sleazenation
August 2000
Volume 3 – Issue 07
Pages 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53
…NIGHTCLUBBING, WE’RE NIGHT CLUBBING, WE’RE WHAT’S HAPPENING
Text – Stuart Turnbull, Stewart Home, Justin Quirk, Jack Sargeant, Lydia Lunch, Lisa B. Falour 06.07.00
Photography – Adrian Boot, Emily Armstrong, R. Kern
YOU AIN’T NO PUNK, YOU PUNK, YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT THE REAL JUNK?
(PLEASE NOTE – I’ve only taken the Blondie extracts from this magazine article and not typed out everything else.)
SLEAZE:
NYC@ICA
EVER ONES TO CELEBRATE THE CREATIVE ANTICS OF RENEGADE TALENT SLEAZENATION, IN CAHOOTS WITH PUNK-GIRL VIDEO-MAKERS PAT IVERS AND EMILY ARMSTRONG, THIS MONTH LAUNCHES THE AFOREMENTIONED DUO’S SEMINAL ‘NIGHTCLUBBING’ SERIES AT LONDON’S ICA.
Detailing the birth of the New York Punk scene, 1975-80, Pat & Emily’s footage, shot at the city’s CBGB’s, Danceteria, Max’s Kansas City and Mudd Club nitespots, features searing performances from the likes of Blondie, Talking Heads, Iggy Pop, Dead Kennedy’s and the Dead Boys. To help rock your world we now embark on a traipse through the downtown streets that spawned these musical extremes.
In the words of Lisa B. Falour, a bondage model at the time, “New York in the late 70s. Urban decay in its extreme form. The city was as good as broke, and public services had been cut to a minimum. A few police stayed in their cruisers, not getting out much of anything, there was a reduced force of firefighters, and only sporadic trash collection. Dog shit everywhere. Even in cool weather, the smell was strong – the smell of things falling apart.”
‘SLEAZENATION PRESENTS NIGHTCLUBBING’ AT THE ICA, THE MALL, LONDON W1
JULY 28TH – AUGUST 3RD
FOR TICKETS, CALL 020 7930 3647
FOR RELATED BRITISH PUNK IMAGERY, GO TO THE sleazenation.com GALLERY.
REFUGEES FROM THE BLANK GENERATION
BLONDIE
Formed in 1974. D. Harry, Chris Stein, Fred Smith and Billy O’Connor formerly in the straight revivalists The Stillettos. Original backing vocalists Julie and Jackie then known as Tish & Snookie. Parallel Lines sold shitloads. D. Harry narrowly avoided getting kidnapped by the Manson family before she was famous.
WARHOL SAYS ‘SO WHAT?’
NICO SAYS ‘SHUT IT!’
In 1977, with Punk raging Stateside, money-laden silver-syrup Andy Warhol flew to Paris to show his Hammer and Sickle paintings. There he was mobbed by French Punks who offered up their breasts and cocks for him to sign. Dismissing Punk as “just fashion”, baffled, he mumbled: “I don’t understand it.” The Euro Punks continued to hail him as the Punk godfather however, and flooded his exhibition opening. “Some punks wrote HATE and WAR on the walls in sorbet. Some punks vomited white wine. One Punk knocked another Punk’s tooth out. One Punk peed,” noted an observer. Warhol was more interested in trawling the Parisian perfume shops. But back home he did rate Blondie. For the look.