I first heard about the Vietnam War from Marshall Drazen.
It was 1964. We were at Camp Laurelwood. Well, actually we were on an overnight, off-site, gathering wood, and he said “You know there’s a war in Vietnam…”
I didn’t.
But Marshall had older siblings. Who told him about it.
War? That was something that happened in the forties, or the fifties. All the talk was about World War II and what is now called the Holocaust. As for Korea… Most of our parents were too old for that and it wasn’t as easily understood. But now there was a war in Vietnam? Where in the hell was Vietnam?
Well, I knew it was in Southeast Asia somewhere, but…how could there be a war?
I parked this information in my brain, no one else was talking about it, but in the summer of ’65 there was a song by Barry McGuire entitled “Eve of Destruction.” It was a gigantic hit. And at this point most people knew there was as war. Over there. That we were going to win, right?
You have to know that America was almighty. If we set our mind to it we did it. Ergo the space race. We were supreme. Of course we could conquer some little rebellion halfway around the world.
And then people started to die.
First those you did not know. Those who were not on the college track. Who had no deferment. Those who thought joining the military was a leg up.
And then…
You were next.
It seemed impossible. The war had been going on for years. Now I’m gonna have to go?
And now the tide was turning. If the war was so winnable, why were we still fighting it? And why were we fighting anyway. The Domino Theory? And the old men in Washington, were they baked in old ideas, did they really know what was going on? Culture was exploding, there was a generation gap. And it was very exciting. There were old fogeys who kept their brush cuts and stood up straight and said nothing had changed, but the middle of America was shifting. It was the music, the movies…everybody wanted in on that.
Now the war went on and on and it finally ended in ’75 with capitulation. We all saw the footage from the airport. People dying to get on a plane, and probably dying if they didn’t.
And then it was hedonism, for the rest of the seventies into the eighties and nineties. Sure, some were left behind, but the boomers who had protested the war were now raking in the dough.
Oh, there was Carter and the hostage crisis, but it was all blamed on him.
And then there was the disco demolition at Comiskey Park and…
Mores were changing in America, but we were in no war, everybody was getting high and chasing the buck. Cocaine was prevalent. Billionaires started to appear and then…
It was the twenty first century. Bush II was the president, the internet was rampant and…we thought the new war was bad, but it was all containable.
Of course there was 9/11, but there was no introspection, no understanding that we were now part of not only the world economy, but the world at large.
And then everything continued to splinter. There were winners and losers and…
Trump got re-elected.
2
I wake up every day and read the news and am stunned and depressed. And I wonder if everybody else feels this way.
But my inbox and social media tells me this is untrue. There are all these videos on TikTok with women looking into the camera and gleefully saying how they support Trump, that he’s doing what he promised, and then there’s a dagger plunged into the heart of the Democrats, the nonbelievers.
But for the past couple of weeks there’s been an increasing number of videos from farmers on TikTok. Stunned. They voted for Trump and now they’re going bankrupt. DOGE eliminated their payments and protections. And then there was that cattle farmer in Nebraska yesterday. She’d voted for Trump three times, but now said they were going bankrupt, because all the undocumented help they depended upon had disappeared.
I don’t own a farm.
But I do buy products. I just bought a new computer two months ago, cost me 4k. It was made in China, what would it cost today?
And I’m not planning to buy a new car, but even in today’s WSJ it spoke about car parts crossing the border multiple times before the assembly of a car was complete.
And I started to think if this was like the Vietnam War. Where everybody supported the President until they didn’t. And believe me they didn’t, Johnson decided not to run for a second term.
And in the free-for-all that resulted… It was just like the 2024 election. The left was so busy arguing within, Humphrey was nominated and the protesting youngsters were not happy and…Nixon won.
And the war went on. And our draft dates got ever closer.
And Country Joe and the Fish said they felt like they were fixin’ to die and…once again, when your life is on the line, it’s a whole new matter. When true believers’ kids died they re-evaluated their belief in the war.
Now so far it hasn’t been life or death. But maybe that’s coming, with Medicaid cuts, possibly even Social Security cuts.
And so much infrastructure that people have depended upon has been eviscerated.
But Nixon didn’t care. Nor does Trump. Both can handle the hate and continue to march forward.
But not J.D. Vance. I’m sure you’ve seen what happened at Sugarbush over the weekend. People were not only protesting on the street, they were running him off the slope.
And the truth is it’s a very rare person who can withstand negative feedback. Which is why so many abstain from participating online, they can’t handle the blowback.
What does it take to get someone out of their house to protest?
When they’re personally affected.
Right now so much has been theory. But when the buck stops with the average American…
There were still true believers. People who thought we should have stayed in Vietnam, who were behind Nixon one hundred percent.
