Two Reviews: Blank Generation (1980); The Blank Generation (1976)

Text © Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 2022
Film screenshots from the Internet

Blank Generation
Directed by Ulli Lommel
Dark Force Entertainment; MVD Entertainment
78 minutes, 1980
www.darkforcesuperstore.com
www.mvdb2b.com

There are lots of stories surrounding the making of this important, yet Grade C level film. One of my favorites – and I am not positing it is true or not – that the director, Ulli Lommel (d. 2017), was so envious of the love scenes between stars Richard Hell and Carole Bouquet, that he wrote himself into the plot so he could possibly have his own chance with her. This jealousy also took a simple story and flushed it down the toilet as far as plotline quality goes. Well, to be honest, I have not seen the film since around the time it came out and saw it at some art house in New York City, so this will honestly be like watching it for the first time.

After a brief prologue, we get smacked in the face with the title song, one of my all-time favorites (it’s the Voidoids version, not the original Ork release). The sound is crisp and clear, but we only get to hear the first two stanzas, and it fades out after Hell tells Bob Quine to “take it.”

 

Richard Hell

Richard Hell plays up-and-coming punk singer Billy. Musically, it’s Hell pure and simple, no matter what name they give him. He’s vying for a record contract and while in the recording studio (singing “New Pleasure”). It is there he meets French video journalist Nada (Bouquet), and sparks fly while we get to hear the complete song. Yay. This leads of a volatile, almost schizophrenically up and down relationship between the two.

Billy is quite cynical about the music biz and is trying to figure out his role either in or out of it, while his long-suffering manager with a thick NYC accent, Jack (Howard Grant), is trying to guide his career, though the question is whether it is for Billy or his own financial stake that he is there.

Carole Bouquet

At some point, German journalist Hoffritz (Lommel) enters the picture as Bouquet’s former lover who has shown up looking for Andy Warhol (d. 1987), who makes a cameo in the film. This sets up a dynamic of a “who will she choose?” scenario: the rock star who wants nothing more to do with music (with no reference on what he would do instead) or the cynical journalist who is obsessed with Warhol. While Nana is hooking up with Hoffritz, Billy is with Lizzy (Suzanna Love), another filmmaker. One minute it’s Billy and Nada, then it’s not, then it is, then it’s …

Whatever the weaknesses in the storyline and especially the dialogue, which often borders on the ridiculous (the “beach” conversation in the car is a perfect example), this film is a must-see just for the visuals of the gritty New York City of the late 1970s, including under the West Side Drive, on a rooftop with the iconic water towers, and especially the scenes in CBGB, which are both a joy and heartbreaking. [As they scanned the tables, I realized that I have sat at just about every table there; small digression that has nuthin’ to do with nuthin’: I was in the hospital having a procedure, and as the doc was getting ready to give me a huge needle, he said, “think of a happy place, like a beach or a mountain.” My mind went immediately to sitting at a table at CBGB waiting for the band to start…] It was also fun to see the backstage (a room I have been in numerous times) which highlights some graffiti of The Senders. Meanwhile, the Voidoids (Hell, bass/vox, Quine on guitar, Ivan Julian on guitar, and Mark Bell – the future Marky Ramone – on drums) get to show off live on CBGB’s stage. Warms the cockles of my heart. Amusingly, perhaps, there is a scene shot at CB’s of Nada interviewing a bunch of club denizens (I am assuming they are real rather than actors), reminiscent of the early Amos Poe film, The Blank Generation, reviewed below.

Ulli Lommel, Andy Warhol

There are lots of cameos by some who were critical and omnipresent to the scene at the time, such as violinist Walter Steding, fashion maven Natasha, and of course, Warhol.

Bouquet is quite beautiful, and Hell is in his prime (1977 Big Star magazine interview with Hell from 1977 HERE), (with his original teeth and all). What he lacks in acting talent, he makes up for in enthusiasm and making some amazing music that helped spark the whole British punk movement when Malcolm McLaren (d. 2010) infamously ripped him off from sound to fashion.

Most clips I have seen of the film over the years have been taken from VHS copies, and were highly grainy (as VHS tends to be), but this Blu-ray is crisp, as it is a 2K scan taken from the only remaining 35mm print! That only one survives is something I am both grateful for, and indignant about its lack of care of the rest of the prints. That being said, for a Blu-ray release, there are zero extras on this, but I don’t care because the main meat of the matter, the film itself, is the rightful focus.

Speaking of technology, it is fun to see the state of art mechanics of the time, such as video recorder cameras that are separate from the tape deck, dial phones, old cars, and the such.

The biggest problem with the film is that it is inconsistent to its own theme, jumping back and forth between stories with gaps in-between that make the viewer feel a bit shell shocked and while it’s not confusing, it really doesn’t make much sense. I was more interested in the Billy/Nada relationship, and the adding of Hoffritz just feels superlative. If the film could have focused on just the couple, with their ups and downs, it would have been much more interesting. Though the live music helps, even though there is excessive use of the title cut throughout, and there is obvious reuse of some shots such as Billy coming up from the CBGB bathrooms, and of the Voidoids on stage (shown at least three times). I understand why this film has a rep for being a muddled mess, because on one hand it is just that, but if you were there at the time, or if you wanted to know what it was like, this is more an important time binding document than story.

