Ep. 143: Live at CBGB’s Photography Book by Erwan Illian and William Boling (Fall Line Press)

Live at CBGB's by Erwan Illian

A documentary photobook depicting the legendary punk club CBGB's

“Erwan Illian’s flash and color slide film photos of this iconic punk rock scene on the Bowery, captured in the late 70’s is a unique and historic document heretofore unpublished.  At that time  “serious” photographers, and Illian was dead serious, were still shooting black and white and just pointing at the musicians on the stage. Illian like fellow color pioneers Eggleston, Shore and Nan Goldin, was after something more . He wanted the heart of the matter - and he got it. These images, seen here for the first time, resonate with the feel of the music and its connection with the scene and everyone in it. Accompanied by a short essay by the legendary music and cultural writer Greil Marcus this book is a guaranteed cult classic.” - William Boling, Publisher, Fall Line Press

Welcome to CBGB’s. Through the eyes of Erwan Illian , we now have a chance to relive—or experience for the first time—the raw energy of punk’s early days. His work fuses two mediums—punk and photography—into a symphony of noise, color, and texture, bringing back to life the energy found in this legendary club.

A year after moving to New York City in 78, a time of great transformation for the city that never sleeps, Erwan Illian stumbled upon a place named “CBGB’s”. Little did he know; he was stepping into the epicenter of “punk rock” where, (with Patti Smith, The Ramones, Talking Heads, among many others), the whole thing started, reshuffling what Rock’n Roll was all about. This time happened to be when Wendy O. Williams (or WOW! for short) was catching fire with “The Plasmatics”.

"....when Kristal opened “Hilly's on the Bowery” in an old bar at 315 Bowery in 1969, it could only manage to attract bikers and the local drunks, “making for a rowdy place”. So in 1972, Kristal decided to shut it down before relaunching it under the name “CBGB” in late 1973, hoping to book it as a music venue for “Country, Bluegrass, Blues”. 

"By the time Hilly Kristal opened CBGB in 69, its population might have dwindled to just a few such places...315 Bowery, situated just below  “The Palace Hotel”, one of the remaining flophouses where alcoholism was still rampant, was no exception" -Excerpts from "The short of it....." by Erwan Illian››

Artist Bio:Erwan Illian was an amateur photographer in the 70’s.As he traveled to Paris, then later to the American South, landing finally in New York City in 1978, Photography was a way to discover the new world around him. Even though he never made a living as a photographer, he continued to pursue it “on the side” until 1982. He later moved to the bay area in California and became a cabinet-maker.

FUNDAISER FOR BOOK PROJECT

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1579589460/live-at-cbgbs-by-erwan-illian/description

Credits

Otter Castro - Episode Body Editor

Stephen Bluhm - Sound Engineer/Episode Editor

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.stephenbluhm.fun⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Rich Wexler

Producer/Interviewer

⁠⁠⁠http://www.vintageannalsarchive.com