Videowave Clips 2: Hüsker Dü, The Murmurs, Buzzcocks, Philip Glass,Ofra Haza, Lene Lovich, Holly Beth Vincent

Text (c) Robert Barry Francos, 2011
Videos (c) Alan Abramowitz/Videowave

I became involved in the Videowave cable access program pretty early on, starting off as a photographer and ending as a videographer, but for most of the shows from the 1980s, I was floor manager for those clips below, being the connector between the set and the control room. Yeah, the guy with the clipboard and the headset. There was no money involved for anyone, but it gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of great talent, and also connected FFanzeen to some future interviews.

Here is a selection of a half dozen of bits of interviews of shows on which I worked. Meanwhile, Videowave is still on in many of the tri-state markets, and new shows are still being created.

Here is the second in a series of blogs, but I will only put up ones that has a direct link to either FFanzeen, or to me directly. As more interviews are digitized, I will put more up, with Alan’s kind permission, of course.

1. Hüsker Dü, May 1985
Here is a short clip of the band being interviewed by Executive Producer Alan Abramowitz (off-camera) backstage at the Peppermint Lounge. I worked the camera. Before the shoot, I gave the band copies of FFanzeen which they kept open on their lap throughout the interview (thanks, guys!). They were their usual surly selves, but not to an obnoxious level, and I liked them, as they were being themselves rather than presenting who they thought they should be. The unrelated partial clip following them is Alan being esoteric, as he’s wont to be on occasion.


2. The Murmurs, September 1994
Jennifer Krantz interviews the alt-folk rock duo who still has an incredibly strong following, years after they have parted ways. Alan and I had come across them performing at a street fair in Tribeca, and were immediately struck by their sound. The interview was done in two parts in an apartment. While I was the videographer on the second half, Alan actually video’d this first part because I was late (that’s me at the door in the interview; I enter into the room at 3:15). Leisha Gordy (left) went on to some acclaim co-starring in yogurt commercials and The “L” Word, and Heather Grody Reid formed the group Redcar.


3. Buzzcocks (Pete Shelley, Steve Diggle), December 1991
The ex-Dawn Eden conducts the interview with the Buzzcocks on a hotel bed in New York. I was on camera, trying to avoid embarrassing angles as much as possible, which was hard because of Alan’s placement of the tripod in juxtaposition to the position of the bed. The ‘Cocks were very pleasantly British, and seems to be enjoying Dawn’s antics. While not a very deep interview by any means, it’s uncomfortably interesting in a way an accident must be seen.


4. Philip Glass , June 1983
Alt-composer Philip Glass brought along his son, Zack, who was a punk-dressed pre-teen, and a great kid. The whole crew liked both him and Philip. Interviewer Merle Ginsburg does a great, informed job interviewing him, and he gave his full attention, which was appreciated. It certainly made the experience all the more absorbing. I was Floor Manager for this shoot.


5. Ofra Haza, January 1992
Dawn Eden does a better job interviewing the late Yemenite / Jewish singer Ofra Haza in her room at the Hotel Excelsior in NYC. I was on camera (which was actually my VHS camcorder that Alan used for a number of years), and was standing behind a comfy chair in a very small, uncomfortable space with the heavy and bulky camera on my shoulder (hence the shaking). Ofra was very nice - if professionally distant - off-camera, and I admired how open she was to a small, non-commercial outfit as we were, while she was on a major tour and getting a large press push to the majors.


6. Lene Lovich, Holly Beth Vincent, March 1983
As I promised in Part I, here is the Young Filmmakers Studio interview with both Holly Beth Vincent and Lene Lovich. Both were expats from the US living in England for a number of years, who came back to live in the States, one by choice, and one not. You know this is a long time ago, as Holly is smoking on the set. She came across as quite unpleasant to me, but some of the others present that day, including Alan, found her to be actually nice. Maybe it was my mood, or the fact that Alan was running the show and I was just the guy with the clipboard (re: insignificant to her)? Still, I like and respect her Holly and the Italian’s “Shut Up,” and the work she did with Joey Ramone. As I stated in the last Videowave blog, Lene was quite wonderful to work with, took the cues right on, and was totally present in the moment. They are interviewed by Merle Ginsberg, and segment is introduced by Michele Piza and Victoria Vesna.

Videowave Clips Vol. 1: Joey Ramone, Lydia Lunch, Nick Cave, Jim Foetus, Bow Wow Wow, Lene Lovich, Nina Hagen

Text (c) Robert Barry Francos, 2011
Videos (c) Alan Abramowitz/Videowave, with permission

I became involved in the Videowave cable access program pretty early on, starting off as a photographer and ending as a videographer, but for most of the shows from the 1980s, I was floor manager for those clips below, being the connector between the set and the control room. Yeah, the guy with the clipboard and the headset. There was no money involved for anyone, but it gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of great talent, and also connected FFanzeen to some future interviews.

