135 Grand Street New York 1979 - Ericka Beckman

Grand St DVD booklet1 19/1/10 17:55 Page 16
Youth in Asia
Youth in Asia band members were Taro Suzuki (keyboards and vocals), Steven
Harvey (guitar and vocals), Frank Schroder (bass), Stephan Wischerth (drums).
Suzuki, Schroder and Harvey were all practicing visual artists. The group’s first
gig was at 66 East 4th in the summer of 1978 along with The Contortions,
Theoretical Girls, DNA and others. Harvey, Suzuki and Schroder played in
Glenn Branca’s first instrumental for six guitars. Schroder and Wischerth
continued to play with Branca, Wischerth being his regular drummer for
several years. Augmenting YIA line-ups were Evan Lurie from the Lounge
Lizards and Fritz Van Orden from the Ordinaires. The last performance of YIA
was Suzuki’s ‘shock opera’ performed with a video installation at Danceteria.
SOUL JAZZ FILMS SJR DVD226
A DIVISION OF SOUL JAZZ RECORDS 2008 WWW.SOULJAZZRECORDS.CO.UK
SOUL JAZZ FILMS SJR DVD226
135 Grand Street
New York 1979
A Film by Ericka Beckman
Featuring NO WAVE bands:
THEORETICAL GIRLS
A BAND
RHYS CHATHAM
YOUTH IN ASIA
THE STATIC
UT
JILL KROESEN
CHINESE PUZZLE
DVD

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135 Grand Street
New York 1979
‘135 Grand Street, New York, 1979’ is a unique film capturing both the aural and visual
aesthetics of New York’s No Wave scene in its ascendant. Punk rock and non-musicianship
fight it out with art world attitude. Garage band line-ups in varying degrees of musical
destruction sit alongside post-everything poetry and experimental noise terrorists. Ericka
Beckman’s film matches the rawness, minimalism and radicalism of the music - a fitting
document and visual statement of new forms created out of New York’s anti-everything
musical nihilism, circa 1979.
‘135 Grand Street, New York, 1979’ is history. It includes the only known footage of the
Theoretical Girls, The Static and a number of other No Wave bands of the period. This is a
film about bands filled with painters, filmmakers, actors - and occasionally musicians -
thriving and thrashing in the pulsating, vibrant post-punk world of New York where high art
met low culture, where Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Wharton Tiers, Taro Suzuki and the
others featured here made the connections between John Cage and Joey Ramone,
between the questioning of art and ? and the Mysterians. It could only be here in New
York’s downtown where the visual artist Robert Longo played the guitar (in Morales), where
Cindy Sherman took the band pics (of Ut) and Wharton Tiers seemingly appeared in every
band with a different instrument. New York’s downtown art-and-music scene was a multi-
formatted bohemian existence eked out of cheap rent and a dog-eared paperback copy of
The Banquet Years (Roger Shattuck’s history of the origins of the avant-garde in turn of the
20 th century France) stuffed in your back-pocket.
No Wave was, in part, the young, struggling bohemian East Village and Soho communities
of cheap-renters’ reaction to the slightly more uptown (actually barely a few blocks) ‘New
Wave’ of CBGBs, Max’s and the dominance of the groups Television, Talking Heads,
Blondie and The Ramones - that is to say, the bands that grew out of Punk and became
successful. It was the No Wave bands assertion (not completely devoid from reality) that the
‘success’ of these groups was aided by the man – the machine – capitalism – marketing –
promotion – the status quo – that which should be overturned. In essence, New Wave (the
re-branding of Punk) had made itself the very latest addition to the Establishment – Punk as
a lapel badge rather than as a philosophy. This is not to say that certain No Wave bands
would not happily have joined this elite club had the occasion arisen. In fact the previous
year’s release of the Brian Eno-produced ‘No New York’ compilation featuring a quantifiably
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challenged four No Wave groups – James Chance and the Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the
Jerks, Mars and DNA – had by 1979 already separated a nascent movement into those who
had made it (were on NNY) and those who weren’t. Some also read it as those from the East
Village and those from the more art rock environs of Soho. East Village was perhaps more the
Velvets-Stooges-Dolls-Suicide-Patti lineage; Soho perhaps more loft space, more art meets
rock – partly focused around art spaces such as the Kitchen (where both Rhys Chatham and
Arthur Russell for a time were musical directors).
Members of this small Soho community of singularly-mindedness focused on Art and
Questioning, rather than Rock and Roll. Again, this is not to say that these individuals shunned
music – far from it in point of fact, as this film displays. These guys and girls made art, film,
poetry, performance and … formed bands. The point was that these groups relinquished the
trappings of the 2R’s, removed the clichés, pushed the envelope, distorted the microphones
and lifted the proverbial finger to create … (art and) music.
