New York Dolls

Cooper invented Glam *and* Goth (which is pretty good going), but his version of genderfuck was way timid (loud panto, basically), compared to the Dolls (who knew how to sew and cut cloth). "School's Out" is a way better *popsong* than the NYDs ever wrote: and both the Dolls LPs are so MUFFLED (but I know I turned Muddy Production-Presentation into a positive complication in re Pistols/Bollocks arrival and listener-inhabitation...).

The critics crack is just evasive: Tarden finding a way to avoid having to take responsibility for his own opinions.

Johnny Thunders was the one who went on to make great music after the New York Dolls, in my opinion.

The image question; perhaps that's misguided - that wasn't what PREVENTED them from becoming popular, if anything, that was their selling point. You could argue that the NYD image was really scary because it didn't seem calculated enough - unlike Alice Cooper's - but then early Prince, same, still he went on to be acceptable.

except i wish they were recorded a bit better. where was mutt lange back then?

and please god someone tell me why their first record always calls to mind "the pirates of penzance"!

johansen's entire performance on the first album is totally classic, especially his shangri-las rip on "looking for a kiss," but am i the only person who doesn't see what the big deal is about johnny thunders?

johnny thunders is like one of keith richard's musical tics made flesh.

mark s is wrong: Black Sabbath invented goth! Or maybe it was Black Widow. I've never heard them though, so I'll say it was the Sabs.

i really don't like his voice. johansen adds so much to the dolls i don't know why they bothered. it;s like that ccr album where the other people sing. what's the point?

PS Alice Cooper mostly deserves credit/blame for turning rock concerts into a spectacle sport, although "Killer," "School's Out" and "Billion Dollar Babies" was as great a triple-crown run as the Replacements' "Let It Be," "Tim" and "Pleased To Meet Me."

btw, Alice Cooper and the Dolls are two of my favorite bands, I'm surprised I didn't notice this thread the first time around. And yeah Cooper had the better singles, but I could never ever choose between the two.

(which guy in the clash?)

(haha Pat Benatar = OK by me)

Thrilled that DavJoh finally made some money, although it figures it would come from extending "Stranded in the Jungle" into a full act.

>i don't think joe strummer played much gtr on their records tho

What?!? All that Telecaster dub-scratching/powerchord mania is him! Jones handled the Mott the Hoople lead lines and harmonic counterpoints. Both totally classic, as was Steve Jones, who merged Ramones chainsaw with Chuck Berry boogie (well, so did Eddie and the Hot Rods) to make the Pistols (dare I say it?) swing!

anyway, they had their moments, sure. "Frankenstein" kicks ass. But I absolutely can't stand Johnny Thunders (even though So Alone was one of my desert island discs in college - I've done a complete 180 on that fucker for some reason)

"...these jerks who will ultimately pull no more weight that to make the world safe for Motley Crue, whose sole function of note during their collective professional tenure will be as Malcolm McLaren's first test barrel of monkeys..."

Maybe Johansen's lyrics turn you off? If so, you ought to hear the wacky Actress demos from '71 or whenever (been bootlegged and was pressed on LP by the Italian label Get Back in 2000 or so). With Johnny Thunders on lead vocals, they were a very different thing. It's almost Electric Eels-like.

for the record, I don't like the Pistols either (and prefer the Dolls anyway)

As if that's a bad thing! I remember now why Meltzer has been a bore for so long.

to be honest though, Too Fast for Love still totally rocks, I'll give you that. It's almost punk in places.

Man I'd kill to hear The Jet Boys

'Chinese Rock' was a song by Dee Dee Ramone.

Listen to Sonic Youth's cover of 'Personality Crisis'.

Was I having nightmares or did I really read somewhere that the late Mr Genzele's replacement for this - ahem - Frankenstein creation with a Personality Crisis, is actually going to be Chrissie "Bad Girl" Hynde?

Of course, I will go and see 'em if I get the chance....

Incidentally, my understanding is that Dee Dee wrote the lyrics to Chinese Rock but the Ramones refused to record it so Richard Hell finished it off when he was working with Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders in the first incarnation of The Heartbreakers. There are demos of this version about.

It's even moreso "Sister Morphine" by the Rolling Stones.

my understanding is that Dee Dee wrote the lyrics to Chinese Rock but the Ramones refused to record it so Richard Hell finished it off when he was working with Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders in the first incarnation of The Heartbreakers. There are demos of this version about.

It appears on the Time 2CD retrospective of Hell's work that Matador put out a couple years back, so its not hard to find. It's probably my favourite version of the song. In Hell's essay in the CD booklet, he points out what he wrote (the last two verses, if yr interested) and touches on the writing controversy (after he left the Heartbreakers, they took a writing credit on it).

I know what you mean but bet a lot of those groups never even heard of the New York Dolls. Maybe they indirectly took their Dollish elements from KISS and Aerosmith.

WHOA THERE MR. DIAMOND CIRCA TWO THOUSAND THREE. JERRY NOLAN WAS A KILLER DRUMMER.

Yeah, i remember Duff was the one really talking up what he was originally calling 'the punk album'. Other than that, I don't know whose songs were whose.

i too impatient to read this thread but i am listening to the dolls and "private world" is fucking great. and it's nice to see the name vic funk on a thread.

http://mediaconfidential.blogspot.com/2013/02/rip-record-producer-shadow-morton-dead.html

RIP. Dude also had a pretty cool solo 45 as Shadow Mann:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11xvtrmRuM8

I'll never forget him (the leader of the pack): RIP Shadow Morton

Marty Thau passed away over the weekend -- managed the Dolls, worked with Suicide, Blondie, Richard Hell, etc. One of those behind the scenes movers and shakers! RIP.

rip

http://s.pixogs.com/image/L-39551-1335926388.jpeg
pretty stellar track record right here: http://www.discogs.com/label/39551-Red-Star-Records

I didn't know about this 'til recently. Got some of it, but must hear whole thing--and read it; Ace did a bunch of interviews for the booklet.
https://acerecords.co.uk/images/ACE-ShadowMortonStor.jpg

(I'll have to get used to the Vanilla Fudge all over again...)

Merry Late Ex'ass from Shadow and duh guise:
http://31.media.tumblr.com/d7221084fc80de62935e1eb9288babc8/tumblr_mibwpb1c7O1s3ihwto1_500.jpg

Oops: ExM'ass, that is. Pardon!

I'm always surprised by how poorly the Dolls fare whenever they turn up here on one of those yearly Acclaimed Music polls or something similar. Usually, they get no votes. They were a very big deal for a few years after the first British punk bands came along, but that's long gone (as opposed to say, Television or Wire, who generally do well). Too bad. (About the Dolls, I mean--no quarrel with the other two.)

I exaggerate. In a 2007 poll, they tied for first with four votes; in 2011, there was a poll with a bigger turnout, and they finished tied for seventh with five votes (the winner drew 16); and in 2013, they finished tied for sixth with four votes (winner had 14). So they do okay.

Plus the most recent one, late 2013, where "Personality Crisis" finished way down the list with two votes (eight for the winner). That must have been the one on my mind.

Thau is getting lotsa love from folks commenting on Billy M & Miriam L of Norton Records facebook pages. But yea, Norton Records is not exactly young kid ilx friendly

20 years ago i read mr thau's unpublished memoir-in-progress, allegedly considering an excerpt for the slick gen-x style magazine i worked for then. not esp well-written but chock full of great ny rock war stories. of course my bosses had no intention of using, it was a make-work project but i felt lucky to have read. RIP, sir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lKWZ3Ohod0

http://www.wnyc.org/story/making-music-critic/

See the first comment.

geez, i wonder what she would have said if her son's first effort with the band hadn't gotten an A+?

Ha, yes, exactly. I am assuming she is completely unaware of that. The ironing.

his bro is a kickass bass player who looks just like him. saw him back southside johnny maybe?

