News

Sept. 1, 2008

NEW YORK WASTE, Fall 2008

A "MAX"imum Weekend of Rock'n'Roll!
by
FRANK WOOD

When I first started promoting bands in the 70's, there were few prime spots for Rock'n'Roll in NYC.

There was CBGB's, MAX's KANSAS CITY and ...?

CB's was the bar, MAX's was the club.

Everybody knows it was HILLY that let it all happen at CB's.

While at MAX's, it was PETER CROWLEY and his bookings that made the history we know.

And because of both of them, I started doing this way back when.

PETER and I were talking awhile back about different friends we've known over the years, and the general state of Rock'n'Roll in NYC, then and now.

He said he was planning a trip to NYC and hoped to catch a show or two of some old friends bands. It came up that I was booking what was left of a lot of the old boys. So an idea was born!

It was THE MAX's KANSAS CITY SURVIVORS Tribute to PETER CROWLEY.

When word got out what we were planning, we had to stretch it to 2 days

So on Friday night, July 11 we started the weekend at THE DELANCEY BAR. The bar has 2 floors and a rooftop that looks like a tropical forest. We do the Rock'n'Roll in the basement.

Most of the bands were people PETER either knew or heard about.

CHARM SCHOOL started the night off with a quick high energy set. TINA was belting out the songs while YOAV, JOFF and FRANKIE were as tight as ever. They're old friends of PETER's and he was glad to see them.

STEVE PANG, the owner of OTTO's SHRUNKEN HEAD, was another old friend, so I sorta surprised PETER with STEVE's band, GIRL TO GORILLA next. Peter was commenting on how much he liked them when I pointed out that it was STEVE's band.

PETER insisted on doing the DJing and I agreed. he was breaking out rare ols gems ALL NIGHT LONG!

Next up was an old MAX's regular, BOBBY STEELE from THE MISFITS. He played with his new band THE UNDEAD. THE UNDEAD was BOBBY & HITOMI (drummer from STATUES OF LIBERTY). The set those 2 put out was ASTOUNDING! HITOMI was so on, some people thought they had a bass player! {note: THE UNDEAD now have a bass player.}

The STATUES OF LIBERTY were next and being it was the last STATUES show until October (Oct. 10 at BOWERY BALLROOM) they really turned it all the way up. PETER knew they were my favorite band of the latest and he was anticipating hearing them. He was AMAZED that HITOMI played 2 sets at that high level without dropping!

It was also a Birthday party for my two assistants TINA & DENTON. Both have the same month and day, just different years. The MIGHTY AFRODITE made a Beautiful cake that looked like a girl's bed for TINA and a bunch of Chocolate/Guinness cup cakes that looked like glasses of GUINNESS. Both were highly delectable.

Then it was back to the music and another band from the old MAX's days - SEAMONSTER! PETER and ARTHUR go way back. MIKE ROCK and FREDDIE were playing some nitty-gritty Rock'n'Roll guitar while ADOLPH and PHIL held a down and dirty rhythm section.

Little LAURA PINTER introduced the next band, THE VICTIMS. These guys recently got back together after a long hiatus. They're now back and they are really kicking butt. With MIKE on drums and STEVE on bass driving the sound, RICHIE and BARRY were free to rock on as hard they wanted.

While the next band, THE WALDOS, was playing a young kid approached me and asked why I had this cover band playing. I had to explain to him that WALTER LURE wrote or played on most of the songs he was playing when they first came out.

We wrapped up the night with SCREAM & SCREAM AGAIN. CHLOE was enjoying the guitar playing of DAVE VAN EPPS and the rest of her boys were also up to the task.

We started all over again on Sunday at OTTO's SHRUNKEN HEAD for part 2 of The "MAX"imum weekend of rock'n'Roll.

PETER loved the AUTO-HARP playing of the first band, THE SPINES! Then it was back to some more old CROWLEY friends, the BLUE SHADOW DOGS. The 3 MIKES (LINN, MAD DOG and FABIAN) worked well with front man KURT to play some old-school rock'n'roll.

