FFanzeen: Rock'n'Roll Attitude With Integrity

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Announcing the Birth Day of Robert Barry Francos: A Photo Essay

Text (c) Robert Barry Francos, 2011
Photos credited where known; from RBF archive

I was born the same year rock'n'roll was proclaimed, on May 10, 1955. I have often commented that if I was born five days earlier (as it was I was over a week past the due date), it would have been 5/5/55. Still, it's a cool number.

Sharing a birthday are the likes of Fred Astaire, Nancy Walker and Bono. Oh, and Mark David Chapman was actually born the same day I was, but don't hold that against me.

I drew my first breath at 12:10 AM, at Brooklyn Doctor's Hospital, which closed soon after I was born. Bensonhurst was where I was raised and lived most of my life, with some exceptions being two-and-a-half years in Soho (Elizabeth and Houston, just around the corner from CBGB), and another two-and-a-half years in Astoria. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I did the big move, coming to Saskatoon to live permanently.

The photos below are semi-chronological, or in groups, but I have tried to keep them as realistically in order as reasonable. I have given credit for the photo where known.

This photo was taken in the Catskill Mountains, upstate New York, probably the summer of 1956, when I was a year-and-a-half old. I don't recognize any other the people in the background. [pic: Helen Francos?]

In a stroller in front of our apartment building at 8109 20th Avenue, in Brooklyn. The person on the right side of the picture is unknown. [pic: Helen Francos]

Sitting on the couch in our apartment with older (and only) brother, Richard Francos (on the right). [pic: Helen Francos]

While I don't recall in which playpark this was taken, I actually do remember that sweater as being one of my favorites. It was soooo warm. [pic: Helen Francos]

Just before a second or third grade dance recital (my only one) which was to be held in Lafayette High School (the big time!). From left to right: Julie Ann Dobies, RBF, Elise Mendato, and Patty Roman. It was a rare moment when we all got along. I apologize if I misspelled any names. [pic: probably Helen Francos]

Official First Grade photo.

Third Grade.
Fourth Grade.
Fifth Grade.
Sixth Grade.

Sitting in our kitchen, a mess at the moment. I don't really remember that wallpaper, but probably out of mental self-defense. All four of us used to have dinner around that tiny table in that small kitchen, for my entire childhood. [pic: Helen Francos]

With my mom, Helen Francos, by the Dino Sinclair Oil pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair in Queens. I was nine years old. Blinking at the sun would become a common theme, as my eyes proved to be photosensitive. [pic: Richard Francos]
Sitting in front of our apartment building at 10 years old in 1965. [pic: Helen Francos]

The day of my Bar Mitzvah, May 18, 1968. You may recognize the same couch from the third photo above. [pic: Helen Francos]

With my mom at my Junior High School graduation, held on the grounds of Brooklyn College. I was already taller, as she stood an even 5-foot. This blurry image is a perfect example of why my dad did not take too many of the family photos. [pic: Leo Francos]
Washington DC during a family vacation in 1965. [pic: Helen Francos]

At the piano at a then-friend's apartment. I actually could not play (except for that thing with the knuckles, and a bit of "Heart and Soul"). Note the braces, and the photo behind my head. Look familiar? [pic: Marilyn Saffer]

While I loved my time at H.E.S. Sleepaway Camp for most of the 8 years I was there, 1969 was not one of them as I was severely bullied by a group of bored teens. This self portrait was taken the day they first landed on the moon. [pic: RBF]

In 1970, when I was 15 years old, our family made a trip up to Canada, here at Niagara Falls. Little could I know back then that Canada would become my home in 2009. [both pics: Helen Francos]

Here's a few of hanging out with my pal Bernie Kugel. The first one (twin set) was taken around the time we became friends in the early 1970s, while still in high school. [Pic: Gertrude Kugel] The second was at a Rock Ages conference in 1979, where we tried to sell copies of our fanzines (FFanzeen and Big Star), but they put us in the middle of nowhere. So rather than sell any, we befriended some of those stuck in the same situation, including Suzanne Newman, who's husband put out Time Barrier Express. For this photo, we jokingly tried to look "punk." And yes, that is my bracelet. [pic: Suzanne Newman].

During FFanzeen publishing days (1977-88), I had the honor to interview Ronnie Spector at Polish Records headquarters (run by Genya Ravan) in 1980. Just after we took this picture, she jokingly grabbed my crotch, a memory I've held dear all these years! [pic: John DeCeasre]

I worked as a floor manager / photographer / videographer for a cable access show called Videowave for most of the 1980s and '90s. This was at the Blue Willow (Broadway and West 3rd). The show is still on the air, and in re-boot.