Same deal with Trump, no matter what happens. There will be people standing up for him and his declarations, because they’ve put their faith in the man and refuse to question their beliefs.
As a matter of fact, that’s what’s different from today as opposed to the sixties. Everybody’s afraid to question their beliefs, especially the boomers and Gen-X’ers. Used to be old people faded away, now they think they’re all powerful and they are right, goddam*it. And the Democrats are just as bad as the Republicans. They can’t understand why Kamala lost. It must be racism or sexism… They refuse to look under the hood and question her, her beliefs and her campaign. See how Trump was authentic, you got what you were seeing, whereas Harris was inauthentic, a phony you’d keep at arm’s length in real life.
And then there’s the educated looking down on those who are not, who are probably not as wealthy. They know better. But how can you if you’ve never walked in the other person’s shoes?
And as the internet progresses we’re all deep into our own silos. Most don’t even know what is happening with everybody else, never mind the facts.
RFJ, Jr. promotes Vitamin A for measles. All well and good until the outbreak is in your neighborhood and your kids are at risk.
Is this just like Vietnam, will the public ultimately be affected to the point where people react?
Then again, Vietnam lasted for over a decade. And Nixon got re-elected. And unlike in ’74, today’s Congress is not squeezing Trump out of office.
I can’t predict the future, but every day I’m depressed, politics and the world situation are all I can think about.
There are some who believe in America First, that nothing that happens overseas can affect us.
But after Brexit it’s oftentimes economically unfeasible for new acts to tour the continent.
The hype is deafening, but will Jesse Welles break through?
Not according to Spotify, where his streams are anemic.
But I keep getting e-mail from people telling me he’s the great folk rock protest hope.
So I checked him out.
You’re going to be immediately put off by his voice.
I know, I know, Bob Dylan didn’t have a classically beautiful voice and look at him!
Then again, Bob Dylan was the best lyricist of all time.
But let’s stay with Dylan.
There were only two originals on Dylan’s debut. Which had almost no commercial impact.
But then the unsung hero, the forgotten devil of Dylan’s career, took action.
Albert Grossman. He got Peter, Paul & Mary to cover “Blowin’ in the Wind.” That’s what broke Dylan, this effort of his manager. No act ever made it without a good manager. And some of the best rub their clients the wrong way. The acts don’t want to listen to advice, they want to do it their way. Ken Kragen made one act after another stars. From Kenny Rogers to Gallagher to Travis Tritt. And so many left him and never had the same success.
Anyway, by time Dylan emerged on the hit parade, not only had we heard a hit cover of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” but the Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man” and the Turtles’ “It Ain’t Me Babe,” so that both listeners and the industry were primed for “Like a Rolling Stone,” which believe me sounded different from everything else on the radio.
Or maybe we should look at James Taylor. He had a cult audience, his first album percolated in the marketplace and then “Sweet Baby James” came along and… “Fire and Rain” put James over the top. It was all about the hit.
So do I think people are lining up to cover Jesse Welles’s songs?
No.
Do I think one of his tracks could be plucked by a radio programmer and pushed to the top of the chart?
Well, that’s not the way it works anymore. Radio responds to Spotify, to the internet, radio comes last, radio plays it safe.
So if there was spontaneous combustion on Jesse Welles…why does he have only three tracks with more than a million streams on Spotify, and none of them are from his most recent album. There is no conflagration.
However, today’s world is different. You can make it without a hit. Just look at Brittany Howard and Alabama Shakes. She can sell tickets without having written any truly memorable songs. People clamor for the story, the groove, the sound.
Will the same thing happen with Jesse Welles?
Now Welles is no newbie. He’s recorded before. And unlike Dylan, he wasn’t commenting on social conditions from day one. But he wrote a song about Gaza and…as of this writing, “War isn’t Murder” has 3,541,874 streams on Spotify. There are 1.4 million views on YouTube. This is not a juggernaut.
The second million streamer is a cover of John Fogerty’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” so that really doesn’t count.
And the cut with 1,085,368 streams is…
“United Health.”
Ah, now you understand, now you know why people were e-mailing me. That’s how hungry the audience is for something in this vein, that speaks to life in these United States, something that can be labeled “protest.”
And Welles certainly sounds different from the Spotify Top 50, and he’s not in a war with another singer and…
What was the name of that guy they name-checked in the debate? You remember, that guy from Tennessee… Oh yeah, Oliver Anthony, with “Rich Men North of Richmond.” He and his song caught the zeitgeist and now he’s promptly disappeared and I’d be stunned if he had another hit.
Will it be the same for Jesse Welles?
