Ron Nyswaner will soon be traveling to New York to reunite with his Writers Guild of America East fellows for a grand occasion. The Oscar-nominated screenwriter, producer and showrunner has been selected to receive the Walter Bernstein Award at the 76th Writers Guild Awards at New York’s Edison Ballroom on April 14.
The honor — named after the late screenwriter who was blacklisted for his political views only to persevere and get his career back on track with such credits as Fail-Safe, Semi-Tough and Yanks — is presented to writers “who have demonstrated with creativity, grace and bravery a willingness to confront social injustice in the face of adversity,” per the organization.
Nyswaner has been doing that for pretty much his entire career. A prime example is Jonathan Demme’s 1993 film Philadelphia. Penned by Nyswaner, the Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington-starrer was the first major Hollywood film to dramatize the real-world...
The honor — named after the late screenwriter who was blacklisted for his political views only to persevere and get his career back on track with such credits as Fail-Safe, Semi-Tough and Yanks — is presented to writers “who have demonstrated with creativity, grace and bravery a willingness to confront social injustice in the face of adversity,” per the organization.
Nyswaner has been doing that for pretty much his entire career. A prime example is Jonathan Demme’s 1993 film Philadelphia. Penned by Nyswaner, the Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington-starrer was the first major Hollywood film to dramatize the real-world...
- 3/14/2024
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mark Stewart, the hulking and dynamic vocalist who shouted, whispered, and squealed over the Pop Group’s dubby, deconstructionist post-punk, died early Friday morning. A rep confirmed the singer’s death to Rolling Stone but did not disclose any additional details. He was 62.
“Mark was the most amazing mind of my generation, Rip,” the Pop Group’s guitarist and saxophonist, Gareth Sager, said in a statement.
“Thank you, my brother,” dub artist and one of Stewart’s longtime collaborators, Adrian Sherwood, said. “You were the biggest musical influence in my...
“Mark was the most amazing mind of my generation, Rip,” the Pop Group’s guitarist and saxophonist, Gareth Sager, said in a statement.
“Thank you, my brother,” dub artist and one of Stewart’s longtime collaborators, Adrian Sherwood, said. “You were the biggest musical influence in my...
- 4/21/2023
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Mark Stewart, co-founder and singer of the UK post-punk act The Pop Group, has died at the age of 62.
As a teeanger, Stewart formed The Pop Group alongside guitarist John Waddington, bassist Simon Underwood, guitarist/saxophonist Gareth Sager, and drummer Bruce Smith. Rising from the ashes of punk rock’s first wave, The Pop Group pushed the genre into a far more diverse direction by embracing an explosive fusion of punk, dub, free jazz, and funk. They released two albums — 1979’s Y and 1980’s For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? — before splitting in 1981.
Three decades later, Stewart, Sager, and Smith gave The Pop Group new life. After reforming for a UK tour in 2015, the trio hit the studio with producer Paul Epworth for their first album in 35 years, Citizen Zombie. They then embarked on a more extensive reunion tour that spanned much of 2016 and 2017.
The Pop Group...
As a teeanger, Stewart formed The Pop Group alongside guitarist John Waddington, bassist Simon Underwood, guitarist/saxophonist Gareth Sager, and drummer Bruce Smith. Rising from the ashes of punk rock’s first wave, The Pop Group pushed the genre into a far more diverse direction by embracing an explosive fusion of punk, dub, free jazz, and funk. They released two albums — 1979’s Y and 1980’s For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? — before splitting in 1981.
Three decades later, Stewart, Sager, and Smith gave The Pop Group new life. After reforming for a UK tour in 2015, the trio hit the studio with producer Paul Epworth for their first album in 35 years, Citizen Zombie. They then embarked on a more extensive reunion tour that spanned much of 2016 and 2017.
The Pop Group...
- 4/21/2023
- by Alex Young
- Consequence - Music
Seymour Stein, the legendary music executive who cofounded Sire Records where he signed the Ramones, Madonna, and Talking Heads, died Sunday in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer, a spokesperson for his family confirmed to Variety. He was 80.
Stein cofounded the Sire imprint in 1966, where he also signed the Pretenders, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Soft Cell. Artists including Depeche Mode, Ice-T, the Cure, the Replacements, Everything But the Girl, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and more released some of their greatest work on Sire. In 1983, he helped...
Stein cofounded the Sire imprint in 1966, where he also signed the Pretenders, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Soft Cell. Artists including Depeche Mode, Ice-T, the Cure, the Replacements, Everything But the Girl, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and more released some of their greatest work on Sire. In 1983, he helped...
- 4/3/2023
- by Althea Legaspi
- Rollingstone.com
Farewell to Tom Verlaine, for some of us the greatest American rock guitarist not named “Hendrix.” Verlaine, who died Saturday at 73, could hit cosmic heights that no other guitar virtuoso could reach. He made his bones in the 1970s with Television, the garage band who created a new kind of psychedelic sublime in the Cbgb punk scene. Television made two of the Seventies’ best guitar albums, Marquee Moon and Adventure, until they fell apart, just as they were hitting their musical peak. But the music Verlaine got out of his...
- 1/29/2023
- by Rob Sheffield
- Rollingstone.com
Tom Verlaine, frontman and guitarist for seminal NYC punk band Television, has died at 73.
The New York Times reported that the punk pioneer died Saturday in Manhattan. Jesse Paris Smith, daughter of Verlaine’s ex and frequent collaborator Patti Smith, told the outlet that Verlaine died “following a brief illness.”
Born Thomas Miller in Denville, New Jersey, he met Richard Meyers at a boarding school in Delaware, with the two moving to New York City and changing their names to Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell, respectively, to form the band Neon Boys along with drummer Billy Ficca.
Read More: David Crosby, Legendary Musician Of The Byrds And Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Dead At 81
That band didn’t last, but then reformed as Television, adding guitarist Richard Lloyd. Television quickly became the darlings of the budding NYC punk scene, gaining a following with performances at legendary clubs CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City.
The New York Times reported that the punk pioneer died Saturday in Manhattan. Jesse Paris Smith, daughter of Verlaine’s ex and frequent collaborator Patti Smith, told the outlet that Verlaine died “following a brief illness.”
Born Thomas Miller in Denville, New Jersey, he met Richard Meyers at a boarding school in Delaware, with the two moving to New York City and changing their names to Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell, respectively, to form the band Neon Boys along with drummer Billy Ficca.
Read More: David Crosby, Legendary Musician Of The Byrds And Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Dead At 81
That band didn’t last, but then reformed as Television, adding guitarist Richard Lloyd. Television quickly became the darlings of the budding NYC punk scene, gaining a following with performances at legendary clubs CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City.
- 1/29/2023
- by Brent Furdyk
- ET Canada
"Empire Records" is a movie that not a ton of people saw, but many of us who came up in the late '90s/early aughts remember the 1995 film quite fondly. The movie was directed by Allan Moyle (who will always be my hero for giving us "Pump Up the Volume") from a screenplay by Carol Heikkinen. It centers on a day -- Rex Manning Day! -- in the life of a ragtag group of record store employees as they try to stop their shop, Empire Records, from becoming just another Music Town.
I worked at an independent music store in the early 2000s, one that was doomed to eventually be sold to a large chain. I have clear memories of all of us saying, "Damn the man. Save the Empire!" on more than one occasion. Sadly, there was no saving CD World and we were all soon out of...
I worked at an independent music store in the early 2000s, one that was doomed to eventually be sold to a large chain. I have clear memories of all of us saying, "Damn the man. Save the Empire!" on more than one occasion. Sadly, there was no saving CD World and we were all soon out of...
- 1/29/2023
- by Jamie Gerber
- Slash Film
Flea has led tributes to Tom Verlaine, the frontman for rock band Television, after his death was announced on Saturday (29 January).
