March 1, 2007
dataharvest
This spring I was very busy with the opening of my ROCKERS exhibition in Sao Paulo, but that didn’t stop me from going out whenever I could. On this page I have a roundup of the shows I’ve seen and the scenes I’ve been to from March to July of 2007.
March 17 - NYC - On St Patrick's day The Pogues were in New York, this time at Roseland Ballroom. Shane MacGowan had fallen off the stage a couple of days earlier so he was performing in a wheelchair! That's showbiz!
March 19 - NYC - Jesse Malin was at the Bowery Ballroom with a party for his new CD 'Glitter in the Gutter' which came out the next day.
April 13 - NYC - Sean Lennon's new album "Friendly Fire" is doing well, and April 13th he appeared at the newly named Fillmore NYC @ Irving Plaza.
Sean's mom Yoko came backstage after the show to congratulate him. Though he had played the room before, it was the first time he headlined there.
April 11 - NYC - Lily Allen played a great show at the Fillmore NYC @ Irving Plaza. She had a band with horns and the fans loved her.
April 19 - NYC - Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young had an exhibition of his photographs at Morrison Hotel Gallery, NYC. He was greeted by some of the photographers represented by the gallery, from the left Jannette Beckman, me, Graham, Henry Diltz, Rowland Scherman and Danny Clinch.
April 25 - NYC - Designer John Varvatos has hosted some music nights at his hip Soho, NY store. Ian Hunter (inset) played selections from his new CD "Shrunken Heads" to a packed house of invited friends, including Dennis Dunaway of the original Alice Cooper band, above with his wife, Cindy.
April 24 - NYC - David Johansen, New York Dolls lead singer, was a guest DJ at the Blender Magazine Party at the new Blender Theater on East 23rd street. He rocked the house with his eclectic choice of music, similar to what he plays on his Sirius Satellite Radio show "The Mansion of Fun". With David, above, is his friend and engineer, NJ musician/DJ Keith Roth
May 23 - NYC - Singer '?' of '? and the Mysterians' who had the '60s hit "96 Tears", was onstage at the Highline Ballroom at the benefit to help him rebuild his house which recently burned to the ground. Above, ? with Heather Rabit and Jessica (Joharra).
Johnny Chan and the New Dynasty Six played at the benefit for ? and blew me away with their song "It's All About Me". Check them out!
May 23 - NYC - Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols has a new profession and has been traveling the world playing records as a celebrity DJ. I recently saw him at the Marquee Club in New York. He also is playing with a new band, Slinky Vagabond
May 24 - NYC - Legs McNeil and I met recently in the East Village to talk about some book projects, including a planned book of my New York Dolls photos, so it was only fitting that we have our photo taken in front of Gem Spa on 2nd Ave.
May 24 - NYC - Robert Whitaker exhibited some of his excellent photos of the Beatles at the Morrison Hotel Gallery. Afterwards, I got this photo of him with his agent Dave Brolan. Robert has great photos of John Lennon in England in the '60's and we talked about the possibilities of having a show together with my photos of John in New York in the '70's.
June 7 - NYC - Photographer and Art Director, Josh Cheuse, signs copies of his new book 'Rockers Galore' at the Dashwood bookstore in New York. Josh's book is a beautifully made chronicle of the path he followed photographing some of the icons of the art, music, and film scenes of the '80's and 90's. Josh didn't visit this scene as an outsider but lived it (and still does) and the book shows it.
June 11 - NYC - London author Chris Salewicz had a book release party for his Joe Strummer biography 'The Ballad of Joe Strummer' at East Village bar Niagra.
June 11 - NYC - At Niagra, where Joe Strummer downed a few on occasion, Chris read excerpts from the book.
June 18 - NYC - Here I am with Ann Dexter Jones at the Caron Foundation Benefit. The evening honored Ann for her humanitarian work for the foundation. Sean Lennon performed at the event.
June 18 - NYC - Also on June 18th, I photographed the True Colors Concert at Radio City Music Hall. The headliners were Cyndi Lauper and Deborah Harry in the show supporting Gay Rights. Amanda Lepore got the evening off to a great start with a group of dancers doing an imitation of the famous Rockettes routines.
At the True Colors Concert Deborah Harry performed songs from her new album 'Necessary Evil ' that comes out on September 25, and as always, she looked great!
Cyndi Lauper really puts out a lot of feeling at her shows and her fans love her for it. She was full of energy and passion and played to the giant Radio City theater in a very personal touching way.
Margaret Cho, MC of the evening kept the house laughing between each of the many acts.
Beth Ditto, lead singer of the Gossip, brought the house down with her huge voice, and was a much talked about hit of the night.
Cyndi Lauper and Rosie O'Donnell give a big hug of thanks for getting it all together to tour Agent/Promoter, Jonny Podell.