Now after I started getting e-mail about “United Health,” there was a story in the “New York Times”:
“Jesse Welles, a Folk Musician Who ‘Sings the News,’ Is Turning the Page – The 30-year-old known for strumming his guitar to tunes about hot topics is releasing a new album, “Middle,” that avoids current events.”
https://rb.gy/1mnzy0
But isn’t current events the only reason people are paying attention?
And then last week “New York” magazine weighed in:
“Will the Revolution Start at a Jesse Welles Concert?”
https://shorturl.at/z33x5
Now what this tells me is the second writer wanted to get on the bandwagon or…
This wasn’t spontaneous combustion, Jesse Welles has a good PR person.
I’ll go with the latter. Because almost nothing gets in the “Times” serendipitously, unless it’s already mega-successful.
So like I said, I checked Welles out and his voice…
But then I decided to give the new album a go.
And what I thought was this was a not-so-good Elliott Murphy record.
Elliott Murphy would have been much bigger today, because like I said above, a hit is not absolutely necessary, unlike back in the day.
And it’s not only Elliott Murphy, there were a number of singer-songwriters who got pushed by the machine that fell through the cracks.
But those days were different, because you had to buy the album. And if you did, you listened to it over and over and came to know it and usually like it.
If I played Welles’s new album “The Middle” over and over would I come to enjoy it? Yes. There’s definitely something there.
But is Welles the great white protest hope? The new Dylan?
Even Bruce Springsteen wasn’t the new Dylan.
So is there just a delay and Wellesmania is right around the corner?
Or is Jesse on his way to becoming an Americana fixture who doesn’t translate outside that world but makes a good living.
Now my belief is most of the people who e-mailed me about the United Health song were more excited about the fact that someone was addressing the topic in a magnetic video than they were by the song itself.
Check it out here: https://shorturl.at/BH2Ir
For the record, the video only has 670k views in two months, this is no “Rich Men North of Richmond.”
So I don’t think Jesse Welles is on the verge of taking over America, becoming an icon.
But once again, the volume of e-mail I got about him evidences an incredible hunger for someone who fits this slot. And this slot is not being satisfied in the Spotify Top 50.
It’s kind of like the early sixties, there were hit records, and then the Beatles came along and wiped out everybody on the radio other than the Beach Boys and the Four Seasons.
That’s the moment we’re in.
But what we get our rap wars and brands and commerce when people are hungering for soul.
I had the privilege of working with David between 2000 – 2003 in his “Harry Smiths” era. We played at the Bottom Line once a month and other NY area venues- and a short European tour. There’s 2 albums “David Johansen and the Harry Smiths” recorded on Chesky records. They were both recorded at St. Peter’s Church in NYC. I worked on the second record with him entitled “Shaker.” The band name referencing the “Anthology of American Folk Music” by Smith. The music was old Americana, Blues, work songs, but with some very sophisticated arrangements and with an open, improvisational approach at times. It was a thrill for me- one of the most inspiring musical situations I’ve been in. David was magical – I loved every minute of it. If you were there, you know for sure. RIP David Jo- much LUV
Keith Carlock
____________________________________________
When I was a teenager still attending high school in New Jersey my then-manager, Toby Mamis (aka the famous Toby Mamis) facilitated my band opening for the New York Dolls at several venues in Manhattan (we were so young that we had to be driven in to NYC)… and imagine our shock and surprise at being these clean-cut high school teenagers opening for David Jo’s band! They were somewhat intimidating because they appeared like something out of another dimension. However, what I remember most was how friendly and gracious David was backstage to me and my band mates (in fact, when one of the other members was posing like he was gonna throw a water balloon at us while we were on stage just for fun, I saw David stop him). At one point in speaking with David backstage somewhere around 2am, it was he that was shocked and surprised to hear that I would be driven back to the suburbs and then attend high school the next morning.
Somehow, over the years, David and I continued to encounter each other at various events and venues, through his subsequent incarnations, including one of my: Buster Poindexter. He always smiled when I would introduce myself and remind him of that early meeting as this opening act… or at least he feigned remembering. Either way, that is an example of what a classy gentleman and a kind soul David Johansson was. The world needs more people like that. He will be missed.
Wallace Collins
____________________________________________
David Johansen was my friend. Johnny and Syl too. I was there from pretty much the beginning, helping them get press coverage by inviting all my rock press friends, and also industry folks, to see them. At the Diplomat, at Max’s, at the Mercer. Placing little ads in the Village Voice for their shows. Setting up photo sessions.
When people say “you had to be there,” well that was absolutely true.
I love those two Mercury albums, even though neither of them captures the live excitement of the band. They are great albums that have stood the test of time.