Verlaine was the guitarist, songwriter and lead figure of the New York City band, which was mainly active in the mid-Seventies.
The band is most known for the 1977 album Marquee Moon, which is highly regarded as one of the foremost punk releases.
Verlaine frequently collaborated with musician Patti Smith throughout his solo career, and they once dated while they were part of the emerging punk scene in New York.
His death was announced by Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of Patti Smith, who said that he died “after a brief illness”.
Since the news broke, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea is one of several musicians to have paid tribute to Verlaine online, sharing that he’d been an influence on his and bandmate John Frusciante.
“Listened to Marquee Moon 1000 times,...
Verlaine was the guitarist, songwriter and lead figure of the New York City band, which was mainly active in the mid-Seventies.
The band is most known for the 1977 album Marquee Moon, which is highly regarded as one of the foremost punk releases.
Verlaine frequently collaborated with musician Patti Smith throughout his solo career, and they once dated while they were part of the emerging punk scene in New York.
His death was announced by Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of Patti Smith, who said that he died “after a brief illness”.
Since the news broke, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea is one of several musicians to have paid tribute to Verlaine online, sharing that he’d been an influence on his and bandmate John Frusciante.
“Listened to Marquee Moon 1000 times,...
- 1/29/2023
- by Nicole Vassell
- The Independent - Music
Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, Chris Stein, and many more artists have paid tribute to Tom Verlaine, the influential singer and guitarist for punk legends Television, who died following a “brief illness” at the age of 73.
Smith — Verlaine’s former partner and regular collaborator — posted a photograph of them together on Instagram. “This is a time when all seemed possible,” she captioned the Instagram post. “Farewell Tom, aloft the Omega.”
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A post shared by This is Patti Smith (@thisispattismith)
“I have lost a hero,” Michael Stipe wrote,...
Smith — Verlaine’s former partner and regular collaborator — posted a photograph of them together on Instagram. “This is a time when all seemed possible,” she captioned the Instagram post. “Farewell Tom, aloft the Omega.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by This is Patti Smith (@thisispattismith)
“I have lost a hero,” Michael Stipe wrote,...
- 1/29/2023
- by Althea Legaspi
- Rollingstone.com
Tom Verlaine, the frontman of the band Television, which heavily influenced the New York punk rock scene in the 1970s, has died. He was 73.
The Hollywood Reporter learned on Saturday that the guitarist and songwriter died following a short illness in New York City, surrounded by close friends.
Born in New Jersey on Dec. 13, 1949, by the name of Thomas Miller, Verlaine grew up during most of his childhood in Wilmington, Delaware. Around five years after he moved to New York City in 1968, the musician founded the band Television in 1973 with Richard Hell, Billy Ficca and Richard Lloyd. Fred Smith was brought in after Hell departed the band two years later.
After eventually signing with Elektra Records, the band released its debut album, Marquee Moon, in early 1977. While the album got the attention of critics, it didn’t bode well for American audiences, but it did reach the charts in the U.
The Hollywood Reporter learned on Saturday that the guitarist and songwriter died following a short illness in New York City, surrounded by close friends.
Born in New Jersey on Dec. 13, 1949, by the name of Thomas Miller, Verlaine grew up during most of his childhood in Wilmington, Delaware. Around five years after he moved to New York City in 1968, the musician founded the band Television in 1973 with Richard Hell, Billy Ficca and Richard Lloyd. Fred Smith was brought in after Hell departed the band two years later.
After eventually signing with Elektra Records, the band released its debut album, Marquee Moon, in early 1977. While the album got the attention of critics, it didn’t bode well for American audiences, but it did reach the charts in the U.
- 1/29/2023
- by Carly Thomas
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tom Verlaine, singer and guitarist for punk legends Television who crafted the band’s 1977 masterpiece Marquee Moon, has died at the age of 73.
Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of Patti Smith, confirmed Verlaine’s death following a “brief illness” to Rolling Stone on Saturday. “He died peacefully in New York City, surrounded by close friends. His vision and his imagination will be missed,” Smith wrote.
“This is a time when all seemed possible,” Patti Smith wrote in a tribute on Instagram, which included a photo of her and Verlaine. “Farewell Tom,...
Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of Patti Smith, confirmed Verlaine’s death following a “brief illness” to Rolling Stone on Saturday. “He died peacefully in New York City, surrounded by close friends. His vision and his imagination will be missed,” Smith wrote.
“This is a time when all seemed possible,” Patti Smith wrote in a tribute on Instagram, which included a photo of her and Verlaine. “Farewell Tom,...
- 1/28/2023
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Tom Verlaine, whose Television band was one of the more influential groups on the New York Punk scene in the 1980s, died today at 73 in Manhattan.
Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of Patti Smith, announced the death, attributing it to “after a brief illness” in her statement. .
Television was not a huge commercial success, but Verlaine was a vast influence on guitarists of the era, and continued on as a solo artist after the group broke up after two albums.
Verlaine was the band’s lead singer and did most of the songwriting. His deep lyrics and the group’s somewhat ethereal sound made them a favorite of those who wanted some art with their rock. The former Thomas Miller adopted the name of poet Paul Verlaine as an added touch.
Signed to Elektra Records, Television’s first major label album, Marquee Moon, arrived in 1977. Increasing tensions between Verlaine and...
Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of Patti Smith, announced the death, attributing it to “after a brief illness” in her statement. .
Television was not a huge commercial success, but Verlaine was a vast influence on guitarists of the era, and continued on as a solo artist after the group broke up after two albums.
Verlaine was the band’s lead singer and did most of the songwriting. His deep lyrics and the group’s somewhat ethereal sound made them a favorite of those who wanted some art with their rock. The former Thomas Miller adopted the name of poet Paul Verlaine as an added touch.
Signed to Elektra Records, Television’s first major label album, Marquee Moon, arrived in 1977. Increasing tensions between Verlaine and...
- 1/28/2023
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Prodded on by Jean Seberg’s Patricia, halfway through Breathless, a director played by Jean-Pierre Melville says his greatest ambition is “to become immortal, and then die.” It’s a line that might as well sum up the extraordinary career of Breathless’s own helmer and French New Wave doyen, Jean-Luc Godard, who died of assisted suicide at his home in Rolle, Switzerland, on September 13. He was 91. His longtime lawyer told The New York Times the director suffered from “multiple disabling pathologies,” while a relative told the press he “was not sick—he was simply exhausted.” The tributes that have since poured in from all corners of the world are as gargantuan and scholarly as his output. But though “the practice of honoring our artistic giants is one that thrives on analysis,” Justin Chang notes at the L.A. Times, “what feels more fitting to offer at this still-early moment...
- 9/22/2022
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSKing Lear.Jean-Luc Godard, groundbreaking French-Swiss filmmaker across six decades, died last week at age 91. In the week since, a number of tributes have been shared: among them, Blair McClendon in n+1, J. Hoberman in The Nation, Manohla Dargis in the New York Times, and Richard Hell in Screen Slate. Alternatively, you can find a 2002 essay on Godard by filmmaker and theorist Peter Wollen on Verso's blog, watch a 1988 conversation between Godard and critic Serge Daney, or read this list Godard contributed to the British film journal Afterimage in 1970. Shadow and Act founder Tambay Obenson is fundraising to launch Akoroko, a new platform devoted to African film and television. The platform intends to combine film journalism with “consultation, cataloging, and curated film streaming.”Two posters (below) for the 61st New York Film Festival feature photographs taken by Nan Goldin.
- 9/20/2022
- MUBI
Punk style never died. Sure, people might not still be wearing condom earrings or hypodermic-needle necklaces like they did on the streets of London in 1977, but the ungovernable spirit of the fashion-forward trend never truly went away. Since Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood started creating (and co-opting) the style in their London boutique Sex, T-shirts, leather jackets, and bondage pants have become staples of alternative style.
“Just seeing the leather jacket move from subculture to subculture, for both functional and fashionable use, I would say that that...
“Just seeing the leather jacket move from subculture to subculture, for both functional and fashionable use, I would say that that...
- 5/24/2022
- by Elisabeth Garber-Paul and Kyle Rice
- Rollingstone.com
For a certain generation of women, director Susan Seidelman’s second feature, “Desperately Seeking Susan,” is a formative text, an indelible record of New York in the ‘80s, from Madonna’s iconic hair bow to Rosanna Arquette’s spirited performance as the lead. With its cast of New York underground habitués, and fizzy pace set to the tune of Madonna’s “Into the Groove,” “Desperately Seeking Susan” was a fashion-forward change of pace from the teen comedies and slick action fare of the time.
Seidelman’s first feature, the scrappy microbudget “Smithereens,” shocked everyone when it was selected as one of the first American independent films to be accepted into official competition at the Cannes Film Festival. With a cast that included proto-punk rocker Richard Hell, the 1982 “Smithereens” captured the East Village in all its grungy, pre-gentrification glory, and has become a cult classic.
A die-hard New Yorker, Seidelman never felt comfortable in Hollywood.
Seidelman’s first feature, the scrappy microbudget “Smithereens,” shocked everyone when it was selected as one of the first American independent films to be accepted into official competition at the Cannes Film Festival. With a cast that included proto-punk rocker Richard Hell, the 1982 “Smithereens” captured the East Village in all its grungy, pre-gentrification glory, and has become a cult classic.
A die-hard New Yorker, Seidelman never felt comfortable in Hollywood.
- 3/16/2021
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
The members of Gang of Four would likely be the first to tell you that you do not need an extravagant Gang of Four box set. They’re the ones who released a 45 sarcastically titled “To Hell With Poverty” and backed it up with “Capital (It Fails Us Now),” a lampoon about a newborn baby reaching for its credit card. They skewered advertising culture on “I Found That Essence Rare” and quipped, “The problem of leisure, what to do for pleasure, ideal love a new purchase” on “Natural’s Not in It.
- 3/12/2021
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Richard Hell and the Voidoids will revisit their 1982 album Destiny Street as a “remastered, remixed, repaired” reissue that captures how the band’s second and final album was originally intended to sound.
Destiny Street Remixed, due out January 21st, 2021 via Omnivore Recordings, makes use of the newly discovered three of the four original 24-track masters from the 1981 sessions for the album that, in its original form, “was a morass of trebly multi-guitar blare,” Hell writes in the reissue’s new liner notes.
Never happy with the 1982 album, Hell first tinkered...
Destiny Street Remixed, due out January 21st, 2021 via Omnivore Recordings, makes use of the newly discovered three of the four original 24-track masters from the 1981 sessions for the album that, in its original form, “was a morass of trebly multi-guitar blare,” Hell writes in the reissue’s new liner notes.
Never happy with the 1982 album, Hell first tinkered...
- 11/19/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Walter Lure, guitarist and last surviving member of punk legends Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, has died at the age of 71.
Los Angeles’ Starwood venue first announced Lure’s death Saturday following a brief battle with cancer (via Ultimate Classic Rock), with Lure’s band the Waldos later confirming his death. “Walter was diagnosed with liver and lung cancer in July 2020, which spread rapidly and he died from complications related to the cancer at the age of 71, peacefully in the hospital, surrounded by family,” the venue wrote on social media.
Los Angeles’ Starwood venue first announced Lure’s death Saturday following a brief battle with cancer (via Ultimate Classic Rock), with Lure’s band the Waldos later confirming his death. “Walter was diagnosed with liver and lung cancer in July 2020, which spread rapidly and he died from complications related to the cancer at the age of 71, peacefully in the hospital, surrounded by family,” the venue wrote on social media.
- 8/23/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
It’s been a little over a month since John Lydon (aka the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten) lit into Marky Ramone, Henry Rollins and a murderers’ row of underground-music legends at an L.A. panel about punk music. “Hello, Johnny Rotten never did the walk?” he bellowed when Ramone suggested he didn’t “walk the walk” like the MC5. The Pistol then got up and strutted around in front of the audience. Although it seemed contentious and over the top at the time, Lydon says everyone failed to see the humor in it.
- 4/13/2019
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
At the Sir Studio in West Hollywood Monday night, a panel discussion of punk-rock icons devolved into filth and fury — what better way to honor the Epix network’s new docuseries, Punk, which premieres on March 11th? At the heart of the disruption was John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten). The Sex Pistol sparred with Marky Ramone and Henry Rollins while the genre’s other icons watched with smirks and wide eyes.
The conversation took place after a screening, and the Justice League of punk trailblazers aligned in front of the screen.
The conversation took place after a screening, and the Justice League of punk trailblazers aligned in front of the screen.
- 3/7/2019
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
Richard Hell is known for many things — his short-lived stint in Television, his success with the Voidoids, his long career as a downtown poet. But maybe best of all, he’s known as the handsome lothario of the 1970s NYC punk scene. Yet when cultural historian Carlo McCormick asked Hell about the connection between punk and sexuality, Hell told him that wasn’t the point. “I remember Richard Hell saying to me, ‘Well Carlo, punk wasn’t really about sex,'” McCormick says with a smile in a gallery at...
- 12/10/2018
- by Elisabeth Garber-Paul
- Rollingstone.com
In September 1985, Nick Zedd published the fourth issue of his zine The Underground Film Bulletin, which featured a drawing of punk musician Richard Hell on the cover. Zedd published the zine primarily as a promotional tool to promote the work of his fellow punk Lower East Side filmmakers. The fourth issue included articles on Cassandra Stark, Manuel Delanda and Jim Jarmusch.
However, the most important article in this issue of the Underground Film Bulletin was Zedd’s “The Cinema of Transgression Manifesto,” which reads like a proclamation of war against avant-garde filmmaking and “academic snobbery.” You can read the full manifesto here. As Jeriko, Zedd proposed that “all film schools be blown up and all boring films never be made again” and declared that “any film which doesn’t shock isn’t worth looking at.”
According to an interview with Jack Sargeant in his book Deathtripping: The Extreme Underground, Zedd...
However, the most important article in this issue of the Underground Film Bulletin was Zedd’s “The Cinema of Transgression Manifesto,” which reads like a proclamation of war against avant-garde filmmaking and “academic snobbery.” You can read the full manifesto here. As Jeriko, Zedd proposed that “all film schools be blown up and all boring films never be made again” and declared that “any film which doesn’t shock isn’t worth looking at.”
According to an interview with Jack Sargeant in his book Deathtripping: The Extreme Underground, Zedd...
- 11/23/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Anthony Bourdain’s last meal on the final original episode of CNN’s Parts Unknown was as simple as could be: Hard-boiled eggs served up by his old friend, the musician and artist John Lurie, capping an episode devoted to their old stomping ground, Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
“I came for heroin and I came for music,” said Bourdain about the punk & drugs era of pre-gentrified 1970s-early ’80s Lower East Side. Among the guests on this finale: Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of the band Blondie, rapper and artist Fab Five Freddy, Harley Flanagan of the band Cro-Mags, director Jim Jarmusch and post-punk avant “no wave” icon Lydia Lunch.
To mark the episode, the Explore Parts Unknown website – a collaboration between CNN and media company Roads & Kingdoms – has put together a 10-song “Lower East Side” playlist (see it below).
Known for traveling to, and sampling the cuisine of,...
“I came for heroin and I came for music,” said Bourdain about the punk & drugs era of pre-gentrified 1970s-early ’80s Lower East Side. Among the guests on this finale: Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of the band Blondie, rapper and artist Fab Five Freddy, Harley Flanagan of the band Cro-Mags, director Jim Jarmusch and post-punk avant “no wave” icon Lydia Lunch.
