R.I.P. Fred "Tonic" Smith of Television, Blondie, Fleshtones

Sadly, bassist Fred Smith – who played with Television, Blondie & The Fleshtones – has passed away at 77. He'll be greatly missed.

LINKS

Stereogum Television bassist Fred Smith dead at 77

Happy Birthday Fred Smith of Television!

Raising a glass to Fred "Tonic" Smith with a some Television footage shot at The Fillmore in SF back in 2015. 

Richard Lloyd Group @ The Bovine, Friday

There's always a chance guitar great Richard Lloyd will tear into an old Television fave at some point. 

Get tickets for the Richard Lloyd Group at The Bovine tonight right here. 

Richard Lloyd with Night Finger @ The Bovine, Wednesday

Here's an interview with Television guitarist Richard Lloyd, a performance of "Marquee Moon" and a show from last May.  

R.I.P. Tom Verlaine of Television, 1949-2023

Sadly, Television songwriter/guitarist Tom Verlaine passed away Saturday at the age of 73. He'll be greatly missed. 

LINKS

NaimaPublication.com Richard Hell remembers Tom Verlaine

New York Times Influential guitarist/songwriter Tom Verlaine dies at 73

New Yorker He Was Tom Verlaine by Patti Smith

WFMU-FM Tom Verlaine guests on the Gaylord Fields' show 1/8/2006

Doom & Gloom From The Tomb Tom Verlaine at NYC's Avery Fisher Hall Nov 21, 1997

That time Television played Portland in 1978

Check out performances of "Marquee Moon" and "Glory" from Television's show at The Earth in Portland on July 2, 1978.  

CMW: Television @ The Phoenix, Monday (7 pm)

Canadian Music Week 2019 launches with an early Television show at The Phoenix. Check the performance clips below. 

Happy Birthday Tom Verlaine

Celebrating Tom Verlaine's birthday with a demo of Television's "Double Exposure" from 1974. 

Ork Records: New York, New York box set due from Numero Group on Orktober 30

As a follow-up to the Ork singles box, Numero's New York, New York set boasts a 190-page hardback book.

In August of 1975, the world’s first punk record label was born. Ork Records: New York, New York is a tale of Terry Ork, a film-obsessed fugitive of Warhol’s Factory set. Ork would pull damaged, literate new rock music from the pregnant Bowery grime of CBGB, resulting in debut 45s by Television and Richard Hell, as well as landmark recordings by The Feelies and Lester Bangs.

It’s a tale of Charles Ball, who’d steer Ork Records through solo exploits by Big Star’s Alex Chilton and the dBs’ Chris Stamey. And it’s a tale told across 2 CD or 4 LPs s in scorching sides by Richard Lloyd, Marbles, Prix, Mick Farren, Cheetah Chrome, the Idols, the Erasers, the Revelons, Student Teachers, and Kenneth Higney's brilliantly off-kilter disco cash-in attempt "Funky Kinky" (listen below) which really deserves to be reissued as a 12" with remixes by say DFA and/or François K. Numero Group's deluxe 190-page hardback book features evocative, unseen imagery, a portal opened by on-the-scene photojournalists as crucial to documenting punk’s conception in the squalid Lower East Side as the walls of CBGB itself.

Ork Records: New York, New York is a visionary glimpse of punk and new wave as invented, nurtured, feted, and forgotten by the street-level artisans who attended the genres’ arrival. Have a look at the Ork Records box unbundled below. You can order a copy directly from the Numero Group right here.


A limited-edition version of New York, New York includes a bonus Feelies 45 featuring two previously unreleased tracks. "The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness" is an unreleased studio cut from 1978, while the flip is a cover of the Bacharach and David classic "My Little Red Book,” recorded live at CBGB December 14, 1976.



Ork Records: New York, New York tracklist
01 TELEVISION Little Johnny Jewel
02 FEELIES Fa Ce La
03 RICHARD HELL (I Belong To The) Blank Generation
04 THE REVELONS The Way (You Tough My Hand)
05 ERASERS I Won't Give Up
06 ALEX CHILTON All Of The Time
07 CHRIS STAMEY & THE DBS (I Thought) You Wanted To Know
08 PRIX Zero
09 MARBLES Red Lights
10 ALEX CHILTON Take Me Home & Make Me Like It
11 PRIX Girl
12 THE IDOLS Girl That I Love
13 MICK FARREN & THE NEW WAVE Lost Johnny
14 CHEETAH CHROME Still Wanna Die
15 THE IDOLS You
16 THE STUDENT TEACHERS Christmas Weather
17 ERASERS It Was So Funny (The Song That They Sung)
18 RICHARD HELL (I Could Live With You) (In) Another World
19 CHRIS STAMEY The Summer Sun
20 ALEX CHILTON Free Again
21 RICHARD LLOYD (I Thought) You Wanted To Know
22 THE STUDENT TEACHERS Channel 13
23 CHRIS STAMEY Where The Fun Is
24 PRIX Everytime I Close My Eyes
25 FEELIES Forces At Work
26 MARBLES Fire And Smoke
27 THE REVELONS 97 Tears
28 CHEETAH CHROME Take Me Home
29 RICHARD HELL You Gotta Lose
30 CHRIS STAMEY & THE DBS If And When
31 MICK FARREN & THE NEW WAVE Play With Fire
32 RICHARD LLOYD Get Off My Cloud
33 ALEX CHILTON The Singer Not The Song
34 RICHARD LLOYD Connection
35 ALEX CHILTON Summertime Blues
36 MICK FARREN & THE NEW WAVE To Know Him Is To Love Him
37 LINK CROMWELL Crazy Like A Fox
38 LINK CROMWELL Shock Me
39 KENNETH HIGNEY I Wanna Be The King
40 LESTER BANGS Let It Blurt
41 ALEX CHILTON Bangkok
42 PETER HOLSAPPLE Big Black Truck
43 PRIX She Might Look My Way
44 ALEX CHILTON Can't Seem To Make You Mine
45 PRIX Love You All Day Long
46 ALEX CHILTON Shakin' The World
47 PRIX Love You Tonight
48 LESTER BANGS Live
49 KENNETH HIGNEY Funky Kinky

Television vs. Evie Sands

See if you can spot any similarity between Marquee Moon and Evie Sands' You've Got Me Up Tight from 1965.

Happy Birthday Tom Verlaine

Television @ The Phoenix, Saturday

Tom Verlaine and crew will very likely put on the best show you see during CMW.

New York Rocker,  issue #1  Spring 1976