•
Rating: What's my scene
There's only one thing I like more than listening to punk, and that's babbling on about punk.
It's a matter of age, of course, but it's also the fact that when talking about punk, there are a couple of things that have always driven me mad: one is the attitude, the other is the scene.
Now, as for the attitude story, I've always handled it quickly and painlessly by throwing the Violent Femmes into the mix. What's punk attitude? Listen to the first Violent Femmes album, and you'll get it right away. Then again, if you listen to the Violent Femmes, what you quickly understand is that they're different from the Ramones; in fact, the Ramones have punk, like someone else has blues, whereas the Violent Femmes have the punk attitude. So, that's the attitude, listen to the first Violent Femmes.
The story of the scene is a bit longer and messier because the scene has always existed; it wasn't invented by the punk movement. For example, there was the East Coast and West Coast scene during the hippie days, or the Canterbury scene, which I think had something to do with progressive or something like that; and later Madchester and brit-pop, but who cares. In short, the scene wasn't invented by punks and it even survived punk.
But for me, the scene became and was truly beautiful only with punk because the kids came and contributed to building that scene as much (and maybe even more than) the bands that set up on stage. And this is the story of do-it-yourself, which is another very punk story, and so there are at least three things that drive me mad, dribbling out revealed truths about punk.
Now, the scene is a nation or a region, in some cases a city; it's rare to find the scene in a neighborhood, let alone in a block.
If you find the scene in a block and live there or get there easily, then you're lucky.
So, sooner or later, everyone gets a stroke of luck; some people happened to be on a certain block in New York, early Seventies more or less, yes.
I'm talking about New York City
Never confuse one scene with another, for heaven's sake; so, if we're talking about the New York scene, don't think of bringing up San Francisco or Los Angeles, much less those bumpkins from Detroit.
Now, in New York there's a street you can walk in ten minutes if you go fast, or double the time if you take it easy, but either way, it takes you from Bowery to 17th Street, and it so happened that a scene emerged from that street.
Actually two, because you started from the southernmost end, and there was CBGB's and arrived at the northern end, where there was Max's Kansas City. Always speaking in the past, because today there's a clothing store in place of CBGB's and a sandwich shop in place of Max's, and it makes you think.
And here it's not just about not confusing New York with San Francisco or Los Angeles or Detroit, but not even CBGB's with Max's, and if you don't understand the difference they'll get even more pissed off.
«Even though they were ten minutes apart, the two clubs were in very different neighborhoods. CBGB's was in the middle of nowhere, on Bowery. It was Desolation Road, among small ruined buildings and abandoned lots. Max's, on the other hand, was on Park Avenue South at the corner with Union Square, surrounded by huge buildings, mostly banks and offices… In front of CBGB's, the scene was the same twenty-four hours a day: half-dead black hobos and drunks on the ground and little else. But at Max's, the difference between day and night was huge. Being an office area, in daylight it was bustling with activity, people in suits running here and there. As soon as it got dark, though, there wasn't a soul. NO ONE. It seemed like a ghost city, the block was ours. Sometimes we crossed paths: when we were returning home like vampires, the employees were coming in.».
And since music was played at both CBGB's and Max's, aside from eating badly, you had to be careful about who played where.
«Although bands played in both clubs, there were Max's groups and CB's groups, sort of like they were two clans: Heartbreakers, Fast, Wayne County, Robert Gordon, Suicide, Cherry Vanilla, Blessed, Cramps, and Senders were Max's groups. Ramones, Dead Boys, Talking Heads, Blondie, Sick Fucks, and Dictators were CBGB's groups. It depended on where they started and where they played more often.
For some bands, it wasn't quite clear, but for others, it was. The Ramones, for instance, were strictly CB's. I don't remember seeing them at Max's even once.».
And this means only one thing; even for those who were there, memories become more and more faint, and it seems that the Ramones never set foot in Max's. Yet I know for sure that at least twice they played there, on October 8 and 9, 1976: it's written in the gigography at the end of their biography, and there's even a video record of those evenings with the Talking Heads, no less, look it up if you want.
So it's true that certain groups were from CBGB's, but they didn't mind dropping by Max's from time to time, and that's just as certain.
Otherwise, the continuous coming and going between CBGB's and Max's wouldn't have made sense.
«Around two or three in the morning, the races back and forth between Max's and CBGB's began, especially for the girls, who met halfway asking each other, “Have you seen Johnny? Is he at CB's?”.
“No, they should be back at Max's, haven't you seen them?”.
“No way, I just came from there, the Television are playing… who's playing at CB's?”.
“The Dead Boys. We're tired of it, let's go to Max's.”