To mark the episode, the Explore Parts Unknown website – a collaboration between CNN and media company Roads & Kingdoms – has put together a 10-song “Lower East Side” playlist (see it below).
Known for traveling to, and sampling the cuisine of,...
- 11/12/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSIdo Lupino's The Hitch-Hiker (1953).The United States Library of Congress has announced a significant update to their free screening platform, National Screening Room, with hundreds of films—ranging from historic documents of turn-of-century American life to Ida Lupino's The Hitch-Hiker. At this point we're well documented admirers of Paul W.S. Anderson's cinema, which is why we were thrilled to hear that Tony Jaa, Ron Perlman, and T.I. have joined Milla Jovovich in the cast for his latest video game adaptation: Capcom's Monster Hunter. The Chinese-Taiwanese annual Golden Horse awards have announced this year's nominations, which include Zhang Yimou's Shadow, Hu Bo's An Elephant Sitting Still, Bi Gan's A Long Day's Journey Into Night, and Pema Tseden's Jinpa, amongst many others.Recommended VIEWINGOne of the longest running, most compelling American film...
- 10/3/2018
- MUBI
Tony Sokol Sep 21, 2018
The Ramones' Road To Ruin turns 40 with a previously unreleased music video and a reissue to prove it.
Some fans think The Ramones reached their peak with their fourth album, Road to Ruin, which turns 40 today. Released on September 21, 1978 through Sire Records, it followed Rocket to Russia, which saw a drop off in album sales, pushing Tommy Ramone to put more time into production. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone snagged the drummer from Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Marc Bell and rechristened him Marky Ramone, leaving Tommy to produce the album with Ed Stasium, with a nod to the Phil Spector sound. With the single "I Wanna Be Sedated" as a lead-off, Road to Ruin was considered Billboard-ready. But it only hit 103 on the charts, 50 notches down from the last record. The Ramones recently dropped a deluxe reissue of the album and found a previously unreleased video...
The Ramones' Road To Ruin turns 40 with a previously unreleased music video and a reissue to prove it.
Some fans think The Ramones reached their peak with their fourth album, Road to Ruin, which turns 40 today. Released on September 21, 1978 through Sire Records, it followed Rocket to Russia, which saw a drop off in album sales, pushing Tommy Ramone to put more time into production. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone snagged the drummer from Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Marc Bell and rechristened him Marky Ramone, leaving Tommy to produce the album with Ed Stasium, with a nod to the Phil Spector sound. With the single "I Wanna Be Sedated" as a lead-off, Road to Ruin was considered Billboard-ready. But it only hit 103 on the charts, 50 notches down from the last record. The Ramones recently dropped a deluxe reissue of the album and found a previously unreleased video...
- 9/21/2018
- Den of Geek
Geodesic domes, predicated on the concept that they could hold more space with less material, never became the ubiquitous buildings that their creator — future-forward architect and thinker Buckminster Fuller — imagined they would.
But “more with less” is a rewarding concept when it comes to indie movies, and writer-director Peter Livolsi’s “The House of Tomorrow” delivers just that in a brisk 90 minutes, telling a sweet, tart, and intelligently life-affirming story of teenage friendship and outsider spirit with a supremely light touch, and a winning collection of performances.
One of Fuller’s residential domes, tucked away in the Minnesota woods, is where we meet Sebastian Prendergast (Asa Butterfield), a 16-year-old student of the endlessly creative, eccentric inventor’s ideas. His interest no doubt has to do with the fact that he’s been raised his whole life under the careful, home-schooled watch of his guardian Nana Josephine (Ellen Burstyn), once one of Fuller’s architect disciples. Together they live like health-conscious ascetics in a dome that’s also a local tourist attraction, one in which Nana greets guests (in the opening scene, a youth group from a Lutheran church) with a big smile and a “Welcome to the future!”
Also Read: Amy Schumer's 'I Feel Pretty' Braces for Ugly Box Office Debut
Skinny, polite Sebastian has little experience with the outside world. But in the wake of a stroke his Nana suffers during the church group’s visit, he gets to know one of the kids, Jared Whitcomb (Alex Wolff), a sharp-eyed, combative punk fanatic with a heart transplant scar.
Though same-aged Jared is the opposite in nearly every way to Sebastian — rude to his kind-hearted single dad Alan (Nick Offerman) and snarling older sister Meredith (Maude Apatow), dismissive of the meds regimen that tends to his tenuous health, and in general an inveterate rule-breaker — the pair develop a fast bond over their status as misfits tired of restraints.
Also Read: Netflix Acquires Nick Offerman's Animated Movie 'White Fang'
Sebastian, enabled by the dad’s Christian hospitality and drawn to Jared’s thrashing music tastes (and maybe a teensy crush on Meredith), starts sneaking away from home to hang at the Whitcomb house, which spurs Jared to insist the pair form a punk duo (with Sebastian learning on a bass guitar stolen from the church).
Any well-seasoned moviegoer will see the feel-good path of world-opening adolescent rebellion embedded into the DNA of “The House of Tomorrow,” which Livolsi adapted from a 2011 novel by Peter Bognanni. But what makes the movie organically enjoyable outside of its expected direction is that the manifestation of Sebastian’s and Jared’s mutually beneficial attachment is, in Livolsi’s hands, a delicate simmer instead of a sentimental splash, and tended to with plenty of deadpan wit and honest feeling. (Not to mention a delectable punk soundtrack, featuring The Germs, Richard Hell, and Black Flag.)
Sebastian’s social flowering isn’t coaxed by a vision of another family’s domestic purity, after all — Alan is devoted to caring for Jared, which Jared answers by lashing out — but rather by the humane dysfunction of inherently good people making do under one roof. (Or, in the case of a few apartment scenes featuring a wonderfully understated Michaela Watkins as Jared’s struggling mom, roofs separated by a divorce.)
Watch Video: Elle Fanning Is a Punk Rock Alien in New 'How to Talk to Girls at Parties' Trailer
For Jared, on the other hand, Sebastian offers not just any old escapist companionship, but an opportunity to reformulate his contempt at being handled like a boy in a bubble into a form of vinegary empathy for another cloistered, treatable patient. At the very least, “The House of Tomorrow” boasts a wise emotional intelligence about what draws us out of our imposed worlds and toward the unlikeliest of enrichments.
The movie’s heart-smarts are bolstered by its actors, starting with Butterfield, who creates the subtlest of transformations from beanpole, alien-like awkwardness (his reaction to his first soda is priceless) to confidently unshackled, wannabe punk. Wolff has arguably the tougher role, but earns our sympathy for his teenage prickliness (and prick-ishness) through his soulful eyes and modulated glimpses at Jared’s vulnerable side.
In the Whitcomb abode, they’re both supported by Offerman’s nuanced portrait of all-in parenting, and Apatow’s nicely turned take on annoyed sister as secretly affectionate sparring partner. And though Burstyn’s character is the least believably drawn, the Oscar-winner — who in real life knew Buckminster Fuller (thus requiring no digital wizardry when you see Burstyn in archival footage of him from the ’70s) — puts in her paces with expectedly vivid professionalism.
For a movie whose hiccoughs and payoffs are expected, and whose seams occasionally show, “The House of Tomorrow” is as engagingly designed and executed as one of Fuller’s nifty, thought-provoking inventions. The ironic truth about Fuller’s legacy is that none of his creations ever truly caught on, and yet the sheer vivacity of his belief in solving earth’s problems with ingenuity proved to be its own kind of enduring gift.
A similar irony can be found nestled in the indie charm of “The House of Tomorrow”: that by bringing together the tear-down ethos of punk with the build-up idealism of Fuller, two broken kids can find a workable equilibrium through which to combat the problems of everyday life.
