YEAR-END Billboard charts for 1979 included the top hits “My Sharona,” “Bad Girls,” “Le Freak,” “I Will Survive,” and “YMCA” as disco reached its chart peak that year. None of those acts were included on some long-hidden posters uncovered by renovations at #27 West 4th Street, a building now owned by New York University, not far from the old Bottom Line where I caught Devo and Robyn Hitchcock several years apart.
Above, Tin Huey backed by Marble were appearing at Irving Plaza, a venue still going strong at #17 Irving Place at East 15th Street. Tin Huey was founded in 1973, named for bassist Michael Aylward’s brother, and played off and on until 2008. They were part of the Akron, Ohio scenes that also gave rise to DEVO and Pere Ubu.
Tin Huey playing “I’m a Believer”
George Gerdes (1948-2021) was an acclaimed folk singer and character actor, who appeared in numerous TV shows and films. The poster quotes reviews from the NY Times, New Yorker, NY Post and Village Voice, the defunct Soho News and Aquarian.
The poster depicts a 1970s glamster, but Testors, led by Sonny Vincent, are described by Allmusic as
mainstays at Max’s Kansas City and CBGB’s. They’d only release one single, the limited-edition 7″ “Together”/”Time Is Mine” in 1976, while dismissing offers from records labels. For them, it was about rock & roll; pedal-to-the-metal rock & roll. Before breaking up in 1981, the Testors amassed a limitless amount of material, but it would be nearly two decades until the public would hear of the Testors again. In 2003, Swami Records unearthed some of the band’s greatest work so it could be heard for the very first time
The innocuous-looking deli (now Fraiche Max) at 213 Park Avenue South bears no trace of the iconic, famed club Max’s Kansas City. Max’s held forth here from 1965-1981, where fashion, art and rock all came together in a scene that still reverberates nearly 30 years after its closure. After Andy Warhol became a regular at what was originally a steakhouse in the late 1960s, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Lou Reed followed. After a hiatus in 1974 Max’s was reborn as a key component of the new wave/punk scene that was percolating, and the New York Dolls, Blondie, the B52s and a young Madonna appeared here as well.
Photos courtesy Ben Hagen
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10/14/24
2 comments
Though I cannot find any connection with Gerdes Folk City aka Gerde’s Fifth Peg , it seems somehow that there ought to some link with George Gerdes.
I was only once at Max’s Kansas City, circa 1972, to hear John Fahey, one of my lifelong icons, but it was memorable. As I remember it, the space was long and narrow and pretty intimate.
Kevin, I wouldn’t have guessed you to be a New Wave aficionado, but when you mentioned Devo, all I could think of was those stupid hats. An interesting fact: John Hinckley Jr., who made the assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981, claimed to have written a poem which inspired Devo’s song “I Desire”. Hinckley complained that he didn’t receive credit or royalties for his contribution. Devo said it wasn’t their obligation.
PS I was not a fan of Devo…