According to IMDB, Lommel still presently has projects in works, both as director and actor, 5 years after he has died; his other big success might arguably have been The Boogyman, a film he directed that came out the same year as this release. His later works seemed to rely on stories of real serial killers.

IMDB listing HERE 

 

The Blank Generation
Directed by Ivan Kral and Amos Poe
Blank Generation LLC
54 minutes, 1976
www.TheBLANKGeneration.com
www.IvanKral.net

This film documents, what it calls, the birth of punk rock in New York during the early 1974-75 CBGB (mostly here; closed 2006 and is now a clothing store) and Max’s Kansas City (closed 1981 and is now a deli), with some shots from other venues such as the Bottom Line (closed in 2004, and is now a student’s residence for New York University). But in some ways, it overlaps with its own midwife, but more on that later.

The film is jumpily shot by Patti Smith Group guitarist Ivan Kral on silent 16mm, and is then audibly superimposed by the sounds of the band’s recordings, either legitimate releases, demos, or live cassettes.

The premiere of the film was held in CBGB, when the stage was still on the left side, so needless to say in all the CBGB footage in the documentary, that is where the infamously (and hotly debated) Television-built stage was located. It is nice to see the huge photos sans stickers and band graffiti that would eventually cover them up in the 1980s and ‘90s. The band that played the night of the opening was the Heartbreakers, with Richard Hell still a member. I saw the Heartbreakers so many times on stage, but that was the only time with the Hell line-up, before Billy Rath replaced Hell on bass), and Johnny Thunders and Walter Lure moved to the front permanently out of Meyer’s shadow.

The Patti Smith Group

The film is broken up, essentially though not officially, into three chapters. The first one is the “birthers of punk,” for lack of a better term, starting with The Patti Smith Group performing in various venues (as is true with most of the bands) to the soundtrack of “Gloria (In Excelsis Deo)” off the Horses album, followed by a live version of “We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together.” It would make sense to start off with her group since they were considered the first “punk” band to be recorded…though I do wonder who filmed the footage since not only was Kral in the band, but there are shots of him playing. Anyway…

The Ramones

Other major bands flow into each other visually, with the songs starting abruptly. That’s no issue at all, though I thought it would be good to have some kind of crawl that said which band was which, rather than just waiting until the end credits. But that’s punk, do what’s unexpected, right? Patti flows into Television’s “Little Johnny Jewel (Parts I and II)” (with a shot of Terry Ork for good measure, who released the single on his own Ork Records), and then to theRamones playing over only live recordings as their seminal eponymous album had not yet been released. It was interesting to hear them doing a song that would show up on their second album. Then there are the likes of Talking Heads. 

Wayne County

The second section is the next level of bands, or first-level Max’s groups, such as the trendsetting Wayne County, The Miamis, Harry Toledo, the Marbles (one of my favorites back then, doing almost a music video), the Shirts, and Tuff Darts (with Robert Gordon).

The third is an odd mix of non-venue related footage (though the music concept stays the same) of bands such as backstage. There is also the post-Thunders/Jerry Nolan New York Dolls that focuses only on David Johansen while “Funky But Chic” plays, and there is the Hell version of the Heartbreakers to end it with the title song. The Dolls were kind of the midwife to the New York punk scene, and the Hell version of the Heartbreakers almost the transition into the now more infamous version of the band.

I’m proud to say I have seen all of these bands perform live save two (Miamis and Tuff Darts, though I did interview the founder and lead guitarist, Jeff Salen). When I first saw the film at its premiere, I was a bit flustered by the dissonance between the footage and the sound, but over the years, I have come to admire it. Many of the songs are not shown all the way through (cut short or edited), but it just means more songs. The film is a treasure.

IMDB listing HERE 

 

 

MAD ORPHANS / LOVELIES: Music with Style [1988]

Text by Julia Masi / FFanzeen, 1988

Introduction/live photo © Robert Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 2019

Other images from the Internet

This interview with Cynthia Sley was originally published in FFanzeen, issue #15, dated 1988. It was conducted and written by FFanzeen Manager Editor, Julia Masi.

                                                                    

The Mad Orphans quickly morphed into the Lovelies, and recorded an album titled Mad Orphan in 1988. I had the opportunity to hang out with then-married Cynthia Sley (of the Bush Tetras) and Ivan Julian (previously in the Voidoids) during a taping of cable access show Videowave around the time of this interview. They are talented Art Rock musicians who deserve more recognition than they have received. Cynthia, meanwhile, has been back in a revitalized version of the Bush Tetras and Ivan continues to write a produce his and others’ music at his recording studio, NY HED. – Robert Barry Francos, 2019

 

Ivan and Cynthia, Videowave (pic by RBF)

“You can have so much fun with images,” sighs Cynthia Sley, as she sips champagne and bananas, and recalls the night she and her band, the Mad Orphans, played a gig dressed as priests.

