Inspirational Imagery: New York

Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts

The Clash at Bond's, 1981

This poster is for when the Clash did a residency at Bond's International Casino (now Bond 45, a restaurant) in Times Square in 1981. They played 17 shows in three weeks to support "Sandinista", which, by the way, is one of my favorite albums of all eternity; so as you can guess, I would just about die to be around at that time!!!! And to top it off, the opening bands included the Fall, the Slits, the Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, and Bush Tetras – all the goods.

It's worth mentioning that all the shows were sold out and they caused fire hazards, riots, police intervention, etc.

For VERY extensive details about the residency, check out this site. It has scans of all associated news articles, set lists, photos, and a timeline of events.

Around Town: Imprisoned Parrot Statuettes

Imprisoned Parrot Statuettes, Brooklyn, NY, April 2014

In the first-floor window of a private house in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Manel Armengol, New York 1976-1978

Mac-Cars, NYC 1978

A Sunday Morning, NYC 1978

Red Car, NYC 1978

Reflex in Prince St., NYC 1978

Yellows, from the MoMA, NYC 1977

Manel Armengol is a Barcelona-based photojournalist. He has thousands of shots on Flickr from the 70's on that are well worth viewing. I chose these of late-70's New York, because of their cool graphic compositions and striking bold color. This particular collection reminds me a little of Saul Leiter.

All of the photos are © Manel Armengol

NYC Snapshots, 1978

These photos are part of a collection by Alex Razbash, who has many cool shots from around the world. It's really interesting to see very general scenes of a very different New York; familiar but everything looks much shabbier. Maybe I should take more photos of my general surroundings so that I don't forget how things used to be.

West Side Highway in Tribeca, facing South

42nd St

Times Square

Delancey St facing East

42nd St

48th and Broadway

Liquid Sky

Liquid Sky debuted at the Montreal Film festival in August 1982, and went on to be he most successful independent film of 1983 grossing $1.7 million in the first several months of release.

It's not perfect in every way, but definitely worth a viewing; the costumes and make-up are unbelievably fantastic, the music is weird, and the story line is pretty funky. There's so much to see; I wish I could have been there!

Additional fun fact: Anne Carlisle (who played the male/female leads) did a Playboy shoot in conjunction with the film (Hot stuff NSFW obv.)

Watch the entire movie after the jump:

Oops, someone dropped something!!
Printer Ink on Mercer & Broome, NYC, December 2013

Around Town: Patricia Field

Disco-fantasy mannequin

Patricia Field Holiday Windows; NYC, December 2013

Around Town: 2013 Holiday Displays

I often complain about my office location uptown on Fifth Ave because all of the business are stores that I'm not likely to to shop at much (I can't really say that I'm a regular at Chanel and Dior), however because this is the area of the fanciest stores' flagships, I am starting to develop a new interest in window dressing. All of the best, most creative, coolest displays go on up there, and during the holidays is when they ramp it up even more.

Below are some of the stores that started early this year.

Harry Winston (5th Ave at 56th St) - I love how the cornice is trimmed with emerald-cut lights and the tops of the windows are embellished with pear-shaped diamonds.

Tiffany & Co (5th Ave at 57th St) - In addition to the windows with mini-cityscapes, white and Tiffany blue decals of brownstones run up the entire building.

Cute geese at Louis Vuitton (5th Ave at 57th St).

Henri Bendel (5th Ave between 55th and 56th St) made 3D models of Al Hirschfeld's caricatures and brought them all together for a spirited holiday dinner. Hirschfeld's illustrations of Broadway stars and celebrities are classic New York all the way; he contributed to all of the major NYC publications for more than 70 years.

80's Geometry

I actually got a pretty poor grade in Geometry, which is strange since I use it quite a bit in my job.

What a practical bag (on the left)! Sadly, I have no info on the photo, where it came from, who the models are, the photographer, the date, or who makes the clothes in it. I'm always into a Memphis influence.

The shot is cool - the colors and everything, but most of the accessories I will admit are kind of weird. The blue glove on the top right is cool, and I would be happy to wear it (if I had two)

Ad for Susan Bennis Warren Edwards, who were the ultimate in fancy shoe design in 80's NYC. Their flagship store was on Park Ave, and it's now a construction site. They stopped designing shoes together in the 90's, when Susan Bennis decided to retire upstate. Warren Edwards still has a store.

ZE Records

ZE Records was started in 1978 by Michael Zilkha and Michel Esteban in NYC at a time when the music scene was mixed up, artsy, amateur, creative, and beyond fun. ZE's "Mutant Disco" roster included many of my favorite funky no/new-wave buddies including James Chance, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Suicide, Ohio's The Waitresses, Lydia Lunch, and Cristina.

Fun fact: Michel Esteban was dating Anna Wintour around this time. Her friend, Chris Blackwell of Island Records, helped ZE get worldwide distribution with a licensing deal.

The label closed in 1984, but was re-established by Esteban in 2003.

Cristina, Cristina, ZE Records US LP, 1980

This is the cover for the US version only.

Lio, Pop Model, Polydor France LP, 1986

Not technically on ZE, but produced by Esteban.

Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Best Off, ZE Records France CD, 2006

Various, Zevolution - ZE Records Re-Edited, Strut UK 2xLP Compilation, 2009

Also not technically on ZE, but produced by Esteban. The taxi illustration is what's used on ZE's generic sleeves

Material ‎with Nona Hendryx, Bustin' Out, Celluloid/ZE France 12", 1981

This cover is not exactly the same as this release, but it's closest to it. I'm not entirely sure which specific release this image is of.

Like a moron, I forgot that I already made a post featuring a bunch of ZE covers, so feel free to check out more.

James Chance

I'm on a James Chance kick lately. He's one of the coolest sax-playing No-Wave heroes of late 70's NYC (Yes, there are actually more than one.) He was in Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, The Contortions, and James White and the Blacks. His music is aggressive, funky disco-punk mixed with free form jazz. YES!

Brian Eno likes it.

With the late Anya Phillips who was his girlfriend, manager, and muse. She's a super cool No-Wave hero too.
She died too early in life, in 1981 of cancer.

With Richard Hell.

Ok, now time to watch videos and hear the songs:

James Chance & The Contortions - Contort Yourself live at the M-80 Festival, Minneapolis, 09/23/1979. Wish I could have been there!!

James White & The Blacks - Sax Maniac

James Chance & the Contortions - I Can't Stand Myself

James White & The Blacks - Contort Yourself This version is different than The Contortions version, more disco and funky.

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James Chance's website

Around Town: Tony Viramontes at Bergdorf Goodman

For Fashion Week, Bergdorf Goodman's 5th avenue windows are featuring the works of one of my all-time favorite illustrators, Tony Viramontes.

Viramontes' fun, sexy, expressive style of fashion illustration was iconic during the 1980s, and it's a tragedy that he passed away much too soon into his career in 1988. He is the subject of the upcoming book Bold, Beautiful and Damned: The World of 1980s Fashion Illustrator Tony Viramontes by Dean Rhys-Morgan.

See some more of Viramontes' work that I have shared previously here.