But it should also be noted that here the guitar was still king. No matter how defaced the
melody or out of tune the voice, this is still the lineage of rock. No connection to the New York
Loft Jazz scene here (save for the lofts). Prior to James Chance’s reincarnation as James White
and the Blacks (clearly exhibiting the musical influences of James Brown and Ornette
Coleman), Joe Bowie’s Defunkt or the ‘fake-jazz’ of The Lounge Lizards, you will find not a
saxophone in sight in this loft. Sometimes the sci-fi organ sounds refer back to the 60s garage
bands, sometimes Steve Piccolo and Evan Lurie’s (both pre-Lounge Lizards) torch-song
romanticism appears, but make no mistake – the guitar is king. This love affair continues today
as the guitar armies of Glenn Branca (currently numbering 100 guitarists) and Rhys Chatham
(last count 400) both continue to invade unsuspecting countries.
Ericka Beckman, was one of a number of small set of visual artists who engaged in and
documented this cross-fertilizing art and music scene in New York in the mid-1970s,
chronologically following on from Conceptual Art and Minimalism, and geographically affected
by the same housing and rent law reformations that made a mecca out of New York’s loft
spaces – cheap, affordable live and workspaces that came into existence from the decaying
industrial base of the city, as textile and clothing factories and workshops closed down, leaving
large run-down buildings vacant.
Rough, do-it-yourself projects such as this documentation of the music/art scene by Beckman
and indeed the work of the bands featured pushed interdisciplinary experimentation. New York
art in this period was documented in videos, super-8 films, drawings, photographs and
magazines.
Ericka Beckman’s film captures the driving energy and posturing of early No Wave bands’
performing in what could be any one of a hundred sparse downtown lofts. Featured bands
include Theoretical Girls, UT, A Band, Rhys Chatham, Chinese Puzzle, The Static, Morales,
Youth in Asia, Morales, Steven Piccolo and Jill Kroesen.
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Stylistically, the film’s no-nonsense minimalism and cuts reference Warhol, the Nouvelle Vague
(as opposed to the musical counterpart, the New Wave) at the same time as being, well, punk.
Tiny clips of 8-mm and Robert Longo’s stills photography appear at intervals. The sound
recordist adjusts after the shock of Glenn Branca’s first musical onslaught. A man from the
cable channel announces the bands then walks off when he realizes they’ve begun. The first
and final exploring shots offer a tantalizing, fleeting glimpse of underground New York off the
record.
This event took place at musician/artist/New York person Paul McMahon’s Soho loft/live-space
at 135 Grand Street in Manhattan. McMahon held weekly parties where A Band (the band in
which he, naturally, played) would perform their latest songs and gradually more people
stopped by to play. A Dutch cable TV station heard about these parties and also that a young
film-maker, Ericka Beckman, was planning on filming them. They provided some basic
production assistance in exchange for a one-time usage of this material in a broadcast in the
Netherlands. They provided a camera and operator, a 1/4-inch tape player and tape stock and
Ericka Beckman directed and shot the bands with her own Super-8mm camera. She retained
ownership of the film and stored the materials for the next 30 years (until 2008) when she
decided to show a clip to a curator from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ‘135 Grand Street,
New York, 1979’ was screened at the Museum of Modern Art’s ‘Looking at Music Side 2’
exhibit in 2009. The film is also currently showing as part of Sonic Youth’s ‘Sensational Fix’
touring art exhibition and screened before Glenn Branca’s most recent shows in New York City
(Sep 2009).
Ericka Beckman
Ericka Beckman lives and works in NYC. She is known, primarily from the late 70s through the
90s, for her conceptual and post-punk Super-8 and 16mm films that incorporate original music
and performance. Many of her films feature prominent artists of her generation. Her films have
screened at Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, The
Hirshhorn Museum, The Institute of Contemporary Art ( London), Kunstmuseum Bern, Centre
Georges Pompidou and at many international festivals and galleries.
In conjunction with Anthology Film Archives in NYC, Ericka Beckman’s Super-8 films are being
preserved through a grant from The National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) and The
Warhol Foundation. Her films are distributed through Light Cone (Paris) the British Film Institute,
and Canyon Cinema, Video Data Bank and Electronic Arts Intermix.
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A BAND was named at the Ouija board in a
session with Nancy Chunn, Matt Mullican
and myself. Formed in 1979, the band
consisted of myself (on guitar, singer and
writer of most of the songs), Wharton Tiers
(on guitar, writer and singer of about a third
of the songs and instrumental
compositions), Joe Gone (bass, writer of
two songs, which he sang), David McMahon
(keyboard) and Peter Moser (drums). We
were stylistically eclectic, leaning toward a
more ‘pop’ feel than the rest of the ‘no
wave’ bands. We were together about a
year, and played at CBGBs, Hurrah, Max’s,
Trier 3 (a lot), A’s, 3 Mercer Store, the Party
Club at Franklin Furnace and several
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parties. A BAND was fraught with various
artistic and personal tensions and
eventually broke up just as it seemed we
might be getting to a higher professional
level.
