Punk Poet
Punk poet. Noisemaker. Grandpa.
I was 19 in 1977. “When You Spit On Me” expresses the accumulation of the boredom-apathy-indifference continuum of my teenhood.
Words by John Burgess. Samples by James “I’m So Bored” Nugent.
Influences and connections. Mapping the NYC punk scene from the mid-70s. Chart from 1977: A Punk History coming from Ravenna Press (2018).
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.
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.
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)
“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.
Thanks to poet-punk-editor Martin Appleby for including this in his Paper & Ink Zine #10. He keeps the torch lit!
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.
