PUNK MAGAZINE #21 (not a fanzine anymore either!)

Some bloggers might wanna "run out and immediately buy the latest issue of UGLY THINGS" only to damn the entire proceedings with faint praise (and with praise from the likes of a total dweeboid like Dave "Don't you dare think I'm that guy who ran Dog Meat records!" Lang who needs criticism?), but it seems that as of late I've been taking my time latching onto a flesh and pulp copy of the latest issue of that esteemed publication for which I used to write before being shown the carpet by one Mr. Michael Stax. (And so what...I mean, it's his fishwrap!) It's not that I hate that once-fanzine 'r anything like that...in fact I gotta say that I LOVE the mag even with all of those "detailed" rock "histories" that Mr. Lang and his spiritual butt brother Jay "Do I look all-encompassing enough to you???" Hinman seem to despise, but reading any issue of UGLY THINGS with all of its detail and devotion to exact minutae regarding rock & roll groups of fifties, sixties and seventies vintages kinda makes me squirm especially when looking at some of my own crudzine endeavors which I may love just like a mother loves her child no matter how deformed in the womb it may be, but that don't mean a thing to the rocker out there wanting to read more about his fave rave act and wants it in a full-color cover t' boot! So alas, I'll have to wait until I get my composure together enough to send a few bux to Stax (y'see, I used to be on the mailing list and get FREE issues being such an important fanzine editurd and all, but since my crudzoid has more or less been zonked straight into Quinlanland I explicitly told Stax to take my name off his freebie list because it ain't like he's gonna be receiving anything in exchange for his rags until at least 2019), but until then at least I have the latest issue of PUNK to rah rah about, and boy is this just what the cat's pajamas dragged in especially when it comes to REVIVING PAST INDISCRETIONS FOR A TIRESOME PSEUDO-BOHO PRESENT!!!!!

This latest (#21) is no slouch either when it comes to sating three-decade-old throb cravings with (get this!) a tribute to the recently fallen club of New York City fame known as CBGB. You may have heard about this place somewhere before, and no, it didn't actually "fall" just like fellow En Why See hangout the Mercer Arts Center literally did (which you can read all about on page eleven), but from what I've been told it was a really swinging place which had this strange policy (along with friendly rival Max's Kansas City) of booking only original music bands, or at least acts that had a majority of original music in their repertoire! Not exactly the smartest thing for a mid-seventies rock dive to do if they wanted to carve a little success and monetary reward, but with CB's it worked and what's more but the place thrived as a money-making endeavor more/less at least until last year when the Blue Meanies finally had their way and shut that Bowery dive down for good!

'n it's a pretty retro issue as well, not only in subject matter (after all, PUNK, in order to survive, HAS to cater to the seventies p-rock mindset or else flop the way various eighties/nineties weak imitations did) but in style and grace! If anything, this 'un comes off more like an old issue of ROCK SCENE not only with all the photos of everyone from Iggy and Dickie Hell to the Dead Boys chumming it up together for either Bob Gruen or Leee Black Childers but with the layout and smart choice of interview subject matter. Sesu Coleman from the wonderful Magic Tramps gets to tell us their story since the Tramps were technically the first act to play CBGB (back when it opened as Hilly's on the Bowery) and yeah, it's yet another one of those self-plug type chit-chats but don't go sayin' that BLACK TO COMM didn't have its fair share of exactly those! If it's interesting and informative I gotta say all the better, and so what if the thing ends up as a big plug for whatever bands' website or new Cee-Dee release because THESE GUYS NEED IT!, and they sure need it a lot more'n the usual piddly-poo little boy thinking he's making a big statement out there!!!!! Richard Lloyd gets to talk about how he helped in the development of the new NYC scene as part of Television, while Jayne County even gets to put in her two centavos which is strange not only because back in the day the likes of PUNK editor John Holmstrom was firmly planted in the pro-Dics portion of the great Manitoba/County kerfuffle but sheesh, County got to blab enough in the previous issue awlready which I duly noted in my own review less'n three months back! And yeah, the eighties to present stuff is here and is interesting enough (I esp. liked the piece on the Tompkins Square Riots which kinda surprises me because that certainly was cheap VILLAGE VOICE radical fodder that I'm sure sold papers amongst the radically inclined in villages and bathhouses nation-wide), but I'll read about the Bad Brains and Cro-Mags even though I don't have as much as a bright-spot in my heart o' hearts for 'em as I do for the more seventies variety o' things (though I still will give the Brains their much-needed dues despite some of the more asinine comments that came outta their rastafazoolian mouths back in the day).

