Gabba Flamenco Crossover
High Sierra Skullfuck
Anyone see this on BBC4 last night? What did y'all think?
I was really hoping for some stuff on no wave, so it was a bit of a let down to get yet another retelling of the CBGB story - Ramones blah, Television blah, Patti Smith blah. Smith in particular I just don't get - she seems to me to be the archetypal example of a very reductive branch of feminism, where women strive to be as mannish as possible (that's not going to cure the world - men need to get more feminine!).
The disco footage was cool though, and the shots of the Bronx in the 70s - bloody hell! It's really no exaggeration to say it looked like a war zone. Some of the footage was like London in the blitz.
Interesting that one of the primary engines behind the development of NY culture in the 70s was space - there were a lot of unused buildings around that no-one gave a toss about. Whereas what I keep hearing from all sorts of people in London now - from free party organisers, to theatre groups, to 'normal' people on low-incomes who just want some space to be creative - is that there's just no room: all the buildings are locked down by developers.
We had a good laugh at the raddled faces on some of the talking heads - some decadent histories in those creases and hollow eye sockets (not as much as in the LA singer songwriter doc they had on a few weeks ago though - that had some serious, serious casualties on board).
Did anyone on here live in New York in the 70s? I'd love to hear first hand what it was like. Looks like an amazing time/space cultural nexus.
Some quick things I found on youtube to address the no-wave balance:
I was really hoping for some stuff on no wave, so it was a bit of a let down to get yet another retelling of the CBGB story - Ramones blah, Television blah, Patti Smith blah. Smith in particular I just don't get - she seems to me to be the archetypal example of a very reductive branch of feminism, where women strive to be as mannish as possible (that's not going to cure the world - men need to get more feminine!).
The disco footage was cool though, and the shots of the Bronx in the 70s - bloody hell! It's really no exaggeration to say it looked like a war zone. Some of the footage was like London in the blitz.
Interesting that one of the primary engines behind the development of NY culture in the 70s was space - there were a lot of unused buildings around that no-one gave a toss about. Whereas what I keep hearing from all sorts of people in London now - from free party organisers, to theatre groups, to 'normal' people on low-incomes who just want some space to be creative - is that there's just no room: all the buildings are locked down by developers.
We had a good laugh at the raddled faces on some of the talking heads - some decadent histories in those creases and hollow eye sockets (not as much as in the LA singer songwriter doc they had on a few weeks ago though - that had some serious, serious casualties on board).
Did anyone on here live in New York in the 70s? I'd love to hear first hand what it was like. Looks like an amazing time/space cultural nexus.
Some quick things I found on youtube to address the no-wave balance: