remember how i'm basically in love with hugh cornwell? and that's because he was in the stranglers for a bunch of years before he quit and continued doing his solo stuff, which is really good, but let's face it, it's not the stranglers.
the first night i met him he mentioned to me that the stranglers still tour, with a new singer/guitar player, obviously. i said that if i ever saw them i would feel like i was cheating on him somehow and he laughed and put his arm around me. all of the times i've spoke with him, he's never said a bad word about the guys in the band, to his credit. from what i've read about the split, it seems like there is some bad blood between him and the other three guys, but you wouldn't know it from talking to him. all he said was that they don't tour over here anymore because of jet black's health. jet black is the drummer for the stranglers. dude is 74 fucking years old.
so i guess i expected to never see the stranglers and that i would just keep going to see hugh and that would be enough, and really, the friendship i have with him is pretty much the coolest thing i have to talk about ever. but the other day i saw via slicing up eyeballs on twitter that the stranglers had announced the u.s. release of their new album, giants (click on that link to stream it) and also a u.s. tour.
i actually did that thing where you hear something surprising and leap out of your seat. i did. pretty similar to what i did the first time i saw that hugh cornwell was playing in philly. i saw that the stranglers would be playing a date in philly, at the union transfer, and i completely lost it. there was a lot of jumping around and shouting at my cats, who promptly hid from me.
so, my friends, on wednesday, june 5, i will be seeing 3/4 of one of my absolute favorite bands of all time. i mean no disrespect to their new singer guy but, sorry baz, i'm just not that into you. expect a very lengthy and fangirly post around that time. in fact, i will be doing the whole vip thing, because that is how much this means to me. meeting jet black might be the greatest thing to ever happen to me, aside from the time i met clem burke. for real.
i have yet to inform hugh of this infidelity, but i'm sure he will understand.
31 March 2013
21 March 2013
sylvain sylvain & glen matlock
the title of the post should say it all, right? i'm still going to talk about it. i just got home from this show so i'm all amped about it still.
i've had the chance to see the new york dolls twice in my life, but it's just sylvain & david johansen from the original lineup. it's such a shame about arthur kane; if you ever have a chance to watch the documentary about him, "new york doll," do it. it's really sad, but it's so, so good. anyway, so seeing sylvain do a solo show was really incredible and intimate and wonderful. and he played new york dolls songs - including my favorite, "trash," which he closed with, and he did "you can't put your arms around a memory" (substituting "you can't put your arms around a johnny" for some of the lines; cute) and he did an eddie cochran song and...what else? if i remember i'll add it. at the end of his set he came to the front of the stage and started shaking hands and signing things for people, so i thought "what the hell?" and pulled my new york dolls record out of my bag for him to sign. he saw it and said "wooooow" which was adorable. then he used my sharpie for a bunch of other things he signed because he likes to use 2 sharpies at a time and when he handed it back he said "thank you sweetheart." *swoon*
so then glen matlock came out and was all british and cheeky. he did a few of his own songs and he did sex pistols songs ("god save the queen," "pretty vacant") and he did a scott walker song!!!! he said "anyone here know scott walker?" followed by a few seconds of dead silence and then my little chipmunk voice: "yes!" and he said "oh you do? oh good..." and went into "montague terrace." so cool. AND he did rich kids! "burning sounds" and "ghosts of princes in towers" and he explained where that title came from. oh yeah and the kinks "dead end street" and the monkees "steppin' stone." it was really cool to see him perform and listen to his stories.
then at the end sylvain came back out and they did some new york dolls songs together; "showdown," "jet boy," and "personality crisis." i mean, i saw the dolls do those songs, but somehow it was just as cool seeing these two singing them.
after the show, they both hung out at the side of the stage to talk and sign and take pictures and all that. so i waited my turn and then handed glen my rich kids record, which he seemed impressed by. he asked my name so he could make it out to me and we chatted a bit, and then i asked if i could get my picture with both of them and he said sure. so i sat down between the two of them and smiled and some nice man took my picture. the first one was a bit blurry because of me moving my head and the second one...well, see for yourself:
me and sylvain are looking at each other and i'm laughing, because when he realized what was happening, he turned to me and said "hello" in this weird kind of fake sexy voice and i started cracking up. then glen turned and said "hey now, i saw her first" which is why he is blurry. it was too much. i thanked them both a bunch of times and then i had to run outside because my friend was waiting for me and then his car broke down in allentown so it was an adventure getting home. anyway, i'm here, it's 2:30 am and i'm wide awake so this is what you get. thanks for reading!
UPDATE: check out part 2!
i've had the chance to see the new york dolls twice in my life, but it's just sylvain & david johansen from the original lineup. it's such a shame about arthur kane; if you ever have a chance to watch the documentary about him, "new york doll," do it. it's really sad, but it's so, so good. anyway, so seeing sylvain do a solo show was really incredible and intimate and wonderful. and he played new york dolls songs - including my favorite, "trash," which he closed with, and he did "you can't put your arms around a memory" (substituting "you can't put your arms around a johnny" for some of the lines; cute) and he did an eddie cochran song and...what else? if i remember i'll add it. at the end of his set he came to the front of the stage and started shaking hands and signing things for people, so i thought "what the hell?" and pulled my new york dolls record out of my bag for him to sign. he saw it and said "wooooow" which was adorable. then he used my sharpie for a bunch of other things he signed because he likes to use 2 sharpies at a time and when he handed it back he said "thank you sweetheart." *swoon*
so then glen matlock came out and was all british and cheeky. he did a few of his own songs and he did sex pistols songs ("god save the queen," "pretty vacant") and he did a scott walker song!!!! he said "anyone here know scott walker?" followed by a few seconds of dead silence and then my little chipmunk voice: "yes!" and he said "oh you do? oh good..." and went into "montague terrace." so cool. AND he did rich kids! "burning sounds" and "ghosts of princes in towers" and he explained where that title came from. oh yeah and the kinks "dead end street" and the monkees "steppin' stone." it was really cool to see him perform and listen to his stories.
then at the end sylvain came back out and they did some new york dolls songs together; "showdown," "jet boy," and "personality crisis." i mean, i saw the dolls do those songs, but somehow it was just as cool seeing these two singing them.
after the show, they both hung out at the side of the stage to talk and sign and take pictures and all that. so i waited my turn and then handed glen my rich kids record, which he seemed impressed by. he asked my name so he could make it out to me and we chatted a bit, and then i asked if i could get my picture with both of them and he said sure. so i sat down between the two of them and smiled and some nice man took my picture. the first one was a bit blurry because of me moving my head and the second one...well, see for yourself:
me and sylvain are looking at each other and i'm laughing, because when he realized what was happening, he turned to me and said "hello" in this weird kind of fake sexy voice and i started cracking up. then glen turned and said "hey now, i saw her first" which is why he is blurry. it was too much. i thanked them both a bunch of times and then i had to run outside because my friend was waiting for me and then his car broke down in allentown so it was an adventure getting home. anyway, i'm here, it's 2:30 am and i'm wide awake so this is what you get. thanks for reading!
UPDATE: check out part 2!
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