Might well have been. This project looks interesting: http://www.earlyeltontrio.com/bio_john_conte.html

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec09/articles/classictracks_1209.htm

Jack Douglas:

"It doesn't sound good at all, but there's something about it that just works. I mean, I knew it wasn't sounding good when I was doing it, and you couldn't ask them, 'Let's get a sound on this.' You just couldn't. They had no patience for getting a sound on anything. 'Is there sound going through the microphone into the board?' 'Yes.' 'Well, that's good.'

Box Set Coming: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/new-york-dolls-personality-crisis-live-recordings-studio-demos-1972-1975-5cd-remastered-box-set/

Great but got it already.

First two discs are the Private World set on Castle (notwithstanding the obvious typos).

Third & forth discs are a straight copy of the From Here to Eternity set on Norton.

Syl has cancer.

https://www.gofundme.com/sylvain-sylvain-of-ny-dolls-medical-support-fund?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fb_dn_postdonate_r&fbclid=IwAR3Bz7Z_kfZogjtStqFsWUjcokX5BN0mR_c1C8X1k59OjVBvCOeQdJAJ1NY

Oh right, had seen some mention of a medical support fund on Facebook.
His memoir was really good, read it a couple of months ago and would recommend it.
Need to get the Jerry Nolan memoir too.

the nolan book was readable and well researched, but has the same sad downward trajectory as other books about addicts. agree about syl's book. it's a much more personal and idiosyncratic journey.

is it a challop to say their recorded output is pretty crap, barring a couple songs?

A band I've always wanted to like more than I actually do. "Trash" and "Jet Boy" are great singles though. This Old Grey Whistle Test performance is pretty spectacular too

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbd-BcuPvLA

yeah I've seen that, it is entertaining. They just kinda didn't have the songs or the performances when it came to making records. Personally p much all I need from the first album are the first two tracks.

Took me ages to get into all the album tracks, especially from the first one.

it's not so much as a challop as it is something you would respond to one of those terrible twitter threads that's like YOUR UNPOPULAR MUSIC OPINIONS: GO

The first album is great, though admittedly I never listen to it these days. I'd rank "Trash" in my top five "rockers," no question.

i like most of the first album. i don't get how anyone could dismiss "trash." "frankenstein" is a personal favorite but maybe not everyone is into a 6-minute new york dolls song.

i don't know if i've ever listened to too much too soon. i should check it out.

too much too soon is good! underrated

huh I like both albums a lot but the first one really lives up to it's billing to me

I love 'em but...if you pruned one minute from every song I would not be mad

The real challops would be: the only good Dolls song is "Hot Hot Hot"

Lol.

The real challops would be: the only good Dolls song is "Hot Hot Hot"
― chr1sb3singer, Thursday, November 7, 2019 2:21 PM

inject this directly to my veins, please.

That's what killed Johnny Thunders.

but to respond to the revive. . . yeah, i mean i always respected 70s nyd, but recently traded away the records (again) because it's stuff that i felt like i "should" have in my collection, not because i actually wanted it there.

The late Adam Roth used to have a funny bit about Johnny Thunders.

golfclap to Austin + Grisso/McCain for that A+ setup/punchline

First album is awesome all the way, dammit!!!

never made it past “stranded in the jungle” on the second one. I’m sure the rest of it rules.

it's worth getting past that - the David Johanson Novelty Songs are a big stumbling block on that one but Human Being and Chatterbox are all-time

(my reissue copy of TMTS had a locking skip in Stranded in the Jungle on the line "My soul was dead" so I literally started skipping that track and it made the album better)

Personally p much all I need from the first album are the first two tracks.

― Οὖτις, Thursday, November 7, 2019 2:00 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

really??? "jet boy", "subway train", "trash", and boy do i love "lonely planet boy"

I don't love the second one, but the first has wonderful tracks all over, and "Lonely Planet Boy" is a personal anthem.

my love for this band knows no bounds. i saw them when i was 17, which might have something to do with it. in their red patent leather phase, shortly before they split. i love johansen's goofy covers, love the way johnny thunders guitar acts like a greek chorus to the lyrics. love how the lyrics don't exactly parse but sound so cool. oh, check this out -- i got this from the man himself: "well we can't take her this week, and her friends don't want another speech, hoping for her that someday they'll hear what she's gotta say." true quote from steve conte to johansen: "THAT's what you're saying?!?"

^great post!

The first David Johansen album is a cleaner Dolls record, down to the co-writes. I recommend it to skeptics.

That's great--you're the second person I know who saw them first time around. (I mean, the other person I really do know.) He saw them in '73 or '74, I think at Toronto's Victory Burlesque Theatre...with Rush opening! Close as I got was seeing Johnny Thunders in '86 or '87.

First album, 10/10; second, 8 or 9/10.

for some reason i really enjoy most of the songs on the debut if i hear them in isolation, but it's not an album i ever feel like hearing all the way through. "lookin' for a kiss" sounds delightful on almost any playlist, but somehow i get tired of their sound in a way i don't with, say, the velvets or the stooges or even the ramones. i think my main issue is how sludgy the album's always sounded to me -- what i mainly enjoy is david johansen's singing.

Does this thread have a mention of Quintano’s School for Young Professionals yet?

for some reason i really enjoy most of the songs on the debut if i hear them in isolation, but it's not an album i ever feel like hearing all the way through

Yes! I always wanna hear "Trash," "Frankenstein," "Lookin' for a Kiss," etc, but I don't wanna stream or play the album.

New York Dolls are great
Aesthetically their songs are “crap” I guess - they arent a finesse band by any means. But I dunno if that’s really what you seek out the Dolls for. Fun! Danger! Excitement! All their songs from the first 2 albums sound like something is on the verge of breaking, shorting out, exploding etc - like you have 45 minutes to make this record or the studio will self destruct

To me they are the better, fuckup version Kiss. Shitty songs, a lot of terrible recording & not-great cohesion, and a Look. But NYD make you kinda love them for all that whereas Kiss repels it more and more over time. NYD have an endearing likeability that draws you in despite their terribleness & idk, give off this wacky (junkie) musketeers vibe that Kiss doesnt have. NYD feel like they are all still kids performing in front of their bedroom mirrors, living out a rocknroll fantasy, but playing it out in real life as adults with very few real-world concessions

Can you tell that I love them? I LOVE THEM

Trash is all time and if they only existed to do that it was worth it

Veg with THE REAL TALK.

I DJ occasionally at a '70s Rock night, so I've been picking up at lot of favorites that I didn't previously have on vinyl. Back around the first of the year I scored a nice copy of the Dolls twofer Mercury put out back in the day to cash in on Punk. I hadn't listened to them in a while, but as soon as the needle dropped, I remembered just how much I'd loved them. That was a good night.

They had this goofy junkie joie de vivre, even in wonderful nightmares like "Frankenstein". The Dolls and Shadow Morton were a match made in Heaven on TMTS; between it and that one Mott single, it's a shame he didn't work with more Glam artists. I love their covers too, they were great at picking stuff that fit right in with their originals (and in pretty much every case, I discovered the originals through the Dolls' versions).

VG and C.G/M otm

I love pretty much all of the 1st 2 albums.

2nd album gets maligned a bit but I think only because the first album is so good - an album with Who Are The Mystery Girls, Puss N Boots and Babylon on it can't be that bad surely

then there's their cover of Great Big Kiss. there's a few versions of that around, but there's one which sounds like a proper studio version, not just a sloppy demo, but it took me ages to track down where that came from - there are lots of NYD outtake/demo compilations out there, none of which have that version on - but I eventually found it on the Night Of The Living Dolls compilation LP

Slightly prefer the second album.

Like when people refer to it as In Too Much Too Soon.

Only know the version of “Great Big Kiss” from “So Alone.”

Argh. I shouldn’t bother with the quotes and italics, So Alone.

