A Hellish Time On Astor Place

Last night I saw Richard Hell give a reading of a few short chapters from his new book "Godlike" at Barnes & Noble on Astor Place.

As one of the godfathers of Punk and New Wave, Hell has always been an interesting figure to me. As a kid, I played the Richard Hell & The Voidoids album "Blank Generation" to death. The fact that he was a founding member of both Television and The Heartbreakers made him even cooler to me. To top it off, he was actually married for a short while to one of my New Wave crushes, Patty Smyth of Scandal. Though he's always been more or less a fixture in one scene or another in NYC, I'd never actually seen him in action, so I took the opportunity to catch this reading.

Book readings by authors with a bit of celebrity in NYC are kind of weird events, as the audience is usually roughly made up of half people interested in hearing an author read his work, and half people looking for something to do for free. There seemed to be even more people in attendance from that second category because of the crazy muggy and rainy weather outside, and one of those wackjobs sat next to me during the reading.

I knew I was in for it when she asked me just as Hell was announced to the audience, "Am I supposed to know who this guy is?". I thought for a second on what the correct response to that question was, and then just shrugged my shoulder at her. As Hell read a couple selections, this nutty woman audibly muttered one thing or another after every pause that Hell took. Stuff like "hmmmm", "yessss", "uh-huh", "oh", and "right"...as if she were agreeing with the quotes or actions of these fictional characters we were hearing being read.

Then, when the Q&A came, she raised her hand with the first question..."These characters you wrote are gay. Why?". Hell looked a bit taken aback, but then gave a reasonable and well thought out response, not knowing that had he responded with any answer at all, the lady would have been satsified.

The rest of the discussion was pretty interesting, and he even fielded a few questions about his musical career, although he claims to pretty much have left his music life behind him, with a soon-to-be-released Rhino retrospecive CD being the grand finale.

As a good fanboy should, I got in the shortish line to get my copy of the book signed, and talked with him a bit about a great exchange I found on the internet chronicling his calling an interviewer out for a crummy piece written about him and his book. I also slipped him my treasured copy of Blank Generation to sign.

Here's a photo of the action...just assume every other person in the crowd that you see there is goofy.

Kebobs With Giambi In The Boogie Down.

I saw the Mets lose an otherwise great game last night out at Yankee Stadium. Noted alleged steroid-fiend Jason Giambi smacked-down reliever Braden Looper at the bottom of the 9th to send the Mets, who'd not been behind the whole game, back to Flushing with their only loss of the three game series.

Here was my view from the cheap seats:


This was my first trip to Yankees Stadium since a seventh-grade Little League trip. I'd not gone back there because as a Mets fan, I've always felt that going to see any game out there would result in some sort of implied support for Steinbrenner's gang.

However, how could I pass up tickets for a Subway Series game? I had gone to the first series at Shea earlier this season, and had a ball, so this was a no-brainer.

Surprisingly, I was amazed at the friendliness of the Yankee fans, as compared to the cranks that I always seem to sit near at Shea. Another thing I thought cool was the scene out on the streets adjacent to Yankee Stadium. Since Shea is in the middle of parking lots and train yards, there's really no real neighborhood there. But The House That Ruth Built has all kinds of local bars and shops to cater to fans. And as the missus and I walked down the street in search of some pre-game food decked in Mets gear, we didn't hear a single wiseass comment. And this is in New York, where you usually stand an 85% chance of getting razzed for looking at someone the wrong way...

I got a killer spicy beef kebob at this joint:

which featured a comical and tiny man acting as maitre'd/barker collecting money, taking orders, and generally confusing things at a stand that sold only kebobs. Usually, your choices would be either "hot sauce" or "no hot sauce", and "how many". This guy turned it into an ordeal similar to choosing the options while building a computer. Whatever, that was was some tasty meat on a stick.

Newsday's got the best headline of the day on the game:
Looper’s lament on loss: ‘I stunk’.

Here's my favorite Looper, a Scottish band affilliated with Belle & Sebastian.