June 19 - NYC - The White Stripes played a great show at Fillmore NYC @ Irving Plaza the same day as their new album 'Icky Thump' came out. It was cool for their fans to see them in the relatively small space.
July 1 - Sao Paulo - I went back to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the closing of my ROCKERS Exhibition., at FAAP University. It was packed full of visitors on the final days. In the six weeks the show was open more than 40,000 people came to see it!
Many people expressed to me how happy they were to visit my exhibit, and how much they enjoyed it. I was signing a lot of ROCKERS catalog books the whole day for a line of people that stretched out the door.
June 29 - Sao Paulo - While I was in Sao Paulo, I got to be a guest DJ again, this time at the popular CB club. My friend Supla watched me and told me I was pretty good.
I pointed out the "Ice Cream Man From Hell" logo on the back of Supla's t-shirt while he talked to Elizabeth and Linda. Later he took us to his mom's really nice beach house by the ocean.
Amanda Hart and her friends told me they liked my ROCKERS exhibit so much they visited several times and then came to see me DJ at CB's.
The featured band at CB's was the Big Nitrons. They were not only big but a very lively rockabilly band who had fun all night long.
June 29 - Sao Paulo - We went to the King 55 store run by Regina Endres and I got some of the best jeans I've ever worn. Tito Ficarelli, who designed my ROCKERS exhibition, designed this fabulous store, check it out!
July 2 - Sao Paulo - We were invited to a farewell lunch at the main house of FAAP university where we said a sad goodbye to the wonderful people who made my show possible.
July 1 - Sao Paulo - I had one more photo with the President of FAAP, Dr. Biaz and then it was back to the USA for me. What a wonderful experience this has been. I hope the exhibition will be presented again somewhere! Meanwhile, check out the ROCKERS book.
July 7 - NYC - Back home I relaxed from the trip and cought the Live Earth concert on TV. The band I enjoyed most was Nunatak, who played from Antarctica.
July 11 - NYC - World famous DJ Mark Ronson released his own solo CD and debuted on stage with a band at the Highline Ballroom. I said hi to him and bass player Stuart Zender backstage after the show.
Mark is having a very good year, with songs he produced for Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse, and now his own solo CD, high on the charts. Backstage at Highline Mark's mom, Ann Dexter Jones, catches up with her busy son.
July 12 - NYC - Suzanne Vega played songs from her new CD 'Beauty and Crime' on her birthday at Highline Ballroom. It was fun when friends brought her a cake onstage and sang "Happy Birthday".
Suzanne's new material sounds better than ever and she did some new versions of old favorites.
July 12 - NYC - Courtney Love took a break from recording to try out her new songs at the Hiro Ballroom in New York. She put on one real fast driving loud show.
Backstage Courtney took time to introduce her young band to a writer from Rolling Stone Magazine "I'm old enough to be the mother of each member of my band" she said. They may be young but they rocked!
Thanks to my friend Lyle Derek (who took this photo) we got treated real well at Hiro Ballroom and had a good seat with Miss Guy.
After Courtney's show we went with her to the Spotted Pig in the Village where we hung out with Jamie Burke of Bloody Social and VV (Alison Mosshart) of the Kills, a photographer herself!
July 17 - NYC - Designer and Rocker Michael H with his band at the Hilfiger Jam party at the Highline Ballroom.
Hot New York band Arckid were the center of attention at the Hilfiger Jam party.
DJ Cassidy Podel was the master of ceremonies at the Hilfiger Jam party.
The jam party closed with a group including NY Doll Steve Conte and his brother John, Chris Palmaro, Charley Drayton with Andy Hilfiger and his brother Michael H.
July 18 - NYC - DJ Miss Guy keeps the crowd dancing at the party for the 1st London Edge trade show in NYC at Don Hill's club.
Robert Gordon has the best voice in '50's style rock and he proved it once again at Don Hill's.
July 28 - NYC - My son Kris Gruen played a series of dates across the US with a band including his brother JJ on piano. They started the tour with a show opening for Sean Lennon at the Higher Ground club in Burlington, VT.
July 19 - NYC - The Sex Slave's Eric Sanchez took a break from recording their new album and stopped in at Otto's Shrunkin head to play a rare acoustic set.
July 24 - NYC - The White Stripes played at Madison Square Garden. Instead of the usual giant TV screen the band kept to their minimal roots and had a large red backdrop onto which their shadows were projected.
The White Stripes made the huge Madison Square Garden seem like an intimate room. I was very impressed that only two people could put out such a big sound.
Aug 1 - NYC - Vieux Farka Toure played at the Highline Ballroom (boy! I've been going to this new place a lot lately, but that's because they have some really cool shows!).
Vieux Farka Toure has a really interesting sound, mixing his African roots with a rock rhythm section.
