The Secret Public, The Stooges, Buzzcocks
Just returned from New York where the Johan Kugelberg’s pop-up/ parasite Boo-Hooray gallery hosted an exhibition of The Secret Public – the montage magazine that Linder Sterling and I produced in late 1977.
Here is a tour of the show, and there is an interview at GQ here.
The Secret Public was originally published by Richard Boon through New Hormones, catalogue number ORG 2. ORG 1 was of course Buzzcocks’ Spiral Scratch and by a strange and welcome synchronicity the band were in New York the same week, performing their first two albums – Another Music In A Different Kitchen and Love Bites. Playing at Irving Plaza – a beautiful old balconied hall – the group were fantastic: playing all the 22 tracks pretty much straight through at a rattling pace. Driven by drummer Darry Farrant – who was exemplary – they were exciting, intense and extremely good humoured: Steve and Pete were obviously having a ball, as were the several hundred strong audience. Check out Nothing Left:
Even the announcement of a bomb scare – someone had left propane canisters in the back of a nearby vehicle and the police had blocked off a whole section of 14th St and the surrounding area – couldn’t spoil the mood. As Pete Shelley noted, resuming ESP: ‘now where were we?’. They did several encores, finishing with Orgasm Addict, by which time we were damp puddles on the venue floor. The previous night I saw the Stooges play a private party – for Ray Ban indeed – at the Music Hall in Williamsburg (just down the street from the wonderful Academy Records Annex): doesn’t sound that promising but the Williamson era group nailed several tracks from Raw Power – see “Search and Destroy” here:
– as well as great versions of 5 Foot 1 and Shake Appeal. Iggy stage-dived, let his pants hang VERY low, and invited the audience up on stage. I shed a tear during I Need Somebody. So the corporate nature of the event was easily transcended.
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May 26th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
I can remember buying that Secret public mag when I saw the Buzzcocks at derby Kings Hall in 78-it had a shot of a woman with a piece of cake as her head!Wish I still had it,it went adrift with so many other things over the years.That gig sounds really good,I managed to hear the audio of one of the Raw Power gigs,and the version of Open Up and Bleed was magnificent,really full of emotion and power-I always thought the demo had promise as a great song.The raw Power Bowie mix has thankfully been reissued,although they could haveused the sword mix of Search and Destroy.Talking of great songs there is a version of Neil Youngs unreleased Hitchhiker song floating around which is knockout phenomenal-also still reeling from how good the new Roky lp is!Glad to hear the Buzzcocks can still hit it,always my faves after the Pistols.
May 28th, 2010 at 12:04 am
Hi Jon – I was very disappointed to have missed the opening but thought the Secret Public show was really excellent. I’m really happy to have had the opportunity to see everything. And the show’s catalog, at $20, was a decent value as well. Great work, and thank you for doing it. – Tim
May 29th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Jon I would really like to get one of those catalogues for the exhibition;is there any chance there will be an exhibition of this stuff in Britain?Maybe I have missed it or something,I have vague memories of it being mentioned in The Wire a while ago.I think your scrapbook images were obviously a precursor of this work!Have you heard the Achim Reichel +Machines Echo lp,also Gunter Schickert Samtvogel-very interesting echo/drone works.
May 29th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Very sad -Dennis Hopper has died-I was never a big fan of Easy Rider but loved him for his great individuality ,and his role in Blue Velvet is unforgettable!Saw rebel without a Cause recently and I couldnt believe his youthful persona. He took some brilliant photos in the Sixties too.
June 1st, 2010 at 7:17 am
I can remember buying that Secret public mag when I saw the Buzzcocks at derby Kings Hall in 78-it had a shot of a woman with a piece of cake as her head!Wish I still had it,it went adrift with so many other things over the years.That gig sounds really good,I managed to hear the audio of one of the Raw Power gigs,and the version of Open Up and Bleed was magnificent,really full of emotion and power-I always thought the demo had promise as a great song.The raw Power Bowie mix has thankfully been reissued,although they could haveused the sword mix of Search and Destroy.Talking of great songs there is a version of Neil Youngs unreleased Hitchhiker song floating around which is knockout phenomenal-also still reeling from how good the new Roky lp is!Glad to hear the Buzzcocks can still hit it,always my faves after the Pistols.
June 13th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Strange,I seem to have a female doppelganger-nice to know someone else feels EXACTLY the same way as me,unfortunate to be named after the worst track on John Cale’s Fear lp.Has anyone seen that brilliant 13 Most Beautiful dvd with songs by Luna-absolutely brilliant,shame it hasnt been given more exposure.
June 24th, 2010 at 8:46 am
Dont know if anone else has got the feeling they’ve been cheated(!),but I have just awoken after contemplating the excruciating tripe aired last night under the title ‘Lennon-Naked,-half undressed and embarrasing more like!This really was a dissapointment on every level-I had my doubts about Ecclestone anyway,but this was like an attention seeking hyperactive Liam Gallagher clone,and nothing like the Lennon I loved as a Beatles fan.Several incidents which were portrayed as director inputs looked like they were taken wholesale fron that Goldman litany of half truths and fantasies.If this had been directed by someone like Todd Haynes who is adept at conflating the imaginary and the real this might have been great,instead we ended up with a frenzy of cartoon characters who could not remotely be empathised with.Yoko was the usual predatory parasite,when in actual fact she was responsible for initiating some of his greatest work,such as Cold Turkey,Why(his guitar playing on this is probably the rawest ever commited too tape).
The father imagery seems to be there purely to shore up the directors viewpoint and didnt feel remotely believable.Cynthia Lennon seemed to be more like Jane Asher in temperement-oh god this was BAD.Maybe the bbb could be held to account by this new miserly govt and then the millions who are loosing housing benefit payments could rest easier!