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Goodbye Hilly

In some small way, this explains why Hilly Krystal gave up fighting to keep CBGB open, despite his wish that the club survive him. On your way, Hilly, to that garage band bar in the sky.

R.I.P. Hilly Krystal, 1932 – 2007 (with his daughter Lisa in front of CBGB. Photo by Bob Gruen.)

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Gogol Bordello, Wanderlust Kings

They didn’t disappoint, though that was nearly a low energy performance for them. They’ve been described as gypsy punk but I think of them more as the slavic Pogues – the insane, charismatic lead singer, huge folk influences, a gigantic punk attitude. I love them. The only time I got to see them – at Irving Plaza – I wanted to get drunk and break things, and I couldn’t decide if that was the drunken polka/gypsy thing, or the punk rock thing, or just the sheer energy & chaos of the band. If you get a chance to go see them live, and you can stand a loud, rowdy show, do go. Not for everyone, but if you’ve been feeling like most music is too crap commerical or just completely ballless, they’re the band for you.

& Yes, I’m proud to say that they’re a New York band; at least, they met & got their start here. The lead singer is from the Ukraine, there’s a couple of Russians in the band, the violist is from Israel, & they all met (legend or not) on Avenue B. They’re like the last genuine East Village/Loisaida export before gentrification wimped everything out.

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Gogol Bordello

If anyone is up this late, one of my recent favorite bands, Gogol Bordello, is going to be on David Letterman. They’re something like gypsy punk. More after they’re on.

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Raised by Ants

While I was poking around project playlist last week in order to bring you a few of my favorite inspiring tracks, I found a reference to some gender-bending of the 80s. A b-side of a Dead or Alive single I don’t care about (although of course Pete Burns is still around & doing hir thing), but the other b-side mentioned was “Greta X” by Adam Ant. The song was written in the late 70s but only produced/released in the mid 80s, and it’s about crossdressing:

I’m a joyous glad TV
Why don’t you come TV with me?
I know a girl who loves to dress me
Up like this and then caress me
To remind me of the way
I used to go both night and day
In femininity there’s pride
We’ll marry soon, I’ll be the bride

& People wonder how I wound up this way, listening to such things at the tender age of 15!

& Yes, I have wondered if Adam’s a CD. I doubt it – he wrote songs about people into rubber and BDSM, too. (Though of course he could be into those things, as well, as far as I know; Amanda Donohue knows for sure but I bet she’s not talking.)

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Reasons to be Cheerful, Pt. 6

There’s a nutty little song by the late Ian Dury (& his Blockheads) called “Reasons to be Cheerful” that’s basically a list of the smaller things that, when you think of them, might encourage you to get out of bed in the morning.

I thought it might be appropriate for me to make my own list, since as of today, we’ve been married for six years, and I’m in a good mood, & feeling grateful for a bunch of things in my life.

  1. Aurora, sweet as pie, trying to con me out of a piece of cheese when I go to get the milk for my tea
  2. Songs like “Reasons to be Cheerful” but also “Birds Fly” by Icicle Works, or “Right Here, Right Now” by Jesus Jones, or “Hot Love” by T. Rex = worth endless listens that always make me happy
  3. The Bangladeshi guy who runs the grocery on our corner who’s probably been hipper about Betty’s transness than just about anyone
  4. Watching my friend Doug watch Rufus in concert
  5. Getting emails from people I can help
  6. My dad’s dumb jokes
  7. Keith Olbermann
  8. Dumb cat videos on YouTube
  9. Betty, of course, in all her various forms, but especially when she’s just wearing socks
  10. The Elephant Sanctuary (who prove something good can & does exist in the world)
  11. ice cream
  12. the French (who are, in general, vastly under-appreciated in America at least)
  13. my earth shoes
  14. tea. earl gray. hot.
  15. & on the same note: Clive Staples Lewis, Neil Gaiman, Jane Langton, & Rod Serling, for telling the tales that have shaped my life. (There are a few others, but you get the picture.)

So now, go make a list of just a few things that make you happy while you’re listening to these songs that always lighten my mood. Continue reading “Reasons to be Cheerful, Pt. 6”

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Long, Loud Summer

The folks over at Wolfgang’s Vault just put up a ’78 Ramones gig that is so damned great – and very much what their live shows were like: practically no breaks, DeeDee’s “1-2-3-4!” about the only ‘between songs’ chatter, and adrendaline, speed, and power chords. The Palladium, where this show was taped, is now sadly gone; the last band I saw there was Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.

Damn. It makes my old, tired self exhausted just listening, but I can remember pogo-ing for the entire time they played at some shows I was at. My fondest memory – kind of my own ‘coming of age’ ritual, since I didn’t have a Sweet 16 – was going to see a Ramones show at Hofstra University: a bunch of us loaded into someone’s van. The energy was great, positive, aggro: when some Nazi punks showed up, the entire audience (& the Ramones) shamed them out of the room. But my coming of age ‘ritual’ was more specific than that: at some point during the show, I thought I was sweating obscenely because I’d rubbed my hands down my thighs and they were damp. So I went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face and neck and arms, but once I hit the bathroom area – which was better lit – I saw that my hands were actually bloody, not sweaty. I went into a stall and my thighs were streaked with blood, and finally I found a huge gash/hole that’d apparently been made by someone’s spike or safety pin or something. I wasn’t bleeding profusely by any means, but I hadn’t noticed and in all the jumping around had managed to get it all over me.

Ah, good times.

Do check out this show if you did or didn’t get to see the Ramones live. If you can only take a song or two, then I’d recommend the first two, “Rockaway Beach” / “Lobotomy” since that’ll give you the general idea, but they’re really on for the “Surfin’ Bird” / “Cretin Hop” bit of the show.