Remembering my Step-Father - Larry Collins: 03/05/40 - 10/31/87

Halloween is always kind of bitter-sweet for me...I enjoy the holiday itself but I am always filled with memories of my Step-Father, Larry Collins, who always treated me like his own son.

Larry's time on Earth came to an end 22 years ago today, Halloween 10/31/87. I miss him...

Here are a few photos of Larry and I clowning around a few days before Halloween 1977 - I was only 7 years old. Larry only had 10 more Halloweens left...

10/31/94 - 15 Years Ago Today in Minneapolis, MN - Ace Frehley

(All Images & Photos via: NYCDreamin Archives)

In my last post, I asked the question, "What could be better than seeing Black Sabbath on Halloween night?" Well, I only had to wait a few years for the answer - two years later to the day, I was once again in Minneapolis, this time at the awesome (sadly, long gone) Mirage nightclub for another Halloween concert, this one featuring my all-time hero Ace Frehley. This was to be the second time I'd seen him in less than a year. Yeah, how cool was this gonna be?!? I started saving money immediately because I planned on joining the Rock Soldiers fan club at the show which would enable me to obtain a backstage pass to meet the man.

I arrived early. I mean EARLY. I had a friend drop me off at the club around 10:00am. I planned to hang out all day to see if I could get an early glimpse of the Space Man and maybe get into the sound check. No such luck. The weather was unseasonably warm and I spent the entire day hanging around outside for nothing but I didn't mind one bit. The band finally arrived in the later part of the afternoon and I was able to meet Ace's right hand man Richie Scarlet, he himself no slouch on the six-string, and drummer Steve Werner. Both of them seemd like real good guys and took time to hang with fans and sign autographs. They said Ace was not feeling well, which we've all learned in subsequent years, was code for "Ace is fucked up back at the hotel and can't be bothered."


Ace Frehley Band guitarist Richie Scarlet


Ace Frehley Band drummer Steve Werner

As the afternoon wore on and the sun began to set, the fans began to arrive. Of course at any given Ace Frehley solo concert, or at any Kiss-related event for that matter, you would have the die-hards, dressed up in makeup and costumes, but since it was Halloween, and since there was going to be a costume contest, there seemed to be more than the usual ammount of uber-fanatical Kiss-fans who came all costumed up and ready to rock. Some were good, some were great, some were just lame. Here are several photos of some of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area freaks who came out to show their love for Ace on this particular evening...













The doors to the club opened and I rushed inside and b-lined it to the merchandise booth where I promptly bought one of just about everything they had for sale. A t-shirt. An autographed poster. Some guitar pick earrings. A pack of Ace signature Gibson guitar strings. The "AceVision" video of a recent concert in Orlando, Fl. And the mother of all purchases, a $50.00 membership in the Rock Soldiers fan club. I think I was shaking as I handed the money over to the merchandise guy, knowing what my purchase would entitle me to later in the evening. For my $50.00 I received a laminated "Rock Soldiers" backstage pass and dogtag that would allow me to realize a life-long dream...


My laminated Rock Soldiers pass (above) and "dogtag" (below)...

Name: NYCDreamin
Rank: Captain
Serial Number: 002369
Reporting for duty!


The show kicked off with two local bands, Tea-Wire (or T-Wire, or was it TEE-Wire? Whatever...who thought up that name anyway?!?) and the St. Paul Music Club. As often hapens with opening bands, I don't remember a thing about them and who cares, really? The hour was drawing near to witness the only Guitar God from another planet.

After what seemed like forever Ace and his band finally appeard on the stage and delivered a near-deafening performance of classic Kiss numbers and material from his post-Kiss solo albums as well as a few cover songs. The set list for the evening was as follows:

Detroit Rock City/Rip It Out/Shot Full of Rock/Breakout/She/Strange Ways/Foxy Lady/New York Groove/2 Young 2 Die/Richie Guitar Solo/Cold Gin/Watchin' You/Parasite/Strutter/Shout It Out Loud/Rocket Ride/Ace Solo/Deuce/Day Tripper/Communication Breakdown/I Don't Need No Doctor

Immediately after the show was over, I headed for the location where I'd been told to wait for the post-show meet and greet with Ace. It was a short line and me and this other dude were at the front of it. One of Ace's security guys came out and told us it would be about 15 minutes and that we could NOT bring cameras backstage. Bummer. But whatever, I was 15 minutes away from a meeting that I'd waited my whole life for. The minutes ticked by slowly and eventually the door to "the room" opened up and me and one Rock Soldier were allowed inside.

We walked in and found a sweat-soaked, entirely wiped-out looking Ace Frehley sitting on a chair with a towel around his neck, looking up at us and smiling and saying, "Hey guys, come on in. Nice to meet ya." Richie Scarlet was in the room with us as well but the rest of the band was nowhere to be seen. Just me, this other lucky fan, Richie, and Ace. I stammered something about how great the show was and he said thanks, and that he thought the crowd was really crazy and that they'd had a fun time playing for us. I was having a hard time thinking what to say - what DO you say to your idol, and I asked him something about the (then new) Kiss tribute album "Kiss My Ass". For some reason all the artwork where Ace's image was to appear had been chopped, blurred, or otherwise obscured. He assumed a nasty tone and look on his face and said, "Gene and Paul can kiss MY ass. Fuck them!" I laughed, but it wasn't meant to be funny, he seemed genuinely irked about it. We made some idle chit-chat for a few minutes while he signed several items that I'd brought with me, he seemed to enjoy seeing my 1978 Japanese Music Life Kiss special edition magazine...he took a few minutes to leaf through it and look at some of the photos. Soon the securty guy was at the door saying our time was up, that the next two guys were waiting to come in, so I shook Ace's hand and told him to please come back to Minneapolis soon and often. He thanked us for coming to the show and we were ushered out of the room. We were in there for about 10 minutes and it seemed like it went by in two seconds...I was having a hard time believing what had just occured...

But I did have the presence of mind to know that the band would be leaving by the back door, and since I hadn' t been allowed to bring my camera backstage with me, that might be my only chance of getting a photo or two of Ace. So I grabbed all my stuff, and headed for the back of the club. By now it was probably like 2:00am or so and it had gotten a bit chilly out. I hung around the back doors for probably another 20 minutes or so when, finally, the door opend up and I recognized Ace's tour manager poking his head out the door to make sure there wasn't a mob scene waiting for Ace as he left the club. There was just me and maybe a dozen or so other people waiting to catch a glimpse. The manager turned back and said it was OK, and all of a sudden here he comes...Ace Frehley was leaving the building. I put my camera up and snapped...


...and snapped again...



...and just as quickly as he'd appeared, Ace jumped into the front seat of this van that had been waiting for him and the driver threw it into gear and they were off...just as I managed to get one last photo:



Hard to believe it was 15 years ago already...I remember it like it was yesterdy.

Most people never get to meet their heroes. I'm one of the lucky ones I guess...I hope to one day get the chance to do it again...

10/31/92 - 17 Years Ago in Minneapolis, MN - Black Sabbath/Exodus/Skew Siskin

(Images via: NYCDreamin Archives)

Ahh, what could be better than seeing Black Sabbath, reunited with Ronnie James Dio no less, on Halloween night? This was an absolutely skull-crushing show. Things kicked off with Skew Siskin, who I have to admit, I don't remember at all. But I do remember Exodus. Jee-zus those guys could (and still do!) shred. I almost wrecked my neck I was headbanging so hard. We were on the upper balcony of the beautiful Orpheum theatre in downtown Minneapolis, and during Exodus' set, at one point, I was headbanging away like a psycho fool, and all of a sudden - BAM! My glasses flew off my face and went right over the balcony and landed on a seat on the lower level. I was quite alarmed at this development as they were not cheap glasses...and I can't see a fucking thing without them. Luckily, my good buddy PriestFreakNo.1 could see them and he volunteered to go downstairs and retrieve them for me. He explained the situation to a security guy on the floor and he was escorted to the spot where they had landed...he picked them up and returned them to me in short order and all was well. WHEW!!! Exodus finished up and we waited for the main event.

The lights went down and Sabbath took the stage. It being Halloween and all, the band members were each wearing a pair of red, light-up devil horns...it was kind of funny. But all humor was soon cast aside for the serious business at hand - some of the darkest, heaviest metal of all time. The band pounded their way through classic Sabbath numbers from the Dio era and some songs from the then-new CD "Dehumanizer." It was truly a thing to behold and the show cemented my feelings that the Dio fronted Black Sabbath was always far superior to the Ozzy years. Don't get me wrong, I love Ozzy. But the Dio years were definately the best version of Black Sabbath. Heavy, Heavy, Heavy!

Enjoy this clip of the song "Mob Rules" shot in New York City on October 13th 1992, just a few weeks before I saw the band in Minneapolis...

Max's Kansas City Updates Later Today...

I've started regular postings again as of today but the updates will continue on the huge "Max's Kansas City Dates" piece I put up last week. More information will be added later today. Check it out HERE.

Missing In Action: Hunter-Gatherer

Image via:

It's been nearly 30 days with no new posts from our fellow blogger and all-around good guy Hunter-Gatherer. We're just wondering where he is (we have our theories) and are hoping that he is alright...

10/29/96 - 13 Years Ago Today in Minneapolis, MN - Rush

(Images via: NYCDreamin Archives)

This was the first time I saw Rush live in concert. I'd never been a huge fan, I just casually liked them but this show changed all that - it was an amazing show and every time I've seen them since they've been amazing as well. Have they ever put on a bad show? I wonder...

Max's Kansas City: The Dates and Details

(Image via: Can'tStopProgress.co.uk)

DUE TO THE LARGE SIZE OF THIS PAGE IT MAY TAKE A MINUTE OR SO TO LOAD COMPLETELY. PLEASE BE PATIENT.
Tired of digging around the web trying to locate information on Max's Kansas City? Let me do the work for you...I'm attempting to chronicle as many live shows and other events that took place at the club as I can right here in one place. Click on highlited dates to see original ad's, show reviews, videos, audio, or additional information. If you hung out at Max's, I hope you enjoy the Chronolgy and it brings back some good memories for you. If you, like me, were to young to have experienced this amazing place for yourself, you can now experience it here...sort of. Thanks for reading.


This post is a work in progress...
Please check back to see new and additional information as it is added.
LAST UPDATE: 04/22/12



Click on highlighted dates to see original ad's, reviews, video, audio or additional information.

Max's Kansas City
213 Park Avenue South
New York City, NY.

1965
12/06/65 Max's Kansas City opens it's doors , your host - Mickey Ruskin.

1966
01/15/66 Max's Kansas City official "Grand Opening" party

A Directory to Dining
New York Times - 11/04/66
by Craig Claiborne
Max's Kansas City, 213 Park Avenue South (between 17th and 18th Streets), CA8-2080. The name on the menu of this restaurant is Max's Kansas City Steak Lobster Chick Peas, and it is one of the most switched-on restaurants in Manhattan. There are waitresses in mini-skirts and waiters with beards. Max's is a large, angular, two-level restaurant. At the moment it is wildly popular, and consequently there is at times a wait for tables. The service is a bit disorganized, but the simply grilled steaks and lobsters are good. The dishes are a la carte with luncheon entrees from about $1.10 for hamburger on a seeded roll to $3.25 for broiled filet mignon; dinner dishes from about $2.50 for broiled swordfish steak to $4.95 for boneless sirloin. Cocktails, wines. The house wine ($2) served in a pichet, or pitcher, is dreadful. Open 7 days a week.
1967
01/??/67 Mickey Ruskin applies for a Cabaret Zoning Variance

"Cabaret Zoning Faces Court Test"
New York Times - 01/22/67
The validity of a city zoning decision is being tested by the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, supported by the Fifth Avenue Association.

The insurance company has gone to court in an attempt to have nullified a recent zoning variance that would benefit the owner of a neighboring restaurant on Park Avenue South. The association, whose purview includes Park Avenue, also opposes the varience.

Guardian Life's headquarters is in a 20-story building at 201 Park Avenue South, at the northeast corner of 17th Street, just north of Union Square. It's next door neighbor is Max's Kansas City, a restaurant that occupies the ground floor of a five-story structure at 213 Park Avenue South.

