CBGB, an upcoming film which focuses on the founding of the New York punk nightclub that helped launch the careers of such legendary acts as The Ramones, Blondie, Television and The Talking Heads (and many others).
Alan Rickman stars as club founder Hilly Kristal. Other actors signed on include Malin Akerman as Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry, Kyle Gallner as Lou Reed and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins as Iggy Pop.
Television’s Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine as well as former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne are slated to make cameo appearances, though not as themselves.
The film is scheduled for a theatrical release later this year.
Last month I wrote an extensive A-Z music journalist series. The tree of music journalism I planted continues to harvest fruit.
I commenced InterWeb reading this morning with Robert Christgau’s Barnes and Noble Review column Rock & Roll &. I was rewarded with a thought-provoking essay about Richard Hell’s new book, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp.
The more I dug into Richard Hell, Television, his (s)exploits and writing prowess the more intrigued I became.
I have tried to find copy of the book at my local Barnes & Noble Stores so I can give you a closer perspective but no luck thus far.
I add this book to my ever-increasing music book reading list.
There is a tie-in event with Richard Hell, Fashion and Punk that I also want to share with you. The exhibit takes place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art May 9-August 14, 2013.
PUNK: Chaos to Couture will examine punk’s impact on high fashion from the movement’s birth in the early 1970s through its continuing influence today. Featuring approximately one hundred designs for men and women, the exhibition will include original punk garments and recent, directional fashion to illustrate how haute couture and ready-to-wear borrow punk’s visual symbols.
Focusing on the relationship between the punk concept of “do-it-yourself” and the couture concept of “made-to-measure,” the seven galleries will be organized around the materials, techniques, and embellishments associated with the anti-establishment style. Themes will include New York and London, which will tell punk’s origin story as a tale of two cities, followed by Clothes for Heroes and four manifestations of the D.I.Y. aesthetic—Hardware, Bricolage, Graffiti and Agitprop, and Destroy.
Presented as an immersive multimedia, multisensory experience, the clothes will be animated with period music videos and soundscaping audio techniques. - Description Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art 2013
A book, Punk: Chaos to Couture, by Andrew Bolton, with an introduction by Jon Savage, and prefaces by Richard Hell and John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols), will accompany the exhibition. This publication will be illustrated with photographs of vintage punks and high fashion. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the $45 catalogue (hard cover only) will be distributed worldwide by Yale University Press.
Many people know Lenny Kaye as a guitarist and composer with the Patti Smith Group. I have seen him play with Patti Smith four or five times in the past few years. I love his style and his gentle enthusiasm.
Lenny Kaye is lesser known but greatly respected as a music journalist. He has a powerful writing command that makes him one of America’s leading music analysts and interpreters.
Lenny began by writing reviews for Jazz and Pop magazine. He later branched out to foundation rock magazines like Fusion, Crawdaddy and Rolling Stone. He next became the music editor for Cavalier, a gentlemen’s magazine.where he authored a monthly column until 1975.
He then decided to become a free-lance writer where he would a wrote for hire with a range of publications that included Melody Maker and CREEM. Again heserved in an editor role for music monthly magazines like Rock Scene and Hit Parader through the seventies.
Lenny Kaye is the co-author of the autobiography, Waylon, The Life Story of Waylon Jennings written with the late Waylon Jennings.
Lenny Kaye has written with an authoritative sense about several defining periods in the history of music.
One literature work that represents his history/analysis writing skills is You Call It Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon. This book highlights the age of crooning in early 1930s New York City. The book centers on Russ Columbo, known as Bing Crosby’s rival. Lenny Kaye as a Columbo enthusiast offers the reader a scrapbook research title accompanied by many rare photographs and memorabilia from his own collection.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Nuggets about the first psychedelic erawhich celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. Lenny Kaye wrote the liner notes and helped assemble the collection with Jac Holzman of Elektra Records fame. I purchased that edition for Lenny Kaye to autograph for me someday in the future
You can find monthly writing contributions from Lenny Kaye at e-Music where he writes for them today. Here are some of his 2012 writing efforts.
Music festivals take on a life of their own. The Vans Warped Tour has been going strong for 17+ years now.
