New York Accent!

New York Accent!

The world is much smaller these days and it is the opportunities that come with modern travel modes make it so.

A wide -eyed trip to the Paris flea markets was once an exotic adventure to anyone coming from my neck of the woods. Now of course a typical jaunt to Paris is a fairly run of the mill experience for so many travelers. Even if the city itself remains anything but run of the mill.

London is still able to deliver some awe, and in rock n roll terms it delivered me Bowie, Kinks, Who, Stones, Bolan and Cockney Rebel. The latter may be the lesser known but I was a huge fan of CR and to this day lead singer Steve Harley’s influence runs through a lot of my own live shtick!

But in truth it was New York that my head increasingly turned towards, particularly around mid ‘70’s when we started to associate the city less as the stomping ground of inspector Kojak  and instead more as the lair that gave shelter to a black and shiny beast called the Velvet Underground!

Possibly an old fashioned view but I reckon that when people I know think of New York icons, it is still probably the Statue of Liberty, Empire State or the sadly diminished twin towers that firstly flit through their minds. Unavoidable that is, since we are all familiarized with images of the Manhattan skyline. The music of Gershwin and John Coltrane might sum it up similarly, but my generation will also think of De Niro, Pacino and the landscapes and characters that Martin Scorcese brought to us. Alongside Andy Warhol of course, to name but one of the many great artists that left small town America to set up camp in the heart of where bohemia and rank commercialism sat perfectly well in the art capital of the world. However, when it comes to rock and roll music there is one name that looms larger than any other in connection with the city that was once known as New Amsterdam. His name is Lou Reed and to my mind he is New York personified.

How fortunate then for me that the first time I ever heard the voice of a New Yorker in reality, as opposed to movies, that voice belonged to none other than Lou himself who happened to be standing a few meters from me.

He was not speaking to me, which is perhaps as well as I was speechless at having found myself so close to the voice of The Velvet Underground. He was stood on stage at the Glasgow Apollo in’75, and was in the middle of a fairly grumpy discourse with a technician who was all too obviously not doing things as Lou liked them to be done.  Yes, he was cursing in the way that only Americans can, meanwhile I was in bliss, this was the first time I had been in the presence of any Americans and to me it was just wonderful.  These people put a man on the moon after all. But even better still, they invented rock n roll and in doing so some how took all of us who love that sound, to another planet altogether!

For my part I happened to be in the midst of Lou as he went about his task, all thanks to a classmate who had a brother that knew people who worked at the venue. As a result we sometimes got asked to help move equipment in and out of the venue on show days. This led me to stand – just like Zelig – disbelievingly close to quite a few of my musical heroes on various occasions.

I cannot describe the excitement that ran through me on those occasions. But I never had the gall to approach the artists of course, God forbid asking for an autograph. If anything I was intent on showing that I was an experienced roadie, pretending that the whole scene was just another gig and that I was way beyond being impressed by anything and anyone. Silly thinking about it now, but that ‘s what everyone else around me seemed to be doing. And fair enough too, as they were experienced, while I was an absolute rookie.

The artists themselves were collectively the epitome of cool always. But no more so than Lou Reed, who always was, still is, and will always be the coolest. He had the look, the sound, the myth, a sense of danger, and above all he had the unmistakable voice that no other artist had.
(Although recently I recognized that Frank Zappa had a voice with a similar effect.)

I say this about Lou Reed’s unique voice, although what struck me back on the day was that his entire road crew also had “that voice” and therefore what I was listening to was the voice of all New Yorkers. It appeared so glamorous to a 15-year-old Glaswegian who dreamt frequently about America and all that it entailed, is truly an understatement. These people were from a world so alien and different from mine, a world back then I never imagined that I would get the chance to know.

Evidence of a larger cultural difference occurred – and it makes me laugh now –when the check was over and everyone was planning on grabbing something to scoff before the show began. It was then that I was approached by one of Reed’s tribe. He was tall as could be, long jet-black hair, dressed head to toe in leather and had the look that I would recognize years later – as being like one of the Ramones.  He looked at me and said in that unmistakable drawl, “Hey dude, any of you local guys know anywhere near that we can score some pizza?”

I was dumfounded and although I was loathe saying it, I had no idea what he was talking about!

Back then in Glasgow no one ate pizza and most of us did not even know what it was – I certainly didn’t. But beyond that I had presumed that this strange word pizza, was either a drug or codename for one. It was the fact that he used the word “score” that had thrown me.

“Uh!” I muttered, trying to hide my confusion. “There is a guy coming along later tonight and I hear that he might be bringing a little with him.” I said this referring to one of the crew that was known to carry some chunks of hash every now and then.

“Screw that, we want eat now and we wanna eat lots, no time to hang around” Said the leather jacketed giant.

I just shrugged as he walked away presumably to find someone much more clued in than me.
It was months later before I saw Charlie Burchill eating this strange looking thing and I asked him what it was,  “You have to try this Jim. It’s New York pizza!”

God Bless America!

Jim Kerr

Image: “Lou Reed”
New Media on wood panel.
Original Masterpiece.
©1999 Ralph Michael Brekan