Nightclubbing | The Offs

February 1, 2013 By Emily Armstrong and Pat Ivers

Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong continue sorting through their archives of punk-era concert footage as it’s digitized for the Downtown Collection at N.Y.U.’s Fales Library.

LP cover.

Looking back at the cover of the L.P. that The Offs released in 1984, we didn’t remember that Jean-Michel Basquiat had designed it. But the image of their lead singer, Don Vinyl, face down, his bicep glistening with the tattoo of a .45 pistol — that we had not forgotten.

We recall Don coming to our apartment the day he got the ink, his arm still red and a little bloody. “Paul Simonon is getting the same one!” he told us, excitedly. It was the summer of 1981 and everyone in the East Village was getting tats, even The Clash. Bob Roberts, The Offs’ saxophonist — and also a tattooist — had done the work for both.
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Tags: alejandro escovedo, bill hawk, bob roberts, bob steeler, boston, danny degorio, dead kennedys, don vinyl, electric hot tuna, fenway park, frank zappa, jean-michel basquiat, jello biafra, mabuhay gardens, nightclubbing, paul simonon, punk rock, ratt, san francisco, the clash, the offs, true believers

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Nightclubbing | Girl Groups: The Go-Go’s and Pulsallama

September 14, 2012 By Emily Armstrong and Pat Ivers

Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong continue sorting through their archives of punk-era concert footage as it’s digitized for the Downtown Collection at N.Y.U.’s Fales Library.

When the Go-Go’s arrived in New York City from the West Coast in August, 1980, they were a sweet, goofy package of pure pop in a New Wave wrapper. They provided the kind of light summer fun that can prove irresistible and were well received when they played their first night at Danceteria (see clip).

The reviews were a little harsher back in L.A. Wayzata Camerone, founder of Hollywood after-hours club the Zero Zero recalls, “They were laughed at; we thought they couldn’t play and they had insipid songs. But Belinda [Carlisle] was sweet and polite.” More →

Tags: ann magnuson, Arts + Culture, club 57, danceteria, East Village, girl groups, junion league, new wave, nightclubbing, paul dougherty, pulsallama, the clash, the go-go's, the zero zero