That's great--you're the second person I know who saw them first time around.

to be honest, arthur was m.i.a. that night, with their roadie peter jordan filling in on bass. though that wasn't an uncommon occurrence, from what i understand. this site lists three shows in february 1975 at long island's my father's place club. it was one of them, most likely. we were chaperoned by my buddy's older brother. i even remember the conversation i had with him afterward. me: "well they never claimed they could play their instruments." him: "i'm glad they don't claim that!"
http://www.fromthearchives.com/nyd/chronology.html

i also saw the "dollettes" a couple of times, which was johansen and syl carrying on with some of david's staten island cronies, working out the material that later became his first solo album. those were great fun because they'd through just about anything at the wall.

*throw*

Supposedly Peter Jordan played on the albums as well, at least some of the time.

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/new-york-doll-turned-doorman

Not really sure about the recordings though. Maybe it was mostly or all Arthur.

peter jordan's band stumblebunny wasn't half bad either.

https://stumblebunny.bandcamp.com/album/while-you-were-out

"Lonely Planet Boy" and "You Can't Throw Your Arms Around a Memory" are pretty much the same song, aren't they?

i think to johnny thunders a "ballad" meant playing d and d-suspended chords slowly. that's just what it was. the reformed dolls used to segue from one to the other. i always thought it nice that they did a post-dolls thunders tune.

So it would seem.

I gotta ask you one question.

To me they are the better, fuckup version Kiss. Shitty songs, a lot of terrible recording & not-great cohesion, and a Look. But NYD make you kinda love them for all that whereas Kiss repels it more and more over time. NYD have an endearing likeability that draws you in despite their terribleness & idk, give off this wacky (junkie) musketeers vibe that Kiss doesnt have. NYD feel like they are all still kids performing in front of their bedroom mirrors, living out a rocknroll fantasy, but playing it out in real life as adults with very few real-world concessions

This is so dead on, also (& I'm gonna get roasted for this) but I feel this same way abt Aerosmith "hey what if the New York Dolls were more competent and totally charmless?"

I saw a Sylvain Sylvain gig in 98 that reminds the most glorious, joyful, life-affirming show I've ever seen and in a funny bit of pre-internet info dissemination, one of the "opening acts" was a 30 minute VHS highlight reel of all those Dolls clips that are on Youtube now, and I hadn't seen any of it and was it big a deal!

i saw the Musikladen video years ago, but i never saw this smokin' performance from long beach, '74 before

https://youtu.be/-uZQ7lgJijk

Love everything on the first two albums. And I remember listening to the "reunion" 3rd album once and being shocked that it wasn't awful or disappointing.

And VG OTMFM.

just realised I've never actually heard the 1st reunion album. I thought the 2nd one was pretty awful. The 3rd one's OK though.

well if i've got to dream, dontcha know that im a human bein'

speaking of which, anyone know how syl is doing? there was a gofundme for his cancer treatments.

I didn't even realize they'd made three albums after they reunited. I've only heard the first of those (One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This).

The Dolls and Little Feat are the only bands I can think of offhand that have more reunion albums than original ones.

I guess the Allmans and Skynyrd too.

WHEN I SAY I’M IN LOVE YOU BEST BELIEVE I’M IN LOVE L-U-V

https://i.makeagif.com/media/1-29-2017/w4KX8Z.gif

Recommend the Arthur Kane documentary from a few years ago--the scene where David Johansen saunters godlike into a practice session (forget the context--I think it was a reunion between the two of them) is hilarious.

Yeah, that doc is 14 years old now(!) but it's great

Someone mentions charm upthread, and that's what sets the Dolls apart from Kiss, Aerosmith etc. Read the interviews from the 70s in NME etc and you can see how witty / provocative / "hip" they are.

WHEN I SAY I’M IN LOVE YOU BEST BELIEVE I’M IN LOVE L-U-V

a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain) at 2:03 8 Nov 19

The Dolls and Little Feat are the only bands I can think of offhand that have more reunion albums than original ones.

Mission of Burma

Gang of Four and The Buzzcocks too.

Dinosaur Jr original lineup as well.

Sometimes I impulsively buy cheap CDs for the car, even though I already have the vinyl. Bought a really good 26-song Lovin' Spoonful compilation a few days ago, along with the New York Dolls' Millennium Collection--2/$10.

The Dolls thing isn't bad. It does all right with the five songs from the first album, although I'd rather have "Subway Train" and "Lonely Planet Boy" than "Pills" and "Jet Boy" (not to say they aren't great). Not as well with the second--they omit both "Who Are the Mystery Girls?" and "Human Being," easily my two favourite, and include all three covers. There's also "Lone Star Queen," not on either album--think I have it on a bootleg.

Let me now stupidly wade into something I usually stay clear of: could they put their version of "Stranded in the Jungle" on an album today? Conceding that the originals were the work of African-Americans (always thought the song belonged to the Cadets--didn't know about the earlier Jayhawks version until now), and also that Johansen is given to campy theatricality all over both albums, his vocal on "Stranded" is kind of blackface, isn't it? I'm not suggesting at all that you'd ever try to erase it from history, and I know that he and they are paying tribute to a song they love. Made for uncomfortable listening yesterday, though.

(Checking back on this thread, I think the same thing is implied on a couple of posts.)

Haven't heard the Dolls' version in a while, or prev records ever, but the latter come from that era of wry, droll, cool (just a little bit distanced) vividly voiced, broad and clear, delivery of novelty r&b etc (the Coasters and all)---Johansen's performance is in that tradition, not so many years after its heyday.

Or at least, when I was listening pretty often, always heard it that way.

It sounds kind of blackface to me tbh.

So much American music comes through the brush, one way or another. It's not written to be taken seriously though; an attempt at doing it tastefully might be more offensive--if you're gonna do it at all... I thought it worked, as a tight, cartoony song and track, ironic if you want to take it that way, though racists could like it for the wrong reasons, as is too often the case.

I’ve never really cared for the song, in any of its versions; or understood why the Dolls — who wanted to avoid being seen as a “novelty act” — recorded and released it as the first single from their make-or-break 2nd album. But it must mean a lot to David Johansson, didn’t use the title for his autobiography?

Weird fact I just learned, the bass singer on The Cadets' version of the song was Will J. "Dub" Jones who later sang bass on "Yakety Yak" and "Charlie Brown" for The Coasters.

(xp sorry, I had that last detail wrong; Wikipedia sez DJ did include a live version on a 1982 solo album, though.)

You were close, that title was used for a biography of Jerry Nolan, I believe.

i will not have my enjoyment of this song sullied by performative anti-racism. this culture is suffering death by woke!

johnny thunders' swastika armband was dumb, i'll grant you that.

this culture is suffering death by woke!

I'm with you 100%. I don't really care for the song period--if I did, I likely wouldn't have posted. Which wouldn't be tacit approval, more like "ancient history, no need to bring it up."

I mainly remember liking the transitions from the "solemn" verse narrative to the frenetic chorus---and back again! Also recall that Johansen explained that he started out wanting to sing high---Byrds, Left Banke, Bealtes ballads---but as his voice changed, got settled into that rough baritone---but then he heard the Four Tops: " "Bernadette!" Hey, I can do that---"Bernadette!" So he worked with what he had, and always sounded (though I don't know if he mentioned this) like he was also influenced by Eric Burdon---couldn't really wail like EB on the chorus of "House of the Rising Sun," but that gruff blurt that Burdon was more known for---and he was sometimes taken as a dumbo bar band appropriator, although there were far worse---somebody in Rolling Stone said that the next Canned Heat album should be titled Yassuh Boss, because Bob The Bear Hite (not Al Wilson, who sounded like Skip James, eerie and deft); And Burdon kept finding his way to okay or better songs---incl. on Eric Is Here, arranged by Benny Golson and Horace Ott, jazz pros showing "horn rock" and brainy rock producers how to do it, without overdoing---and here Burdon adapted his sound to early covers of Randy Newman songs, other good stuff: still sounded like himself, but also, like, sensitive (enough).
So maybe Johansen eventually followed this example in his best solo work ("Frenchette," for inst), or even some of the more relaxed-larynx Dolls songs, like "Lonely Planet Boy." But when you've got that kind voice, and a big collection of old rock, r&b etc, it's tricky. Also if you come from that era, but not to let Justin Timberlake and other "tasteful" unoriginals off the hook.

kind *of* voice!

coasters is a great comparison. it reminds me a little of "shoppin' for clothes," which johansen has also covered -- a hapless but intrepid narrator who'll never have that jacket/girl but loves it/her more than anything, willing to jump out of the boiling pot, thumb down a whale, etc. it's a perfect song for the dolls to inhabit, with syl's sound effects, thunders' domination of that jungle riff, nolan's negotiation of the time shifts. for what it's worth it was written by an african american man and woman.

