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Post by Fuggle on Sept 27, 2004 10:41:32 GMT -5
Doll Parts Though only two original New York Dolls remain, the glam band's reunion rages giddily on. BY J. POET The New York Dolls, back in the day. The New York Dolls play the Fillmore in SF Sunday, October 3. 8 p.m., $25. 415-346-6000 or The Fillmore.com "I'd been reading The Portable Jung," famed New York Dolls frontman David Johansen explains. "If you accept his theory of development, you take everything you've been doing and throw it all away every twelve years or so, to keep yourself interested in life. People who get into that 'Been there, done that' mindset are looking at life as a system that can be used up, but there's so much to know, so much to do, especially in music and the arts. The Jungian thing is to keep an open mind about things. I thought it would be fun to fool around with Syl and Arthur again, and I said, 'Okay, I'll do it.'" For a brief, shining moment that actually lasted three years ('71 to '74), the New York Dolls were the best rock 'n' roll band on the planet. Their two albums, New York Dolls and In Too Much Too Soon, still sound great, but they don't -- they can't -- measure up to the barely controlled chaos of their live gigs. Visually, they didn't invent glam, but they took it to its logical extremes. They were all beautiful boys (even without the makeup), but more importantly the Dolls were great rock musicians, able to generate a manic rush of energy at a volume that made Led Zep sound like new-age tinklers. Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain didn't play much lead, but the intermeshed roar of their guitars distilled a half-century of R&B, rock, and blues licks into a mighty noise ably supported by the volcanic bass of Arthur "Killer" Kane and the Keith Moon-like bashing of drummer Jerry Nolan. Johansen, meanwhile, wailed like an old blues belter, but he was drop-dead gorgeous and had moves that made Jagger, then in his early thirties, look like an old man. But like their NYC cousins the Velvet Underground, the Dolls were both hugely influential and too radical to last. Clashing egos, bad business decisions (including a disastrous management deal with Malcolm McLaren, who used the Dolls as the template for his own rock 'n' roll disaster, the Sex Pistols), and record company indifference led to an early downfall, just before the explosion of punk. Thunders and Nolan then formed the Heartbreakers, who managed some new wave street cred until Thunders' drug habit reduced him to a Keith Richards caricature and an early death in 1991. (Nolan died a year later.) Kane and Sylvain, meanwhile, maintained far lower profiles -- until Morrissey came calling. For rockers of a certain generation, the notion of a Dolls reunion was a tantalizing, if impossible, dream. Several years back Sylvain and Johansen were allegedly offered a million bucks to reform, but Johansen nixed the idea. Then along came Morrissey, who has often mentioned the Dolls as his inspiration for starting the Smiths. He was masterminding the 2004 edition of Meltdown, a yearly event sponsored by Britain's Royal Festival Hall that allows guest curators -- past honorees include David Bowie, Lee "Scratch" Perry, and BBC super-DJ John Peel -- to stage a two-week-long fantasy concert. "I got a call from Morrissey, who I converse with from time to time," Johansen recalls, bouncing from subject to subject like a jazz cat improvising on a theme. "He told me he was curator of this Meltdown thing. He wanted Liberace, but he was dead, so he asked me." Johansen cackles. "I didn't think we could do it without [Johnny], but he said people would dig it." For his part, Johansen, now all of 54 years old, never seems to rest. Currently he's doing time as a DJ on Sirius satellite radio with a show called The Mansion of Fun, beaming out a catholic menu of country, opera, world music, and rock. He's showing his paintings (which share the same mix of naive primitivism and realism as his music) at the Ricco/Maresca gallery in NYC. Furthermore, he sings with five different bands: Buster Poindexter's Big Dance Band, David Johansen and the Harry Smiths, the David Johansen Project, the All Star Howlin' Wolf Tribute Band, and, of course, the resurrected Dolls, who're enjoying more success now than they did in their heyday. That reunion is probably the biggest surprise, given Johansen's reputation for constantly moving forward, but as the old song (and, evidently, Jung) says, "Never say never." Johansen hastens to distance this Dolls recurrence -- which spread from Meltdown to a brief Europe-and-Japan jaunt, and now an even briefer sweep of California -- from the infamous reunion cash-grab cliché. "I don't play music for the money, as anyone who's followed my nefarious career knows," he says. "This was a literal reunion, like getting together with the old frat mates. The Dolls was like college for us, and we still have an almost familial bond. Everything that was fucked up about it doesn't matter; the bond is like blood." Even if the Dolls' intentions are good, there's still the danger of tainting the band's "legacy," such as it is. "A lot of people ask me how I feel about doing the old Dolls songs," Johansen admits. "And when I look back, the first time I started thinking about that was when I was walking up onto the stage. It all happened so fast -- the rehearsals, the trip to England -- that I never had a thought about doing the show. I just went up