12/25/78 issue.

Reviews, articles, etc.:

4/10/78 issue: "Riffs" features two essential pieces on the CBGB Theater--James Wolcott on the Tuff Darts/Jam show, and Tom Carson on the "Best of the New New Wave" event with Shrapnel/Hot Lunch/Sic F*cks/Erasers/Cramps.

10/23/78 issue: Christgau's "A Little Night Music II" discusses CBGB among a myriad of other clubs of the period.




1978 CBGB Youtube videos, including the Police, Blondie, John Cale, the Ramones, the Shirts, the Avengers, Suicide, Son, and more.