Buy Tom Verlaine's Books

For anyone in NYC this weekend, Tom Verlaine's collection of 50,000 books is going to be sold off at garage sales.

[www.brooklynvegan.com]

Wow - this rather touches my heart. I wish I were going to be in NYC this weekend to look through those books. My book collection includes a volume from Warren Zevon's personal collection. It would be great to put a Tom Verlaine next to it!

FWIW, though it wasn't nearly as extensive, Grant McLennan kept a pretty good library as well. When Domino Records began remastering and reissuing the Go-Betweens catalog as limited edition vinyl box sets, those left in charge of Grant's books decided the box sets were a good way of distributing them to fans. So they packaged them with a card or book plate showing authentication of some kind with the first 600 copies of the Go-Betweens' "G Stands for Go-Betweens: Volume 1" and the first 400 copies of "G Stands for Go-Betweens: Volume 2." (Volume 3 is currently in the works and should be out in the next year or two.)

For awhile, this blog was trying to figure out what books were included: [musicweird.blogspot.com]

I thought of this when Tom passed away and several people mentioned his large collection of books. I never liked the way the Television catalog was mastered and remastered for digital - in an ideal world, the three Television albums, the 1978 Waldorf live album,and maybe a few additional key but bootleg quality releases (the 1978 Portland show, ROIR's The Blow Up and the 1992 Academy bootleg that they eventually put out themselves) could be packaged together in a definitive box set, and maybe a book Tom would've recommended to an open-minded listener and reader.

Now the records are up for grabs…

Here



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2026 01:44PM by Bip.

When I was 13 or 14, I read my first magazine article about the CBGB bands. I remembered reading about Television in that article, mainly because the title "Little Johnny Jewel" caught my attention and stuck with me.

Two or three years later, I made what would be my last visit to a record store before my family's move to Louisiana. That day I found Marquee Moon in the racks, and remembered the article. Looking at the back cover of the album, though, it irked me that "Little Johnny Jewel" wasn't included. (At 16, I assumed it simply was S.O.P. for artists to put their singles on albums. I couldn't imagine any artist doing it any other way.)

So I took Marquee Moon up to the counter, along with a 2-LP set by the New York Dolls (whom I'd read about in Creem, I'm pretty sure). I asked the guy behind the counter if some other album by Television included "Little Johnny Jewel." He was a bit shocked to see a nerdy, pimple-faced, gangly teenager asking about that single. He consulted a catalog I'd never even know existed — one which looked about twice as big as the yellow pages. He told me it was on an "indie" label, and was out of print.

"Out of print?" I responded. "What does that mean?" (I think I may also have asked, "What's an indie label?")

The guy had to catch his breath for a moment ... realizing he was facing a clueless teenage naff who was taking his (probable) first steps onto a potentially very rewarding, ultra-cool path. He told me he could put out a few "feelers" with the various "distributors," and see if he could find a copy of the Ork single.

This was the first time I ever heard of anyone special-ordering a record (or probably anything else). I stumbled a bit with my response, before I explained to him that my family and I were leaving town in a couple weeks. I wouldn't be around to come get the special order, so it wouldn't be worth his trouble.

"You here on vacation?" he asked.

"No, we're moving," I said, a little glumly.

He picked up the store's business card, wrote his name on the back, and asked me to drop him a line as soon as we got settled into our new home.

So I took home Marquee Moon and the 2-LP Dolls set ... which, it turned out, combined New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon in one package. One-stop shopping. And the clerk I met that day still is a great friend, 48 years later.

It kinda boggles my mind to think of possibly owning Tom's personal copy of "Little Johnny Jewel." But I can only speculate about the bidding war those will inspire. (My wife said, "You'd be bidding against millionaires.")

As a bit of sour grapes, I'd like to think I'd prefer a clean retail copy then the defaced promo copies usually given to artists, whether it be notches, hole punches or unsightly stamps or stickers ruining the artwork.

So did he actually score you a copy of the “Little Johnny Jewel” 45?

No. I still don't have a copy of that single. But I do have it as a bonus track on the Rhino CD reissue of Marquee Moon.

For the record, I fell in love with Marquee Moon from the first listen. Those intertwining guitars on "See No Evil" pulled me into their web from the get-go. That love became mostly a private affair, though; my new friends in Louisiana thought Tom's voice was kinda freakish-sounding. I didn't take to the Dolls as quickly, but ended up including a few of their songs onto mix tapes. Those songs went over a bit better with friends who heard them at various parties. Most of those people assumed they were hearing some unfamiliar songs from the Stones. (Like the dumb teenage pedant I was, I made it a point to "correct" those assumptions, telling them, "No, this is the New York Dolls." After seeing/hearing their responses a couple times, I realized it wasn't worth the bother.)

But hey, so what? The clerk in Colorado had given me a discount on both those two albums.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2026 05:27AM by Delvin.

I feel the same. I liked the ‘idea’ of the NY Dolls, but the songs took a while to jump off the record into my psyche.

Television was immediate. You nailed it Delvin…” intertwining guitars” on see no evil. That song is exciting!!!

I can't say I got the "idea" of the Dolls at all, not even from reading the liner notes to that double-album. Those notes, looking back, must've been my first real exposure to the term "New Wave." They began by saying, "The New York Dolls were the major influence on such English New Wave bands as the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Damned ..."

This declaration puzzled my teenage self. I might even have said out loud, "Who the hell are they?"

And the black & white photos in the gatefold didn't really deliver a solid impression of the band's look, much less their impact. The front cover, with the quintet's faces done in white with pink lips, didn't put me off, but it didn't fascinate me either. (Kiss' makeup was a lot cooler.)

But those two LPs delivered enough good songs, and enough of a loose sense of fun and groove, to keep me returning them to my turntable.

By the way, I decided to look at the offerings from Tom's collection on Discogs this morning. The first drop was a thousand items. I saw two copies of Marquee Moon and one copy of Adventure ... all priced in the four-figure range. I didn't spot any copies of "Little Johnny Jewel." Two hours later, the cache is reduced to 70 items for sale.