The Dutch online magazine The Blues Alone? did an interview with Southside Johnny Lyon: The living spirit of the Jersey Shore sound. Among other things he spoke about Willy DeVille and his songs. And the bassplayer of the Asbury Jukes is Steve Conte's brother Joe Conte.
"I have met Willy DeVille a long time ago, at a time when we both were busy working on a career in the music scene. And Eddie Manion has also played with him. Willy was a great guy, he was authentically weird but made great music. With his songs I'd like to do something later on, that is also one of those many projects in my bedroom drawer. I still have so many plans!"
The entire interview in the Dutch can be read here. And here some great interview- and live pictures on Flickr by Arjan Vermeer (c)TBA?
Filip Wouters is a contemporary photographer from Belgium. He approaches his characters in a very subtle way. Being specialized in and fascinated by Rock 'n Roll and, more specifically, the artists themselves, he created a unique collection starting from Miles Davis to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And a few nice Willy DeVille pics! Filip shows the viewer the character and the music behind the artist in his own personal black and white technique.
Having worked for several music magazines in the Benelux, Filip was nominated for and was the winner of several awards and prices while he still exhibits regularly in international galleries. Nowadays Filip is chief photographer for the Belgian Music Magazine Stage in which he presents his work in all varieties of artist pictures, musical instruments like the Namm in Los Angeles & the Frankfurter Musikmesse in Germany.
The book Pop Portraits By Filip Wouters can still be ordered online for € 40 (shipment included) account number: BE 51 0682 2451 0062
On this website you can read an interview with Filip Wouters, Randkrant (Dutch) and watch a Vimeo interview with Filip produced by Videohouse (Dutch). Article at Digi Fotopro: Bescheiden rockfotografie van Filip Wouters.
Willy DeVille and Johnny Thunders at Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie (1999)
Johnny Thunders (July 15, 1952 – April 23, 1991), born John Anthony Genzale, Jr., was an American rock and roll/punk rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of the New York Dolls. He later played with The Heartbreakers and as a solo artist. Willy DeVille wrote a song called "Chemical Warfare" which appeared on his 1992 album Backstreets of Desire. "Chemical Warfare" was dedicated to Johnny Thunders with whom DeVille shared a long-time friendship. DeVille was first to arrive at the hotel the day of Johnny's death. "Everybody knows a Johnny who just passed away. Big wheels count their dollars while the families count their prayers" (Chemical warfare, chemical warfare, ...)
Willy DeVille chats extensively with Sue few about his life and music.
This video is dedicated to my friend Art461 who sent me the audio.
Published by: Suzycat1000
Willy DeVille's Question Time Utrecht 1996
Willy DeVille taking questions from fans in Utrecht 1996. Some very interesting comments about the Big Easy Fantasy album.
Published by: Suzycat1000
Kunst & Kultur
In der Gemeinde Engelhartstetten leben einige Künstler und zahlreiche Personen, die sich um ein kulturelles Leben in der Gemeinde bemühen. Im folgenden möchten wir Ihnen einige Menschen und deren künstlerischen Aktivitäten vorstellen.
Buchautor Karl Frings
Sein Werk: Willy deVille in Gaunersdorf…
… & andere Geschichten aus dem Marchfeld
- das ist der Titel des 1.Buches von Dr. Karl Frings, der uns immer wieder interessante Berichte für unsere AgorA liefert und der Ihnen daher nicht zuletzt deswegen sicherlich bekannt ist.
Aufgewachsen und zu Hause in Stopfenreuth, hegt er eine tiefe Verbundenheit zur seiner Heimat, dem Marchfeld. Daher ist dieses auch der Schauplatz für die 13 Geschichten in seinem Erzählband.
