Days On File

F O L L O W
T H A T
P U N K
ohn Joseph understands that oral history beats anything
on their luck. I don’t like explaining this to my tours while they walk in and
ever written in textbook spiel. For the past three months,
out [of the shelter].”
the Cro-Mags frontman has been inviting the public to
John Joseph McGowan was born in this city and it’s amazing he hasn’t
join him on a walk through the Lower East Side – or, more
died here. For Joseph, the walking tour is an extension of his autobiography
accurately, a stroll through his past. Assuming the mantle
Evolution of a Cro-Magnon, published in 2007. According to the book, his
of historian, storyteller and professor of punk, he’s found
father, a gritty Irish welterweight, turned to alcohol and lumping up his
a way to educate the masses about New York City’s pre-
own family, leaving his wife too unstable to care for young John and his
gentrified past. It’s a lesson too good to miss.
two brothers. Joseph was taken away by social services and moved to Long
He has our tour group meet at the Cube, a geometric eight-foot
Island where his childhood became a punchbowl of hardships – a heinously
steel structure at Astor Place. There are a dozen of us – six Euros, six
abusive foster family, crime and a ghetto orphanage in Rockaway Beach.
from the greater New York area – and judging by the low-level chatter,
By fourteen, Joseph had been failed by the system one too many times and
everyone seems aware of our tour guide’s past. Talk turns to his place in
decided he was better off on his own. Then came his first experience on the
punk history, multiple arrests and, of course, the militant brand of veganism
Lower East Side.
he follows to a tee.
“I was a heroin mule for a couple guys in Rockaway,” says Joseph, leading
But this isn’t your standard walking tour. It’s The History of Art, Crime,
the group down the sidewalk. “I would come into the city to cop for them and
Drugs and Punk Rock on the Lower East Side. Nobody’s wearing pleated pants
run it back to Rockaway. There was a Polish neighbourhood and they said I
and a fanny pack, not even ironically. Instead, we’re a carefully cultivated
looked enough like a little Polish kid that no one would give me a hard time.”
mix of Chuck Taylors, tattoos and Black Flag T-shirts. History, in this
Joseph formed Cro-Mags in the early eighties with bassist Harley
context, revolves around desperate junkies, long-gone punk clubs, and the
Flanagan. Colliding hardcore with metal, they were known as one of the
spot where our tour guide was once stabbed in the shoulder by a crazed
hardest bands to come out of NYC. They toured relentlessly and enjoyed
Puerto Rican gangster. This is John Joseph’s Lower East Side. For the next
decent record sales, but never made any money – a fact Joseph puts down
three hours, he will show us how it’s morphed from a graffiti-covered world
to poor management. Nevertheless, Cro-Mags reached legend status off the
of violence, sex and three-chord progressions to the trendy consumer-driven
back of their intense live shows, and the fact that he and Harley, who were
district it is today.
all but brothers for a time, had a personal war over rights to the band’s name.
Joseph’s accent is so classic New York you almost think he’s faking it.
Thirty years since Cro-Mags formed, European concert promoters have
People in Manhattan don’t talk like that today, but then again, most of them
reportedly offered sixty thousand dollars a show for an original Flanagan/
didn’t grow up in New York. And they certainly didn’t sleep in creepy porno
Joseph lineup – but they refuse. “I just can’t do that anymore with someone
theatres to escape snowy winter nights on the street. “The experiences I
who has to be the centre of attention,” says Joseph.
had to go through were tough, because I was institutionalised in very bad
He leads the tour east to a region formerly known as Alphabet City,
neighbourhoods,” says Joseph. “It put me in touch with a lot of dangerous
explaining the seventies nicknames: Avenue A you were “Adventurous”;
people and situations. The streets were wild and crime-ridden. My very first
Avenue B you were “Bold”; Avenue C you were “Crazy”; and any white boy
year on the streets was ’77. You had the blackouts, [serial killer] Son of Sam
who made it as far as Avenue D was “Dead”.
and drugs. The city was in chaos because it was broke. The cops were getting
laid off. You name it; it was going on. You just had to watch your back.”
