#Norton Records

[gotankgo]

Here’s to hoping Miriam publishes her memoirs soon because her stories are gold:

«CRAMPS / DEAD BOYS: OUR FIRST DATE DEPT. I let a couple days (and 47 years) go by with the fan stuff by others. Cramps followers seem entirely unable to navigate the internet becasue I've had this stuff up forever and still the kids are all bewildered. Here's a foto by Cleveland cohort James taken about a month before the band ever played out, and here's the telling Stiv letter that sets the first date and his doings (seeing Pere Ubu after mailing this letter). . And here's all the advertised shows that they ever played with a girl drummer. Were any of youse at any of these shows, so long ago? More fun to come, documented by fotos, clippings, and handwritten letters from all concerned. There's more evidence in an original postmark than in any latter day rock scribe's half witted "research". Bah, says I. And yes, Stiv is kidding. Any questions?

Gig list / First lineup 1976-1977

Lux Interior (vocals), Ivy Rorschach (guitar), Bryan Gregory (guitar), Miriam Linna (drums)

11/1/76 CBGB, NYC W/Dead Boys (first show)

11/21/76 Max's Kansas City, NYC

11/27/76 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Suicide and Fuse

12/17/76 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Suicide and Jango Edwards

12/29/76 On The Rocks, NYC w/Stiletto

1/6/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Uncle Son

1/7/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC

1/8/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC

1/9/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC

1/13/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Kieran Liscoe Band/Stumblebunny

1/14/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Mink Deville/Suicide

1/21/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Blondie

1/22/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Blondie

2/3/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Marbles and Mumps

2/4/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Marbles and Mumps

2/5/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Marbles and Mumps

2/18/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/the Fast

3/20/77 CBGB, NYC w/Dead Boys

3/24/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Suicide

3/25/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Suicide

4/1/77 CBGB, NYC w/Ramones

4/5/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Stilletto and the Visitors

4/13/77 My Fathers Place, Roslyn (Long Island) w/The Ramones

4/13/77 CBGB, NYC w/Come On

4/14/77 My Fathers Place, Roslyn, (Long Island) w/The Ramones

4/14/77 CBGB, NYC w/Contortions

4/15/77 CBGB, NYC w/Steel Tips

4/20/77 CBGB, NYC w/The Ramones

4/26/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/Lollipop

5/2/77 Lower Manhattan Ocean Club, New York, NY

5/13/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w The Fast

5/14/77 Max's Kansas City, NYC w/ The Fast

6/9/77 CBGB, NYC w/Ramones

6/10/77 CBGB, NYC w/ Ramones

6/11/77 CBGB's w/ Ramones

6/15/77 Village Gate w/Tuff Darts and Alex Chilton

7/7/77 CBGB, NYC w/Viletones /Diodes/Teenage Head/Boyfriends

7/8/77 CBGB, NYC w/Viletones /Diodes/Teenage Head/Boyfriends

7/9/77 CBGB, NYC w/Viletones /Diodes/Teenage Head/Boyfriends

7/10/77 CBGB, NYC w/Viletones /Diodes/Teenage Head/Boyfriends»

[whitetrashsoul]

Sophisticated International Playboys own a complete set of the official publication of the Untamed Youth, the Untamed Whirl!

[guessimdumb]

Miriam & Nobody's Babies - Get the Message (2018)

This wonderful single was recorded for their appearance at a Spanish festival. It's a cover of a song by Cyrus Erie, the group led by Eric Carmen before he was a Raspberry. Miriam was the original drummer of the Cramps, and has gone on to record lots of great stuff on her own as Miriam.

[weneverlearn]

Mary Weiss, me; outside Magnetic Field, Brooklyn, 2008 (photographer unknown)

Mary Weiss, R.I.P.

It was 2005, and I'd lived in NYC for less than a year. I somehow finagled my way into a listening party for the incredible new Rhino Records box set, One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost & Found. It was at some small event space in midtown, I don't remember what it was called. Cool joint though...

