I will be forever grateful that my cousin turned then-12-year-old me onto the New York Dolls shortly after their debut album came out. "Personality Crisis" was a milestone in my aesthetic development.
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RIP David Johansen
- Thread starter JakobT
- Start date
RIP. He was one of the greatest RnR frontmen of all time. I saw the reunited Dolls in 2007 in a really small club on Long Island. They were so good. Just to hear those songs performed live had me smiling for weeks.
This is sad news. I was a little too young to connect with the Dolls, but they carried the torch of authentic, rootsy, fun rock & roll when few others did. The slightly later David Johansen Band (which played several Dolls tunes) was an absolutely huge part of my high school music experience and an influence to this day. “Funky But Chic” is one of my go-tos in any jam situation. And I loved his perennial ability to evolve and reinvent himself. Rest in harmony David - let’s just dance.
Got to see the Dolls in their heyday (with Raw Power era Iggy/Stooges opening)
Johansen was probably even more energetic after following them. Amazing, high energy show!
Johansen was probably even more energetic after following them. Amazing, high energy show!
Posted this same clip when the notice of his hospitalization was posted on TB.
Apologies for the repeat.
From the film Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus, filmed in a motel in rural West Virginia.
There's a nice little story about it from the filmmaker, Steve Haisman:
Harry smith was a beatnik sage who held court at the Chelsea Hotel, which is where David Johansen sat at his feet.
I conceived and developed “searching for the wrong-eyed Jesus” and along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Harry Smith was the mystical core of the film. The ghost lurking in the woods as the sun went down. David Johansen was my way into incorporating Harry Smith, of laying this strange watermark into the film. We realised this was controversial as David was a quintessential New Yorker. He was incredibly hard to contact. We had to send a POSTCARD to the Sushi restaurant below his cheap apartment - no phone, no answering machine, no internet. The sushi bar passed on the messages and David would then speak to the producers on a pay phone.
I’d always loved the New York Dolls, loved their raucous, spirited proto-punk. When I read an interview with David talking about his new band, The Harry Smiths, I realised the Dolls were actually a continuum of those weird old voices on the anthology. What I really wanted for the film was STORYTELLERS, singers that could honestly and simply make a confessional, mostly about the terrible things they had done. David’s two songs in the film were both from the anthology.
Andrew and I auditioned loads of of old-timers, ancient banjo players in the Dock Boggs mould. But they were all sterile recreations, respectfully repeating the traditional songs without any life. Then we found old Lee Sexton, who totally lived in the songs he played. As did David Johansen. The two songs he played and sang for us were magic. Time stood still.
He came down to Ferriday Louisiana by TRAIN, just a long day trip. His guitar player, Larry Salzman, played the sweetest dobro. (Incidentally, I believe Larry has been working with an up n coming star, Willow Avalon?). David played rudimentary but subtle guitar with a thumb that stuck up like an iguanadon.
As a performer, David was fabulous. I saw him 3 times with the Harry Smiths, twice with Dolls (40 years apart). He was completely a story-teller, in song and banter, and had a remarkable ability to make eye contact with every member of the audience. I remember seeing the Dolls at a large venue (Kentish Town Forum), being right at the back and feeling a real shock when David made eye contact with me. Very few performers have that ability to communicate non-verbally over distance like that - I can only think of Slava and Fela Kuti.
So yes, David Johansen was a true artist. When I asked him, rather sheepishly, how I could justify this sushi-munching New Yorker being in a film about southern music, he laughed in his rough old voice and said “Well, I was thrown in jail in Memphis for wearing a dress - does that count?”
That’ll do, David Johansen - and all your stories of life in the underbelly. Thanks for contribution to my life!
...........
Anybody who could that and this.....
Apologies for the repeat.
From the film Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus, filmed in a motel in rural West Virginia.
There's a nice little story about it from the filmmaker, Steve Haisman:
Harry smith was a beatnik sage who held court at the Chelsea Hotel, which is where David Johansen sat at his feet.
