New York Rocker Pix
NOT EVERYTHING WE WRITE ABOUT ON THESE WEEKLY MAILS CAN BE AS COMPLETELY STUNNING, SUPER SCARCE AND BEYOND DESIRABLE AS WE SAY THEY ARE, CAN THEY? WELL, YES. ABSOLUTELY. EVERY TIME! AND THE FIRST AND ONLY ISSUE OF NEW YORK ROCKER PIX IS AS GOOD AS ANY BEFORE. WHAT'S MORE IT WAS PUBLISHED IN 1979, WHICH IS NOW BEYOND ARGUMENT THE BEST YEAR EVER*
The cover star is Donna Destri. A New York rocker herself and sister of Jimmy Destri of Blondie, Donna was never a big star in her own right but... for one, she looks great with the studio headphones and the squiggles, and, two, she went on to sing backing vocals on Man2Man's Male Stripper. Wow!
Check the full screen slideshow to see just how good Pix
gets. This Marcia Resnick centrefold includes Victor Hugo, Diego Cortez, someone called Tomato Du Plenty, and an anonymous bound boy!!! It would also have made the best EVER 80s kids matching duvet and curtain set, don't you think?
Beaten black and white. George Scott III at the Wrong Rock & Roll Club. Scott played bass with James Chance and Lydia Lunch and had a number of bands of his own. He died of a heroin overdose in 1980 aged 27. Pix
is pretty remarkable for a music magazine. It is far closer to a being a reprised Picture Newspaper than New York Rocker.
Breakfast in America! It is Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads on the cover of a Cornflakes box. It's by Bobby Grossman. It's hard to explain why he did it but who cares when it works. And Tina W was one of the coolest looking people in NY at that time: check the photo at the bottom of this archive page.
It is somewhat unfair to judge recording artists and musicians on looks alone - but we do! And, on an aesthetic level, c1979 was Brian Eno's best looking period by far. Neither young or old, neither wizard nor wizened. Just completely, calmly cool as Marcia Resnick's portrait from the aforeshown centrefold perfectly captures.
Richard Hell's last gig with The Heartbreakers at Max's 1977. Photo by Chris Stein (to complete the Blondie connection). The final page of what would be the (first and) final issue of Pix.
It was too good to succeed. It has pictures of Peter Beard, Nic Roeg and William Burroughs! Did they even have a hit record?