Punk poet. Noisemaker. Grandpa.
NY NY
Influences and connections. Mapping the NYC punk scene from the mid-70s. Chart from 1977: A Punk History coming from Ravenna Press (2018).
JB
1977: Mix Tape (Track 03)
Wrote “Epicene” as an elegy for Lou Reed, who died in 2013. Issue Number 1 of Punk magazine called him “the original street punk turned fine artist.” Two reasons he still matters: Velvet Underground and Street Hassle.
Word by John Burgess. Samples by James “Velvet” Nugent.
The year started out so-so …
40 years ago today I was bored. Listening to Blonde on Blonde (Visions of Johanna and Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands) on repeat. Drinking beer. Working as a stock boy at a small-town department store. Reading Camus and Sartre. Writing poems no one read.
Fragment
2 quotes on history and 1 on map making:
i have no history / up arrival, i am / always writing it (Kevin Coval)
Everything is history–only some of it is remembered (Saul Weisberg)
There is no end to the information we can use. A “good” map provides the information we need for a particular purpose–or the information the mapmaker wants us to have. (Peter Torchi)
1977: Mix Tape (Track 2)
“If I had more time I’d like to get to know you” is part of a suite, of sorts, for Sid Vicious; one thread that runs through my next book 1977.
Words by John Burgess. Samples by James “Screamer” Nugent.
What’s Fallen Apart
Thanks to poet-punk-editor Martin Appleby for including this in his Paper & Ink Zine #10. He keeps the torch lit!
RAMONES RAMONES
Ramones released their first LP on April 23, 1976 — six days after I turned 18 and could drink legally in NY then. My graduation money that June went for an amp, receiver, turntable and Advent loudspeakers (that I still have!). My summer job was stock boy at the local department store before heading to junior college. My first Ramones LP was their third, Rocket to Russia, at the end of 1977. My vinyl Ramones Ramones is from early 1978.
Another Existential Day 1977
Created for a cartoon/memoir class last spring with David Lasky and Greg Stump. It’s a map of the themes that run through my new book 1977, coming from Ravenna Press in 2018.
Ballads Under New Regime
Recovered the collaboration between Jed and me. Ballads Under New Regime. I wrote and read the poetry. Jed (Myers) created the music.
Written during the George W. Bush administration, we recorded the tracks at Jack Straw Studios in 2007. The ballads are transcribed in A History of Guns in the Family from Ravenna Press (2008).
Listen and download here:
Ballads Under New Regime (Bandcamp)
Ballads Under New Regime (SoundCloud)
We’re working on a Reprise incited by the new administration. Will keep you posted on progress.
JB 