Friday, December 2, 2011

Come let us dance in Tompkins Square Park in August 1981



Via the YouTube description:

Outdoor concert crowd cavorts at New York's Tompkins Square Park (East Village) on August 9, 1981 during the "Avenue B is the Place to B" concert. Bands performing at the park band shell (since torn down) that day included Pierce Turner, Essential Bop, Liquid Liquid, Science, and Certain General. The event was produced by Una Johnston and Phelan.

This video footage originally aired in late 1981 on the Manhattan Cable public access television show "New York Entertainment Scene"

Via the PreFab Int'l Videos Archive.
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11 comments:

  1. Jeremiah MossDecember 2, 2011 at 8:32 AM

    LOVE the lady strangling herself with her necklace and doing the robot/miming at the end. where is she now?

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  2. SpikeDecember 2, 2011 at 9:24 AM

    Were swastikas the norm on tshirts in the EV back in '81?

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  3. MelanieDecember 2, 2011 at 9:34 AM

    I totally enjoyed this video. The good ole times. I liked the hanging piece too..the lady miming was so cool.

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  4. abrodDecember 2, 2011 at 9:53 AM

    Look at the cutting edge effects and editing techniques!

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  5. VillageGirl1986December 2, 2011 at 9:58 AM

    Loved the brief glimpse of Johnny Science. RIP my friend.

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  6. JamesChanceOfficialDecember 2, 2011 at 2:14 PM

    Nice one EV!

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  7. AnonymousDecember 2, 2011 at 10:10 PM

    is that marty from the sockman at :45 - :49 ?!

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousDecember 3, 2011 at 12:43 AM

    Lincoln Swados, the amputee in the beginning was constantly around back then. He eventually died when the new landlord to his apartment building on 4th Street, constructed some wooden obstacle in front of his storefront, blocking his ability to leave his house.

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  9. Steve ReedDecember 3, 2011 at 3:17 AM

    This was a kick! I'm sure those people had no idea their antics would be recorded and made viewable on demand by anyone on the planet 30 years later!

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  10. Randy EdwardsJuly 9, 2013 at 6:55 PM

    Wow this is crazy i was working in that park during that time in Tompskin Square park in the summer of 1981 i worked for NYC Dept of Parks in the station house there, i wasn't there during the concert but i came in that Monday to clean up, most of the garbage was cleaned up by the staff for the concert i was 25 years old back then wow how time fly

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  11. Randy EdwardsJanuary 16, 2020 at 10:43 AM

    I clean up that park along with my other co-workers after that concert , what a huge concert in 1981

    ReplyDelete

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