Sad David Johansen news

[Ken]

This is absolutely horrible. I've had the pleasure of hanging out with David and he's a super nice guy. This is just terrible.

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/david-johansen-reveals-stage-4-cancer-diagnosis-sweet-relief-fund-launched/

[uwe]

He's always been dear to my heart, saw him as Buster Poindexter in the late 80s in NYC and then in this century with the New York Dolls in Frankfurt. I was happy to donate, but - excuse my French - US healthcare sucks shit if you are really down with something serious. Much poorer countries than you do better.

Bernie rant over.

[Ken]

Agreed. This country is a joke.

[Dave W]

very sad, even more so finding out he's been ill for years.

[uwe]

I had been wondering for a while that there is no new music coming out from him, I generally buy anything with a NYD connection. Last I heard from him was this:

He's the last man standing from the Dolls, Billy Murcia (1972), Johnny Thunders (1991), Jerry Nolan (1992), Killer Kane (2004) and Sylvain Sylvain (2021) are all gone, not that you really expected anyone from them to reach a biblical age, some of them did better than others, David among them.

When I first saw the Dolls, I thought, I don't care how well these guys play (I could tell they weren't Deep Purple!), but this is rambunctiously great ...

I was smitten with them the moment I heard Johansen quip "Meanwhile, back in the States ...".  😁

PS: I never knew this about Arthur:

"A lot of the Dolls' sound I attribute to Arthur's bass playing, and it made us sound really strange and different from other rock bands," noted David Johansen. "He couldn't breathe and play at the same time, so he would take a really deep breath, play a lot of notes, and then take another deep breath and start playing again."

So that is why his bass playing always sounded so staccato off/on! 🤣

[Ken]

Only time I got to see the Dolls was in 2005.  It was pretty fantastic.

[uwe]

I saw them a few years later, but also a great gig, they had lost none of their swagger. Of course, when you saw them in the mid-70s you always had the added benefit of being able to worry whether one of them might not make it through the gig and die on stage.

Buster Poindexter was a riot on stage, by the encore he was down on the floor leading the audience in a giant polonaise.

[Ken]

It's just not right that David is in this situation.

[uwe]

Sylvain Sylvain had to do the same thing a few years ago when he set up a go-fund-me account before he succumbed to cancer.

Don't get me started on not having a system that FORCES collective healthcare contributions on everyone while they are still healthy and able to work + make money. It's apparently an un-American thing to do, opening the floodgates to a collectivist hell faster than you can say Ayn Rand!

In Germany, if I may say so, Bismarck, that ole rampaging communist,




introduced it 142 years ago, in 1883.

[Ken]

Man, I keep getting email notifications for this thread, but no new posts.

[uwe]

It's all these Bismarck fans rising from the dead ...

[Ken]

Damn Otto.

[Dave W]

David Johansen, punk star reinvented as 'Buster Poindexter,' dies at 75

[Ken]

Damn that sucks.

[godofthunder]

David Johansen, one of a kind as a teen I just loved the sloppy rebelliousness of the NY Dolls and as I got older David's solo efforts. The music will continue to influence future generations.