But it's all a real gas and yeah, it brings back memories...of combing through magazine racks and buying records on whims and perusing the (really!) VILLAGE VOICE music section and club listings before that all because a gross embarrassment because frankly, that's about as far as me and a few thou other away-from-it-all people stuck in Podunk got to experience the thang. But even that far from the source it sure seemed like something more attuned to MY sorta sense of Growing Up Amerigan and I gotta thank not only PUNK and Holmstrom for bringing it all back but the Magic Tramps, Heartbreakers, Richard Lloyd, Suicide, Helen Wheels, Lenny Kaye and the rest for going out at DOING IT so's bored anal retentive people like myself'd have something more to look forward to as far as experiencing rock as that International Youth Language it was s'posed to be. And with a dime maybe I can get a cup of coffee, but back in the day it sure seemed a lot!

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BLONDIE - return to the great music of the original pioneers of the style new wave punk .Chris {Stein} comes from the School Of Visual Arts, to become a professional photographer. Elda Gentile and her trio PURE GARBAGE, hinted that she could help.Her perseverance was fast, and renamed the group "STILLETTOES". And what about Stein? He was playing with "THE MAGIC TRAMPS", {successfully playing guitar} and once Elda Gentile invited him to a concert {STILLETTOS}. Then Debbie and Chris for the first time played with each other, but wanted to know if they were destined after - as Elda gave the go-ahead for Chris Stein to join the STILETTOES. Chris and Debbie suddenly felt a strong attraction to each other,The name changed to BLONDIE.
Source: zvezdi.ru

Ron Ross, Phonograph Record, November 1972:
THE APPLE'S BEEN a teeming teen-town lately, what with the Dolls, Teenage Lust, Eric Emerson's Magic Tramps, and Ruby and the Rednecks shaking it down at word-of-mouth dances and up and coming moloko bars like the Mercer Arts Center.

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Magic Tramps named as one of "The Ten Best Not Really Famous Bands" on Yahoo.

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Ade Blackburn Clinic
Top Ten Albums of 2006:
#9 Magic Tramps: Bootleg—Totally overlooked, yet genius manipulation of 12 bar/rare boogie. Perfect for dancing.

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Click for Photos

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Factory Craze - A Week of Warhol
2/19/07 - 2/23/07
Click for Photos from the Event!

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Max's Kansas City's 40th Anniversary
A Celebration of the Arts

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70's INVASION INTERVIEW
IN MID AUGUST '06 WE DID AN INTERVIEW WITH SESU OF THE MAGIC TRAMPS, HERE IT IS ( posted aug. 25th )

70's inv. mgmt.

Sesu I think The MAGIC TRAMPS had some great music at the right time with the threads to match and help to start the glam scene in the underground as some say, the 1st part - experimental, mood music although completely different to what followed was the natural predecessor to the hard 70's glam that followed, somewhere along the lines in the early 70's someone somewhere picked up makeup and started adding theatrics to the stage,

SESU ~

As far as the make-up time line all I know is when we returned to NYC {2-71} The bands that were around were the "Fuggs" etc. {no Dolls-Kiss-Blondie-etc.} I remember running into the Dolls individuals in the lower East Side neighborhood daily. Yes we all wore platforms but don't recall seeing make-up.

More fem clothes than anything. We were pretty colorful. I never went out of the house without Glitter on. {Image was important to us } Not a knock but Kiss {Wicked Lester} was wearing flannel shirts with beards when they played with us at the Coventry.

I simply think we had an inside track being in the Warhol scene & theater & when we re-opened Max's-Mercer Arts Center-& CBGB's {that's another - who's first to play CBGB's but as you see our flyer on our web site "Grand Opening at Hilly's On The Bowery" {CBGB} & built the simple first stage. I don't recall all the Glitter - Glam bands being there already.Bands were starting to form in a short period at that time.The Dolls formed a few months after & opened for us at the Mercer Arts Center. Patti Smith opened for us reading poetry. The rest is history.So- It's all good & everyone felt that was the look to follow but the theatrical people were all made up & decked out - but I don't recall any in bands.

Jayne County & The Miamis were into theater rock also. Great shows. Ruby & The Rednecks also combined theater & music - Then we worked with Suicide. So as you see it was a very experimental point in time for NYC music. {We also backed up Warhol superstars like Jackie Curtis-Geri Miller etc.}

Things did happen fast as we played Max's @ first it was a Warhol showcase & it continued into Caberat then rock & then combined the two. {Wonder where Buster Poindexter got the Cabaret concept?}

Then bands started forming Theater Warhol style - Glitter-Glam - Punk. After Max's the Warhol crowd & the look followed the music to other clubs & started finding their own image & sounds.

So everyone was first ? I just know what it was like trying to find White face at Clowns stores . Glitter at art supply stores . I streaked my own hair 6-8 colors with supplies from art stores. Looked for women's shoe stores for platforms - {I don't recall running into other musicians in any of these places.} Wearing nail polish doesn't make you a Glam Rocker.