Frings schreibt über Dinge, die er selbst gesehen, gehört oder erlebt hat, und entwickelt diese mit viel Fantasie weiter; oft bleibt der Schluss einer Geschichte auch der Fantasie des Lesers überlassen. Meist begegnet man Sonderlingen und Außenseitern und mit ein bisschen Gespür wird mancher „Eingeborene“ vielleicht sogar das echte Vorbild hinter der einen oder anderen Figur erkennen…
Also mir hat’s gefallen und daher verrate ich Ihnen auch, wo Sie dieses Buch erstehen können, nämlich in den Buchhandlungen Alexovsky (Groß-Enzersdorf), Linke (Gänserndorf), Serringer (Hainburg a.d. Donau) und Riegler (Bruck an der Leitha) und natürlich bei uns im Gemeindeamt; Preis: € 9,00
Terry Nails and Willy DeVille backstage at the BAMMIES 1978 by: Chester Simpson
This is backstage at BAM magazines BAMMIES. This is Terry Nails, with Willie backstage in Jim Marshall's photo studio. People could come back there and hangout, if Jim Marshall liked them. Jim taught me well as a photographer and he trusted me to introduce him to interesting people, and Willie loved Jim's photos.
Freelance Corporate Photographer Chester Simpson was Celebrity Tour Photographer for the USO Washington D.C. (1990-2003) USO Tours to photographed 37 Celebrity tours with performers such as Anita Baker, Ruth Pointer, Paul Rodriquez, Neal McCoy, Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Oleta Adams, Mark Collie, MCLYTE, Spyro Gyra, Larry Gatlin, Rick Skaggs, Jeffery Osborne, La Toya Jackson, Billy Joel, Jay Leno, Sheryl Crow, Sinbad, First Lady Hillary & Chelsea Clinton, Clint Black, Hootie & the Blowfish, Gin Blossoms, B.B. King, Paula Cole, 10,000 Maniacs, Blues Traveler, Gerald McRaney, Toby Keith, and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, to name a few.
I always find it very interesting, and yet sorrowful, when I find out about an album that had just about everything going for it during its prime, but never had the wide acclaim and popularity it should have received. You can be CBGB’s house band, hire Jack Nitzsche (Phil Spector and Neil Young’s former cohort) to produce your debut album, cover The Crystals on that album and have one of the most enthusiastic characters as a frontman, and still only receive something of a cult following. For Mink DeVille, that unfortunately was the case.
1977 was year zero for music. Anything that wouldn’t have stood a chance at pop supremacy the year before turned the tables on the “hard rock” kings that conquered the earlier part of the decade. So for early R&B-influenced bands like Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Talking Heads or Mink DeVille, it was the perfect opportunity to become more than just the in-house band. After three years of playing some of the same songs, and a year and a half of being CBGB’s house band, Mink Deville released their energetic and soulful debut album, Cabretta, in ’77.
Cabretta has the blue-eyed soul that the early-70s Stones records introduced, and the American pub rock style that Bruce showcased in his first three records, all wrapped up in city-crooning swagger. Opening with the ultra-funky “Venus of Avenue D,” frontman Willy DeVille narrates “I see you walking down the street, lookin’ good enough/She’s my inspiration dressed in red, she’s spinning all my friends heads.” The song has a smooth E Street step to it, with some excellent sax playing towards the end.
He has similarly upbeat songs like the Fogerty-leaning “One Way Street,” the punkier “Gun Slinger,” the Lou Reed-ish “Spanish Stroll” and the cool & collected “Cadillac Walk.” These upbeat songs bring forth the raw performance style that Mink Deville became famous for at CBGB’s. On the other hand, Willy and co. are never afraid to break into ballad territory. He has an excellent remake of The Crystals on “Little Girl,” the very Petty-meets-Springsteen “Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl” and the soul classic “Can’t Do Without It,” which sounds like a song Al Green or Baby Huey would’ve sung years earlier.
The album closes with two incredible songs. The first is “She’s So Tough” (a song John Mellencamp would cover years later), a wonderful song about getting the cold shoulder. DeVille begs: “Now baby, just for a chance to talk to you/If it were the last thing that I ever do/Well I would walk until I wore out my shoes.” Then the album closes with arguably Mink’s best track in general, an ode to flaky women entitled “Party Girls.” Willy cries “somehow I always play the fool when I believe you”, as the Spanish percussion & piano help him cope through each painful verse.
