#ny punk scene

[joh-nny-c]

I never thought yesterday would happen.

For years I have theorized in my brain what it what I would do or say if I ever met Jhonen.

And I did yesterday. I met him. Face to face. Had a little conversation to him.

And honestly? It filled me with such a poignant existential dread that I wasn’t prepared for. Which isn’t bad? Just odd. As a fictive there is something to existential about meeting your creator, and it has a distinct edge of irony considering the events of the later JTHM comics. Also no, I mentioned nothing about this I am sure that would have weirded him out beyond comprehension. I was trying to avoid doing that as much as possible.

I have been watching Invader Zim since it aired. I recieved JTHM and Squee! for my 13th birthday and im 27 now.

This series (and by extension, this blog) have been so important to me for years. The JTHM fanbase has been very dear to me for a long time, actually!

I didn’t give him anything. I had planned to do a few art pieces for the event, but frankly I didn’t have the time. I didn’t want him to sign anything (and he doesnt like signing things anyway) so i just asked him about any projects he has planned for the future. He’s not, btw. He’s enjoying doing nothing hah.

It was also nice finally meeting a long-time mutual from here @hyenafan !!

So yeah, if anyone else attended the event, I would love to hear your thoughts! I would love to hear your unanswered questions and anything interesting that happened during your meet & greet with the C&C!

Bonus: the second image is Jhonen asking for the movie to be downvoted.

Bonus 2: my shirt was designed by @devnny !

[ofdreamsanddoodles]

originally i didn't think it made sense for hobie to have his own mj because if gwen is a rocker in his world it stands to reason that mj would still be a part of her band or at the very least part of the scene at the same time since like.... they're way more connected as characters than 616 hobie is to either of them but also it would be super funny if hobie knew someone who went by mj specifically because they were as big a fan of the mary janes as he is

[suck-mein-pokeballs]

Let a very drunk baby punk go to sleep all spiked up and honestly I'm relieved and amazed by the fact that they woke up unharmed

[pleasantlyinsincere]

Hi, I was wondering if you know what music John was a fan of in the late 70’s? I’m aware of him being excited about the B52’s, and I’m assuming he liked David Bowie and Elton John’s music in part because they were his friends in addition to obviously being talented. And I think I read once that Julian turned him onto Queen but tbh that may be me misremembering a fanfic lol I just wonder if there’s anything out there that describes what John’s music tastes was in those days or whether he preferred to stick with his favorite classics; early rock and roll, girl groups ect. Like what did he think about the punk scene in NY?? Or the close harmonies a la Fleetwood Mac that dominated the charts? Just things I think about haha.

Hi, thanks for the question. I know that I skipped through a book called John Lennon: 1980 playlist by Tim English before, that may be a good source for you. Here's some random info, that I remembered where to look up. I think Julian introducing John to Queen comes from the SPIN magazine interview in '75:

[Julian] likes Barry White and he likes Gilbert O’ Sullivan. He likes Queen, though I haven’t heard them yet. He turns me on to music. I call him and he says, “Have you heard Queen?” and I say “No, what is it?” I’ve heard of them. I’ve seen the guy … the one who looks like Hitler playing a piano … Sparks? I’ve seen Sparks on American TV. So I call him and say, “Have you seen Sparks? Hitler on the piano?” and he says, “No. They are alright. But have you seen Queen?” and I say “What’s Queen?” and then he tells me. His age group is hipper to music … at 11 I was aware of music, but not too much.

But then there is also an anecdote, I think by Tony Barrow, that John didn't want to sign Queen to Apple years earlier? However that may be a lie, or John just didn't remember.

Yoko gifted John a jukebox for his birthday in '78 and apparently John filled it with the old music he liked. Elliott Mintz says there was quite some Bing Crosby. And I remember John also putting some new song by Dolly Parton in there.

"Yoko gave him this old-fashioned jukebox and John stocked it with Bing Crosby records. People kind of expected him to have rock 'n' roll records in there, but it was almost totally Crosby stuff. There were 3 songs which John played over and over. I still remember them. They were Crosby with a jazz quartet from the 50's, I think. He would banter and talk in the songs and John thought that was just the end. The songs were Whispering, I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter and Dream a Little Dream of Me. Yeah, those were the songs, I can still see John listening to them." - Elliott Mintz

“The one modern song I remember him listening to was ‘The Tide Is High’ by Blondie, which he played constantly. When I hear that song, I see my father, unshaven, his hair pulled back into a ponytail, dancing to and fro in a worn-out pair of denim shorts, with me at his feet, trying my best to coordinate tiny limbs.” - Sean Lennon

One night we were playing at Max's (Kansas City) in New York City, and I was waiting for everyone to leave the club so I could go back in and pick up my gear. We were sitting in the van waiting and John Lennon and Ian Hunter from Mott the Hoople came staggering out and looked over. John Lennon saw it was me and stuck his head in the window. He was kind of drunk and stuck his face right against mine and went 'yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah' because he recognized it (Devo's song Uncontrollable Urge) as being an updating of She Loves You. That was one of my most exciting moments ever. - Mark Mothersbaugh on John coming to a DEVO gig in '77

PB: John, what is your opinion of the newer waves? Lennon: I love all this punky stuff. It's pure. I'm not, however, crazy about the people that destroy themselves. Playboy interview, 1980

I like pop records. I like Olivia Newton-John singing "Magic" and Donna Summer whatever the hell she'll be singing. I like ELO singing "All over the World". I can dissect it and criticize it with any critic in the business...But without any thought I enjoy it! That's the kind of music I like to hear. - John

John Lennon raced into Yoko Ono’s home office in the mammoth old Dakota building with a copy of Donna Summer’s new single, “The Wanderer.” “Listen!” he shouted to us as he put the 45 on the record player. “She’s doing Elvis!” I didn’t know what he was talking about at first. The arrangement felt more like rock than the singer’s usual electro-disco approach, but the opening vocal sure sounded like Donna Summer to me. Midway through the song, however, her voice shifted into the playful, hiccuping style Elvis had used on so many of his early recordings. “See! See!” John shouted, pointing at the speakers. The record was John’s way of saying hello again after five years. [...] It was just weeks before his death in December of 1980, and his playing the Summer record was an endearing greeting -- and one that was typical of John. Of the hundreds of musicians I’ve met, John was among the most down-to-earth. Corn Flakes with John Lennon (And Other Tales From a Rock ‘n’ Roll Life) by Robert Hilburn

"I'm aware of ... Madness. "Don't do that. Do this." (As on the spoken word intro to "One Step Beyond".) I think that is the most original thing actually because it's so peculiar. ... Out of all that mob I think that was one of the most original sounds. Very good drumming, very good bass and all of that." Andy Peebles interview

And things I don't have quotes for right now: I remember Bob Gruen had given John some video compilation of punk bands, that John enjoyed watching. In one of the last interviews John said Hungry Heart by Bruce Springsteen was a great song. There are the albums John asked Fred Seaman to buy on his shopping lists. Some are printed in The John Lennon Letters (Though I'm not sure that means he liked them, but at least was interested in.) Lot's of Bob Dylan talk in the diaries and parodies. Many anecdotes about reggae bands. In the Double Fantasy studio recording John references quite some songs and artists, when he tells the musicians what they are aiming for in the songs.

[theunderestimator-2]

Few bands can claim a place in five different musical histories - hip hop, new wave, house music, funk & punk. ESG, here captured at Tier 3, NYC in 1980, definitely hold such a unique place.

“When Mrs Scroggins bought her teenage daughters – Renee, Valerie, Deborah and Marie – musical instruments in the mid-’70s, all she was doing was trying to keep them off the streets of the South Bronx. She had no idea she’d just created one of the most exciting and influential bands to come out of the music scene of ’80s New York. ESG -short for Emerald, Sapphire and Gold- distilled the black and Hispanic sounds of the city into a tight, stripped-down new genre that some people called ‘punk-funk’.”

timeout.com/

The sisters, after the addition of their friend Tito on percussion, the band started taking part in talent shows in 1978, supported The Clash & Grandmaster Flash, played at NYC’s hottest venues, like Danceteria or Paradise Garage and ended up in Manchester, where they played the opening night of the fabled Hacienda after signing with Tony Wilson’s Factory Records, who caught them performing at Hurrah in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1981.

Their debut EP under the same name was recorded 3 days after they flew over from NY, produced by the legendary Mancunian producer Martin Hannett (whose portfolio included Joy Division, the Durutti Column, Magazine, John Cooper Clarke, New Order, OMD & Happy Mondays). Hannett had three minutes left on the master tape, so he had the band record "UFO”, which eventually became one of the most sampled songs in hip-hop history, since it has been sampled over 500 times by just about every hip hop producer going.

(via)

[shinyopal]

Finally making a post abt my silly little mys band au!

The members are Travis (lead singer) dante (bass and backup vocals) laurance (lead guitar) and zenix (drums)

The band is called Lizard Cleaner which was originally a holder name for the band but they got attached and now that's actually their name

they're a pop-punk band

theyre united by each dating a ro'meave sibling

Dante and travis are with zane, laurance is w garroth, and zenix is w vylad

they started the band in highschool for fun but ended up signing when they were all like 18-19

they have never and will never have strobe lights at their shows (dante is epileptic in my head)

originally it was travis and dante messing around with their instruments (travis also plays guitar) and eventually it became a band

also in this au katelyn is a metal singer and good friends w the boys so they've collabed before

they all know how to play more than one instrument but prefer theirs

dante can play drums, zenix can play guitar and bass, laurance can play bass, and travis kind of knows how to play drums

they all write songs, and are pretty evenly split in writing them (either on their own or working together)

all their friends went to their small shows in highschool even if it wasn't their kind of music

seeing them all together is always a little funny because it's this bright and colourful scene guy (travis) a stereotypical pop-punk grunge looking guy (dante) literally just some dude who wears a skirt sometimes (laurance) and a guy who wears two (2) colours (zenix) ((it's red and black))

they opened for bands for a tour or two, before getting their own tour

if warped tour was around they'd soooooo fuck it up there

when they got their first sold out tour date travis actually screamed and scared the rest of them

their merch goes hard, they always sell booty shorts (this is based off parx bc i love that they do that)

i think sasha would do very nice photography so she tends to be their photographer

only two of them dye their hair (travis dyed his from blond to white w purple raccoon tails, dante had brown hair and dyes it blue)

on their first show that was during pride month they each had their pride flags either as a cape or like,, on the mic stand

they love their fans and interact with them on social media

VIP pics always go crazy

they give out free stickers at the m&g's and with every merch purchase

there's an ongoing joke that laurance is being held hostage because they're the normalesg looking

This is just an au of ny normal rewrite xjxjxjs if anyone wants more please ask!!!!!! sorry for the long ass post

[borealhauntings]

head full of emo dc thoughts....

sorry in advance for the word vomit, this post is just a brain dump while i doodle him

so the history of emo is actually pretty neat. iirc the genre started in dc in the 80s with "emotional hardcore" punk that had more emotional lyrics than regular hardcore punk. the name eventually got shortened to "emocore," and later, "emo."

and like. punk came from ny, so i think when dc was first getting into the emo scene he dressed a lot like new york? but a little more toned down. less spikes and patches on his clothes, more rips and worn spots.

then moving into the late 90s and 00s as emo became more of a developed thing, dc started dressing a little more out there. fingerless gloves studded belts fishnets under his tshirts and chains wherever he could. started growing out and straightening his hair too :] emo fringe dc supremacy (his hair was so greasy too during this period. babygirl did Not shower)

one of my personal hcs is that dc absolutely loves cherry blossoms, and i'd like to think he always tried to sneak them into his outfits. just a little doodle on his shoes or a charm on a bracelet or something. theres always at Least one somewhere on him

im gonna draw him soon istg but like. i need Someone to go as crazy go stupid as i am rn. Please understand

[meat-wentz]

you mentioned you were indie sleaze, can you talk more about that scene from the 2000's? i want to get into the scene but don't really know where to start and i don't trust tiktok lol.

omg of course. so to preface this i wanna say that there is a natural emo to indie pipeline that existed from around 2006-2008 and i was fully a part of that pipeline. there's a lot of crossover especially as emo evolved into scene and as scene evolved into party scene into indie sleaze. musicians like shiny toy guns, dev, cobra starship, amanda blank, hyper crush, etc were all like natural transitional bands that held little emo hands as they transitioned into indie sleaze. for instance, does he look familiar? well, he's the dear boy from sugar we're going down.

indie sleaze was a mixture of nihilism and hedonism, a general mindset of nothing fucking matters let's destroy ourselves and fucking party. it was like this huge embrace of self-destruction and effacement, but also like a huge embrace for being young and saying fuck it and partying your face off. it glorified the unpolished, ripped stockings and hazy drunk eyes, hair plastered across your face with sweat, smudged makeup, looking like you've made out with everyone in your path and you probably have. it was body paint and underground hipsters and red bull chasers and ketamine bumps and perfect cocktails of pills. it was a bunch of jaded young people rejecting 9-5's and blending the party culture of raves with the rock and roll underground of sleazy clubs in nyc. there's a good documentary on this that follows some of the most notable bands in the nyc scene called "meet me in the bathroom" and it's available on showtime right now. they were the "new" club kid. there was a notable genre exchange, it was super eclectic sonically, ranging from techno and electronica to twangy bass riffs and dirty guitars to more folksy or preppy sounds (you'll see more prep aesthetics leak in particularly towards the latter half as indie sleaze evolved into millennial indie in the late 2000's and early 2010's, like vampire weekend, metronomy, two door cinema club, and chester french). aesthetically, flash photography became huge, rejecting the gloss of the mainstream. decade clashing was huge, drawing inspo from 70's vintage athletic wear, sleek 60's mod, 80's punk, vintage shopping was huge, neon and bright colors and american apparel basics, ironic t-shirts were huge, actually irony laid into the aesthetics and sound HEAVY, because irony indicated you didn't care but you were still fun.

photographers like the cobra snake super well documented the scene and all its most notable scenesters, and misshapes would throw these massive celebrity scattered parties with all the who's-who of musicians. they're two really good places to look into what and who and why and how. you might also want to look into kitsune maison compilations, urban outfitters playlists via the web archive, and ed banger records. soundtracks for shows like gossip girl, skins, and misfits were literally soooooooo influential to me as well.

perhaps the prime examples of what the scene looked like and what parties looked like:

and here are some of my personal favorite indie sleaze mvs that i feel really encapsulate sort of the aesthetics and the draw:

not an official video but literally so influential, my friends and i would pregame to this edit of babel so often its literally embedded in my bloodstream:

here's some gems you might not find in any research:

my favorite musicians at the time were mgmt, metronomy, css, crystal castles, uffie, lcd soundsystem, yeah yeah yeahs, young love, the rapture, hot chip, girls, electric six, bloc party, bright eyes, the virgins, the teenagers, peaches, friendly fires, gorillaz, the xx, franz ferdinand, neon indian and kenna. i do actually have a musical archive @sleazeandscum where i just post songs every once in awhile from the time period. i hope this helps and ty for this question lol it was literally SUCH a formative period in my life and also the beginning of my time as a blogger.

[rosencrantzsguildenstern]

Two teens get transported to their favorite movie, "Wet Side Story". They have to make the movie's plot progress the way it should in order to go back home, but they end up getting caught in romantic entanglements with the main cast.

it's very silly and fun!!

PRINCE OF CATS is the B side to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, played at an eighties block party in an NY where underground sword dueling blossomed alongside hip-hop, punk, disco, and no wave. It's the story of the minor players with Tybalt at the center.