70's inv mgmt ~

Interesting....... IN L. A. FRIENDS OF DOLLS CALLED

- SHADY LADY - WORE MAKEUP AND HAD A GREAT GLAM/PRE - GLAM SOUND AND THIS WAS IN '71, Their singer's site is at ~

http://www.myspace.com/shadyladyrocks\

SESU ~

In 68-69-70 we had a club on Sunset Blvd. in LA & we were the house band so we were into it then. That's where Eric {Emerson} joined us. We were working with "Alice Cooper' - members of the "Mother's Of Invention" - etc. Doing a lot of Indian {Native American} benefits. I'm not saying we invented make-up only that in the early NYC scene we were a huge influence on image & theater & music bands starting. After Max's & Mercer collapse - CBGB's on the Bowery at that time was a Hell's Angel's' haunt. This started the street punk sound with the Ramones - original Blondie - Suicide - etc. The whole early 70's scene was interesting. It was like standing on the corner alone in NYC all glammed up, Then the subway stops & you're suddenly surrounded with bands with make-up & hi heels & nail polish saying "Hey I've got a band too." I do think that time was a necessary evolution for music & fashion.

70's inv. mgmt

Great that all these small 70's bands that never got releases are finally getting released 30 yrs after the fact, The HARLOTS of 42'nd St single of ' 74 'Cool Dude and Foxy Lady/Spray Paint Bandit' is BRILLIANT ! and the DORIAN LP is a good one, part LOU REED influence, part N. Y. underground, it was called 'Silver String Marionette' released ' 74, ( see Dorian member interview below )

Sesu

( In reference to Timothy Jackson's write up on his band Sweet Dirt / Dorian )

I did read the letter from Tim Jackson It was quite accurate. We got into theater immediately with Eric & the Warhol scene. & yes- Bowie was at the Mercer Arts Center checking everyone out also. Paul Morrissey Andy's assistant & film maker said Rock wouldn't fly in NYC , that caberet was the way to go. That's when we created a cabaret & rock show for different audiences & eventually merged into theater rock & I wore white face glitter fearthers etc same with Eric {he liked gold face}. We worked some off- Broadway shows with "Jackie Curtis" Superstar {Vain Victory} Bette Middler shows at the Continental Baths-etc. I played drums with Elvis Presley's piano player at Warhol's Factory in Union Square for a sound bite for a Warhol film-all sorts of theater which became a look & sound "Glitter"-"Glam"- I had to get my white face make up {Pre-Kiss} @ a "clown shop" It wasn't a common thing. I personally think that got the "Glitter Rock" title going in NYC.

Some bands copied the look Some looked good but the music stayed the same, & some looked like they were out of place with the make up & satin garb. I think we looked pretty natural.{We didn't know any better} Enough so that Salvador Dali asked Andy Warhol to meet us @ the Saint Regis hotel after we shot a "dream scene" in a French film. It was great. { Injun' Fender }When we turned down Sire Records to be their first American band - they signed the Ramones - the rest is history. Thanks Alan-keep up the good work.

70s inv mgmt. ~

( Somewhere I can imagine a scene in N.y. where clowns are coming in and out of clown shops buying face paint, did such 'Clown Shops' really exist ? )

Thanks for the interview and all the letters, Tramps keep on riding the rails !

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DORIAN

Dorian were a 70s glam band who had a PRETTY GOOD lp release in ' 74, the lp opens with what sounds like a band going for an all-time low with 'MEN's ROOM' with rapid fire guitar work, fit well with the scene of '74 as many bands were trying for an alltime low, 'DESTINATION NOWHERE' is the 2nd #, it has a LOU REED influence say from his '73 - '74 era, we'll eventually review the whole lp, for now here is an interview ( part of ) we did from july - aug '06 with member TIMOTHY A. JACKSON

70s inv. mgmt.

Hey, got yer lp in july '06, thumbs up ! interested to know details of the band ?

In 1973-74, Dorian and I were in a band called SWEET DIRT, that played the same places as the Dolls and The Magic Tramps. At the time, glitter, the metallic dust that you can buy in art supply stores, was used in vast quantities in campy stage productions like "The Angels of Light", "The Theatre of the Ridiculous", etc. Eric Emerson, of the Magic Tramps, used it as makeup and decoration, as did the rest of that band. We played many gigs in places with the Dolls and the Tramps, and because we were close with Eric, we all started wearing glitter. Variety dubbed all of us "Glitter Rock" bands. I remember that Rags, and Teenage Lust also played these same gigs. Dorian occasionally got over to the UK during this time, and may have had some contact with UK glam bands, but we saw our "glitter rock" as a New York original. A lot of UK people, like David Bowie, Mick Jagger, etc. were hanging around our scene. Sweet Dirt was negotiating a recording contract with RCA, and one of our barganing chips was the tapes Dorian had in the can that later became that LP. Needless to say, we had a lot of experience and RCA was dismayed to find that we were not people who could be manipulated or exploited, so the contract did not go anywhere, and Dorian and I were soon set free to form another "glitter rock" band called Zero....

