Stiv getting the V.I.P. treatment at The Starwood, Los Angeles. Photo: Jenny Lens.
 
Lords Of The New Church appearance on this 1982 edition of Nickelodeon’s ‘Live Wire’ is really quite extraordinary. Stiv Bators seems in a fugue state (probably hadn’t slept) as he talks about dreams, trance writing and the mystical act of creating music. And the young female audience not only gets it, they’re intrigued and curious. As Edgar Allen Poe is evoked, a sweet and acrid scent of blossoming gothettes fills the air and the cathode ray tube transmitting the vibe flickers like the shadows of falling angels bisecting the rays of a dead moon. Yes, these pubescent blond women will be going home and dying their hair jet black tonight and in the afternoon when they wake they will see themselves as they truly are: trash, beautiful unadulterated trash, and they will go forth and become slaves to the Lords of rock and work in strip joints to buy their heavy metal lovermen new guitars and tight leather pants. Yes, ‘Live Wire’ was the secret spawning ground for a generation of enslaved rock bitches. Nickelodeon, the Devil’s network

In the mid-80s my band was on a tour of West Coast clubs that was one day behind The Lords tour of the same. We’d arrive the day after The Lords had played the club the night before. As part of Stiv’s stage show he would place his head in a noose and swing out over the audience. The following day when my band would arrive at the club there was usually a piece of cut rope still dangling from a ceiling beam. Like Hansel and Gretel, Stiv had left his trail behind him, a lethally impotent necklace of hemp  

Stiv Bators was one of the sweetest men I’ve ever known. He was fearless, reckless and foolish. He thought his body was immortal but a taxi cab in Paris proved him wrong.
 

 
Oh what a lovely and unique take on the Leonard Cohen classic.

Nina Simone takes “Suzanne” into new and glorious places, pulling emotions from the song that only the high priestess of soul could summon forth.

Rome 1969
 

 
Thanks Eric Guyot

 
Ten Years in an Open-Necked Shirt is a thoroughly entertaining 1982 documentary about poet, songwriter, punk comedian and recording artist John Cooper Clarke. Among Clark’s many accomplishments: he was the only poet to open for The Sex Pistols and The Buzzcocks.

This is the first part of my life story.
Again.
Take a look at me now.
Genius or a madman.
All the answers are forth… the answers are forthcoming in the following chapters.

Ten years in an open neck shirt.
The real story.
From slums to stardom.
Well, not even slums.
Not even… I used to dream of living in…
The Gyp… Gypsies used to come ‘round and complain about me.
No, wait a minute, that’s their version.
See, I’ve written a censored version for the “News of the World”.
Don’t want to offend anybody, do I?

Right then.
John C. Clarke, that’s me.
Right?

Long out of print, Ten Years in an Open-Necked Shirt is a ramshackle affair, filled with exuberant energy, very much like the brilliant raconteur himself.

The film features Clarke’s good friend Linton Kwesi Johnson.
 

 
I still marvel at how groundbreakingly cool Prince was before he cleaned up his act and started witnessing for Jehovah. The bitch was a real provocateur…as can be seen in this video from 1980 in which Prince appears ready to sex-up the entire universe.

Draped in a be-jeweled flasher raincoat and wearing some lonesome cowboy’s red bandanna, Ann Margret’s leggings and Little Richard’s jockstrap, Prince’s outré fashion sensibilities echo the quirky mashup of new wave and funk in the infectiously groovy “Dirty Mind.”

Note to Damian Abraham: check out this video. Learn to accessorize.
 

 
Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon talk about the infamous Bond’s concerts, their image, the film project with Don Letts Clash On Broadway which was eventually abandoned, New York City…and more. This was broadcast in 1982 on the NBC affiliate in NYC.

The intent of Clash On Broadway was to document the events and performances centering around the band’s historic seventeen consecutive shows at Bond’s International, a club located in Time’s Square, NYC, extending from May 28-June 13, 1981. Footage included Topper Headon strolling around NYC at night & being interviewed while riding in a taxi, the group sitting on a rooftop watching a group of young black kids rap and breakdance, the graffitti artist Futura plying his trade, the backstage scene, and stellar performances from the Bond’s shows.