The restaurant by day is a luncheon place for local business people. At night it swings with a "mod" young crowd and is a lively, bright spot in a deserted business area.

B. Michael Ruskin, who operates Max's, wants to provide dance music for his dinner patrons. This would put his restaurant in the cabaret class, but his neighborhood is not zoned for cabarets, a fact well known to Guardian Life. An application for a cabaret licence for the restaurant is still pending.

Guardian Life, one of the major companies in the Park Avenue South business District, has been a strong supporter of the general upgrading the avenue has undergone in recent years.

Street Renamed

The stretch of Fourth Avenue from 17th to 32nd Street was renamed Park Avenue South a few years ago to give that part of the avenue more prestige and zoning in the area was tightened under the new zoning resolution of 1961.

The area is in a C-5-2 zone, which limits it to a highly restricted commercial use. Restaurants are permitted, but cabarets that provide entertainment and dancing are not.

Cabarets are allowed only two blocks south of Max's Kansas City, where the area is in a less restricted zone, termed C-6.

The zoning variance was granted to the Coldover Realty Company, the owner of the restaurant's building, by the Board of Standards and Appeals which reviews applications from property owners for an easing of the zoning resolution. The zoning resolution is administered by the City Planning Commission.

The Commission in the past has charged that the Board issues exceptions to the zoning resolution too often. In seeking a variance, a property owner has to show that compliance with the zoning resolution would result in unreasonable hardship.

A spokesman for the Commission said officials of the agency were disturbed by the variance granted to Max's Kansas City.

01/??/67 George Grotz "The Furniture Doctor" Book release party

Excerpt from: "In and Out of Books"
by Lewis Nichols
New York Times - 01/29/67
The literary cocktail party is a legendary thing, perhaps more legendary to those who don't go than to those who do. It's purpose is to celebrate the publication of a book, allowing the author to mingle with his peers - and sometimes his critis - and in any event showing that someone, namely his publisher, cares. There are big literary parties in hotel ball rooms and small ones in bookstores, and the other week there were two which somehow seemed to run the gamut by themselves. The first of these was in honor of George Grotz, otherwise known as the Furniture Doctor, the most recent of his books from Doubleday being "Antiques You Can Decorate With." This was held in an upstairs room of Max's Kansas City restaurant on Park Avenue South, currently an "in" place, and a spot where Mr. Grotz felt he might meet some of his cronies. The upstairs room was equipped with a bar, cigarette machine, record player and a cloakroom where Max's waitresses change from civilian mini-skirts to working mini-skirts. The invitations read to bring any pieces of furniture the guests wanted refinished, and while the party was in progress, the guest of honor busily worked at repairing a footstool, a table, and a shaving mirror. An odor of shellac mingled with an odor of garlic and a smoke odor from a fire Max's had just undergone, and it all was a fine thing of it's kind.

09/??/67 Yvonne Sewall begins job as waitress at Max's
*She would eventually become Mrs. Mickey Ruskin.

11/??/67 Mickey Ruskin opens "Longview Country Club" across the street from Max's. Located on the corner of 18th Street and Park Avenue, the "Longview" was opened to accomodate overflow customers from Max's, which at this point was doing a peak business.

1968
??/??/68 "The Mokeeater" Theatrical performance staged upstairs at Max's

1969
??/??/69 1st musical performances held "Upstairs at Max's"

07/21/69 Jackie Curtis "marries" Max's employee Stanley Sweetheart

Sesu Coleman (Drums - Magic Tramps)
From: MagicTramps.com Eric [Emerson] was kind and supportive as he was close to Jackie [Curtis]. [On July 21, 1969] Jackie and Eric planned to stage a fake wedding on a rooftop on East 11th street, inviting press, stars, artists. The Village Voice front page called it the "Twilight of the Tribe," and it was filmed by the Maysles Brothers. Guests included Larry Ray dancing in a tutu, Melba Rose, Tony Ingrassia, Alice Playten and Ruby Lynn Reyner. When Eric didn't show up, Jackie "married" Stanley Sweetheart, the blond maitre d' [from] Max's.

Wayne/Jayne County (Musician)
Excerpt from: Man Enough to be a Woman
1995 [p. 49-50]
Leee [Black Childers] was invited to Jackie's wedding in 1969, and he tried to talk me into going, but I didn't want to go for some reason. I don't know why and I kicked myself for it afterwards. Jackie was supposed to be marrying the actor Eric Emerson, but he didn't show up, and so [Jackie][ married Stewart, the maitre d' from Max's instead. Leee was there with his camera and he came back with these fabulous pictures of all the New York Underground people like Larry Ray, the founder of the drag Ballets Trockadero, in his ballet outfit, Jackie, Ruby Lynn Reyner, Penny Arcade, Andrea Whips Warhol. Leee desribed it to me as something totally beyond hippie and gay, something totally new. He was so excited. It was the same day the astronauts landed on the moon.


A rare Max's Kansas City matchbook cover.
(Image via: DJUncleMike.com)

??/??/69 Micky Ruskin expands the Max's franchise, opening a second location, called "Max's Terre Haute," located on the Upper East Side at 1359 First Avenue.

Tony Weinberger
Excerpt from:
"Max's Kansas City Stories"
(1971)[p. 101]There had been talk around Max's for some months that [Mickey] was planning to open a second store uptown. He said that the new place had been named, again by Joel [Oppenheimer], Max's Terre Haute - and asked me to take the job of renovating the place, which was at First Avenue and Seventy-third stret. He said he figured there should be about five weeks' work, mostly carpentry and some plumbing. There was an existing restaurant there and mostly it would be a matter of making it less decorative. We made an appointment to go uptown the next day to look it over. The last time I had done any work for Mickey was during the first week of June, repairing extensive damage caused by a Memorial Day fire in the rear second-floor dining room, which almost put him out of business.

Excerpts from:
"High On Rebellion - Inside the Underground at Max's Kansas City"
by Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin (1998)[p. 98]
Les Levine (Conceptual Artist)
"When he opened the uptown place in 1969, people really didn't like to go uptown. Most people didn't like to go further than where they lived. Mickey got into empire building and you can't physically be in all places at one time, and even though he had the Max's bus service from uptown to downtown, what you are doing is physically taking people out of one place and moving them to another. That concept doesn't work."

Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin
"The original concept of Max's Terre Haute, located at 1359 First Avenue, on the southwest corner of Seventy-third, was to attract the hip Upper East Side artsy crowd. Frosty (Meyers) displayed his talent once again by designing a laser beam that went around the restaurant and ended up at the restrooms. So when someone asked the bartender or the waitresses where the bathrooms were, they would say, "Just follow the laser beam." Johanna Lawrenson installed a small boutique, the place was painted, and the lighting was changed. But what Mickey found out is that the crowd that the restaurant attracted was not his crowd, and so the initial excitemant wore off shortly after it opened and the place just fizzled."

1970


Above: Max's Kansas City circa 1970.
(Photo by: Unknown - via OlivierLandemaine.free.fr)

Excerpt from:
Patti Smith - A Biography
by Nick Johnstone
1997 [p. 41]For most of 1970, [artist Robert] Mapplethope and Patti [Smith] had been regulars at Max's Kansas City, a trendy club-bar-restaurant on Park Avenue South at Union Square. Sandy Daley had introduced them to the hotspot, where the house band was the Velvet Underground, a fact that attracted Patti no end.

Exerpts from:
Just Kids
by Patti Smith
2010 [p. 116 - 118 and p. 125 - 127]
Robert [Mapplethorpe's] great wish was to break into the world that surrounded Andy Warhol, though he had no desire to be part of his stable or star in his movies. Robert often said he knew Andy's game and felt if he could talk to him Andy would recognize him as an equal. Although I believed he merited an audience with Andy, I felt any significant dialogue with him was unlikely, for Andy was like an eel, perfectly able to slither from any meaningful conversation.

This mission led us to the city's Bermuda Triangle: Brownie's, Max's Kansas City, and the Frctory, all located within walking distance of one another. The Factory had moved from it's original location on Forty Seventhe Street to 33 Union Square. Brownie's was a health food restaurant around the corner where the Warhol people ate lunch and Max's where they spent their nights.

Sandy Daly first accompanied us to Max's, as we were too intimidated to go by ourselves. We didn't know the rules and Sandy served as an elegantly dispassionate guide. The politics at Max's were very similar to high school, except the popular people were not the cheerleaders or football heroes and the prom queen would most certainly be a he, dressed as a he, knowing more about being a she than most she's.

Max's Kansas City was on Eighteenth Street and Park Avenue South. It was supposedly a restauirant, though few of us actually had the money to eat there. The owner, Mickey Ruskin, was notoriously artist-friendly, even offering a free cocktail-hour buffet for those with the price of a drink. It was said that this buffet, which included Buffalo wings, kept a lot of struggling artists and drag queens alive. I never frequented it as I was working and Robert, who didn't drink, was too proud to go.

There was a big black-and-white awning flanked by a bigger sign announcing that you were about o enter Max's Kansas City. It was casual and sparse, adorned with large abstract pieces of art given to Mickey by artists who ran up supernatural bar tabs. Everything , save the white walls, was red: booths, tablecloths, napkins. Even their signature chickpeas were served in little red bowls. The big draw was the surf and turf: steak and lobster. The back room, bathed in red light, was Robert's objective, and the definative target was the legendary round table that still harbored the rose-colored aura of the absent silver king.

On our first visit we only made it as far as teh front section. We sat in a booth and split a salad and ate the inedible chickpeas. Robert and Sandy ordered Cokes. I had a coffee. The place was fairly dead. Sandy had experienced Max's at the time when it was the social hub of the subterranian universe, when Andy Warhol passively reigned over the round table with his charismatic ermine queen, Edie Sedgwick. The ladies-in-waiting were beautiful, and the circulating knights were the likmes of Ondine, Donald Lyons, Rauschenberg, Dali, Billy Name, Lichtenstei, Gerard Malanga, and John Chamberlain. In recent memory the round table had seated such royalty as Bob Dylan, Bob Neuwirth, Nico, Tim Buckley, Janis Joplin, Viva, and the Velvet Underground. It was as darkly glamorous as one could wish for. But running through the primary artery, the ting that ultimately accelerated their world and took them down, was speed. Amphetamine magnified their paranoia, robbed some of their innate powers, drained their confidence, and ravaged their beauty.

Andy Warhol was no longer there, nor was his high court. Andy didn't go out as much since Valerie Solanas shot him, but it was also likely he had become characteristically bored. Despite his absence, in the fall of 1969 it was still the place to go. The back room was the haven for those desiring the keys to Andy's second silver kingdom, often described more as a place of commerce than of art.

Our Max's debut was uneventful and we splurged on a taxi home for Sandy's sake. It was raining and we did not wish to see the hem of her longblack dress trail in the mud.

For a while the three of us continued to go to Max's together. Sandy had no emotional investment in these excursuions and served as a buffer to my sullen, restless behavior. Eventually I fell in line and accepted the Max's thing as a Robert-related routine. I came home from Scribner's after seven and we'd eat grilled-cheese sandwiches at a diner. Robert and I would tell each other tales of our day and share any new work we had accomplished. Then there would be the long stretch of figuring out what to wear at Max's.

Robert and I continued to go to Max's late at night on our own. We eventually graduated to the back room and sat in a corner under the Dan Flavin flourescent sculpture, washed in red light. The gatekeeper, Dorothy Dean, had taken a liking to Robert and let us pass. Dorothy was small, black, and brilliant. She had harlequin glasses, wore classic cardigan sweater sets, and had gone to the finest schools. She stood before the enterance to the back room like an Abyssinian priest guarding the Ark. No onwe got past her unless she approved. Robert responded to her acid tongue and acerbic sense of humor. She and I stayed out of each other's way.

I knew Max's was important to Robert. He was so supportive of my work that I could not refuse him this nightly ritual.

Mickey Ruskin allowed us to sit for hours nursing coffee and Cocal-Colas and hardly ordering a thing. Some nights were totally dead. We would walk home exhausted and Robert would say we were never going back. Other nights were desperately animated, a dark cabaret infused with the manic energy of thrities Berlin. Screaming catfights erupted between frustrated actresses and indignant drag queens. They all seemed as if they were auditioning for a phantom, and that phantom was Andy Warhol. I wondered if he cared about them at all.