The extrawack! Album Of The Week

Tsar's "Band-Girls-Money" comes out this Tuesday. Glammy, poppy, and totally rockin'. Not quite as immediately catchy as their debut, but it'll grow on you quickly. Great Summertime window-down-car-blastin' stuff.


Live In Las Vegas photo courtesy Sin City Sounds.

They play Mercury Lounge in NYC on July 28.

This Way I'll Save On Suntan Lotion...

If you can't (or don't wanna) deal with the heat and crowds at Siren this year, this is the next best thing...maybe even better:

-------------------------------------------
Fri July 15 - Insound's 2nd Annual Pre-Siren Fest Party, Supported by WOXY.com @ Rothko!

The Ponys (In The Red/ Chicago), Chin Up Chin Up (Flameshovel/ Chicago), Be Your Own Pet (XL Records), Rahim (Frenchkiss)

Doors 8 PM, $5, Advance Tix Available On Ticketweb.
-----------------------------------------------

At $5, this'll sell out quick, and I've never been to anything sponsored by Insound that wasn't a total blast. See ya there.

If You Wanna Feel All '80's Canadian While You Are Waiting For Glass Tiger On "Hit Me One More Time" Thursday...

...Download "New Girl Now" by Honeymoon Suite at Lost in The '80s.

The only thing missing is a box of donuts from Tim Horton's, eh?

A Dollar Goes A Long Way In Jersey City...Beats, Babys, Bedbugs & Ballyhoo On The Cheap

Out of the dollar bins at this morning's WFMU Yard Sale in the station's parking lot in Jersey City, I picked up these treasures:



That's right, suckas. For a total of four bucks I got:

-A still-sealed vinyl copy of The Babys excellent "Union Jacks" album (still with the ol' tagger on it from Korvettes, an old New York/New Jersey chain department store that I used to get my mom to buy me 45's from).

-A vinyl copy of The Babys "Anthology", which has about half of "Union Jacks" on it...but now that I have 2 copies of their classic "Midnight Rendezvous" on wax I can rock the turntables and mixer in the basement to make the ultimate 30 minute mix of the song. John Waite's chubbing up somewhere as I type this.

-A new CD copy of Chromeo's "She's In Control". Their single "Needy Girl" is an important part of my Summer driving experience.

--and a brand new copy of Chris Adams'"Turquoise Days-The Weird World Of Echo & The Bunnymen", which is considered the ultimate look at Ian McCulloch and crew through quotes, lyrics, and photos. I've actually purchased this book once before as a gift for a friend, but couldn't pull the trigger on one for me at full price. But for a buck? Hell, yeah.

One more reason why 'FMU is the greatest radio station in the world.

Route 78 New Jersey...Big Sky Country.

Free Bloc Party Show Tonite (Thursday)

I will have the penne all'arrabbiata and Spinachdip NYC have hipped me to the fact that NPR is broadcasting tonite's (16 June) Bloc Party show fron DC's 9:30 club at 10:15...the insanely boring pre-show host has announced that a full download of the show should be available on Friday at that same address. Cool.

Check out Brooklyn Vegan's photos of last night's show in NYC.

If I Were Larry King, My Newspaper Column Would Read Like This:

So far only three bands have been announced for the Nike Run Hit Wonder race in July...Joan Jett, The Donnas, and Fountains Of Wayne. I'm a HUGE Fountains fan, so that's cool, and Joanie is always a good time, but I preferred The Donnas when they couldn't play their instruments so well. I'm sure it's gonna be a ball to run again.

My video producer pal Stanley hipped me to the Afropunk screening & festival happening over Fourth Of July weekend in Brooklyn & Manhattan. It's not often that I can get my 24/7 Spyz on...

The best free MP3 download on the Internets this week is The Suburbs' classic dancefloor jam "Love Is The Law" (12" Version)" at Lost Bands Of The New Wave Era. Skinny tie and drink ticket, optional.

