walter lure

if you had asked me 10+ years ago "who is walter lure?" i would have stared back at you blankly; meanwhile i knew by heart all the words to songs like "chinese rocks" and "born to lose." i never really paid attention to people's names until more recently, when i realized that these old punk dudes are out playing shows as themselves. working at a record store has also helped with that. so, walter lure was in the heartbreakers with johnny thunders; naturally i wanted to see him play a solo show at the one and only brighton bar.

oh, so a few months ago i went to this strummerville thing at the bowery electric in new york. i'm not sure why i didn't write about it. i saw jesse malin in january, and as he was talking to me, he mentioned the strummerville show he put together and said i should go. so i did. because that's the kind of person i am. but seriously, i fucking love joe strummer and the clash and i saw that there were going to be a bunch of cool people performing: h.r. from bad brains, ivan julian from the voidoids, bob gruen (the photographer), obviously jesse malin, and also walter lure. i'll do a whole post about this sometime, probably, maybe. but anyway walter lure did "i fought the law" and i honestly wasn't impressed. which was disappointing to me, because i wanted to like him, but it really bothered me how he kept saying "and the law won" when there are not supposed to be words there. you know what i mean right? here, watch the video. so yeah. everyone only did one song, sometimes two, and that was his one.

but i still wanted to see him again! i figured that might have been weird for him, maybe he was having a bad night, maybe they didn't get to rehearse (a lot of people were reading notes as they performed; everything was a little haphazard but overall a lot of fun. i'm not trying to shit talk, honest), maybe he got stuck doing a song that he didn't know that well? who knows. so me and ryan (show buddy extraordinaire) went out saturday night to see walter lure and the waldos. ryan claims that he is not a punk fan (he thinks they can't play their instruments; i have so much to teach him) but he loves the new york dolls, therefore he loves johnny thunders, which is how i got him to go to this show with me.

we ended up loving every opening band. curtis suburban, rama amoeba, frankenstein 3000, and ingrid and the defectors. at one point, before the show started, i went to the bathroom and when i came out, ryan said "holy shit, marc bolan is here." um. what? "no seriously. wait until you see him. it's marc bolan." i finally did see who he was talking about; the singer/guitarist from rama amoeba (all the way from japan you guys!) looks like fucking marc bolan. the hair. the shiny suit. we were both really excited. they were a ton of fun to watch, too.

anyway- so walter lure! the dude who drummed and sang for curtis suburban was drumming for him too, which made me happy because he's really fucking good. so, the girl who used to love this guy without knowing who he even was got to hear him sing/play "chinese rocks" and "born to lose." you bet your ass i was singing along. i also got to hear "pirate love" and "too much junkie business" and "all by myself." seriously, it was so much fucking fun. i'm really glad i didn't let that weird clash song ruin his rep for me, because i would have missed out on a fantastic night. it was fun to turn and look at everyone watching him, too. i love going to shows like this because the people there are usually out of their minds with excitement (obviously this includes me as well).

before the show, he was wandering around, and i found myself standing next to him at the bar. i was alone. he was alone. i looked at him and then looked away as he looked at me. i had no idea what to say to him. it kind of looked like he wanted to laugh, and then he walked away. so after the show, ryan approached him and asked him to sign my poster for me (brighton usually gives out show posters to the first bunch of people to show up; i still have my hugh cornwell one from the first time i was there). and then i grew some balls and asked for a picture with him, and he said sure. then i said "i don't have a flash on my phone, we'll have to go over to the stage. it's too dim here." he rolled his eyes at me, but he was smiling, and i followed him over to the stage. he sat down, and i squeezed in next to him, and he put his arm around me. it's actually turned out to be a really great picture. i thanked him, we shook his hand, and then left.

i really appreciate opportunities like this because i wasn't born yet when these bands all got their start. no, i'll never see johnny thunders perform since he died a month before i turned 5 years old; i'll never get to see jerry nolan (drummer for new york dolls after original drummer billy murcia died, and also for the heartbreakers), since he died the year after johnny. but i got to see walter lure, which is pretty fucking special. he looks like he's still having fun, which is enough for me.

like a motherfucker, y'all.

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!