One such night, Danny Fields came over and invited us to sit at the round table. This single gesture afforded us a trial residency, which was an important step for Robert. He was elegant in his response. He just nodded and led me to the table. He didn't reveal at all how much it meant to him. For Danny's thoughtfullness toward us I have always been grateful.

Robert was at ease because, at last, he was where he wanted to be. I can't say I felt comfortable at all. The girls were pretty but brutal, perhaps because there seemed a low percentage of interested males. I cold tell they tolerated me and were attracted to Robert. He was as much their target as their inner circle was his. It seemed as if they were all after him, male and female, but at the time Robert was motivated by ambition, not sex.

He was elated with clearing this small yet monumental hurdle. But privately I thought that the round table, even at the best of times, was innately doomed. Disbanded by Andy, banded by us, no doubt to be disbanded again to accomodate the next scene.

I looked around at everyone bathed in the blood light of the back room. Dan Flavin had conceived his installation in response to the mounting death toll of the war in Vietnam. No one in the back room was slated to die in Vietnam, though few would survive the cruel plagues of a generation.

Have a look into the world of Andy Warhol and his "Superstars" in this cool BBC documentary clip - some of this was actually filmed inside Max's Kansas City - see if you can spot the footage that was filmed there:




(See LARGE)

??/??/70 Hannah Weiner presents The Saturday Afternoon Show
/W/ Deborah Hay/Frank Owen/Ira Joel Haber/Abe Lubelski/Adrian Piper/Marjorie Strider/John Perreault/Vito Acconci/Stephen Kaltenbach/Scott Burton/Eduardo Costa/Paul Pelter/Hannah Weiner
*The event consisted of small performance art events done by the artists all over the restaurant.

Photo: Adrian Piper, Untitled Performance for Max's Kansas City, 1970

06/24/70 Velvet Underground
06/25/70 Velvet Underground
06/26/70 Velvet Underground
06/27/70 Velvet Underground
06/28/70 Velvet Underground
07/01/70 Velvet Underground
07/02/70 Velvet Underground
07/03/70 Velvet Underground
07/04/70 Velvet Underground

"Velvet Rock Group Opens Stand Here"
by Mike Jahn New York Times - 07/04/70
The Velvet Underground was playing experimental rock in 1965 when the Beatles just wanted to hold your hand and San Francisco was still the place where Tony Bennett left his heart.

The group came into prominence in 1965 and 1966 through an association with Andy Warhol and Nico, the singer and actress. The musicians played a long-standing engagement at the Balloon Farm, now the Electric Circus, on St. Mark's Place, where they were part of Warhol's mixed-media show, The Plastic Exploding Inevitable. They are appearing through tomorrow night at Max's Kansas City, 213 Park Avenue South, their first New York Appearance in three years.


The music, which after all this time rates very high, is more rhythmic and forceful than ever before. The Velvet Underground plays a hard driving rock that is powerful and tight as a raised fist; so unified and together that it just rolls itself into a knot and throbs.


The group defies categorization as well as any other group currently making the rounds; better to say their music is loud, driving, with a remarkable interchange of dynamics between guitars and bass, and that awesome sense of unity. The vocals tend to be second-rate and subserviant to the instrumental, which is a common condition.


The musicians should be seen, more often than once every three years; they make 80 per cent of today's popular rock groups seem pointless and amateurish. The Velvet Underground consists of Lou Reed, vocals and guitar; Sterling Morrison, guitar; Doug Yule, bass and vocals; and Billy Yule, sitting in on drums. -end


07/05/70 Velvet Underground

08/23/70 Velvet Underground
*Brigid Berlin recorded the show. It would later be released (05/30/72) as the LP "The Velvet Underground Live at Max's Kansas City." This was also the final time Lou Reed would perform with the Velvet Underground until a handful of reunion gigs in 1993.


08/26/70 Velvet Underground
08/28/70 Velvet Underground
*More information on the Velvet Undergound's Summer 1970 gigs at Max's can be found HERE.


09/08/70 Alice Cooper
10/12/70 1st NY Underground Film Festival /W/ Michel Auder
10/13/70 1st NY Underground Film Festival /W/ Bill Vehr
10/14/70 1st NY Underground Film Festival /W/ Fred ??
10/15/70 1st NY Underground Film Festival /W/ Jack Smith
10/16/70 1st NY Underground Film Festival /W/ Taylor Meade

10/17/70 1st NY Underground Film Festival: Matinee of Short Films:
/W/ Bill Camble/Antione Perich/Claude Pervis/Rayanne Rubenstein

10/18/70 1st NY Underground Film Festival /W/ Beverly & Tony Conrad
10/19/70 1st NY Underground Film Festival /W/ Andy Warhol

Excerpt from:
Just Kids
by Patti Smith
2010 [p. 179]The scene was shifting at Max's. The summer residency of the Velvet Underground attracted the new guardians of rock and roll. The round table was often filled with musicians, the rock press, Danny Goldberg, who conspired to revolutionize the music business. Lenny [Kaye] could be found alongside Lillian Roxon, Lisa Robinson, Danny Fields, and others who were slowly making the back room their own. One could still count on Holly Woodlawn sweeping in, Andrea Feldman dancing on the tabletops, and Jackie and Wayne spewing cavalier brilliance, but increasingly their days of being the focal point at Max's were numbered. Robert and I spent less time there and pursued our own scenes. Yet Max's was still reflected our destiny. Robert had begun to phtotgraph the Warhol denizens even as they were departing. And I was slowly becoming enmeshed in the rock world, along with those who inhabited it, through writing and ultimately performing.

1971
Sesu Coleman (Drums - Magic Tramps)
From: MagicTramps.com After an earthquake [in Los Angeles] in early 1971, Eric suggested we travel to New York City. He knew Andy Warhol would embrace us and he spoke highly of a nightclub/restaurant that had an upstairs music hall that hadn't been used for quite a while, since the Velvet Underground [had] played there [in the summer of 1970] called Max's Kansas City. The owner, Mickey Ruskin, was a good guy and would allow us to showcase there, so off we went L.A. to N.Y.C. History was in the making.

[We met Mickey Ruskin] and he was genuinely happy to see Eric [again.] We were all introduced and accepted. I remember Mickey always had a smile, I liked him immediately. He gave me a Max's t-shirt. Mickey said we could showcase and gave us the key to the upstairs room. Max's was the first gig we played in NYC. The entire Factory and Warhol entourage was there. I recall Paul Morrisey, Andy Warhol's film assistant, told us, "Rock and Roll will never fly in New York, Cabaret is the way!" So we created two shows - one Rock and Roll and one Cabaret.

Our first few gigs were played under the name "Messiah," except for a few gigs under the name "Star Theatre". We later returned as the house band at Max's after a fire upstairs in which we lost some equipment.

Keep in mind that there was not an established Rock and Roll scene in New York City at this time. This was the era [before] Kiss, Blondie, Talking Heads, Ramones, New York Dolls, etc. The New York City music scene exploded during this period.

06/15/71 Artists Auction
10/23/71 Eric Emerson Group (Magic Tramps a.k.a. Messiah)

The Village Voice - 12/09/71
Riffs by Richard NusserSuperstars who can't offer more than a pretty face or a frenzied burlesque routine generally find themselves fading into drugs and/or obscurity after a brief but flashy turn on society's stage. Turning on'e life into an artifact of Pop culture can prove treacherous if one's schtick is too shallow to hold the public's interest. Some people, like Viva, Holly Woodlawn, and very few others, have enough talent to avoid the flash and fade syndrome. Eric Emerson looks like he'll be another one.

Eric has been on the scene, doing his thing, for about five years now. In that time he's designed clothes, starred in several Warhol films, most notably "Lonesome Cowboys," and even worked as a maitre d'hotel at Max's Kansas City, which is proving itself to be a rather durable pop phenomenon. It's quite appropriate the, for Eric to find himself (in every sense of the phrase) hosting a cabaret show upstairs at Max's these days. For one thing, Eric has developed a format that could turn the room into New York's only hip nightclub.

Although he isn't a polished performer, Eric has enough presence, spunk, and charm to sustain an evening of song, dance, and a bit of mime. What's more, it's entertainment in a traditional vein. It's not just Pop, it's music hall stuff, it's real cabaret. Max's regulars are impressed, and drop-in diners are finding it fun also. As a result, Mickey Ruskin is holding the show over another week.

Lary Chaplan, one of the three musicians who back Eric up, usually opens the evening with a bit of Beethoven, which he plays alone on an acoustic violin. He's very good, too, and the audience perks right up at that point. ThenEric, dressed in leather shorts, boots, a shirt and a cowboy hat, takes over, singing songs mostly written to order for him by Chaplan. Tender ballads, contemporary cowboy songs, and a series of pirouettes, splits, and wild leaps keep things moving along. Then Eric brings up a special guest.

Lately, it's been Miss Gerri Miller, a dark eyed beauty who swings and does amazing things with her bosoms, which are probably as fine a set of bosoms as can be found. Gerri, a former stripper, is a Warhol star also. She dances topless at the Metropole in the daytime, too. She sings one song, "Mama Look At Me Now," shakes her bosoms, makes circles with them (one at a time!), and brings down the house.

Other superstars drop by when they're in the neighborhood, but they have to have something worthwhile to offer before Eric will bring them up for a guest spot. "They gotta be prime," he says.

The music is perfect for what's going on. Chaplan stays on violin throughout the evening, with Sesu Coleman on drums and Michael Tschudin on piano. Tschudin, who played piano for "The Fantastics" for two years, is a real asset, because that's the kind of music Chaplan has written - bright, light little things that match Eric's personality.

All in all, a pleasant evening. And a welcome change from the usual fare - folk singers and "debuting" artists - that has been the mainstay of small downtown clubs. (I can't even imagine Gerri Miller shaking her tits in the Bitter End for instance.)

??/??/71 Writer, costruction worker, jack-of-all-trades, Max's Kansas City regular (and for a short time, a Manager at Mickey's uptown expansion location, Max's Terre Haute) Tony Weinberger, releases his book titled "Max's Kansas City Stories." Published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc., the book actually has very little to do with Max's Kansas City, but does contain some occasional, momentary glimpses into the goings-on there.


(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

1972
02/02/72 Ray Burton/Gino Cunico
02/??/72 Link Wray/Magic Tramps

Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine - 02/72
MusicThe current show at Max's Cabaret features the Magic Tramps, a band which suggests new possibilities for tired rock and roll fans, tin pan alley rock. The star of the show is Eric Emerson, star of Lonesome Cowboys, who croons to the crowd and does some ballet-tap-cossack dance numbers. Eric sings love songs in front of some fine fiddling and piano tinkling, accompanying himself on the dance floor in his homemade Leiderhosen, and belting out "Swinging On A Star" as it's never been done before. It's a touch of vaudeville, a taste of swing, a pinch of the middle ages and enough rock to hold it together. -end
03/08/72 Exuma
03/09/72 Exuma
03/10/72 Exuma
03/11/72 Exuma
03/12/72 Exuma
03/15/72 David Blue
03/16/72 David Blue
03/17/72 David Blue
03/18/72 David Blue
03/19/72 David Blue

Going Out Guide
New York Times - 03/31/72
Max's Kansas City, 213 Park Avenue South, at 17th Street (777-7870) is an all day restaurant downstairs, a gathering place at night for the crowd that passes as mod and is always jammed. But Max's rises above mere food; it goes upstairs to a barely furnished brick-walled room that is high in decibels and awash in, usually, rock. As the night goes along, upstairs at Max's (it has no special name) becomes more thronged, more rhythmic and noisier. The admission is $3 (sometimes $2, depending on the acts) and only drinks and sandwiches are served on the upper level. Dress is optional, although, or course, something should be worn. A regular business suit might make you feel like some sort of official inspector, but there are those who wear it and are not disturbed. This week, John Hammond the blues singer, and a rock group, The Tidbits, are performing at 9:30 and 11:30 through Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday no live show but there is dancing to recorded music from midnight to 2; admission $2. -end
04/13/72 John Herald & Friends
04/14/72 John Herald & Friends
04/15/72 John Herald & Friends
04/16/72 John Herald & Friends
05/??/72 Country Gentlemen


(NYTimes - 05/16/72)

05/17/72 Pearls Before Swine/Sandy Bull
05/18/72 Pearls Before Swine/Sandy Bull
05/19/72 Pearls Before Swine/Sandy Bull
05/20/72 Pealrs Before Swine/Sandy Bull
05/21/72 Pearls Before Swine/Sandy Bull
05/23/72 White Cloud
05/24/72 White Cloud
05/25/72 White Cloud
05/26/72 White Cloud
05/27/72 White Cloud
05/28/72 White Cloud

05/30/72 "The Velvet Underground Live at Max's Kansas City" LP released
*Recorded 08/23/70

06/??/72 Moogy & the Rhythm Kings
06/??/72 White Cloud


(NYTimes - 06/04/72)

06/??/72 Joyce Everson


(NYTimes - 06/09/72)

06/??/72 J.D. Crowe and the Kentucky Mountain Boys


(NYTimes - 06/16/72)

06/10/72 Beans
07/05/72 Exuma
07/06/72 Exuma
07/07/72 Exuma
07/08/72 Exuma
07/09/72 Exuma
07/24/72 New York Dolls
07/25/72 New York Dolls

08/??/72 Aerosmith
08/??/72 Aerosmith
08/??/72 Aerosmith
*Aerosmith played three shows at Max's in August of 1972. At one of these shows Clive Davis signed the band to a record deal with Columbia Records for a reported $125,000 advance.

