I Support This Club

Just Kids by Patti Smith

Jennifer — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 16:33:25 +0000

The search to become an artist is often something that runs across my mind. When can you call yourself an artist? When you first pick up a guitar? When you’re employed to write? When you have your first gallery show? Patti Smith describes her journey in the search to become an artist – but it’s perhaps a little more colourful than most people’s. After an eventful childhood which included illness and pregnancy she left almost penniless for New York. In the next few years she lived in Chelsea Hotel where she made friends with William Burroughs and Alan Gainsborough, the various transsexual friends of Andy Warhol including Candy Darling, went on a pilgrimage to France to visit Rimbaud’s grave and met a soul mate in fellow artistic adventurer Robert Mapplethrope. He had is own adventures growing up in a strict Catholic family, discovering her was gay, achieving fame in the art world and sadly passing away from Aids.

Smith’s writing is as engaging and thought-provoking as her song-lyrics making want to rush home to listen to her album Horses and take amazing photographs like the ones featured in the book.

American Hardcore by Steven Blush

Jennifer — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:25:13 +0000

I bought this book from a man named Nick who worked at All Ages Record store. The shop is down a side road off from the main shopping area in Camden town. It’s a tiny little store with punk records covering every inch of the walls. Men around 40-years-old huddle over the stacks of vinyl. I went up the counter to speak to Nick about tracking down a list of hardcore collectables for an article I was writing. Nick was your typical punk tattoos and Mohawk, and I was nervous about talking to him but as it turned out he was really chatty – in fact I found it hard to keep him on topic. He showed me the reissue of the Suicidal Tendencies album that was hanging on the wall and explained that hardcore albums weren’t worth much because they were always being reissued deliberately to keep the price down. I asked whether first pressing would be worth anything to which he replied of course but collecting records wasn’t very punk.

From behind the counter he pulled a book American Hardcore and told me to read it. He told me there was a film that went with it but that Jello Bifra the lead singer of the Dead Kennedys only appeared in the book because the film was released by Sony and he would have nothing to do with them.

When I opened the book at home it reeked so much of cigarette smoke that I was gagging.

American Hardcore is a music genre that has many plus points and many flaws and what I liked about this book was that Steven Blush the author didn’t make any judgements but left it for you to make up your own mind. The book is organised into topics; style, violence, police, West Coast bands, East Coast bands etc. The text is quotations from interviews Steven Blush did with various bands and scene people including Ian McKaye, Jello Bifra, Henry Rollins, Chuck Dokowski, Raymond Pettitbon and Greg Ginn and comments from Blush that are equally opinionated as those he interviewed. This style can be irritating if you’re used to university texts books where the authors case is clearly argued and proved but you should get over that.

What’s really useful about this book is that it covers a lot of bands that don’t often get as much written about them as Minor Threat or Black Flag. There’s a really comprehensive discography on the back and the cover is a singer with a microphone bleeding from the mouth which I take great enjoyment reading on the train.

The downside is that it doesn’t paint a particularly nice picture of the scene with lots of external and internal violence, extreme politics, homophobia and misogyny (as well as general acceptance). It’s one scene I’m pretty glad I wasn’t there at the time for. Instead I get to take what’s good about the scene and listen to some great music.

I found this review of the book if anyone’s is interested in another opinion.

Jennifer x

I’m With The Band: Confessions of a Groupie – Pamela Des Barres

Jennifer — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:17:44 +0000

I’m WithThe Band is the memoirs of groupie Pamela Des Barres (first published back in 1987). Back in the seventies she hooked up with Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, and Keith Moon, hung out with Gram Parsons, Jim Morrison and Frank Zappa and performed in girl-band The GTO’s.

In the book Miss Pamela reveals extracts from her diaries from the period. They give an amazing first-hand account of what it was like growing up in the swinging sixties: “The sky was the bluest, the trees were the greenest, babies in tie-dye were toddling around with gooped-up bananas in their little fists, dogs were running loose and free, everyone was smiling and glad to be alive on the planet. It was a true resurgence of love and it must have been felt as far as the isle of Capri. I was floating around in the Garden of Eden, thrilled to be a human being, knowing the world could be saved if we loved one another.”

They also contain courageous honesty about being a girl: “Paul McCartney is the man I love. If he got the chance I know he would love me. I just know it. I love every muscle and fibre and ligament in his thigh. I know that sounds odd, but that’s the way I feel. I really love him you know. I know I sound like a fan, but this time it’s different, I promise.”

I picked this book up because I’ve always loved the movie Almost Famous (supposedly the character of Penny Lane is based on Miss Pamela). When I started to read this book I began to think that perhaps I wouldn’t like the author. She seemed too obsessed getting off with boys. But as I read on I began to fall in love with her. The ability to be a completely free spirit is tough but it’s something that Des Barres makes seem possible.

Having read the whole book in three days I really want to give it another read and then write down all my favourite parts. I’m also going to buy lots of lace dress and wear flowers in my hair. I’m going to track down some Rolling Stones and Gram Parsons on vinyl and find more out about the GTO’s. The one thing I’m not going to do is try to get with some guy because he’s in some band!

There’s apparently a TV show being made about the book starring Zooey Deschanel.

Here’s another review of the book on the BBC website.

Jennifer x