The best streaming spot is KEXP's Gang Of Four in-studio set from last month. I dare you to sit still in your computer chair while "Paralysed" plays. You can't, right? I told ya!

So, Alexi Lalas is the new GM of the MetroStars...I guess that won't make things any worse. And you have to like a guy ballsy enough to admit his favorite band of all time is Ratt...I know I've got a copy of Lalas' CD "Ginger" around here somewhere.


Saturday, July 16 may be the best day in Coney Island ever...The Village Voice Siren Festival (featuring Spoon, Mates of State, Brendan Benson, Dungen, VHS or Beta, Q and not U, Ambulance LTD, Morningwood, Diamond Nights, and the Dears) is being held the same day as a Brooklyn Cyclones home game, which happens to be Mookie Wilson Bobblehead Night. Throw in a quick trip to Nathan's Famous and that's a good day out.

And finally, for no good reason, Crying While Eating.

Mookin' At Radio City

Last night I went to Radio City Music Hall to see Regina Spektor play an opening set for Keane, tickets courtesy of the fabulous Debbie Rocks. I've owned her album, Soviet Kitsch, since late last year and seem to enjoy it more on every play.

At 7:30, she started playing to a nearly empty hall, as the crowd who came for Keane were either of the "let's get there later so we don't have to sit through the opener" type, or were Wall Street mooks who were there but would rather spend time in the lobby musing about who they screwed over during their workday while pounding over-priced, watered-down RCMH cocktails, and buying $30 tour shirts from a band who they've heard were cool from a girl a couple cubicles down at the office, but not actually heard yet.

Her songs are both deeply personal and kinda goofy all at once, which is an irresistable combo to me. One of her songs starts with the line, "Remember the time I found a human tooth walking along Delancey". Great, right?

Anyway, her voice in the huge quiet (at that point, anyway) room was totally beautiful to hear. It was mostly just her and a piano, though she accompanied herself later with a drumstick played on what looked like an endtable, and then an electric guitar which she claimed she couldn't really play, though she sounded just fine to me. She's got a style that is equal parts Kate Bush and Billie Holliday, but wholly original.

She sang her final song acapella, to a mostly attentive crowd patiently waiting for Keane to arrive on stage. Fearlessly, she hit every note and held the entire hall in her hand as most people were amazed at all the sound coming from just one girl on stage. As she neared the end of the song, one of the aforementioned mooks, who obviously had one "cranvodkawithnoice" too many, yelled out something along the lines of "hurry up and finish"...to which Regina calmly substituted the words "fuck you" for the usual lyrics she was singing, which put the knucklehead in his place promptly and garnered a rousing cheer from the rest of the crowd.

I can't wait to see her play a full set in a smaller place.

As for Keane, they were very.......pleasant. Their record is a good one, but not really the kind of music I need to witness live. They sounded very much like the album, except they tried WAY too hard to make it all look exciting. The keyboard player was an absolute spazz, even during slower numbers, and I just felt sorry for him feeling like he had to do so much clowning. Whatever, the soccer moms and the goofy dads from Staten Island in jean shorts, and the boozy suits with their dates in two-years-ago trucker-hats loved them.

Regina Spektor media player is here.

Download Regina's songs "Somedays" and "The Ghost Of Corporate Future" at Scenestars.

Fuzzy Lion hated Regina and agreed with me about Keane.

Ruvym's Rant was indifferent about Regina, loved Keane, and nearly got puked on at the show.

Yo Whitney! Get Me My Gold Fronts, The Cameras Are Rollin'!

Oh no! Just when the Britney/K-Fed TV show made me think reality television couldn't get any more carwreckish, along comes Being Bobby Brown, which surely will endup looking like the first part of an ABC Afternoon Special without the happy ending.

Luuuuuke...I Am Your Fa...ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Looks like Darth stayed out too late last night...






That's the scary BK on Stelton Road in South Plainfield. I'm betting Mr. Vador has a bunch of empty Olde English 40's up on that roof behind him.