CBGB & OMFUG

Coming out in 2013 is "CBGB" a movie directed by Randall Miller. Hilly Kristal and his little club on Bowery were instrumental in the making of the punk rock scene in New York. The bar was a little know down and dirty bar called CBGB & OMFUG. Hilly Kristal originally envisioned the bar as a place to feature County, BlueGrass and Blues music. It was "discovered" by the punk crowd after the closing of the Mercer Center of the Arts. Underground bands were looking for a place to play and CBGB's wasn't really pulling in a huge crowd. Hilly Kristal agreed to have bands play on Sunday nights. CBGB's had only one rule, no cover bands, this way the club didn't have to pay ASCAP royalties. The arrangement worked well and bands started playing in 1973 and started filling the place. Some of the earliest performers were Wayne/Jayne County, Television and Suicide. At Television's third show in 1974 Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye came to see the their friend Tom Verlaine play. They too went on to perform on the stage at CB's. The buzz about the club began to grow and more and more bands were booked. The Ramones and Blondie were also playing there in 1974. The club became more and more popular with new bands such as Talking Heads, The Shirts and Mink Deville playing. By the late 70's bands from out of town and England started to play cementing CBGB's reputation as one of "the" clubs for punk rock.
All good things must come to an end and in 2005 Hilly Kristal and the building owner's Bowery Residents Committe got into a disagreement about the rent. The East Village by this time had become gentrified and CB's didn't fit into the new chic image. The end finally came on October 15, 2007. The final act on the stage of CBGB's was The Patti Smith Group. This was after a week of good bye shows by bands like Dictators, Bad Brains and Blondie. Patti Smith's last song was "Eligie" during the song she thanked Hilly and read a list of performers and scene makers that had died. Less than a year later Hilly Kristal himself had died.

When the club closed they took everything when moving out including the infamous restrooms. There had been a discussion of moving everthing to Las Vegas and reopening the club there but has not happened.
Currently the space is occupied by a John Varvatos store.

Frightwig, Assume the Position!

"Faster, Frightwig Kill Kill"; do you have that record? If you don't you should. Vinyl copies are really hard to find but there is a CD called "Wild Women Never Die". Both "Cat Farm Faboo" their first record and "Fast, Frightwig Kill Kill" are on it. If you don't know Frightwig you don't truly rock.
Frightwig has had a varied line up over the years but for my money it will always be Deanna , Mia, and Cecilia. There were lots of other women rockers members of Frightwig; lots! Frightwig is a woman's punk band from San Francisco they are not a Girl or a Grrl Band they are a hard ass punk rock band; so fuck you.
In the 1980's there was a place in San Francisco called The Farm. This is where Frightwig got their start along with bands like The Descendants and Redd Cross. They played around San Francisco, New York, Europe and in some disastrous US tours. Rocker women came out in droves to see Frightwig inspiring scores of women to feel they too could start their own bands. Courtney Love stole their look for Hole but honestly did give them credit. Grrl Bands almost always credit Frightwig as an influence.
Frightwig did have men on stage. The men on stage in Frightwig shows were just meat. The women were in charge and the men knew and loved it. Men (yes, I am one of them) are Frightwig's play things.
The women of Frightwig have lived full and amazing lives outside of Frightwig; marriages, children, Witchcraft they have done it all. These women are broads and proud of it. They will mess you up if they have to. Musically Frightwig is straight up punk rock. Guitars, drums, bass and a wailing voice is all a punk rock band needs and Frightwig has them all.

This fall Frightwig is coming back again. They are still pissed and they still rock.

Jayne County is Man Enough to be a Woman

Who created punk rock? That's a hard question to answer but one of the names that always comes up is Jayne County. Did Jayne create punk rock? Well maybe not all on her own but she was a major player in the movement. Jayne of course at the time was known as Wayne County.

Jayne/Wayne was born and raised in Georgia and in 1968 moved to New York. She became involved in the downtown scene. She was a regular at the Stonewall Inn the dumpy gay bar where the riots that ignited the gay rights movement started. In 1969 Jackie Curtis was putting together his play "Femme Fatale" at La Mama. Jayne and Patti Smith were among members of the cast.  "Femme Fatale" had a very successful run becoming an underground hit garnering a lot of attention to the Downtown/Underground scene. Jayne then wrote and performed in her own play "World-Birth of a Nation". Andy Warhol was at the time putting together his play "Pork" and cast Jayne in a role. "Pork" played in New York and then moved onto a run in London. Jayne spent some time in London where she formed a band called "Queen Elizabeth" and caught the eye of David Bowie and his company MainMan. Queen Elizabeth performed for a while and Bowie's company spent a lot of money. There was a show called "Wayne County at the Trucks" that is believed to be the inspiration for Bowie's Diamond Dogs tour. The song "Queenage Baby" is almost universally belived to be prototype for Bowie's Rebel Rebel. Did Bowie rip off Jayne? Listen to both songs and see what you think.
In 1974 Jayne formed "Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys" yet another protopunk band. They performed frequently at Max's Kansas City and CBGB in New York and recorded 3 tracks for a compilation album of New York bands.
Back in London "Wayne County and the Electric Chairs" was formed in 1977. London's punk scene was gearing up and Jayne was there recording one of her classic songs "Fuck Off". After touring through Europe and putting out a couple of records Jayne returned to the US and at that time stopped using the name Wayne. Wayne was Jayne and he was a she.
In the early 80's Jayne was again on stage in a play this time with another Warhol Superstar Holly Woodlawn. Over the years Jayne has appeared in a handful of films as well as working as a DJ.
Her out put of work has been more or less none stop. She has released over a dozen records. Jayne appeared in several successful films including Derek Jarman's "Jubilee" and Barry Shils' "Wigstock". Jayne is also a visual artist having had gallery shows in several cities.

Now living back in Georgia Jayne has formed a new band "The Electric Queers" and has started performing live again. Do not miss the opportunity to see her live! Who created punk rock? It may just have been been Jayne County!

Free Pussy Riot

Three members of the Russian band Pussy Riot are still in jail. They were jailed in February for a performance/protest in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The band Pussy Riot is a feminist punk rock collective that stages guerrilla performances. They wear mini dresses and bright colored balaclavas when performing. Three members of the band Maria Alehina, Ekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were arrested in February and have been in jail since then. They are being charged with "hooliganism" and could face up to seven years in prison. Their protest was against Putin, his government and its policies. The members of the band that remain free have started a campaign to free the 3 incarcerated members two of whom have young children. They admit that what they did was meant to offend and they did it to protest the control of the church in the Russian government. They are now on trial. Pussy Riot has had great support in Russia as well as in other countries. Polls in Moscow have shown 50% of the people think they should be freed. There have some very well known supporters such as filmmaker Terry Gilliam, Adam Horovitz and Faith No More. Members of the band were on stage at a recent Faith No More concert in Moscow and lead singer Mike Patton made his encore wearing a balaclava and Pussy Riot t-shirt. Have things changed in Russia or is the draconian system of oppression still the rule of the day?