there and wailed into the mic, and it all came back to me. Paramahansa Yogananda has a saying: 'Every day can be the best day of your life.' And that's the way it turned out." Johansen says the biggest blessing, and the greatest curse, of the Meltdown reunion was playing with Kane, who died a month after the Meltdown gig. "When I met Art as a kid, he was a genius guy -- he saw things most people don't see," Johansen recalls. "He always knew what the Dolls should be. Playing with him when he wasn't on booze or anything was fantastic. I was looking forward to spending the summer with him and Syl. After [the Meltdown gig] he had this flu, and he couldn't make the next few gigs. He said he was sad he was letting us down, and I told him not to sweat it. He finally went into the hospital, was diagnosed with leukemia, and died later that night. It was a freak thing. I was in Italy, doing gigs with the Howlin' Wolf Tribute Band, and I was walking around the streets at night in total shock. For him, that last gig with us was so important; he probably wanted [the reunion] more than anybody. So for him it was a happy ending, but for me it was an emotional calamity. On the rest of the dates we did this summer -- Spain, Ireland, some British festivals -- we had a pretty good time, so it's been a mixture of triumph and tragedy, which is what the Dolls always were." The concerts have drawn rave reviews from critics, many praising the Dolls' still-palpable energy. Not too band for a bunch of geezers (well, okay, two geezers) approaching sixty. "Despite my misspent youth, I'm in the best shape of my life," Johansen says. "I'm constantly surprised by my endurance. I haven't put it to the test in a while, 'cause in the last band [the Harry Smiths, which explored the acoustic roots of American folk and blues] I was sitting on a stool with a guitar and a beard. Now I'm shaved -- except for some impressive muttonchops -- and jumping around on stage like a man two years younger than I am. Age is an odd thing. Turns out we're impervious to it. When I was a kid and looked at someone my age, he was likely to be a tired-looking, baldheaded father who wore a vest." For now, the Dolls' lineup is filled out by studio aces and members of Hanoi Rocks and the Harry Smiths. But what's next? More gigs? Another studio album? "There's a live CD and DVD coming out of the British gigs -- the rest we're thinking about," Johansen says. "After this summer, if we're all still moving to the same beat, we'll sit down and decide. I think, 'Why not make a record, then hit the festivals next summer?' We're having a lot of laughs, and there's an appreciation of the fact that every moment we're doing it, we're consciously aware of doing it. Quite a change from the first time around. I'm looking at it as a devotional practice. I have all my various icons in mind, and I'm trying to beam it up to them and have them bounce it back down to everyone. I'm not just tossing it out at the audience. I don't know if it's exactly spiritual, quote/unquote, but we all huddle before we go onstage and pray, although it can get pretty fuckin' profane. "We want to go out there and do something to lift everyone up," Johansen (finally) concludes. "We're not saying, 'Wish you were as cool as me.' It's more like, 'We're all in this together, let's have a ball.'
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Post by Izzy on Sept 30, 2004 4:57:34 GMT -5
How can you have a reunion, when there's no one left (hardly) to reunite??!
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Post by Fuggle on Sept 30, 2004 16:04:34 GMT -5
Dolls' new incarnation
INFLUENTIAL 1970S PUNK BAND REGROUPS FOR TOURBy Mark de la Viña<br>Mercury NewsThey were some of the greatest nose-thumbers in rock 'n' roll history. When the New York Dolls smeared on lipstick and rolled out their slap-dash brand of rock in the early '70s, they upped the glitter-rock ante. Though they were dismissed by some as freaky Gotham goofballs, their rollicking music mix, which borrowed from the Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground and Iggy and the Stooges, attracted a following and inspired acts as far-ranging as KISS, the Sex Pistols and a legion of '80s hair bands. The Dolls broke up in 1975 when the musicians wanted to pursue other projects. But nearly three decades later, the remnants of the Dolls re-formed this summer -- at the urging of former Smiths singer Morrissey -- to remind everyone that their music was no joke. With lead singer David Johansen (a.k.a. Buster Poindexter), Arthur Kane on bass and Sylvain Sylvain on guitar, the Dolls reunited in June for the Meltdown Festival in London. Though Kane died of leukemia in July, Johansen and Sylvain, augmented by a collection of musicians, are touring and attracting a new generation of admirers. Sylvain spoke to the Mercury News by phone about the reunion, the Dolls' legacy and the wonders of gold lamé.