Best Dolls cover is There's Gonna Be a Showdown! That thing is incredible.

you'd best be at that dance down on 14th street, ya hear?

A friend tweeted this

Hearing that Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls has passed. Nothing official yet but he’s been fighting cancer the last year.

Hoping it's not true.

It is. RIP.

:( RIP

I never had a sense of him like Thunders or David J. (or even Arthur Kane, after the documentary), but obviously he was crucial. A friend just told me we saw him once at the El Mocambo in Toronto, but honestly, I don't remember.

gutted

Even if it was *just* for keeping the Dolls in clothes & heels he is hall of fame ... everything I read he was v much their engine

what a loss :(

Love the Dolls - so much of my favorite music can be traced back to them.

RIP :(

From his FB page:

Sylvain Sylvain Mizrahi
Rest In Peace
February 14, 1951 ~ January 13, 2021

As most of you know, Sylvain battled cancer for the past two and 1/2 years. Though he fought it valiantly, yesterday he passed away from this disease. While we grieve his loss, we know that he is finally at peace and out of pain. Please crank up his music, light a candle, say a prayer and let’s send this beautiful doll on his way.

Please read this letter written for Syl by Lenny Kaye

SYL: An Appreciation

Lenny Kaye

Sylvain Sylvain, the heart and soul of the New York Dolls, bearer of the Teenage News, passed into his next astral incarnation on Wednesday, January 13, 2021.

Syl loved rock and roll. His onstage joy, his radiant smile as he chopped at his guitar, revealed the sense of wonder he must have felt at the age of 10, emigrating from his native Cairo with his family in 1961, the ship pulling into New York Harbor and seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time.

It was he who looked across Lexington Ave. and saw the sign for the New York Doll hospital. Syl and a high school friend, Billy Murcia, were in the rag trade then, the aptly named Truth and Soul, handknit sweaters with a side of rockattitude. Hooking up with another classmate, John Genzale, and then, as bands will, Arthur Kane, and David Johansen, and Jerry Nolan, they became a quasar in the rock firmament; embodying trash, glam, garage-to-punk, the ambisexual affirmation of music played louder.

His role in the band was as lynchpin, keeping the revolving satellites of his bandmates in precision. Though he tried valiantly to keep the band going, in the end the Dolls’ moral fable overwhelmed them, not before seeding an influence that would engender many rock generations yet to come.

The New York Dolls heralded the future, made it easy to dance to. From the time I first saw their poster appear on the wall of Village Oldies in 1972, advertising a residency at the Mercer Hotel up the street, throughout their meteoric ascent and shooting star flame-out, the New York Dolls were the heated core of this music we hail, the band that makes you want to form a band.

Syl never stopped.

In his solo lifeline, he was welcomed all over the world, from England to Japan, but most of all the rock dens of New York City, which is where I caught up with him a couple of years ago at the Bowery Electric. Still Syl. His corkscrew curls, tireless bounce, exulting in living his dream, asking the crowd to sing along, and so we will. His twin names, mirrored, becomes us.

Thank you Sylvain x 2, for your heart, belief, and the way you whacked that E chord. Sleep Baby Doll.

Great story:

RIP New York Dolls legend Sylvain Sylvain.

He guest DJed at my club Stay Beautiful in 2004. He told me, 30 secs from the end of a track, he'd run out of songs. From then on, I frantically chucked on NYC punk/glam tunes while he announced them like Murray The K.

Unforgettable. pic.twitter.com/j237IBEkBT

— Simon Price (@simon_price01) January 15, 2021

<3

I'm so old I bought "Too Much Too Soon" as a cutout LP in a drug store when I was buying everything that looked loud. I remember as a dumb preteen thinking it was like a punk Aerosmith and I was kinda right; that was because of Sylvain Sylvain. Thanks to him for the riffs and attitude.

I remember when Too Much Too Soon was impossible to find on CD, not unless you were willing to pay an a$$-load of money for a used copy. (The debut was easy, they even sold it through BMG Music Club.) When I finally got it, I blasted it pretty much non-stop.

Later on Clinton Heylin revealed that he helped Hip-O put together a "complete sessions" box set like the Stooges did with Funhouse through Rhino Handmade, but the project was ultimately cancelled.

Sylvain's memoir is pretty great. Surprised not to see it mentioned already in.the existing thread.

the first club show i ever attended (with fake proof) was the dolls in february 1975 -- one of their last shows before johnny & jerry left. red patent leather days. they blessed me with "teenage news," which i'd never heard. i've never been quite the same. syl was the heart of the band. he lent them their pathos. you got the sense that he was the only member who internalized their greatness and tragedy in real time. a mensch. miss you, syl.

Sylvain only cowrote three songs on their first albums, but I would call "Frankenstein" their best (if atypically grandiose).

They must also be the most famous international band to play in my neighbourhood of Weston - a week in 1976 at a pub called the Queensbury Arms that was demolished decades ago.

I saw a Sylvain Sylvain gig in 98 that reminds the most glorious, joyful, life-affirming show I've ever seen and in a funny bit of pre-internet info dissemination, one of the "opening acts" was a 30 minute VHS highlight reel of all those Dolls clips that are on Youtube now, and I hadn't seen any of it and was it big a deal!

― chr1sb3singer, Friday, 8 November 2019 15:20 (one year ago) link

I think about this show still all the time, it was so fun, he was a burst of color and funny and happy and we all were drunk singing "TRASH! Pick it UP!" at the top of our lungs and he probably hand a bedazzled beret on and it was just incredible

RIP

a week in 1976 at a pub called the Queensbury Arms

God, I haven't heard that name uttered in decades. Never got there myself. In the part of this thread that's hidden, I mentioned a friend who saw the Dolls in the early '70s with Rush opening.

I remember when Too Much Too Soon was impossible to find on CD, not unless you were willing to pay an a$$-load of money for a used copy. (The debut was easy, they even sold it through BMG Music Club.)

Have long wondered what was up with that. One of my luckiest finds was a sealed TMTS at CD Warehouse in 2001. The first CD copy I'd seen, and possibly the only one I'd see for years. I had just thought it was kinda hard to find until Hip-O Select put out theirs, noting on their site it had been OOP for several years.

The Dolls on Don Kirshner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uZQ7lgJijk

Hadn't seen this before, a live & loud "Personality Crisis" on The Midnight Special.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP5ngHRuoTI

There's like five people up front who are into it, and everyone else is waiting for Argent. Also note the roadie playing bass over in the shadows because Kane's hand was messed up at the time.

lookin' fine on television.

