The 90s

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Nevermind Turned 25 and the Cover Show at Sunnyvale Did Not Completely Drain Me

(Flyer via Brookladelphia)

(Flyer via Brookladelphia)

As the story goes, no one guessed that Nirvana’s Nevermind would become one of the defining rock records of the ’90s, let alone top the charts at number one.

Actually, scratch all that. Considering that Nevermind sold more than 30 million copies, it’s one of the top-selling albums of all time (that’s double-platinum 12 times over, aka a “diamond” selling record), which puts Nirvana up there in some pretty stratospheric company: Michael Jackson (Thriller), Pink Floyd (The Dark Side of the Moon), The Beatles (1). That’s not only a good indication that Courtney Love’s drug dealer is rich as shit, but it means that Nevermind has transcended the album and become something much more complicated– shared experience, a universal language, even a kind of philosophy on life (albeit a pretty angsty-teenager one that doesn’t look so great post-college).

But holy crap that’s a lot of heavy baggage to carry around. When was the last time you could listen to Nevermind or anything Nirvana recorded at all without feeling kind of weird about it?

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‘I Started to Fall Backwards’: My Faint Recollection of Opening For David Bowie

The author Phoebe Legere (Photo by Valentine Judge)

The author Phoebe Legere (Photo by Valentine Judge)

Singer, composer, performance artist and multi-instrumentalist Phoebe Legere has continually broken new musical ground since her New Wave band Monad formed in 1980. In 2006 Legere founded the New York Underground Museum, an interactive website that presents the work of both renowned and emerging artists. It was Legere’s eclectic talents that earned her an incredible opportunity.

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Jennifer Herrema Talks Royal Trux Reunion Part Deux, Happening Next Week at Webster Hall

(Photo by Nine Gouveia, courtesy of Drag City)

(Photo by Nine Gouveia, courtesy of Drag City)

Legendary skuzz rock duo Royal Trux are getting back together, if only for a moment. The former bandmates are set to play at Webster Hall on December 19 for the second time since their one-show reunion back in August. Until then, Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema, once a power couple in romance and rock n’ roll, hadn’t seen each other in 13 years. “But when he walked in the door it was like everything was the same,” Herrema told us. “It all just went back to the same thing — the chemistry, everything. It was as if no time had passed.”

We caught up with the perpetually-imitated, never-repeated Jennifer Herrema– who’s been based in LA for a while now– about what precipitated the reunion part deux, and how Royal Trux may be broken up, but a new fan seems to be born every day.

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Richard Kern Revisits New York Girls, Feels ‘a Little Pervy Now’

Amy With Cigarette, 1993 photo by Richard Kern (Courtesy of the Artist and Marlborough Broome Street, NY)

Amy With Cigarette, 1993 photo by Richard Kern (Courtesy of the Artist and Marlborough Broome Street, NY)

To honor the 20th anniversary of New York Girls and the re-release of Richard Kern‘s first book, the East Village photographer and Cinema of Transgression filmmaker is running two concurrent gallery shows– one is in Chelsea and the second opens tonight at Marlborough Broome on the Lower East Side. I stopped by the gallery yesterday to check out the photos and speak with Kern.

“It was so long ago, almost seems like somebody else did it,” he laughed. “It was definitely a different time period.” When I arrived, I found Kern sitting quietly at the front desk. I was late but, as he explained later, I’d given him a chance to catch up on Instagram.

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Former Squatter Remembers the ’90s Squat Scene in New Book

(Photo: Akashic Books)

(Photo: Akashic Books)

Stacy Wakefield’s new book The Sunshine Crust Baking Factory, being published by Akashic in May, weaves together her experiences as a squatter in New York City back in the late ’90s. Though it’s a fictional account and the main character Sid, who makes her home in squats in Williamsburg and the Lower East Side, is based on a number of people, the book still offers a window into the waning years of what was once a vibrant squat scene.

We spoke with Wakefield, 43, about the book and what the squatting life was like before it all but disappeared.

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’90s Style Was ‘Exciting’ (Maybe) But the Fashion World Is a Horrible Place

Things you can learn at this weeks stellar readings and talks.

Thursday, August 28

That’s When the Knives Come Down with Dolan Morgan
Greenpointer Dolan Morgan will read on home turf for the Brooklyn launch of his debut collection That’s When the Knives Come Down. A surrealist glance at cities, relationships and lives gone awry, the stories are billed as simultaneously “absurd, harrowing, and inimitable.” According to Catherine Lacey, “Dolan Morgan queers the every day and leaves a sinister domestic scene behind.” He’ll be joined in discussion by B.C. Edwards (The Aversive Clause) and Chelsea Hodson (Pity the Animal).
7pm, WORD Books (126 Franklin St, Greenpoint), FREE, Facebook RSVP here
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Mr. Throwback Tingles Inside Every Time He Watches The Sandlot

Everyone’s favorite connoisseur of all things retro and nostalgic, Mr. Throwback, gives us his weekly blast from the past.

Mr. Throwback has had an eventful few days: he made a cameo appearance on the Jumbotron at the Garden and then Allan Houston, assistant GM of the Knicks, dropped off a jersey [update: not really! Mr. Throwback was just kidding around on Instagram] at his store. And yet he still found time to make his throwback pick of the week.
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