ITS SO GOOD IM OBSESSED WITH IT first of all the art is gorgeous, literally every page is bursting with color and really active/immersive panels. basically anytime I’m drawing an action (comic) scene, I reference this book for how to do it. besides this, it’s one of my favorite adaptations of Romeo and Juliet because of how it interacts with the text. I was vehemently opposed to changing the plot or characters in R&J adaptations before this (because to be fair. it gets so annoying) BUT!!!! this book showed me it can be done well. it feels like it was made in conversation with the original text, playing on Tybalt’s widely-known death as him being “doomed by the narrative” (oooh Tumblr buzzword vote for this book please) to show how the Montague/Capulet kids are trapped in a similarly destructive and deadly system, which in turn represents the cycles of violence a lot of (especially black, as Tybalt’s story focuses on) teenagers are forced into. Also, unlike a lot of R&J adaptations, it feels like it was made with soooooo much passion instead of just because they knew it would sell. (I looked it up and it turns out it was a long-term passion project of the author!! so I suppose I was right) ALSO!!!!!!! ITS WRITTEN ENTIRELY IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLISH AND LARGELY IN IAMBIC PENTAMETER???? AND REALLY WELL???? WHILE ALSO INTEGRATING MODERN AND 80’S SLANG ???? I don’t know if this was coherent and I’m SURE I didn’t do this gorgeous gorgeous book justice but I would recommend that everybody ever reads it. and then votes for it in this poll. it is soooo good

[punkrockhistory]

46 years ago today

"The Dictators live at CBGB" recorded on this day in 1977 at the Temple of Rock and Roll in NYC

Dictators, who were the link between the proto-punk scene of MC5, Stooges and NY Dolls and the punk explosion of the '70s

#punkrock #dictators #cbgb #historyofpunk

[aceontheline]

C//W: Strobing/Flashing lights

A MassYork edit

Context: In my current AU, Mass & New York are in the Punk scene. Mass runs into NY when he sees "Empire" (MA's nickname for NY) tagging a building. They became friends after this encounter... Then closer.

[theunderestimator-2]

The Subway Sect Mark II shattered after performing their Club Left 'Songs For Sale' set in Paris in 1981 as captured by Sarah Partridge (photo no.1).

So what did punks do after the early days of filth and fury? By ’78, the early UK punk scene was already fracturing: after the Pistols crashed & burned, a fraternity of post punk musicians attempted to break from punk clichés and experiment with non-rock styles, Crass declared that punk was dead, as did Pete Shelley with Buzzcocks entering their pop punk formative phase while street punk and Oi! Bands attempted to redefine punk.

Vic Godard was there right from the very start, since his Subway Sect were among the performers at the legendary 100 Club ’76 Punk Festival sharing the bill with Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Clash and the Sex Pistols.

theguardian.com/ : “Vic, in league with Bernie Rhodes, was thinking of an even more shocking revolt against conventional taste: cocktail jazz. Rhodes persuaded Godard to ditch the original Sect and hired a fresh group of musicians with a little more swing than the original band. One of the first public expressions of this was Club Left, a regular night that ran at the Whisky a Go Go in Soho as the ‘80s began. The idea was to annoy everyone. But this sonic handbrake turn went on to point a lot of music – and a lot of punks – in a very different direction.”

The Clash’s manager Bernard Rhodes recruited keyboardist Dave Collard (photo no.2 by Coneyl Jay), bassist Chris Bostock (photo no.3 by Ian Usher), guitarist Rob Marche (photo no.4) and drummer Sean McLusky (photo no.5), key members of various Bristol groups, who along with Vic Godard formed a new incarnation of Subway Sect with a completely different sound influenced by ’40s-style crooner music mixed with jazz, soul, rockabilly and skiffle, which was referred to as ‘Cool Bop and Swing’. These cool cats, a London ‘Rat Pack’ with Johnny Britton as the regular Club Left DJ, even toured extensively and their refined set became the “Songs for Sale” album.