Although the film itself never materialized, the footage that was shot provided the basis for the “This is Radio Clash” video and formed much of the backbone of Letts’ 2000 documentary of The Clash, Westway to the World.”

The interviewer is Sue Simmons and she’s quite good as is Joe’s fairly new dental work.
 

 
You have to love someone who scans every single page of their favourite book just so they can spread the wordy magic with their friends on the internet. So, big thanks then to Evan Levine at the Swan Fungus blog for doing just that with the rare-as-hens-teeth Krautrocksampler by Julian Cope. A history and compendium of German rock from the 60s and 70s, Levine says of the book:

Back in the great, distant era of erm…the mid-’90s, there was a chap by the name of Julian Cope (ex-Teardrop Explodes/music-writer geek), who decided he wanted to chronicle the history of the Krautorck genre. So, he wrote an excellent book, called Krautrocksampler, in which he not only tells readers exactly when and wear he bought all these much-sought-after-now-sadly out-of-print LPs, but paints a great picture of West Germany in the ’60s and ’70s. When he’s not waxing (his bikini) poetic, he recounts crazy stories, and draws very cool connections between projects and personalities. Cope even proclaims that Klaus Dinger “directly influenced David Bowie to take his Low direction” and “had a direct effect on the Sex Pistols, via Johnny Rotten”. Thassalotta influence!

Having wanted this for a while, now I can read it while I try to track down a copy. In case of imminent yankage I recommend anyone else who wants it gets it now too.

Thanks to Pee Six.

 
Okay, so he’s not exactly a baby per se, he’s a one-year-old toddler, but as one YouTuber points out in the comments, “He’s not the first drummer to poop his pants during a drum solo, just the first to do it sober.”
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Young drummer vomits during solo, finishes anyways
 
Via The High Definite

 
I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to Mark Lanegan’s terrific new album Blues Funeral and it got me to thinking about Langegan’s first group, the under-appreciated Screaming Trees, and what a fine fine band they were. Thoughts led to looking around the Internet and lo and behold I came across this high quality video of The Trees with Josh Homme performing live in Germany in 1996.
 

 
I rarely write music-related posts here on Dangerous Minds, but a recent comment from Studio Multitracks directing me to the isolated vocals of Karen Carpenter stirred a childhood memory for me. As I listened, I will admit that I got a little misty-eyed. My god was her voice oh so beautiful, powerful and nuanced and you can really hear that, here.

I recall every Saturday morning in the late-70s and early-80s, the drudgery of having to help clean the house with my mother. The two things my mother played on constant rotation while we cleaned together were the Carpenters’ The Singles: 1969 - 1973 and Carol King’s Tapestry. Man, did I loathe “cleaning Saturdays,” but hearing the soothing voice of Karen Carpenter always made it somewhat bearable, and sometimes, even…enjoyable.

Karen Carpenter’s voice takes me to that happy safe place when I was young and everything seemed possible.
 
Below, “Ticket to Ride” vocals and drums:

 
More isolated vocals after the jump…

 
Another act who featured on My Awesome Best of 2011 Mixtape and who deserve special mention for the little beauty: ‘My Love Grows In The Dark’ is the new video by SSION (aka Cody Critchloe) and it is simply gorgeous.

SSION’s excellent 2011 long player Bent was my second favourite album of last year, only being pipped at the post for the title “best of” by John Maus’ extraordinary We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves. Bent was released as a free download for just one month, but if you didn’t get it (and why not?! I told you so!) fear not, it will be getting a physical re-release soon on Dovecote Records with an accompanying tour.

As well as performing, writing and recording as the floating collective SSION since the late 90s, Cody Critcheloe is a video director who has recently helmed clips for both Santigold and Peaches. It shows: he is an artist with real vision, talent and skill and I’m glad to report I will be posting an interview with Cody in the very near future.

Musically “My Love…” is classy, catchy and excellently produced dance-pop (it’s how I always really wanted the Scissor Sisters to sound, no mean feat that) and in the ace video he rocks a look that’s a bizarre hybrid of Boy George, Andrew WK and Snoop Dogg. Spring is in the air, so let some aural sunshine in:

SSION “My Love Grows In The Dark”
 

 
SSION (the band) will be performing live in New York tonight at the Highline Ballroom. More details for this (highly recommended) gig here.