Mink DeVille was a fluid band, and progressed like some of their more popular contemporaries had as they continued to record. Yet, despite Cabretta having an impressive amount of personality and rebellious pop swagger, it still has yet to see that “classic” tag that Born To Run, My Aim Is True or other similarly-styled records during that time now have. Even with a fair deal of radio publicity and musician fans, Mink DeVille never got to be the potentially successful band it could have been. Now, of course, this is a tale tried and true, but fortunately primary singer and songwriter Willy still enjoyed a cult following as a solo artist. His most acclaimed album, Backstreets of Desire, had a fair amount of college radio plays, and the album features an impressive cast of guests. Aside from being produced by legendary bluesman Dr. John, the album also features members of Los Lobos, and even surprising guest vocals by future twin sitcom stars Tia and Tamera Mowry. Willy enjoyed many years as a cult act in Europe, and in 2000, after twenty years, he defeated a troublesome addiction to heroin.
Sadly, in 2009, Willy was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, which during the course of treatment had developed into pancreatic cancer. Willy Deville died on August 6, 2009, just a few weeks shy of his birthday. Though Willy never got to see a great amount of success in his lifetime, his legacy lives on through the few that loved his music. One of Deville’s biggest fans is Allmusic blog writer Thom Jurek. Shortly after Willy’s death and a recent interview with the late singer, Jurek published an article about the beloved man. Perhaps Jurek has said it best about Deville’s legacy: “Willy DeVille is America’s loss even if America doesn’t know it yet…In this jingoistic age of American pride, perhaps we can revisit our own true love of rock & roll by discovering Willy DeVille for the first time.” Mink Deville’s legacy will gain following sooner hopefully than later, and in my opinion Cabretta will be the starting point of discussion. [source: www.heavemedia.com]
The UpSouth Twisters are not a new band but a group of seasoned veterans who have been playing together for years under the name Lucky 7. The band’s founder and leader is accordionist-keyboard player-singer- songwriter Kenny Margolis, www.kennymargolis.com, an ex-member of Mink Deville. Also percussionist Boris Kinberg (Willy DeVille Band) is a member of this band that plays Americana, original greasy, Southern-fried-with a side of salsa, rockin’ Cajun-Zydeco, blues and rockabilly and dance party music.
The UpSouth Twisters are not a new band but a group of seasoned veterans who have been playing together for years under the name Lucky 7. The decision to change the name coincides with their first full length CD release in a decade. The CD, self titled, will be released this winter of 2008 on UpSouth Recordings. The CD features the band’s signature sound including accordion, electric and acoustic guitars, upright bass, harmonica, mandolin, drums, rub board, timbales and other percussion, piano and organ plus the guest appearance of Levon Helm’s horn players Erik Lawrence and Steve Bernstein on several tunes. Music critics have had a field day trying to describe the band’s music, dubbing it Cajun rockabilly, Rockin’ Zydeco, roots rock with a squeezebox and a New York mix of Zydeco and rockin’ roadhouse Americana. Just about the only certainty is that no two-or three-word label fully encompasses the range of the band's musical gumbo. By drawing from Elvis-era Rock’n’Roll, Cajun, Zydeco, delta blues, classic country, and even Latino salsa plus Tex-Mex, this New York based quintet has challenged the descriptive talents of the music press, while at the same time earning its praise. The UpSouth Twisters are New York based but their music wins listeners across the heartland, as Austin American-Statesman critic Michael Point observed at a Texas show, “The group's seamless set was solid and substantial, full of prime party-time dance music underpinned by a resilient rhythmic thrust that pushed and pulled the music in consistently interesting directions."
