Wednesday's parting shot

A weekend arrival in Freeman's Alley ... Debbie Harry wheatpaste by D7606 ...

Bye Bye Blondie; hello Bad Brains?

After five-plus years on Bleecker at the Bowery, the Blondie mural is no more... a worker painted over the space yesterday (by the newish J Crew). 

Our friend Alex took this photo (be sure to check out his site Flaming Pablum) ...

Shepard Fairy — in connection with The L.I.S.A. Project NYC — created this mural in August 2017, replacing the two-year-old Joey Ramone/CBGB mural.

Word is the space will give way to another CBGB favorite — Bad Brains. 

By the way, CBGB debuted on Dec. 10, 1973, across the way at 315 Bowery.

And now to 1982 with Bad Brains live at CBGB ...

 

Early pick for your fall 2023 reading list

Photo on Bleecker at the Bowery from Saturday 

Blondie co-founder Chris Stein has a book deal for his first memoir titled "Under a Rock." 

Trade pub The Bookseller had the news the other day about the deal in the U.K. 

Publisher James Gurbutt acquired U.K. and Commonwealth rights from Thomas Flannery at Vigliano Associates. Corsair plans to publish autumn 2023. 

The book is billed as a "quintessentially New York story of the golden age of the East Village and the makings of international superstars." 

Corsair said: "At its heart, 'Under a Rock' is a love story. The co-dependent bond between Chris and Debbie carried Blondie through their many tribulations: terribly misogynistic music scenes, greasy record execs, bitter bandmates, grueling schedules and hard-drug abuse abound. Chris lays it all bare, with blunt sincerity and humor. Ultimately, Chris and Debbie broke up, but their bond never dissipated; they remain the closest of friends, and continue to tour and promote their various projects together to this day." 

In a tweet, Stein said the U.S. deal is pending. 

Stein previously published two photography books: "Point of View: Me, New York City, and the Punk Scene" and "Negative: Me, Blondie, and the Advent of Punk." 

Meanwhile, Blondie is touring now in the U.K. ... with U.S.venues slated for May and August (13 dates with the Damned, including Aug. 17-18 atop at Pier 17).

Sunday's opening shot

For anyone keeping track, the Blondie mural on Bleecker at the Bowery has been restored ... this after being tagged last month... after being restored back in December.

Shepard Fairy's mural has been here since August 2017.

Saturday's opening shot

Tagged again on Bleecker at the Bowery. The Blondie mural had been restored back in December. 

Restoring the Blondie mural on Bleecker and the Bowery

Over the weekend, the artist @praxis_vgz (h/t the LISA Project NYC) restored Shepard Fairy's Blondie mural on Bleecker at the Bowery. (Thanks to Robert Miner for the above photo!)

The mural had been tagged multiple times in recent months, as our friend Alex noted back in August ...

The mural has been here since August 2017.

Q&A with the director of the short film 'Deborah Harry Does Not Like Interviews'

Meghan Fredrich, a former East Village resident who is currently living in Massachusetts, shared her first short film with me. "Deborah Harry Does Not Like Interviews," created from archival footage, shows how Blondie's Debbie Harry "endures years of superficial, tedious and demeaning questions from journalists until she devises a brilliant way to turn interviews on their head." The short recently made its premiere at the Maryland Film Festival and is now currently online.

Fredrich answered a few questions about the film, which you can watch below...

What was your introduction to Blondie? Do you recall the first time that you heard a Blondie song?

I’m a millennial (so sorry) and was a kid in the 1980s and 1990s. I have vague memories of seeing "Heart of Glass" and "Rapture" music videos on MTV or VH1.

Were you instantly a fan?

I think like so many others I was immediately entranced. My childhood home was a sort of New Wave temple – my parents playing records of the Talking Heads and B-52s. As I got older and developed a more complete understanding of punk, I became deeply involved with Blondie and never looked back.

What are some of the qualities that intrigued you initially about Debbie Harry? Did these perceptions change at all during the making of the film?

Debbie is unequivocally charismatic, so I think that drew my initial interest. But Debbie always appeared to me to be a very substantial person. Despite the ongoing media obsession with her blondeness and appearance, she is not all on the surface or superficial in any way. And she always appealed to me as a truly modern woman — an independent spirit.