They would meet in the opposite direction half an hour later: “Have you seen Jerry? Is he at Max's?”
There were always at least two or three of them running between Union Square and Bowery, worried about missing something.».
Then sometimes the atmosphere got tense, and those who went on excursions from Max's to CBGB's, and vice versa, would start a fight, ending in a brawl.
«One night, Wayne County, the singer or the singer, in short, the drag queen of the Electric Chairs, smashed the face of Handsome Dick Manitoba, the singer of the Dictators, a rather macho band from the Bronx.
It happened at CBGB's during an Electric Chairs concert.
Handsome Dick, fixed in front of the stage, wouldn't stop yelling: “Fag! Fag!” until Wayne County, dressed in white and pissed off, (or was it pissed off?) replied: “WHY DON'T YOU COME UP TO THE STAGE AND FIGHT LIKE A REAL MAN?”.
He climbed up without hesitation, only to get the microphone stand straight in his face and end up in the hospital.».
Just to reiterate, CBGB's and Max's may have been ten minutes' brisk walk apart and may have shared scene and groups, but CBGB's had its scene and Max's had its, and even today, when CB's and Max's are razed to the ground and buried in memory, if you happen to confuse them, you'll always find someone who gets mad.
So, it's time to make a choice as to which side you're on.
Down at Max's Kansas City, baby.
For me, I've been with Max's for a while, ready to switch sides as soon as the opportunity arises, of course.
So here I am writing a few lines about Max's.
You went to Max's to eat lousy food, already mentioned, but not only that.
«When I wasn't going to screw somewhere else, I went to Max's Kansas City every night.».
That's not exactly what I meant.
«It was the club Andy Warhol used to frequent, and recently it had been taken over by a multitude of local bands, all more or less heirs to the Velvet Underground, like Television and Patti Smith.
Some started calling this scene “punk rock.”».
Now, that's better; that's what I meant, actually, although that word “punk” wasn't all that clear.
«All the articles argued that bands of this kind took inspiration from MC5, and where I came from, the word “punk” didn't have a very nice meaning. So I threw all the articles down the toilet because, in jail, a punk is someone who is put on all fours and turned into someone's girlfriend. Phrases like “I'll make you my punk” could get you killed, you know?».
Given the premises, it makes sense that Max's and the punk scene sparked some curiosity even among those who had nothing to do with Max's or its scene.
«One spring evening, we were at Max's when Babette felt like throwing up because she was too high, so she went out to get some air.
There were always disco-style losers who came to Max's to see what was all the fuss about this punk rock. One of them had just entered the club, he looked like he came straight out of the film Saturday Night Fever: white suit with an open shirt, gold chains around his neck. He started up the stairs when Babette, above him, began to vomit heavily, covering him from head to toe with vomit. Aaarrrggghhh!!! He was frozen there, in shock. It was running down his head, everywhere.
“Oh sorry,” Babette said with an annoyed little smile. The guy couldn't even respond, he was so pissed off. He turned without a word, went down the stairs, and went home. If he had come to see some punk rock, he was served.».
Imagine if Babette's vomit had drowned everything else.
This is pop rock
Because, in my ramblings about punk, I invariably always wonder how it would have ended if the punk scene had wiped out disco music and become a popular culture phenomenon.
But it remained confined there, at Max's, and on the other side, in New York. Then there were San Francisco, Los Angeles, and even Detroit, but those were other stories, other scenes.
«Heartbreakers, Cherry Vanilla and the Staten Island Band, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys, Fast, Pere Ubu, John Collins, Harry Toledo, Suicide, Ramones, Blondie, the Dolls, Television, Talking Heads, August, Mong, Poppees, Marbles, Planets, Miamis, Just Water, Tuff Darts, Day Old Bread, Richard Hell, Lance Loud and the Mumps, Another Pretty Face and Mink DeVille. Oh yeah, also the Psychotic Frogs.».
All faces born and raised or just passing through Max's Kansas City.
Max's Kansas City: 1976 & Beyond
Anyway, five months ago, this record came out, which brings to light so much music that echoed within the walls of Max's during the times when disco-style losers flocked, curious to see what the hell this punk scene was.
It's supposed to be a reissue of the original, released in 1976; however, it's much more than a reissue, if it's true as it is that the original vinyl had ten tracks, and now you'll find twenty-five if you get the double vinyl, or forty if you grab the double CD; so there's little room for damn fetishists.
Oh God, «Final Solution» disappeared from the lot, but who the hell cares if there's «Johnny Was a Fireman,» from the “Kill David Thomas for Joy Ryder” series.
More than an album, an amazing piece of history.
Loading comments slowly
