[kj] Youth's Myspace blogpost re:NYC

[Alexander Smith]

spontanous combustion NYCKJ 4/12/10

KJNYC Spontaneous Combustion Irving Plaza 41210

New York, I'm back in New York. Where i've had some of the best and  
worst times of my life. The smell, like old Bombay, hits you first.
Here its sweet toffee, hot bagels, sizzling burgers,  burnt cinnamon,   
diesel steam and a host of other idiosyncratic flavours of  
Manhattan.The city is a good metaphor of the Buddhist maxim  
"everything changes". Almost unrecognisable from only two years ago  
when i was last here.Not only the Neon glare has changed with super  
huge LCD billboards hypnotising you with vast blocks of colour, quiet  
arresting and super Sci-Fi .But also the language on the street has  
changed.Like London there is a predominates east european / Russian  
twang in the air.
Still the bustle of street vendors cooking up hotdogs and kebabs and  
the lonely sax player busking on the corner of Times Sq, his haunting  
melody cascading into the noise of traffic and excited pedestrians.
I was shocked when New brought in her No Smoking laws and still it  
shocks me as more people crowd and puff away outside a solitary  
heater, then hang out inside. I like the familiar buff and no nonsense  
New York Vernacular, i like the honesty and compassion, where people  
still take the time to talk to strangers and aren't buckled by their  
fear or paranoia. Fearlessness is a trait of this tough city.  
Manhattan ,She is like a huge concrete and steel ocean liner, Strong,  
majestic and proud.
All the crime and corruption She has seen and even 9/11 has only made  
her stronger and even more resilient. She is the genitalia of America,  
seething
with ambition and lust. She is the engine that drives America.
Here is where the music of Coltrain, Bob Dylan to the Dolls ,The  
Velvet Underground, Springsteen, Hip Hop, Talking Heads . All has  
seeped into the very fabric of the streets and walls.This is where the  
music was first born and first heard and had to compete here first  
before becoming the international vocabulary of modern music that it  
has become.Like Scottish new born babies being flung on the mountain  
side so that only the strongest survive this is where this musical  
genius was forged and hammered into beauty by the harsh tough New York  
streets.
  Walking these streets i cannot forget the great Art that she has  
produced , De Kooning , Warhol, Basquait, Keith Haring, the beat goes  
on and on.The titans of Poetry,  Ginsburg, Burroughs  and  
Bukowski.These cruel streets where John Lennon's blood ran into the  
gutter along with the all the piss and booze and the come of a hundred  
thousand orgasms. This strange alchemy that manifests such jaw  
dropping beauty and awe. It's a heady mix and i stagger around  
immersed in colour and sound. Disco ! where would we be without  the  
beat.I first came here in 1979, just at the tail end of the studio 54  
era and the very beginning of post punk and Proto Hip Hop scene. It  
was exciting, a whole new planet compared to grey England and  
encouraged the band to go further into our eclectic fusion of Disco  
beats, Morroder synths , Dub bass lines and savage primitive rock  
influences. Ruth Polski was our promoter and champion here.She brought  
Killing Joke, New Order and Gang of four over regularly. Ruth  
correctly predicted the early eighties New York aesthetic and was a  
great champion for us.She also introduced us to Hurrah's, Danceteria  
and the Paradise Garage.
Tragically she was mown down and killed by a rogue, out of control  
cab, which ploughed into the crowd outside the Limelight, a former  
church converted into a labyrinth of club rooms. Years Later we played  
there on the Pandemonium tour, a surreal gig, lots of Californian  
micro dots flying around, I remember in the afternoon i was wandering  
around upstairs and i stumbled into a ballet class with the most  
beautiful young ballet dancers.The class was being conducted by this  
huge, totally bald and obese man. Yet he held their attention rigidly  
and moved with grace and beauty. I have had many concrete pre  
conceptions shattered here and i'm a better man for it .Thank you New  
York !
Meanwhile in London i have been busy. A few Vertical Smile gigs and  
the album in the bag ready for january release, it's the album i  
should have made at 16 but didn't, only now have i found the front and  
confidence to lead a band. Learning how to play bass and sing lead  
vocals at the same time being one of the hardest things iv'e ever  
learnt to do. Also halfway through a Zodiac Youth album and my Dub  
project "DubTrees" second album, this time a double!
still trying to finish off the remaining tracks of the absolute  
dissent sessions, particularly a track called "This is War", difficult  
pinning Jaz and Geordie down and were discussing plans for a new KJ  
album starting early Feb,possibly with a more Tribal orientation( I  
recently saw Femi Kuti in concert and the combination of Magic,  
politics and sex was intoxicating and reminded me, in a weird way of KJ)
We are  More than Halfway through the post production of the John  
Sinclair (MC5) album which features Keith Richards, The View, Bill  
Drummond and Zodiac, Mark Stewart (The Pop group) and sounds like Free  
jazz meets Detroit punk Awesome!
Ok really psyched for the gig soundcheck done  , Geordie clocked me  
painting, naked in my room using the ironing board as a table, from  
his room opposite, was in hysterics all day ! Yes there are some  
poetry books available, almost gone also some "Nabob de Bombasta"   
nominated for erotic book of the year and  illustrated by myself and  
some site specific original paintings .....press play.....GO !
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://four.pairlist.net/pipermail/gathering/attachments/20101205/d7e3f560/attachment.html>