FREAK
CITY SOUNDTRACK
Some music
people overseas (mostly in America) introduce
the town they live.
PART.1 / Hoboken, New Jersey, USA by Gary
Pig Gold
PART.2 / Detroit, Michigan, USA by Brendan
Benson
PART.1 / Hoboken, New Jersey, USA by Gary
Pig Gold
-
tell us your self-introduction and atmosphere
of your state and
city.
Whilst visiting New York City from Canada
in the late 1980's, I
was taken to the famous Maxwell's club in
Hoboken, just across
the Hudson River from Manhattan. To see my
friends The Grip Weeds
perform for the first time! After the show,
my friends and I
walked along Washington Street (the main
road in town), and its
charming old redstone houses and pizza restaurants
reminded me
very much of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ten
years later, I fondly
remembered this all, and moved to Hoboken
from Canada!
- tell us some of your favorite/recommend
places and shops. Of course we want to know not only
the name, but the reason why you like there.
>about
CLUB
Well, Maxwell's has to be not only one of
the BEST clubs on Earth
(I have played there myself, plus seen such
great artists as NRBQ
and Dave Davies performing there often),
but it serves FANTASTIC
food as well. You can
even order a slice of chocolate cheescake
after the show! Their jukebox is one of the most
amazing as well: Lots of Cheap Trick and
Flamin' Groovies!!
>about Record
Stores
But there is a great record store in town
called Tunes (...though
the BEST record store in town, Pier Platters,
is now gone). Tunes offers a fine selection of new,
used, major AND indie discs, sports a nice
magazine rack, sells
tickets to all of the great Maxwell's shows,
and even has a
tanning salon built into the basement of
the same building
(....as all us musicians hardly ever get
out in the sun, you
know!)
Still, Pier
Platters is greatly missed, as it was a VERY
important record
store throughout the Eighties and early Nineties. For example, their Mail Order catalog of
indie and collectors records was world renowned,
and they were
among the very first establishments to support,
in many ways, new
talent from New Jersey (such as The Bongos,
Grip Weeds, Blair
Buscareno's "Teen Scene" magazine,
and Telstar Records,
the local label run by Maxwell's owner and
booker Todd Abrahmson
who put out, for example, The Swingin' Neckbreakers
and the
Country Rockers albums).
> about
Restaurants
Fine Indian, Spanish, Italian and Thai restaurants
as well.
And, you know, Frank Sinatra was
born right up the block from my livingroom
window!
Karma Cafe, an
off-shoot of the India By The Hudson restaurant,
offers
absolutely delicious Indian cuisine in a
wonderful atmosphere
(ie: intricate, glass-top tables, seat cushions
in the windows,
and the greatest all-you-can-eat weekend
buffet in town!)
Although their scrumptious Fish Tika
Masala dish is no longer on the menu, their
great Chicken Tika
Masala is. This dish
tastes even better when accompanied by the
Karma's Fruit Juice
Fizz drink too!
Leo's is a funky little Italian restaurant
that has been in business for many, many
years. In fact, its walls (not to mention jukebox)
are FILLED with Sinatra! Plus they serve their main courses on
paper plates, covered in tomato sauces which
are truly
Spectacular!
Until all of the rich dot.comers moved in
from Wall Street several years ago, Hoboken
boasted a very large Spanish and especially
Cuban population, but despite all of the yuppies who now
crowd our town, there are still several tiny
old Mexican-style restaurants in town. I can't give you any more information on
these establishments, however, as this kind
of food is often too
spicy for my tastes (...after all, I DID
grow up in Canada ;-)
- tell us your latest news and plan and
something message for Japanese pop fans.
I want to bring The Masticators, Dave Rave,
Shane Faubert, and so
many other To M'Lou Music artists to Japan. Maybe that will give me a chance to find
some more Tigers, Neatbeats, and even Puffy
records too!
Here are some links to find pictures
and more information from.....
Gary Pig Gold: http://www.tomlou.com/
The Grip Weeds:
http://www.gripweeds.com/
Maxwell's: http://www.nj.com/maxwells/
Karma Kafe: http://www.karmakafe.com/
*You can read this Japanese text on SUGAR
SHOCK! vol.1.
-2001.3.26
BACK
PART.2 / Detroit, Michigan, USA by Brendan
Benson
Hello Japan and welcome to the Motor City.
You might, upon first glance, think a bomb
was dropped here and no one bothered to clean
it up. And I suppose, in a manner of
speaking, a bomb was dropped. I'm no
historian, but it's well known that Detroit
was once a thriving city in which the automobile
industry flourished. Sometime, I think
in the 1960's, a lot of factories closed,
for reasons I'm not sure about, leaving many
people literally stranded without work.
As I understand it, some of these people
became desperate and turned to crime to sustain
life. As a result, the people who could
afford to, fled the city often times just
abandoning their homes. To this day
some of these once glorious houses remain
empty and dilapidated. Fairly recently
though, young people have been moving into
the city and fixing up these houses, including
myself. It’s a great place for artists
because it’s cheap and there’s plenty of
space. So, if at first it seems like
a ghost town, dig a little deeper and you’re
sure to find some interesting and clever
people who’ve perhaps opened a cafe or an
art gallery in an otherwise waste of good
space.
Ghostly describes it well, I think, because
Detroit seems haunted by the spirits of Motown,
The MC5, the Stooges and countless others
who now inhabit the souls of such bands as
the White Stripes, The Go, They Come in Threes,
and many more. Detroit has consistently
born some of the best and innovative music
of all time and continues to do so.
Could, in fact, be because of its almost
poetic, post-apocalyptic scenes and the romantic
quality of its urban decay. It’s a
kind of dark never-never land.
Some places of interest might be the Detroit
Institute of Arts which is a great museum,
the Small World cafe for the Indian Vegetarian
combo, Greek Town for Flaming Cheese and
awesome bread, Belle Isle for a walk thru
the Conservatory, Avalon Bakery for fresh
scones with butter and jam. And for
live music there’s the Magic Stick located
in the Majestic Complex where Houdini performed
his last show, the Gold Dollar where your
car will most certainly be broken into (don’t
say I didn’t warn you) and St. Andrews Hall
which quite frankly isn’t what it used to
be, but historically significant nonetheless.
For records you might try Car City Records
or Wendell’s Music (R.I.P. Off the Record,
my first cool job). Good thrift shopping
can be done at Value Village and the latest
in fashion (at a reasonable price I might
add) can be found at House of Chants in “Fashionable
Ferndale” or you might try The Somerset
Mall if you can afford it and if not then
it’s quite a sight to behold anyhow.
So, there you have it. That’s my version of Detroit. I’m
sure I’ve left things out. It may
not be the prettiest city you’ll see, but
there’s good music and good people.
You just have to dig.
*You can read this Japanese text on Kheer
vol.14.
Kheer's web site: http://www.vitamin-co.net/kheer/
-2002.7.25
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