08/??/72 Fanny/New Days Ahead
08/04/72 The Persuasions
08/09/72 Dave Van Ronk/Doris Abrahams/Bruce Springsteen
08/10/72 Dave Van Ronk/Doris Abrahams/Bruce Springsteen



08/11/72 Dave Van Ronk/Doris Abrahams/Bruce Springsteen
08/12/72 Dave Van Ronk/Doris Abrahams/Bruce Springsteen
08/13/72 Dave Van Ronk/Doris Abrahams/Bruce Springsteen
08/14/72 Dave Van Ronk/Doris Abrahams/Bruce Springsteen
08/16/72 Buzzy Linhart
08/??/72 Tom Rapp/Pearls Before Swine/Sinful Street

08/30/72 New York Dolls/Bruce Springsteen
*From: BruceBase.org.uk:
Springsteen plays some early evening solo acoustic shows during the New York Dolls 5-night (Aug 30 thru Sept 3) residency at the club. Bruce was not part of the bill - he played several hours prior to the Dolls show. Springsteen seems to positively confirm his non-advertised appearance/s at Max’s during this week when, in a Nov 1992 Musician Magazine interview with Bill Flanagan, Bruce commented: “I use to come down to Max’s Kansas City and play by myself…..and then late at night the New York Dolls would play at Max’s – they’d play at 2AM”. This 5-night residency was the Dolls’ only one at the club in 1972. It is still not verified if Springsteen played one, some or all of these 5 nights.
08/31/72 New York Dolls
09/01/72 New York Dolls
09/02/72 New York Dolls
09/03/72 New York Dolls

Rolling Stone Magazine - 08/31/82






09/04/72 Bruce Springsteen
*From: BruceBase.org.uk:
ONE (informal) show, with Springsteen (solo) performing during a late afternoon - early evening “open” Monday at the club. This was the Labor Day holiday and no pre-advertised acts were booked. As fate would have it, resident Greenwich Village folkie David Blue happened to be socializing downstairs at Max’s prior to his own gig later in the evening at The Bitter End. In a 1992 interview in Musician Magazine Springsteen seemingly made reference to this specific performance, commenting: “I used to come down to Max’s Kansas City and play by myself….David Blue came down one night and as I was walking off stage said ‘hey man that was great, come with me’. We got in a cab and went downtown to The Bitter End, where I (first) met Jackson.”

09/06/72 Birtha
09/07/72 Birtha
09/08/72 Birtha


(NYTimes - 09/08/72)

09/09/72 Birtha
09/10/72 Birtha
09/12/72 Bobby Whitlock


(NYTimes - 09/15/72)

09/20/72 Loudon Wainwright III
09/21/72 Loudon Wainwright III
09/22/72 Loudon Wainwright III
09/23/72 Loudon Wainwright III


(NYTimes - 09/23/72)

09/24/72 Loudon Wainwright III
09/29/72 John Fahey/Hamid Hamilton Camp
09/30/72 John Fahey/Hamid Hamilton Camp
10/01/72 John Fahey/Hamid Hamilton Camp
10/04/72 Sparks/Bob Gibson
10/05/72 Sparks/Bob Gibson
10/06/72 Sparks/Bob Gibson
10/07/72 Sparks/Bob Gibson
10/08/72 Sparks/Bob Gibson
10/10/72 John Hammond/Martin Mull
10/11/72 John Hammond/Martin Mull
10/12/72 John Hammond/Martin Mull
10/13/72 John Hammond/Martin Mull
10/14/72 John Hammond/Martin Mull
10/16/72 Teenage Lust

11/??/72 Lou Reed releases the single "Walk On The Wild Side"
*Check out some of the amazing footage of the goings-on down at Max's in this video:



11/01/72 Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids
11/15/72 Mimi Farina/Carol McComb/Denny Brown
11/16/72 Mimi Farina/Carol McComb/Denny Brown
11/17/72 Mimi Farina/Carol McComb/Denny Brown
11/18/72 Mimi Farina/Carol McComb/Denny Brown
11/19/72 Mimi Farina/Carol McComb/Denny Brown
11/22/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
11/23/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
11/24/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
11/25/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
11/26/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
11/27/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
11/28/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
11/29/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
11/30/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
12/01/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
12/02/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
12/03/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
12/04/72 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
12/15/72 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band/Joey George


(NYTimes - 12/15/72)

12/16/72 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band/Joey George
12/18/72 John Simon
12/19/72 John Simon
12/20/72 Doug Kershaw
12/21/72 Doug Kershaw
12/22/72 Doug Kershaw
12/23/72 Doug Kershaw

1973
01/04/73 New York Dolls
01/05/73 New York Dolls
01/06/73 New York Dolls
01/07/73 New York Dolls
01/07/73 New York Dolls
01/09/73 J.F. Murphy and Salt/Cross Roads


(NYTimes - 01/11/73)

01/17/73 Waylon Jennings /Carol Hall
01/18/73 Waylon Jennings /Carol Hall
01/19/73 Waylon Jennings /Carol Hall
01/20/73 Waylon Jennings /Carol Hall


(NYTimes - 01/20/73)

01/21/73 Waylon Jennings /Carol Hall
01/22/73 Waylon Jennings
01/26/73 Fanny/Frankie & Johnny
01/27/73 Fanny/Frankie & Johnny
01/28/73 Fanny/Frankie & Johnny


(NYTimes - 01/29/73)

01/29/73 Fanny/Frankie & Johnny
01/31/73 Biff Rose/Bruce Springsteen
02/01/73 Biff Rose/Bruce Springsteen
02/02/73 Biff Rose/Bruce Springsteen
02/04/73 Biff Rose/Bruce Springsteen
02/05/73 Biff Rose/Bruce Springsteen
02/06/73 J.F. Murphy and Salt
02/07/73 T-Bone Walker Blues Band
02/08/73 T-Bone Walker Blues Band
02/09/73 T-Bone Walker Blues Band
02/10/73 T-Bone Walker Blues Band
02/11/73 T-Bone Walker Blues Band
02/12/73 Taj Mahal
02/13/73 Taj Mahal
02/14/73 Doug Sham & Band
02/15/73 Doug Sham & Band
02/16/73 Doug Sham & Band
02/17/73 Doug Sham & Band
02/18/73 Doug Sham & Band
02/19/73 Doug Sham & Band
02/20/73 Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks
02/26/73 Bonnie Raitt
02/27/73 Bonnie Raitt
03/04/73 N.R.B.Q.
03/07/73 Gram Parsons
03/08/73 Gram Parsons
03/09/73 Gram Parsons
03/10/73 Gram Parsons
03/11/73 Gram Parsons
03/12/73 Gram Parsons

"A Song For You" by Gram Parsons - Live at Max's - March 1973



03/13/73 Melissa Manchester
03/14/73 Rich Roberts/John Martyn
03/18/73 Rich Roberts/John Martyn
03/28/73 John Herald/The Honkies/Garland Jeffries
03/29/73 John Herald/The Honkies/Garland Jeffries
03/30/73 John Herald/The Honkies/Garland Jeffries
03/31/73 John Herald/The Honkies/Garland Jeffries
04/01/73 John Herald/The Honkies/Garland Jeffries
04/02/73 If
04/03/73 If/Fraser & DeBolt
04/04/73 If/Fraser & DeBolt
04/05/73 If/Fraser & DeBolt
04/06/73 Tim Buckley/Martin Mull/Fraser & DeBolt
04/07/73 Tim Buckley/Martin Mull/Fraser & DeBolt
04/08/73 Tim Buckley/Martin Mull/Fraser & DeBolt
04/09/73 Martin Mull
04/11/73 Bonnie Raitt/Little Feat
04/12/73 Bonnie Raitt/Little Feat
04/13/73 Bonnie Raitt/Little Feat
04/14/73 Bonnie Raitt/Little Feat
04/15/73 Bonnie Raitt/Little Feat
04/16/73 Bonnie Raitt/Little Feat
04/18/73 Charlie Rich/Tom Waits
04/19/73 Charlie Rich/Tom Waits
04/20/73 Charlie Rich/Tom Waits


(NYTimes - 04/20/73)

04/21/73 Charlie Rich/Tom Waits
04/22/73 Charlie Rich/Tom Waits
04/25/73 Odetta/Bill Quateman
04/26/73 Odetta/Bill Quateman
04/27/73 Odetta/Bill Quateman


(NYTImes - 04/27/73)

04/28/73 Odetta/Bill Quateman
04/29/73 Odetta/Bill Quateman
04/30/73 Odetta/Bill Quateman

04/73 Andy Warhol's Interview magazine features an interview with Max's owner Mickey Ruskin, conducted by Danny Fields. You can read an excerpt of that interview HERE.

05/02/73 Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys/Colin Blunstone
05/03/73 Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys/Colin Blunstone
05/04/73 Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys/Colin Blunstone


(NYTimes - 05/04/73)

05/04/73 New York Times
"David Spinozza is a busy-busy recording studio guitarist, appearing on many rock albums in the back-up groups. It was rare to see him doing a live date last week at Max's Kansas City, backing up Bill Quateman."

