#Mickey Ruskin

[nancy-xx]

Nancy Spungen

Nancy with iggy pop, cyrinda fox, david bowie, lisa robinson, and sable starr at a "patti smith" concert at mickey ruskin's lower manhattan ocean club, march 9th 1977.

[jeremiekroubodagnini]

A WEEK IN NEW YORK WITH BRUCE AND BOB IN JULY 1973

Lee Jaffe is an artist, photographer, filmmaker, musician and producer who, in July 1973, booked an unknown act from Jamaica to support an exciting new talent from New Jersey for a week long residency at New York's legendary Max's Kansas City. It kick started both performers on their paths to become cultural titans.

Lee recalls the week 50 years ago when each act alternated opening and closing slots for the 40 people who showed up each night, the two legends playing 14 gigs each across the week. Marley was making his first visit to America in support of the Catch a Fire album, while Bruce was promoting his first album. The two bands hung out - while also going to see The New York Dolls at Kenny's Castaways nightclub around the corner and Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden.

Lee tells the behind the scenes tales of this slice of rock history, joined by several contributors who were there - including Bruce Springsteen, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, E Street band pianist David Sancious, photographer Bob Gruen, publicist Cherry Vanilla, manager Toby Mamis, Geoff MacCormack who went with David Bowie to see Bruce Springsteen, and Warhol acolyte Tony Zanetta who was a regular in the legendary back room at Max's.

This snapshot of a week in the life of one of New York's most acclaimed nightclubs of the 70s, where Andy Warhol held court every night with a stunning array of the art world's alternative elite, recalls the years when decadence was de rigueur among the hedonists who lived and breathed sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.

The club's owner, Mickey Ruskin, prided himself on booking new bands who he believed had something different to offer - which is why Bob Marley and Bruce Springsteen were on the same bill that week in the summer of '73.

A Zinc Media production for BBC Radio 4.

This programme is available here (28 minutes).

Copyright BBC Radio 4.

Photos courtesy of Lee Jaffe.

[mrbopst]

Chris Frántz: Talking Heads at Mickey Ruskin’s Lower Manhattan Ocean Club. February 10, 1977. Photo by Allen Tannenbaum. One of Jerry’s first performances with us.

[byrneinlove]

Talking Heads photograpghed at Mickey Ruskin’s Lower Manhattan Ocean Club

New York February 1977

[miss-rosen]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKIE CURTIS ! THE CLASSICS | ANTON PERICH: INSIDE MAX’S KANSAS CITY Miss Rosen for Dazed

For a decade Max’s Kansas City ruled New York, becoming the premier spot to eat, drink, dance, party, and frolic. Proprietor Mickey Ruskin opened the nightclub and restaurant in 1965, drawing top talents like Allen Ginsberg. William S. Burroughs, and Robert Rauschenberg. But when Andy Warhol and his entourage started hanging out in the back room, Max’s quickly became the place to be. Soon David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed were regulars, along with Warhol’s latest superstars like Candy Darling, Jackie Curtis, and Holly Woodlawn.

In 1970, Croatian émigré, Anton Perich arrived a Max’s, by way of Paris. An activist in the Lettrism group during the 68 Revolution, Perich was an avant-garde filmmaker. He made friends with some busboys on staff, and they said it was the best job in America. In 1972, he joined the staff, which included busboy Carlos Falchi, manager Eric Emerson, and waitress Debbie Harry, whose presence eluded him.

For the next two years, Perich would fill in when someone called out. As he remembers, the best time to work was late at night, when the famous and the infamous alike could come and let down their hair. No one batted an eye when Perich pulled out his camera for a photo. As you can see from the photos here, they were more than happy to oblige – or sometimes, not even aware. He was soon contributing his candid snaps to Interview before going on to launch NIGHT in 1978, his very own publication.

Read the Full Story at Dazed

Photo: Anton Perich. Jackie Curtis.