Back then, the technology was top of the line U-Matic 3/4-inch tape, but in today’s HD world, well, it looks worse for wear. However, the artists are what matters, and what they say is still relevant for fans, if dated. However, it is not as passé as some of the fashions being worn by the artists and especially the interviewers.

Here is a selection of a half dozen of bits of interviews from shows on which I worked. Meanwhile, Videowave is still on in many of the tri-state markets, and new shows are still being created. These interviews were taped at Young Filmmakers Studio (no longer in business), on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side, during the first half of the 1980s, except for the first one, done on-location. The stage background was a painted on shower curtains by the late artist Chester Parnell.

Here is the first in what I hope will become a series of blogs, but I will only put up ones that has a direct link to either FFanzeen, or to me directly.

1. Joey Ramone, April 1997
With me on camera at Arturo Vega's apartment, Jimmy Marino interviews Joey R. on the night he was filming a clip to be shown at a party for Boston DJ Oedipus, which we got to watch being taped, and included Aurturo paint the “blood” on the apron. The apron was thrown into a corner after the interview, and I took it home as a souvenir; I later heard that Joey had a fit, and I returned it with an apology. If I still had it, it would be framed and put on the wall. RIP, Joey…


2. Lydia Lunch, October 1983; November 1985
Merle Ginsberg (who has gone on to a media-focused career: www.buddytv.com/info/merle-ginsberg-info.aspx) interviews Lydia first, followed by my then-FFanzeen Managing Editor Julia Masi. I had interviewed Lydia back in 1977 when she fronted Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and she was a complete asshole, but she was still quite young. A lot of her anger came across as bullshit poseur, and that’s what turned me off to her. The whole I’m cool because I’m a nihilist; aren’t I just terrible and annoying? came across as performance art to me. At the time of the first interview shown here, which I floor managed, she was collaborating with Nick Cave, Clint Ruin and Marc Almond, as well as doing “poetry” with Exene Cervenka of X. I don’t believe I was present for the second interview, though. It could also be noted that she did not remember me from our first encounter.


3. Immaculate Consumptive (Clint Ruin and Nick Cave), October 1983
This is just a short clip of Merle interviewing Clint Ruin (Foetus on the Wheel, etc) and Nick Cave (Birthday Party, Bad Seeds, etc.), which was taped the same day as the first Lydia Lunch interview above (explaining why Merle is wearing the same outfit). While Lydia was being taped, they sat in the back of the studio finishing bottles of whatever it is they were imbibing, and by the time it was their turn, they were completely blitzed (note the bottle in Cave’s hand). Though they were pissed to the gills, they were not disruptive to whatever was going on around them, I’m happy to say. The pre-chaste Dawn Eden talks us down at the end, and I believe the photo of her is one I took when she was interviewing the Buzzcocks on a hotel bed.


4. Annabella Lwin (Bow Wow Wow) , July 1983
They had recently played at a club called the Brooklyn Zoo (great show, BTW), and from there went further on their tour when disaster struck. This was actually the beginning of the end of the band, though Merle or Annabella could not have known that. It was really hot in the studio that day, as it was mid-summer and the air conditioner broke, but Anabella was a true dear and stayed around in a sweat without complaint.


5. Lene Lovich, March 1983
Introduced by Michele Piza, Lene was a pleasure to work with, as she was when Videowave interviewed her again in 1990, on location near Grammercy Park. Here in the studio, she was interviewed by David G. (Rosenberg), and was very open and friendly. American born and living in England, she later shared the interview stage with fellow expatriate Holly Beth Vincent (to be shown in a later blog), who gave me the impression she did not want to be there (though Alan had a different, more successful experience with her that day). But Lene, no one had any argument about her positive energy on that day, and in ’90.


6. Nina Hagen, February 1984
Nina Hagen did everything she could to be a thorn in the side of all of the people working on the show, including holding up a can of guava juice in front of her face and refusing to take it down for a long, expensive waste of time. Again, I wonder how much of her “personality” is real, and how much is affectation. I do know that I wanted to smack her. Merle was a total pro, though, and she did not reflect the previous goings on during the interview.


Should I continue this series, readers?

