Where’s Malcolm?! McLaren spotted with downtown punk royalty at the May 1975 Central Park peace rally

Oct 29th, 2021

//Malcolm McLaren between Patti Smith and David Johansen with Cyrinda Foxe and Lenny Kaye, Sheep Meadow, Central Park, May 11, 1975. Photo: Danny Fields//

//Close up: Malcolm McLaren refreshes himself behind Smith and Johansen//

46 years after music manager Danny Fields took the photograph of a group of New York’s 70s demi-monde at the top of this post I’ve spotted the previously unidentified person behind them: the subject of my latest book, Malcolm McLaren (who appears to be chugging a half-bottle of Smirnoff).

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Tags: Barbara Dane, Bella Abzug, Bob Gruen, Central Park, Cyrinda Foxe, David Johansen, Harry Belafonte, Joan Baez, Kutie Jones & his SEX PISTOLS, Lenny Kaye, New York Dolls, Odetta, Ossie Davis, Patti Smith, Paul Simon, Peter Yarrow, Phil Ochs, Richie Havens, Sheep Meadow, The War Is Over!, Tom Paxton

‘Don’t look over your shoulder, but the Sex Pistols are coming’: 40th anniversary of their first review

Feb 12th, 2016

Today is the 40th anniversary of the gig at central London venue The Marquee by the Sex Pistols which generated their first substantial media coverage, a prescient 200-word review by Neil Spencer on page 31 of the February 21, 1976 issue of the New Musical Express.

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Tags: Carole King, Caroline Coon, David Cassidy, ECM, Eddie And The Hot Rods, Genesis, Golden earring, Horse, I-Roy, Ian MacDonald, James Last, Jonh Ingham, Julie Burchill, Kate Phillips, Kate Simon, Kursaal Flyers, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Lisa Robinson, Manfred Eicher, Melody Maker, New Musical Express, NME, Patti Smith, Penny Reel, Sounds, Steve Jones, Tony Parsons, Tony Tyler, U-Roy

When Jesus danced with the Sex Pistols

Jan 29th, 2014

//From Vacant by Nils Stevenson, photo: Ray Stevenson//

If you are of a London gig-goer of a certain (getting on to be advanced) age you will remember “Jesus”, an enthusiastic audience member at many musical events in the capital from the 60s to the late 70s.

//Detail: Hynde, Rotten, Matlock and Jesus. Photo: Ray Stevenson//

Jesus was notable because a) he was personable and b) would often discard his clothes as he energetically idiot-danced stage-front. Jesus liked to frolic with abandon, more often than not exposing much, or even all of his rail-thin body.

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Tags: Bachman turner Overdrive, Brian nevill, Chuck Berry, Clive Jellett, Glastonbury Fayre, Jeff Dexter, Jesus, Johnny Rotten, Magic Michael, Mick Jagger, Mr Fish, Nils Stevenson, Patti Smith, Ray Stevenson, Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols, The Marque, The Nashville Rooms, The Rainbow, The Ramones, UFO, Vacant

Beatbooks 57: Patti Smith

May 11th, 2011

Patti Smith is the focus of the latest Beatbooks sale, which is accompanied by a printed catalogue up to the usual high standards of the archive’s curator Andrew Sclanders.

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Tags: A Clockwork Orange, Al Hansen, Albert Camus, Andrew Sclanders, Anthony Burgess, BeatBooks, Charlotte Moorman & Nam June Paik, Gotham Book Mart, Harry Partch, Jim Carroll, John Cage, Jospeh Byrd, Karen Finley, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Larry Clark, Patti Smith, Richard hell, Richard Prince, Robert Mapplethorpe, Tod Dockstader, Vali Myers, Witt

From The Vaults: Patti Smith, Andy Warhol’s Interview, October 1973

Mar 25th, 2011

As a companion to today’s post on the Horses cover, here’s another Patti Smith item from the archive: a feature by Penny Green from the October 1973 issue of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine.

Coinciding with the publication of Smith’s poetry book Witt, the photographs for the Interview piece were taken by Barbara Walz (who later produced The Fashion Makers with Bernadine Morris).

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Tags: 1973, Andy Warhol's Interview, Arthur Rimbaud, Balenciaga, Billie Holliday, Brian Jones, Chris Connor, Edie Sedgwick, Fernando Sanchez, Harper's Bazaar, June Christy, Patti Smith, Peggy Lee, Penny Green, Saks-Revillon, Vali Myers, Vogue, Witt