The band’s founder and leader is accordionist-keyboard player-singer- songwriter Kenny Margolis, an ex-member of Mink Deville, who's also toured with and appears on albums by Cracker, The Smithereens, Freedy Johnston, and The Silos among others. Billy Roues (guitar/mandolin/vocals) and Steven “Muddy” Roues (standup bass/harmonica) have brought their songwriting and experience producing, writing, playing and recording with roots artists as diverse as Jo-El Sonnier, John Lee Hooker, Carl Perkins, Lonnie Mack, Lenny Kaye, Wayne Kramer and Stax & Muscle Shoals soul greats Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. Percussionist, Boris Kinberg has played with Mink DeVille and Robert Gordon. Rounding out the band is the solid drumming of Nyack’s own, Bill Rankin.
After honing its style in sweaty New York clubs, the Twisters (under their former moniker) won favor on a series of European and Canadian tours earning praise as "a heavenly party band" (Sweden's Expressen) and "pure fun!" (Germany's Musick Szene). Toronto's Now said, "No doubt about it, New York's Lucky 7 is among the most fun, freewheeling live acts going." An awesome show at the Montreal International Jazz Festival won over thousands of new fans.
Several songs from the band's repertoire have landed in feature films and also on compilation albums including the Margolis/Roues instrumental, "Holiday Depression” which was in the soundtrack to one of James Gandolfini's first movies, "Italian Movie". It was also released as part of a Swedish compilation called "Rockin' At The Barn" on Dusty Records (1999). Most recently their cover versions of Dave Alvin’s “So Long Baby Goodbye” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Valentine’s Day” were included on highly acclaimed tribute CD’s to their authors. (Blastered: A Tribute to The Blasters on Runwild Records and Light Of Day: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen on Schoolhouse Records.The latter song is included in their new release. The UpSouth Twisters are back with a vengeance, playing their greasy, Southern-fried-with a side of salsa music. Kenny Margolis says he doesn't mind the southern comparison. "A lot of our music does have roots in the South," he admits. "But growing up in New York, we have interpreted it differently than a Southern band would. Sort of like the British Invasion bands of the Sixties like The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, and Cream interpreting Chicago blues." [source: www.cdbaby.com/cd/upsouthtwisters]
NEW YORK - For a few days, at least, the City That Never Sleeps did just that.
With power out and transportation a shambles, many New Yorkers shelved their nocturnal ways and embraced a more subdued way of life that included earlier bedtimes than many were used to. "For 4 1/2 days, parts of New York were a ghost town, very eerie. This was our Katrina." But fortunately Boris, Nina, David, Shawn, Kenny, Joey Vasta and Thommy Price are okay. We just hope and pray that our New York friends - where we still haven't heard of - also are okay. Our thoughts go out to the parents, wifes, husbands, children, relatives, friends of those who have not survived.
"If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountains should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me"
Hurricane Sandy Telethon Benefit to Air Nov 2nd
Like we’ve seen before, celebrities, musicians, artists, and other notables are all coming together for a one-night telethon to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Titled “Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together”, the one-hour telethon will be held at NBC’s Rockefeller Plaza studios and hosted by Matt Lauer. Musicians scheduled to perform on include Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi, Sting and Christina Aguilera; Jimmy Fallon, the host of NBC’s “Late Night,” and Brian Williams, the anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” will also appear.
A similar benefit organized by NBC after Hurricane Katrina helped raise more than $50M for the American Red Cross.
This year’s telethon will be broadcast across all of NBCUniversal — including NBC, Bravo, CNBC, E!, G4, MSNBC, Style, Syfy and USA. It will also be live streamed on NBC.com. It will be broadcast live from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern time for the East Coast and on a tape delay for the West Coast.
At a concert Wednesday evening, Bruce Springsteen spoke out the devastated Jersey Shore and his passionate commitment to the area’s rebuilding efforts.
“We wish you a happy Halloween, but we are a rock ‘n’ roll band from the Jersey Shore, and tonight we carry a lot of sadness in our hearts,” said Springsteen at one point, according to fan site Backstreets. “This was originally a song about my adopted hometown struggling to get on its feet — it struggled for 25 years, a quarter century, while we watched for Asbury to come back. And we are very proud to say over the past decade, it has risen up and flourished in a way I wasn’t ever sure I’d see in my lifetime. And it will do so again!” [source: www.ecorazzi.com] Photo credit: AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