Videowave: Lene Lovich, Nina Hagen, Holly Beth Vincent

Photos and text © Robert Barry Francos
Videos © Alan Abramowitz / Videowave

One of the great joys I had during the 1980s and ‘90s was working on a cable access program called Videowave, created, produced, and run by one of my oldest pals, Alan Abramowitz. Alan and I had met in camp in 1970, and years later found out we were distant cousins.

Videowave centered mainly on music, but also focused on all aspects of fine arts, from dance to spoken word. Usually it was a blend of independent music videos that one tended not to see on places like MTV, mixed with interviews with various artists and bands.

Considering the DIY (and budget) of the show, thanks in part to knowing some connected people (and the wherewithal of Alan to take a chance and, well, ask), Alan managed to secure a number of major acts, but almost always ones that were interesting, like the Heartbreakers, Richard Hell, Bow Wow Wow, Too Much Joy, Dramarama, Nick Cave, Buzzcocks, Lenny Kaye, Steve Wynn, Dick Dale, Jonathan Richman, Ofra Haza, Philip Glass, Frente!, Joey Ramone, Husker Du, and so many others. In all the years, there have been only two artists who committed but did not appear at the shoot without any warning: new recording artist Madonna, and P.I.L. (the publicist confided that the band was out looking for Keith Levene, who was on a drug hunt).

At first, the show was staged in a for-hire television studio on Rivington Street, on the Lower East Side of New York, called Young Filmmakers. My job varied over the years, including floor manager (the person between the talent and the control room), photographer, and occasional cameraman.

[Lene Lovich, Holly Beth Vincent, 1983],
During late 1983, Alan managed to get Lene Lovich, which was quite the coup at the time. She was on with Holly Beth Vincent, of Holly and the Italians, who had a relative hit with “Tell That Girl To Shut Up” (though a great pop song, I preferred Barb Kitson / City Thrill’s “I Must Have Been Dreamin’,” which had a similar feel). Lene and Holly Beth met in England, where they had both transplanted from the Midwest, and become fast friends. On this day, Lene was a joy to work with responding with smiles and enjoying the experience. She treated all of us pro bono studio people with respect and kindness. Holly Beth was just the opposite, looking sullen, being distant, and just surly. She also chain smoked through the whole time she was in the studio. She pretty much disappeared after that, except for a duet with Joey Ramone.

[Lene Lovich, 1990]
Years later, in 1990, Lene was in town again to play at an animal rights rally, and was again being interviewed for Videowave. And once again, I was asked to be floor manager and photographer. This time, however, it was not in a studio, but thanks to both lack of studio space and outside funding, the show had gone gonzo, filming wherever Alan (or the talent) deemed. Since Lene was staying at a hotel a block from Gramercy Park, we shot right outside the park. As before, Lene was amiable and seemed to be enjoying the experience. It was also interesting to see her in the bright sunlight. I had seen her on the dark stage and under the glaring lights of a studio, but this was the closest I had been to her. She’s more beautiful than I had expected or remembered, with bright, intelligent eyes and a generous smile.

One of Lene’s good friends and international star Nina Hagen was also on Videowave, in 1984. The Germanic singer / performance artist was a real terror, and obviously enjoyed being one. She was sitting on the stage in the rented studio, and we were ready to shoot. I was standing by as floor manager, clipboard in hand and headset turned up. The director, way up in the control booth, was screaming in my ear. The reason for this was Nina’s holding a can of guava in front of her face, and refusing to put it down. I’d say, trying to be diplomatic for Alan’s sake, “Please, Nina, put the can down.” She responded in one of her ridiculous, child-like voices, “No!,” pretending to be a spoiled child (well, perhaps not pretending…). I’m sure she thought this behavior was cute and funny, but it was wasting valuable time and money that no one, especially producer Alan, could afford. I explained about how studio time was expensive and that this was not a big media conglomerate that could swallow the cost. Her response was, in the same annoying, dumbass voice, “I don’t want to!”

Finally, one of the cameraman, who was also stuck waiting and listening to the screaming over the headsets, took off and put down his earphones, and calmly walked over to her with a big smile and whispered something in her ear. Still smiling, he walked back to the camera. She looked shocked and her face turned red. Then a big, bright smile came over her face, and she put the damn can down. The interview went well after that. Later, I cornered the guy and asked him what had happened. He said that when he had enough, he walked over to her with that big, warm grin and said, very quietly and with a mild tone, “If you don’t put down that can, you Nazi bitch, I’m going to break every fucking bone in your body.” She thought it was hysterically funny, and was fine afterwards.

While I do have photos I took of Nina, none are yet scanned. Sorry.

One can find information and clips of some of these shows here:
www.geocities.com/videowavemusicmusings
http://videowave-goingunderground.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/Videowave