<br> Q A lot of people were surprised that you re-formed, because you had repeatedly been approached about getting back together, even after guitarist Johnny Thunders and your last drummer, Jerry Nolan, died in the early '90s. A Yeah, it took us only 29 years to get back together again! It's not your typical reunion. It goes way beyond music, even without Johnny and Jerry, who everyone thought would be impossible to replace. But instead of trying to replace anybody, we just sort of picked up the pieces and found new ones that fit in perfectly. Q What sold you on the reunion? A We never got back together before because we were really successful individually. Johnny was the hardest-working man in show business, second to James Brown. And the same thing with Johansen -- he had all his success with his movie career and the cabaret act. Because of him, it's now a staple to say ``Hot! Hot! Hot!'' And I had my own band, or I was producing. It wasn't that we got offered a stupid, ridiculous amount of money. That's not true. It was heart-wise and love-wise. I hate to use the ``L'' world, but that's what was really working so perfectly for us, and we never knew it was going to be Arthur's last show. Q What was so convincing about Morrissey's pitch? A It wasn't really Morrissey so much. It was just that right moment. Life will throw you some curves. Even when David was performing as Buster Poindexter and Sylvain was the Teardrops and Johnny Thunders was the Heartbreakers and Arthur Kane was the Corpse Grinders, we were still the New York Dolls. We were all one big family. We all thought this would be a beautiful thing. Q From what I heard about your first time back together, it was as if you had never stopped playing as a band. A When it finally did happen, we were running through a Shangri-Las song, ``Out in the Streets.'' You know, the one with the motorcycle. And Dave was late. So he comes into the room and just starts singing. After all these year of not being together, from the first moment, it was just about music. There's that line in the song, ``You don't hang around the gang anymore.'' Our band was like a gang. We were sort of the Little Rascals of rock 'n' roll. Q Did you bond because your outrageous image gave you an us-against-the-world feeling? A We were definitely hard pills, especially for America, to swallow. We might be more popular than ever, but I'm still not convinced that they actually get this. (He laughs.) Johansen graced our songs with incredible lyrics. He dared you to have sex with Frankenstein in ``Frankenstein,'' and we stood against the war with ``Vietnamese Baby.'' And we really said things that still speak to people. Combine that with invention of what they consider ground zero for punk, with the music and the guitars and everything, and you get the New York Dolls. Q Are you still performing in gold lamé these days? A I perform in whatever I put together. Like I've said, you bring everything on stage, anything and everything that you have. Q Maybe I should have asked if you own any gold lamé.<br> A I got an uncle in the business, and I can get it for you by the yard! New York Dolls Where: The Fillmore, 1805 Geary Blvd., San Francisco When: 8 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $25 Call: (408) 998-8497 or check www.ticketmaster.com
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Post by Fuggle on Sept 30, 2004 16:25:59 GMT -5
Personality Crisis The New York Dolls jet back to life
By Jim Harrington
FANS BEGGED the New York Dolls to regroup ever since the highly influential band called it quits in 1977. But obviously, not all fans are created equal. Morrissey, believe it or not, was once the president of the U.K. chapter of the New York Dolls fan club. So when he was named curator for the contemporary-music portion of the 2004 Meltdown Festival in London, the former Smiths frontman put in a call to his old favorite band. That's all it took for the New York Dolls to make like Chucky and return from the grave to play two nights at the festival. But that's not to say it was all child's play.
There was the little issue that the group hadn't performed together in nearly 30 years. On top of that, three members—guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummers Billy Murcia and Jerry Nolan—had died. Many say there simply can't be a Dolls reunion without Thunders. And then there wasn't a lot of time to get ready for a performance that would be fully documented—warts and all—on a new DVD and CD.
"We had one night of rehearsal (as a full band) and the next night was the show," said Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, who replaced Rick Rivets in 1972.
"You kind of hear it in the recording. It sounded pretty weird the first time we tried it out in rehearsal. But it all came together. There are some train wrecks, but it's rock & roll. If it is not like that, we are just reliving something old."
But reliving something old isn't necessarily a bad thing when the archives still sound as refreshingly raw and urgent as this band's early-'70s work. The good news solidly delivered on Morrissey Presents The Return of the New York Dolls: Live From the Royal Festival Hall 2004 is that this sounds like a band that isn't through carving its legend.
The new CD features Sylvain, vocalist David Johansen, bassist Arthur Kane and newcomers guitarist Steve Conte, keyboardist Brian Koonin and drummer Gary Powell covering such glam-meets-garage classics as "Looking for a Kiss," "Trash," "Jet Boy" and "Puss N' Boots" (which really should have been used on the Shrek 2 soundtrack). The result, both decadent and glorious, will sound very familiar to fans of the group's two legendary studio albums New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon.
Sadly, the Royal Festival Hall appearances would be Kane's last. The bassist, 55, died a few weeks after the concerts, due to complications from leukemia. Sammy Yaffa, one of the original members of New York Dolls-inspired Hanoi Rocks, is Kane's replacement, although Sylvain would detest the use of that term.
