EXILE ON ST. MARKS PL.

Tom Verlaine passed away a couple of days ago. I'm not even sure if the name registers with many of you. Verlaine was the lead singer and guitarist of the band Television, a band associated with the early New York punk scene. In fact it was them that convinced Hilly Kristal, the owner of CBGB, to give music other than country, bluegrass and blues a shot (CBGB being an acronym). Though lumped together with punk rock, Television really wasn't. They were a brainy flash-free band with excellent guitar interplay, between Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, that was more like distortion-less Neil Young than someone like the Stooges.

I've wanted to post some Television stuff for a while but was never able to track down anything from their first LP, Marquee Moon. It's baddass, a listener's album. Headphone shit. Check these and then think of them juxtaposed with the Ramones, another early CBGB band. Both are punk rock...somewhere.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Television - See No Evil mp3 at Internet Archive
Television - Marquee Moon mp3 at Internet Archive
Television - Friction mp3 at Internet Archive

SPANISH STROLL BABY

Ca-chink, ca-chink, ca-chink....That's what I heard when I was at a stop light, on a wet St. Marks Place, on my way home one night, twenty-odd years ago. Looking down at the feet next to me, well traveled pointed toe shoes, the sort of which were common in Tijuana shoe stores, but not the sort I'd been seeing on the feet of New Yorkers in the mid-eighties. I glanced to my right, and saw the pointed shoe wearer's companion, with a Ronettes style bouffant, and make-up right out of a Diane Arbus photo. Then I looked up at her man. A stoic, timelessly pompadoured, figure gazing straight ahead, waiting for the light to change. It was Willy Deville.

.

I'd been in New York for a couple months, done a few clubs, did CBGB's, had a group of friends that included a D-list of grafitti writers, artists, drunks, and the drummer on the Heartbreakers "Live at Max's" LP,...in short, I had all sorts of fringe NY moments. But here was Willy Deville, with his woman, on a wet, rainy night, in the Lower East Side. Now it really felt like New York.

.

Mink Deville (the band), though loved by critics, were vastly overlooked by record buyers. They first appeared on a lame CBGB's compilation, and likely because of that association, no one was really sure what to make of them. Deville's understated reverence for music that came before him was about as "old wave" as you could get, especially considering his CBGB's stablemates were the Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, et al. This was a guy who had a Spector alumni producing his first three albums, wrote with Doc Pomus, hired Elvis' rhythm section for his third album, and recorded in Paris so he could use Edith Piaf's string arranger. It's telling that, while most of his contemporaries can be pegged to a certain era because of their sound, his music is just like his look was that night, timeless.

.

Mink Deville - Spanish Stroll mp3 at Siblingshot

Mink Deville - Just to Walk That Little Girl Home mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

Mink Deville - This Must Be the Night mp3 at Jipes Mood

Mink Deville - "A" Train Lady mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

Mink Deville - Bad Boy mp3 at [Some Dutch site]

I'M ALL ABOUT THE OMFUG

If you haven't seen it, here's the multi-bio flick about CBGB. Corny in parts as most bio pics go. I've only watched bits and pieces and I didn't gag, so there's my high recommendation. I've posted songs by most of the bands portrayed in the movie so if there's one that interests you, hit the search box in the top left corner of your screen. (If you're viewing this on a phone I don't know where the fuck you search.) You can also check the tags on the right (under "index"). Apologies for the commercials. Pee break or refrigerator run, you know the drill.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Watch:
CBGB at YouTube
Visit:
Past CBGB tagged posts

PATTI READS, PATTI SINGS

Sometime in the late 70s, a friend of mine was going to a book signing of Patti Smith's up in L.A., for her book, Babel. I asked him to pick one up for me, and he did, giving it to me the next time we hooked up. When I opened it and read the inscription, the few words said more to me than her first two LPs. It said, "To Tom, Tongue of Love, Patti Smith". I remember thinking, "what kind of a person writes that to a total stranger?" To write that to some unknown person sets you up for all sorts of misinterpretations or possible eye rolling. It would leave you vulnerable, to whatever the reader would take from it. That's when it became apparent that Patti Smith didn't shy away from other people's perceptions of her. With those few words, Patti Smith had nailed it. Let them think what they will think. Ever since then, I've always had a soft spot for her. Good or bad, she's always done her thing, without fear of criticism, or cynicism.

