Hi
If this has already been covered somewhere in the
dim and distant past then ignore it.
I bought a couple of books very cheaply at the
weekend and there are some TV quotes you might be interested in.
From Jim Derogatis' 'Kaleidoscope Days':'The
flowery, extended solos of Television guitarist Tom Verlainewere compared to
Jerry Garcia, the band covered 'Fire Engine' by the 13th Floor Elevators and
'Psychotic Reaction' by the Count Five, and worked with Brian Eno on a set of
legendary demos.'......and from the same book and Robin Hitchcock talking
about replacing Wang Bo with Kimberley Rew in the Soft Boys. 'Hitchcock soon
regretted the move. He maintains that the Rew group was top-heavy, too loud
and "too Television" '........and from a book called 'Destroy(The Definitive
History of Punk)' by Alvin Gibbs is a quote talking about CBGBs owner Hilly
Kristal and there policy of live country music; 'He further broke his own
policy during the early months of 1974 by giving the largely unheard of
experimental outfit Television, a gig there after the band managed to convince
him that there were trace elements of both country music and the blues
in there unique and disobedient sound. Television went down somewhat better
than Kristal had anticipated and were awarded a Sunday night residency. They
continued to attract good size audiences, in comparison to some of the poor
attendance figures at the straight country/blues shows and taking into account
the undesirable nature of the venue's location'...........and talking about
Malcolm Mclaren in New York...'Catching one of the budding CBGB's groups
Television, he became duly impressed with the visually stunning Richard Hell
and did his utmost to talk the Kentuckian into splitting to London with him to
front Jones' fledging outfit. Hell would have none of it. He was too caught up
in a leadership contest wiith Fellow Telvision member Tom Verlaine, for
control of the soul of the group to warrant following an ex-manager of the
fatigued and failed New York Dolls to the UK on some lick and a
promise'.
There are a few more passing quotes about TV but
these are of most interest. As far as
the Soft Boys goes they pretty much passed me by. I know some on the list are
Hitchcock fans. Where is a good place to
start?