05/05/73 Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys/Colin Blunstone
05/06/73 Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys/Colin Blunstone
05/11/73 Doc Holiday
05/12/73 Doc Holiday
05/13/73 Doc Holiday
05/14/73 Doc Holiday


(NYTimes - 05/14/73)

05/15/73 Doc Holiday
05/16/73 Willie Nelson
05/17/73 Willie Nelson
05/18/73 Willie Nelson


(NYTimes - 05/18/73)

05/19/73 Willie Nelson
05/20/73 Willie Nelson
05/21/73 Willie Nelson
05/23/73 Hookfoot/Stardrive
05/24/73 Hookfoot/Stardrive
05/25/73 Hookfoot/Stardrive


(NYTimes - 05/25/73)


(NYTimes - 05/25/73)

05/26/73 Hookfoot/Stardrive
05/27/73 Hookfoot/Stardrive
05/28/73 Hookfoot/Stardrive
05/??/73 Howlin' Wolf/Larry Johnson


(NYTimes - 06/01/73)

06/06/73 Al Kooper
06/07/73 Al Kooper
06/08/73 Al Kooper
06/09/73 Al Kooper
06/10/73 Al Kooper/Mose Jones
06/11/73 Al Kooper/Mose Jones
06/13/73 Jimmy Buffett/Andy Pratt
06/14/73 Jimmy Buffett/Andy Pratt
06/15/73 Jimmy Buffett/Andy Pratt
06/16/73 Jimmy Buffett/Andy Pratt
06/17/73 Jimmy Buffett/Andy Pratt
06/18/73 Andy Pratt


(NYTimes - 06/18/73)


(Circus Magazine - September 1973)

06/19/73 Philip Glass
06/20/73 Gladstone
06/21/73 Gladstone
06/22/73 Gladstone
06/23/73 Gladstone
06/24/73 Tommy Kaye/Gladstone
06/25/73 Tommy Kaye/Gladstone
06/27/73 Bachman Turner Overdrive
06/28/73 Bachman Turner Overdrive


(NYTimes - 06/28/73)

06/29/73 Bachman Turner Overdrive
06/30/73 Bachman Turner Overdrive
07/01/73 Bachman Turner Overdrive
07/02/73 Bachman Turner Overdrive
07/04/73 Harlots of 42nd Street/Queen Elizabeth with Wayne County
07/05/73 Harlots of 42nd Street/Queen Elizabeth with Wayne County
07/06/73 Harlots of 42nd Street/Queen Elizabeth with Wayne County
07/07/73 Harlots of 42nd Street/Queen Elizabeth with Wayne County
07/08/73 Harlots of 42nd Street/Queen Elizabeth with Wayne County
07/09/73 Harlots of 42nd Street/Queen Elizabeth with Wayne County
07/11/73 Fresh Flavor/Richie Havens
07/12/73 Fresh Flavor/Richie Havens
07/13/73 Martin Mull


(NYTimes - 07/13/73)

07/14/73 Martin Mull
07/15/73 Martin Mull
07/18/73 Bruce Springsteen/The Wailers *Wailers 1st NYC appearance
07/19/73 Bruce Springsteen/The Wailers
07/20/73 Bruce Springsteen/The Wailers


(NYTimes - 07/20/73)


(NYTImes - 07/20/73)

07/21/73 Bruce Springsteen/The Wailers
07/22/73 Bruce Springsteen/The Wailers
07/23/73 Bruce Springsteen/The Wailers
07/24/73 Ruben and the Jets
07/25/73 Ruben and the Jets
07/27/73 Ruben and the Jets
07/28/73 Ruben and the Jets
07/29/73 Ruben and the Jets
07/30/73 Iggy Pop
07/31/73 Iggy Pop
08/01/73 Iggy Pop
08/02/73 Iggy Pop
08/10/73 Tim Buckley/Joe Droukas & his Crazy Man Band
08/11/73 Tim Buckley/Joe Droukas & his Crazy Man Band
08/12/73 Tim Buckley/Joe Droukas & his Crazy Man Band
08/15/73 Sylvia Tyson
08/16/73 Sylvia Tyson
08/17/73 Sylvia Tyson
08/18/73 Sylvia Tyson
08/19/73 Sylvia Tyson
08/20/73 Sylvia Tyson
08/22/73 New York Dolls
08/23/73 New York Dolls
08/24/73 New York Dolls


(NYTimes - 08/24/73)

08/25/73 New York Dolls
08/26/73 New York Dolls
08/27/73 New York Dolls
08/29/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Roy Bookbinder
08/30/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Roy Bookbinder
08/31/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Roy Bookbinder
09/01/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Roy Bookbinder
09/02/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Roy Bookbinder


(NYTimes - 09/02/73)

09/03/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Roy Bookbinder
09/04/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Joey George
09/05/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Joey George
09/06/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Joey George
09/07/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Joey George
09/08/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Joey George
09/09/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Joey George
09/10/73 Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee/Joey George
09/12/73 Maria Maldaur
09/13/73 Maria Maldaur
09/14/73 Maria Maldaur
09/15/73 Maria Maldaur
09/16/73 Maria Maldaur
09/17/73 Maria Maldaur
09/18/73 Fresh Flavor with Richie Havens
10/03/73 Fabulous Rhinestones
10/04/73 Fabulous Rhinestones
10/05/73 Fabulous Rhinestones
10/06/73 Fabulous Rhinestones

Billboard Magazine - 10/06/73
New York club Max's Kansas City is reducing it's seating capacity by 20 seats and increasing it's admission price by 50 cents "in an effort to resolve uncomfortable conditions and to guarantee not only a table but also a clear sight line to the stage," according to a club spokesman. - end

10/07/73 Fabulous Rhinestones
10/08/73 Fabulous Rhinestones
10/17/73 Eric Anderson
10/18/73 Eric Anderson
10/19/73 Eric Anderson
10/20/73 Eric Anderson
10/21/73 Eric Anderson
10/22/73 Eric Anderson
10/23/73 Luger
10/24/73 Bobby Bland
10/25/73 Bobby Bland
10/26/73 Bobby Bland
10/27/73 Bobby Bland
10/28/73 Bobby Bland
10/29/73 Bobby Bland
11/??/73 Sylvester and the Hot Band/Impact


(NYTimes - 11/02/73)

11/06/73 Bruce Springsteen/Hall & Oates
11/07/73 Bruce Springsteen/Hall & Oates
11/08/73 Bruce Springsteen/Hall & Oates







Kenny Vance (Jay and the Americans), Sally Kellerman (M.A.S.H.), and Michael Libert enjoy a set by Bruce Springsteen at Max's in this undated photo.
(Photo by: Jim Reeves)

11/09/73 J.F. Murphy and Salt
11/10/73 J.F. Murphy and Salt
11/11/73 J.F. Murphy and Salt
11/12/73 J.F. Murphy and Salt
11/21/73 Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys
11/22/73 Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys
11/23/73 Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys
11/24/73 Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys
11/25/73 Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys
11/28/73 Tim Buckley
11/29/73 Tim Buckley
11/30/73 Tim Buckley
12/01/73 Tim Buckley
12/02/73 Tim Buckley
12/03/73 Tim Buckley
12/05/73 Kathy Dalton/Linda Lewis
12/06/73 Kathy Dalton/Linda Lewis
12/07/73 Kathy Dalton/Linda Lewis
12/08/73 Kathy Dalton/Linda Lewis
12/09/73 Kathy Dalton/Linda Lewis
12/10/73 Kathy Dalton/Linda Lewis
12/12/73 Orleans/The Dixie Humingbirds
12/13/73 Orleans/The Dixie Humingbirds
12/14/73 Orleans/The Dixie Humingbirds
12/15/73 Orleans/The Dixie Humingbirds
12/16/73 Orleans/The Dixie Humingbirds
12/17/73 Orleans/The Dixie Humingbirds
12/19/73 Jonathan Edwards
12/20/73 Jonathan Edwards

Excerpt from:
Just Kids
Patti Smith
2010 [p. 233]We had been asked to open for Phil Ochs at Max's Kansas City in the last days of the year. Lenny Kaye and I would spend both of our December birthdays and New Years Eve merging poetry and rock and roll.

It was our first extended job, a six-day stint, two sets a night and three on weekends. Through broken strings and a sometimes hostile crowd, we prevailed with the support of a colorful cast of friends: Allen Ginsberg, Robert and Sam, Todd Rundgren and BeBe Buell, Danny Fields and Steve Paul. By New Years Eve, we were ready for anything.

Several minutes after midnight, Lenny and I were performing on the stage of Max's. The people were raucous, divided, the electricity in the air tangible. It was the first hour of the new year and as I looked out into the crowd, I remembered again what my mother always said. I turned to Lenny. "So as today, the rest of the year." I took the microphone and he struck the chord."

1974
01/23/74 David Steinberg/Wendy Wallman Show
01/24/74 David Steinberg/Wendy Waldman Show
01/25/74 David Steinberg/Wendy Waldman Show
01/26/74 David Steinberg/Wendy Waldman Show
01/27/74 David Steinberg/Wendy Waldman Show
01/28/74 David Steinberg/Wendy Waldman Show
01/29/74 David Steinberg
01/30/74 David Steinberg
01/31/74 David Steinberg
02/01/74 David Steinberg
02/02/74 David Steinberg
02/03/74 David Steinberg
02/06/74 Amazing Blondel/John Martyn
02/07/74 Amazing Blondel/John Martyn
02/08/74 Amazing Blondel/John Martyn
02/09/74 Amazing Blondel/John Martyn
02/10/74 Amazing Blondel/John Martyn
02/11/74 Amazing Blondel/John Martyn
02/13/74 Henry Gross
02/14/74 Henry Gross
02/15/74 Henry Gross
02/16/74 Henry Gross
02/27/74 Charles Mingus
03/14/74 Big Star/Ed Begley Jr.
03/15/74 Big Star/Ed Begley Jr.
03/16/74 Big Star
03/17/74 Big Star
03/18/74 Big Star
03/20/74 Linda Hopkins/Ed Begley Jr.
03/28/74 Zoo World Magazine 04/??/74 The Manhattan Transfer/Ed Begley Jr.
04/03/74 B.W. Stevensen
04/04/74 B.W. Stevensen

04/05/74 New York Times
"Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, who will be at Town Hall in concert Thursday night, will also appear at Max's Kansas City April 24-29."

04/10/74 Happy & Artie Traum
04/11/74 Happy & Artie Traum
04/12/74 Happy & Artie Traum
04/13/74 Happy & Artie Traum
04/14/74 Happy & Artie Traum
04/15/74 New York Dolls
04/16/74 New York Dolls
04/17/74 Janis Ian/Eric Kaz
04/18/74 Janis Ian/Eric Kaz
04/19/74 Janis Ian/Eric Kaz
04/20/74 Janis Ian/Eric Kaz
04/21/74 Janis Ian/Eric Kaz
04/24/74 Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band
04/25/74 Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band
04/26/74 Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band

04/26/74 New York Times
"For those who didn't get to see Catptain Beefheart at Town Hall a few weeks ago, the Captain and his Magic Band are at Max's Kansas City. While you're there, you'll also see the renovations being made to the upstairs music room. It appears the competition is causing Max's to improve both its sound system and the accomodations."

04/27/74 Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band
04/28/74 Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band
04/29/74 Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band
05/01/74 Elliott Murphy/Steve Grossman/Allee Wills
05/02/74 Elliott Murphy/Steve Grossman/Allee Wills
05/03/74 Elliott Murphy/Steve Grossman/Allee Wills
05/04/74 Elliott Murphy/Steve Grossman/Allee Wills
05/05/74 Elliott Murphy/Steve Grossman/Allee Wills
05/06/74 Elliott Murphy/Steve Grossman/Allee Wills
05/07/74 Bobby "Blue" Bland


(NYTimes - 05/07/74)

05/08/74 Bobby "Blue" Bland /Ross
05/09/74 Bobby "Blue" Bland /Ross
05/10/74 Bobby "Blue" Bland /Ross
05/11/74 Bobby "Blue" Bland /Ross
05/12/74 Ross
05/13/74 Ross
05/??/74 Fusion


(NYTImes - 05/14/74)

05/??/74 Buzzy Linhart
*Multiple Night Engagement but I cannot make out the dates on the ad.

05/22/74 Orleans/Jimmy Buffet/David Allan Coe
05/23/74 Orleans/Jimmy Buffet/David Allan Coe
05/24/74 Orleans/Jimmy Buffet/David Allan Coe


(NYTimes - 05/24/74)

05/25/74 Orleans/Jimmy Buffet/David Allan Coe
05/26/74 Orleans/Jimmy Buffet/David Allan Coe
05/27/74 Orleans/Jimmy Buffet/David Allan Coe
06/05/74 Ray Manzarek & Michael Urbaniak
06/12/74 Quacky Duck/Heartsfield


(NYTimes - 06/12/74)

06/13/74 Quacky Duck/Heartsfield
06/14/74 Quacky Duck/Heartsfield
06/15/74 Quacky Duck/Heartsfield


(NYTimes - 06/15/74)

06/16/74 Quacky Duck/Heartsfield
06/26/74 Moogy Klingman Musical Review/Steve Lyons Rock Show
07/??/74 Patti Smith

Here's a clip, dated only as "1974" of Patti Smith live at Max's singing "I'm Wild About That Thing"







07/24/74 Luther Allison
07/29/74 Mickey Rusin signs bankruptcy papers, puts Max's Kansas City up for sale.
07/31/74 Steve Baron


(NYTimes - 07/31/74)


(NYTimes - 08/02/74)


(NYTimes - 08/04/74)

08/09/74 New York Times
"The sale of Max's Kansas City from Mickey Ruskin to Don Sorviero hasn't gone through yet. Mr. Ruskin denies reports that Mr. Sorviero hasn't come up with the money yet and says that the dealy has been caused by "technical snags" that should be resolved momentarily."