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking of her as some sort of cool older sister or cousin. When she does something good, I think "good for her." When she does something that isn't my cup of tea, I just figure that Patti knows Patti best. But I've always had the utmost respect for her, as a performer and as an individual. Because she has shown, time and time again, that rock n' roll is not some sort of mindless teenager shit. It can be a party, it can be art, and it can be your life. But most of all, it can be liberating. I am not in love with Patti Smith. I'm in love with the spirit she represents.

Here's a bunch of Patti Smith stuff, at both ends of a thirty five year span. The earliest is a poetry reading from 1971, one of the first times that Lenny Kaye accompanied her. Though I never thought about her sounding old, or worldly, on these she sounds so goddamned young. Just listen and you'll see what I mean. There's some other readings as well, live stuff from 1976, and, at the bottom, a link to her final gig at CBGB's, just before it closed, in 2006. And the "Be My Baby" clip is only a short segment, in an otherwise not-my-thing video, from some party. Just skip to 1:10 to watch about a minute of a buoyant Patti Smith. I haven't checked out all of the stuff posted at these sites, so you'll want to follow the links for more. There's a ton of it.

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Patti Smith, reading, St. Marks Church, NYC, Dec. 25, 1971

Bitch mp3 at Ubu Web
Seventh Heaven mp3 at Ubu Web
Piano mp3 at Ubu Web
Nine more at Ubu Web

Patti Smith, Max's Kansas City, NYC, 1974:
We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together mp3 at Ubu Web
Piss Factory mp3 at Ubu Web
Neo Boy/Hey Joe mp3 at Ubu Web
Eight more at Ubu Web

Patti Smith, reading, St. Marks Church, NYC, 1975
Patti Smith - Histories of the Universe mp3 at Ubu Web

Patti Smith, live at the London Roundhouse, 1976:
Free Money mp3 at ROIO
Pissing In A River mp3 at ROIO
Pumping (My Heart) mp3 at ROIO
Ain’t It Strange mp3 at ROIO
Gloria mp3 at ROIO
Time Is On My Side mp3 at ROIO
More live stuff, from Central Park, 1975, and two interviews at ROIO.

Video:
Patti Smith's final CBGB's performance (2006) at Beware of the Blog
Patti Smith - Be My Baby, LMA Party, Fashion Week, 2010 at YouTube. Note: skip to 1:10 in the video, to avoid all the nonsense.

WHO NEEDS LEATHER?

It's not all about looks, I swear. My appreciation of Lizzy Mercier Descloux stems from her track record, which was as consistently interesting as it was undefinable. Though she rubbed shoulders with the late seventies CBGB's crowd, no wave artists and the like, she resisted the easy tack. Too hip to succumb to hip. It just occurred to me today that part of the thing she had, part of the attraction, was something a few of my housemates had at roughly the same time I first became cognizant of her. That, admittedly, has got to have come into play at some point.

She moved to New York at the age of 18 as a writer for a French rock magazine. She became tight with Richard Hell and Patti Smith, performed with Lydia Lunch, knew Jean Michel Basquiat, had parts in multiple independent films, and hung out with Chet Baker. She was nomadic, traveling and recording in locations all over the world. At the time of her death in 2004, she had been living in Corsica, devoting her time to painting. She packed a lot into her life, and never stopped creating. Yet, she's but a blip on even the most fiendish radars.

I did a post about her roughly a year ago, but I just found a couple videos and a few songs that weren't online at the time. Her music had elements of disco, no wave, and South African music, but was not purist in any sense but her own. (Check out the sparse cover of the early Bob Marley song, "Sun Is Shining.")