Todd tried to tame them, Shadow Morton tried to frame them.
Running into David over the years, all around the world, was always a hoot. I last saw him in 2011, when we had the re-formed Dolls (David, Syl, Earl Slick, Kenny Aaronson, and a drummer whose name I cannot for life of me remember tonight) open for Alice on a UK arena tour. I was still doing what I could for my friends.
While the news was not unexpected, it still took my breath away today.
When Syl passed away a coupla years ago, USA Today (I think) asked David for his thoughts on being the last living NY Doll. “I guess I’m next” was his reply.
Toby Mamis
____________________________________________
In the eighties I saw David perform at the now long gone Ripley Music Hall on South Street in Philly. It was a wintry week night and attendance was sparse.
At the end of the band’s set, David announced from the stage “I’ve always wanted to do this.” And promptly walked into the audience, shook everyone’s hand and personally thanked them for coming.
He was a unique talent with a very playful personality. I know I will miss him but certainly not my memory of that moment.
Rest in peace David.
Best,
Andrew Paciocco
____________________________________________
David Johansen lived not far from me in Staten Island. Although we graduated from the same high school (Port Richmond), we were not friends and never interacted personally. He was thirty two years older than me. But occasionally I’d see him shopping at the local Key Food on Forest Avenue. Nobody would recognize him, he was just… there. Staten Island has few noteworthy people. He was one of them. And yet, he was always still a Staten Islander. No matter how inside he went, he remained an outsider ’till the end. Ultimate respect.
Paul Cantor
____________________________________________
The writing was on the wall when David Johansen’s health issues went public a few weeks ago. We knew he wouldn’t be around long, he had already been battling.
It was then I reminisced about when David came onto my radar, when “Live It Up” was released. He absolutely slayed that Animals medley and the other covers and what a hot band he had! I had no idea he was a New York Doll in makeup and high heels just some years before!
I worked backwards and loved and appreciated the Dolls and their influence.
Like you said, he missed out on the riches of that one big payday, and there had to be some dark days of a rock-n-roll life lived in NYC, but he was a survivor, and he had that swagger into his later years.
It was pretty telling that when he passed the tributes flowed freely and piled up from everywhere.
These one-of-a-kind rockers that are passing are never going to be replaced, sadly.
Warmest Regards,
Brian Friel
____________________________________________
Beautiful tribute to David Johansen and a perfectly painted and accurate portrait of his career.
Hard to forget how much pressure was on that first solo album in 1978. What do you do after the New York Dolls?? The songs were powerful and provocative and Johansen seemed both desperate and confident at the same time. But for me the secret weapon was the band behind him— A group of Staten Island musicians who approached him once on the ferry when he didn’t have much going on. They begged for a shot and he gave it to them. Thomas Trask, Buzzy Verno, Frankie Larocca and Jonny Rao who all looked as if they had been cast by Martin Scorsese, stepped up and gave him what he needed at that moment: a gritty, no nonsense yet sparklingly talented back up band that was funky, chic and could “scrub him on down in any old Launderette.”
As I heard so many times in so many tri-state area clubs in the glorious high school summer of 1978, “ladies and gentlemen, the David Johansen group!”
And then it was off to the races.
Rest in peace, Buzzy, Frankie, Johnny, Arthur, Jerry, Sylvain… And now David.
Chris Epting
____________________________________________
‘everyone’s going to your house / to shoot up in your room / most of them are beautiful / but so obsessed with gloom’
rip to one of the great ones — great tribute sir
cheers,
David Williams
____________________________________________
Dave’s first group on Staten Island was the Vagabond Missionaries: all local neighborhood guys. Thats where he started.
John Bennett
____________________________________________
Undoubtedly, one of the best frontmen of all time! Among my friends he is a God and will live on forever! I was lucky to see them on the reunion tours a couple times and even had Sylvain Sylvain in my car once when he was on a solo tour. The New York Dolls paved the way for so much I love about rock n roll! Long Live The Dolls! I also donated to the Sweet
Relief fund and got a great shirt, how do you spell love? Luv…
Tim Pyles
____________________________________________
Some of my greatest music memories were created around him… seeing the Dolls perform twice in one day in a tent at the Minnesota State Fair for two bucks a pop, and taking a couple of goes at a carnival game with Johnny Thunders between the shows…joining a conga line down Kinzie street in Chicago while Buster passed bottles of vodka down the rank…having a nice chat with David after running into him in Union Square Park back in the early 90s. Just minutes after reading your email, I watched SNL for the first time in months, and was heartened to see the tribute, however brief, for the lonely planet boy.
Thomas Wilson
____________________________________________
I saw David Johansen open for The Ramones at Brandeis University and he and his band were fantastic. I have to hand it to his sound guy because he managed to get a great mix in that awful gymnasium.