There were no boutiques in this neighbourhood thirty-five years ago – no
double mocha soy lattes or wine bars. Mad hellholes tend to attract creatives
Joseph leads the crew down the infamous Bowery, an integral part of
and criminals alike, and while the seeds of punk rock were growing through
Lower East Side lore. Cutting north/south through Lower Manhattan, the
societal cracks in London and LA, a sordid version was spawning on the
Bowery was known as a lewd place long before the CBGB’s awning became a
Lower East Side. Joseph, possessing tendencies both bohemian and bruiser,
rock ‘n’ roll landmark. Bordered on the west by Five Points, the Bowery had
was drawn to it like a fly to a rotting transvestite corpse. He knows the junkies
been a dirty haunt since the 1800s (think Gangs of New York). Over the years,
who killed Sid’s Nancy. He knows what crack can do because he ripped off
it became lined with bawdy saloons, unemployment agencies, whores, tattoo
his best friends and family to get high. He knows about dirty cops and gang
parlours and flophouses – a place where the homeless, crazy and addicted
members because he fought both. “Now you have all these ‘supposed’ punk
mingled and met. According to Joseph, the “reviving” of the neighbourhood
dudes here with [tattoo] sleeves up to their necks who don't scare anyone,”
has displaced many such unfortunates. “I like to point this out from
says Joseph. “I chuckle at that shit. They have the look, but they didn’t really
over here,” says Joseph, directing our attention east across the Bowery.
earn it or live it. It’s a watered-down version. The old-time punk rockers were
“There’s still a shelter over there where you can see a few guys who are down
crazy. It’s a different animal now.”
C r o - M a g s f r o n tma n J oh n J o s e p h wa n t s to ta k e
y o u o n a s t r oll th r o u g h th e L ow e r Ea s t S i d e
to r e d i s co v e r i t s d ow n ‘ n ’ d i r t y r oot s .
Te x t J o n C o e n
Photography Bryan Derballa
Adrian Rubi-Dentzel
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During the tour, locals are not shy to interact. An annoyed yuppie spouts,
“I tell everyone to check out the website Iskconirm.com [a purist Krishna
“Excuse me, foreigners!” An older Spanish fella gives Joseph a fist-bump,
revival movement]. Prabhupada means ‘one who leads by example’. He was
building on street cred earned back in the day. A strung-out waitress comes
the most humble. Prabhupada was the one who slept on the floor, fed everyone,
out of Paul’s Da Burger Joint with her own twisted tales.
and renounced materialism. I still chant every day, read Prabhupada’s books
And the stories keep coming. John explains how he once lived below a
Daniel Rakowitz. He remembers when the eccentric artist had Monika Beerle,
and associate with devotees. I owe everything to Prabhupada. Without his
teachings, I would be dead. It’s not a religion; it’s a spiritual process.”
a Swiss dance student, move in with him. Soon, her mother notified the school
In accordance with his strict vegan lifestyle, Joseph points to several of the
from overseas that she hadn’t heard from her daughter in weeks. Apparently,
Lower East Side’s original vegetarian joints. The Cauldron, said to be run by
the girl tried to leave Danny, and he wasn’t having it. Joseph tells the tale of
witches, is long gone. But Angelica Kitchen, which used to feed leftover vegan
Danny boiling her body and feeding her to the homeless people in Tompkins
food to the street punks, is still there.
Square Park.
“When did people start equating eating an animal that’s been tortured
We stop off at the former Studio 171A, where Jay ‘Dublee’ Williams
its whole life with manliness?” asks Joseph. “Be a ‘real man’ and eat beef?!
recorded the Beastie Boys’ first album. Joseph recounts how, while living
Are you going to be a real man when you get into your forties and fifties and
at the studio on Avenue A, he became a part of the wider Bad Brains family
they’re ripping your colon out of your ass? And then you gotta take all this
when they recorded the Roir Sessions. The four black dreads from DC who
medication, and you’re walking to the fucking pharmacy every day like some
played powerful, fast hardcore, punctuated by beautifully soulful reggae,
feeble bastard? They’re brainwashing us to eat that food. Nobody’s going to
not only revolutionised the New York scene, they helped define American-
tell you not to eat that shit. This shit’s making you sick and the drug companies
style hardcore. Although he was originally drawn to the violence of punk in
are making billions.”