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Funky Stuff mp3 at Planet People
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Sun Is Shining mp3 at New Dust
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Decryptated mp3 at Clumsy & Shy
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Wawa mp3 at Unpiano
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Fire mp3 at Unpiano
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Hard Boiled Babe mp3 at Altered Zones
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Funky Stuff (Kid Cole remix) mp3 at Waves At Night
Video:
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Fire at YouTube
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Ou Sont Passés Les Gazelles? at YouTube
Visit:
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Bio/eulogy at Lofiles (Moving...get out the hankies.)
Richard Hell remembers Lizzy Mercier Descloux

OM(FU)G!

Well, gee willickers, I guess that's how it works now. You make a movie about a legendary dive bar and punk venue, spend the better part of a year issuing press releases every time you sign on another semi-celebrity, complete an advertising campaign or compile a soundtrack, only to have the movie posted online right out of the gate.

If you're curious about the movie about CBGB, someone has posted it at the YouTube. You know it won't be online for long, so check it out right away if you have any interest. Personally, I wasn't expecting much. These type of things generally suck, and they almost always get more then a few things wrong. I wasn't disappointed, but then again, I didn't shell out any money and I didn't watch all of it. And I'm not a kid who's been wearing the T-shirt for years without knowing any of the story. I'm just an old cuss who watches parts of shitty movies.


10/3/2013: As you've no doubt discovered, that video didn't last long. As a consolation, check out these other semi-related posts that probably still have a few good links:

The Fraternal Order of Messy Hair - Early Television and Heartbreakers
When Throwback Took Guts Some Mink DeVille
Game Changer - Bad Brains
Rosetta Stone My Ass - The Ramones

CBGB OMFUG OGS

I've no idea what compilation or boxed set these might be from but any of you Television type folks (the band, not an actual television) might find them as interesting as I do. I'm not someone who coddles artists. If I really dig a record and then a follow up comes out that isn't quite as good, the band is going to have to convince me to go any further. Television did not. Marquee Moon was a great debut LP. Nothing that they did after that really interested me. One and done amigos, you never did convince me to go back. But, alternate versions from the same sessions? I can dig it, especially since these seem to be a bit more raw than the album versions. If you're into Television you'll dig 'em. If you're not, well, take 'em for a spin. The guitar interplay is the draw here.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Television - Friction (alt. version) mp3 at Internet Archive
Television - Marquee Moon (alt. version) mp3 at Internet Archive
Television - See No Evil (alt. version) mp3 at Internet Archive
Television - Untitled Instrumental mp3 at Internet Archive

TO EGGHEADS

The title of yesterdays post, "Get Pete Frame On It", was something I didn't entirely expect many people to get. Usually in a case like that, I don't feel the need to explain it, I just consider it a nod to the fiends that do get it. But Pete Frame was such an important support player, it occurred to me that he's someone you should know. Frame was a music writer, and founding editor of Zig Zag, a British music magazine that debuted in 1969, but what he is best known for is his series of music oriented family trees. That's where the reference in yesterdays post title comes from. An imagined Cedric Brooks family tree would include Carlos Malcom, Sun Ra, Tony Allen, Fela, and a shitload of others.

Frame's family trees were an insanely cool resource for anyone who wanted to see where a line up of a particular band, or multiple related bands, came from. The format contained concise descriptions and held a remarkable amount of information for what was typically a two page spread. First appearing in the early seventies, they still hold up. even with all of the online sources of information today. They were later published in several editions in book form, The Complete Rock Family Trees, all now out of print but readily available used online. In 1990, the BBC did a series based on his family trees called "Rock's Family Trees" narrated by John Peel. 

Here's a sample family tree of Frames's, of New York bands in the CBGBs era, along with the accompanying BBC show of the same period. Watch that, it's good. Lots of old footage. There's another link down there to one of the early London punk scene, and links to just a couple copy cats, of which there are many. The two Frame influenced family trees below are just the first I happened to look at, one for the Cramps and Gun Club, and one for Dischord and Ian Mackaye related bands.

Sanple trees:

New York New Wave - CBGB's era family tree at Boing Boing

The Influence of the "New Wave Nine" at Nihilism on the Prowl Clash, Sex Pistols, Generation X, Damned, Alternative TV, Subway Sect, etc. I think Frame was afraid of the word "punk".