I conceived and developed “searching for the wrong-eyed Jesus” and along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Harry Smith was the mystical core of the film. The ghost lurking in the woods as the sun went down. David Johansen was my way into incorporating Harry Smith, of laying this strange watermark into the film. We realised this was controversial as David was a quintessential New Yorker. He was incredibly hard to contact. We had to send a POSTCARD to the Sushi restaurant below his cheap apartment - no phone, no answering machine, no internet. The sushi bar passed on the messages and David would then speak to the producers on a pay phone.
I’d always loved the New York Dolls, loved their raucous, spirited proto-punk. When I read an interview with David talking about his new band, The Harry Smiths, I realised the Dolls were actually a continuum of those weird old voices on the anthology. What I really wanted for the film was STORYTELLERS, singers that could honestly and simply make a confessional, mostly about the terrible things they had done. David’s two songs in the film were both from the anthology.
Andrew and I auditioned loads of of old-timers, ancient banjo players in the Dock Boggs mould. But they were all sterile recreations, respectfully repeating the traditional songs without any life. Then we found old Lee Sexton, who totally lived in the songs he played. As did David Johansen. The two songs he played and sang for us were magic. Time stood still.
He came down to Ferriday Louisiana by TRAIN, just a long day trip. His guitar player, Larry Salzman, played the sweetest dobro. (Incidentally, I believe Larry has been working with an up n coming star, Willow Avalon?). David played rudimentary but subtle guitar with a thumb that stuck up like an iguanadon.
As a performer, David was fabulous. I saw him 3 times with the Harry Smiths, twice with Dolls (40 years apart). He was completely a story-teller, in song and banter, and had a remarkable ability to make eye contact with every member of the audience. I remember seeing the Dolls at a large venue (Kentish Town Forum), being right at the back and feeling a real shock when David made eye contact with me. Very few performers have that ability to communicate non-verbally over distance like that - I can only think of Slava and Fela Kuti.
So yes, David Johansen was a true artist. When I asked him, rather sheepishly, how I could justify this sushi-munching New Yorker being in a film about southern music, he laughed in his rough old voice and said “Well, I was thrown in jail in Memphis for wearing a dress - does that count?”
That’ll do, David Johansen - and all your stories of life in the underbelly. Thanks for contribution to my life!
...........
Anybody who could that and this.....
I was in NYC something like over 20 years ago and I actually saw him walking down a large open alley near central park. I first saw this dude with a 70's style haircut and decked in some 70's styled gear. Light brown slightly bell bottomed pants and a light brown jacket. I thought, wow... he's stylish. As he got closer and closer his face looked like Buster Poindexter (I was very familiar with the NY Dolls and what not, I just got first intro'd to David as Buster as a kid in the 80's) and I was like "HOLY poopie" in my head staring at him. He gave me a mean glare and as I closed my mouth in shock I just lightly nodded and smiled at him and he did the same. I guess he thought I was gonna lose my poopie and ask him for an autograph because I was clearly from out of town but it seems he was pleasantly surprised when I just enjoyed the shock of seeing someone famous and gently nodded at him in recognition of knowing I was walking by a legend. RIP
I also saw Alice Cooper at a food court in a mall in Kentucky but that's tale for another day...
I also saw Alice Cooper at a food court in a mall in Kentucky but that's tale for another day...
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He played a bar I worked in (Studio One Live, Champaign IL) multiple times in the early 80's when - as mentioned above - his Animals medley was all over college radio. He was kinda small and bore a resemblance to Jagger but with freckles, seemed a funny, nice guy and his dueling guitar players were really good.
And his Motown covers (I particularly liked, "Bernadette") were almost as good as his Dolls and original stuff.
And his Motown covers (I particularly liked, "Bernadette") were almost as good as his Dolls and original stuff.
Saw him open for the Ramones at the Orpheum in Boston. He had Joe Perry playing guitar! (Red Sox fans will share my amazement) Amazing crowd--they sang along with everything.
I bought In Style on vinyl in my senior year of high school and after that I was hooked on his music. Brilliant lyricist in my opinion from a story of losing his lover to Steven Tyler (Flamingo Road) to prose taken from Ernest Renan (Maimed Happiness) and so much more.
Thank you for the music brother.
Thank you for the music brother.