I think both were out of print for about a decade starting in the late '70s (at least in Canada). I bought the first as a British import in 1980 or so; my copy of the second album is Japanese from around the same time. In Stranded, Christgau was writing about a 1977 British reissue of both albums as a double. (I have terrible luck trying to post photos and photo links the last while, so just the URL.)

https://images.eil.com/large_image/NEW_YORK_DOLLS_NEW%2BYORK%2BDOLLS-264269.jpg

Those kids upfront screaming along on the Midnight Special are the real heroes

Shouts to Johnny T for even with 2-3" of teased hair and 3-4" of stacked heels is still being very obviously short

he was 3 inches taller than Syd
Johnny was 5’7 and Syd was 5’4

idk why i felt the need to explain that

In Stranded, Christgau was writing about a 1977 British reissue of both albums as a double

That's the Dolls vinyl I have. Interesting liner notes making no bones about how drugs & alcohol tore the band apart.

Both albums appeared on CD in the late '80s, but for reasons unknown the TMTS disc went out of print in the states sometime in the '90s I guess, and has had a weird reissue history since (Hip-O Select's limited/not limited online edition in the mid-'00s, and a remastered limited edition mini-LP from Culture Factory in the '10s).

Meanwhile the s/t stayed available as a budget title. I got one for a friend at Fry's for $5 about 5-6 years ago.

Hadn't seen this before, a live & loud "Personality Crisis" on The Midnight Special.

📹

There's like five people up front who are into it, and everyone else is waiting for Argent. Also note the roadie playing bass over in the shadows because Kane's hand was messed up at the time.

yeah that's peter jordan on bass. he was also subbing for arthur the night i saw them. his band stumblebunny put out a pretty good record back in the day.

Didn't he sub for Arthur more often than not?

this page does a fairly thorough accounting of their gigs and personnel changes:

http://www.fromthearchives.com/nyd/chronology.html

I was curious as to whether CNN had a story up--they do.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/entertainment/sylvain-sylvain-death-scli-intl/index.html

Would they have 10 years ago? Doubt it.

rolling stone interviews johansen on loss of sylvain:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/david-johansen-sylvain-sylvain-1115612/

I'm not big on latter-day performances, but a friends' brother (who saw them in 1974: "The few spectators there really didn't get the Dolls that night") posted a clip on FB of something he shot at a Burlington show in 2010. It's clear, Sylvain introduces the song, and Johansen throws flowers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CQtDl-fiYw

i enjoyed steve conte having to unlearn how to play guitar as he progressed in his thunders role. he sort of got it by the end. not quite though. he would still insert random thunderisms here and there, but there was nothing random about JT's playing. his parts might have sounded anarchic but they were through-composed. even if you watch those dolls videos up there he is more-or-less playing what he played on the records. his style was sui generis -- like a greek chorus. very conscious of the lyrics.

holy shit, how to age with dignity, i guess? from an old witness.

Revisiting some of their stuff this morning. I love this band, but I want to say they're better served by their obscure indie releases than the two major label albums that people are more likely to know. The live Paris album from 1974 is just f-ing fantastic. I'm not sure which release is the best, but if you stream it on Spotify, French Kiss '74 + Actress - Birth Of The New York Dolls sounds a LOT better than the Paris Burning release on the same service.

Glad to see A Hard Night's Day up on streaming services too, I love that CD. Stuff's been reissued in many configurations, but that one probably sounds best. No surprise given who put it out and how it was done by one of the guys at Battery Mastering (all Sony engineers who have done a ton of stuff for them).

Never listened to either of those, thanks for the tip!

This is sending me further down time travel rabbit hole I was already exploring.

yeah thx for the recommendation- excited to dig in!

Don't pick it up!

You're welcome! There's more stuff for diehard fans, but in terms of sound quality and the quality of the music, the 1973 studio demos produced by Paul Nelson (A Hard Night's Day) and the 1974 Radio Luxembourg show in Paris (French Kiss '74) are the best records out there by a wide margin.

The NYFF just announced the premiere of "Personality Crisis: One Night Only, Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s documentary featuring a man who, like Scorsese, is a New York institution, entertainer David Johansen, singer-songwriter of the 1970s glam punk groundbreakers the New York Dolls, and his reinvention as hepcat lounge lizard Buster Poindexter."

!

NY Daily News says film features features a 2020 Cafe Carlyle performance by Johansen,

Just came back from the film's second screening. (Premiere was Wednesday night at Alice Tully Hall, today was at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater with a Q&A afterwards.) Contrary to the clips seen in the film, Johansen apparently isn't all that talkative, at least these days or at least when it comes to talking about his past. His daughter wound up interviewing him for the film (possibly due to the pandemic - they all took place at his home in various locations and from what I can tell, only his wife and daughter were around) and she said she was a little concerned that he'd offer up only monosyllabic responses. But he complimented the film, saying "it was a version of myself I can live with" and "in the wrong hands this could've been VERY sordid!" He also answered a few questions, remembering that his first encounter with Scorsese's work was going to an arthouse theater with Sylvain Sylvain in I think the LES (joking it was "clean") and watching Mean Streets. He said he may have smoked a joint beforehand, but when the film started, he honestly thought it was a documentary.

I love the Dolls but I don't know very much about Johansen. The film does capture what's presumably a full set. (They filmed two shows and wound up using all the footage since both shows used very different angles - Johansen complimented the DP Ellen Kuras saying she can get up really close with the camera and be easily ignored, which he considered a real talent.) Weaved throughout is the archival footage and interviews on his work and life, and it actually does make sense of his career. For example, he was in a band in high school, but it's his discovery and time with Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company that gets far more attention and draws out the most vivid memories. To him, it was going to "heaven" after the hell of working in a dank basement where he discovered the costumes that would lead him to the Ridiculous Theater. In fact, it makes the Dolls cross-dressing more understandable. In his interviews he claims women's clothing was the only affordable clothing they could find that made them look like rock stars, so they went with it, but I don't think it's a stretch to say the idea of wearing those clothes felt more comfortable and organic after his time with Ludlam. (They even dug up one photo of a theatrical production where it looks like Johansen and at least one or two other men are on-stage wearing dresses.)

The film even makes his time with Buster Poindexter seem logical. The Carlyle show is supposed to be "Buster Poindexter doing the songs of David Johansen," which sort of explains why the setlist is heavy on torch songs (and why the rockers have a light lounge jazz arrangement, save the final number which revives the sound of the Dolls on "Personality Crisis"). But footage of the Buster Poindexter most probably know, looking slick and clean cut in an immaculate suit, doesn't show up until late, and it was supposedly a cabaret act he created because he was tired of touring and wanted a gig that he could do for his friends near home. During his solo tours before that, he was playing ice hockey rinks opening for metal bands (which he didn't like at all, mentioning they would call their magazines "books"). You get the feeling that it's not the rock but the theatrical elements of being in the New York Dolls that truly took hold of him. That's why something like Buster Poindexter is more palatable than the metal tours. (His Milos Forman story backs this up. He really wanted to star in Hair and Forman really wanted to cast him, but someone - Galt MacDermot? I forgot which, it's not a musical I actually like - refused, claiming he couldn't sing.)

Morrissey appears and he actually gives the best interview on the Dolls - this was archival, taken from the time he got them to reunite. This was also around the time I was introduced to Morrissey's solo work, and it was bittersweet remembering what that was like. A smart, witty guy who IIRC even made some cutting remarks about George W. Bush when he stopped by Chicago and gave an amusing reaction when some in the audience pushed back at his criticisms of Bush's policies. Feels like a lifetime ago.

I thought Sylvain Sylvain designed and made clothing which had him in London pre-Dolls and meeting Malcolm McLaren at that point. Which lead to a reacquaintance later and from that the management role.
So wondering how much of his clothing the band wore. Syl's that is. May need to reread the memoir which is really good btw.