THE ROUSERS were next and again, the old guys showed the youngsters how it's done. BILL, SAL and TOM rocked hard and steady as if they were still in their 20's.

Now it was time for THE MAX's KANSAS CITY SURVIVORS ALL STAR BAND! MIKEY RATT on drums and STEVE GIORDANO on bass laid it down while SUSAN MITCHELL on violin joined DANNY RAY (MAD JUANA) on sax, LUIGI BABE (LUIGI & THE WISEGUYS) and WILD BILL THOMPSON (THE SENDERS) on guitars as they backed up singers, JOY RYDER (THE DAVIS RYDER BAND), JOHN COLLINS (THE TERRORISTS) and BOBBY STEELE (THE MISFITS). They blazed thru old stuff by the NY DOLLS, RAMONES and others as fluid as could be considering they had no rehearsals. At one point WILD BILL just said "FRANKIE, tell us what to play next!"

A highlight was the duet between JOY RYDER and BOBBY STEELE on "GOOD LOVIN'". JOHN COLLINS and JOY also did a few duets and they even managed to get me up to sing (I only repeated the same line - "Just keep walking." over and over) while LAURA PINTER sang the rest for a song that WILD BILL and PETER concocted over 20 years ago.

EL MUCHACHO followed that extra long set with some electric kazoo powered Surf rock. The two MIKES (a lot of MIKES that night) and JIM were as tight as always, winding up with a rousing rendition of "WIZARD" by BLACK SABBATH. It was like OZZIE goes to the beach!

We ended the night with THE "SOFA KING" WILDE JAM featuring JOY RYDER on vocals and WILD BILL on guitar and they were joined by JOY's son JESSIE on drums. This was all over the place, going from goofy rock stuff to some nice ballads and some rockin' blues. JESSIE showed he learned some things while hanging around with all the great musicians that used to pass thru JOY's house.

Overall it truly was a "MAX"imum night of Rock'n'Roll that will be hard to top!

THANK YOU, PETER CROWLEY for getting a lot of us started!