Read original story ‘The House of Tomorrow’ Film Review: Wry, Heartfelt Coming-of-Age Indie Mixes Buckminster Fuller and Punk At TheWrap...
But “more with less” is a rewarding concept when it comes to indie movies, and writer-director Peter Livolsi’s “The House of Tomorrow” delivers just that in a brisk 90 minutes, telling a sweet, tart, and intelligently life-affirming story of teenage friendship and outsider spirit with a supremely light touch, and a winning collection of performances.
One of Fuller’s residential domes, tucked away in the Minnesota woods, is where we meet Sebastian Prendergast (Asa Butterfield), a 16-year-old student of the endlessly creative, eccentric inventor’s ideas. His interest no doubt has to do with the fact that he’s been raised his whole life under the careful, home-schooled watch of his guardian Nana Josephine (Ellen Burstyn), once one of Fuller’s architect disciples. Together they live like health-conscious ascetics in a dome that’s also a local tourist attraction, one in which Nana greets guests (in the opening scene, a youth group from a Lutheran church) with a big smile and a “Welcome to the future!”
Also Read: Amy Schumer's 'I Feel Pretty' Braces for Ugly Box Office Debut
Skinny, polite Sebastian has little experience with the outside world. But in the wake of a stroke his Nana suffers during the church group’s visit, he gets to know one of the kids, Jared Whitcomb (Alex Wolff), a sharp-eyed, combative punk fanatic with a heart transplant scar.
Though same-aged Jared is the opposite in nearly every way to Sebastian — rude to his kind-hearted single dad Alan (Nick Offerman) and snarling older sister Meredith (Maude Apatow), dismissive of the meds regimen that tends to his tenuous health, and in general an inveterate rule-breaker — the pair develop a fast bond over their status as misfits tired of restraints.
Also Read: Netflix Acquires Nick Offerman's Animated Movie 'White Fang'
Sebastian, enabled by the dad’s Christian hospitality and drawn to Jared’s thrashing music tastes (and maybe a teensy crush on Meredith), starts sneaking away from home to hang at the Whitcomb house, which spurs Jared to insist the pair form a punk duo (with Sebastian learning on a bass guitar stolen from the church).
Any well-seasoned moviegoer will see the feel-good path of world-opening adolescent rebellion embedded into the DNA of “The House of Tomorrow,” which Livolsi adapted from a 2011 novel by Peter Bognanni. But what makes the movie organically enjoyable outside of its expected direction is that the manifestation of Sebastian’s and Jared’s mutually beneficial attachment is, in Livolsi’s hands, a delicate simmer instead of a sentimental splash, and tended to with plenty of deadpan wit and honest feeling. (Not to mention a delectable punk soundtrack, featuring The Germs, Richard Hell, and Black Flag.)
Sebastian’s social flowering isn’t coaxed by a vision of another family’s domestic purity, after all — Alan is devoted to caring for Jared, which Jared answers by lashing out — but rather by the humane dysfunction of inherently good people making do under one roof. (Or, in the case of a few apartment scenes featuring a wonderfully understated Michaela Watkins as Jared’s struggling mom, roofs separated by a divorce.)
Watch Video: Elle Fanning Is a Punk Rock Alien in New 'How to Talk to Girls at Parties' Trailer
For Jared, on the other hand, Sebastian offers not just any old escapist companionship, but an opportunity to reformulate his contempt at being handled like a boy in a bubble into a form of vinegary empathy for another cloistered, treatable patient. At the very least, “The House of Tomorrow” boasts a wise emotional intelligence about what draws us out of our imposed worlds and toward the unlikeliest of enrichments.
The movie’s heart-smarts are bolstered by its actors, starting with Butterfield, who creates the subtlest of transformations from beanpole, alien-like awkwardness (his reaction to his first soda is priceless) to confidently unshackled, wannabe punk. Wolff has arguably the tougher role, but earns our sympathy for his teenage prickliness (and prick-ishness) through his soulful eyes and modulated glimpses at Jared’s vulnerable side.
In the Whitcomb abode, they’re both supported by Offerman’s nuanced portrait of all-in parenting, and Apatow’s nicely turned take on annoyed sister as secretly affectionate sparring partner. And though Burstyn’s character is the least believably drawn, the Oscar-winner — who in real life knew Buckminster Fuller (thus requiring no digital wizardry when you see Burstyn in archival footage of him from the ’70s) — puts in her paces with expectedly vivid professionalism.
For a movie whose hiccoughs and payoffs are expected, and whose seams occasionally show, “The House of Tomorrow” is as engagingly designed and executed as one of Fuller’s nifty, thought-provoking inventions. The ironic truth about Fuller’s legacy is that none of his creations ever truly caught on, and yet the sheer vivacity of his belief in solving earth’s problems with ingenuity proved to be its own kind of enduring gift.
A similar irony can be found nestled in the indie charm of “The House of Tomorrow”: that by bringing together the tear-down ethos of punk with the build-up idealism of Fuller, two broken kids can find a workable equilibrium through which to combat the problems of everyday life.
Read original story ‘The House of Tomorrow’ Film Review: Wry, Heartfelt Coming-of-Age Indie Mixes Buckminster Fuller and Punk At TheWrap...
- 4/20/2018
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
So it’s finally that time of year. Days are sitting between us and the beginning of a new year, and with the conclusion of 2017 imminent, it’s about time we all take stock of the very best that the home video world has offered us all. From mammoth box sets to an unsung classic from a French New Wave legend that is as urgent today as it has ever been, a final film from one of the greatest directors of all time to a retrospective of a documentary filmmaker few people know of, these are the five very best home video releases of the year 2017.
5. La Chinoise
Starting off this list, one of Jean-Luc Godard’s great and underrated masterpieces. La Chinoise comes at an exciting moment in Godard’s career, squarely prior to maybe his best film, Week End, and sees the iconic filmmaker at a moment of experimentation and revolution.
5. La Chinoise
Starting off this list, one of Jean-Luc Godard’s great and underrated masterpieces. La Chinoise comes at an exciting moment in Godard’s career, squarely prior to maybe his best film, Week End, and sees the iconic filmmaker at a moment of experimentation and revolution.
- 12/15/2017
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
“How has La Chinoise aged?” asks Amy Taubin in her liner notes to the new Blu-ray edition of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1967 provocation. Elsewhere in the disc’s accompanying booklet Richard Hell examines how he has shifted positions from seeing La Chinoise as lesser Godard to “a glorious experience” superior to more easily accessible works like Pierrot le fou. Both critics circle around one of the things I find most fascinating about Godard in general, which is the fact that his movies, more than those of any other filmmaker, seem to change the most drastically from one viewing to the next. Of […]...
- 10/20/2017
- by Jim Hemphill
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Starting Friday at The Metrograph in New York City, one of the truly great American independent features from the early 1980s is getting a much overdue reevaluation, thanks to a new restoration from an equally great, and underrated, boutique film distributor.
Best known for their horror and genre releases under their Scream Factory banner, Shout Factory is making a heavy push into the repertory world, with a new restoration of Susan Seidelman’s masterful 1982 feature, Smithereens. Seidelman’s directing debut, Smithereens is an odyssey into early ‘80s New York, a world of punk rock, pimps and lost dreams. The first ever American indie to play in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, the film tells the story of Wren, a streetwise woman living in a New York City that at once feels like a dystopian wasteland akin to an urban Mad Max and yet has an alluring energy and vitality that feels all but lost.
Best known for their horror and genre releases under their Scream Factory banner, Shout Factory is making a heavy push into the repertory world, with a new restoration of Susan Seidelman’s masterful 1982 feature, Smithereens. Seidelman’s directing debut, Smithereens is an odyssey into early ‘80s New York, a world of punk rock, pimps and lost dreams. The first ever American indie to play in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, the film tells the story of Wren, a streetwise woman living in a New York City that at once feels like a dystopian wasteland akin to an urban Mad Max and yet has an alluring energy and vitality that feels all but lost.