No idea, I’m going by an interview with Johansen in the film, so there could very well be different answers and different perspectives on the matter from everyone else.

yeah thats what i knew the story as too, what steveolende says. sylv’s family were like tailors or clothiers in garment district & he could sew and also knew where to source cheap clothes & understood women’s sizes etc, ie was pretty well versed in fashion

not that the other stuff abt johansen cant be true, but it completes the story a little more fully with johansen’s experience

i have probably seen johansen more than any other performer, and am looking forward to the film, but i almost wish they'd filmed a buster poindexter show over this one. in modern times he's been using a guitarist named brian koonin as his musical director. koonin is a talented guy, but his background is musical theater (apparently he was a replacement guitarist in hair?). he is perfect for buster, but rock'n'roll is not in his blood, so my heart sinks when i see him leading johansen's rock endeavors. koonin was actually part of the first dolls reunion shows, and their first reunion album, playing keys. i got the sense he was sort of a security blanket for johansen. but economics (and, i strongly suspect, sylvain's urgings) eventually forced him out.

those early buster poindexter gigs at tramps were a joy, by the way. he got to indulge the side of himself that had picked all those great cover songs for the dolls. singer as dj. the lounge thing was an in-joke that really worked in that small-club context. you never knew what was coming next. and the players were great too. the bassist is with dylan now and one of the backup singers is with springsteen.

I finally saw Buster Poindexter a wee bit later at The Bottom Line and it was fine but I got the impression that some of the magic had already worn off and hardened into shtick. I also saw the aforementioned bass player, Tony Garnier, with another act he was playing with at the time, Robert Gordon.

yeah that's an unfortunate characteristic of johansen's acts -- at some point he loses interest and they become rote. i remember one embarassing evening at the westbury music fair where an audience member was shouting out the punchlines of buster's jokes before he got there.

Wonder if he told the one about someone asking him if he knew Madonna and him replying (in a very strong New York accent): “Know her? I went with her!”

forever mourning the demise of the Harry Smiths project, those records were absolute gold

he brought brian koonin along with him for that project too. he was like a different person onstage with the harry smiths. buster poindexter was famously verbose, but with the harry smiths he was respectful almost to a fault, mumbling a few brief words of introduction before each song.

those records are so good - and on that audiophile label, such an unusual thing.

yes, chesky. very fancy. i'm not sure whether i've ever heard the 2nd one.

Slight derail, but here is Tony Garnier with Robert Gordon…and Chris Spedding!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK4hDssJ9NA

i guess armond white still writes film reviews?

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/10/david-johansen-makes-scorsese-great-again/

Great posts this year, holy shit & thanks all! Re the xpost metal gigs, I can see why he got tired of arena rock, went to Dexter, back to record-collector roots and smaller crowd intimacy and fun, sharing in-joeks and vinyl tastes w fellow veteran kidz---but man, those David Johansen albums could be really satisfying, intriguing, the way, as I mentioned on the Roxy Music Live thread, having heard the RM shift toward a new mainstream, still speculative, exploratory in the mid-to-late-70s--para-, then moving toward post-disco per se (also on that thread, others mentioned Eagles probes, milestones of the Cars, then Blondie, Talking Heads).
Johansen's s/t solo debut was exciting in part because he took the Lou Reed approach, with unrecorded or released songs from his old band along with newer ones---but also exciting, to me personally, because it was much bolder, less flimsy-seeming than Lou Reed, tapping also the best of arena rock, with JOE PERRY at the peak of Aerosmith's only great decade, and fitting him into this hip post-Dolls arena context that Reed was moving toward (realizing that it didn't have to beSally Can't Dance vs. Metal Machine Music: BOLLOCKS DICHOTOMY, as somebody virtually said way upthread, re original Alice Cooper band vs. Dolls).
So I think I actually enjoyed most of these David albums more than Dollshead xgau did, but overall his descriptions of them and BP albums later seems fair and hopefully encourages others to check them out (with so much free streaming, why the hell not)
https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist2.php?id=322

And a very refreshing interview with the B-52s on this morning's Weekend Edition reminds me that they were gonna call it a day or at least a hiatus with 1989's Cosmic Thing (with key member Rickey having died of AIDS), but then "Love Shack," on the radio and MTV, brought the bridge-and-tunnel masses surging, oh my---

agree with xgau that 'buster's spanish rocket ship,' the final buster album, is a stealth johansen solo album and worth a checkout.

The doc did touch on the Harry Smiths. Johansen talked about how he got to know Harry Smith - apparently when he was young he liked to hang with these much older individuals he found interesting because he thought they had a lot of wisdom to pass down. (It didn't sound like they were particularly close though.) Johansen does Howlin' Wolf covers really well.

Within the film, he also talked about his early dabbling in politics, specifically with Up Against the Wall Motherfucker. He knew Abbie Hoffman from that.

Again this was a Buster Poindexter show at the Carlyle. Maybe not the usual numbers under that persona, but it wasn't the Dolls' sound (which I'd actually prefer) at all, not until the last number when they do "Personality Crisis." I think Brian Koonin was the guitarist too - I'm not familiar with him so I can't remember but he was at the premiere and they do have a big credit for the band so it'll be easy to confirm when you watch it.

Musikladen apparently has a YouTube channel. Guests are really hit or miss, but some are spectacular like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiwkr8TqAEM

Also, Lincoln Center posted that Q&A for Scorsese's David Johansen film, which will be on Showtime April 14:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo29mCz_X_c

xgau on the doc ("These doubts proved somewhere between unfounded and paranoid, which I credit partly to Scorsese’s skill and more to Johansen’s genius.") https://open.substack.com/pub/robertchristgau/p/just-enough-before-its-too-late-david?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

We watched at least half of that doc on TV, and thought it was fairly basic/boring... didn't realize it was Martin Scorsese.

I can't access it yet, postponing having to confront how lukewarm I am about seeing it.

i enjoyed it -- i've spent enough time musing on the three-dimensional chess game that is his interior life that i'm not gonna stop now -- but it's not for everyone. unless you have a hankering to hear cocktail lounge versions of the johansen songs from the three dolls reunion records that nobody listened to.

Finally saw One Night Only - really enjoyed it, way more than I was expecting to tbh

Xgau’s observation in that review upthread is so otm, re the Buste persona transforming anarchic New York Dolls songs into the love songs to humanity they always were deep down

Plus you really see so clearly how deliberate Johansen is about what he chooses to reveal of himself, in all of his ventures - there is a craft to it all, even among the chaos, and so seeing the personas/poses all lined up, new and archival, alongside the interviews with his daughter was really quite moving …. the whole documentary becomes a sort of zoetrope, where if you keep your eye trained & look through the crack at just the right angle for long enough you can ~almost~ see the whole person spool out before you.

And the Carlyle performance stuff is shot so beautifully <3

Yeah, I think it was Ellen Kuras- great cinematographer, and Johansen complimented her, saying she got close without making herself seem intrusive.

I just saw it and enjoyed it but thought some of it was awkwardly edited -- the way Scorsese would suddenly cut away from old footage bugged me. Sometimes when he would go quickly from DolLs rendition to Johansen solo tour rendition to Carlyle lounge version it worked and not other times. Plus to fit in with the title and theme the lounge versions are largely longer.

Tyler W posted this old YouTube link to New York Dolls at the Waldorf Astoria on Halloween in 1973. As he noted Will Hermes wrote about this chaotic over packed late starting gig in Love Goes to a Building on Fire book

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQVDL-B80d0

New York, NY (February 10, 2025) - Just five years ago, amid the beginning of the pandemic, singer/songwriter David Johansen, legendary co-founder of the New York Dolls, discovered his aggressive cancer had progressed and he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, leading to complications ever since. He has not made his diagnosis public as he is generally a very private person, however due to the increasingly severe financial burden his family is facing, he is ready to share his story. On top of the cancer diagnosis, Johansen took a fall on the day after Thanksgiving and broke his back in two places, which required surgery. Despite a successful procedure, David is completely bedridden and incapacitated, relying on around the clock care. To continue his treatment and give him the best chance of recovery, David will need full time assistance.

Should post this too:

https://www.sweetrelief.org/davidjohansenfund.html

Oh no. Didn’t know that.

man. the performer i've seen the most. by far. i had no idea.