Max's Kansas City Bankrupt
Billboard Magazine - 08/17/74
New York - Max's Kansas City Inc., a nightclub and restaurant heavily patronized by record industry personnel, filed a Chapter XI petition July 29, claiming liabilities of $298,000 and assets of $126,315. B. Michael Ruskin, chief officer and director, listed $188,000 of the liabilities as unsecured, $52,000 as secured, and $58,000 owed in state and U.S. taxes. The spot has been known in the trade in recent years as a showcase for musical acts. It remains open, presenting entertainment. - end


(NYTimes - 08/17/74)

08/06/74 Suicide
08/11/74 John C. Attle
08/12/74 John C. Attle

08/23/74 New York Times
"Max's Kansas City, which has been between owners and has filed for bankruptcy, was fromally sold Tuesday to Donald Soviero."

*After Soviero later comes up short on cash, Mickey Ruskin regained control of Max's.

08/26/74 Orleans/Mirambi
08/??/74 Atlanta Rhythm Section

08/28/74 Patti Smith/Television
08/29/74 Patti Smith/Television
08/30/74 Patti Smith/Television


(NYTimes - 08/30/74)

08/31/74 Patti Smith/Television
09/01/74 Patti Smith/Television
09/02/74 Patti Smith/Television
09/04/74 The Eleventh House featuring Larry Coryell/The Counts Rock Band
09/05/74 The Eleventh House featuring Larry Coryell/The Counts Rock Band


(NYTimes - 09/04/74)

09/06/74 Patti Smith/Television
09/07/74 Patti Smith/Television
09/08/74 Patti Smith/Television
09/09/74 Patti Smith/Television
09/11/74 The Deadly Nightshade
09/12/74 The Deadly Nightshade
09/13/74 The Deadly Nightshade
09/14/74 The Deadly Nightshade
09/15/74 The Deadly Nightshade
10/02/74 Buzzy Linhart/Randy Richards
10/22/74 Brian Wallace


(Thanks to Jeff Keithline for the ad scan!)

11/27/74 Larry Young Sextet/Jeremy Steig/Brian McDonald & Electric Cowboys
11/28/74 Larry Young Sextet/Jeremy Steig/Brian McDonald & Electric Cowboys
11/29/74 Larry Young Sextet/Jeremy Steig/Brian McDonald & Electric Cowboys
11/30/74 Larry Young Sextet/Jeremy Steig/Brian McDonald & Electric Cowboys
12/01/74 Miamis
12/02/74 Miamis
12/03/74 Sarah Shendelman/Tricks
12/04/74 Deadly Nightshade
12/05/74 Deadly Nightshade
12/06/74 Deadly Nightshade
12/07/74 Deadly Nightshade

12/??/74 Con-Ed shuts off the power at Max's Kansas City.
Mickey Ruskin decides to close the club, effective immediately.



1975
??/??/75 Max's Kansas City re-opens under new ownership of Tommy Dean with Peter Crowley handling the booking.

From: JustWaterMusic.com:
Binky [Phillips] suggested that Just Water hook up with The Planets' manager, Barbara Bothwell, to see about playing some gigs together. Barbara, who was soon to became Just Water's manager too, told the band that the club Max's Kansas City was reopening under new ownership, and needed new bands to play. It was physically the same Max's that once featured Lou Reed's Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol's crowd, but it was about to reopen as a rock 'n roll club run by Tommy and Laura Dean. The very first show at the new Max's was The Planets and Just Water.

07/23/75 The Heartbreakers
10/27/75 Television/Planets
10/28/75 Television/Tuff Darts
11/13/75 Television/Harry Toledo
11/19/75 Elephants Memory
11/20/75 Elephants Memory
11/23/75 Mink DeVille/Blondie
11/24/75 Miamis/Somebody Good
11/25/75 Miamis/Harry Toledo
11/26/75 Mink DeVille/Rosie Ross
11/27/75 Zymosis/Just Water
12/10/75 The Chicago Breakdown Blues Band/The Outer Limits
12/11/75 Tuff Darts/Film Screening: Night Lunch
12/14/75 Somebody Good/Bushe
12/15/75 Television/The Fast
12/16/75 Honey Davis/The Poppees
12/17/75 Talking Heads/Marbles
12/18/75 Day Old Bread/Just Water
12/21/75 Television/Kieran Liscoe Band
12/22/75 Eve Moon
12/23/75 John Collins Band/Somebody Good


Max's Kansas City Christmas Party 1975 - In this photo: Wayne County, the Ramones, Richard Hell, Sable Starr, members of Mink DeVille, the Fast, the Miamis, Planets, Tuff Darts and more.
(Photo by Bob Gruen via BobGruen.com)

12/28/75 Wayne County & the Backstreet Boys/The Fast

1976


The scene outside Max's one afternoon in 1976. This photo would eventually be used for the cover of the album "Live at Max's Kansas City," pictured below.
(Photo by Bob Gruen)


Max's Kansas City 1976 LP - Produced by Peter Crowley and originally released in 1976 on Ram Records, it was later reissued (in 1978) with a color cover photo by CBS Records in the UK. It was finally issued on CD in June 2007 by ROIR Records.

*Photos: 01/01/76 @ Max's
#1 / #2 / #3

01/21/76 Rosie Ross/John Collins
01/22/76 Rosie Ross/John Collins
01/23/76 Disco Dancing with Ricardo D.J.
01/24/76 Disco Dancing with Ricardo D.J.
01/25/76 Miamis/Quinn
01/26/76 Eve Moon/Just Water
02/11/76 Mongo/Santamaria
02/12/76 Mongo/Santamaria
02/15/76 The Planets/Just Water
02/16/76 Chicago Breakdown Blues Band
02/17/76 James Cotton/Dicey-Ross Band
02/18/76 James Cotton/Dicey-Ross Band
02/22/76 Tuff Darts
03/03/76 Another Pretty Face/Planets
03/04/76 Another Pretty Face/August
03/07/76 John Collins' Ragged Edge Revue/Honey Davis
03/08/76 Canon/Best
03/09/76 Suicide/Matthew Mouzon & Somebody Good
03/10/76 Kid Blast
03/17/76 300 Years
03/18/76 300 Years
03/19/76 Disco with Gary
03/20/76 Disco with Gary
03/21/76 Just Water /August
03/22/76 John Collins Band/Poppees
03/23/76 Mercedes Hall/Nancy Parker
03/24/76 Cherry Vanilla
03/25/76 Cherry Vanilla
03/26/76 Disco with Primitive Love
03/27/76 Disco with Primitive Love
03/28/76 Blondie/Tuff Darts
03/29/76 Artful Dodger/Milk 'N' Cookies
03/30/76 Artful Dodger/Milk 'N' Cookies
03/31/76 Tiny Tim/Rosie Ross
04/01/76 Tiny Tim/Rosie Ross
04/04/76 Luther Allison
04/05/76 Luther Allison
04/06/76 Baby/Mushroom
04/07/76 Monte Rock
04/08/76 Monte Rock
04/11 - 22/76 Max's Kansas City Easter Rock Festival 1976
04/11/76 Wayne County & the Backstreet Boys/Planets/Day Old Bread
04/12/76 Honey Davis/Denise Marsa Band/Keiran Liscoe Band/Manster
04/13/76 Talking Heads/Suicide/Harry Toledo/Pere Ubu
04/14/76 Marbles/Just Water/Mumps/Dancer
04/15/76 Heartbreakers/Tuff Darts/Mong
04/18/76 Ramones/Blondie/Poppees






04/18/76 - Ramones at Max's - "53rd & 3rd"






04/18/76 - Ramones at Max's - "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend"

04/19/76 August/Dicey-Ross Blues Band/Rice Miller Band/Rags
04/20/76 The Miamis/Shirts/Uncle Son/Tricks
04/21/76 John Collins Band/Billy Falcon's Sunshine Thunder Band/Moonbeam
04/22/76 Kid Blast/Best/Somebody Good/Startoon
04/25/76 Martian Rock Band/Cold Steel
04/26/76 Reggae Dance with Outer Limits Band
04/27/76 The Planets/Tuff Darts
04/28/76 Marbles/Airborne
04/29/76 Just Water/For Shakes Sake
04/30/76 Mink DeVille/Blondie
05/01/76 Mink DeVille/Blondie
05/02/76 The Brats/Gan
05/03/76 Galactus/Dodger
05/04/76 Kitty Bruce/Peeshee
05/05/76 Tommy James
05/06/76 Tommy James
05/12/76 Billy Falcon's Sunshine Thunder Band/John Collins Band
05/13/76 Another Pretty Face
05/14/76 The Planets/Just Water


(NYTimes - 05/14/76)

05/15/76 The Planets/Just Water
05/16/76 Mink DeVille/Charles Street Choir
05/17/76 Stars Rock 'n' Roll Show/Falcon
05/18/76 Forest/Arc
05/19/76 Talking Heads/Harry Toledo
05/20/76 Unholy Modal Rounders/Music Mission
05/21/76 The Dolls /Tuff Darts *Johnny Thunders jams with The Dolls
05/22/76 The Dolls /Tuff Darts
05/23/76 The Miamis/Laughing Dogs
05/24/76 The Jimi Hendrix Story starring Jack Hammer & Electric God
05/25/76 The Planets/Day Old Bread
05/26/76 Upstairs CLOSED for Private Party
05/27/76 Ruby and the Rednecks/The Kieran Liscoe Band
05/28/76 John Collins Band/Just Water
05/29/76 Billy Falcon's Sunshine Thunder Band/Actress

05/30/76 Max's Presents Wayne County and Friends at Manhattan Center

05/31/76 Reggae Dance Night

06/??/76 Mickey Ruskin opens "Lower Manhattan Ocean Club" at 112 Chambers Street

06/01/76 The Outer Space Band/Sun
06/02/76 Harry Toledo/Film Screening: The Blank Generation
06/03/76 Canon/Eels
06/04/76 Marbles/Mumps
06/05/76 Suicide/The Brats
06/06/76 Suicide/The Brats
06/07/76 Reggae Dance Night
06/08/76 Mushroom/Aliens
06/09/76 Thulcandra/David Jaynes
06/10/76 The Poppees/Riot
06/11/76 Ramones/Joe Cool
06/12/76 Ramones/Joe Cool
06/13/76 Actress/Chords Melody
06/14/76 Reggae Dance Night
06/15/76 Mink DeVille/Last American Heroes
06/16/76 John Kay/Mark Fremer-Humorist
06/17/76 Edith Massey/B.B. Steele Review
06/18/76 Wayne County & the Backstreet Boys/Just Water
06/19/76 Wayne County & the Backstreet Boys/Just Water

06/20/76 Tricks/Steel House
OR
06/20/76 Upstairs CLOSED for Private Party

06/21/76 Reggae Dance Night
06/22/76 Paul Oscher's Chicago Breakdown Blues Band/Sugar Blues Band
06/23/76 For Shakes Sake/Wolfegang
06/24/76 Gan/Fuse (Formerly Dodger)
06/25/76 Orchestra Luna/The Planets
06/26/76 Orchestra Luna/The Fast
07/01/76 The Dolls
07/02/76 The Dolls
07/03/76 The Dolls
07/04/76 The Dolls *Mick Ronson guest guitarist
07/23/76 The Heartbreakers/Blondie

Heartbreakers at Max's - 07/23/76 - "It's Not Enough"







07/24/76 The Heartbreakers/The Fast
07/30/76 Suicide/Pezband/Kongress
07/31/76 Wayne County & the Backstreet Boys/Pezband/Day Old Bread
08/15/76 Reggae Fest
08/16/76 Reggae Fest
08/17/76 Reggae Fest
08/18/76 Reggae Fest


(NYTImes - 08/18/76)

08/19/76 Reggae Fest
08/25/76 Godspeed
08/26/76 John Collins Band & Susan
08/27/76 The Planets/Just Water

08/28/76 Wayne County & the Backstreet Boys/Willie 'Loco' Alexander and his Boom Boom Concert Band/The Screws

08/29/76 The Atlantics/Steel Wind
08/30/76 The Aliens/Magnum/Rockspurs
08/31/76 Fuse/L.O.K.
09/01/76 The Hounds/Moonbeam
09/02/76 Pretty Poison/Uncle Son
09/03/76 The Fast/Ruby & the Rednecks
09/04/76 Mink DeVille/Chords Melody
09/22/76 Rockbirds/Endgame
09/23/76 Silver Dollar/Darkseid
09/24/76 The Dolls /Harry Toldeo
09/25/76 The Dolls /John Collins
09/26/76 Jesse Fields Band
09/30/76 The Brats/Pez Band
10/01/76 Marbles/Laughing Dogs/Fuse
10/02/76 Planets/John Collins Band
10/03/76 Reggae with Black Eagles
10/08/76 Ramones/Talking Heads






10/08/76 - Ramones at Max's - "Listen To My Heart"





10/08/76 - Ramones at Max's - "Havana Affair"

Click HERE to see some additional footage of the Ramones live at Max's.