If you have never been to a Vans Warped Tour event try to attend. The energy and the vibe is great to witness first hand. Plan on spending the entire day at a Vans Warped Tour event. I was the “designated Dad” for my son and his friends in 2004 and 2005. The 2004 Vans Warped Tour event we went to took place in the parking lot outside of Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. The fans moshed and surfed on the asphalt that day. 2004 was the 10th anniversary celebration of Vans Warped Tour.
It’s a wild day. There is a main announcement wall that gives you the schedule of bands to appear on the two main stages and all the alternate stages. I saw some interesting groups such as Bowling for Soup (hung out with them back at their area, they were fun), The Used, New Found Glory (how does that lead singer still have vocal chords left…) and Flogging Molly just to name some of the lineup that day.
The 2005 Vans Warped Tour was held on Randall’s Island just outside New York City. It was a huge dust bowl and you had to protect your eyes/throat from the dust. No matter how much they hosed down the dirt fields there the dust persisted. My favorite Warped Tour 2005 moment was when my son and his friends joined me at the Lordz of Brooklyn show and got me a Lordz t-shirt that was thrown from the stage. The Lordz signed it for me later on at their booth
My past lineage with the Warped Tour has me excited for the new movie, No Room for Rockstars.
The documentaryNo Room for Rock Stars has more than 300 hours of film shot during the 2010 tour. The film documents the true stories of modern era rock and roll from every possible angle. From the kids in the van playing parking lots to gain notice, to the veteran stage manager whose life was saved by the tour, to the musician who crosses over to mainstream success while on the road, No Room For Rock Stars is Cinema Vèritè story-telling at its finest. A historical retrospective or concert film this is not.
This is the time of year I catch up on music journalism and associated listening. I have several books at my disposal that are raising my music consciousness
One such read is an authoritative and extensively well researched book by Will Hermes, entitled Love Goes To Buildings On Fire. My son, Matthew, gave it to me as a Christmas present this year. Matthew and I have an inherent music connection that we actively share. I am proud of what he has accomplished with his skills in graphics design and music production.
I had browsed the two New York Times articles about Love Goes To Buildings On Fire, 1) “Books of the Times: When Dreamers Were Breaking The Music Apart” by David Gates and 2) “The CBGB Effect” by Gerald Marzorati earlier in the month. I had made a note to reconnoiter with this book in the music aisle of Barnes & Noble. Thankfully my son picked up on that interest and took the step for me.
I am not far along enough in the book to divulge how pivotal these five years of music evolution in New York City have been.The premise of the book as the cover art wildly articulates is that New York is an entertainment petri dish that cultures music genres with great aplomb. The era from 1973 to 1977 flourished music in fervent splendor.
I recall and relate to this era of music with my music industry past.
I was senior at the University of New Haven in 1973. I had an afternoon radio show that I did on WNHU-FM 88.7, West Haven, Ct. My goal when I graduated in 1974 was to work in artist and repertoire (A&R) for a record company. I sent my résumé to every record company in New York City. 1974 was a recessionary time. I received 23 rejection letters from each record company. I never did get to realize that dream.
I also recall it was a time that I would hop the Conrail train to New York City and go record shopping for hours on end. I would visit the East Village, Greenwich Village and the Park Row (J&R Music World) record haunts. I would come home with bags of loot that contained specialty EPs and vinyl LPs by such artists as The Talking Heads, Television, and The Patti Smith Group.
I plan to write more about Will Hermes book when I have completed reading it. I look forward to more revelations and flashbacks to follow.
My one regret with the hard copy edition of this book is that I can’t hyperlink to the citations as I would like to do. It slows down my reading to cross-reference the references.
Beautifully put-together with classic performances and interviews, the viewer gets to see the transition from the early three-piece days (singer/songwriter/guitarist David Byrne, bassistTina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz in 1975) to a quartet (keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison joined in 1977), on into an ensemble of multi-cultural proportions. The deluxe edition of the release will include a 48-page hard-cover book with photographs and an essay by the late Lester Bangs, originally published as a review of Fear Of Music for the Village Voice in 1979. The essay is the complete and unexpurgated version, available here for the first time.
