NYC protests
New York is definitely the most outrageous place in the world. It is the most beautiful and perhaps one of the ugliest and rudest at the same time. Many of those living there find its atmosphere too competitive, while visitors love every aspects of it. It is the most European and the least American of all cities in the US. The events of September 11th have proved, however, that by many Muslim fanatics it is associated with all evil of the Western world. And soon after wards, in protests all over the globe people showed their common feelings and support for the city, saying, in unison with numerous artists like Susan Sarandon and Robert de Niro, who took part in charity events organized to raise funds for the victims of the tragedy: "We are all New Yorkers."
And New Yorkers, like their city, are a funny bunch. A lot have not been born there, because as Sunsan Sontag, another famous person who lives there, says: "You have to earn your way into New York, you have to deserve it." The city ia amalgam of many races and cultures. You have probably heard the contemptuous nickname "Jew York" by now. The Jewish diaspora is strong and differentiated, since you have the orthodox Jews of Williamsburg, but also the affluent, liberal Jews living in upper Manhattan. Harlem ("a city within a city"), Bronx and parts of Brooklyn are largely black neighborhoods. But the Blacks have probably come close to being outnumbered now by the ever-growing population of Puerto-Ricans and other peoples of Hispanic origin. Those are primarily located in Brooklyn and the Lower East Side, which was earlier associated with poor immigrants from the old continent. Greenpoint is the part of Brooklyn where many Polish people live. Russians are numerous in the Coney Island area.
And for many artistically talented Americans, New York is a lot like the Holywood of the art world. Art understood in many ways: theater (enough to mention Broadway, but we should not forget all the little indie theaters in the East Village and thereabouts), visual arts, literature, dancing, and above all, music.
I would like to present to you the many faces of NY that I know, and that for many people, including myself, through music, movies and books, have become a part of their thoughts and everyday lives and that have fuelled our imagination and our own work.
David Bailey, for example, said that in NY "there's always been energy." Andy Warhol came to work here as a commercial artist in the early 1950s, after graduating from Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, PA. Other artists that came to live here include O. Henry, Thomas Wolfe, Willem de Kooning, William S. Burroughs, Rober Mapplethorpe, Arthur Miller, Dylan Thomas... the list could go on. These are just the better known personalities who stayed at the Chelsea (for a fuller list please follow the link below). There's no need to add that Lou has lived there all his life, and though as he says, 'he's almost ready to move out,' even if he will, we all know how many of his beatiful songs would not have been had he done it too early on.
The famous Chelsea Hotel
For those who wanna visit, http://www.chelseahotel.com
Check out the NY Fashion Show, reviewed and reported by the NY Times
A view of Manhattan, with Brooklyn Bridge and the now inexisting World Trade Center towers.
59th Street Bridge A view of Brooklyn
These two last pics come from an unusually large website of Mr Kevin Walsh. For a look at his grand collection of NYC photos, see it at:
Beardless Harry rode the trolleys...
Some other famous (aand good) NYC bands:
-the Holy Modal Rounders (60s, started around the same
time as the Velvets, they contributed to the 'Easy Rider' soundtrack, I'm going to find out
something more about them soon)
-the New York Dolls (a fun band with Johnny Thunders. Very jumpy, hearty rock and roll. Recommended :-) early to mid 70s. Their late performance on British TV is thought to have inspired the Sex Pistols btw.
-Patti Smith & her band (first LP 'Horses,' which I really like, was the revelation of 1975, she keeps recording, her last release is a double album including rare and unreleased tracks from the 1970s, it's called "Land")
Here seen with the great writer William Burroughs
-Television (early punk). Richard Hell and Thom Verlaine (in no particular order...) -gave the name for the whole generation. And what was that name? ___
-Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers Including JT and Richard Hell (formerly Television), the band was short-lived but brought us a couple of heartbreaking songs like 'Born To Loose,' and many heartbreaking pictures! Check out the cover of their LP.
-the Ramones (punk, first self-titled LP 1976)
-Blondie (good pop, rock with shades of reggae, and
other stuff harder to define. I recommend 'Union City Blue,' 'Call Me,' 'The Tide Is High' and 'Hanging on the Telephone.')
-Talking Heads, the other CBGB's house band, album debut 1977 -Talking Heads '77, later LPs produced by Brian Eno
-Sonic Youth
-plus not a New Yorker by birth, John Lennon, who
lived there in the last ten years of his sweet short life, 1970-80, and put out some great
albums, among them:
'Plastic Ono Band'(1970)
'Imagine'(1971)
'Mind Games'(1971)
'Rock And Roll'(1975)
'Double Fantasy.' (1980)
-The Strokes!!! - a brand new N.Y.C. band, in the mood of Television and the Ramones... you gotta like it! I saw them live in Hamburg, Germany, at their last European tour, and it was amazing, although a little bit of improvisation would do them good. Check out the ticket at my Memorabilia page:
Brooklyn Bridge
+musicians/ bands who sang/ wrote about this town:
-Frank Sinatra (romantic
version:
'...I wanna wake up in a city that never sleeps.../
...if I can make it there/
I'll make it anywhere/
it's up to you, New York, New York...
(...)
(cos there I'm top of the list,/
top of the hill, a number one...)
-the Rolling Stones ('Country Honk':
...I laid a divorcee in New York City/
I had to put up some kind of a fight/
The Lady she all dressed me up in roses/
She blew my nose and then she blew my mind/
It's those Honky-Tonk women...)
-Sting ('Englishman in New York,' uuh -that
sucked!)
-Jimmy Reed ('Going To New York' -an average
type blues track, doesn't hurt your ears)
Brooklyn Bridge again
Some most important/influencial clubs and venues in NY:
Max's Kansas City
Just see for yourself, if you haven't been there yet!