I didn't either. I never really connected with anything past the first solo album or two, but so much before that.

Always seemed like a really good dude!

Ah man this is sad.

Always loved the guy with the bandana in this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_my7pGkN_s

I've seen him in-person several times, all within the last eight years, and it really puts everything in a different context.

The first time was at the Lou Reed tribute at Lincoln Center, July 30, 2016 - sadly it's the only time I've ever seen him perform live, but he was the highlight of the entire day. He came out looking incredibly fit and thin with a tight aqua T-shirt that showed off his waist. After thanking everyone for "doing your civic duty" by coming out for the show, he launched into "Rock and Roll Heart" with a beaming Lee Ranaldo accompanying him on guitar. Steve Shelley was on drums and the recently departed Sal Maida was also on bass. (Side note, with both Johansen and Maida suffering severe falls - in Maida's case, a fatal one - and filmmaker/photographer Jerry Schatzberg suffering a terrible fall last week, there should really be a PSA on helping the elderly get around.) Johansen later came back that evening and nailed a magnificent "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" in a snazzy white outfit, with Earl Slick delivering a great guitar solo as well. Johansen sounded so good, looked so lively on the first song and so stately that evening that I really hoped he'd do another full-blown rock tour.

The next time I saw him was at the NYFF premiere of the Scorsese doc in October 2022. I remember being taken aback by how thin he looked, appearing frail rather than fit. Most likely I chalked it up to age, especially in the wake of the pandemic. I saw him at a few shows after that, but in the audience and not on stage, and always wearing an eye patch. Initially, I wasn't sure if it was just him trying to go incognito - apparently someone asked and I guess he said he had some eye thing he was dealing with. The last time I saw him was the most memorable - last year at Jonathan Richman's show in Brooklyn, and it was mind-blowing to see them actually hanging out afterwards. They're often in the history books right next to each other when tracing the development of punk, but I never assumed their musical connection reflected or translated into an actual friendship.

I regret missing his Carlyle shows and especially his appearance at the Brooklyn Folk Festival in late 2023 - I knew about that last one but couldn't attend because I had tickets to another event that day.

David and Jonathan are one year apart in age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjcOR73yJDw

Both worked closely with Ernie Brooks too

Travel well David

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/arts/music/david-johansen-dead.html

gutted

the fundraising made it clear how bad a situation he was in healthwise but i still foolishly believed he’d somehow live forever

just a truly magnetic genius of a man and i’m so so sad to not have him in the world anymore

also Johansen’s appearance the NY Outer Boroughs ep of Bourdain’s No Reservations was an alltimer. (streaming on hulu i see, time for a revist)

David and Jonathan are one year apart in age.

As much as he loved himself

A friend of mine who is involved with NY activist group Rise and Resist said Johansen and his wife were involved in it for years, providing guidance and helping to organize protests . She said for this group David was just focusing on the cause and not being a selfish celebrity.

Very sad. I'm going to miss seeing him around NYC.

xp that's cool, I just shared a skeet from them ;) <3

One of the best things SiriusXM ever did was hand Johansen the keys for three hours a week and for years and years let him play whatever the fuck he wanted on his Mansion of Fun show. There never really was a "typical" show other than counting hearing him (under his DJ name Sri Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong Johansen) jump in around every 30 minutes with a quick DaJo beatitude sandwiched between sets that more often than not saw artists like Blind Willie McTell, Lee Dorsey, Marie Callas, some Cajun band that only cut two 78s in the '30s, Judy Henske, and Jimmy Reed rubbing shoulders.

Here's a 300+ hour fanmade playlist of tracks spotlighted on the show: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4qv9UYWWBBR1cvBRb9tvFk?si=l-J5swdORkOakmnMA3MhSQ&pi=BFCaONW4RbeF7

Which isn't even complete. Given his health problems, I'm not sure how 'new' alot of the recent episodes were, but they managed to sneak in a Last Dinner Party track about a month ago.

I used to do year-end movie Top 10s on my homepage, and I had New York Doll--the Arthur Kane documentary--#3 in 2005. From the little blurb I wrote:

The scene that will stay with me the longest is when David Johansen arrives for the first time during the Dolls' practice sessions for their London reunion show. First of all, it's hard to find words that adequately convey the depths of Johansen's cragginess--I even had to consult the dictionary to check "cragginess." And the way he saunters into the room as the band plays "Out in the Street" and slowly starts to join in--still the star of the show, the guy who knows that all eyes are on him (especially Arthur's, having waited a couple of decades for this moment) but kind of half-pretends to be just one of the guys--is brilliant; possibly staged to one degree or another, but brilliant anyway.

Just finished listening to those first two albums after listening to the David Johansen Group's live album (the one recorded at the Bottom Line in 1978). All great, but it's kind of painful having the Dolls' run abruptly stop after the second album. Not sure how a third album could have happened with low record sales and a hostile label, but had they been given the opportunity and kept it together, I have no doubt it would've been every bit as great. DJ's solo debut (which had songs that likely would've been recorded by the Dolls) and the Heartbreakers' one album is pretty much the proof. otoh, it's not a bad deal getting those two albums in the wake of the Dolls' split.

Here's Paul Nelson's Village Voice article, written in 1975:

They were unquestionably brilliant, but finally too spare, too restricted, to reach the hidden places in suburban, small­-town hearts. In the end, they rode on real rather than symbolic subway trains to specific rather than univer­sal places, played for an audience of intellectuals or kids even farther out than they were; and, when they eventually met the youth of the country, that youth seemed more confused than captivated by them, and could no more imagine itself a New York Doll than it could some exotic palm tree growing in Brook­lyn. The Dolls appealed to an audience which had seen the end of the world, had in fact bought tickets for it but probably didn’t attend because lhere was something even funnier on television that night.

Understandably despondent, but I imagine he felt vindication when punk happened, evolved into the indie/American underground and blew up in the '90s.

the Sirius show UMS cites is indeed by far Sirius' greatest achievement in music programming: they have lots of artist-centric, "this is how Tom Petty/Phish/Little Steven is going to function as a programmer," but the results are more often dull and likely outsourced: this is the one show that did seem that the given artist's aesthetic and enthusiasms were authentic. You'd listen to Little Steven's channel and it's transparently a Iheartradio version of WFMU, whereas David Jo's show could absolutely live up to the FMU spirit.

I never did feel like going out of my way to seeing or even listen to the 2000s version of the Dolls, although they were at the big Underground Garage Randalls Island show in 2004 and I guess it was ok. I remember that for a 55 year old man, he could get away with wearing a belly shirt ostensibly better suited to 16 year old jailbait.

As sharp as anything on the first two albums:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiPH3q7z8tI

i had the fortune of seeing the dolls in early '75, just a month or two before they called it quits. i was 17 and had a gig playing bass at a sweet 16 party that night. the drummer and i forced the band to pack up early so we could catch the midnight show at my father's place, a converted bowling alley on long island. we were escorted by the drummer's older brother so they let us in -- proofing rules were more lax in those days i guess. spotty attendence, the communist flag behid them, and a great set of material which would likely have shown up on their third album. (teenage news! downtown!) my friend and i loved it; the older brother not so much. arthur wasn't there that night; peter jordan filled in as he often had to.

my next dolls experience happened after i turned 18 so i didn't have to sneak in. this was technically the "dollettes," a pickup band with david, syl, peter jordan, tony machine (a future banshee of blue). I can't remember if there was a keyboard player or if syl played keys. Some club in lake ronkonkoma. Again it was a small but devoted crowd, and we got to watch them work out the material that wound up on the first johansen solo album -- 'frenchette," "girls," etc. i remember one from that evening that i never heard again. maybe called "fire truck blues"? "i drew a picture of a fire truck / i showed it to my mom and she said 'lots of luck.'" i think this is the show that made me a lifelong fan. i remember johansen coming out in front of the club between sets to smoke, and chatting with a few of us circled around. i guess this would be summer 1976? so just before i started college. one of the kids standing with us had a modern lovers t-shirt on. i guess i'd heard of them from creem magazine, and he got me even more interested in hearing them. a night of firsts.

i rarely missed a johansen show on long island, and they were plentiful. it's hard to imagine why he didn't take off nationally because suburban kids ate him up. i saw him plenty of times in nyc as well, including one of the shows in that incredible run at the bottom line when the first solo lp came out. sadly i missed the show where thunders guested. the other most memorable johansen band gig was the one where my band opened for them at barnard college in 1979. thanks to doc thomas, a guy on the concert committee i was friendly with. ("are you all done with your souncheck david? "it's all yours, kid.") you could look it up!
https://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19790322-01.2.13&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------

those early buster poindexter shows at tramps were also a joy. every next song was a surprise, probably much like his radio shows (which i've not heard). and of course that vaudevillian sense of humor that would shoot over everyone's heads. and that rubber face.

miss ya david. there'll never be another.