It was during a period where New York City clubs were experiencing such rapid personnel changes that that whoever hired a band to play was long gone by the night of the gig, and his predecessor would go out of his way to swindle the band. “I thought it would be really great if we dressed like priests, as a real intimidating force coming in. We did really well and a lot of people came. So, I felt like I blessed the gig,” she quips.

Cynthia is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, who initially came to New York to be a fashion designer. She did work in fashion for a while. But while out in New York clubs with musicians she knew from her hometown, she was persuaded to join the band the Bush Tetras [see FFanzeen article about the Bush Tetras HERE – RBF, 2019]. They became successful very quickly and Cynthia suddenly found herself with a new career as a singer.

The way she sees it, music and fashion are closely related and often influence each other. “It’s easier to see in a place like London. You can tell by the magazines. All the magazines are being taken over by fashion. I live in the East Village [which is] like the heart of it. I see Yuppies dressing like real hipsters by night. Totally decked out! There are all these people walking around with the right clothes. They [the clothes] look great but they [the people] look so uncomfortable in their clothes. I try to figure out why they’ve got on what they’ve got on. It’s really weird. I notice it all the time.”

And she experiments with fashion all the time.

Cynthia spends hours conjuring up outrageous outfits for herself and the band to wear onstage. She admits that she tries to coordinate their outfits to the atmosphere of the club that they’re playing in, but it’s obvious that other influences, perhaps even National Geographic, work their way into her costumes. There have been nights when she has wrapped at least 20 things around her head, including a flashlight, to make a turban. “I gradually take things off and I go absolutely out of my mind. At the end of the gig when we do this Led Zeppelin song, ‘Communication Breakdown,’ I completely bug out. I start out really controlled, then I gradually freak out. If I wear something that I think is really outrageous, then it spurs me on to be really out of my mind.

“I think that’s how you have fun. I think that’s how most people do it. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe they’re all dispassionate about it. If you’re gonna go up there and do it, you might as well go all the way. It’s like having sex.”

Musically, as well as visually, the band likes to pull out all the stops. Ivan Julian writes all of the music. Cynthia frequently contributes lyrics for new songs. The Mad Orphans’ repertoire also includes some of the songs Ivan has written with previous bands, including Shriekback and the Lovelies.

Their songs, such as “Men so Brave,” “You Don’t Know,” and “Overflow,” lean toward illustrative lyrics loaded with personal politics. They show a vibrant curiosity and sympathetic flair for people trying to find their niche or express their individuality. Musically, Cynthia sees them as “rock, but funk rock.” But most of their fans would probably prefer to simply label them a good live band.

One of the band’s primary goals is to be able to write songs comfortably for a long period of time. “It’s great when you start a band and you write these songs. But, you want to get it to a point beyond that, where you keep writing because you have this chemistry that you’re building. It’s hard to find. That’s what we’ve been working on, keeping the chemistry going.

“But you have to wait for something to happen. You have to keep yourself alive until then. I’m pretty practical. I know what it takes to get a record deal. At least Ivan and I have some kind of reputation.”

Sometimes Cynthia waxes nostalgic about the old days when she was growing up in Ohio, studying art, mostly on scholarships, and going to see bands. “I would see a band every week. My old bass player [in the Bush Tetras, Laura Kennedy; d. 2011 – RBF, 2019] and I used to go out every Thursday night, or whatever it was, to see a band. And they were great bands.”

She recalls seeing David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour, the Dead Boys, the Waitresses and Pere Ubu. “I realize now that there was this huge scene there. But we were the only ones who danced. We would get dressed up – really ridiculous – put the streak in our hair or something. It was really hard to be a punk there. The music was always really great.”

Her early days in New York were also happy ones until the old club scene fizzled out. “I used to think it was gradual. Everything kind of turned towards money, especially in New York. I think it’s really money-oriented now, where it used to be experimental. But, in a way, that’s good in itself: experimental music will become lucrative now because people will really want it soon. There are so many drum machines and so much of this certain thing that’s happening. I listen to the radio very day, and most of the Top 40 all sounds the same. But there are some good things coming out. It’s a gradual change. I don’t know… things go like that… in waves.

“Like in the ‘70s, it’s really wild. There are a lot of really great things out there. I think it’s gonna be a really big turnaround over the next couple of years, where fashion won’t really have as much influence on music. Things will get more experimental. They have to. It’s more passionate.”

She sees music going further into the dance scene and hopes that the Mad Orphans “get a little wilder. I think having Ivan play guitar makes it pretty wild. It gives a difference to it. I’ve never really played with someone like him. I’ve played with great guitar players but there’s something that seems more commercial about his playing, to me.”

And, of course, with Cynthia’s artistic background, the band looks forward to working in video. “There’s so much to do with it. It’s a great thing. I want to make a low budget, really wild video, like The Mr. Bill Show. I like things that are really off the wall.”

Presently, however, the band has one pressing thing on their minds: “All we have to do is make a record.” Well, Cynthia, your fans hope you do it soon.