Unfortunately, it was the worst possible venue to see The Ramones. It was too big, and the acoustics were brutal for punk. Halfway through the show we were looking around the audience for people we knew.
It was the only time I saw The Ramones and I don’t remember a single song from it. David’s performance, however, is one that I will always remember.
Cheers,
Tom Quinn
____________________________________________
Bob, you perfectly captured the story and the vibe.
I had the privilege of meeting David several times, the dude was a gentleman.
Thank you,
Michael Biondo
____________________________________________
Nicely done Bob….
Never got to see the original lineup but got to see them a few times after they re-formed. The first time at SXSW when they played a set ay Stubb’s BBQ was one of my greatest rock & roll moments ever. After seeing all these wanna-be electronic and shoe-gazing bands…as soon as they hit the stage with “Looking For A Kiss” it took me back to the greasy rock & roll I loved. I was so excited I almost felt like climbing over the wall and jumping up on stage.
For that one night I believed…to quote Danny & the Juniors… that “rock & roll here’s to stay”.
Not so sure anymore.
God rest David and hopes he meets up with Sylvain, Johnny, Arthur, Billy, and Jerry up above. That would be one wild reunion party in heaven.
#LUV
Brian Helgesen
____________________________________________
I remember being a freshman in high school in the fall of 1973 and reading about the Dolls in Circus magazine. Their look got my attention, but they hadn’t gotten airplay in Chicago yet, at least that I had heard, and buying an album was a financial commitment so I gave them no more thought.
Then I saw them on The Midnight Special. The look was outrageous, but the thing that sold me was the raw rock and roll sound! It was primal, far apart from Yes, Led Zeppelin, and the Eagles, and I loved it.
In November of that year I turned 15 and my aunt gave me a $10 gift certificate to Gordons Department Store, on the corner of Broadway and Massachusetts, downtown Gary, IN.
Like so many department stores of the time they had a small record department. I remember going there and hoping there might be something that was halfway interesting to buy for my growing record collection but not being very hopeful
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the Dolls debut album in the N section. I bought it and played it more than any album I bought that year.
The second album came out and I heard it but it didn’t move me like the first one did so I didn’t buy it until many years later when I found a copy in a cutout bin.
I saw David in the early 80’s opening for the Who and remember being surprised that he was still around, but impressed with the set he and his band played.
When he reappeared as Buster Poindexter a few years later I remember thinking that he had finally hit the big time, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.
I had forgotten about him again until I saw the Scorsese documentary last year. The thing that hit me the hardest was that it looked like he had worked really hard to keep from going under, to stay in the game and that he had succeeded, but that he had also paid a price, as evidenced by the lines on his face.
But the film also reminded me that before the Ramones, before the Pistols, there were the Dolls, and for a brief moment they were the torch bearers for real, raw, rock and roll.
Jim Blaney
____________________________________________
Saw the Dolls in seventy-whatever on a double bill with Lynyrd Skynyrd at a converted bowling alley in Springfield, Missouri, both bands 100% intact and at the top of their game.
Maybe a couple hundred people there, barely. Everybody sat on the floor. That way our faces were closer to our jaws.
Feather boas meeting flannel denim. Both bands performed like they were at the Garden. It was fantastic, in spite of the cognitive dissonance.
dale mccoy
____________________________________________
Thank you for that refresher course on David. The Dolls were a band that you heard about but never saw. Mink DeVille was another. When I frequented New Orleans, Eric and Willie were hanging out and sitting in. Got to see Eric and Willie together.
Flash forward to SXSW. The Dolls comeback. I shot the show at Stubbs. I was walking to my car after and David happened to be in front of me. He very kindly posed for a photo.
I listened to the Dolls on Spotify, yesterday. Now I have to get the Live album thanks to your mention of it.
John Kauchick
____________________________________________
I didn’t know David had died until I read your column and this news sucks. I saw the Dolls at Massey Hall (!) in Toronto in the summer of ’74. Somehow KISS was the opening act and allowed to use their full range of tricks (which were many) in their set. They were virtually unknown in Toronto at the time (I’d never heard of them) and to be honest I was pissed that The Stooges dropped off the advertised bill The Dolls simply couldn’t follow KISS, which was a shame.
That didn’t deter me from my Dolls’ fandom though and I followed Johansen’s career and loved his solo stuff, even when he pivoted to Buster Pointdexter territory. The man was a born star with a huge personality – crisis or not – and I am very sorry he’s left us.