[younglarva]

Strange Love-Slim Harpo • I Found A New Love-Rosco Gordon • Blue Song Of Love-Johnnie Honeycutt • Whisper Your Love-The Phantom • Take This Love-Scott Walker • Young Love-Ric Carty • I Need Your Love-BB King • Funnel Of Love-Wanda Jackson • A Fool In Love-Ike & Tina Turner • From The Love Side-Hank Ballard & the Midnighters • What Do I Have To Do To Prove My Love To You-Marva Whitney • Whole Lotta Love-Ike & Tina Turner • Love Potion #9-Coasters • The Look of Love-Mickey & Sylvia • Here Lies Love-Mr Undertaker • Got Nobody To Love-Terry Timmons • Trapped Love-Kieth Corvale • What Good Is I Love You-Emmaline Jones • What Is Love-Shangri Las • Your Kind Of Love-The Breakaways • Love You More Than Yesterday-Shangri Las • Stay Together Young Lovers-Tammy St John • True Love-Patsy Cline • Try Love-Stoned Circus • Secondhand Love-Fox • Have Love Will Travel-Sonics • My Flash On You-Love • Love Love Love-Nite People • Love Love Love-Pugh • Love Without Sound-Delia Derbyshire & The White Noise • We Love You-Rolling Stones • Love Song-Syd Barrett • I Love Petite Girl-Sinn Sisamouth • Love Came Too Late-Barbara Ruskin • Love Hate Revenge-Episode Six • Loves Gone Bad-Chris Clark • Love Itis-Mandala • Sunday Love Affair-Orchester Frank Pleyer • You Don’t Love Me-Del Shannon • Love Child-Fireballs • And I Love Her-Tony Savarino • Holiday Love-Guitars Inc • Love Is Blue-The String A Longs • Love Is Just Around The Corner-Jackie Davis • Sing Songs Of Love-The Cherry Smash • originally broadcast 02.15.20 •  [download]

[lempiredeslumieres]

Max’s Kansas City

Max's Kansas City fue un club nocturno y restaurante situado en la 213 Park Avenue South, en Nueva York, el cual se convirtió en punto de encuentro para músicos, poetas, pintores y artistas en los años 60 y 70. Fue inaugurado por Mickey Ruskin (1933-1983) en diciembre de 1965 y cerrado en 1981.

Max's rápidamente se convirtió en un lugar frecuentado por artistas y escultores del New York School, como John Chamberlain, Robert Rauschenberg y Larry Rivers, cuya presencia atrajo a otras celebridades y personalidades de la alta sociedad, como los críticos de arte Lucy Lippard, Robert Hughes, Clement Greenberg, los comerciantes de arte Leo Castelli y David Whitney (cuyas galerías estaban al otro lado de la calle) y el arquitecto Philip Johnson.

Mickey Ruskin y John Chamberlain

También fue uno de los lugares favoritos de Andy Warhol y su séquito, quienes se apropiaron de la parte trasera del local. The Velvet Underground tocaban allí regularmente, incluyendo su último show con Lou Reed antes de que abandonara la banda, en el verano de 1970.

Paul Morrisey, Andy Warhol, Janis Joplin Y Tim Buckley, 1968

Fue el hogar de la escena glam rock, con artistas como David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper o the New York Dolls. Otros artistas que tocaron allí a lo largo de los primeros años de los 70s fueron Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, etc.

David Bowie, Iggy Pop y Lou Reed

Patti Simth y Tom Verlaine, 1975

Robert Gordon, Tommy Dean, Bruce Springsteen y Dee Dee Ramone

Pero en 1974 Max’s había perdido popularidad entre el público y la era del glam rock comenzaba a decaer. El legendario establecimiento cerró en diciembre de ese mismo año y se convirtió en oficina del político Ed Koch.

Max's Kansas City reabrió en 1975, ahora propiedad de Tommy Dean Mills, quien inicialmente pensó en convertirlo en discoteca. Peter Crowley fue contratado para fichar bandas para el local.

Bajo la dirección de Crowley el club se convirtió en uno de los lugares de nacimiento del punk, debido a la actuación de artistas como the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Ramones, Television, Blondie, Talking Heads, Devo, Dictators, Misfits y artistas de fuera de la ciudad como the Runaways. Después de la ruptura de Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious tocó allí en solitario.

New York Dolls

Nancy Spungen y Sid Vicious

El local original  volvió a cerrar en Noviembre de 1981 y actualmente alberga un Green Café koreano.

