Thunders, Kane & Nolan: You Can’t Put Your Arms Around
A Memory (DVD)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: D Concert: B
Raining, raining and raining. It just won’t stop raining here.
I suppose I could choose to look at it as some sort of New Year’s
baptism, a cold gray deluge to wash away the detritus of 2005, a cleansing of
the soul, a purification of the spirit, a something-something of the
something. But really it’s just an ugly
endless rainfall and it’s cold out and I’m damp down to the marrow. Simply put it’s kind of depressing.
There’s a certain comfort to be taken in retreating inward
on such a day. Disappearing into the
warm folds of one’s inner self, vanishing from the sopping world for the
brighter vistas inspired by some good ol’ rock’n’roll. I’m talking about the serious stuff now, not
your average band of boys and girls thumping their instruments somewhat
rhythmically and delivering passably rebellious phrases through grit teeth
in-between yowling and hollering indecipherable choruses. No, the real stuff has a sweet charm to it
even when its taking delight in the lowest sort of indulgences whether that be
drug abuse, sodomy, or kitten juggling.
Real rock’n’roll has a beating heart in its chest and a lotta love to
give.
Johnny Thunders was real rock’n’roll. He played rudimentary, riffy guitar and
wrote songs that shared DNA with the girl group sound and surf rock. He was proto-punk with the New York Dolls
and Punk with a capital-P with The Heartbreakers. He looked good in a leather jacket, smoked like an industrial
chimney, and threw away what should have been a great career to heroin
addiction. Johnny was truly great but
he was also a complete idiot. What else
can you say about someone who willingly becomes the clichéd drug addled
rocker? It’s kind of pathetic really.
MVD recently released a DVD of a concert Thunders played
at The Roxy in LA back in 1987 called You Can’t Put Your Arms
Around A Memory on DVD.
What makes this release historically important is that Johnny was playing
with Arthur Kane (bass) and Jerry Nolan (drums), two of his brethren from the
New York Dolls days. This would be the
last time these three men played together and therefore it’s worth viewing for
anyone who cares about the pounding bloody heart of real rock’n’roll.
Unfortunately, the concert was filmed on analog video and
the camera is completely stagnant. Add
to that Johnny’s periodically distracted performance and you have something of
a disappointment on your hands. The
boys work their way through highlights from the Dolls catalogue (Personality
Crisis, Lonely Planet Boy), the Heartbreakers catalogue (You Can’t Put Your
Arms Around A Memory, Chinese Rocks), as wells as some choice covers (The
Wizard, Play With Fire) but the band never really catches fire. This judgment has a lot to do with the poor
quality of the audio and video. Were
the audio portion remastered and released as a CD I would probably have to
reassess the show. In any case, though,
the DVD is still worth checking out.
It’s historically important and not a bad way to while away a long rainy
afternoon. Afterwards throw a copy of Too
Much Too Soon or LAMF on the stereo and crank the volume way
up. You’ll feel a lot better. I did.
- Kristofer
Collins
Kristofer Collins is an editor at The New Yinzer and the
owner of Desolation Row CDs in Pittsburgh, PA.
Visit Desolation Row at www.myspace.com/desolationrowcds
