Thanks for the nod, John, then and now. I agree with everything you said about collaboration, credit, etc. in this case I figure Elizabeth's recollection has every likelihood of being as accurate as mine, and what actually happened was some kind of weaving of what she remembers and what I remember. Anyway, whatever my contribution to the gunshot title was, it was just one germ in the mix. Thanks for posting that movie credit with my name on it. Like you said, I must’ve been juiced a bit at the time to see it up on the screen. But the truth is I’d forgotten it was even there. Which is great! It means I get to be juiced all over again!
I didn't know Steve was approached, I only knew about Roberta's photo session (which looked great until the art department added a weird color scheme to it)... Thanks!
Wow, this is one of the nicest comments I have ever received... Yeah, everyone at PUNK loved wirking with Steve. He was an easy-going guy, and so talented. I'm so glad you viewed the video, I like to think I did a good job describing his art and how it impacted PUNK magazine and in turn, the entire punk rock movement. Thanks for commenting!
I always try to take care of people who work with me, but since I'm not a robot (yet, I am working on it!), I make misteaks once in a while...
Happly I have been receiving some unprecedented praise from some readers about D.O.A., some people (correctly in my opinion), that it's the best punk rock doc about the 1970s scene. Viewing it again to get the screenshots of the titles, I was struck by how many voices and great bands Lech Kowalsky, Tom Forcade and crew were able to film. Like, someone asked if Glen Matlock makes an appearance. Yeah! A live Rich Kids performance with the first song Glen wrote for the band. And the anti-punk rock figures like Bernard Brooke Partridge are priceless. Generation X in the studio recording "Kiss Me Deadly."
If only Forcade could have been granted access to the band... On the other hand, it feels right that it became an Outlaw Film!
I just found a great old post from Steve. It's unrelated to D.O.A. but I thought you might like it:
"I worked on the cover art for Richard's album for Sire Records. In one meeting we got into a rip roaring argument on where a photo on the back sleeve should be cropped. Basically,...where a line should fall. I think both of us were pretty loaded. I'll speak for myself,...I was pretty loaded. We started out in The A&R guy's office on the upstairs level and we got pretty loud pretty fast. I had noticed right off the bat that Richard must have cut his lip shaving,...obviously,...some time before he'd gotten to the Sire Records offices. Once we started,...he probably wiped his hand across it and opened the wound back up. We started, verbally, really going at each other,...to the point where the A&R guy,...after trying to repeatedly quiet us down several times,...made us go down into a soundproof studio they had on the premises. Richard's upper lip was foaming with blood and what not. He was totally oblivious to it and I was so pissed off at him that I let it fester and didn't say a word,...hoping he would be embarassed about it at some point, I suppose. Which is precisely what happened. We argued for two hours about where that fucking line should fall until the Sire records guy,...who had hung with us throughout the argument,...couldn't take it any more and called it all to a halt. Informing Richard at that point that he was bleeding pretty badly from the lip and encouraging him to clean himself up and let the debate go. I knew that I would lose the argument. I mean,...it was his album, not mine and I got the reaction I wanted when Richard reacted to the news of his sliced lip. They obviously didn't use my cover art. But I got the kill fee and they did use elements of my work throughout the package and I got to have a lot of really intense conversations with Richard, both argumentative and otherwise, ...which was, of course, totally cool. Because he is one of the coolest people on the planet. I'm fairly certain that he has no recollection of any of the above. But, I always think of him that way, though,...real intense,...wearing those shades,...bleeding from the lip,...right in my face."
Great post, John. I had no idea Steve is no longer with us. I never knew Steve until we had some interaction on the Punk Magazine Message Board in the early 2000s. He was always very cool to me and I learned quite a lot from reading his memories and picking his brain for information about the 70s NYC scene. A belated thanks for uploading your YouTube tribute to him. I learned some things about him that I didn't know and until I watched the video I had no idea what he looked like. It's nice to put a face to the person I remember back on the forum. His logos, lettering and splatter work were great and his artwork for the sci-fi comic strip in the 25th anniversary was outstanding. Nice to see Bruce & Roberta chipping here too. Cheers, Dave
You don't mention anywhere here that I could find that Steve Taylor is dead, just that you did "a livestream to honor the guy". Are readers supposed to know he died? They probably never heard of him.