TRACK LISTING:
1) Mic Test (1976)
2) With Our Love (1975)
3) I’m Not In Love (1975)
4) Psycho Killer (1975)
5) Intros Montage (1976)
6) The Girls Want To Be With The Girls (1976)
7) Don’t Worry About The Government (1978)
8) Dressing room fan footage: Found A Job (1978)
9) Thank You For Sending Me An Angel (1978)
10) Warning Sign (1978)
11) Artists Only (1979)
12) Take Me To The River (1979)
13) Crosseyed And Painless (1980)
14) Animals (1980)
15) Love → Building On Fire (1982)
16) Cities (1982)
17) Burning Down The House (1983)
18) Life During Wartime (2002)
Though it may not seem it, this little project took years to pull together. I had seen much of this footage, and realized there might be an interesting video timeline of the various manifestations Talking Heads went through. But, tracking down all of the owners of these bits of footage and followed by getting the rights of the material was another matter. Some of the early clips were obviously not commercial—the sound and image can be a little rough in those—but you can see the extremely stripped down version of the band playing at CBGB in those days. These bits and pieces of footage coming together into a cohesive chronology morphed into something very different and impossible to predict.
This was very much a live band—at least until the late 80s. The initial recordings emerged out of what we played live, what worked in that context and how we refined our skills playing together. For a lot of musicians in the digital era this is not always the case. These days, the record often comes first and then how it is staged comes later. The Lester Bangs essay is also very much part of this time. Other than some very specific references, it holds up amazingly well as a passionate and idiosyncratic piece of writing. There’s a reason a lot of writers continue to hold him up as a role model (though I hope they bypass some of the substance abuse). Though his piece is in the form of a record review, it is in truth a beautiful existential rant—and I am proud to be in some way associated with it. Come to think of it, maybe many of these songs are partly something else in disguise as well?
With each iteration of Chronology, you can pretty plainly see what came before as well as a hint of what was to come—all easy to spot in retrospect, of course. There are some fashion don’ts as well as some prescient looks—but what you really get is a sense of how tight this band was. Of course, there is more footage to be found from these sources but I thought to myself, “How many versions of the same songs can one view?” I think the sampler approach gives the viewer a sense of the musical and performative changes we were going through, but without the possibly tedious repetition.
Revolution is in the air as Anonymous and Occupy Wall Street gain momentum. 2011 is reminiscent in ways of the sentiment in 1968 when revolution took to the streets. Music has always played a role in shaping our thoughts when there is strife.
The Detroit high-energy rock scene in 1969 gave us the central protopunk bands known as the MC5 and The Stooges. I was 17 years old then and the rock and roll scene plus its voice, Rolling Stone magazine were my prurient interests.
The first and most explosive MC5 recording was Kick Out The Jams. It is their signature recording. How rare is it that a début album is recorded live and sold to the public for their digestion? Virtually never.
The influence MC5 had on the punk rock music scene is clear throughout this live recording. If you listen closely to “Kick Out The Jams” you can hear The Ramones sound. MC5 is the bedrock for many of the punk rock bands that followed.
MC5′s Kick Out The Jams introduced me to my favorite rock and roll music journalist, Lester Bangs. His review of Kick Out The Jams was his first published article for Rolling Stone magazine.
I recall the controversy that surrounded the MC5. I am not a fan of censorship and the use of the word, “motherfucker” posed the MC5 and Elektra Records issues through its sales channels. I purchased the “uncensored” Elektra vinyl recording of the MC5′s Kick Out The Jams and I played it real loud.
The MC5 was rooted in hard-core revolutionary politics. They represented the thrash for the White Panther Party led by John Sinclair, who was their manager. You may recall John Sinclair from the song “John Sinclair” by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Elephants Memory on the album, Sometime in New York City.
It is important to note that one of the founding members of MC5 was lead guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Smith number ninety-three in its list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.[5] The band Sonic Youth took its name from Smith’s nickname.
Fred “Sonic” Smith was married to Patti Smith. They were introduced to each other by Lenny Kaye. Patti Smith wrote a song about her husband, entitled “Frederick” which appears on her Wave album.