Mills reabrió el club el 27 de enero de 1998, en una nueva localización, 240 West 52nd Street, y volvió a cerrar rápidamente, debido a la pérdida de la esencia original y la decadencia del punk.

En 2000, Acidwork Productions Inc, una compañía de producción fundada por Neil Holstein, comenzó a trabajar junto con Victoria Ruskin (primo segundo e hija de Mickey Ruskin) en un largometraje documental sobre Mickey Ruskin y sus numerosos establecimientos, incluyendo Max's Kansas City.

En 2001, Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin estableció el Proyecto Max's Kansas City, en memoria de su difunto esposo, para mantener el espíritu de la filosofía de Ruskin de ayudar a artistas necesitados. El proyecto, una organización sin fines de lucro, proporciona fondos de emergencia y recursos para artistas en crisis, con el fin de empoderar a los adolescentes a través de las artes.

Vídeos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chd_JUkec8M New York Dolls, 1973

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0a22CrMf4s Ramones, 1976

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIdYKV0PajI Devo, 1977

Fuentes:

https://elpais.com/cultura/2017/05/23/actualidad/1495534405_689382.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max%27s_Kansas_City

http://maxskansascity.com/

http://classic.maxskansascity.com/index2.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/arts/design/05maxs.html

[regicide1997]

Various thoughts on this, all from an outsider's perspective, but trying nonetheless to put myself in their shoes:

From an environmentalist standpoint, he shouldn't have done it, though it's hardly the worst thing that mountain has seen.

Scafell Pike is in the North of England, and if you know anything about the socioeconomic distribution of people in England, the geography and geology of the Isles, and the history of mining in England and the Isles as a whole, you can probably understand why some of the people whose rocks had been taken from them in the past for the benefit of lining the pockets of London industrialists might not be so happy about more rocks being taken from them and sent off to London without recompense. Even if they aren't burning the rocks this time.

Additionally, given the rise of mountaintop removal coal mining in the United States, and witnessing its devastating environmental effects, I'd hope a stunt like this would receive an oversized backlash from locals who don't want to see similar techniques being brought to their doorstep, even symbolically.

If you are going to put it in a museum, put it in one in Cumbria, maybe? Maybe that's what the tourism director was suggesting:

We are all aware that Cumbria's landscape has long inspired generations of artists. These include international greats like JMW Turner, Ruskin, Schwitters and Li Yyan-chia, considered to be one of the founding fathers of Chinese abstract painting. These individuals have all taken a piece of this landscape away in the figurative sense. This is taking the mickey and we want the top of our mountain back.

At the very least we would like to see the piece returned to the county it has been removed from. Perhaps the artist would consider returning it in time for Lakes Culture's spring arts programme, LakesIgnite, which runs until 26 May, and will include works like PaperBridge by environmental artist Steve Messam.

This is all stuff that happened back in 2015, so I guess it's spilt milk now, but at the very least it was a rather understandable outrage.

Artist removes 1 inch off the peak of England’s highest mountain; Brits want their inch back.

It is still England’s highest mountain, but Scafell Pike is ever so slightly smaller now after an artist stole the top inch of the summit to display in a gallery.

Oscar Santillan, 34, was accused of vandalism after removing the stone pinnacle of the 3,209ft Lake District peak for an exhibition in London.

Ian Stephens, managing director of Cumbria Tourism, said: “This is taking the mickey and we want the top of our mountain back.”

[kevinransomecampbell]

Glenn O’Brien RIP.

I remember Andy saying, “They’re really up there,” and “Geee, that’s so grreat.” And “Oh, he’s such a beauty” and “She’s such a beauty.”

I remember Paul calling half the people who came up to the Factory “drug trash.” And saying “Get those drag queens out of here.”

I remember Richard Bernstein being the only person who ever smoked pot at the Factory. (Until Jean Michel 20 years later.)

I remember having to take some German journalist through the Factory and he thought it was a commune and asked where we slept. After a while he said, “We fuck now?”

I remember Louis Waldon coming up and asking Andy for $10,000 to put a zinc bar in some place he’d bought in Europe.

