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Anniversary - R.I.P. Johnny

The only time you get respect is when you die.

Download this special version of She's So Untouchable performed by by The $1000 Playboys (about 3MB). The song was performed by Mikael Herrström - vocals and acoustic, Lars Bygdén - vocals and acoustic, Martin Hederos - piano, Björn Eriksson - upright bass. Check out their website.

There are a number of events planned around April 23, the 10 anniversary of JT's death. Here's the list so far:

• Party in Germany - April 28
• Radio Show
• Japanese special magazine issue
• CBGB's gig
• Manchester gig

Marker Text

• The Guardian
• People Magazine
• St. Louis Post-Distpatch

April 10

• Two current mags feature JT/Dolls stories. Revolver (Led Zep on cover) has New York Dolls metioned on the front cover with a short story/dis on JT inside. Guitar Legends (Hendrix on cover) mention JT in their 100 most something or other guitarists of all times. (Thanks Pete)

April 7

• If you haven't already, check out New York Dolls Central.

March 31

• Michael Thimren (former guitarist with JT) sent in a couple of great pics.

• Here's a bunch of new tabs from Tomas Bingham:
  • As Tears Go By
  • Eve Of Destruction
  • Great Big Kiss
  • Human Being
  • I'd Much Rather Be With The Boys
  • Pirate Love
  • Vietnamese Baby

• Johnny's sister, Mariann Bracken, has a couple of rare items for sale on eBay. Check out this painting, another painting and this amazing keyboard.

• Coming My recent interview with original Doll, Sylvain Sylvain.

March 20

• Bob Gruen has some great Dolls pics for sale. Forget about paying the rent and pick these up. (Thanks Andy)

March 11

• I've heard from Jungle Records that their video 'Dead Or Alive' will be re-released on DVD soon. It contains an extra 19 minutes of material including:
  1. Heartbreakers arrive at Airport (French film Mona et Moi outake) 2:38
  2. 'Crawfish' video 3:25
  3. Heartbreakers after-gig scenes (French film Mona et Moi alternate edit) 2:55
  4. Interview 6:48
  5. Trailer for 'Born To Lose - The Last Rock'n'Roll Movie' 3:22
  It will be available in USA DVD format as well as European standard. They also plan to issue it on ye olde VHS format, in PAL & NTSC. Also, 'Que Sera Sera' is being re-issued as an enhanced CD, with three tracks filmed at the Marquee 1984: Sad Vacation, Little Bit Of Whore, & Pipeline (S.V. partly seen under titles in DOA; the other two previously unseen). Track order will be amended, and the artwork is being revamped with the booklet going up to 12 pages. Both should be shipped around the end of March.

• The North American GQ magazine for March has a picture of Johnny & David as part of their Hollywood Issue. (thanks Brandon for letting me know).

• Check out this website that did the "So Alone" Johnny Thunders Musical. www.stagesentertainment.com under the reviews section. Some great reviews for the show.

• Here's a Johnny Thunders screen saver from Giaco.

Feb. 17

• Happy Anniversary #5! This web site has now been in operation for 5 years. I get about 1600 hits a week on the main page and it's always increasing. If there is something that you'd like to see improved, drop me a line at ifftay@echo-on.net. Thanks to everybody for contributing and making this place work.

• Here's short reviews for a couple of new releases. Hollywood Babylon and Live and Wasted.

• Another memory of JT. and The Dolls at the Mercer Arts Center

• Guitar tabs for I Only Wrote This Song For You by Brian Lasinski

Jan. 10

• Here's my review of another new release called Endless Party.

• And yet another recent boot, called It's Great When You're Straight Yeah

Jan. 7

• How bad was the mix on the original LAMF? If you always wanted to hear the original but couldn't find a copy, now's your chance. Phonac Records, from France, has just re-released an exact copy of the original LAMF (LP vinyl). It has the same mixes and same track order and looks just like the real thing. To my ears, it sounds exactly the same as the original except it's just a little bit brighter (maybe my old copy has lost some of the high end due to excessive playing). I got mine from a seller on eBay and it's available from other places that still deal in vinyl.
  I've just heard that this is actually a bootleg and doesn't come from France at all (perhaps from Germany?). Anybody know more about it?

• Here's my review of the recent Dolls CD, Pink Pedal Pushers.

  I just finished watching a documentary on the Sex Pistols called 'The Filth & The Fury'. It has a couple shots of the Dolls and The Heartbreakers taken from Punk Rock Movie and Musik Laden. Steve Jones (guitarist for the Pistols) talks about how he copied many of Johnny's riffs and mannerisms and when you see the film the resemblance is obvious.