I especially like how full circle Fred “Sonic” Smith’s activist vision became as a result of writing “People Have The Power” which is an anthem for protest. Fred “Sonic” Smith passed away at 46 years of age in 1994 of a heart attack.
Patti Smith performs this song with conviction and purpose. It speaks to the triumph of the human spirit and their symbiotic, eternal relationship.
There are two tracks from Radio Ethiopia on the Outside Society collection. The first of these two tracks that Patti Smith selected is “Ain’t It Strange”. I don’t own Radio Ethiopia so “Ain’t It Strange” is one five tracks on Outside Society that are new experiences for me to absorb and learn.
I love the reggae sway this song generates as it plays against the staccato style invoked by Lenny Kaye’s guitar. The Patti Smith Group were revolutionary in dress, mannerisms and music making on Radio Ethiopia which shouted urban guerrilla warfare to the masses.
Patti Smith’s reflection’s about “Ain’t It Strange” state:
“Merging our devotion to reggae music with my personal experience as a youth in southern New Jersey, we created a playing field containing a manifesto of freedom from the fetters of dogma of any kind – moral, political or religious.”
(Patti Smith’s words from the Outside Society CD liner notes, Copyright 2011, Sony Music Entertainment)
The second track on Patti Smith‘s Outside Society recording is “Free Money” from the Horses album.
Copyright Judy Linn
Patti Smith writes,
Although we had improvised many pieces with our pianist Richard Sohl, “Free Money” marked the first time that Lenny Kaye and I consciously collaborated on a rock and roll song. It reflects the atmosphere of the East Village in 1974, our humble yet hopeful existence and the communal energy of CBGB.
(Courtesy of Patti Smith’s reflections from the Outside Society CD liner notes, Copyright 2011, Sony Music Entertainment)
A slight hint of the lyrics…
Every night before I go to sleep
Find a ticket, win a lottery,
Scoop the pearls up from the sea
Cash them in and buy you all the things you need.
(Written by Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye)
Patti Smith OUTSIDE SOCIETY was released today, August 23, 2011 on Audio CD, Vinyl (2 LPs) and digital bits (Amazon MP3, iTunes AAC, Spotify) . I am savoring with relish Patti Smith‘s landmark collection of 18 personally supervised songs. This stellar chronological collection represents Patti Smith’s entire body of recorded work (released to date) on the Arista and Columbia labels. Each song has been remastered by the team of award-winning engineer Greg Calbi and Patti Smith band member Tony Shanahan.
The collection begins with Track 1, the definitive, energy building, ”Gloria” from Horses recorded in 1975.
Patti Smith speaks the opening line over the lilting stride of Richard Sohl‘s piano chord progression.
Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine.
That ode has cycled in my head and soul for 36 years. I have gone back and forth in my consciousness trying to interpret what Patti Smith meant by her use of those specific words. Was she saying that since she was born in 1946 A.D. her sins are not accountable due to Jesus’s earlier passing? Or did she mean that Jesus perished for the world’s sins at that time in history?
Just lately I learned more specifically what Patti Smith meant when she recorded the opening line to “Gloria”. I heard her speak from page 247 of her audio book, Just Kids…
Lenny showed me how to play an E and as I struck the note, I spoke the line: “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine.” I had written the line some years before as a declaration of existence, as a vow to take responsibility for my own actions. Christ was a man worthy to rebel against, for He was rebellion itself.*
In the CD liner notes to OUTSIDE SOCIETY Patti reflects…
With respect for Jesus Christ as a great teacher and revolutionary, the opening of “Gloria” was meant to serve as a declaration of existence.
Finally I had the answer from the poetess herself and my heart was put at ease.
I played Horses often on my Sunday radio show on WVOF-FM 88.5. I was given the station copy of Horses by the program director as a holiday present
I recall vividly the Patti Smith Group appearance on Saturday Night Live, April 17, 1976 where they performed “Gloria” that evening.
*Just Kids. Copyright 2010 by Patti Smith. Harper Collins Publishers, New York, N.Y.
Lenny Kaye
Lenny Kaye has written with an authoritative sense about several defining periods in the history of music.