Mike Campbell
____________________________________________
No TV ? The Dolls were on “Midnight Special” and
“Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert”
And he was on Letterman in 1983 performing the Animals medley, plus “Stranded in the Jungle”
Stuart Taubl
____________________________________________
Bob, I was a huge fan of the Dolls & David but I didn’t know the Live It Up album existed. Listened to it on the Spotify list you posted & it’s fantastic. Just bought it. RIP David. Best, Jeff Hayward/Maine
____________________________________________
I saw the Dolls at the Allen Theater in Cleveland in 1974. It was, I think, their second trip in, having played the Agora in 1973. Everyone knew them as Cleveland’s juggernaut radio station, WMMS, had embraced them early like Roxy Music and the Alex Harvey Band, among so many others. They were snotty, brash, wild looking and actually sounded great. David just commanded the stage like a Bowery Jagger. My favorite, being a bass player, was Arthur Kane. 6” platforms, wild blonde hair and a sort of aimless demeanor. For some of the show he just wandered around the stage playing single notes with great intensity, even if some of the time they weren’t really in same key as the song. Like so many others, they were simply out of time and didn’t have the machine behind them to push it through. Personality Crisis indeed. RIP David Johansen.
Stephen Knill
____________________________________________
I love this man. He was just an original, and a hard worker, and in on the joke, and we are missing that now. Thanks for taking me back, but also spotting the light on a true character. R.I.P.
Ron Welty
____________________________________________
I can’t believe you didn’t mention David Johansen’s part as the ghost of Christmas Present in Scrooged. Bill Murray may have been the “star”, but his scenes with him were a riot!
Michael Moniz
____________________________________________
Only got to see Buster once, but it was a show to remember. The man was a performer
Brian Barry Esq.
____________________________________________
One of the greats, a true rocker. Don’t forget the Harry Smiths, David’s roots reincarnation.
He also was the best guest ever on the Tonight Show. Never had anyone so surprised and enthralled Johnny.
“Buster and Johnny have a talk”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EalIXbQsLCA
Bill Megalos
Venice
____________________________________________
In my little 11th grade circle in 1978 in New York… We knew. We used to go see Johnny Thunders and when he could stand up straight, he was a force. One night at club 57 David Johansen and Sylvain showed up and did a medley of Dolls songs with Thunders and Nolan…. So when the tickets for the Paradise shows in Boston went on sale, I was first in line. Those shows were absolutely tremendous. At just 18 years old. I didn’t really know where the Animals tunes were coming from but I had heard them on WNEW. I even got to meet David by accident online at the Agean in Kenmore Square the night before… I was wearing a doll’s pin on my jean jacket and this guy standing in front of me looking nothing like I had imagined was just glaring at me… Waiting for me to invade his space. I held back and we both had a smile and that was a funny moment. God bless David Johansen, and God bless The Dolls….
With Gratitude,
Matt Peyton
____________________________________________
Bob…Saw the Dolls up in New Paltz Spring Weekend ‘73…the hippies hated them…but in the middle of “Frankenstein”, I got it…and loved David from that moment…Matt Auerbach…
____________________________________________
I was living in London in 2004 – as an illegal alien. The tech company I moved there to work for, Riverstone Networks, blew up in a fit of SEC violations at the end of 2003 and I was left unemployed – but I didn’t leave. My wife & I stayed in London with expired work permits and hired a lawyer to help us get visas. Six months later I got a call from the lawyer on June 16th saying our passports with approved visas were at his office – just across the Themes from the Royal Festival Hall.
I went to pick up the passports that afternoon and across the Themes I saw a crowd gathering – the Dolls reunion show I desperately wanted to attend but was too depressed because of my illegal status was that night. But I was no longer illegal with those new visas! So I got across the river, scalped a ticket in the 2nd row and saw the Dolls reunion. They were fabulous and it was perhaps the best day of my entire life.
Brett Howser
____________________________________________
In 2006, I spent a month on tour in one of the opening bands on Little Steven’s Underground Garage Tour being headlined by the New York Dolls. Being a generation younger, I first loved David Johansen from SNL & “Hot Hot Hot” (and Scrooged) so I couldn’t believe how great and different his solo work and the New York Dolls were as I worked my way backwards through his catalog. I was over the moon at the opportunity to play on the same bill with him/them and I made sure to watch their full set every night – it didn’t matter that after 20 shows, I’d memorized it, they still crushed it every time. As Johansen would get to the venues close to his set-time, I know he hadn’t seen me on-stage but all the bands were on the road together in the same hotels, gas stops, etc. and while I talked to the other guys in the Dolls, I remained shy/intimidated when I’d see him. Finally on the last night in St. Louis, I approached him backstage to tell him how much of a fan I was and how much I’d loved watching him all month and he said, in his inimitable style, “cool, thanks….whaddya on the tour or something?” – definitely the greatest non-compliment I’ve ever been given!