Taken during a punk show in 2002 at the Punk Temple, in Bensonhurst. I was in attendance often from 2001-2003. I had "my spot" on the stage by the right side. By far the oldest one there besides parents of both the audience and bands, and the building's caretaker, who was in his 80s and not happy to be there, I felt very at home thanks to open heartedness of many of its regulars. My presence also help calm the parents who talked to me believing I too was one of them, rather than a willing participant in the scene. The place and people are still missed by me.

Taken at another punk show sponosed by the band The Nerve! at Peggy O'Neill's in Coney Island, around 2007. [pic by Iz]

At a party with co-workers from MultiVu, some of whom have become good friends to this day: (from left to right) Dariusz Liszkiewicz, Kellie Allen, Dermont Bruce, RBF, Gena Sabin, Nick Cuccia, and Laurie Eimers Wheeler. [pic: James Hall]

In business dress at an awards dinner in 2008 for the advertising field, in which MultiVu was nominated: (left to right) unknown, Todd Grossman, Risa Barkan Chuang and RBF. [pic: event photographer]

A 2008 self-portrait during a garage sale held by my brother Richard, and his wife Bernadette. [pic: RBF]

Just before leaving for Canada in 2009, a gathering of some of my buddies: Dennis Concepcion, Alan Abramowitz, Walter Ocner, and RBF. Since this picture, I have lost 20 lbs. I have lots of pictures of myself with another great pal, Bernie Kugel, but they need to be scanned. [pic: Sandra Bossert]

My life is now in Saskatchewan, taken on a trip to Alberta. [pic: ML]

On a summer of 2010 camping-drive to and from Yellowknife that took nine days, taken by the camera set on time delay as we crossed the border from Alberta into, well... From left to right: Ian Dowle, RBF, John Penner. [pic set up: RBF]

Yes, this is a real street name in the city of Yellowknife (not to be confused with White Horse). Oh, just a technical FYI, my arm is actually floating because the sign was flush against the fence. [pic: John Penner]

At a 2010 opening at the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon. I'm the fourth standing person from the right, in the blue jacket. [pic: Event photographer; taken from the Mendel Website]

Taken in our living room in Saskatoon. We have beveled glass windows, and when the sun hits them, it produces rainbows all through the downstairs of the house. It's one of my favorite features about our place. I have new glasses since this was taken in the spring of 2010, but still use this as my Facebook avatar. [pic: ML]

Friday, May 6, 2011

The NW Rivals form to take Seattle (and beyond) by storm

Introductory text © Robert Barry Francos, 2011
Text supplied by the band © 2011
Image © Ernie Sapiro, 2011

Jim Basnight has been a staple on my turntable, and then CD player, for a number of years. His melodic pop punk style is an excellent introduction to the sound of the Northwest (NW), predating Nirvana by well over a decade. While Nirvana may have “broke” the scene, it did not invent it.

When I heard he was forming the NW Rivals, a new band made with members collected from classic indie musicians from “the day,” I thought publishing the chronicle of the band was worthwhile because of the lineage of those involved. One could say this is a press release, as it was supplied by the band, but it is actually more than that, as it is a history lesson of the scene back then, one that deserves more of a second look, such as has been done with Toronto recently. – RBF, 2011

The NW Rivals are more than just your average band. Guitarist Steve Pearson, bassist Jack Hanan, drummer Mark Guenther and guitarist Jim Basnight bring a combination of great songs and style from bands that have truly helped define music in the Northwest since the mid-to-late ‘70s.

These four have been creating great songs, recordings and shows to this day. Almost as if by design, they've been closely connected. Jim started Lovaboy (from the NY Dolls song "Trash": "How do you call your....”) one of the West Coast's earliest "pre-punk" bands in 1975, with the late drummer Dean Helgeson, Jack's high school friend.

Though Jim never met Jack then, he heard Dean talk about a guy at his school named Jack Starr, who could play Beatles songs just like the record. When Jack finally met Jim in '76 they instantly hit it off. After staying in touch and being mutual fans from then on, Jim and Jack put together Sway in 1992, followed by the Rockinghams in 1993.

The Rockinghams were never able to gain major success, but released a fun and very catchy CD, Makin' Bacon, in 1999, after the band had gone their separate ways. Steve met with Jack and Jim when they first got together in '92, but at the time he had just put together his own band. Basnight and Hanan also talked to Guenther at that time as well.