Thanks for the nod, John, then and now. I agree with everything you said about collaboration, credit, etc. in this case I figure Elizabeth's recollection has every likelihood of being as accurate as mine, and what actually happened was some kind of weaving of what she remembers and what I remember. Anyway, whatever my contribution to the gunshot title was, it was just one germ in the mix. Thanks for posting that movie credit with my name on it. Like you said, I must’ve been juiced a bit at the time to see it up on the screen. But the truth is I’d forgotten it was even there. Which is great! It means I get to be juiced all over again!
I didn't know Steve was approached, I only knew about Roberta's photo session (which looked great until the art department added a weird color scheme to it)... Thanks!
Wow, this is one of the nicest comments I have ever received... Yeah, everyone at PUNK loved wirking with Steve. He was an easy-going guy, and so talented. I'm so glad you viewed the video, I like to think I did a good job describing his art and how it impacted PUNK magazine and in turn, the entire punk rock movement. Thanks for commenting!
Great story!
What album was it for?
Richard Hell?
Yeah, it was the Blank Generation album.
I always try to take care of people who work with me, but since I'm not a robot (yet, I am working on it!), I make misteaks once in a while...
Happly I have been receiving some unprecedented praise from some readers about D.O.A., some people (correctly in my opinion), that it's the best punk rock doc about the 1970s scene. Viewing it again to get the screenshots of the titles, I was struck by how many voices and great bands Lech Kowalsky, Tom Forcade and crew were able to film. Like, someone asked if Glen Matlock makes an appearance. Yeah! A live Rich Kids performance with the first song Glen wrote for the band. And the anti-punk rock figures like Bernard Brooke Partridge are priceless. Generation X in the studio recording "Kiss Me Deadly."
If only Forcade could have been granted access to the band... On the other hand, it feels right that it became an Outlaw Film!
Sorry, I thought I had mentioned that.
I just found a great old post from Steve. It's unrelated to D.O.A. but I thought you might like it:
"I worked on the cover art for Richard's album for Sire Records. In one meeting we got into a rip roaring argument on where a photo on the back sleeve should be cropped. Basically,...where a line should fall. I think both of us were pretty loaded. I'll speak for myself,...I was pretty loaded. We started out in The A&R guy's office on the upstairs level and we got pretty loud pretty fast. I had noticed right off the bat that Richard must have cut his lip shaving,...obviously,...some time before he'd gotten to the Sire Records offices. Once we started,...he probably wiped his hand across it and opened the wound back up. We started, verbally, really going at each other,...to the point where the A&R guy,...after trying to repeatedly quiet us down several times,...made us go down into a soundproof studio they had on the premises. Richard's upper lip was foaming with blood and what not. He was totally oblivious to it and I was so pissed off at him that I let it fester and didn't say a word,...hoping he would be embarassed about it at some point, I suppose. Which is precisely what happened. We argued for two hours about where that fucking line should fall until the Sire records guy,...who had hung with us throughout the argument,...couldn't take it any more and called it all to a halt. Informing Richard at that point that he was bleeding pretty badly from the lip and encouraging him to clean himself up and let the debate go. I knew that I would lose the argument. I mean,...it was his album, not mine and I got the reaction I wanted when Richard reacted to the news of his sliced lip. They obviously didn't use my cover art. But I got the kill fee and they did use elements of my work throughout the package and I got to have a lot of really intense conversations with Richard, both argumentative and otherwise, ...which was, of course, totally cool. Because he is one of the coolest people on the planet. I'm fairly certain that he has no recollection of any of the above. But, I always think of him that way, though,...real intense,...wearing those shades,...bleeding from the lip,...right in my face."
Great post, John. I had no idea Steve is no longer with us. I never knew Steve until we had some interaction on the Punk Magazine Message Board in the early 2000s. He was always very cool to me and I learned quite a lot from reading his memories and picking his brain for information about the 70s NYC scene. A belated thanks for uploading your YouTube tribute to him. I learned some things about him that I didn't know and until I watched the video I had no idea what he looked like. It's nice to put a face to the person I remember back on the forum. His logos, lettering and splatter work were great and his artwork for the sci-fi comic strip in the 25th anniversary was outstanding. Nice to see Bruce & Roberta chipping here too. Cheers, Dave
You don't mention anywhere here that I could find that Steve Taylor is dead, just that you did "a livestream to honor the guy". Are readers supposed to know he died? They probably never heard of him.