See ya around,

WOOD
mrfwood@yahoo.com

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Sept. 1, 2008 NEW YORK WASTE, Fall 2008 A "MAX"imum Weekend of Rock'n'Roll! by FRANK WOOD When I first started promoting bands in the 70's, there were few prime spots for Rock'n'Roll in NYC. There was CBGB's, MAX's KANSAS CITY and ...? CB's was the bar, MAX's was the club. Everybody knows it was HILLY that let it all happen at CB's. While at MAX's, it was PETER CROWLEY and his bookings that made the history we know. And because of both of them, I started doing this way back when. PETER and I were talking awhile back about different friends we've known over the years, and the general state of Rock'n'Roll in NYC, then and now. He said he was planning a trip to NYC and hoped to catch a show or two of some old friends bands. It came up that I was booking what was left of a lot of the old boys. So an idea was born! It was THE MAX's KANSAS CITY SURVIVORS Tribute to PETER CROWLEY. When word got out what we were planning, we had to stretch it to 2 days So on Friday night, July 11 we started the weekend at THE DELANCEY BAR. The bar has 2 floors and a rooftop that looks like a tropical forest. We do the Rock'n'Roll in the basement. Most of the bands were people PETER either knew or heard about. CHARM SCHOOL started the night off with a quick high energy set. TINA was belting out the songs while YOAV, JOFF and FRANKIE were as tight as ever. They're old friends of PETER's and he was glad to see them. STEVE PANG, the owner of OTTO's SHRUNKEN HEAD, was another old friend, so I sorta surprised PETER with STEVE's band, GIRL TO GORILLA next. Peter was commenting on how much he liked them when I pointed out that it was STEVE's band. PETER insisted on doing the DJing and I agreed. he was breaking out rare ols gems ALL NIGHT LONG! Next up was an old MAX's regular, BOBBY STEELE from THE MISFITS. He played with his new band THE UNDEAD. THE UNDEAD was BOBBY & HITOMI (drummer from STATUES OF LIBERTY). The set those 2 put out was ASTOUNDING! HITOMI was so on, some people thought they had a bass player! {note: THE UNDEAD now have a bass player.} The STATUES OF LIBERTY were next and being it was the last STATUES show until October (Oct. 10 at BOWERY BALLROOM) they really turned it all the way up. PETER knew they were my favorite band of the latest and he was anticipating hearing them. He was AMAZED that HITOMI played 2 sets at that high level without dropping! It was also a Birthday party for my two assistants TINA & DENTON. Both have the same month and day, just different years. The MIGHTY AFRODITE made a Beautiful cake that looked like a girl's bed for TINA and a bunch of Chocolate/Guinness cup cakes that looked like glasses of GUINNESS. Both were highly delectable. Then it was back to the music and another band from the old MAX's days - SEAMONSTER! PETER and ARTHUR go way back. MIKE ROCK and FREDDIE were playing some nitty-gritty Rock'n'Roll guitar while ADOLPH and PHIL held a down and dirty rhythm section. Little LAURA PINTER introduced the next band, THE VICTIMS. These guys recently got back together after a long hiatus. They're now back and they are really kicking butt. With MIKE on drums and STEVE on bass driving the sound, RICHIE and BARRY were free to rock on as hard they wanted. While the next band, THE WALDOS, was playing a young kid approached me and asked why I had this cover band playing. I had to explain to him that WALTER LURE wrote or played on most of the songs he was playing when they first came out. We wrapped up the night with SCREAM & SCREAM AGAIN. CHLOE was enjoying the guitar playing of DAVE VAN EPPS and the rest of her boys were also up to the task. We started all over again on Sunday at OTTO's SHRUNKEN HEAD for part 2 of The "MAX"imum weekend of rock'n'Roll. PETER loved the AUTO-HARP playing of the first band, THE SPINES! Then it was back to some more old CROWLEY friends, the BLUE SHADOW DOGS. The 3 MIKES (LINN, MAD DOG and FABIAN) worked well with front man KURT to play some old-school rock'n'roll. THE ROUSERS were next and again, the old guys showed the youngsters how it's done. BILL, SAL and TOM rocked hard and steady as if they were still in their 20's. Now it was time for THE MAX's KANSAS CITY SURVIVORS ALL STAR BAND! MIKEY RATT on drums and STEVE GIORDANO on bass laid it down while SUSAN MITCHELL on violin joined DANNY RAY (MAD JUANA) on sax, LUIGI BABE (LUIGI & THE WISEGUYS) and WILD BILL THOMPSON (THE SENDERS) on guitars as they backed up singers, JOY RYDER (THE DAVIS RYDER BAND), JOHN COLLINS (THE TERRORISTS) and BOBBY STEELE (THE MISFITS). They blazed thru old stuff by the NY DOLLS, RAMONES and others as fluid as could be considering they had no rehearsals. At one point WILD BILL just said "FRANKIE, tell us what to play next!" A highlight was the duet between JOY RYDER and BOBBY STEELE on "GOOD LOVIN'". JOHN COLLINS and JOY also did a few duets and they even managed to get me up to sing (I only repeated the same line - "Just keep walking." over and over) while LAURA PINTER sang the rest for a song that WILD BILL and PETER concocted over 20 years ago. EL MUCHACHO followed that extra long set with some electric kazoo powered Surf rock. The two MIKES (a lot of MIKES that night) and JIM were as tight as always, winding up with a rousing rendition of "WIZARD" by BLACK SABBATH. It was like OZZIE goes to the beach! We ended the night with THE "SOFA KING" WILDE JAM featuring JOY RYDER on vocals and WILD BILL on guitar and they were joined by JOY's son JESSIE on drums. This was all over the place, going from goofy rock stuff to some nice ballads and some rockin' blues. JESSIE showed he learned some things while hanging around with all the great musicians that used to pass thru JOY's house. Overall it truly was a "MAX"imum night of Rock'n'Roll that will be hard to top! THANK YOU, PETER CROWLEY for getting a lot of us started! See ya around, WOOD mrfwood@yahoo.com