- 7/29/2016
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
Jan Nemec‘s last film, The Wolf from Royal Vineyard Street, Roberto Andò‘s The Confessions, Anthropoid, and more will premiere at the 2016 Karlovy Vary Festival.
Watch a trailer for an upcoming concert in Denmark featuring the music of Lars von Trier‘s film:
The New York Asian Film Festival 2016 has unveiled its full line-up.
Tim Robbins reflects on working with Robert Altman in The Player, now on Criterion:
Slate highlights the 50 greatest movies by black directors:
Despite everything, black filmmakers have produced art on screen that is just as daring, original, influential, and essential as the heralded works of Welles, Coppola, Antonioni, Kurosawa, and other nonblack directors.
Jan Nemec‘s last film, The Wolf from Royal Vineyard Street, Roberto Andò‘s The Confessions, Anthropoid, and more will premiere at the 2016 Karlovy Vary Festival.
Watch a trailer for an upcoming concert in Denmark featuring the music of Lars von Trier‘s film:
The New York Asian Film Festival 2016 has unveiled its full line-up.
Tim Robbins reflects on working with Robert Altman in The Player, now on Criterion:
Slate highlights the 50 greatest movies by black directors:
Despite everything, black filmmakers have produced art on screen that is just as daring, original, influential, and essential as the heralded works of Welles, Coppola, Antonioni, Kurosawa, and other nonblack directors.
- 6/1/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Nile Rodgers, rock journalist Legs McNeil and more recall the birth of punk and the gritty, gross glory of Cbgb in the first installment of 1973: Shaping the Culture, a new video series from Rolling Stone, presented by HBO's new show Vinyl.
Hilly Kristal opened Cbgb & Omfug — "Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music for Undernourished Gormandizers," though McNeil notes Kristal frequently changed the meaning of the "U" — in 1973 in the heart of the Bowery, at that time one of New York's nastiest neighborhood. The location, however, was the perfect place...
Hilly Kristal opened Cbgb & Omfug — "Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music for Undernourished Gormandizers," though McNeil notes Kristal frequently changed the meaning of the "U" — in 1973 in the heart of the Bowery, at that time one of New York's nastiest neighborhood. The location, however, was the perfect place...
- 2/10/2016
- Rollingstone.com
The recent release of Ork Records: New York, New York — the newest excavation from archival label Numero Group, known for its subcultural archaeology — proves that not every stone had been left unturned when it came to punk rock. The boxed set resurfaces every single released by one of the first punk and indie labels in its prime (1976–1979), placing influential, albeit lesser-known, acts (the Feelies, a post–Dead Boys Cheetah Chrome, The dBs) alongside debut releases from what are now marquee names (Television, a post-Television Richard Hell, Big Star's Alex Chilton). At the center of it all sits Terry Ork, the bearish and eternally grinning founder of Ork Records and early manager of Television, who followed Andy Warhol to New York from his native San Diego, where Warhol was filming San Diego Surf in 1968, just before an attempted assassination on Warhol. During the film’s production, Ork — a film...
- 11/10/2015
- by Andrew Flanagan
- Vulture
Pussy Riot members have released a video for their first-ever English-language song. It is dedicated to Eric Garner, the man who was choked to death in Staten Island by an NYPD officer last year. The track called "I Can't Breathe" — the last words said by Garner while he was being choked — was recorded in December in New York and features Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner, The Ceramic Dog's Shahzad Ismaily, Andrew Wyatt and the Russian bands Jack Wood and Scofferlane. Punk icon Richard Hell is also featured, repeatedly saying
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- 2/19/2015
- by Vladimir Kozlov
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Guardian recently republished a 1988 profile of Nick Cave in which the infuriated musician veered over the course of days from open, insightful and analytical to infuriatedly seething “I have to spend hours talking to fucking idiots like you who have no kind of notion about anything” and throwing a boot at his interlocutor. As with Richard Hell — who over decades went from alarming Lester Bangs for his nihilistic abandon to writing poetry reviews for The New York Times — Cave is a former self-destructive dark messiah turned elder statesman, a respected screenwriter and still recording/touring musician who’s […]...
- 10/8/2014
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The Guardian recently republished a 1988 profile of Nick Cave in which the infuriated musician veered over the course of days from open, insightful and analytical to infuriatedly seething “I have to spend hours talking to fucking idiots like you who have no kind of notion about anything” and throwing a boot at his interlocutor. As with Richard Hell — who over decades went from alarming Lester Bangs for his nihilistic abandon to writing poetry reviews for The New York Times — Cave is a former self-destructive dark messiah turned elder statesman, a respected screenwriter and still recording/touring musician who’s […]...
- 10/8/2014
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
With the publication of with his seminal 1977 book, White Trash, Christopher Makosburst on to the photography scene and made a name for himself as the first photographer to record the convergence of the “uptown” and “downtown” worlds, as Debbie Harry fondly remembers. This raw, beautiful volume chronicled the punk scene as it came of age on the street of New York. Interspersed in the mix are portraits of boldface names, including Andy Warhol, Man Ray, Tennessee Williams, Halston, John Paul Getty III, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Tom Verlaine, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Zandra Rhodes, Divine, Lance Loud, and Marilyn Chambers, among others. Over the years, the book became a cult classic, selling for up to $500 on Amazon. Glitterati Incorporated is...
- 1/24/2014
- by Pietro Filipponi
- The Daily BLAM!
Slightly overshadowed by the Oscar nominations early this morning, the 2014 New Music Express Awards unveiled their list of hopefuls today (January 16).
In an interesting twist, the NME’s category for Villain of the Year included nominees like Russell Brand, Robin Thicke, Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus, David Cameron and Vladimir Putin.
Furthermore, the Worst Band contenders are 30 Seconds to Mars, The 1975, Muse, Imagine Dragons, One Direction and The Wanted.
Of course, there are also plenty of positive categories such as Hero of the Year, with nominees like Alex Turner, David Bowie, Pussy Riot, Lou Reed, Este Haim, and Russell Brand.
The 2014 NME Awards nominees are:
Best British Band
Arctic Monkeys
Biffy Clyro
Disclosure
Foals
Palma Violets
Two Door Cinema Club
Best International Band supported by Austin, Texas
Arcade Fire
Haim
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Phoenix
Vampire Weekend
Queens Of The Stone Age
Best Solo Artist
David Bowie
Jake Bugg
Kanye West...
In an interesting twist, the NME’s category for Villain of the Year included nominees like Russell Brand, Robin Thicke, Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus, David Cameron and Vladimir Putin.
Furthermore, the Worst Band contenders are 30 Seconds to Mars, The 1975, Muse, Imagine Dragons, One Direction and The Wanted.
Of course, there are also plenty of positive categories such as Hero of the Year, with nominees like Alex Turner, David Bowie, Pussy Riot, Lou Reed, Este Haim, and Russell Brand.
The 2014 NME Awards nominees are:
Best British Band
Arctic Monkeys
Biffy Clyro
Disclosure
Foals
Palma Violets
Two Door Cinema Club
Best International Band supported by Austin, Texas
Arcade Fire
Haim
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Phoenix
Vampire Weekend
Queens Of The Stone Age
Best Solo Artist
David Bowie
Jake Bugg
Kanye West...