The Velvets, Iggy Pop, the New York Dolls, Bruce Springsteen and other great bands and musicians played there, David Bowie hung out there with David Johansen, you could also meet Jim Morrison there and all strange sorts of things happened... In late 60s and early 70s this was undoubtedly the domain of Andy Warhol and the stars of the films that he produced, like Holly Woodlawn, Jackie Curtis or Candy Darling, who used to hang out in the notorious 'Back Room.' For more information and pictures of the people who frequented the scene, go to my club dedicated to Andy at:
The Silver Coated Loft or buy the great book by Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin, 'High On Rebellion,' available to order on the Max's website.
CBGB's the famous punk scene
Here seen in a summer setting, in August 2001.
But don't let yourself be fooled! They don't play good old punk anymore. And they have no memorabilia at all, no souvenirs, nothing, even the graffitti on the walls and benches in all new.
The Knitting Factory
a younger club, but Lou played there in the mid 90s
Famous films made in NYC or about this town: (in no particular order...)
- 'Rosemary's Baby' (by Roman Polanski, 1968, starring Mia Farrow)
-'Dog Day Afternoon' (1972, Al Pacino starring)
-'The Godfather'(1 and 2) (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972-4, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino)
-Sunday in New York (1963, comedy)
-West Side Story (1961, musical -more about than in)
-Who's that Knockin' At My Door? (1968, Martin Scorsese + Harvey Keitel)
Here, in the 'Party' sequence some great personalities of the Factory can be seen:
Viva, who first appeared in the 'Restaurant' scene with Dustin Hoffman and John Voight, giving an invitation to the party to Joe (John Voight). She was then with her movie brother, Hansel McAlbertson, and her name is Gretel (? like in the fairy tale, yes). So then, at the party, are Ultra Violet, International Velvet, Taylor Mead and Paul Morrisey (sitting saying he doesn't know where he is or who he is with).
- Serpico (1973, with Al Pacino, beautiful, poetic, landscapes, oh... you should see it, really. About corruption in the NY police, btw)
- Taxi Driver (1976, with Robert de Niro and Jodie Foster)
- Saturday Night Fever (1977, with John Travolta dancing to disco...boo!)
- and its follow up, Staying Alive (1983?)
- Woody Allen's 'Manhattan' (1979)
- Sidney Lumet's 'Prince of the City' (1981), starring Treat Williams, a follow-up to 'Serpico'
- 'Escape from New York' (1981), sci-fi, star. Kurt Russel & Harry Dean Stanton
-How To Marry A Millionaire (1953, Marylin Monroe, Lauren Bacall, etc. A comedy)
- 'Sunday in New York' (1963), star. Jane Fonda & Rod Taylor
- Oliver Stone's 'Wall Street' (1987), starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen, also featuring Sylvia Miles and Terence Stamp
- 'Bright Lights, Big City' (1988)
- 'Coming to America' (1988), aka 'Prince in New York', a comedy about an African prince who comes to NY to taste the hardships of low life in NY, starring Eddie Murphy
- 'Working Girl' (1988), by Mike Nichols, starring Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver, comedy.
- 'Do the Right Thing' (1989 -by Spike Lee)
- 'Q and A' (1990), dir. by Sidney Lumet, starring Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, drama about police corruption.
- 'The Saint of Fort Washington' (1993, Matt Dillon)
- 'Crooklyn' (1994, dir. by Spike Lee) -about a black family living in Brooklyn
- Woody Allen's/ Francis Ford Coppola's 'New York Stories' (1989), starring Woody and Mia Farrow
- 'King of New York' (1990), star. Christopher Walken and Laurence Fishburne
- 'Cafe Society' (1995), star. Lara Flynn Boyle
- Woody Allen's 'Everyone Says I Love You' (1996), star. Woody, Edward Norton, Drew Barrymore, Natalie Portman, Goldie Hawn, Julia Roberts, Billy Crudup, the list goes on...
- 'Bringing Out the Dead' (Martin Scorsese, 1999)
- 'Car 54, Where Are You?' (a comedy with David Johansen starring! -worth seeing, if only for the faces he makes :-)
- Alone in New York (early 90s, comedy with Maccaluay Culkin)
- The Paper (1994, action drama, st. Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close)
- 'Basquiat' (1996, by Julian Schnabel, with Dennis Hopper and David Bowie as Andy)
- 'A Brooklyn State of Mind' (1997) star. Danny Aiello
-You've Got Mail (1998, Meg Ryan + Tom Hanks)
-Smoke (Wayne Wang, 1994 or so, H.Keitel, William Hurt)
-Blue in The Face (or Lou In The Face, if you like, 1994,
W.Wang/Paul Auster, star. Lou Reed, Keitel and others)
-Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1974, Robert de Niro, H.
Keitel)
-After Hours (Martin Scorsese, 1980s)
-Frankie and Johnny(1991, with Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer)
- Szczesliwego Nowego Jorku ('Happy New York', Polish movie, 1997, a 'tragicomedy' about Polish immigrants living in Greenpoint. Quite good)
- 'OK Garage' (1998) Lili Taylor and John Turturro, a good mix of comedy and drama.
-"Summer of Sam" (1999); dir. by Spike Lee, starring Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito
-'Oxygen' (1999), star. Adrien Brody - a thriller!-'Devil's Advocate' 1999, with Al Pacino and Tom Cruise.
-The Siege (1999)
-Fast Food/ Fast Women (dir. by Amos Kollek)
-Gangs of New York(dir. by Martin Scorsese, 2002, starring Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day Lewis and Leonardo diCaprio)
-most Andy Warhol's films (except Lonesome Cowboys, shot in Arizona)
I'm sure there are plenty others. I'll look for them soon...