“I remember looking down from the club’s floor-to-ceiling window one night just before opening, and seeing a queue stretching round the corner into Shaftesbury Avenue. We attracted an amazingly eclectic crowd, and you never knew who would turn up together with our hard-core regulars…”. Rob Marche “Club Left hosted a weekly array of great performers. If it had an ethos, it was a simple nod to the Beatnik past of Soho and Paris of the 60's”. Sean McLusky

The far-retro Club Left project reintroduced various people to easy listening. Artists such as Sade or the group of young women, who had supplied occasional backing vocals for the likes of Shane McGowan’s first band, the Nipple Erectors, and went on to become Bananarama. When Vic Godard got married and took a break from music in ’82, the rest of the band with the addition of Dig Wayne became the JoBoxers, fusing elements of northern soul, rockabilly, NY disco and funk.

(via, via, via, via)

[mctionsick]

FINLEY ALDRIDGE AESHTETIC & STATS

basic information

full name: finley aldridge

nickname(s): fin

age: 22-32

date of birth: aug 13

hometown: toledo, oh. but moved around frequently so they  don’t really have a “home town”

current location: brooklyn, ny.  (flexible depending on plot)

occupation: drummer for m.t. threats. day job as a record store clerk (in verses where the band takes off, they buy the record store).  

gender:  gender nonconforming 

pronouns: they / them 

orientation: lesbian

religion: agnostic

species: shape shifter / human verse available

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

face claim: e.r. fightmaster / brigette lundy paine

hair colour: brown

eye colour: brown

height: 6 ft

piercings: ears / industrial in left ear

clothing style: gay and comfy.  king of too many flannels.  worn in band t’s.  gym clothes when they’re lounging around the house.   

usual expression:

HEALTH

addictions: n/a

drug use: they will never say no to an edible and has definitely taken a psychedelic on accident.  rarely smokes alone.   

alcohol use: mostly social. they like beer but rarely drink hard liquor.  

illness:  chronic himbo disease and it’s incurable.  jk no real illnesses.  a pin in their knee from a college basketball injury. undiagnosed adhd.

PERSONALITY

positive traits: loyal,  resilient, humble 

negative traits: stubborn, dense, self destructive 

hobbies: drumming, going to concerts, mario kart, petting dogs, spending way too long in record stores, anything active, weight lifting, basketball, being the nice gym bro, camping, fantasy sports leagues.  

habits: they will annoyingly drum on anything if they have a pen in their hand

FAVOURITES

weather: summer.  anything where they can be outdoors and it’s comfortable.  

music: classic rock, old school punk / metal, where ever they live they’re usually really into the local music scene so a lot of ‘local’ bands where ever that would be.  

movies: cheesy 80s action movies bc they’re perfect for their terrible attention span but also because it’s one of the few things they bonded with their dad over.  fin enjoys a good comedy too.  notoriously a little bitch with horror movies pls hold their hand.  

books: fin can’t read:( jk when their reading it’s usually a biography about a musician they like or about music.  they can read an impressively long book about a specific era or music but cannot for the life of them read a novel.  

food: fin is the least picky eater and it has everything to do with growing up poor and not being much of a cook while needing to keep fin and their brother fed.  has a killer mac and cheese recipe.  will eat all the leftovers you don’t want!  

FAMILY - tw: parent death, gambling addiction mention, verbal abuse mention (honestly rarely touch upon in plots)

father: gordon aldridge.  a truck driver who was rarely home but constantly had them moving across the country as he chased work.  a gambling addict who remained neglectful their entire childhood.  occasionally verbally abusive which fin tried to shield gus from.  

mother: anya aldridge.  passed away when fin was young.  they have a few memories of her but not many.  a lot of her belongings got lost in various moves but fin has tried to keep photos and a few important things.  

siblings: gus aldridge.  3-4 years years younger than them.  fin is fiercely protective of him.  laughs at all his jokes (even the ones they don’t get). (note: depending on verse i fin and gus may be twins).

QUICK FACTS

fin is a shapeshifter who can take shape of any animal they’ve seen.  they play in a band of all supernatural creatures.  despite this they most usually take shape of a dog to blend in (or get head scratches).  

human verse available 

[indigaux]

I am going to be starting a punk, Y2K, ghetto-goth, underground music, fashion, and arts discord server soon.

A place for creatives and DIY admirers to discover new art, local artists, and hidden gems of the creative dimension.

A place for creatives to critique capitalism, commercialization, and the industrialization of art and music.

