The Inside Scoop on the 9 Bleecker Project

Violent, Sexist Punk Rock Lyrics? Oh my!

The Overthrow Boxing Club insisted that there is a crossover with hip-hop/rap cultures and punk rock, but they couldn't’t make it happen. Nice try, but their failed attempt to merge punk and rap ended in disaster. Which led to the building being available for sale!

It looks like the effort to buy the 9 Bleecker Street building is happening! The outpouring of support for the idea has been absolutely overwhelming! We have financial commitments of large amounts of money coming in: Over $20,000 so far!

We did a walk-through with the two teams of brokers on Thursday (one representing the building, the other repping us—the potential buyers). Both of the brokers want to help make this happen! They’re even going to help with fund-raising. So please help by sharing the GoFundMe link if you can:

https://www.gofundme.com/manage/the-new-york-underground-museum-punk-lives/donations

We are ramping up efforts to get the word out there on social media, so you can help by liking, sharing, etc. when you see our posts and links on your social media accounts. We have a very short time to make this happen. As a result I will be sharing this post with other subscribers soon. Exclusive subscriber content will be happening soon, but for now I need to spread the word about 9 Bleecker Street.

The 9 Bleecker building is an amazing space: Perfect for what we want to do: Preserve the underground culture in the East Village from the 1850s through to the present day. It’s just down the street from where CBGB’s was located, so of course punk rock will be represented in the building in a big way. But a lot of interesting stuff took place in the East Village, starting with Pfaff’s Saloon on Bleecker Street and Broadway in the 1850s, and Abraham Lincoln’s speech at Cooper Union, when he stopped by McSorley’s afterwards to have a beer. (It’s still around, and the chip Lincoln sat on has been preserved!)

This has been a lot of work. We’re setting up a 501(3)(c) to handle the funds, which will be the non-profit for the archive/museum, but we are also looking into seeing up a for-profit corporation. The building is 4 floors, so there’s room for more than one business in there, and since we will need more than one revenue stream to pay the mortgage? The more the merrier! There are plans to have a cafe, gift shop, music venue and more in the building. For instance, the basement has a nice stage with a solid PR system, so we can stage events down there.

Tom Forcade threw a pie in the face of Otto Larsen on May 13, 1970. He was

My goal is to set up a space that covers all of the aspects of the cultural (and NOT the political) movements of the neighborhood. This can be a double-edged sword: Politics influence cultures and vice versa. In my opinion, culture tops politics. For instance, when I started PUNK Magazine, Gerald Ford was the president. In 1976 we were already targeted by the intelligence agencies after we got involved with Tom Forcade, High Times magazine’s founder, who was an enemy of the federal government. He was involved with the Yippies (who lived at 9 Bleecker Street for decades).

When Jimmy Carter was elected president in 1977 changed the culture in a very big way. The “Rock ’N’ Roll President” was not a fan of punk rock, since his biggest campaign contributions came from benefits staged by southern rock bands like The AllMan Brothers Band, Willie Nelson, The Marshall Tucker Band and more.

LINKS to

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/marshall-tucker-band-jimmy-carter/

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/jimmy-carter-rock-stars/

These Southern Rock bands raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Carter’s presidential campaign. I doubt that any of those “good old boys” were fans of the New York Dolls or the Ramones. I am convinced that the campaign against punk rock, which took place shortly after Carter was elected, was a favor that Carter delivered to those rednecks down south, who raised most of the money for his campaign. All it would have taken would have been an offhand comment by a band member, since Carter, a Southern Baptist, would have been horrified by New York glam and punk. Sex, Drugs and Rock ’n’ Roll? This is what rock music was all about in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But by the end of Carter’s presidency, he launched the “War on Drugs” that the Reagan administration ramped up to ridiculous extremes a few years later.

Please read this old news item carefully: Jesse Jackson actually threatened using a “military attack on the record industry and the individual performers.” Are you kidding me? What, they were gong to nuke Dee Dee Ramone/

Don’t ever forget that Jimmy Carter promised to legalize marijuana when he campaigned for president, but never kept his promise. He supported hippie culture over punk rock and successfully put PUNK Magazine out of business. He also blocked punk rock bands from getting signed by record labels, or getting their music played on radio stations. On the other hand, rock bands from the mid-1960s up until he was president promoted illegal drug use: acid rock, songs about marijuana, etc. I know a lot of Democrats who refuse to believe the facts, but they are also blind to the PMRC campaign in the 1980s, which resulted in warning labels on certain records.

To a normal rock ’n’ roll fan, this campaign to “crackdown” on punk rock would make no sense. “Explicit sexual and violent lyrics?” Disco was much more sexual than punk rock. And sex and violence in rock music? WTF?

“Frankie and Johnny” is a traditional song, based on a murder in 1899. A lot of musicians covered this song.

LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_and_Johnny_(song)

“Whipping Post” by the Allman Brothers (I hate this band SO MUCH!):

https://genius.com/The-allman-brothers-band-whipping-post-lyrics

“Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendrix (and many others over the years, including Patti Smith), where the singer murdered his lover. The most violent lyrics ever:

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jimihendrix/heyjoe.html

Here are a few more songs that are now considered sexist and violent before punk rock began in the mid-1970s (do the research if you’re interested:

“Black Licorice” by Grand Funk Railroad

“Run For Your Life” by the Beatles

“Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin

“Gloria” by Them

“Under My Thumb” by The Rolling Stones

“You’re Sixteen” by Ringo Starr (which could begin a long list of songs about teenage sex)

“Sweet Little Sixteen” by Chuck Berry

LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Little_Sixteen

“Good Morning, Schoolgirl”

LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Morning%2C_School_Girl

I could list many more songs that were sexist, violent, whatever. My point is that the Jimmy Carter campaign against punk rock was hypocritical, and obviously political, paid for by the Southern Rock Band establishment. And you know what? Now, most people barely remember Jimmy Carter, but our punk rock culture, that he tried to suppress, has thrived ever since. Culture always supersedes politics. We win in the end. Politicians acted against the Beat movement, folk music, the original rock ’n’ roll movement, the hippie movement, heavy metal, etc. Mainstream media always tried to portray counterculture as a “danger to society.” Fuck ‘em. Culture that has value almost always thrives despite these roadblocks. which is why our Founding Fathers wrote “Freedom of expression” as the First Amendment.

Thanks for putting up with my rants and raves.