I remember Ondine coming up to visit. He didn’t look like Ondine anymore. Somebody said he was a mailman. He didn’t say anything brilliant.

I remember Viva saying how cheap Andy was and he’d regret it when her book came out.

I remember how much Andy hated it when somebody wanted to shake hands.

I remember Paul yanking out hunks of hair from his head while talking on the phone.

I remember answering the phone, “Factory,” and Andy saying, “Why don’t you just say studio?”

I remember Fred on the phone saying, “Hughes, as in Howard Hughes.”

I remember Lou Reed calling me up and playing me a tape of a band from Boston he wanted to produce. All their songs were about him.

I remember Andy offering me a part in “Women in Revolt” and being really excited until I found out that Jackie Curtis was going to give me an enema.

I remember the day Billy Name came out of his darkroom after staying in there a year. He left a note for Andy that said, “I’m not here anymore but I am fine.” There were a lot of astrology books in there.

I remember Bob Dylan’s bodyguards grabbing Andy’s film at Mick Jagger’s birthday party because there was a joint on the table. Andy was appalled.

I remember Interview writer Donald Chase doing such a good Bette Davis imitation that he fooled everyone on the phone including W.H.Auden who went to his grave thinking Bette Davis was his biggest fan.

I remember Rene Ricard being the only person who still called Andy Drella.

I remember Richard Bernstein calling the back room of Max’s “The bucket of blood.”

I remember Danny Fields talking about the “abstract expressionist alcoholics” who sat in the middle room of Max’s. I remember Paul telling me not to hang out with Danny. I remember hanging out with Danny anyway. He discovered the Stooges and the Ramones.

I remember when Mickey Ruskin put hairy wallpaper over the red walls of the back room at Max’s. We all thought it was to slow the cock roaches down.

I remember wishing Lisa Robinson would put a sweater on over her see through blouse.

I remember Nelson Lyon using the word “fruitcake” to Andy and Andy not blinking.

I remember Bob Colacello saying Robert Mapplethorpe deliberately peed in his jeans. He thought that was exciting.

I remember Dylan coming up with John Sebastian’s ex-wife, wearing a straw hat and a wife beater.

I remember Anjelica Huston coming up to the Factory with Joan Buck. She was nineteen.

I remember Nick Ray coming up wearing an eye patch. Paul said he was on drugs. We all wondered if he needed the patch. It seemed like it was on the other eye last time.

I remember nights hanging out with Donald Cammell and his girlfriend Miriam whose job was to pick up another chick, and finally getting Donald to show me his dick because I was tired of hearing how big it was. It was.

I remember Andy asking me why I didn’t get rid of Fran Lebowitz and asking me if I really thought she was really funny.

I remember Candy saying that she had songs written about her by Lou, Ray Davies (“Lola,”) and Mick Jagger (“The Citadel.”)

I remember David Bowie coming to the Factory to do a mime act for Andy and sing “Andy Warhol.” Paul wanted to throw him out but I told Andy he was famous in England. After the song Andy didn’t know whether to be insulted or not.

I remember Geri Miller saying she wasn’t a virgin but was she saving her ass for her husband.

I remember being kind of afraid of Taylor Mead but being not sure why.

I remember Ronnie talking about shooting speed and thinking “Maybe I didn’t get here too late after all.”

I remember Andrea Whips Warhol getting up on the table in the back room of Max’s at “Showtime!”

I remember asking Uschi Obermayer to marry me. Even though I was married. I gave her a plastic engagement ring. I think she turned me down because of Keith.

I remember Ed McCormack getting so drunk he went home with Eric Mitchell and the next day he said he thought maybe his ass hurt.

I remember Eric Emerson getting stopped for drunk driving wearing full angel wings, glitter and leather shorts.

I remember Cindy Lang talking about Johnny Thunders big dick.

I remember hiring Susan Blond to sell ads for Interview because she had a squeaky voice. And I made her bleach her hair blonde because of her name. It didn’t last.

I remember looking at beautiful pictures of Steven Mueller from Lonesome Cowboys and thinking maybe he should lay off the Budweiser.