Was very happy a few years ago when Morrissey played in Brooklyn that before the show began, they screened a montage of old pictures and videos of icons and influences and when they showed Johansen & the New York Dolls, it got the loudest ovation. A true legend. RIP.
Ethan Jon Kreitzer
____________________________________________
Man, I just loved David Johansen and the Dolls.
As a 13 year old I first heard the New York Dolls and “Personality Crisis” grabbed me and moved me as much as Lou Reed or Bowie. Growing up on Long Island I started working in a music club in Babylon and all the bands played there from the Good Rats, Twisted Sister, Pat Benatar and Blue Oyster Cult but David Johansen was the guy who really spoke to me as he had a sense of humor and just seemed fearless. Listening to those records and later Television’s “Marquee Moon”, Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys, Sweet, Mott the Hoople, etc let me know there was life outside of the conservative Long Island town I grew up in.
I went off to Hampshire College in Amherst Mass and a few friends invited me to visit at SUNY Buffalo. They said “The Who are playing, come on up…” Little did I know that The Clash and David Johansen were opening. That was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. I’ll miss David, what a talent with a unique artistic vision.
Joe Fletcher
____________________________________________
yes. saw him so many times.A great rock singer and band leader. saw the dolls and his other bands and playing solo acoustic. A clever soulful songwriter, a master at putting a song across.
Owen Plotkin
____________________________________________
David Johansen had no bigger fan than Steve Paul. Steve saw super-star power in David and did everything he could to help David reach that career goal. David was signed to Steve’s Blue Sky label, and Steve also provided management. I was the product manager up at Epic when Steve brought in that album with Funky but Chic — not being able to break David, and particularly that album, was disappointing for us, and I know especially for Steve, who never stopped believing in David.
Jim Charne
____________________________________________
So those of us who were at RCA when David flipped to Buster will have nothing but really great memories of working with him. So funny and so cool. I had the privilege of traveling around with him doing promo during those days. But here’s my favorite “David thing.” He used to joke with me about applying Preparation H to remove bags under his eyes. He called it the “Detroit Tuck.”
Hugh Surratt
____________________________________________
I saw David live a few times around 2010 at the Highline Ballroom in NYC. He was in amazing spirits and sounded fantastic. I saw him do acoustic blues/solo sets and a holiday show as Buster with a full band. It was refreshing to see him pulling back from the Dolls reunion, which was great but not as personal as his solo work. I was shocked to see so few people in attendance. We do a horrible job as a culture assigning value in the arts…when a valuable artist is willing to continue to follow his muse in the midst of this, it is to be applauded.
Daryl Williams
____________________________________________
& he loved the blues:
David Johansen & the Harry Smiths – https://open.spotify.com/album/7g6IL4R4MMeIvWOOyr3g5g?si=j6zzGpRXS4iDXmfgwR4ZTw
David Johansen & the Harry Smiths – Shaker – https://open.spotify.com/album/5mAvs4hj3PMkLSdcx4ajr2?si=hpR4PhrETEqeZSG1-BJzBQ
Ashley/Evosound
____________________________________________
Bob.. Thanks for talking about David Johansen and the New York Dolls…They are one of my fave’s… I was working in a cardboard box factory In the 70’s and my band buddies with me bought tickets to see the Dolls.. the show never happened because customs wouldn’t let Jonny Thunders into Canada… surprise !!! I loved their swagger and their ragged music… and they were dangerous.. They will be missed! God Bless Them…Bob Rock
“Why a Chinese Gadget Company Can Make an Electric Car and Apple Can’t – Xiaomi, which produces smartphones and consumer electronics, delivered 135,000 E.V.s last year after tapping China’s robust manufacturing supply chain.”
My inbox is full of those who decry the mainstream news. They claim it’s biased, they want nothing to do with it, they get their news from a cornucopia of bloggers, podcasters and broadcasters, mostly echoing what they already believe. And this is on both the left and the right.
Now it’s instinctual to hate the big kahuna, that which has more power than you do, but that does not mean you don’t need to pay attention. Because the mainstream newspapers are in the business of collecting and reporting news, whereas nearly every other outlet is about opinion. Sure, the mainstream has got a lot of that too, but don’t forgo the news just because you disagree with the slant of the Op-ed page.
Recently all the publicity has been about AI, where there’s been a ton of investment and very little return, except for NVIDIA, which makes the chips AI is based upon. As for AI’s economic impact in the future? That’s up for grabs. Meanwhile, there’s the issue of hallucinations. You can’t take what AI says to the bank. And in a world of zeros and ones, where we want it exactly right, that’s a humongous failure.
