TV Party

I've always been fascinated by the way New York in the 60s/70s saw no contradiction between different genres being thrown together, and its a surprise that today was the first time I'd heard of TV Party, a cable show from an acolyte of Warhol with Chris Stein from Blondie as co-host. The DVD is only released in America (note to self: get multi-region DVD player!) though I'm assuming I'll be able to get some of it on YouTube (Klaus Nomi! Debbie Harry!)



Now, of course, there's a real split between the REAL famous people, and the wannabes. (See: Manchester International Festival et al). I'm reminded of this with a feature on "On the Road" - 6 years for it see the light of day, whilst Kerouac continued in obscurity. I was probably the wrong generation for "On the Road", since we were being told to "get on our bike" by Norman Tebbit at the time, oh, and get a job, and not be creatives - but I read it a couple of years ago, and its freshness, honesty and directness give it a continued artistic validity. Friends went "interrailing", but I don't think they ever stayed anywhere long enough to write a novel about it, probably thankfully. And, there's something about America's vastness and its pioneer history, that, probably until very recently, made it the ultimate "On the Road" experience. I'm a bit surprised that the Observer got a non-fan to talk about its influence, in the form of Hari Kunzru, who says: "To me, the lives were often more interesting than the writing." Indeed, Hari, indeed.

Oh shit, I'm now going to spend the next half hour watching Klaus Nomi videos on YouTube.