"There's no such thing as a replacement," he said. "But we filled those voids with the best people that we knew would fit in. I think we've got a smoking band. I think the choices we made were excellent."
On Sunday, the Dolls will play a gig at the Fillmore in San Francisco as part of a short, three-date West Coast tour. The current Dolls lineup includes veteran drummer Brian Delaney, taking over for Powell, who has picked up the sticks again with U.K. buzz-band the Libertines. In an interesting twist of fate, the Libertines will also be in town over the weekend, performing on Friday at the Fillmore.
"Go see them," advises Sylvain, who says that the last show to really blow him away was Hank Williams III. "I recommend the Libertines highly. They are the next generation."
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Post by Fuggle on Oct 3, 2004 7:56:46 GMT -5
NEW YORK DOLLS -- 8 p.m. Oct. 3. The Fillmore, 1805 Geary Blvd., San Francisco. (415) 421-TIXS.
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Post by Fuggle on Oct 3, 2004 12:16:06 GMT -5
New York Dolls still ready to rock --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big News Network.com Tuesday 28th September, 2004
Despite the death of yet another band member this year, the reunited New York Dolls may well soldier on.
We want to be sensible about this and not be hasty, says singer David Johansen. But we really are having a lot of fun. If we were having, say, the election tomorrow, I would say 'Yeah, let's make a record this winter and hit all the big festivals next year.'
Glammed-up punk precursors in the 70s, the Dolls reunited for the first time in 27 years in June to play England's Meltdown festival. The group played several other dates this year, and Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain continued on even after the July 13 death of bassist Arthur Killer Kane from complications related to leukemia. Kane was the fourth Doll to pass away.
The Dolls recently released a CD and DVD, both titled Pre-Crash Condition, from the Meltdown show.
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Post by Fuggle on Oct 3, 2004 12:48:37 GMT -5
Morrissey to Release New York Dolls CD and DVDby Chi Tung | 09.09.2004 The much-awaited performance by the New York Dolls at the 2004 Meltdown Festival in London will be captured in all its glory with both a CD and DVD, titled Morrissey Presents the Return of the New York Dolls: Live from Royal Festival Hall 2004. The equally iconoclastic Morrissey took great pains to arrange the festival lineup around the punk architects and the performance itself did not disappoint. Feature tunes included “Looking for a Kiss,” “Jet Boy,” and “Trash.” The show was also the final appearance for bassist Arthur "Killer" Kane, who passed away shortly thereafter due to cancer. The CD covers all the tracks highlighted in the set, while the DVD includes all kinds of bonus footage, including band interviews and rehearsals.
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Post by Fuggle on Oct 3, 2004 12:50:56 GMT -5
Morrissey Presents: THE RETURN OF THE NEW YORK DOLLS:Live from Royal Festival Hall 2004Before the Sex Pistols were shouting God Save the Queen, there were the New York Dolls. Before Guns n’ Roses were serenading their Sweet Child, there were the New York Dolls. Before Jack White claimed a Seven Nation Army couldn't hold him back, there were the New York Dolls. With stack heels, tight pants & smudged lipstick, the New York Dolls were absurd, gorgeous and cool. Injecting rock music with the attitude and sleaze it rightfully deserved, the New York Dolls crashed the party in 72', helped spark the punk rock movement – and needless to say, rock n’ roll hasn’t been the same since…<br> Thirty years down the line, and some tragedies later (guitarist Johnny Thunders, and drummer Jerry Nolan passed away in 1991) – the remaining New York Dolls reunited for 2004's Meltdown Festival in London. Morrissey, a lifelong Dolls fan and this year’s festival curator, personally arranged the entire festival around the New York Dolls reunion. Playing all the classic tunes, including “Looking for a Kiss,” “Jet Boy,” and Trash,” David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain, and Arthur "Killer" Kane rocked together, laughed together, and were greeted with flamboyant enthusiasm by fans and critics alike…Sadly, the show also proved to be the last for bassist Kane, who recently passed away due to cancer. Morrissey Presents the Return of the New York Dolls: Live from Royal Festival Hall 2004 documents this historic night on CD and DVD for everyone who missed it in person. While the CD highlights the set, the DVD features bonus materials including their sound check, live rehearsal footage, interviews with the band and other goodies. If you're a longtime fan, you know to expect nothing short of perfection from a performance that left the British music press with their jaws on the floor. If you’re only now catching on to the New York Dolls – Live from Royal Festival Hall 2004, with its stellar live performance on CD, and its all access pass on DVD, will truly amaze you. The writing is on the wall: Morrissey Presents The Return of the New York Dolls: Live from Royal Festival Hall 2004 is an insight into the guys who started it all…those ever so beautiful Dolls.