Jan. 4 - Happy New Year!

• Check out this site with some Dolls & JT pix.

• Johnny & The Heartbreakers play a role in this good book on the English punk scene - Vacant, A Diary Of The Punk Years. It includes a letter from Walter Lure and several pics of Johnny.

Dec. 31

• Don Hedeker send in a fun JT Word Search puzzle.

• Chris Desing (from the Bisapiens) sent in this image that was taken from the Rolling Stones movie 'Gimme Shelter'. Johnny was in the audience when the film was made and this image may show him.

• Plug - New single from The Golden Arms called Oriental Junk Sick now out on Vicious Kitten Records. (A limited edition available on TV yellow vinyl.) I've heard it and it's good!

• Rottenburgh Records has a bunch of hard to find JT & Dolls stuff for sale.

• Check out this MP3 tune 'Too Good To Be Rich' by The So Not Band (dedicated to JT).

Dec. 30

• Sucksex Records has a great site with lots of info on Johnny & The Dolls. Check out these pictures of JT hitting someone in the audience with his guitar.

• More pictures of Johnny. These ones were taken in Norrkoping and Karlskoga , Sweden sometime during the 1980s. (This is a link off site.)

• Johnny Burner send in another set of tabs for Born To Lose for all the guitarists out there.

• David Gingold send in tabs for One Track Mind

• Here's a good interview with Nina Antonia about the new JT bio.

• The official Sigue Sigue Sputnik site has a couple of pictures of Johnny & Jerry

• Anybody looking for a 1960 Gibson Les Paul TV? Here's one for sale (price around $6,000.00)

Dec. 27

• Were you naughty last year and Santa neglected to bring you a copy of In Cold Blood (the JT biography)? To buy your own copy try: Jungle Books U.K.(they may still have some signed copies), Cherry Red Books U.K. or Amazon U.K.. As far as I know, they are not available over in North America yet.

• Arma de Fuego has put out the second edition of his Johnny Thunders discography and it's the best and most complete list available. It has a limited run of 100 copies and has several pages of pictures. You can get a copy by sending $5.00 U.S. cash (includes shipping) to:
  
  Ripple
  Box 260
  33101 Tampere
  Finland

• I'm finally getting around to updating the discography at this site and there have been a ton of new releases over the last year. Here are a few:
  • Actress: Birth Of The New York Dolls - A legit version of Dawn Of The Dolls that everyone should hear.
  • LAMF - The Lost '77 Mixes has been re-released by Jungle Records on a 'video enhanced' disk. It plays like a regular CD in your CD player but it also contains a 3 minute music video of Chinese Rocks that plays on your computer.
  • Too Much Junkie Business and Lipstick Killers have been re-released by ROIR.
  • New York Tapes 72/73 - Early Dolls demos re-released on Munster Records. They come on CD and a very nice 10 inch vinyl record.
  • Panic On Sunset Strip - Another release from Munster on CD and picture disk!
  • Vive la Revolution! - Again from Munster. A very nice double 10 inch vinyl record set.
  • Belfast Nights - Another version of the show from Belfast, October 27, 1984.

• Here's a 30 second clip of Looking For A Kiss that's available online (you need RealPlayer to view it). It's taken from the Musik Laden TV show.

• Over the holidays I've been listening to "Blond & Blue", the recent CD from Alison Gordy. You may remember Alison as the blond bombshell in Johnny's touring band - The Oddballs. She's got a great voice and performs a couple of JT tunes on the CD. My favorite is one penned by Alison herself called "If I Dream Hard Enough". If you would like to get a copy, send email to Alison Gordy asking for "Blond & Blue" CD. The cost is $10.00 for U.S. customers, $15.00 for everywhere else.
• Alison sent me an email with a great sentiment for the holiday season. Alison sez:

  I wrote a letter to his [JT's] daughter Jaime, to be read when she was old enough to read. Basically it was a bunch of photos I took of Johnny and one of them was of Johnny's feet with these furry dog slippers that I got him for Xmas. I said to her: A lot of people will say a lot of things about your father, but I want you to know that it wasn't all sad and depressing. We had a lot of joy and fun when we were playing and traveling and I want you to know this about him. It's been 9+ years since I wrote the letter, but that is the basic message and the photo was to illustrate his real sense of humor. I have to add my two cents worth of why Johnny was so loved by people; he was human, he had faults and he had rare qualities but he was also really very funny and to overlook that trait seems a shame.

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