The Downtown Pop Underground - Kembrew McLeod

 

Pretty certain that I found out about this tome from my pal Dan Epstein on Facebook (thanks Dan!) as he was catching up on local lore as he returned to New York. Of course, I've always been fascinated with the east coast scene in its various permutations and McLeod does his best to give the freaks' point of view of the hip times'n'happenings in the city via concentrating on certain individuals who were in the center of the creative maelstroms over the years.

The book opens with the Greenwich Village culture of the late 50's/early 60's - truly an epicenter of hipness for a couple of decades - particularly the gay and Off-Off-Broadway scenes and its incredible creativeness in theater, writing, music and performance in general. What is particularly striking is that despite the rampant homophobia - it was literally illegal for a man to dress like a woman in public and drag queens ruled this theater scene - and all of the political and cultural turmoil , there was a strong sense of hope and optimism for the future. Unfortunately, that hope isn't as prevalent these days, as it has been crushed all too many times by the evil in the world....

Of course, there was also a darker side, with the oppressive politics of the day combined with increasing drug use causing a number of locals to lose their lives early on. But, as scenes collided and overlapped, there was also plenty of positivity including the birth of numerous musical groups - specifically the book recounts the Holy Modal Rounders, the Fugs and the Velvet Underground as pure, authentic Lower East Side bands. But there is more of a concentration on the theatrical scene for the first portion of the book, although, as I've said, there is plenty of overlap.

The segue to the punk scene (besides Patti Smith doing Off-Off-Broadway theater) is based on the PBS TV show, An American Family, which, of course, I watched at the time, but don't remember much of it and certainly not some of the outrageous scenes and scenesters of NYC that appeared due to Lance Loud living in the Chelsea Hotel at the time. Of course, I was a completely naive, innocent, mid western high schooler when it came out and I wasn't aware of that world at the time. In any case, Lance comes out as the first openly gay person on television and he, of course, starts his own band, the Mumps, and appears with some of the biggest punk bands at the time.

Naturally, Patti and Blondie pretty much dominate the NYC punk portion due to their overlap with the theater and art scenes, but McLeod tries to give an overview of the times and its participants and the interactions between the various groups.

The reporting mostly ends with 70's punk rock and the subsequent depressing gentrification and rising costs in general that will keep any of these scenes from ever happening again in the city as the world continues to change and yet stagnant. 

The music reporting here doesn't really offer too much new information, but the book's theme of overlapping scenes in the city is one that isn't addressed as often as maybe it should be, with the importance of women, gays and various outcasts in the creation of the arts in the city. Great concept and definitely some fine reporting.