the seventies, Joseph became more deeply involved in the scene in the early
This rant is the focus of his second book, Meat is for Pussies: A How-To-Guide
eighties, when he went AWOL from the US Navy in Virginia and fell in with
For Guys Who Want to Get Fit, Kick Ass and Take Names. It’s a title that was
the Washington DC punks. Returning to the Lower East Side, he started to see
sure to get attention and has drawn the ire of feminists. “It says right on
punk more as a community and an outlet for activism.
the cover, ‘For dudes.’ It’s not for them!” yells Joseph. “But there’s nothing
John ‘Bloodclot’, as he became known, stops us at every address that once
misogynistic about it.”
hosted raucous slam pits and historic rock moments. He remembers the
Through research, philosophies and menu ideas, the book dispels the
Ramones at CB’s and Black Flag at the Peppermint Lounge. “I don’t need to
stereotype of the skinny, unhealthy vegan. His theories, which link an over-
“Back then, punk rockers would stab
you in the face with a fucking bottle.”
go to fucking Wikipedia for this shit,” he says. “I lived it.” His memory is solid.
processed American food industry to pharmaceutical companies, are eye-
The only time he refers to his notes is to rattle off the artists that played each
opening. Recently, though, he has become linked to a more controversial
venue: Public Enemy at the Ritz; Patti Smith performing with the St. Mark’s
belief: that the Japanese tsunami was the Karmic comeuppance of that
Poetry Project. He missed The Clash at the Palladium because he was serving
nation’s raping of the seas. You have to wonder if Karma works like that.
eighteen months in upstate New York, but saw them plenty at Bond’s Casino.
Some are still venues under different names. Most are sushi bars.
“I was talking about collective Karma,” says Joseph, who insists that the
quote, taken during his March interview with blog Approaching Oblivion, was
If Joseph majored in history at the University of the Streets, his minor was
taken out of context and run through the internet mill. “It’s not that I have
in gentrification. This is one of the most famously yuppified neighbourhoods
anything against Japan. The whole planet is killing animals. The whole planet
in the world. He laments a culture caught in the crossfire of Mayor Rudolph
is getting ready for a big dose of Karma. But whatever it takes for the masses
‘Rudy’ Giuliani’s war on crime in the mid-to-late nineties, and when he
to wake up. People think they don’t have to face responsibility for our actions.”
describes how the desperate economy is now causing the criminal element to
So, what’s next for a hardcore frontman looking at fifty? There’s a Cro-
threaten the new loafer crowd, there’s a subtle excitement in his voice. “But
Mags Australian tour, another book in the works, two screenplays, and he’s
there are two good things to come out of the changes to the neighbourhood,”
currently training for the first New York Ironman triathlon. He also claims
he concedes, without missing a step. “I don’t have to worry about my mother
that fake Krishna gurus have been sending goons after a West Coast friend.
walking down the streets here anymore. And there are more places to get
He wants to fly to LA with a “mob of his own hooligans” to see if the hired
health food now.”
muscle will step to him.
Joseph is in better shape than most guys half his age. He was practicing
He finishes the walking tour at what used to be Max’s Kansas City.
yoga twenty years before the rest of New York, and now hosts a weekly “plant-
Alongside a closing anecdote devoted to Iggy Pop – who apparently used to
based Cro-Mags urban training session” with Nike. In the early eighties,
get into a giant bag and have the bouncers throw him down the stairs for fun –
Joseph was introduced to healthy living as part of a package deal with
Joseph wraps things up on a characteristically chipper note: “The first time I
spirituality. And while he follows the teachings of Srila Prabhupada, a founder
went in here, I got my head kicked in. Back then, punk rockers would stab you
of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, he’s less enamoured
in the face with a fucking bottle.”
with other chapters of the faith.
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This walking tour is anything but pedestrian
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