Video:

Rock Family Trees - New York Punk, Part 1 at YouTube

Part 2, Part 4, Part 5 Couldn't find part 3.

Fan made family trees:

Cramps and Gun Club family tree at Stupefaction

Dischord family tree at Music For No One
Visit:
Pete Frame - Rock's Great Arborist at Just Backdated

THIS AIN'T NO MUDD CLUB OR CBGB

Back in 2001, 9/11 to be exact, a couple hours after the World Trade Center was hit but before it was known who was responsible, I was stunned. I remember walking to work from the bus stop wondering if it was Russia and if this was "the big one". I mentally prepared for what may come and a song popped into my head. It was "Life During Wartime" by the Talking Heads. It spells out clearly that priorities change when the shit hits the fan. "This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, I ain't got time for that now,..." We were spared that fate, but that song pretty much sums up what Ukraine is going through.

I've been a little obsessed with what is going on in Ukraine. It's hard not to be. Though twice today when I asked friends if they've been following what is going on they responded "I'm trying not too. Wrong answer. It is imperative that we all pay attention and do what we can. I honestly feel a little frivolous involving music at all at this point. And "Life During Wartime" is part of the reason.

Besides the song and live video of it, there are a few other links. One is Global Citizen's YouTube channel where Volodymyr Zelenskyy's morning briefings, public announcements, words of encouragement, and pleas will be posted. Another is a documentary that Netflix has posted for free viewing, Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom, about the 2004 uprising that began as a student protest. And fuck Putin.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Talking Heads - Life During Wartime mp3 at Internet Archive
Video:
Talking Heads - Life During Wartime (Live) at YouTube 1983
The documentary:
Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom at YouTube
Ukraine updates:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy's latest

ROLL CALL. IVAN JULIAN?

I can't remember the last time I heard anything about Ivan Julian. It might have been when Richard Hell & the Voidoids broke up, way back when. I'd managed to track drummer Mark Bell, which wasn't hard because he became Marky Ramone. (That move that still irks me, because the Voidoids were a much more challenging band.) Lead guitarist Robert Quinne went to Lou Reed's band, and did lots of other projects after that. (Sadly, he's retired, as in,...yeah.) Richard Hell has been busying himself pretty much the whole time too, with music and poetry (not to mention donating his "papers" to NYU). Second guitarist Ivan Julian? Hadn't even thought about him, to be honest, until I ran into a recent song "The Naked Flame." The dude's been playing for thirty more years, so he's a little more in your face these days. You know what this song sounds like? It sounds almost like a Richard Hell song, as Hendrix would play it. Check it out:

One quick aside: I feel compelled to share my annoyance regarding his shirt in the video. Yep, it's the ol' Voidoids shirt-altering routine. I think he wanted a Richard Hell connection to be made. Okay, we get it. But I do like the song, despite the "naked flame of your love" line (oh, brother,...eh Aut?) Now that that's out of the way, here's another video. I thought I'd go for a spin and look for some Voidoids stuff to contrast and compare (and what have you). Then I ran across the video below. Magnificent black and white footage of the very early Richard Hell and the Voidoids performing "Blank Generation" and "Love Comes In Spurts." This is some really good stuff, despite the partial songs and the audience interviews. Filmed at CBGB's around '76 or '77.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Blank Generation mp3 at Louder Soft (1976 Ork Records 45 version)
Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Blank Generation mp3 (via Box.net) at Creuse ta Tombe (Sire LP version)
Richard Hell & the Voidoids - Love Comes In Spurts mp3 at Snuhthing Anything Definitive Quine solo on this, especially the way it ends.
Ivan Julian - The Naked Flame mp3 at Hyperbolium
Earlier posts:
The Fraternal Order of the Messy Hair: Richard Hell with the Heartbreakers, Television and the Voidoids

COMMENCE GOOFING OFF

I've no clue what you listen to while you get stuff done or why. I try not to think too much about what I listen to on those occasions. I don't want those associations to stick. I can tell you what I won't play while I get shit done. The Cramps, Pussy Galore or Gun Club. They're reserved for leisure. Nights that I know full well shit ain't getting done. Do the dishes later. Let's Party.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Cramps - Live at CBGB Jan 19, 1978 at Internet Archive
Go there for the set list.
Pussy Galore - Renegade at Recidivism Go there to get it. Scroll down a bit, it's there.