Great stories, Freud...As I never tire of telling people, one of my best friends saw them at Toronto's Victory Burlesque (a strip club) in '72 or '73, with Rush opening.

such a great post TSF - what an excellent treasure trove of memories to have and share

Today's rerun of Wednesday's Mansion of Fun episode had a newly recorded intro by announcer Kieth Roth, who clearly was hurting remembering his old friend. He said we knew this was coming, but David kept his spirits up and it has great to see him feeling better and even moving around a bit earlier this year. He also alluded that Johansen had been working on the radio shows up until a few weeks ago. He concluded with a poignant story about playing a benefit show Friday night where he noted many in attendance where wearing their Sweet Relief DaJo tees. After the gig Roth got a bunch of these fans together for a photo that he texted to David. Mara Hennessey responded that he'd just died.

This episode is full of Mardi Gras and Caribbean/South American Festival Music, a fitting if unintentional send-off.

Aw nice. I got my tee last week! Will wear it with respect and sadness.

They just played this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlFumqjv8-o

Dolls coulda done a great cover!

Looking at the schedule for SXM 710 "The Loft" channel, they are marathoning Mansion of Fun episodes for the rest of the day today and into the early morning hours (3:00 AM EST).

Thanks! SXM 712, Marky Ramones’ Punk Rock Blitzkreig is playing the Dolls right now. But not exclusively apparently. Now’s it’s the DKs.

So back to The Loft for me

back and to the loft
back and to the loft

Usually I am suspicious of eclecticism but I am really enjoying the selection and sequencing of this show and I mean, this guy kind of invented and showed us the right way to do it.

Just remembered that I had a friend in high school who was the one who introduced me to The Dolls who was a huge fan of theirs and whose mother was the original black supermodel and father was descended from the family that controlled a certain part of Memphis

alltime posting by tfs. favorited in my mind.

hey thanks! wfmu's glen jones did a wonderful 3-hour tribute to david this afternoon. https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/149687

He’s playing a Jonathan Richman favorite now, “The Wind,” Nolan Strong & The Diablos.

On the Mansion of Fun rerun tbc

I’m totally digging the sequencing and the fact that he’s just playing stuff he likes even if it might be sort of obvious, not trying to create some kind of hipster persona since, he had obviously already done that a few times.

Some of it reminds me of that list of Bowie’s favorite books, which some of the usual suspects attacked as being too middlebrow.

Now he is playing “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” mention of which once set off a long FB discussion with Xgau’s nephew.

It used to be the sign-off song of one of the old WNEW-FM jocks. Dennis Elsas, I think.

Guess this is all going back to what was earlier said about The Dolls being a quintessential NYC band which goes way beyond some Lou Reed egg-cream stickball phony baloney nostalgia.

Oh there’s a rhyme: Johansen’s Mansion, do u see?

Did the Dolls play Ringolevio?

Heh

Something about his song selection reminds me a wee bit of Jonesy’s Jukebox.

can’t decide whether to keep listening to this or go sing a few of his songs at karaoke

The latter

which did you sing

i would do Trash, Jet Boy and ? cant decide on third

Mystery Girls!

given that yr first 2 are perfect

“Build Me Up Buttercup” and “Pills”

May try for “Trash” soon

Also just found a video for “Looking for a Kiss.”

A band from San Antonio called Sons of Hercules used to do an awesome version of “Who Are the Mystery Girls?”

They still exist! Maybe they are still doing it

He just said “Right here! In the Manse. With Johanse.”

Sounds like Amalia Rodrigues right now

Laura Nyro now

Really enjoying listening to this but need to sleep. Maybe I will put that gigantic playlist on shuffle mode tomorrow

We picked the kid up Sunday morning after a sleepover and were running errands, listening to the Dolls & my wife, who went through a deep Buster Poindexter phase in 80s asked to hear "Hot Hot Hot" and the moment it came on the ten y.o. was all "what is this? what is this?" and barely a minute later she was singing "hot!hot!hot!" and laughing which seems like as fitting a tribute as anything, RIP David

It's funny, because in the UK, "Hot Hot Hot" is Arrow, and nobody else.

Listing to the big Mansion of Fun playlist now.

What with all the jump blues in there it’s making me think of Charlie Gillet’s Sound of the City

Gillett

Xgau Remembers

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/david-johansen-new-york-dolls-robert-christgau-1235286728/

Neither the 1973 debut New York Dolls nor its 1974 follow-up Too Much Too Soon — produced by Shadow Morton, whose sole major credit was the legendary girl group the Shangri-Las — cracked the Top 100, great albums though both are now thought to be. The finale of the follow-up summed up what Johansen would be about till the day he died — titled simply “Human Being,” its tireless refrain went simply: “Well if I’m acting like a king, that’s because/I’m a human being.” And on a personal note, I’ll add that those two lines were the title I proposed for a criticism collection that in the end was called Grown Up All Wrong. A little long, Harvard thought, and that wasn’t all.

Saw that.

that was great. I have always enjoyed xgau the most when he writes about the Dolls. I like him in fan-boy mode <3

cant even imagine how thrilling it must have been seeing the 72 shows at the Mercer

i love this video of Mystery Girls from Maxs Kansas City ‘73 - they’re so on it! makes me want to timetravel to see this gig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chd_JUkec8M

man yeah. just squarely ON it

I like him in fan-boy mode <3

There's a documentary about NYC (pre-)punk where Christgau's one of the interviewees, and the level of involvement increases palpably once he gets to talk about the Dolls instead of the Velvet Underground.

I was wondering what happened to that video, it went missing the last time I posted it myself, thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08MuQAC5zpw

Not that I needed assurance, but my listening to the Dolls and DJ again in the last few days helped me realize anew what a first-rate lyricist he was.

I was wondering what ever happened to the New York Doll Hospital on Lexington Ave between 61st/62nd Sts which inspired the band’s name… bc I remember spying the old NY Doll Hospital sign when it was still in business and suddenly realizing that’s where the name came from, and feeling the thrill of historical connection.

It’s now an establishment called 787 Unique Head Spa. And not for nothing, Unique Head strikes me as a good band name as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH8TuI2uzvo

I was wondering what ever happened to the New York Doll Hospital on Lexington Ave between 61st/62nd Sts which inspired the band’s name… bc I remember spying the old NY Doll Hospital sign when it was still in business and suddenly realizing that’s where the name came from, and feeling the thrill of historical connection.

It’s now an establishment called 787 Unique Head Spa. And not for nothing, Unique Head strikes me as a good band name as well.

It’s now an establishment called 787 Unique Head Spa. And not for nothing, Unique Head strikes me as a good band name as well.

I was in the laundromat one day when it occurred to me that 80 Lb. Speed Queen would be a great band name. (Speed Queen is a brand of industrial clothes dryer.)

80 lb Speed Queen = Taylor Mead?

Sorry, I’ll see myself out