10/09/76 Ramones/Talking Heads
10/24/76 The Heartbreakers
10/31/76 Kongress

Kongress Live at Max's - Halloween 1976







KongressHalloween76 from Otto von Ruggins on Vimeo.

11/03/76 Fuse/Tank
11/04/76 The Laughing Dogs/Susan
11/05/76 Willie "Loco" Alexander & his Boom Boom Band/Just Water
11/06/76 Suicide/Riot/The Infliktors
11/07/76 ?? Williams Presents at Max's
11/09/76 Killers From Space/T.V. Toy
11/10/76 Pretty Poison/Jet Mule
11/11/76 Kieran Liscoe Band/The Aliens
11/12/76 Neon Leon/Stiletto/L.O.K.
11/13/76 Cherry Vanilla & her Staten Island Band/John Collins
11/14/76 Reggae Dance with Restless Breed
11/15/76 Ken Kweber
11/16/76 Jimmy Zhivago/Ruby & the Rednecks
11/17/76 Another Pretty Face/Laurence Talbot Band
11/18/76 Planets/Slickee Boys
11/19/76 Talking Heads/Harry Toledo
11/20/76 Wayne County & the Backstreet Boys/John Collins
11/21/76 Reggae Dance with Full Hand
11/21/76 The Cramps
11/22/76 Lunar Park
11/23/76 Sweet Star/Pretty Poison
11/24/76 Laughing Dogs/The Eels
11/25/76 Day Old Bread/Riot
11/26/76 The Dolls/The Fast
11/27/76 Suicide/Fuse/The Cramps

11/28/76 Ken Williams Reggae /W/ Hugh Hendrix/The Buccaneers
11/29/76 Blaze/Savage
11/30/76 Shadow/Penwater
12/01/76 Stumblebunny/The Pirates

Stumblebunny (4) with Chris Robison
Songs - 44Mins.
Max's Kansas City, NY
from: Variety - 12/08/76
Stumblebunny is a New York combo which could make waves in Gotham's underground rock scene judging by it's debut performances at Max's Kansas City. Fronting is Chris Robison who had stints with the New York Dolls and Elephants Memory, and he is a big asset.

Robison, with long blonde locks running partially down his back, enters garbed in silky striped suit jacket and pants over t-shirt. Jacket soon comes off for comfort. But Robison is more than just show. He's a good lead vocalist with good, friendly stage presence. Although he plays rhythm guitar for most of the set, it's in his segs on electric organ that he's most impressive.

Also in the plus department are the excellent lead guitars of Dave White, the strong bass guitar of Gordon Wand and the solid drums of Sammy Brown. Material is heavy, high-decibel rock including good originals and such oldies as "Cool Jerk" and Tommy Roe's "Shiela," the later real fun with Robison's comments and voice switches.

Stumblebunny has been developing it's act for five months. They rate attention. -end

12/02/76 Tuff Darts/Hounds/Fox Pass
12/03/76 Tuff Darts/The Brats
12/04/76 The Planets/John Collins/The Cramps
12/05/76 The Cramps
12/08/76 Silver Dollar/Flying Tigers
12/09/76 Kieran Liscoe Band/Moonbeam
12/10/76 Kongress/Laurence Talbot Band
12/11/76 The Fast/The Mumps
12/12/76 Shake It Up at Max's /W/ Exuma/The Werewolves
12/13/76 Diamond Reo/Fuse
12/14/76 Diamond Reo/Big Apple Kid
12/15/76 Suicide Commandos
12/16/76 Amber Waves/Lover
12/17/76 Suicide/The Cramps/Jango Edwards & Friends Band
12/18/76 Brats/Jango Edwards & Friends Band
12/19/76 The Cramps
12/29/76 The Dolls/Blondie
12/30/76 The Dolls/Blondie

1977

01/04/77 The Planets
01/05/77 Day Old Bread/Raver
01/06/77 Uncle Son/The Cramps
01/07/77 Sirius Trixon & the Motor City Bad Boys/The Dead Boys /The Cramps
01/08/77 Sirius Trixon & the Motor City Bad Boys/The Dead Boys /The Cramps
01/09/77 Ken Williams Presents Reggae at Max's /The Vramps


(NYTimes - 01/10/77)

01/11/77 Mushroom
01/13/77 The Cramps/Kieran Liscoe Band/Stumblebunny
01/14/77 Suicide/The Cramps/Mink DeVille

*Photos: 01/14/77 @ Max's
#1 / #2
01/15/77 Mink DeVille/The Brats/Frenzy
01/21/77 Blondie/The Cramps
01/22/77 Blondie/The Cramps


(NYTimes - 01/24/77)

01/26/77 Amber Waves/Rapture
01/27/77 The Voidoids/The Feelies
01/28/77 The Voidoids/The Feelies
01/29/77 The Voidoids/The Feelies
01/30/77 Ken Williams & Carl Anthony present Reggae
02/02/77 The Eels/Crowd
02/03/77 Marbles/Mumps/The Cramps
02/04/77 Marbles/Mumps/The Cramps
02/05/77 Marbles/Mumps/The Cramps
02/18/77 The Cramps/The Fast
02/26/77 Alex Chilton
03/04/77 Bo Diddley/Elephants Memory
03/05/77 Bo Diddley/Elephants Memory

*Photos: Bo Diddley @ Max's - by Allan Tannenbaum
#1 / #2 / #3 / #4

Peter Crowley (Max's Talent Booking Agent)
"I left for England with Wayne County and Greg Van Cook near the beginning of 1977, so shows appearing on [this] list after Bo Diddley (3/4&5/77) until the summer of '78 were booked by Terry Ork and Deer France... although I was responsible for convincing Eddie & The Hot Rods to cancel their shows at the Bottom Line and play Max's (11/10-11-12/77) instead."

03/16/77 Fair Warning/Pleasant Dreams
03/17/77 Kieran Liscoe Band/Philip Rambow
03/18/77 Mistress/Lover
03/19/77 Brats/Grandslam
03/20/77 Reggae with Ken Williams
03/21/77 Movie: Rock & Roll of the Sixties
03/23/77 Uncle Son/Andrew Pearson Band
03/24/77 Suicide/The Cramps
03/25/77 Suicide/The Cramps
03/26/77 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers/Just Water
03/27/77 Reggae with Ken Williams
03/29/77 Film: Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper
03/30/77 Smokercraft/Doug Brockie's Infinity
03/31/77 Grand Slam/Harlow
04/01/77 Neon Leon/Bitch/Lollipops
04/02/77 The Planets/Philip Rambow
04/04/77 Stilletto/Yakety Yak
04/05/77 Stilletto/The Cramps/Visitors
04/06/77 Lover/Ken Kweder
04/07/77 Lover/Moonbeam
04/08/77 Orchestra Luna/John Collins
04/09/77 Orchestra Luna/John Collins
04/20/77 Riot/Bronx/Airfare
04/21/77 Alex Chilton/Andrew Pearson Band
04/22/77 Robert Gordon with Link Wray/Paul Starfield & the Mutant Kings
04/23/77 Robert Gordon with Link Wray/Paul Starfield & the Mutant Kings
04/24/77 Reggae with Ken Williams
04/25/77 Frenzy/The Pirates
04/26/77 The Cramps/Lollipop
05/11/77 Bitch/The Senders
05/12/77 Rapture/Fleshtones
05/13/77 The Fast/The Cramps
05/14/77 The Fast/The Cramps
05/15/77 Reggae with Ken Williams
05/16/77 End Game/Alexis
05/17/77 John Collins/The Visitors
05/18/77 Lance/Peter Gunn Band
05/20/77 Lover/Moonbeam

05/21/77 Sirius Trixon & Motor City Bad Boys/Andrew Pearson Band
*Sirius Trixon married on stage at Max's

05/23/77 Rice Miller Band/Electric Gypsy
05/24/77 John Collins/Aces and Eights/Wheels
05/25/77 Allen Turner & Rocks/The De-Evolution Band (Devo)/Fox & Co.

*Photos: Devo @ Max's - 05/25/77 - by Ebet Roberts
#1 / #2 / #3 / #4

05/26/77 Moonbeam
05/27/77 Bo Diddley/Elephants Memory
05/28/77 Bo Diddley/Elephant's Memory
05/29/77 Bo Diddley/Elephant's Memory
06/06/77 Public Problems/Stumblebunny
06/07/77 Suicide/Devon/The Cramps
06/08/77 Suicide/Devon/The Cramps
06/09/77 Suicide/Devon/The Cramps
06/11/77 The Romantics/Police

*Photo: Richard Gottherer with Chris Stein of Blondie and Robert Gordon backstage at Max's Kansas City 06/11/77 - by Ebet Roberts
#1
06/12/77 Andrew Pearson Band/John Scoggins & Ramparts
06/13/77 Lido Travin
07/06/77 Public Problems / Stumblebunny
07/07/77 Suicide/Devo/The Cramps *1977 NY Times photo of Devo
07/08/77 Suicide/Devo/The Cramps

Devo Live at Max's - 07/08/77







*Photo: Devo @ Max's - 07/08/77 - by Ebet Roberts
#1

*Photos: Max's waitresses - 07/08/77 - by Ebet Roberts
#1 / #2

*Photo: Debbie Harry & Chris Stein - 07/08/77 - by Ebet Roberts

07/09/77 Suicide/Devo/The Cramps
07/11/77 The Romantics/Police
07/12/77 Andrew Pearson Band/John Scoggins & Ramparts
07/13/77 Lido Travin
07/24/77 Mars/Bitch/Spicey Bits
08/06/77 The Fast
08/08/77 Teenage Jesus & the Jerks

08/13/77 Wayne County *PHOTO
08/24/77 The Roger Bruce Band/Avatar
08/25/77 John Collins Band/Sweet Freedom
08/26/77 Sylvain & the Criminals/Fuse
08/27/77 Sylvain & the Criminals/Fuse
08/29/77 Rousers/Spit
08/30/77 The Senders/Teenage Jesus & the Jerks
08/31/77 John Scoggins & the Ramparts/Stumblebunny
09/01/77 Lido/The Erasers
09/02/77 The Brats/Rags
09/03/77 The Brats/Nasty Habits
09/04/77 The Shanghai Dideshow/White Cold/Bolt
09/06/77 The Senders/Teenage Jesus & the Jerks
09/07/77 Murder Inc./Silver Dollar
09/08/77 Elixir/Travin
09/09/77 The Demons/John Collins Band/Bryson Graham
09/10/77 The Demons/John Collins Band/Lover
09/12/77 Revenger/Furors
09/13/77 Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/The Squirells/The Senders
09/14/77 Murder Inc/Spit
09/15/77 Travin + Special Guest
09/16/77 The Fast/Planets
09/17/77 The Fast/Planets
09/19/77 Steel Tips/Invaders
09/20/77 Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/Killer Kane
09/21/77 Murder Inc/End Game
09/23/77 Tuff Darts/Moon Rukus
09/24/77 Tuff Darts/Moon Rukus
10/16/77 Mars/Geeks *Mars "Live" CD recorded
10/28/77 Lover/Demons
10/29/77 Shanghai Sideshow/Bolt
10/30/77 T.V.T./DNA
10/31/77 Kongress

Kongress Live at Max's - Halloween 1977.







11/04/77 New York Times
"Eddie and the Hot Rods, due into Max's Kansas City next Thursday through Nov. 12, are the latest British New Wave band to debut here. To accompany the performances, Island is about to release the ands second American LP entitled "Life On The Line," it it confirms the impression that this is one of the strongest new British bands and whets the appetite for its live shows."