I knew these things about her before I began the film, but I think my appreciation of her integrity, cleverness and sense of humor deepened as I worked on it.

Did you start this project with Debbie Harry in mind? Or were you thinking more about exploring the way interviews are structured and how the media complex works?

It was the latter – I was thinking about the power relationship inherent in interviews and how the public accepts certain interview “norms.” From there I thought about who had been in the public eye for a long time, and Debbie came to mind.



Though the montage of clips you found, we see Harry endure an endless number of idiotic and sexist interviews. How did you see her reaction to these interviews evolve as she continued on in her career, both in Blondie and as a solo artist and actress?

As time goes by, we Debbie’s emotional reactions to these questions and interviews change, as well as the strategies or tactics she deploys to manage them. She’s initially surprised, perhaps. Then expectant, evasive, using humor to deflect. She tries presenting a somewhat neutral front. Toward the end, you see flickers of anger, frustration and resignation. Until Minkie appears.

I’m surprised that the introduction of a stuffed animal — in this case Minkie — during interviews hasn’t become standard media-training fare for any public figure.

I know what you mean!

Do you think if she was an emerging artist today that she’d face the same type of questioning in the media?

You can see this clearly happening now with Billie Ellish. In an ad campaign recently for Calvin Klein, Billie says, “That’s why I wear baggy clothes. Nobody can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath.” It’s a protective stance for an invasive world that would otherwise eat you alive.

Any idea if Deborah Harry has seen this?

We passed the film along to her people, but I don’t really know one way or another.

What do you want viewers to take away from the film?

How incredible Debbie is, to start! I hope they laugh while the watch it. But perhaps the overriding message of the piece comes from the lyrics of the song "I Want That Man." When Debbie sings “Here comes the 21st century/It’s gonna be much better for a girl like me,” we as the audience now watching in the 21st century have to ask ourselves: Is it?



And here's the full 17-minute film...

From Joey Ramone to Debbie Harry on the Bowery

Back on Monday, a crew painted over the two-year-old Joey Ramone/CBGB mural on Bleecker at the Bowery...



In its place on Tuesday, Shepard Fairey (in connection with The L.I.S.A. Project NYC) created a mural in honor of Debbie Harry and Blondie...



..which wrapped up on Wednesday afternoon with a visit by Harry and Chris Stein. (Godlis has some photos here.)



Harry and Fairey previously collaborated on a project for his Obey fashion label coinciding with the 40-year anniversary of Blondie's debut album.

Updated 8:30 a.m.

Lola Sáenz notes this morning that, given the placement of the cardboard, it appears Debbie Harry has a new necklace...

Blondie break

Happy birthday Debbie Harry. She is 68 today.

A place in the Sun

Blondie. Late 1976/early 1977 with "In the Sun."

Blondie bemoans the scene; talks haunted Bowery homes

The Post features Blondie in its latest "My New York" feature.

One way or another, new wave icon Blondie has retained their punk aesthetic since banding together 35 years ago. Founders (and former lovers) Deborah Harry, 65, and Chris Stein, 60, bemoan the demise of grass-roots stomping grounds such as CBGB and Mother. “The whole nature of culture in New York has really taken a nose dive, basically,” says Harry, a longtime Chelsea resident. “It’s much harder for musicians and artists to do what they do without really having to scuffle.”

The two also talk about one of their early homes...

266 Bowery, between Prince and Houston streets
Stein: “We lived there for three years [in the 1970s].”
Harry: “We always thought it was haunted.”
Stein: “It definitely had poltergeists. There would be knocking on the walls, things falling down that weren’t related to any activity. It’s subtle stuff, but all the standard poltergeist nonsense went on there.”

The area around 266 is still haunted, though for different reasons....

Blondie plays the Nokia Theatre Tuesday night.



[266 Bowery via Flickr]

Pretty things

After all...

Mid-morning musical interlude, and what not

Debbie...Debbie...Debbie...



[Photo by Theresa K.]

Revisiting an old favorite

In a bit of a lousy mood for various reasons. (The whole city is going to hell -- more than usual, anyway!)

So! In times like these, I watch/listen to an old favorite. (Only seen this a few hundred times. But still.)



Oh, I liked that. Let's do another.