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Post by Fuggle on Oct 4, 2004 7:08:14 GMT -5
NEW GENERATION EMBRACES OLD DOLLTom LanhamDavid Johansen (second from left) has been the voice of the New York Dolls since the early 1970s. Photo by George ChinWhen spider-limbed, mastiff-throated showman David Johansen skittered onstage at Britain's annual Reading Festival in August, the crowd, some 50,000 strong, wasn't quite sure what to make of the apparition. They gaped, dumbfounded, as he tore into 30-year-old glam-punk anthems with his recently reunited band, the legendary New York Dolls, and puzzled as he paused to introduce its newest member -- Sam Yaffa from the equally historic (and Dolls-inspired) Hanoi Rocks. Sandwiched on the roster between hip U.K. upstarts Razorlight and the Libertines, the Dolls were a blast from the Yankee past that zoomed right over the heads of many viewers. And yet ... From the wings, featured artists like Franz Ferdinand and Japan's all- girl 5.6.7.8s watched avidly, rocking to the proto-punk beat and singing along with dusty Dolls classics like "Puss 'N' Boots," "Looking for a Kiss" and the signature "Personality Crisis." And as the 54-year-old Johansen -- patrolling the stage in a wild turquoise outfit and glammy shag haircut -- looked out on that sea of indifferent faces, something happened. "We got 'em -- I could actually see them turn," he cackles in the inimitable rasp that's colored his post-Dolls solo career as the outrageous Buster Poindexter and, more recently, as the acoustic guitar-strumming front man for the country blues combo David Johansen and the Harry Smiths. "I think the median age in that audience was, like, 14. And they were skeptical at first, for which, of course, you couldn't blame them. But you could tell by their expressions -- they look skeptical, then they start to loosen up a little bit and then they bounce. By the end of the gig, those kids weren't looking at us like we were old farts -- they were eating us up." All across the British and European festival circuit this summer, often opening for Detroit duo the White Stripes, the Dolls threw everyone for a time- warp loop. The Stripes' Jack White was reverent when he finally met the domo Doll. "He called me 'sir,' which was kind of embarrassing," Johansen sighs. "So I gave him a big hug and tried to put him at ease." Countless other stars genuflected at his altar on tour, he adds. "I met a lot of people, but I'm so behind the beat that I'm not quite certain who they were. But we've got a damn good band -- we got out there, and we got the job done." The original Dolls lineup (Johansen, guitarist Johnny Thunders, co-axman Syl Sylvain, drummer Billy Murcia and bassist Arthur 'Killer' Kane) coalesced in the early '70s on New York's Lower East Side and issued only two official studio albums for Mercury ("The New York Dolls" in '73; the aptly dubbed "Too Much Too Soon" in '74). Their look was drag-queen trashy, their sound glam- rock flashy. They paved the stylistic path for glam and punk rock, but imploded by the time the latter hit. Their mid-'70s manager, Malcolm McLaren, went on to exploit England's Sex Pistols. Johansen released a series of stellar solo sets for Blue Sky in the late '70s and early '80s before adopting his campy Poindexter persona. Other members didn't fare so well -- Murcia died during the band's 1972 tour of England; Thunders fatally overdosed in New Orleans in 1991; Murcia's replacement, Jerry Nolan, died of a stroke a few months after Thunders; and Kane succumbed to leukemia in July, on the eve of this reunion tour. The story of the Dolls' 2004 comeback is one of the strangest in modern rock. Johansen received a call from the former president of the New York Dolls English Fan Club, inviting him to regroup the Dolls for a two-night June performance at the prestigious Meltdown Festival in London. At first, Johansen said no dice, and asked his benefactor if he would dare to put his old group together. And after thinking about it, Morrissey -- that's right, that long-ago fan club president was Morrissey -- agreed: He'd never attempt to rekindle the defunct Smiths. But Morrissey got his way after all. Johansen says he had been going through a "Jungian stages-of-life thing, where I decided that I'd been dismissing too many things out of hand. Like, 'Well, I've been there, done that, what do I care?' So, long before Morrissey called, I'd decided to work on that, because if you stay like that you become bitter and frustrated. I thought I'd try to look at things from a fresh perspective." So Johansen, Kane and Sylvain -- aided by the Harry Smiths' Brian Koonin on keyboards and the Libertines' Gary Powell on drums -- convened for two stellar nights in England, captured on rollicking CD and DVD as "Pre-Crash Condition: Live From the Royal Festival Hall" (Sanctuary). Then Kane died. Johansen enjoys reminiscing about the Dolls, recounting the four-star rave reviews their early outings received from highbrow Downbeat Magazine and scoffing at all the journalists who casually dismissed them as drag queens and junkies. "Now I don't care what anybody says," he says. "If you don't like us, you're unsophisticated musically." Onstage, lithe and limber from weekly Qi Gong classes, Johansen's still got it. And the New York Dolls sound positively ageless. "Arthur (Kane) got us into this, so every night before we go out, we do this huddle and say this kind of sacrilegious prayer," says Johansen, who hopes to record a new Dolls studio disc this winter. "And what we say is, we want to beam this stuff up, then whoever's up there can beam it down to the audience so we're all on the same wavelength. And we're goons, totally ready to make fools out of ourselves, because rock 'n' roll is, by definition silly. So we're silly, too, and all we really want to do is just give the audience some joy." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK DOLLS perform at 8 tonight at the Fillmore, 1805 Geary Blvd., San Francisco. $25. (415) 346-6000, www.bgp.com, www.ticketmaster.com.