I felt a bit overwhelmed in this packed room of esteemed scenesters, aging industry big wigs, and the incredible original performers from the box set they were able to round up and sing a few songs.

Luckily the ever-fun couple of Miriam Linna and Billy Miller (Norton Records) were there, scanning the room with eyes as wide as anyone's, and the two introduced me to a few heps, like Richard Gottehrer -- the amazing producer/songwriter who sprung form the Brill Building and ultimately produced some of my faves, like Richard Hell, the Go-Gos, and Marshall Crenshaw, among many.

Then I saw Sune Rose Wagner, singer/guitarist of the Raveonettes, one of my newer faves of the moment, and he was crying. I'd interviewed him over the phone a couple years earlier for a Cleveland mag, so I re-introduced myself and asked what was wrong. We hugged. He said that earlier in the week they'd played and had all of their instruments stolen afterwards, and he was so distraught he was thinking about quitting music. I told him no way, maybe they'll find the stuff, etc... He kind of perked up, and then once the women started singing with a live band, his teary eyes started shining from the glow of the stage taking over the pretty dark room. These women -- and I can't remember which acts they came from, but they were all on the box set -- were resplendent in glittering dresses, hair done big, and smiles wider than 5th Avenue.

I saw Billy and Miriam again, and they were chatting with Mary Weiss lead vox/face of the Shangri-Las -- arguably one of the top three acts of the whole mid-60s "girl group" scene. I was introduced quickly, but I let them get at their convo as I assumed the Norton nabobs knew Mary from way back.

However, Billy comes up to me later and tells me he had never met her before, that she was his first female musical star crush, and he absolutely sounded like a 16-year old trying to cram his melting heart back into his chest. I was pretty floored myself -- I always loved the Shangri-Las from first hearing them slip out of oldies stations growing up to when I first started diving into girl group sounds as a record-amasing teen. They, the Ronettes, and Darlene Love were the cream of the dreamy crop in my book.

The whole night was not unlike making your way through a Shangri-Las compilation: every emotion possible heaving up and down, surrounded by sounds lilting, swelling, crumbling, but always with that Big Beat bubbling, ready to shove you out of the sadness...

After the news of Mary Weiss' sad passing yesterday, of course many acknowledged her teen stardom of the mid-60s; the influence of the Shangri-Las' street-tough image and emotions on the New York Dolls (who used Shangri-Las producer, Shadow Morton, for their second album) and much of the early new wave of the mid-70s; the respect of her keeping a singing career going through the years, and the glorious third act she had in the late 2000s with the help of Norton Records and the great album, Dangerous Game, where Weiss, in excellent voice, was backed by the rulers of garage pop of that era, the Reigning Sound.

No, it wasn't some top 10 album, but it just oozed with a kind of vintage-to-ever cool that is so rarely captured in a "comeback." (And it definitely got her press and new young fans.)

In fact I think that album, and especially that incredible Rhino box set, brought back that '60s malt shop-meets-back-alley girl group ouvre to a whole new generation.

This was not front page news. Nevertheless loads of acts like King Khan & BBQ, Peach Kelli Pop, Shannon & the Clams, Hunx and His Punx, the Vivian Girls, Baby Shakes, Black Lips, A Giant Dog, and even the re-emergence of Nikki Corvette and Ronnie Spector to the stage brought the cloud-bound reverb and scruffy riffs of vintage girl groups back to prominence in the underground garage rock scene. And again, due to their sounds and looks, the Shangri-Las and the Ronettes were the template.

It has since dawned on me many times that Mary Weiss -- and the Shangri-Las as a whole -- have a nearly singular place in R'n'R history. Considering the admittedly limited catalog of songs, their outsized influence has spread from radio hits in the '60s to the underground proto-punk not ten years later; to the CBGB scene; early '80s new wave and power pop shadow-pep (like Blondie, Go-Gos, and many more); Aerosmith covered "(Remember) Walking in the Sand," and others of the big coif/high dramatics of hair metal had some Shangri-Las DNA in the hair spray; from transgressive filmmakers like John Waters to drag queen blueprints; to 2000s female neo-soul hitmakers -- arising at the same time as the aforementioned garage pop underbelly -- and even up to the recent talk/sing busted romance stylings of mega-popsters like Taylor Swift.

