Author Archives: Peter

Open City declared Peter Nolan Smith an underground punk legend of the 1970s East Village. The New England native spent many years as a nightclub doorman in New York, Paris, London, and Hamburg. The constant traveler has lived for long periods of time in Europe and the Far East. After a forced retirement from the Schmatta trade in Thailand, Peter Nolan Smith returned to New York to work in the international diamond trade. At summer’s end he resumed the life of a writer. The world’s leading leisureologist is currently based in Sri Racha, Thailand, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and Luxembourg City. He has no address.

Ramones – California Sun 1976

March 5, 2014 – 1:46 pm

I was walking down the Bowery in 1976. I heard a band playing a breakneck version of CALIFORNIA SUN from inside a white-stuccoed bar. I walked inside, paid my admission, and walked to the stage, mesmerized by the leather-jacketed quartet. In less than a minute I was hooked by the Ramones and still am to [...]

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Captain Tom To Ground Control

March 4, 2014 – 12:42 am

My telephone rarely rings from day to day. Young people have abandoned conversation in favor of texting. They avoid face to face encounters, preferring to communicate with friends thousands of miles away rather than the person next to tem at a dinner table. Even more disturbing is their devotion to sending selfies in the billions [...]

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The End Of The Road

March 3, 2014 – 7:44 pm

The other day I was speaking with Bruce Benderson. Both of us were lamenting the hard economic times. “I’m four months behind in my rent.” Bruce still lived in the East Village. “I’m only one month.” I had been economically cleansed from East 1Oth Street by a $10,000 buyout from the managment company. The money [...]

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Happy Birthday Cookie Mueller

March 3, 2014 – 5:28 pm

Today Marcus Leatherdale wished the late Cookie Mueller happy birthday. The Baltimore-born starlette of many John Water’s films passed from this life back in 1989. Cookie exalted in her childhood home stuck between the woods, a state mental hospital, and the railroad tracks. “There was no way I could turn good against those odds.” The [...]

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Colussus By David Henderson

March 3, 2014 – 5:03 pm

Dead artists rule the art market. Picasso, Dali, Warhol go for millions. The wealthy buyers feel safe spending money on bona fide masterpieces, because they don’t have the time to develop passion about living painters, sculpturers, or writers. I’m dead broke. My wallet has $20 in it. My refrigerator has food and two beers. For [...]

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