A place that rejects prejudice algorithms, and ad heavy social media platforms.

A place for creatives to be uncensored, open, curious, and courageous as we all embark the renaissance of our time.

Personally I will be leaking pics and vids I have captured from my misadventures in the NY/CT/ATL music scene! I hope some of y’all want to share your journeys to the center of the art(ists).

Reblog, like, or comment if you’re tryna join the server. I’ll be dropping the server this Friday (January 6th 2023). This will be a highly exclusive server with only a dozen slots available and I am prioritizing QTBIPOC artists!

If you are seeing this post from Instagram, DM me to lmk you wanna join the server.

You don’t have to pay anything to join the server 🆒

[burlveneer-music]

Nu Jazz - Vol. I - Aha! Found it on Bandcamp!

Nu Jazz is an experimental hardcore-punk jazz collective - if that doesn’t make sense read on: NYC’s most transgressive and mysterious supergroup, Nu Jazz, synthesizes a decade plus of six unique, yet naturally interconnected musical journeys. Some members have spent years in New York City’s experimental electronic scene, while others have dedicated the bulk of their musical lives pursuing what we call “Jazz”. Despite disparate influences, all are bound by a profound appreciation for musical frontiers that have yet to be explored, creating that which defies the limitations of genre. The artists constituting the collective “Nu Jazz” have performed all over New York City, the United States and the world with their respective groups such as Deli Girls, Murderpact, CGI Jesus, Beshken, WRENS, the Trap Music Orchestra, and The Beak Trio; sharing the stage with luminaries like Jaimie Branch, Jason Lindner, Tomoki Sanders, Leya, Poncili Creacíon, and many more. Vast electronic soundscapes, extraterrestrial vocal textures and open improvisation submerged in raw punk swagger sets Nu Jazz apart from the rest. Recorded & Mixed at 5950.exp in Ridgewood, Queens NY. Mastered by Nicos Kennedy Artwork by Sam Lubicz

[rosencrantzsguildenstern]

West Side Story is set in the mid-1950s in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, then a multiracial, blue-collar neighborhood. The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. The Sharks, who are recent migrants from Puerto Rico, and the Jets, who are white, vie for dominance of the neighborhood. The young protagonist, Tony, a former member of the Jets and best friend of the gang's leader, Riff, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks.

it is a musical. it is wonderful. it is relevant still today. Shakespeare and Bernstein, Soundheim, and Laurents. iconic

PRINCE OF CATS is the B side to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, played at an eighties block party in an NY where underground sword dueling blossomed alongside hip-hop, punk, disco, and no wave. It's the story of the minor players with Tybalt at the center.

ITS SO GOOD IM OBSESSED WITH IT first of all the art is gorgeous, literally every page is bursting with color and really active/immersive panels. basically anytime I’m drawing an action (comic) scene, I reference this book for how to do it. besides this, it’s one of my favorite adaptations of Romeo and Juliet because of how it interacts with the text. I was vehemently opposed to changing the plot or characters in R&J adaptations before this (because to be fair. it gets so annoying) BUT!!!! this book showed me it can be done well. it feels like it was made in conversation with the original text, playing on Tybalt’s widely-known death as him being “doomed by the narrative” (oooh Tumblr buzzword vote for this book please) to show how the Montague/Capulet kids are trapped in a similarly destructive and deadly system, which in turn represents the cycles of violence a lot of (especially black, as Tybalt’s story focuses on) teenagers are forced into. Also, unlike a lot of R&J adaptations, it feels like it was made with soooooo much passion instead of just because they knew it would sell. (I looked it up and it turns out it was a long-term passion project of the author!! so I suppose I was right) ALSO!!!!!!! ITS WRITTEN ENTIRELY IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLISH AND LARGELY IN IAMBIC PENTAMETER???? AND REALLY WELL???? WHILE ALSO INTEGRATING MODERN AND 80’S SLANG ???? I don’t know if this was coherent and I’m SURE I didn’t do this gorgeous gorgeous book justice but I would recommend that everybody ever reads it. and then votes for it in this poll. it is soooo good