Anti-Folk & the Tompkins Sq Park Riots 88

IT ALL BEGAN on a hot summer night August 6th, 1988. That’s the night the NYPD incited a riot in Tompkins Square Park enforcing a 1 a.m. curfew that had been instituted to evict the homeless who had built a little shanty town by the band shell. This was not the first riot that was incited by the police in the park. On January 13, 1874 7000 unemployed workers took to the streets protesting the lack of government sponsorship and support for severely needed public works jobs during the depths of a depression. They were pushed back from the street into the park and brutalized by over 1600 mounted police in much the same way as the protestors were in 1988. On August 7th, 1988, the NY Post front page picture was of a protestor getting his head clubbed in by a policeman in the vestibule of my clothing store, 109 St. Mark’s Place, that was also the home of my indie label 109 Records. (Above from the Village Voice.)

“Blood on the Pavement” by Reisbaum (w/ Steve Gabe - Bass & Dave Lindsay - Drums)

109 Records began in 1983 with the release of a dance club single by Demetrius “Fashion Mannequin”. She was a tall, black, bald and beautiful model I met producing 109 fashion shows I DJ’d and MC’d at the nightclubs like Area. The second record was the KilPig 4 song EP, an industrial noise/no wave band that I also played bass in that received college radio airplay, local and national press and indie distribution with Caroline in the US and Semaphore in Europe. My third record was Of A Mesh a gothic band produced by Martin Bisi. This record got written up in The Sunday NY Times by rock critic/musicologist Robert Palmer and now my label was a going business. My 4th record was by the funk rockers The Daylights from the Dallas Deep Ellum scene with an excellent drummer from Reverend Horton Heat. Both bands were on an Island Records compilation with Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians and other hot bands from that scene. 109 Records was moving up the indie ranks. This was the heyday of the indie record labels, and the majors were scrambling around scratching their heads wondering how to re-capture the fans that were flocking to the sound of the independents like Sub Pop, SST, Homestead, Touch and Go, Mammoth, and all the others springing up all over the country like weeds. Black Flag, Sonic Youth and Soundgarden all came from this widespread underground music scene. Nirvana’s classic “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is really a song about that moment in time of freedom from the major label overlords. Geffen first replaced the drummer then Kurt and the boys were co-opted into the rock star dream/nightmare. That’s how great bands were made into million sellers. “We’ll sign you but first get rid of the drummer.”

My next record was the direct result of the Tompkins Sq. Park riots and changed the entire focus of the label to folk music. On the day after the 1988 riots Ron Katz, a skinny Asian folk singer, came into my store and asked if I would put out a compilation album of protest songs from the folk singers who participated in the riots the evening before which had lasted until early that August 7th morning. The spirit of protest was still very much in the air. The East Village Folk scene was loosely known as “Anti-Folk” and its leader was Lach who put on folk hootenannies at The Fort a moveable feast of a club that still exists today. I asked him why don’t you put it out on the Fort’s label? He said that Lach only put out cassettes and only a vinyl 12” LP release would be taken seriously, get airplay and press and added that I was known for putting out quality vinyl and doing a good job with promotion and publicity. LPs were still the main game in town and the costs and difficulties in making and promoting vinyl made releases official and gave the indies their cachet. CDs were a way for the majors to take all that back from us and make a steep profit at the same time. All the whining they did about digital piracy stems from that corporate decision to get rid of us pesky indie labels by getting rid of our product not from the digital revolution and file sharing. Had they left well enough alone and just made CDs an easy-to-use option rather than the replacement for vinyl albums maybe there wouldn’t have been such a downfall in the music business and the pitiful payments we’re seeing today to artists from the disgraceful Spotify streaming monopoly co-sponsored by the ever-greedy major labels who learned their lesson well. Water under the bridge but needless to say nobody who knows music disagrees that vinyl is still the gold standard with their beautiful four-color artwork jackets and crystal-clear warm sound there is still nothing like the experience of listening to a good record and reading the liner notes or gazing at the cover. Spotify has tried very hard to make owning music obsolete and uses stockholder money to do so but has only succeeded in making music a valueless commodity forcing artists to tour ‘til they drop. “If you own it. You cherish it.” (Jeff Tweedy) But I digress. Now back to our cover story. Breaking news!

The next day August 8th we got the artists to come down to Don Fury’s Spring Street basement recording studio where many of the most famous early hardcore records were produced like Gorilla Biscuits, Helmet, Quicksand, Youth of Today and Agnostic Front. We started the marathon recording session that resulted in White Trash New York Folk Vol. 1 recording all the songs in one or two takes. The LP came out rather quickly for those days in early October and the buzz was good. Soon we got the lead article in the Village Voice and 109 Records was anointed as the “new folk” label.

“No Patience” by Vanessa Veselka - acclaimed author (Tom Cuddy - Lead Guitar)

I met Roger Manning a key political folk singer from the record (“Real Estate Blues”). He was already signed to super-indie SST as a solo act. We became friends, and he put together the follow up LP Broome Closet Anti-Folk Sessions for 109. He recorded it in his apartment, and it had Kirk Kelly (also on SST), Cindy Lee Berryhill (Rhino) and notably Paleface’s first two officially released songs. The album also contained John S. Hall and Maggie Estep spoken word pieces, and the scene blew up. We got favorable write ups in Billboard and Rolling Stone magazines and Paleface got quickly signed to PolyGram Records. John Hall and Maggie Estep (RIP) were put on the MTV Spoken Word tour, a big thing in their Music days before devolving into modern reality TV.

Roger and I went on the road to Philadelphia and Boston blaring NWA’s F*ck The Police” out the window of my stick shift Toyota Tercel station wagon for his solo records and side gig Joe Folk and the Soho Valley Boys. We saw the Liberty Bell the night he played Khyber Pass. He did a great in-store at Newbury Comics and went on UMASS Boston Radio and played in their little amphitheater by the wharf. That’s what it’s all about going on the road and singing your heart out for what you believe in and meaning it. By now the majors had co-opted the indies and all I worked for. I paid all my debts, closed the label and went to law school. Who’s the new overlord? Spotify. They don’t have these releases, nor do they have “everything” as they claim, nowhere near it, and for $135/year? I’ll send you these fine LPs/Cassettes for FREE! What are you waiting for? Get yourself a turntable, cassette deck, CD player! Start collecting! Play it loud and proud. Fight the Power as Chuck D. from Public Enemy said! Buy it!

Now more than ever it’s time to re-release the power of Anti-Folk on 109 Records!!!

Roger Manning “Real Estate Blues” from the LP White Trash N.Y. Folk Volume 1

White Trash Lp SEALED New York Folk-Volume One 1988 Punk Rock New US $29.99 + 4.99 shipping on EBAY! You can get it for free from me shipping included!