I remember Donna Jordan’s nipples and bleached eyebrows, Jane Forth’s no eyebrows and Patti D’Arbanville’s ass. I remember Jane being sixteen.

I remember Andy telling me that Jack Smith really invented the word “superstar” and asking me if Jack needed money.

I remember unfriendly looks from Gerard who was on the outs. He got over it. I remember Andy saying “No more poems in Interview.”

I remember Maria Schneider coming up right after Last Tango in Paris and making a big point of making out with her girlfriend.

I remember Andy saying at parties, “This is such hard work.”

I remember thinking Jackie Curtis was really ugly as a woman until I saw her as “James Dean.”

I remember the door being guarded by a stuffed Great Dane that supposedly once belonged to Cecil B. DeMille. I remember Vincent sitting at the reception desk reading every movie mogul biography.

I remember wondering what it was that Paul saw in Shirley Temple.

I remember asking Susan Bottomley if she’d like to have dinner some time and her saying “no.”

I remember Peter Beard with no socks in January picking up a hot frying pan in his bare hands.

I remember Jed and Jay Johnson wearing platform shoes.

I remember having a big crush on Ingrid Boulting and not knowing what to do when she was friendly to me.

I remember Paul calling the underground filmmaker Stan Brakhage “Stan Footage.”

I remember Luchino Visconti dancing with Fred at a black gay bar by the UN.

I remember dancing with Helmut Berger at Le Jardin.

I remember wondering about if Joe Dallesandro was just Paul Morrisey’s house guest.

I remember Nelson Lyon calling Fred and Bob “the head waiters.” I remember having dinner with Nelson and Candy and she complained about having a pain. We told her to stop complaining. She was dead in three months.

I remember Andy accidentally leaving his tape recorder in the Interview office so he could hear what Bob and I talked about.

I remember Andy shooting me in my underwear at the Interview office for the “Sticky Fingers” cover. He paid me a hundred buck. Fred kept saying, “Can’t you make it any bigger.” Then three businessmen walked in the door and said, “Isn’t this the architects office?”

I remember Richie Gallo, a performance artist who called himself the Lemon Man and danced around in an executioner’s hood picking up lemons.I remember Vincent and me taping Neke Carson painting Andy’s portrait with a brush up his ass. Neke called it Rectal Realism.

I remember Brigid’s cock-prints book.

I remember Mickey Ruskin sitting at the door of Max’s saying “Sorry fellows, it’s couples only tonight” when un-hip people showed up.

I remember Valerie Solanas calling up and asking for Andy.

I remember Andy taking me to Rauschenberg’s studio and he was drinking whiskey. In the morning.I remember going out to cash my paycheck and coming back and there had been a stickup at gunpoint. Everybody locked themselves in the back room but they forgot Joe Dallesandro’s baby and when they threatened to shoot the baby Fred gave them a hundred bucks and they left.

I remember when we got a security cameras and double doors.

I remember Andy saying “I’m not here” every day.

–Glenn O’Brien, 2/28/12

[edducan-blog]

'Mickey Mouse' degrees bring Mickey's good name into disrepute (Students sues uni for £60,000 and wins - kind of.)

‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees bring Mickey’s good name into disrepute (Students sues uni for £60,000 and wins – kind of.)

Anglia Ruskin University has been instructed to pay £61,000 in compensation to student Pok Wong, essentially for being shit. Although to be fair £46,000 of it was for legal fees, so the court estimates only about fifteen grand’s worth of shitness. And there go the floodgates – there’s now a dangerous but justified precedent for universities having to do more than offer pie crust promises in…

[ezytalkz]

University graduate her sues institution for “Mickey Mouse” degree

University graduate her sues institution for “Mickey Mouse” degree

A graduate of  Anglia Ruskin University was given £60,000 by the institution after she sued her university over her “Mickey Mouse” degree.

According to BBC, Pok Wong graduated with a first in international business strategy from the university in 2013 but claimed the school “exaggerated the prospects of a career,” hence filing a suit for false advertising.

Wong said claims made in the…

[nancy-xx]

Nancy Spungen

Nancy with iggy pop, cyrinda fox, david bowie, lisa robinson, and sable starr at a "patti smith" concert at mickey ruskin's lower manhattan ocean club, march 9th 1977.