I saw Weiss at a couple shows over the next year or so. She was always so excited and grateful for all the accolades and thanks people laid on her. She played a remarkable show in Brooklyn that Lee Greenfeld booked, at the Atlantic Antic street fest in September, 2007 -- right outside Greenfeld's madly-missed club, Magnetic Field. We felt the Antic gig would be the first of many, but there were just a few more local gigs, if memory serves.

Somewhere in 2008, at an A-Bones / Yo La Tengo show at Magnetic Field, I chatted with Weiss for a bit afterwards. I can't express enough how inspiring was her love of music and hanging out at a small bar with a bunch of music obsessives knocking back cheap beers. At the 1 a.m. chime, she kissed my cheek, I laid one on her's, I walked home, and I will assume that if there is a Heaven, that moment should get me into the meetings where they discuss how to improve Heaven. It's a cinch it's improved today.

Variety obituary here.

From obituary:

The group’s tough-but-vulnerable New York City teen image was genuine. “Overall, the girl groups had very sweet images, except for the Ronettes and the Shangri-Las, who had a tougher, harder attitude,” Greenwich told the website Spectropop in an undated interview. “By today’s standards, they were as innocent as the day is long. Back then, they seemed to have a street toughness, but with a lot of vulnerability. Mary Weiss [had] the sweetest long straight hair, an angelic face, and then this nasal voice comes out, and this attitude — the best of both worlds.

“In the beginning, we did not get along,” she continued. “They were kind of crude, with their gestures and language and chewing gum and the stockings ripped up their leg. We would say, ‘Not nice, you must be ladies,’ and they would say, ‘We don’t want to be ladies.'”

From Chapter 33 of The Downtown Pop Underground — order online, or from a local independent bookstore

THE SHANGRI-LAS’ INFLUENCE ON PUNK LOCATION Brill Building The Shangri-Las were one of the common musical denominators that Blondie shared, and Clem Burke explained the Shangri-La’s proto-punk appeal: “They had their black leather vests and their tight black leather pants, and they sang ‘Give Him a Great Big Kiss.’ They sang about dirty fingernails, wavy hair, and leather jackets, and things like that.” The Shangri-Las cast a long shadow over glam and punk rock. The New York Dolls’ “Looking for a Kiss” borrowed the spoken word intro from their “Give Him a Great Big Kiss,” and another Dolls song, “Trash,” copped the campy “How do you call your lover boy?” line from “Love Is Strange,” a catchy 1956 hit by Mickey & Sylvia. The group’s final album, Too Much Too Soon, was produced by Shadow Morton, who had crafted the girl group classics “Leader of the Pack” and “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” for the Shangri-Las. As Burke recalled, “Bubblegum rock was part of the roots of the New York music scene. Some of the old-school guys like Richard Gottehrer or Marty Thau—who had some money and success in pop music—they understood the music because they were coming from that Brill Building mentality.” Thau was the New York Dolls’ first manager before McLaren took the job, and he had previously made a living as a record promoter for late 1960s bubblegum groups the 1910 Fruitgum Company (“Simon Says”) and the Ohio Express (“Yummy Yummy Yummy”). Thau recorded the Ramones’ first demos and released Suicide’s debut album on his independent label Red Star, and also formed the production company Instant Records with the old-school industry hit maker Richard Gottehrer. “Richie was part of that whole Brill Building rock thing,” Leon said, “which had a lot of nostalgia for us because we grew up with it on the radio when we were kids.”

[bestfrozentreats2]

A-rab · The Sonics 

from The Savage Young Sonics

[mymelodic-chapel]

The Gaye Blades- The Gaye Blades (Garage Rock) Released: September 2, 2011 [Norton Records] Producer(s): Ed Rawls, Justin McNeight

[garadinervi]

From: 10, (group exhibition, installation view), Photograph by Virginia Dwan, Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, May 2-27, 1967 [Dwan Gallery records, 1959-circa 1982, bulk 1959-1971, Box 2, Folder 29: 10, 1967 May 2, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.]

