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"They Built This City on Rock and Roll New York's most important rock artists come together to spin some freaky old yarn by Carlo McCormick May 2, 2000 for EdificeRex

No one would dispute that this naked city of ours offers an ideal backdrop for stories of any kind. And on May 7, you can expect some of the best, as an unbelievable (and still coalescing) cast of characters culled from New York City's rock and roll underground will gather to swap war stories and bizarre tales of music and mischief. Rock in New York: The Sound and the Stories celebrates forty years of local rock music -- a scene that is, in the words of Stonewall vet and Danceteria founder Jim Fouratt, "The epicenter of that messy, erotic lust for life that confronts everything dull, sedentary and boring."

Organized by sixty-five-years-young wizard of rock, Giorgio Gomelsky, the night's lineup of both stories and musical performances is, characteristically, not yet set in stone. But a casual flip through Gomelsky's decades-spanning Rolodex promises to yield a roster of the famous and infamous alike.Gomelsky, after all, came to New York in the seventies with a stint as the manager and producer of the Yardbirds under his belt, not to mention the credit for having introduced the Rolling Stones to the Beatles. And if Gomelsky's cred isn't enough, music critic John Strasbaugh also lent a hand in assembling Rock in New York's participants.

Confirmed names on the lineup run the gamut from seventy-six-year-old Tuli Kupferberg, of the scandalous pioneering Sixties ensemble the Fugs, to self-taught, seventeen-year-old art-rock prodigy, Marianne Nowottny. Also on board will be David Johansen, the former New York Dolls front man turned louche bandleader Buster Poindexter; Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo; M. Doughty, formerly of the jazz-art-noise act Soul Coughing; and MTV's acerbic newsman Kurt Loder. And the rumors have been flying: Don't be surprised if local legends like, say, Joey Ramone, Ronnie Spector, Lenny Kaye or even Patti Smith show up to put their two cents in. (But you didn't hear that from us.)

Strasbaugh has transformed the Bowery Ballroom stage into the definitive Gotham rock bar and has arranged the performances chronologically, beginning with the last days of Tin Pan Alley glory and ending with the kids who are carrying the transgressive torch today. That's about all we can tell you, though: None of the performers we spoke to has a clue about how the night will actually go down. Of course, given the subject matter and the names on the bill, what else is new?

The spirit of the event, however, is easier to pin down. Participant Danny Fields, the maverick manager who once "couldn't get the Stooges or the Ramones arrested," is most excited about the younger musicians in attendance. He believes these young'uns are still discovering "what it is to rock out, to be yourself, your own generation, and not live by old virtuoso standards." Bebe Buell (Liv Tyler's mom and Todd Rundgren's ex) may be busy working on her autobiography for St. Martin's Press, but she's even more excited about the second part of the evening, when the bands take the stage: "I'm not there to talk, I'm there to rock!" (Not hard to figure out what Steven Tyler loved about her.) And even though the night is a celebration of all things dark and deviant, show up and you'll be doing somebody some good: Proceeds from the $15-per-ticket event will benefit Flemister House, which provides lodging to people suffering from AIDS.

Rock in New York: The Sound and the Stories May 7, stories at 5 p.m., concert at 8 p.m.; Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, (212) 533-2111; $15 Carlo McCormick is the senior editor of Paper Magazine"


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