Source:

[jeremiekroubodagnini]

A WEEK IN NEW YORK WITH BRUCE AND BOB, JULY 1973

Lee Jaffe is an artist, photographer, filmmaker, musician and producer who, in July 1973, booked an unknown act from Jamaica to support an exciting new talent from New Jersey for a week long residency at New York's legendary Max's Kansas City. It kick started both performers on their paths to become cultural titans. Lee recalls the week 50 years ago when each act alternated opening and closing slots for the 40 people who showed up each night, the two legends playing 14 gigs each across the week. Marley was making his first visit to America in support of the Catch a Fire album, while Bruce was promoting his first album. The two bands hung out - while also going to see The New York Dolls at Kenny's Castaways nightclub around the corner and Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden. Lee tells the behind the scenes tales of this slice of rock history, joined by several contributors who were there - including Bruce Springsteen, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell,  E Street band pianist David Sancious, photographer Bob Gruen, publicist Cherry Vanilla, manager Toby Mamis, Geoff MacCormack who went with David Bowie to see Bruce Springsteen, and Warhol acolyte Tony Zanetta who was a regular in the legendary back room at Max's. This snapshot of a week in the life of one of New York's most acclaimed nightclubs of the 70s, where Andy Warhol held court every night with a stunning array of the art world's alternative elite, recalls the years when decadence was de rigueur among the hedonists who lived and breathed sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. The club's owner, Mickey Ruskin, prided himself on booking new bands who he believed had something different to offer - which is why Bob Marley and Bruce Springsteen were on the same bill that week in the summer of '73.

Released On: 18 Jul 2023. Available for 36 days. 

A Zinc Media production for BBC Radio 4.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001nvpp 

For further information, please read: 

[miss-rosen]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANDY DARLING ! THE CLASSICS | ANTON PERICH: MAX’S KANSAS CITY Miss Rosen for Dazed

For a decade Max’s Kansas City ruled New York, becoming the premier spot to eat, drink, dance, party, and frolic. Proprietor Mickey Ruskin opened the nightclub and restaurant in 1965, drawing top talents like Allen Ginsberg. William S. Burroughs, and Robert Rauschenberg. But when Andy Warhol and his entourage started hanging out in the back room, Max’s quickly became the place to be. Soon David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed were regulars, along with Warhol’s latest superstars like Candy Darling, Jackie Curtis, and Holly Woodlawn.

In 1970, Croatian émigré, Anton Perich arrived a Max’s, by way of Paris. An activist in the Lettrism group during the 68 Revolution, Perich was an avant-garde filmmaker. He made friends with some busboys on staff, and they said it was the best job in America. In 1972, he joined the staff, which included busboy Carlos Falchi, manager Eric Emerson, and waitress Debbie Harry, whose presence eluded him.

For the next two years, Perich would fill in when someone called out. As he remembers, the best time to work was late at night, when the famous and the infamous alike could come and let down their hair. No one batted an eye when Perich pulled out his camera for a photo. As you can see from the photos here, they were more than happy to oblige – or sometimes, not even aware. He was soon contributing his candid snaps to Interview before going on to launch NIGHT in 1978, his very own publication.

Perich speaks about those heady years, when it was impossible to tell the nights from the days.

Read the Full Story at Dazed

Photo: Anton Perich. Candy Darling.

[younglarva]