{ continued on web site...}

Posted on: May 13, 2006
I saw the Mojo article on the New York Dolls, they refer to Eric Emerson & the Magic Tramps. I thought it must be THAT Eric Emerson, and of course it was. Some digging reveals:

Sesu Coleman on drums -Native American look & sound feathers & face paint..with a primal rhythmic sound (primal rhythms - sound familiar?)

Lary Chaplan-electric violin-a classically trained mystro- with a Middle Ages sound (Classically trained violin - sound familiar?)

Eric completed the line-up with guitarist Young Blood, a neon space man with melodic rhythms & a black light stage (?)

Just wondering if anyone here has heard them - any VU comparisons?

Posted on: May 21, 2006
Just wondering if anyone here has heard them - any VU comparisons?

Have not heard anything by them. There is a Magic Tramps website; www.magictramps.com, appropriately enough. There is a CD available, "Kickin' Up Moonlight Dust" which can be ordered through CD Baby. Chris Stigliano gave it a good write up on his Blog2Comm site a few months back.

Posted on: May 26, 2006
re: http://www.magictramps.com

Cheers - That is a good site. Sound clips too! The music does have a certain VU 'something...' I like the track that plays on the LINK page. Certainly worth checking out. Sorry for going a bit off topic here folk.

Kickin' Up Moonlight Dust Review
Jade Blackmore
October 4, 2006

Sesu Coleman Hangin with Steve Conte (Guitarist for the NY Dolls)

Eric Emerson
(Photo: Making Tracks: The Rise of Blondie)

Sesu Coleman, the drummer for the Magic Tramps - the band that Eric Emerson sang with - has trademarked a record label called Moonlight Dust Music. Among the projects he is working on is a CD that includes Eric Emerson performing at the Mercer Arts Centre with the band, singing a song called "Lonesome Cowboys" (not used in Andy Warhol's film Lonesome Cowboys) and introducing Warhol stars Jane Forth and Ingrid Superstar. Sesu also has a recording of Geri Miller singing "Mama, Look At Me Now" (the song that she sang in Trash) which he may be releasing as a CD single. Other rarities include Eric doing a duet with a woman (probably Jane Forth) - singing an after hours song called "I Adore You." Among the options that Sesu is pursuing with the recordings is possibly looking for a record label to distribute the Tramps music and/or compiling a CD of songs by various Warhol stars (Eric, Geri, Holly Woodlawn, Jackie Curtis etc...).

Blog To Comm Website Review: MagicTramps.com
by Christopher - January 8, 2006

BEST OF '05
BLOG TO COMM Saturday, December 31, 2005:

BEST ARCHIVAL DIG OF THE YEAR-By this I mean an item which has material never before unleashed upon an unsuspecting rockism audience. This year's award goes to The Magic Tramps' KICKING UP MOONLIGHT DUST (www.magictramps.com), a more than complimentary collection of this infamous yet way undocumented New York proto-punk group that featured Warhol star Eric Emerson on most of the lead vocals.

70s invasion N.y. 70s Glam Rock ; The MAGIC TRAMPS
ALAN - 70'S INVASION - 2006
http://www.angelfire.com/planet/desykes/MagicTramps.html

THE MAGIC TRAMPS played some GREAT raw rock music in the early -mid 70's in the N.Y. underground, playing with folks like the N.Y. DOLLS, RUBY and the REDNECKS, HARLOTS OF 42'nd STREET  and others.

Feature on Rave Up Records
March 2006

Kickin' Up Moonlight Dust Review
Steve Hann of Pretty Poison
February 13, 2006

Kickin' Up Moonlight Dust Review
Strutter'Zine Online Magazine
November 22, 2005

Kickin' Up Moonlight Dust CD Review from CDBaby Customers
2005-2006

Great Undiscovered Music of The 1970s
Article By Alan of '70s Invasion Website
December 20, 2005

"Kickin' Up Moonlight Dust Review"
Article By Alan of '70s Invasion Website
December 23, 2005

MAGIC TRAMPS - Kickin' Up Moonlight Dust:
by Ginger Coyote, Punk Globe Magazine
October 5, 2005

Ginger Coyote Interview with Sesu Coleman of the Magic Tramps
by Ginger Coyote, Punk Globe Magazine
October 12, 2005