Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 11, 2011 19:17:38 GMT
I Turn Down Iggy Pop and a Door
From 1972 through 1978, I was the leader, songwriter, and guitarist of The Planets, a New York City band. We debuted opening for The New York Dolls at Mercer Arts Center on December 19, 1972. Over the next several years, we shared bills with KISS, The Ramones, Blondie, Television, Eddie & The Hot Rods, etc. at CBGB and Max's Kansas City. I have many a tale from those days. Jumping into the middle of our "career," I'll start with the following episode:
If you are a hardcore Doors fan, you'll likely recognize the name Danny Sugerman. Danny was Doors Freak Number One! He latched onto them as a teenager. He lived in their hometown. He was unrelenting. He simply and completely inserted himself into the heart of the band through sheer lunatic fanaticism. He later even wound up working for the surviving Post-Jimbo band. Became "Almost Famous" by proxy. Mr. Sugarman co-wrote the Jim Morrison bio No One Gets Out Of Here Alive.
Anyhow, way back in late 1976, this Sugerman nut-job, (like I have the right to cast that stone, what a loon I am!) came to New York City to check out the music scene for a few weeks. During that time, he saw my band, The Planets, perform at CBGB. After the show, he came backstage, introduced himself, literally frothing at the mouth, as in white foam! God knows what he was on! He was talking faster than I can think, just raving about us Planets.
"OhmyGodIlovedyourshowI'mgonnatelleveryoneinLAaboutyouguysfuckBinkyfucking greatfuckinlovedityourockcoolshity'know...!" Okay... Well... Nice to meet you, Dan... But, uh, we gotta pack up our gear now... Yyyyyikes!
About 3 months later, out of nowhere, and I have no idea how he got my number, I got a call from Danny. He said (more or less verbatim) "Hey Binky, I've got Ray Manzarek and Iggy Pop on the line with me [Ray and Iggy both say hello]. No one knows this yet but they're starting a band together called Nite City and I've convinced them that you have to be the guitarist and they both agree with me. You're the guy!" (Danny had played them a copy of the Planets demo that Warner Bros. Records had just paid for a month or two earlier)
Then, Ray (in his placid professorial tone) said "Yes, we're really committed to this idea, Binky. We love your playing and Danny's told us you put on quite a show . We want to fly you out to LA and get this started as soon as possible."
Then Iggy started in, "Yeah, uh, hey, Binky, yeah, this is Iggy. Fuck, let's fuckin' do this. We're ready, man. Get the fuck out here. C'mon. Me'n'you'n'Ray, man. Danny's our guy. C'mon. You in? Don't fuck around! C'mon!"
I told them politely that I was very flattered but that I wasn't interested.
Yes, I know turning them down was raw lunacy, but, that WB demo... Well, I had the secret knowledge, as I listened to Danny, Ray and Ig work me, that The Planets were gonna be signed by Warner Bros. in the next 6 to 8 weeks (at the last minute, they didn't sign us, of course!). Ray was gracious and stayed very mellow and asked me to keep an open mind.
Danny, on the other hand, was just sputtering with disbelief. But, Iggy just flipped!
Very indignant! "What the fuck's with YOU, man?! Are you shittin' me?!? Look, okay, okay... When's the next time you're gigging, motherfucker?" I told Iggy that we were playing CBGB's next Thursday. "All right. I'll be there, you asshole. If you're as good as Danny says, I will put your fuckin' ass on the plane to LA myself. Capisce? Thank you and goodbye."
Danny, flustered, tried to end the call on a light note. I politely said goodbye and thought, "The guys are gonna love this story." And yes, the other Planets did.
Cut to the CBGB backstage area that next Thursday. The four Planets are all in the on-deck area by the dressing rooms, a minute or two from hitting the stage, and one of our roadie pals runs up and says, "Holy shit, Iggy Pop just walked in!" REALLY?! Wow! I was genuinely amazed. Iggy Pop had actually flown in from LA to see me play! "Oh, and Hilly says to get onstage now." On we went.
I proceeded to play the whole show with this asinine and snotty Here's What You Can't Have attitude, just swaggering through every song, making sure my solos were as wild and flashy as I could possibly play them, which was, of course, the perfect thing to do in its own totally counter-productive way.
We finished the set and went back behind the stage to figure out whether we should do an encore or not. Suddenly, Iggy just plowed into this cramped backstage area. He was wearing torn jeans and a dirty wife-beater, and he had a congealing inch-long gash over his left eyebrow. His right eye was looking at me, the left, under the gash, was swimming. He sneeringly bellowed, "Okay, listen to me, motherfucker! Your little band can be the opening act, okay, motherfucker?! How's that? Okay?! Let's fucking GO!!" If it hadn't been for that bloody gash and that swimming eye... But, sadly, he seemed like someone to run from, not towards.
About a week later, Ray Manzarek called once more, again mellow, and very graciously told me how sorry he was that things weren't going to work out and was I quite sure? Danny never spoke to me again.
What eventually happened was Ray and Iggy had a falling out (Wow, huh!) and Nite City came out about a year later on 20th Century Records with Ray Manzarek, Noah James (?) on vocals, a guitarist named Paul Warren (who later had a band called Explorer, named after the wild-looking Gibson guitar), and Nigel Harrison on bass (who later wound up in Blondie, and then, briefly play-acting the role of an A&R man for Interscope).
Two of the songs on the Nite City album had Danny Sugerman writing credits. The band bombed. Mr. Sugerman left the planet not long ago. So, you know, I guess I didn't miss much, huh?
