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OCTOBER 2009
By: Sarah L. Myers - Editor-In-Chief
New York, USA
Nick Cave
It's my favorite New York City bar, my favorite New York Dolls song, and now it's my favorite way to get trashed.
Sitting onstage upstairs at Barnes and Noble, clean shaven with his black hair slicked back, Nick Cave described the world he paints within his narrative songs and novels. A sort of "Caveian world" he called it. Fresh off his performance with Dirty Three the night before, Cave spoke about his new novel, The Death of Bunny Munro. I arrived about an hour early to an already packed room. I was lucky enough to get a seat, but the throngs of standing fans missed out. Cave only had about an hour to personally sign copies of his book. I'd met Nick before after a Grinderman show, and told him so, to which he replied, "were we any good?" Good old Nick. The highlight was definitely his comeback to the interviewer. "Are you an Old or New Testament kind of guy?" Pause. "Old Testament men are better in bed." Cave's cool-as-hell son Jethro was in attendence, hanging out and looking like a much more tattered version of his dad circa the Birthday Party days.
Warren Ellis
If seeing Warren Ellis with the Bad Seeds is dangerous, and seeing him with Grinderman is violent, then Warren Ellis with Dirty Three is simply brutal. The influencial trio make some of the most complex and beautiful music I've ever heard. It's like the score to an internal tale that's tragic, terrifying, and romantic all at once. The Bowery Ballroom crowd was hungry and, knowing Nick Cave was in town for his bookstore appearance, expecting him to perform. It happened not even five feet from me - in a hall so quiet I searched for the one noise I heard outside the music, and found it to be Nick's boot heel keeping beat under the keyboard. Warren flailed and stomped about like he was shaking the spirits out. Everything about the night was incredible, and there's even more to come. Nick and Warren's latest collaboration, the double disc "White Lunar", is out now. The pair also scored the upcoming apocalyptic thriller "The Road", opening October 16th.
Black Diamond Heavies
I've only seen parts of "The Big Lebowski" (I'm more of a "Raising Arizona" girl, not that you probably love both) but fit right in at the Big Lebowski Fest Sept 22nd at NYC's Terminal 5. I was there to interview Black Diamond Heavies (who opened their set with a "Nutbush" cover - amazing) but somehow was distracted by all the people in the bathrobes and the two guys wearing bowling pin costumes. We did meet up with the Heavies after their set, and spent an hour or so chatting about their upcoming tour with the Horrors and our favorite gospel music. Fueled by Jamo-Jack cocktails, my writer and I explored all the back hallways of the vast Terminal, managing to get lost a couple times shouting, "Hello, Cleveland!" Yet another rock n' roll night.
Glass Pipe
My beloved cultural heathen Anthony Bourdain comes to NYC this month for the Gourmet Institut, at which he'll appear with Eric Ripert for a discussion. I can only hope to see him out at the dive-iest, darkest bar and send him over a shot of the good stuff... Old Thirsty friends Gogol Bordello and Eugene Hutz are the subject of a new documentary, premiering on screens this month. Check out our interview with Eugene HERE.
Other things on my radar this month: David Byrne's latest literary contribution, The Bicycle Diaries... The Dead Weather track I heard in TopShop this morning, kicking my ass harder than my coffee- "Treat Me Like Your Mother"... and the back alley scuzz rock n' roll of NYC's Glass Pipe, check them out here:
