I for one enjoy the occasional crowd-sourced live recording, which is why I was happy to come across the Mckenzie Tapes:
The McKenzie Tapes is a collection of live audio recordings from some of New York City-area most prominent music venues of the 1980s and 1990s.
The collection itself was recorded by David McKenzie, a Kearny, NJ-native and former Maxwell’s employee (that’s him pictured above!). It spans mostly from 1985 to 1993, and includes shows played not only at Maxwell’s, but also The Ritz, Irving Plaza, City Gardens, and more.
David generously sent his tapes to me (Tom) in hopes of getting them archived online. I’m looking forward to sharing all this great music over the course of 2018.
All shows are available to stream or download. There are so many good people out there in the world, it makes me want to cry.
Go to my office, sit at my desk,
Predictably just like all of the rest.
I sit and I dream about far away places,
Away from the people with frowns on their faces.
All of my life is monotony
I’d go out for a walk but I know it would be
(Predictable)
Sure as the nose on my face
(Predictable)
Same for the whole human race
Once we (once we) had so many options
Once we (once we) had dignity and grace
Now we (now we) have got nothing but our own time to waste.
Hey ladies in the place, I’m callin’ out to ya
There never was a city kid truer and bluer
There’s more to me than you’ll ever know
And I’ve got more hits than Sadaharu Oh
Tom Thumb, Tom Cushman or Tom Foolery
I date women on T.V. with the help of Chuck Woolery
Words are flowing out just like the Grand Canyon
And I’m always out looking for a female companion
I threw the lasso around the tallest one and dragged her to the crib
I took off her moccasins and put on my bib
Wheelin’ and dealin’ I make a little bit of a stealing
I’ll bring her back to the place and your dress I’m peeling
Your body’s on time and your mind is appealing
Staring at the cracks up there up on the ceiling
Such and such’ll be the bass that I’m throwing
I’m talking to the girl telling her I’m all-knowing
She’s talking to the kid (who?) to the kid, to the kid
I’m telling her every lie that you know that I never did
Hey ladies, get funky
All the ladies in the house
The ladies, the ladies
Well, me in the corner with a good looking daughter
I dropped my drawers, said welcome back Kotter
We was cutting up the rug, she started cutting up the carpet
In my apartment, I begged her, please stop it
The gift of gab is the gift that I have
And that girl ain’t nothing but a crab
Educated no, stupid yep
And when I say stupid, I mean stupid fresh
I’m not James at fifteen or Chachi in charge
I’m Adam and I’m adamant about living large
With the white Sassoons and the looks that kill
Makin’ love in the back of my Coupe De Ville
I met a little cutie she was all hopped up on zootie
I liked the little cutie but I kicked her in the bootie
‘Cause I don’t kinda go for that messin’ around
You be listening to my records’ A number one sound
Just step to the rhythm, step, step to the ride
I’ve got an open mind so why don’t you all get inside?
Tune in, turn on to my tune that’s live
Ladies flock like bees to a hive
Hey ladies, get funky
(Girls, girls)
Ain’t it funky now?
(Ain’t it funky now?) well, you know that
She got a gold tooth you know she’s hardcore
She’ll show you a good time then she’ll show you the door
Break up with your girl it ended in tears
Vincent Van Gogh go and mail that ear
Call her in the middle of the night when I’m drinking
The phone booth on the corner is damp and it’s stinking
Said come on over it was me that she missed
I threw that trash can through her window ’cause you know I got dissed
Your old lady left you and you went insane
You blew yourself up in the back of the six train
Take my advice at any price a gorilla like your mother is mighty weak
Sucking down pints until I didn’t know
Woke up in the morning with a one-ton ho
‘Cause I announce I like girls that bounce
With the weight that pays about a pound per ounce
Girls with curls and big long locks
And beatnik chicks just wearing their smocks
Walking high and mighty like she’s number one
(She thinks she’s the passionate one)
Hey ladies, get funky
Good god
(I like that polyester look)
Dance
Good god
Baby, baby, baby, baby
(Hey you know, I ‘d really love to do your hair sometime)
Ain’t it funky brother?
Hey, hey, hey, hey ladies
Hey ladies
And if you haven’t read the book, we can’t be friends anymore.
Please Kill Me: Voices from the Archives
Two one-hour documentaries that explore an America that birthed the new order of today.
20 years ago journalists and music historians Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil recorded interviews with the icons of Punk for their New York Times best-selling book “Please Kill Me – The Uncensored History of Punk.” Now, these rare, candid interviews have been meticulously restored for Public Radio and compiled to create an oral history of the Punk movement in Please Kill Me – Voices From the Archives.
The stories of these bands are more than music, they’re the cultural evolution of America:
the end of the 60s
the ferment of the 70s
Watergate to the Women’s Movement.
Part One -The Pioneers of Punk
How the Warhol 60’s morphed into the Punk 70’s, marginalized inhabitants of a near-bankrupt New York City, changed 20th century culture, and influenced the World.
Part Two – The Punk Invasion
The music of the Velvet Underground, Iggy and the Stooges,The New York Dolls, and others were meeting fierce resistance in the US. With no other options open to them, during the July 4rth weekend of 1976, as America was celebrating it’s bicentennial, the Ramones went to London and launched punk rock. In England, punk would explode and become a cultural force to be reckoned with.
Features exclusive, never-before-heard interviews with Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, the Ramones and many more.
I was reminded of these guys at band practice the other night. LOVED this record in high school, in a way that kids tend to love stuff they know will piss off their parents. Listening to it again 30 years later, I think it holds up. I’m particularly impressed with Lee Ving’s vocals. (Hilarious lyrics and a tight band who can really play don’t hurt, either.)
As is my want, I did a little research. Turns out, Ving (real name Lee Capallero) is a bit of a journeyman musician. Before Fear, he sang in a Philadelphia blues band called Sweet Stavin Chain, who shared stages with B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Cream. Most recently, he plays in an outlaw country band called Range War. He’s an actor too, typically cast as degenerates and lowlifes. He was Mr. Boddy in the 1985 film, Clue.
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
Let’s have a war
So you can go and die
Let’s have a war
We could all use the money
Let’s have a war
We need the space
Let’s have a war
Clean out this place
It already started in the city
Suburbia will be just as easy
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
Let’s have a war
Jack up the Dow Jones
Let’s have a war
It can start in New Jersey
Let’s have a war
Blame it on the middle class
Let’s have a war
We’re like rats in our cage
It already started in the city
Suburbia will be just as easy
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
Let’s have a war
Sell the rights to the network
Let’s have a war
Till our wallets get fat like last time
Let’s have a war
Give guns to the queers
Let’s have a war
The enemy’s within
It already started in the city
Suburbia will be just as easy
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
There’s too many of us
There’s too many of us
There’s too many