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Post by Fuggle on Oct 4, 2004 15:41:30 GMT -5
Concert Review: New York Dolls
By Darryl Morden
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The New York Dolls' show began in solemn fashion, with a prerecorded dedication from frontman David Johansen to the band's late bassist Arthur "Killer" Kane, who died in July.
Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain then came onstage with the reconstituted group's younger players, kicked into "Looking for a Kiss," and were out the gate, rocking tough for the next 90 minutes.
Some 30 years ago, the Dolls' ramshackle style would inspire the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and many more. While the band is hardly underground now, they still sounded more rough 'n' tumble than many of today's overly slick third- and fourth-generation punkers.
The sold-out show was the first of three area dates over the weekend (the group also played Friday and Saturday at the House of Blues in Anaheim). The band is bigger now than it ever was in its heyday, drawing every real and wanna-be rocker in town. Old fans and friends came out of the woodwork, along with young ones who weren't even born when the Dolls first surfaced.
The set order was similar to what is heard on the group's upcoming Sanctuary Records live CD and DVD releases, taken from its historic reunion performance in June at Morrissey's Meltdown Festival in London. There were plenty of near-reckless sticks of sonic dynamite like "Pills," with the audience shouting back its "rock 'n' roll nurse" chorus. Sylvain said the stomping "Frankenstein" was for "that bastard in the White House."
With his hair long again, the lanky, strutting Johansen wasn't his typically chatty self full of Noo Yawk lip; the banter between him and Sylvain was minimal.
A cover of Big Brother and the Holding Company's "Piece of My Heart" turned into an opportunity for audience call and response. Later, a version of the Shangri-Las' "Out in the Street" rose up in all its big-beat, melodramatic, girl-group glory.
The night's most heartrending moment came with the ballad "Lonely Planet Boy," which Sylvain dedicated to the band's dearly departed: guitarist Johnny Thunders, Kane and drummers Jerry Nolan and Billy Murcia. Sylvain and Johansen came together at the microphone during the first chorus to slip in a bittersweet verse and chorus from Thunders' song "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory."
The final gauntlet of numbers delivered knock-out blows, especially in extended workouts on "Jet Boy" and on "Personality Crisis," the closest the band ever really came to a hit.
In a nice payback touch, the group was introduced by longtime L.A. music scenester Rodney Bingenheimer, who made Dolls records a staple back in the day at his 1970s L.A. club the English Disco.
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Post by Fuggle on Oct 6, 2004 7:58:40 GMT -5
Dolls paved way for punk, grunge
By Jim Harrington - CONTRIBUTOR
THE New York Dolls' David Johansen cracked open a small bottle of St. John's Wort, took a big swig, and then made a joke about being depressed. The crowd didn't get the punch line and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain let him know it. "I don't want them to laugh," Johansen replied defiantly. "Every time they don't laugh, it makes me stronger."
A similar statement could be made about his band's career. It seems as if every time someone didn't buy one of the Dolls' records, it only made the band's legend grow mightier.
Much like with the Velvet Underground, the legacy of the New York Dolls is not measured in records sold but in bands influenced. Just about every heavy metal act, garage band and punk group of the last 30 years owes some debt of gratitude to the Dolls. For better or worse, the Dolls paved the way for KISS, Aerosmith, the Sex Pistols and countless others.
That's why the Dolls' music, most of which was originally recorded during a brief two-album span in the early 1970s, still seemed so fresh and modern Sunday night at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Although the Dolls originally called it quits in 1977, their sound never really went away. It's just been regurgitated by the likes of Guns N' Roses and the White Stripes for new generations to hear.
Fittingly, fans that have been pining for the Dolls to regroup can thank one of their own for the reunion. Morrissey, believe it or not, was once the president of the UK chapter of the New York Dolls fan club. So when he was named curator for the contemporary music portion of the 2004 Meltdown Festival in London, the former Smiths frontman put in a call to his old favorite band.