Strange Love-Slim Harpo • I Found A New Love-Rosco Gordon • Blue Song Of Love-Johnnie Honeycutt • Whisper Your Love-The Phantom • Take This Love-Scott Walker • Young Love-Ric Carty • I Need Your Love-BB King • Funnel Of Love-Wanda Jackson • A Fool In Love-Ike & Tina Turner • From The Love Side-Hank Ballard & the Midnighters • What Do I Have To Do To Prove My Love To You-Marva Whitney • Whole Lotta Love-Ike & Tina Turner • Love Potion #9-Coasters • The Look of Love-Mickey & Sylvia • Here Lies Love-Mr Undertaker • Got Nobody To Love-Terry Timmons • Trapped Love-Kieth Corvale • What Good Is I Love You-Emmaline Jones • What Is Love-Shangri Las • Your Kind Of Love-The Breakaways • Love You More Than Yesterday-Shangri Las • Stay Together Young Lovers-Tammy St John • True Love-Patsy Cline • Try Love-Stoned Circus • Secondhand Love-Fox • Have Love Will Travel-Sonics • My Flash On You-Love • Love Love Love-Nite People • Love Love Love-Pugh • Love Without Sound-Delia Derbyshire & The White Noise • We Love You-Rolling Stones • Love Song-Syd Barrett • I Love Petite Girl-Sinn Sisamouth • Love Came Too Late-Barbara Ruskin • Love Hate Revenge-Episode Six • Loves Gone Bad-Chris Clark • Love Itis-Mandala • Sunday Love Affair-Orchester Frank Pleyer • You Don’t Love Me-Del Shannon • Love Child-Fireballs • And I Love Her-Tony Savarino • Holiday Love-Guitars Inc • Love Is Blue-The String A Longs • Love Is Just Around The Corner-Jackie Davis • Sing Songs Of Love-The Cherry Smash • [download]

[nycpunkscene]

MAX’S KANSAS CITY

LOCATION: NEW YORK

“Located at 213 Park Avenue South, Max’s Kansas City was the unlikely spot where many influential punk predecessors and early punk bands played before the New York scene finally coalesced around CBGB. Max’s Kansas City was opened in 1965 by entrepreneur and art connoisseur Mickey Ruskin. He gave the place its name on the advice of writer Joel Oppenheimer, who reasoned that it brought to mind cuts of steak from Kansas City. 

Max’s was as exclusive as it was visionary; there was a strict door policy with a velvet rope (years before Studio 54 thought of the same trick), and artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, John Chamberlain, and, most especially, Andy Warhol called the club home. Warhol was an ardent customer during the late-1960s (his “HQ,” the Factory, was located practically around the corner), holding court in the (in)famous back room with his entourage of drag queens, junkies, and superstars (such as Sugar Plum Fairy, Jackie Curtis, and Candy Darling, all later immortalized in Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”). Members of the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, and Alice Cooper were also early patrons who relied heavily on the notoriously uncollectible tabs given out by the ever-generous Ruskin to artists and performers he judged worthy of his indulgence. Other notable habitués included Leee Black Childers, the famous punk rock photographer and manager; Patti Smith, the punk poet; singer Cherry Vanilla; members of the New York Dolls; and noted punk transsexual Wayne/Jayne County, who was a DJ upstairs at Max’s for several years. 

Max’s became known as a mecca for live music, often booking bands that no one else would take a chance on. The Velvet Underground had a lengthy residence here that led to a famous live album and ended with the band imploding onstage and the final departure of Lou Reed. During the early-1970s, the nascent glitter scene was represented by Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper (who performed in a dress with cones to stimulate breasts), and others (all of whom despised the glitter label). The New York Dolls played Max’s several times a week in their early incarnation. 

Ruskin closed Max’s in 1974, though in 1975 it was reopened by Tommy Dean, who made it a prime breeding ground for punk bands during the mid-to-late-1970s. In 1976, the album Max’s Kansas City 1976 was released, featuring Cherry Vanilla and her Staten Island Band, Suicide, Pere Ubu, the Fast, and Wayne County and the Back Street Boys. There was an informal rivalry between upscale and “uptown” Max’s Kansas City and CBGB, although many bands such as the Heartbreakers (who released a live album recorded at Max’s Kansas City), Television, the Ramones, and the Sic Fucks played both clubs. The Sex Pistols referenced the place in their song “New York”: “Think it’s swell playing Max’s Kansas / You’re looking bored and you’re acting flash.” Sid Vicious was also a regular during the late-1970s and played at Max’s with various pickup bands to varying degrees of success. Later on, members of the no wave scene, including Lydia Lunch and James Chance, played the club in its last incarnation. Max’s closed in 1981, though it was briefly revived in the 1990s; a deli currently occupies the space.” 

- Brian Cogan, The Encyclopedia of Punk, (2006)

http://maxskansascity.com/