Project A BAND was ‘aband-oned’ in 1980.
We were recorded in 1979 by Mark Bingham
at the 135 Grand St loft where we
rehearsed. Parts of this recording may
eventually see the light of day. Now I live in
Woodstock, New York, which is the home of
THE BAND.
Paul McMahon
A Band

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Chinese Puzzle
Glenn Branca is a symphonist. In the last 27
years he has composed 13 symphonies: six for
electric guitar ensemble (1,2,6,8,10,12), three
for harmonic series instrumentation (3,4,5),
three for conventional symphony orchestra
(7,9,11) and No. 13 (Hallucination City) for 100
guitars which premiered in NYC at the former
World Trade Center in 2001. Since 2006 a
revised version of the 100 guitar piece in four
movements has been performed in Rome,
London, Dublin, Belgium, LA, New Jersey
(Peak Performance Series at Montclair St.
Univ.), Seattle and St. Louis.
He has also composed many shorter pieces for
a wide variety of Instrumentation, as well as an
unproduced opera, a film soundtrack, two
ballets and numerous dance and theatre
pieces. Recent short compositions have been:
“In Perpetuity” a special commission for MTV,
“Acoustic Phenomena” and “Compositional
Recreations” commissioned for the Bang on a
Can All Stars, a new performance of “Guitars
d’Amour” by Fireworks, a string quartet version
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of “Light Field” for The Kronos String Quartet
commissioned by Carnegie Hall, “Lesson No.3
(a tribute to Steve Reich)” commissioned by
the Barbican Center, London and “House of
Leaves” commissioned by Art Zoid.
In 2006 Atavistic released “Indeterminate
Activity Of Resultant Masses (for 10 guitars and
drums)”. Recorded in 1981, this is the piece of
music that “disturbed” John Cage and has not
been heard since the mid-80s. He is also the
inventor of the Harmonics Guitar and a
founding member of the original 70s No Wave
bands Theoretical Girls and The Static, both of
which feature in ‘135 Grand Street, New York
1979’.
Glenn Branca
In 2008 he began work on “Symphony No. 14
(The Harmonic Series)” a new piece for
orchestra, the first movement of which has
been commissioned by The St. Louis
Symphony and was premiered on Nov. 13,
2008 conducted by David Robertson.

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Jill Kroesen wrote, performed and produced
satyrical political musical theatre pieces
from 1974 until 1986 when she had to get a
real job.
They were performed in art world venues such
as The KItchen and The Performing
Garage as well as
museums
around the
country and in
Europe. “Fay
Shism Began in
the Home”
(1974) shows
Hitler portrayed
as a femme fatale.
“Stanley Oil and
His Mother” (1977),
is a two hour version
of the history of the
world. One of the
songs from that play,
“Freak of Nature”, from
the point of view of
Jesus, is on a 45 rpm
single published in 1979
by Lust/Unlust. The flip
side of that record is called “I Really Want to
Bomb You”. It is taken from a play about the
relationship between Russia and the United
States during the cold war, called “Excuse
Me, I Feel Like Multiplying”. “The Original Lou
and Walter Story”, 1978, is a portrait of
society shown through the life of five potato
farmers and their relationship with each other,
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Jill Kroesen Rhys Chatham is an American composer,
guitarist, and trumpet player, primarily active in
“The If-Be-I and The-Share-If”. “The Lowell
Jerkman Story” stars Eric Bogosian and is a
portrait of an artist with many girlfriends who
just moved to New York City.
Jill received many grants
during her career. She
performed in festivals and
clubs such as The Mudd
Club and Hurrahs
between her plays, with
amazing musicians
including Peter
Gordon, Rhys
Chatham, Steve
Piccolo, Bill Laswell,
Arthur Russell
(featuring on ,
George Lewis,
David Van
Tiegham, Tim
Schellenbaum
and Blue Gene
Tyranny.
Miss Kroesen worked doing
special effects for television for many years in
New York and then moved to California where
she owned a small mineral hot springs hotel
for 8 years. She’s now back to music and
dancing.
Jill Kroesen
avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best
known for his rock-influenced “guitar orchestra”
compositions, such as “An Angel Moves Too
Fast to See” (1989). He has lived in France
since 1987.
Chatham began his musical career as a piano
tuner for avant-garde pioneers La Monte Young
and Glenn Gould. He studied under electronic
music pioneer Morton Subotnick and minimalist
icon Tony Conrad; Chatham and Conrad played
together in an early ensemble. In 1971, while
still in his teens, Chatham became the first
music director at the experimental art space
The Kitchen in lower Manhattan.