- 1/17/2014
- GossipCenter
It wrecks lives – but it has also inspired art from the poetry of Baudelaire to the music of Lou Reed. In Paris and Berlin, Andrew Hussey traces the path of heroin through modern culture
One of the easiest places to find heroin in Paris is in the streets in and around the Gare du Nord, a stone's throw away from the Eurostar terminal. I know about this place partly because I live in Paris and I am a frequent Eurostar traveller, and partly because this is where Google sent me when I typed in the request "Where to find heroin in Paris". Apparently the most popular spot for dealing is the rue Ambroise-Paré which contains a series of entrances to underground car parks where users can shoot up in relative privacy. The place permanently stinks of piss and is under constant police surveillance, as dealers and clients scurry back and forth between their hiding places.
One of the easiest places to find heroin in Paris is in the streets in and around the Gare du Nord, a stone's throw away from the Eurostar terminal. I know about this place partly because I live in Paris and I am a frequent Eurostar traveller, and partly because this is where Google sent me when I typed in the request "Where to find heroin in Paris". Apparently the most popular spot for dealing is the rue Ambroise-Paré which contains a series of entrances to underground car parks where users can shoot up in relative privacy. The place permanently stinks of piss and is under constant police surveillance, as dealers and clients scurry back and forth between their hiding places.
- 12/22/2013
- by Andrew Hussey
- The Guardian - Film News
Not that Lou Reed would have recognized me (though I was introduced to him once, which I'll get to), but he and his body of work intersected my life in more personal ways than that of any other major rock star. So this isn't an obituary so much as a series of memories. For obituaries, check out Gary Graff in Billboard and Jon Dolan in Rolling Stone.
Lou was from Long Island and I was from Long Island. At the most basic level, this meant that, growing up listening to Long Island radio stations, I heard lots of Lou even when he was no longer especially fashionable (between about 1976 and 1981). Thus, while most of the world ignored his 1978 album Street Hassle, I heard much of it on Wlir and Wbab, and bought it – my first Lou album. He had started out underground in the Velvet Underground, had managed to claw...
Lou was from Long Island and I was from Long Island. At the most basic level, this meant that, growing up listening to Long Island radio stations, I heard lots of Lou even when he was no longer especially fashionable (between about 1976 and 1981). Thus, while most of the world ignored his 1978 album Street Hassle, I heard much of it on Wlir and Wbab, and bought it – my first Lou album. He had started out underground in the Velvet Underground, had managed to claw...
- 10/28/2013
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Groupies and Used Bookstores: Manhattan's 1970s Punk Scene The Voidoids' Richard Hell on blowjobs as the ultimate compliment by Lizzie Plaugic My favorite part of Richard Hell’s new memoir, I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp, is the epilogue. In it, Hell describes one night over the course of his writing the book, in which he sees his ex-Television bandmate Tom Verlaine rummaging through the dollar bins in a used bookstore. There's no outright reconciliation of their dissipated friendship, but there's a mental shift. And (from Hell's perspective, at least) we see the relationship take on a new (or newly recognized) form. This is what is most interesting about Hell’s memoir: the crux of the narrative comes not from Hell himself, but from his interactions with people who drift in and out of his life. It is the bandmates, the groupies, Theresa [...]...
- 4/19/2013
- by Lizzie Plaugic
- Nerve
“We wanted to strip everything down further, away from the showbiz theatricality of the glitter bands, and away from bluesiness and boogie. We wanted to be stark and hard and torn up, the way the world was,” Richard Hell writes in his recent raw autobiography, "I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp."
At the Metropolitan Museums of Art's upcoming exhibit, "Punk: Chaos and Couture," Hell is the first of seven "punk heroes" with a gallery showcasing their impact on the fashion world.
Hell rose to cult fame in the 1970s through his band Television. While the group didn't last long, Hell's ripped and safety-pinned clothes have immortalized him as an emblem of New York's seminal underground scene at the time.
Besides the group of seven, the Met's May show will present the work of 100 designers, tracing the original "do-it-yourself" punk looks scoured from dumpsters and junk drawers to contemporary...
At the Metropolitan Museums of Art's upcoming exhibit, "Punk: Chaos and Couture," Hell is the first of seven "punk heroes" with a gallery showcasing their impact on the fashion world.
Hell rose to cult fame in the 1970s through his band Television. While the group didn't last long, Hell's ripped and safety-pinned clothes have immortalized him as an emblem of New York's seminal underground scene at the time.
Besides the group of seven, the Met's May show will present the work of 100 designers, tracing the original "do-it-yourself" punk looks scoured from dumpsters and junk drawers to contemporary...
- 3/29/2013
- by Leigh Silver
- Huffington Post
The Virgins, "Strike Gently" (Cult Records/Frenchkiss Label Group)
The best thing about the New York quartet The Virgins is Donald Cummings' adept angular guitar playing. In spots it's pleasantly reminiscent of Richard Hell's inventive work in Television, or even the David Byrne/Jerry Harrison combination in Talking Heads – and it's clear there's a post-punk New York aesthetic that The Virgins are mining. It is, after all, their hometown.
"Strike Gently" is their second full-length effort, and it is considerably more down-tempo than their 2008 debut. Much of the sexy dance beats from the first record have been shelved in favor of slower attempts at contemplative songs like "The Beggar" or "Amelia."
Cummings sings in an Iggy-esque basso that has a little too much reverb, or doubling effect, in places, and isn't nearly as captivating. The verses with the sharp and often ornamental guitar licks unfortunately devolve into the most...
The best thing about the New York quartet The Virgins is Donald Cummings' adept angular guitar playing. In spots it's pleasantly reminiscent of Richard Hell's inventive work in Television, or even the David Byrne/Jerry Harrison combination in Talking Heads – and it's clear there's a post-punk New York aesthetic that The Virgins are mining. It is, after all, their hometown.
"Strike Gently" is their second full-length effort, and it is considerably more down-tempo than their 2008 debut. Much of the sexy dance beats from the first record have been shelved in favor of slower attempts at contemplative songs like "The Beggar" or "Amelia."
Cummings sings in an Iggy-esque basso that has a little too much reverb, or doubling effect, in places, and isn't nearly as captivating. The verses with the sharp and often ornamental guitar licks unfortunately devolve into the most...
- 3/11/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Like many old people, New Year’s Eve makes me remember earlier times. When I was young. When I knew who the new bands were. When I was cool. Once one has children, one is never cool again.
There was a period of time in the mid-1970s when I dropped out of college and went to work for an antiwar magazine. We had a barter arrangement with lots of underground newspapers and magazines, so I got to read Creem magazine, and from that and the Village Voice, I knew who all the cool bands were and where to see them in New York.
When I decided to go back to college for my degree, I kept up subscriptions to Creem and the Voice, and it was from these that I discovered Punk.
Not the music, although also the music. No, I mean Punk, a magazine that combined my two greatest passions,...
There was a period of time in the mid-1970s when I dropped out of college and went to work for an antiwar magazine. We had a barter arrangement with lots of underground newspapers and magazines, so I got to read Creem magazine, and from that and the Village Voice, I knew who all the cool bands were and where to see them in New York.
When I decided to go back to college for my degree, I kept up subscriptions to Creem and the Voice, and it was from these that I discovered Punk.
Not the music, although also the music. No, I mean Punk, a magazine that combined my two greatest passions,...
- 12/28/2012
- by Martha Thomases
- Comicmix.com
Who's responsible for turning Cbgb's into the petri dish that unleashed punk rock onto the world?
It's long been known that the idea didn't originate with the club's owner, Hilly Kristal, who died in 2007, a year after the famously dingy venue closed its doors. He named the club Cbgb-Omfug, short for Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers, and expected to feature those genres, not the noisy creations of a bunch of arty freaks.
A recent e-book by longtime tour manager Larry Butler gives Television singer and guitarist Tom Verlaine credit for making Cbgb's cool. Here's how music-industry veteran Bob Lefsetz paraphrased Butler's account yesterday in his popular newsletter, the Lefsetz Letter:
Hilly Kristal was an unwitting beneficiary of Tom Verlaine's inability to find anywhere to feature Television. Yup, Verlaine asked Hilly to play at Cbgb, a relatively dead bar, on a dead night,...