The timing was wrong, but it was obvious that these guys always wanted to make music together. In the 2000’s, Steve and Jim put a number of shows together, just so they could collaborate, and Jack also contributed as a bassist and co-writer on half a dozen tracks in Basnight's Recovery Room CD in 2004.

Lovaboy, as we travel back to '75, broke up after Jim's high school talent show, where the student body and faculty reacted in shock and amazement. Inspiring literal violent objection as well as "if these guys can do it, so can I" to their post-glam/pre-punk posturing, Lovaboy led to the formation of other bands, and more importantly, original songs.

Within a year, Jim's new band, the Meyce, debuted at the TMT Show in Seattle's Oddfellows Hall, where the NW Rivals took pictures in April 2011. The TMT show has been found to be the first DIY punk show on the west coast by historians. One of the musicians in this small group of kids that dared write their own songs was Mark's brother, the late David Guenther.

Mark met Jim in May ‘76 and briefly played with the Meyce toward the latter stages of the band in early '77. Mark also met Steve at that time (July '77), while playing with his brother David and Don Short, a future band mate of Steve's in the legendary Seattle band the Heats.

The Heats went on to have major regional success and tour nationally with the Knack, the Kinks, and many others. They released the Have an Idea LP in 1980, and the Burnin' Live LP in '83, before breaking up in later in that year. Steve also saw the Meyce at a midnight show in '76 and was inspired.

Not so much by their abilities as players, Steve was impressed by Jim's songs and by his sheer audacity and commitment to originality. At that time, Steve was arriving as a writer too. After working in cover bands for a few years, while quietly working on his songs, Steve joined up with Jim in an early version of the Moberlys in mid-'78.

Jim had released a single in late '77 after leaving the Meyce to move to NYC earlier in the year. His attempt to take Manhattan by storm had fallen short for Basnight, but it also gave him tremendous inspiration. The 45 rpm single ("Live in the Sun” / “She Got Fucked") created a little buzz around the Northwest, and even a bit elsewhere.

Prior to Steve playing in the embryonic Moberlys, the other guitar spot was filled by a Washington DC area transplant named Jeff Cerar. After Jeff was replaced following the Moberlys’ first recording session and before their first gig with Steve, Cerar joined up to form the Cowboys with the late and certainly great singer/songwriter Ian Fisher, Dean and Jack.

When Ian passed away in late 2007, Pearson, Hanan, Guenther and Basnight helped put together a fantastic show in Seattle in tribute, where they performed many of Ian's best numbers from the Cowboys. Fisher, Hanan and Helgeson had been in the Feelings along with ex-Lovaboy, the late Geoff Cade. Though Jim may have released the first "punk" single on the Seattle scene, the Feelings predated that by a track on local FM station KYYX's compilation titled Destroy Destruction in '77.

The Cowboys went on to be, along with the Heats, at or near the top of the list of premier bands on the Seattle scene in the early ‘80s. Their original songs clicked, and received airplay from local radio, as well as major success in the clubs.

The Heats single "I Don't Like Your Face” / “Ordinary Girls" and the Cowboys 45 "Rude Boy” / “She Makes Me Feel Small" were local radio hits. The Cowboys followed the single up with a self-titled EP release in '81, and then a full length LP release in 1985, How the West was Rocked, before they started slowing down in 1986.

The band continued to do reunions, but Jack stayed active, playing bass in numerous local original bands up until he hooked up with Jim in '92. The Heats followed up "I Don't Like Your Face" with "Rivals" (hence the NW Rivals) in '81, which was a tribute to the relationship with the Cowboys and the Moberlys.

The Moberlys went through two guitar players, Short and the late Ben Rabinowitz, with whom Basnight later wrote "Summertime Again" and "Hello Mary Jane," two of his best. The Moberlys finally found their man in Ernie Sapiro, a former schoolmate who had played in Uncle Cookie, the other band at the midnight show where Steve first saw Jim play.

The Moberlys played with Ernie from mid-1978 to late '79. The band split prior to the release of The Moberlys, the first full length LP that this scene produced. Ernie took the NW Rivals' recent band pics, and also played in the Cowboys after Cerar.

Jim moved to NYC after a year with the Pins, a band made up of three Seattle guys just off the road backing Doug Kershaw. Jim worked the clubs with the Pins long enough to save enough money for another crack at the Big Apple in the fall of 1980.