Of course, there were some major obstacles, not the least of which was that three of the band's members -- guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummers Billy Murcia and Jerry Nolan -- had died. Those still with us hadn't played together in nearly 30 years.
Yet the Dolls agreed, enlisted some new members, and the result can be seen and heard on the new DVD and CD, "Morrissey Presents The Return of the New York Dolls: Live from Royal Festival Hall 2004."
Unfortunately, these London dates proved to be the last for Arthur "Killer" Kane. The 55-year-old bassist died a few weeks after the concerts of complications from leukemia.
The Dolls dedicated the Fillmore show to "Killer" and it proved to be both a fond farewell to an old friend and a resounding return to form for one of rock's most legendary bands.
Led by an animated Johansen, the 21st-century Dolls -- which also includes longtime band member Sylvain and guitarist Steve Conte, keyboardist Brian Koonin, bassist Sammy Yaffa and drummer Brian Delaney -- jump-started the show with a smoking "Looking for a Kiss" and never let up on the accelerator for 18 songs in 100 minutes.
Although Johansen rightfully draws the most attention, Conte was the guy who would make or break this show. Filling in for Thunders is a tall task, yet this expert ax-man continually rose to the occasion and delivered extremely forceful leads on "Puss 'N' Boots," "Subway Train" and "Frankenstein."
The band pulled out a few covers, including a decadent version of Janis Joplin's signature "Piece of My Heart." It was an appropriate choice given the Dolls were playing Joplin's adopted hometown. It was even more appropriate given that Pink, who has the starring role in an upcoming Joplin biopic, was in attendance, chilling out with few friends in one of the Fillmore's private booths. And, yes, Pink did seem to like the show.
What's not to like? Although the players have obviously mellowed over the years, given that the new drink of choice seems to be St. John's Wort, the Dolls still conjure up a tangible sense of drunken-esque debauchery.
A great example came during "Pills" when Sylvain held his guitar like a machine gun and fired off imaginary rounds at Johansen. The singer, in turn, took the bullets and went flying into the keyboards and drums, knocking over equipment and laying "wounded" on stage.
Sure, they're the type of campy theatrics that recall a "Saturday Night Live" skit. And they're also a lot of fun.
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Post by Fuggle on Oct 6, 2004 8:23:15 GMT -5
New York Dolls get the love they deserve, at last, at FillmoreTuesday, October 5, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a smash-up rendition of "Frankenstein" on Sunday at the Fillmore, New York Dolls vocalist David Johanson called time-out to take a swig from a small glass bottle. "I'm taking St. John's Wort," he informed the packed, generation-spanning crowd in his inimitable New Yawk drawl. "I have a good reason. I am so f -- depressed it's not f -- funny." Tossing the bottle aside, he and his Dolls' co-founder, guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, led their reconstituted band into an inspired cover of the Shangri- La's "Out in the Street." There it was, the Dolls' legacy in a snapshot: Monstrous alienation, chemical depression and rock tradition taken to new levels of campy brilliance. On the one hand, Johanson has every reason to be depressed. In July, shortly after Morrissey cajoled the three surviving Dolls to reunite for their first show in nearly 30 years, bassist Arthur "Killer" Kane died of leukemia. He joined a roster of Dolls lost to illness and excess: original drummer Billy Murcia (who died in 1972); guitarist Johnny Thunders (1991); and drummer Jerry Nolan (1992). On the other hand, this reunion tour is sweet, delayed vindication for a group that was proto-everything, setting the stage for '70s punk, '80s glam metal and much of the neo-garage movement. They were overlooked and even reviled in their time; now they're canonized. They deserve to be, and not just for being groundbreakers. The New York Dolls were, pure and simple, a great rock 'n' roll band. Incredibly, they still are. Opening with one signature track, "Looking for a Kiss," the new New York Dolls roared through 100 minutes of attitudinal music that included most of their first album, selections from their second (including "Puss 'N' Boots," "Who Are the Mystery Girls" and "Babylon") and a handful of cover songs (including Memphis Minnie's "In My Girlish Days"). Clad in belly-baring T-shirts, jeans and flowing scarves, Johanson belied his 54 years with a saucy strut and growling vocals that still combine gristle and sass. Sylvain was a diminutive ball of energy, whether riffing on his guitars or firing off shots of borscht-belt shtick. The band's new members, of a generation that inherited the Dolls' legacy by imitation and osmosis, competently played their roles. Bassist Sam Yaffa stayed on the sidelines; but then, so did Kane, in his time. Drummer Brian Delaney maintained an equally low profile and a ferocious beat, and auxiliary keyboardist Brian Koonin added musical flourish and a visual kink in his suit and bowler hat. Standing in for Johnny Thunders, guitarist Steve Conte had the biggest shoes to fill. Like Keith Richards, Thunders was an archetypal rock figure whose influence continues in everything from dirty guitar techniques to de rigueur rock coifs. Conte couldn't be Thunders -- who could? -- but he played well with Sylvain and held down his licks on pugnacious classics like "Pills" and "Vietnamese Baby." A reggae-inflected version of Big Brother & the Holding Company's "Piece of My Heart" was followed by a Thunders tribute, beginning with a snippet from his solo number "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" and culminating in the wistful "Lonely Planet Boy." The Dolls wrapped their set with a euphoric triple-header of "Trash," "Jet Boy" and the quintessential Dolls song, "Personality Crisis." "How do you like the band?" Sylvain asked cheering fans as the group returned to the stage for a sing-along encore of "Human Being." "You think we got a future?" Speaking as someone who saw the original Dolls in 1973, the answer is simple: Hell, yeah. And about time.