It's long been known that the idea didn't originate with the club's owner, Hilly Kristal, who died in 2007, a year after the famously dingy venue closed its doors. He named the club Cbgb-Omfug, short for Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers, and expected to feature those genres, not the noisy creations of a bunch of arty freaks.
A recent e-book by longtime tour manager Larry Butler gives Television singer and guitarist Tom Verlaine credit for making Cbgb's cool. Here's how music-industry veteran Bob Lefsetz paraphrased Butler's account yesterday in his popular newsletter, the Lefsetz Letter:
Hilly Kristal was an unwitting beneficiary of Tom Verlaine's inability to find anywhere to feature Television. Yup, Verlaine asked Hilly to play at Cbgb, a relatively dead bar, on a dead night,...
- 7/16/2012
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
Calling all punk rockers and cretin hoppers, Donal Logue is ready to co-star in the upcoming rock flick Cbgb. The film tells the story of the legendary punk and art rock club that was host to Blondie, The Dead Boys, The Talking Heads, The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Television, Richard Hell and many more highly influential acts. According to Hollywood Reporter Logue is slated to play Merv Ferguson, the right hand man to club owner Hilly Kristal, played by Alan Rickman.
- 6/16/2012
- by Ben Pittard
- GetTheBigPicture.net
Casting for the Cbgb biopic has resulted in some interesting choices, and the names just keep on coming. The film found its most recent addition in Donal Logue, a character actor and occasional leading man who’s notable for his work on the short-lived, well-loved FX series, Terriers. Logue will play Merv Ferguson, the man who helped owner Hilly Kristal (Alan Rickman) keep the legendary club in order. [THR]
Working on a script by Jody Savin, director Randall Miller (Bottle Shock) will helm the story of New York’s music scene, and how Cbgb helped launch some of the biggest rock n’ roll acts of the past four decades before closing its doors in 2008.
Besides Logue, other stars who jumped on board recently are Joel David Moore, Stana Katic, Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory) as manager Terry Ork, Mickey Sumner (The Borgias) as singer Patti Smith, and Ashley Greene as Kristal’s daughter,...
Working on a script by Jody Savin, director Randall Miller (Bottle Shock) will helm the story of New York’s music scene, and how Cbgb helped launch some of the biggest rock n’ roll acts of the past four decades before closing its doors in 2008.
Besides Logue, other stars who jumped on board recently are Joel David Moore, Stana Katic, Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory) as manager Terry Ork, Mickey Sumner (The Borgias) as singer Patti Smith, and Ashley Greene as Kristal’s daughter,...
- 6/16/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Taylor Hawkins cast as Stooges frontman in forthcoming biopic of New York punk venue
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins is to step into Iggy Pop's skinny jeans.
Hawkins has signed on to play the Stooges frontman in new film Cbgb, which tells the story of the legendary New York punk club. He will join former Harry Potter star Rupert Grint, who is playing Cheetah Chrome, guitarist with Cbgb regulars the Dead Boys. Malin Åkerman will follow her turn in Rock of Ages as Blondie's Debbie Harry. The cast will also include Alan Rickman as venue boss Hilly Kristal, Mickey Sumner as Patti Smith, the Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki as Television manager Terry Ork, Steven Schub as Dee Dee Ramone, Evan Alex Cole as Richard Hell, Peter Vack as Legs McNeil and Kerry Bisché as Mary Harron.
The story follows Kristal in his efforts to turn the tiny club into a groundbreaking rock venue.
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins is to step into Iggy Pop's skinny jeans.
Hawkins has signed on to play the Stooges frontman in new film Cbgb, which tells the story of the legendary New York punk club. He will join former Harry Potter star Rupert Grint, who is playing Cheetah Chrome, guitarist with Cbgb regulars the Dead Boys. Malin Åkerman will follow her turn in Rock of Ages as Blondie's Debbie Harry. The cast will also include Alan Rickman as venue boss Hilly Kristal, Mickey Sumner as Patti Smith, the Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki as Television manager Terry Ork, Steven Schub as Dee Dee Ramone, Evan Alex Cole as Richard Hell, Peter Vack as Legs McNeil and Kerry Bisché as Mary Harron.
The story follows Kristal in his efforts to turn the tiny club into a groundbreaking rock venue.
- 6/6/2012
- by Dan Martin
- The Guardian - Film News
Those working on Cbgb have wasted no time in compiling their supporting players. We’ve seen the main actors (Alan Rickman, Rupert Grint, Malin Akerman, Joel David Moore, and Stana Katic) jump into the fray over these past two and a half weeks, but today has brought seven (seven!) new performers into the historical music scene fray. First, THR informs us that Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins will take on the legendary Iggy Pop; Deadline says Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory) is appearing as manager Terry Ork; and Variety reports that Mickey Sumner (The Borgias, Imogene) will play singer Patti Smith.
Additionally, Steven Schub (24, Chicago) will play DeeDee Ramone; Evan Alex Cole (She’s Out of My League) is appearing as Richard Hell; Kerry Bische (Red State) has been cast in the part of Mary Harron (some research indicates that this is, in fact, the American Psycho director); and...
Additionally, Steven Schub (24, Chicago) will play DeeDee Ramone; Evan Alex Cole (She’s Out of My League) is appearing as Richard Hell; Kerry Bische (Red State) has been cast in the part of Mary Harron (some research indicates that this is, in fact, the American Psycho director); and...
- 6/5/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Sting's actress daughter Mickey Sumner has landed the coveted role of punk icon Patti Smith in star-studded new movie Cbgb.
Sumner was added to the cast on Monday, alongside Foo Fighters rocker Taylor Hawkins, who will make his acting debut as Iggy Pop in the film about late New York club boss Hilly Kristal, portrayed by Alan Rickman.
The twosome joins Johnny Galecki and Steven Schub, who will play Terry Ork and DeeDee Ramone in the film, and sexy Malin Akerman, who will play Blondie star Debbie Harry.
Also among the cast: Evan Alex Cole as Richard Hell, Avatar star Joel David Moore as Joey Ramone, Stana Katic and Rupert Grint.
Filming will begin in Savannah, Georgia and New York City later this month.
Movie spokeswoman Nadine Jolson tells WENN, "The story will follow Kristal who dreamed of having a Country, Bluegrass and Blues club in New York City. When he had difficulty finding country and blues bands, he opened his doors to local acts. He had one demand of the acts he booked: They could only play their own original music.
"Living on a couch in the back of the club for the first two years, Hilly could barely make ends meet. Nevertheless, Cbgb became such a well-respected haunt for artists that many bands begged Hilly for a chance to play."...
Sumner was added to the cast on Monday, alongside Foo Fighters rocker Taylor Hawkins, who will make his acting debut as Iggy Pop in the film about late New York club boss Hilly Kristal, portrayed by Alan Rickman.
The twosome joins Johnny Galecki and Steven Schub, who will play Terry Ork and DeeDee Ramone in the film, and sexy Malin Akerman, who will play Blondie star Debbie Harry.
Also among the cast: Evan Alex Cole as Richard Hell, Avatar star Joel David Moore as Joey Ramone, Stana Katic and Rupert Grint.
Filming will begin in Savannah, Georgia and New York City later this month.
Movie spokeswoman Nadine Jolson tells WENN, "The story will follow Kristal who dreamed of having a Country, Bluegrass and Blues club in New York City. When he had difficulty finding country and blues bands, he opened his doors to local acts. He had one demand of the acts he booked: They could only play their own original music.
"Living on a couch in the back of the club for the first two years, Hilly could barely make ends meet. Nevertheless, Cbgb became such a well-respected haunt for artists that many bands begged Hilly for a chance to play."...
- 6/5/2012
- WENN
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