Pussy Galore - Sweet Little Hi-Fi (streaming) at YouTube The one that sold me.

Pussy Galore  - Exile on Main St. at Xtrmntr A cover of the whole LP. I've seen it referred to as a train wreck, and that's about as accurate as it gets. Any band that audacious was someone to watch.

Pussy Galore - Sugarshit Sharp (LP) (streaming) at YouTube This was the reward.

Gun Club - Fire of Love (LP) (streaming) at YouTube You can find lots of live videos at YouTube, but if you haven't heard them, start with this, their first LP.

Gun Club - Preaching the Blues mp3 at Internet Archive

BETTER WITH BOB

Back in the 80's, there was a drinking game called "Bob". It was played while watching a rerun of The Bob Newhart Show. As the show had characters that frequently addressed the star by his first name when he so much as farted, somewhere a game was made up, wherein the participants would have to have a gulp of beer (or a shot) every time someone in the show said "Bob". (It was an effective game at times. In episodes where his wife Emily was dismayed at something he had done, there would be instances of "Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob,...") A word of warning: don't play any variation of the "Bob" game that includes long time Replacement fans as participants.

The Replacements live in 1981, part on of six. All six parts at Twin Tone.

The Replacements were one of those bands that you really had to see early in their existence to fully appreciate. That's because Bob Stinson was still in the band. He was the guitarist that started the band, recruited his kid brother Tommy to play bass, and buddy Chris Mars to play drums, before asking Paul Westerberg to join. This early line up is what endeared them to their faithful core. Frequently performing sloppy drunk, it wasn't unusual for their shows to turn into extended unraveling-at-the-seams mixes of originals and set-list-be-damned cover fests. They may not have been at their critic pleasing best, but they brought the party.

Things would change. They got signed by a major, and, if you ask anyone who was clued in from the beginning, this is when they lost the magic. The lost Bob Stinson. They became more restrained, and rocking out and getting shitty drunk no longer fit in the game plan. At least for three of the members. Stinson was fired, from the band he started, for a combination of two offenses. (In one instance, Westerberg had played him a softer, more melodic song, and Stinson's comment was to suggest that he save it for his solo album). Stinson went on to play in a couple other bands, before passing away at 35, not from an overdose as has been suggested, but from his body just giving up, after years of alcohol and drug abuse.

If you aren't familiar with the potency of early Replacements, it is suggested that you start with the excellent live 1981 set (video in six parts), at Twin Tone. Then you can filter through 6 live sets (170 songs), and and 25 demos, outtakes and rarities. And shake your head at the thought of Paul Westerberg endorsing a cheap signature model guitar sold through Walmart. WWBD?

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Replacements - Boink LP, 25 individual mp3s (and streaming), demos, outtakes, & rarities at Captains Dead
(Liner notes and cover for above at Color Me Impressed)
The Replacements - The Shit Hits the Fan, live 1984, cover heavy set, LP zip at Pop Headwound (NOTE: Scroll to bottom of post for four more live sets)
The Replacements - Four more live sets (some with mp3's) at the bottom of this post at Pop Headwound
The Replacements - Live at CBGB's 1984, 18 individual mp3s (and streaming) at Captain's Dead
(Cover for above: front, back at Color Me Impressed)
The Replacements - Shit, Shower and Shave (live), LP zip (via Box.net) at Pop Head Wound, 23 live songs, recorded in 1989, post-Bob Stinson.
Static Taxi (w/Bob Stinson) - Fafa (streaming) at Rock Town Hall
Static Taxi (w/Bob Stinson) - Max Factor (streaming) at Rock Town Hall
Watch:
The Replacements - Live in 1981, at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, 25 songs in six videos at TwinTone
The Replacements - Drunk interview from 1984 at YouTube
Read:
Color Me Impressed - Replacements fan site
Color Me Obsessed - Replacements documentary site
The Replacements at Wikipedia
Bob Stinson at Wikipedia