TP Book Club, Second Meeting

After a successful first meeting (https://trouserpress.com/forum/read.php?1,61775,61775#msg-61775), I hereby convene another meeting of the TP Book Club. Which is why I’m wearing these reading glasses on a chain around my neck, like a proper librarian.

Kid Congo Powers’ “Some New Kind Of Kick” is of course required reading for any Gun Club, Cramps, and Nick Cave fan, tho he actually doesn’t pick up a guitar until half way thru the book. But what an amazing boyhood: hanging with the stars at Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco, seeing the likes of Zappa &the Mothers, the New York Dolls, and the Sex Pistols live, starting a Ramones fan club (which granted him access to their inner circle), moving in with the Screamers, hangin with the likes of Joan Jett, Sid Vicious, and Siouxsie Sioux - all while still in high school!

Jeffrey Lee Pierce emerges as the central figure in his life. He’s depicted here as a semi-madman, an Andy Kaufman-like shit-stirrer that was impossible to be around for any great length. When he was insulting audiences and interrupting songs with manic fiery oratory, it was great on stage, but a chore to live with, esp. as his addictions got worse. Still, Kid kept returning.

The Cramps were like a cult. The world’s coolest cult, but still… Lux and Ivy even scolded Kid for jumping up on stage to jam with the Gun Club, since one of their many bylaws was that any Cramp was forbidden to perform with anyone else. That got a bit old after a while.

Much of The Bad Seeds era takes place in Berlin, with the surreal chaos of the city almost becoming a character in itself.

Despite the slew of stars present, it never feels like name-dropping because Kid is constantly amazed and thrilled to be in their presence. He’s a super-fan above all else.

Written in a clear, friendly way like chatting with an old friend. Even got a little moist-eyed at the end. I loved it.

Now who’s read any of the latest from Trouser Press Books?

I read Kid's book a few months ago myself. I would've liked a bit more on what he's doing these days (the Pink Monkey Birds, Wolfmanhattan Project), but it's an excellent read. For a guy who's nowhere near a household name, he's been part of a lot of rock & roll history.

I agree. I can see how ending with the death of Jeffrey Lee Pierce works as kind of a bookend on that part of his life (literally). But I guess he and/or the publishers thought that detailed descriptions of a Sex Pistols show was more interesting to the general
public than all the obscure bands he’s been in for the last 20 years. So I got to say, I just listened to an album he recently did with an Australian all-star group, the Near Death Experience, and it’s a real scorcher.

Speaking of the Pistols, “inside the dream palace: the life and Times of New York’s legendary Chelsea Hotel“, by Sherrill Tippens, is not a music book per se, but of course there are plenty of music folk featured. The inevitable Sid and Nancy chapter makes a pretty compelling case that Sid was so knocked out on downers that he not only could not have possibly killed Nancy, he probably couldn’t have opened his eyes or moved off the bed. And it fingers a couple likely suspects, mainly some ne’er-do-well drug dealers that hung around their apartment when word got out about the big royalties check Sid had just received. Apparently actor (in Jim Jarmusch films, among other things) Rockets Redglare used to go around telling people he killed Sid. But, of course, there was no investigation. So far as the NYPD was concerned, the freaky punker did it, case closed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2024 12:40PM by MrFab.