By 1977, Chatham’s music was heavily
influenced by punk rock, having seen an early
Ramones concert. He was particularly intrigued
by and influential upon the group of artists
music critics would label No Wave in 1978.
That year, he began performing Guitar Trio
around downtown Manhattan with an ensemble
that included Glenn Branca, as well as Nina
Canal of Ut. Chatham began playing trumpet in
1983, and his more recent works explore
improvisatory trumpet solos; these are
performed by Chatham himself, employing
much of the
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Rhys Chatham
same amplification and effects that he acquired
with the guitar, over synthesized dance rhythms
by the composer Martin Wheeler.
In 2002, he enjoyed a resurgence following a
retrospective box set on the record label Table
of the Elements, “An Angel Moves Too Fast To
See: Selected Works 1971-1989”. He has since
been touring with his 100-guitar orchestra in
Europe, North America and Australia.
In 2005, he was commissioned by the City of
Paris, in his adopted homeland, to write a
composition for 400 electric guitars entitled “A
Crimson Grail”, as part of the Nuit Blanche
Festival. Excerpts from this concert were
released in January 2007 by Table of the
Elements.
Rhys Chatham is currently touring the original
30-minute version of Guitar Trio in the USA and
Europe, renamed G3 because the
instrumentation has been increased to between
six and ten electric guitars, electric bass and
drums. In 2007 he completed a tour called the
“Guitar Trio (G3) Is My Life”, which was
accompanied by the original film by Robert
Longo that was projected behind the
performance, entitled “Pictures for Music”
(1979). The sets consisted of local musicians
from each city of the performances,
including members of Sonic Youth, Tortoise,
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hüsker Dü,
Brokeback, Lichens, Town & Country, Die
Kreuzen, Bird Show and others. A 3-CD
box set of these performances was also
released by Table of the Elements in 2008.
Chatham has continued to tour the
original version of Guitar Trio in Europe
throughout 2007 and 2008.

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The Static
The Static was a late 70s New York-based post-punk / no wave band that included Theoretical
Girls guitarist Glenn Branca, as well as bassist Barbara Ess and drummer Christine Hahn and
featured the music of Glenn Branca. Their style was a mixture of noisy punk rock with hints of
(post-)minimalism. They released one single (My Relationship/Don’t Let Me Stop You) and one
live album. Glenn Branca later went on to become a celebrated experimental composer in his
own right (sometimes working with Barbara Ess). Barbara Ess founded the band Y-Pants, while
Christine Hahn left New York to form the German band Malaria!
Christine Hahn was a founding member of Daily Life (with Barbara Ess, Glenn Branca, and Paul
McMahon), a member of no wave trio The Static, and founding member of German band
Malaria! She also worked with musicians Margaret DeWys (Theoretical Girls), Kim Gordon (Sonic
Youth), and Klaus Krüger (Iggy Pop, Tangerine Dream). She lived for many years in New York and
Berlin, working and creating with musicians, filmmakers and multimedia artists, including
collaborations with German artist Martin Kippenberger. She returned to her visual art roots in the
mid 1980s and is completing a series of paintings accompanied by sound and video works.
During her career, she has performed and shown widely in galleries and museums in Europe and
the U.S. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Tate Modern, Hamburg Kunsthalle, and
The Museum of Modern Art. Christine Hahn settled in Maryland in 2002 after working as new
media specialist for the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
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Sprung from the downtown No Wave scene, Ut (Nina Canal, Jacqui Ham, Sally
Young) originated in New York City in December 1978. They were joined by film-
maker Karen Achenbach in February 1979 before resuming as a three-piece with
the original members in May 1980. Migrating to London in 1981, they released
records on their own label, Out Records, and then on Blast First/Mute. Ut played
their last gig in Paris in March 1990.
Sharing a free conception and a love for the harder sound, and designed to
explode the rigid formalism of conventional rock groups, Ut played all the
instruments and rotated the role of singer/director. Songs were collectively
improvised and constructed.
Sally Young went on to form the band Quint and released a single
“Blueprint”/”Sawtooth” on Southern Records and the CD Time Wounds All Heals
on Egypt Records. She is currently composing music and singing with a jazz/blues
band.
Jacqui Ham formed Dial with Rob Smith, Dom Weeks and Lou Ciccotelli. Dial have
released 3 CDs on Cede Records: Infraction, Distance Runner and 168k.
Nina Canal is primarily a painter and colourist, but she continues to do music and
performed an interpretation of Cornelius Cardew’s The Tiger’s Mind in June 2009.
She also plays occasionally with Rhys Chatham.
Karen Achenbach is a film-maker who wrote and directed the sci-fi film The
Memory Tax. She also produces documentaries and educational DVDs for Allied
Schools, a distance education and training school.
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UT