And over at the Observer, Nate Freeman hangs around with longtime East Village resident Richard Hell on the Bowery.An excerpt from the Observer feature!
“It was an expression of how things were at that moment,” he said, describing the impact of Television, whose first album, Marquee Moon, is perhaps the most hyper-literate of early punk artifacts, a fancily dexterous but punishing record. Having helped forge the group’s downright mathematical guitar playing, Mr. Hell left Television just before the recording of Marquee Moon and went on to form the equally influential, slightly messier band the Heartbreakers. “It wasn’t like we brought something to the world that changed the world, it’s that the world brought us something and we acted on it.”
His memoir, "I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp," is out next week.
As previously noted here:
On Wednesday, March 13, Hell is the guest of East Village Radio's The Rest is Noise show at noon. On Thursday March 14, he will appear at the Barnes & Noble on Union Square. (Details here.)
P.S.
If you want to know more about Marque Moon, then look no further than this book.
Richard you might get a chuckle out of this (or be repelled) but here goes.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read all about this neighborhood in the 80's, you, Basquiat, Scharf, Patti Astor, James Chance, etc, I couldn't wait to see it all.
It took longer than I thought, but in '97 when I finally was able to get here, almost everyone was gone.
I thought maybe I made a mistake, but then I recognized you at a coffee shop or some place like that, maybe it was a bookstore? I didn't say shit because I'm not like that, but I went back to my apartment, and began unpacking my bags.
Thank you for your art, man. Looking forward to the book.
That is a great story Shawn. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteMe, I ran away to NYC for the heroin, stayed for the music art and people, and eventually left because of the prices.