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Post by Fuggle on Oct 12, 2004 16:41:38 GMT -5
FastLane Records To Release 'Jetboys Of Babylon' a Tribute To the New York Dolls
FastLane Records/CD Smash Records New York Dolls tribute FLR/CSR are finishing up the audio portion of The New York Dolls tribute titled 'Jetboys Of Babylon'. The audio tracks have turned out unbelievable and really give a modern feel to the old classics, we feel this tribute captures the vibe, swagger and energy of the Dolls. Avid New York Dolls fan will lbe impressed by these classics made new again. Were hoping these new versions will help turn a new generation of music fans into New York Dolls fans. We were fortunate to obtain David Johansen to re-record his classic 'Babylon' with Frankenstein 3000, before he took off to England for the first ever, New York Dolls reunion in 25 years. Other great bands on the tribute include: Flipp w/ Steve Jones, Dogs D'Amour, The Alarm, Blackbird, Slow Motorcade, Killingbird, R50, American Anthem and many more.
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Post by Fuggle on Nov 1, 2004 13:17:56 GMT -5
Return of the New York Dolls
ROBIN SCHROFFEL, SPECIAL TO THE EDMONTON SUN
MORRISSEY PRESENTS: THE RETURN OF THE NEW YORK DOLLS LIVE FROM ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, 2004 The New York Dolls
Attack Records/Sanctuary
4 out of 5
It's kind of bizarre if you think about it - Spin magazine's Mark Spitz released How Soon is Never? in September 2003, a fictional account of a music writer trying in vain to reunite his heroes, the Smiths.
Meanwhile, in the real world, the Smiths' elusive frontman, Morrissey, recently used his considerable pull to stage a reunion of his own childhood heroes, the New York Dolls, whose U.K. fan club he was president of in his youth. His ploy worked, of course, and the impressive results are now available on CD for all us fans who couldn't make it to the Royal Festival Hall this past June. Lacking two key members - RIP drummer Jerry Nolan and guitar god Johnny Thunders - and with nearly a quarter of a century since they last shared the stage, the Dolls sound ... well, completely amazing. Original members David Johansen, Syl Sylvain, and Arthur Kane are joined by Libertines drummer Gary Powell and guitarist Izzy Stradlin of Guns 'N Roses fame to crank out the hits - Looking For A Kiss, Frankenstein, Private World, Trash and Personality Crisis. Tons of onstage banter was left intact, creating a fun, intimate vibe, and Stradlin does remarkably well with his impossible task of filling Thunders's shoes. The live album is also an important document - bassist Arthur Kane passed away only a month after this show.
David Johansen and Syl Sylvain carry on ... and apparently, sound incredible.
This is proof that G Unit is more than just one hot MC!
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Post by Fuggle on Dec 13, 2004 15:00:24 GMT -5
NEW YORK DOLLS Frontman Talks To NPR's TERRY GROSS
Audio Available - Dec. 8, 2004 On Tuesday (Dec. 7), NEW YORK DOLLS frontman David Johansen spoke to Terry Gross, host of "Fresh Air", WHYY's national weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, about the group's early years and their decision to reunite for a tour and live album, among other topics. Listen to the 40-minute interview in Windows Media format at this location.
NEW YORK DOLLS recently released their first-ever live album, "Morrissey Presents: The Return of the New York Dolls - Live From Royal Festival Hall, 2004", via Morrissey's Attack label. The CD and accompanying DVD were recorded at the band's June show at the London venue as part of the Meltdown Festival.
The CD consists exclusively of DOLLS songs, while the DVD features such covers as JANIS JOPLIN's "Piece of My Heart", the SHANGRI-LAS' "Out in the Streets" and MEMPHIS MINNIE's "In My Girlish Days".
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