But transportation? It’s never going out of style, people have to get from here to there. And for the foreseeable future it will be in cars.
Now the right wing decries electric cars, despite their hero Elon Musk manufacturing them. They want fossil fuel burners, the bigger the better, that’s the American way, right?
Well, decades ago, but not anymore.
And even if you don’t believe in climate change electric cars are the future. You’d think we’d all get on the same page and try to prepare before the Chinese eat our lunch entirely.
Yes, that’s what they’re poised to do.
Xiaomi, which is best known for smartphones and appliances, just released the fastest EV on the market, the SU7 Ultra. It goes from zero to sixty in less than two seconds. And it looks just like a Porsche. But it costs only $73,000.
Oh, that doesn’t sound so cheap. Until you learn that the regular everyday model sells for THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!
Not a single foreign competitor has been able to make a cheap EV, but there are a plethora in China.
Last year Chinese carmaker BYD sold four million new cars across the planet. That’s more than Mercedes, BMW, Mazda, Subaru and, of course, Tesla… Which didn’t even break two million.
Sure, Tesla is hobbled by security constraints in China. They’re finding it hard to compete because their self-driving software has not been approved, because of worries about data leaks. But irrelevant of that, Teslas are just too EXPENSIVE!
And oh yeah, since the introduction of the SU7 Porsche’s sales have tanked in China by 30%. We’ve seen this movie before with computers. IBM charged a premium price, Dell came along and sold at a much cheaper price point and ate market share and caused every other manufacturer to imitate their process and drop prices.
So how did Chinese EVs and hybrids make inroads so quickly?
“Chinese electric vehicle companies have benefited from billions of dollars in government support, which has helped them gain control of the supply chain down to the very minerals inside the car batteries.”
But in the U.S., the government is the enemy. Its support is being cut everywhere, private business baby, no one wants to pay more taxes.
But that might leave us like a walled garden South American country. Where you buy an inferior product at a premium because the superior foreign one is taxed astronomically.
Now this can’t happen, right?
Of course it can! We saw it half a century ago with electronics. Japan ate the Americans’ lunch.
Furthermore, your Xiaomi car integrates with the rest of the software in your phone and in your home. It’s the Apple construct on steroids!
And the Easter eggs!
“On the first day SU7s were delivered, buyers could go to Xiaomi’s app store and get accessories to trick out the cars, like analog dashboard clocks and a row of physical switches that attach to a touch-screen panel.”
Now it’s not only the “Times” that covered Xiamoi’s entry into the automobile market, last week the “Wall Street Journal” had an article too:
“The Chinese EV Maker Threatening Ford and GM – Lei Jun set out to build the ‘Apple of China.’ Xiaomi’s car business is now outpacing Tesla and Rivian.”
“Farley, Ford’s CEO, had a Xiaomi SU7 specially shipped to the U.S. and spent six months last year driving it.
‘It’s fantastic,’ Farley said on an October podcast. ‘I don’t want to give it up.’ The maker of the sporty sedan, he said, was ‘the Apple of China.’
Furthermore:
“The bestselling car brand last year in Singapore, long a bastion for Japanese carmakers led by Toyota, was China’s BYD.”
Science, facts, they’ve become up for grabs in the U.S. Everything is about emotion and opinion. And that doesn’t stand up to science and organization.
I know you hate to read the mainstream press, just like you hate to listen to the Spotify Top 50. That’s for other people, the less sophisticated.
But if you truly want to know what is going on, you must pay strict attention to the mainstream press, you must consume the news, because he or she with the most information wins, all the time.
Which is why I’d rather sit at home and read than talk to most people.
But that’s just me.
This Chinese car thing is a juggernaut. And yes, there are hybrids along with EVs, but the dirty little secret of a hybrid is…
It requires service just like a traditional internal combustion engine. You’re worrying about getting a charge in the middle of nowhere, you’re hedging your bet, but the joke is on you. An EV requires almost no maintenance, period. Then again, too many people hate electric vehicles in principle to know this. Then again, the dean of automobile writers, Dan Neil, pointed this out this advantage of EVs in one of his recent WSJ columns.
America invented the transistor, but Japan saw the opportunities and fed it back to us in consumer electronics. The same way Brits heard the Delta bluesmen and created music that resulted in the British Invasion.
But we’re dismantling our infrastructure in the U.S. Cutting funds for scientific exploration in universities for fear of what they teach. Believe me, an automobile doesn’t care whether the company that made it had a DEI policy or not.
Or whether it was built by trans people.
We’re so caught up in our petty wars in America that we’re missing the point. We’re so busy hating each other that we can’t move forward.