Foreground: Sol LeWitt, Series B#8, (baked enamel on aluminum), 1967 [© The LeWitt Estate / ARS, New York]

Background (left): Agnes Martin, Leaf in the Wind, (pencil on canvas), 1967 [Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA. © Estate of Agnes Martin / ARS, New York]

Background (right): Dan Flavin, Untitled, (neon sculpture), 1966 [© Estate of Dan Flavin / ARS, New York]

[soapyshirt]

copped fight club soundtrack on record the other day at the local record store. HUGE win!

it was like $60 but i’ve never spent my money so fast! the arts super cool and there’s a poster thing if y’all wanna see that!

[jentrevellan]

Sometimes I remember that *this man*

voiced a non-romanceable companion in Dragon Age.

[moomin279]

Did Harold and Andy have dinners? Did they talk about Jude? The son that they were both desperate to help, the man who wouldn’t be helped.

Did Harold and JB meet up? Did they talk about Jude or did they avoid the topic completely?

Was Willem so drawn to Jude because of Hemming? If he’d saved Hemming would he have still been so desperate to save Jude?

Did Malcolm, JB and Willem ever really feel how badly Jude loved them? How badly he needed them?

Did JB forgive himself? Did JB forever blame himself? Did he cry when he painted Willem listening to Jude tell a story?

How long did Harold live with alone with Julia post Jude? Did Julia die first? Did Harold feel how Jude did, like everyone who loves him leaves? Is that what drew them to each other? Both of them understood the difference between the law and Justice because both had seen the unfairness. Did Harold relate to Jude in that way? Did Harold have a troubled childhood himself? Did he see the cycle repeating with Jude?

Obviously they all loved Jude but did they also see themselves in how he was running from the hyenas, how us readers do? Did they see the parts they hate about themselves?

Did JB regret painting Jude after Sickness?

How much did they all regret not asking more of Jude?

Did Anna’s wife think about the broken boy she sent to college and never heard back from? Did she try to find him?

Did any of them notice, how we do, how Saint Jude is the patron saint of lost causes?

[whitetrashsoul]

[guessimdumb]

Miriam - My Love is Gone (2014)

Miriam Linna was the original drummer of the Cramps, and later started the A-Bones with her late husband Billy Miller (and founding Norton Records).  Those references don’t exactly prepare you for her 2014 LP Nobody’s Baby, where she records sumptuous cover versions of 60s classics by Reparata and the Delrons, Neil Young, Gene Clark, and this tune which was originally recorded by Del Shannon in 1966.  It’s absolutely fantastic.

Here comes the dawn...my life, my love are gone

[weneverlearn]

This is a post -- above der! -- from the brain-boggling blog of the one and only Miriam Linna -- she of the Flamin' Groovies Fanclub prez, Norton Records, Kicks Books, the A-Bones, first Cramps drummer, and on and on...

She periodically posts incredible memories and some ephemera from her wild time as a Euro-transplant dropped into Cleveland right when that town was creating punk; then made her way to NYC right as "official history" was writing that genre's birth notes, and off into her position as garage trash prime-mover-rama-lama!

I've known her for years, great gal, fun storyteller, and yet there is always another tale that comes up -- like this amazing little nugget about folding the sleeves for the first Pere Ubu 45, including a letter from WE NEVER LEARN's Zeus, Peter Laughner -- that you think, "How in the hell did this never come up in conversation before?!"

Miriam says she's working on a book or some such artifact for us all to salivate over someday, but until then, check out her Kicksville 66 blog, and always keep an eye out for another Norton sale, as I believe she is winding the label down...

Here's a recent interview below, from a bofo upstate NY fest I wish I coulda made:

[lxgentlefolkcomic]

what is the relationship between sherlock and irene?

they get along well