Binky Philips.
June 29, 2010
From 1972 through 1978, I was the leader, songwriter, and guitarist of The Planets, a New York City band. We debuted opening for The New York Dolls at Mercer Arts Center on December 19, 1972. Over the next several years, we shared bills with KISS, The Ramones, Blondie, Television, Eddie & The Hot Rods, etc. at CBGB and Max's Kansas City. I have many a tale from those days. Jumping into the middle of our "career," I'll start with the following episode:
If you are a hardcore Doors fan, you'll likely recognize the name Danny Sugerman. Danny was Doors Freak Number One! He latched onto them as a teenager. He lived in their hometown. He was unrelenting. He simply and completely inserted himself into the heart of the band through sheer lunatic fanaticism. He later even wound up working for the surviving Post-Jimbo band. Became "Almost Famous" by proxy. Mr. Sugarman co-wrote the Jim Morrison bio No One Gets Out Of Here Alive.
Anyhow, way back in late 1976, this Sugerman nut-job, (like I have the right to cast that stone, what a loon I am!) came to New York City to check out the music scene for a few weeks. During that time, he saw my band, The Planets, perform at CBGB. After the show, he came backstage, introduced himself, literally frothing at the mouth, as in white foam! God knows what he was on! He was talking faster than I can think, just raving about us Planets.
"OhmyGodIlovedyourshowI'mgonnatelleveryoneinLAaboutyouguysfuckBinkyfucking greatfuckinlovedityourockcoolshity'know...!" Okay... Well... Nice to meet you, Dan... But, uh, we gotta pack up our gear now... Yyyyyikes!
About 3 months later, out of nowhere, and I have no idea how he got my number, I got a call from Danny. He said (more or less verbatim) "Hey Binky, I've got Ray Manzarek and Iggy Pop on the line with me [Ray and Iggy both say hello]. No one knows this yet but they're starting a band together called Nite City and I've convinced them that you have to be the guitarist and they both agree with me. You're the guy!" (Danny had played them a copy of the Planets demo that Warner Bros. Records had just paid for a month or two earlier)
Then, Ray (in his placid professorial tone) said "Yes, we're really committed to this idea, Binky. We love your playing and Danny's told us you put on quite a show . We want to fly you out to LA and get this started as soon as possible."
Then Iggy started in, "Yeah, uh, hey, Binky, yeah, this is Iggy. Fuck, let's fuckin' do this. We're ready, man. Get the fuck out here. C'mon. Me'n'you'n'Ray, man. Danny's our guy. C'mon. You in? Don't fuck around! C'mon!"
I told them politely that I was very flattered but that I wasn't interested.
Yes, I know turning them down was raw lunacy, but, that WB demo... Well, I had the secret knowledge, as I listened to Danny, Ray and Ig work me, that The Planets were gonna be signed by Warner Bros. in the next 6 to 8 weeks (at the last minute, they didn't sign us, of course!). Ray was gracious and stayed very mellow and asked me to keep an open mind.
Danny, on the other hand, was just sputtering with disbelief. But, Iggy just flipped!
Very indignant! "What the fuck's with YOU, man?! Are you shittin' me?!? Look, okay, okay... When's the next time you're gigging, motherfucker?" I told Iggy that we were playing CBGB's next Thursday. "All right. I'll be there, you asshole. If you're as good as Danny says, I will put your fuckin' ass on the plane to LA myself. Capisce? Thank you and goodbye."
Danny, flustered, tried to end the call on a light note. I politely said goodbye and thought, "The guys are gonna love this story." And yes, the other Planets did.
Cut to the CBGB backstage area that next Thursday. The four Planets are all in the on-deck area by the dressing rooms, a minute or two from hitting the stage, and one of our roadie pals runs up and says, "Holy shit, Iggy Pop just walked in!" REALLY?! Wow! I was genuinely amazed. Iggy Pop had actually flown in from LA to see me play! "Oh, and Hilly says to get onstage now." On we went.
I proceeded to play the whole show with this asinine and snotty Here's What You Can't Have attitude, just swaggering through every song, making sure my solos were as wild and flashy as I could possibly play them, which was, of course, the perfect thing to do in its own totally counter-productive way.
We finished the set and went back behind the stage to figure out whether we should do an encore or not. Suddenly, Iggy just plowed into this cramped backstage area. He was wearing torn jeans and a dirty wife-beater, and he had a congealing inch-long gash over his left eyebrow. His right eye was looking at me, the left, under the gash, was swimming. He sneeringly bellowed, "Okay, listen to me, motherfucker! Your little band can be the opening act, okay, motherfucker?! How's that? Okay?! Let's fucking GO!!" If it hadn't been for that bloody gash and that swimming eye... But, sadly, he seemed like someone to run from, not towards.
About a week later, Ray Manzarek called once more, again mellow, and very graciously told me how sorry he was that things weren't going to work out and was I quite sure? Danny never spoke to me again.
What eventually happened was Ray and Iggy had a falling out (Wow, huh!) and Nite City came out about a year later on 20th Century Records with Ray Manzarek, Noah James (?) on vocals, a guitarist named Paul Warren (who later had a band called Explorer, named after the wild-looking Gibson guitar), and Nigel Harrison on bass (who later wound up in Blondie, and then, briefly play-acting the role of an A&R man for Interscope).
Two of the songs on the Nite City album had Danny Sugerman writing credits. The band bombed. Mr. Sugerman left the planet not long ago. So, you know, I guess I didn't miss much, huh?
Binky Philips.
June 29, 2010