The Pins continued as a three piece, but joined with Pearson to form the Rangehoods in 1984. The 'Hoods had a successful career, yielding two full length albums, Rough Town in '84 and Long Way Home in '90. They toured outside the NW more than a few times, garnered nice reviews and were a strong club draw locally.

Guenther joined the Cowboys in '83, after playing with Sapiro in the Lonesome City Kings in the early ‘80s, and the Features, with members of Uncle Cookie in the late ‘70s. Mark also made his mark as a recording engineer, with scores of records (engineering credits on the first Presidents of the USA record, and the Supersuckers, just to name a few).

Guenther has mastered over 1,500 records (early Death Cab for Cutie, Brandi Carlisle, Daz Dillinger, mastered two Grammy nominated releases, the Posies, and many more). Jim formed another version of the Moberlys in NYC in the early 1980s.

After playing with numerous New York notables, writing and recording some great songs while coming back to Seattle for short trips with the New York band and pick up groups made up of from locals, Jim moved back to Seattle in '84, but not for good. Back in town, Basnight formed the third and final version of the 'Mobes, which for a while included Rabinowitz.

That band released a 45 ("I Want to Be Yours” / “Cinderella"), a 4-song EP, and compiled their recordings with tracks from previous Moberly line-ups for Sexteen, a full length LP for Lolita Records in France. The Moberlys then moved to Los Angeles in '85, and lasted for almost five years. They recorded most of an album with Peter Buck of REM for EMI in '87.

In LA, Jim wrote and recorded hundreds of tracks before and after the demise of the band. The best of those, including the Buck tapes, were released on CD in three collections (along with previous works), Pop Top in '93, The Moberlys Sexteen on the Bear Family label (Germany) in ’96, and Seattle-NY-LA on the Pop the Balloon label (France) in 2001.

After the Rockinghams, Jim released The Jim Basnight Thing, mastered by Guenther in 1997, and proceeded to earn a living traveling the NW with the Jim Basnight Band, as he does today. Steve, less inclined to work the road, instead chose to play gigs closer to home and focus on writing and recording.

Pearson released solo CDs Battles & Ballads in 2003, and Impatient in 2007 to many rave notices and fans who still value his enduring music. That's really what the NW Rivals are about. Enduring music done for fun by friends who have always crossed paths. They are all great individually, but together there is a chemistry that is undeniable.

Their debut performance is scheduled for Club Venus in Seattle on May 22, 2011. For more information about ether the band or the show, please email Jim at jim@jimbasnight.com. The NW Rivals can also be found on Facebook.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Rare Boston scene photos from the 1980s by Rocco Cippolone

Text © Robert Barry Francos, FFanzeen, 2011
Photos © Rocco Cipppolone
Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them

I met Rocco Cippolone in the early 1980s, through a mutual friend, and when I started traveling up to Boston twice a year during the first half of the 1980s, we would hang out together by going to shows. We developed a friendship that I certainly enjoyed.

Rocco, who often went under the nom de photo of Peter Parka, loved the Boston scene and would go to as many shows as he could. He was a bit shy with his thick Italian accent, but as the bands all got to know him, they trusted him to do them justice in the lens.

About twice a month, I would receive some 5x4 black and white photos that he would process himself (a skill I never learned), which would be of musicians he had seen over the previous weeks.

Not only did he like the milieu of bands and the music they produced, he particularly fond of female musicians, especially Salem 66, but his fixation was Barb Kitsen, of the band The Thrills (who would go on to retool as City Thrills). Perhaps it was her addictions making her that unavailable bad girl, but he would talk about her often, and send a lot of pictures of her performances on stage.

Rocco was, obviously, an excellent music performance photographer, and he captured a lot of the scene throughout the ‘80s. Some time in the mid-‘80s or so, he started his own fanzine, Bang!, which was 8x10, well printed, and looked great.

Somewhere in the early ‘90s, Rocco changed the focus of Bang! to exploitation and “b” movies. Then he seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. There was some speculation that he ran off, back to Italy, but it’s that just a theory. He has not turned up anywhere on social media that I could find, so if you’re seeing this, Rocco, please get in touch.

Two things to note: first, I scanned these from the photos he sent me, and they have certainly lost some definition in the process. His pictures are quite sharp, though they seem a bit grainy and washed out here. Second, I am making no profit off of these photos (and don’t expect anyone else to do so, other than Rocco), and am doing this blog to honor his work. I would love to see a Rocco Cippolone book of photos one day.

Johnny Thunders [d. 1991]