Daniel Kane's "Poetry and Punk Rock in NYC"

Reviewed by Louie Dean Valencia-García

Punk culture, like most subcultures, depends upon mythology. These mythologies are built around people, spaces, and events of the past, often reused to create something new — pieced together in what cultural theorist Dick Hebdige calls “bricolage.” Daniel Kane’s “Do You Have a Band?”: Poetry and Punk Rock in New York City attempts to demystify one particular aspect of the early days of the New York City punk scene: its connection to the New York poetry scene. In a way, this work functions much like a sequel to the author’s 2003 work, All Poets Welcome: The Lower East Side Poetry Scene in the 1960s, focusing primarily on the well-known. Kane gives just about equal time to both analysis of poetic influences and to biography, intertwining them in his narrative. Do You Have a Band? is divided into chapters that focus on The Fugs, Lou Reed, St. Mark’s Poetry Project, Richard Hell, Patti Smith, Eileen Myles, Dennis Cooper, and Jim Carroll. The author’s decision to focus on these individuals and places does not surprise — they all fit into a sort of mythologized New York proto-punk canon. When given the opportunity to talk about punk-poets outside the canon, Kane avoids researching the less-famous individuals who were part of the scene. This focus on the select few is particularly noticeable in choices such as Kane’s decision not to elaborate upon the lesser known poets that figured into the mimeograph punk poet magazine published by Richard Hell — leaving the mythology of the New York punk-poetry scene largely intact.

Arts & Culture, Manhattan, Reviews, Urban Decline & Fiscal CrisisGuest UserJanuary 11, 2018Comment

The Monumental Possibilities of Public Art: MCNY's “Art in the Open”

Reviewed by Erik Wallenberg

As hundreds of artists and scholars call for the removal of local monuments that celebrate racist figures, the Museum of the City of New York unveiled a new exhibit. “Art in the Open: Fifty Years of Public Art in New York” has arrived at an opportune moment. The Mayor's Advisory Council is presently examining city art, monuments, and markers. Groups like Decolonize This Place are pushing for the removal of statues that celebrate historical figures who advocated or practiced racism and genocide, including Christopher Columbus, Theodore Roosevelt, and J. Marion Simms. This fight raises the question of what to replace these statues with, and “Art in the Open” offers some enticing potential answers. The exhibit holds up public art as a medium to prod society into thinking about our current world and our history, a fifty-year retrospective on how public art can reflect societies values as well as push it to recognize injustices and inequalities.

Arts & Culture, Contemporary Era, Reviews, Urban Decline & Fiscal CrisisGuest UserJanuary 2, 2018Comment

Jeremiah Moss's Vanishing New York

By Seth Kamil

I first arrived in Manhattan in the summer of 1989, but it was very much a homecoming. With deep family roots in New York, I felt more comfortable here than almost anywhere else in the world. My parents were born here. All four grandparents spent most of their lives in the City and its suburbs. My fondest memories involved driving across the 59th Street Bridge in my grandfather’s Lincoln Continental. We would hit the Horn & Hardart Automat on 42nd Street & 2nd Avenue (or, if “Poppy” was flush, Katz’s Deli) and then drive or walk around Manhattan. See Times Square. Visit his sister who lived in the Amalgamated Houses in Chelsea. The day often ended with egg cream sodas at Moishe’s on the corner of Bowery & Grand Street. Having struggled his whole life economically, my grandfather always had a kind word and some pocket change for the homeless who gathered there. But, only a child, I remembered the men who tried to wash our car windows, the grime, and graffiti, as somewhat scary. This was the mid-1970s.

Arts & Culture, Built Environment, Contemporary Era, Reviews, Urban PlanningGuest UserDecember 14, 2017Comment

Jewish New York

By Geraldine Gudefin

Whether they are thinking of bagels or Woody Allen, to many Americans, Jews are intimately connected, if not synonymous with New York. Jewish New York, an edited volume from New York University Press out this month, explores the historical developments that have led to this association and asks: "when and in what sense did New York become a city of promises for Jews"? The book is a condensed version of the prize-winning City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York (2012), the first comprehensive history on the subject. Synthesizing three volumes into one single tome, it is also half the length, at 500 pages. The book, which contains essays by Jeffrey S. Gurock, Annie Polland, Howard B. Block, and Daniel Soyer, has greatly benefited from the careful editing of Deborah Dash Moore, a prominent historian of Jewish America. Organized into broad themes, the book is divided into four parts that follow a roughly linear chronological arc, from the colonial period to the present, with eleven chapters and a visual essay by art historian Diana L. Linden.

Race & Ethnicity, Religion, ReviewsGuest UserDecember 7, 2017Comment

The Fight for Suffrage in New York State

Reviewed by Marcela Micucci

November 6th marked 100 years of women’s suffrage in New York. While celebrations of the landmark event have echoed across the state this past year, perhaps the greatest commemoration to the centennial year has been historians’ reignited interest in New York suffragists and their struggle to win the vote. Leading the charge in this cadre of works are Johanna Neuman’s Gilded Suffragists and Susan Goodier and Karen Pastorello’s Women Will Vote.

Gender & Sexuality, Gilded Age, Progressive Era, ReviewsGuest UserNovember 28, 2017Comment