11/09/77 Everyone/Skywalker
11/10/77 Eddie & the Hot Rods/The Fast
11/11/77 Eddie & the Hot Rods/Planets
11/12/77 Eddie & the Hot Rods/Demons


(NYTimes - 11/13/77)

11/13/77 Camile O'Grady/Greeks
11/14/77 Devo/The Boyfriends/Screams
*David Bowie attended this show.

*Photos: Devo @ Max's - 11/14/77 - by Ebet Roberts.
#1 / #2 / #3 / #4

11/15/77 Devo/The Feelies

*Photos: Devo @ Max's - 11/15/77 - by Allan Tannenbaum
#1 / #2 / #3
11/16/77 Elixer/Wonderland Band
12/11/77 Mars/The Accidents
12/25/77 The Blessed/DNA *This was The Blessed's 1st gig.

Click these links (#1 / #2 / #3 ) to see photos of Lydia Lunch (Teenage Jesus & the Jerks) at Max's Kansas City from 1977. Photos by Eugene Merinov.

1978
01/04/78 The Nails/Nylon
01/05/78 Zobo Sunn Band/Crowd
01/06/78 Tuff Darts/The Senders
01/07/78 Tuff Darts/Riot
01/08/78 The Invaders/The Victims
01/09/78 Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/The Contortions
01/10/78 Come On/Sorrows
01/11/78 T.V.T.
01/12/78 Crowd/Fuse
01/13/78 Suicide/Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/The Cramps
02/02/78 Mars/Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/DNA
04/04/78 The Senders with Johnny Thunders


(Image via: Steve Berman Collection)

04/12/78 The Accidents/The Visitors
04/13/78 Stu Daye's Streethearts/Larry Estridge/Nightwatch
04/14/78 Syl Sylvain & The Criminals/The Victims

*(10/17/11) Special Thanks to Steve Berman, bassist with The Victims, for sharing the pair of photos below of The Victims onstage at Max's - circa 1978. He also sent along a few brief memories of the time he spent at Max's in the late 1970's...

"The funny thing is, I can actually remember (despite being fucked up just a little) many of the shows on your list, not just ours. I actually found a bootleg of Johnny Thunders with The Delinquents when we opened for them. It's cool...he was VERY fucked up that night and as a result quite funny whenever he added some stage chatter. I was at many Heartbreakers shows, as well as others like The Plasmatics which as I recall, I was watching with David Jo. Anytime friends played, such as Crayola, The Misfits, Walter Lure, The Blessed, & The Troggs (drummer Ronnie Bond was my drinking buddy whenever they were here)...I was there. Peter Crowley liked us a lot, so we played quite a bit & as a result I used to be at Max's literally most every week during 1978-79 (when not playing somewhere else)...got in for free most times, one of the perks of being a "Max's" band."


(Image via: Steve Berman Collection)


(Image via: Steve Berman Collection)

04/15/78 Syl Sylvain & The Criminals/T.V.T.
04/16/78 Roger Bruce Band/Pyramid/Policeband
04/17/78 Baseball/Criftcraft
04/18/78 Public Problems/The Max
04/19/78 Come On/Dots
04/21/78 Helen Wheels Band
04/22/78 Lover
04/24/78 Mars/The Contortions
04/25/78 Mars/D.N.A.
05/17/78 Red Transistor/Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/Film: Blank Generation
05/18/78 Falcon Eddy/Stumblebunny

*Photos: Patti Smith @ Max's - 05/18/78 - by Ebet Roberts
#1 / #2 / #3 / #4

05/19/78 Helen Wheels Band/Planets
05/20/78 Helen Wheels Band/Diamonds
05/21/78 The Feelies/The Ghosts
05/22/78 Tamerlane/Joe Price Band


(NYTimes - 05/22/78)

05/23/78 Corpse Grinders/Tears
05/24/78 Just Water/Rousers/Mrozinski's Mean Machine
05/25/78 B-52's /Zantees/Major Chill
05/26/78 B-52's /Nervous Rex
05/27/78 B-52's /Marbles
05/28/78 B-52's/Teenage Jesus & the Jerks
05/29/78 Skywalker/The Furors
05/30/78 The Testors/Su-Sin Shocks
05/31/78 ??
06/??/78 The Troggs


(NYTimes - 06/17/78)

06/02/78 Sirius Trixon & the Motor City Bad Boys/Victims
06/03/78 Sirius Trixon & the Motor City Bad Boys/Misfits/Radio Ethiopans


(Rolling Stone Magazine - 06/29/78)

07/05/78 The Heartbreakers
07/06/78 The Heartbreakers


(1978 (??) Creem Magazine)

07/11/78 New York Punk Pioneers Show /W/ Johnny Thunders/Others
07/12/78 Mars/The Poles
07/13/78 Dead Boys/The Rousers
07/14/78 The Mumps/The Know
07/15/78 The Mumps/The Know
07/16/78 The Mumps/Teenage Jesus & the Jerks
07/17/78 Film: The Blank Generation
07/24/78 The Senders with Johnny Thunders


(Rock Scene Magazine - 1978 - photo by Bob Gruen)

08/03/78 The Senders with Johnny Thunders/Zantees
08/04/78 The Senders with Johnny Thunders/Regina Richards & Red Hot


(Rock Scene Magazine - 1978 - photo by Bob Gruen)

08/05/78 The Senders with Johnny Thunders/Regina Richards & Red Hot
08/09/78 The Nuns/The Misfits
08/10/78 The Nuns/The Ghosts
08/11/78 The Brats/Stumblebunny
08/12/78 The Brats/Mrozinski's Mean Machine
08/13/78 Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/Walter Steding/The Terrorist
08/16/78 The Paradise Band/Slumlords
08/17/78 Contortions/Beirut Slump featuring Lydia Lunch/No Wave Jam
08/23/78 The Mumps/Student Teachers
08/24/78 The Mumps/Student Teachers
08/25/78 Suicide/The Fleshtones/Zantees
08/26/78 Suicide/The Fleshtones/The Communists
09/??/78 Film Screening: She Had Her Gun All Ready
09/07/78 Sid Vicious & His Crew


(Rolling Stone Magazine - 11/02/78)


(Rolling Stone Magazine - 11/16/78)

*Photo: Sid Vicious @ Max's - 09/07/78 - by Ebet Roberts
#1

09/11/78 Heartbreakers
09/18/78 Heartbreakers
09/20/78 Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/Blinding Headache/Film: Marilyn Monroe
09/21/78 Moonbeam/The Rozz
09/22/78 Sam The Sham/The Invaders
09/23/78 Sam The Sham/The Rousers
09/28/78 Sid Vicious & His Crew

Check out these two great photos of Sid at Max's:
#1 - Sid and his band lauging at a story told by Peter Crowley
#2 - Sid and Nancy backstage at Max's.

10/11/78 The Cramps
10/23/78 The Fuckers/The Cellmates
10/25/78 Student Teachers/Harry Toledo
10/27/78 Johnny Thunders/The Senders
10/29/78 The Terrorists
10/31/78 The Fast


(Image via: Steve Berman Collection)

11/01/78 2 Timers/Clear Cloud
11/02/78 The Blessed/The The
11/03/78 The Troggs/Victims
11/04/78 The Troggs/Arthur's Dillema
11/05/78 Joy Ryder & Avis Davis & Friends
11/06/78 Terrorists/Belle Star/Film: Rolling Stone In Hyde Park 1969
11/06/78 "No New York" LP released

11/07/78 Rolling Stones Tribute Concert
/W/ Johnny Thunders/Jerry Nolan/Billy Rath/Ivan Julian/Richard Lloyd/Robert Gordon/Others



(??) 11/07/78 Just Water/Siren

11/08/78 The Sorrows/2 Timer
(??) 11/07/78 Marbles/Sorrows
11/09/78 The Invaders/Lynn Todd
(??) 11/09/78 Lynn Todd with The Victims/Slum Lords
11/10/78 The Cramps & the Rockats
11/11/78 The Cramps/Levi & the Rockats
11/12/78 The Buiks
11/13/78 Stilletto
11/14/78 Worthless Pharoes/Model Citizens
11/16/78 Heartbreakers
11/17/78 Heartbreakers
11/18/78 Heartbreakers
11/22/78 Senders/Blessed
11/23/78 Contortions/X/Cocktails
11/24/78 The Troggs/Student Teachers
11/25/78 The Troggs/Cellmates
11/26/78 Little Edward & the G-Men/The Metros/N.Y. Niggers
11/27/78 Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/Kongress/Film: D.O.A. - Urban Terrorists
11/29/78 Levi & the Rockats/The Buiks
11/30/78 Link Wray/Stumblebunny
12/01/78 Victims/Arthur's Dilemma
12/02/78 Invaders/Mrozinski

12/03/78 The Nothing featuring:
Trixz Sly/Billy Rath/Alan Suicide/Lousy Louise/Roy Travolta /W/ The Misfits

12/04/78 Son/Sorcerers
12/05/78 Erasers/Model Citizens
12/06/78 The Fast/Student Teachers
12/07/78 Plasmatics/Cigaretz
12/08/78 Levi & the Rockats/Rousers
12/09/78 Levi & the Rockats/Rousers
12/10/78 D.N.A./Mars *Final Mars live performance
12/15/78 The Blessed *Walter Lure's 1st appearance with The Blessed
12/??/78 /The Feelies/The Cools


(NYTImes - 12/14/78)

12/??/78 The Contortions


(NYTimes - 12/18/78)

12/20/78 The Misfits/Flashcubes
Some live recordings of the Misfits 12/20/78 concert at Max's:










12/21/78 Cheetah Chrome/Billy Balls/Birdland featuring Lester Bangs
12/22/78 The Senders/Regina Richards & Red Hot
12/23/78 The Senders/Regina Richards & Red Hot
12/24/78 Victims/Cellmates
12/25/78 The Idols/The Rozz
12/26/78 2 Timers/Speedies
12/27/78 Erasers/Nervous Rexx
12/28/78 Suicide/Fleshtones/Walter Steding
12/29/78 The Cramps/Sleepy LaBeef


(NYTimes - 12/29/78)

12/30/78 The Cramps/Sleepy LaBeef
12/31/78 Robert Gordon/The Rousers

Here is a Max's ad that would appear to be from 1978 - but it's a FAKE.

Max's in the pages of Rock Scene Magazine, 1978...




1979
Click HERE for a great photo of the downstairs bar circa 1979. Photo by Steve Lombardi.






1979 - Jayne County with the Fast Live at Max's - "Shakin All Over" and "Max's Kansas City" from "Paul Tschinkel Inner Tube"

*Photo: Johnny Thunders onstage @ Max's - 01/01/79 - by Ebet Roberts
#1
??/??/79 Walter Steding
01/06/79 The Fast/Arthur's Delimma


(NYTimes - 01/15/79)

01/17/79 Sorrows/Flashcubes
01/18/79 Miki Zone Zoo/Dots
01/19/79 Blessed/Misfits *Johnny Thunders jams with The Blessed
01/20/79 Victims/Crayola
01/21/79 Richard Lloyd Quartet/Bloodless Pharaohs
01/22/79 The Heat/The Diamonds/Film Screening: The British Invasion
01/23/79 Major Chill/Comateens/Internationals
01/24/79 Belle Star/Edge featuring Bobby Brazil
01/25/79 Lyn Todd/Revelons
01/26/79 Delinquents/Whorelords
01/27/79 Delinquents/Kongress


(NYTimes - 06/28/79)


(Image via: Steve Berman Collection)

02/07/79 Oleg/The Metros
02/08/79 Johnny Thunders/Neon Leon
02/09/79 Johnny Thunders/Student Teachers
02/10/79 Johnny Thunders/Nervus Rex
02/11/79 The Idols/Speedies
02/12/79 Birdland featuring Lester Bangs/Terrorists/Film: Rolling Stones 64-69
02/13/79 Miki Zone Zoo/Lost Hats
02/14/79 Boyfriends/Sorrows
02/15/79 Invaders/The Zantees
02/16/79 Victims/Regina Richards And Red Hot
02/17/79 Erasers/Necessaries
02/28/79 Teenage Jesus & the Jerks
03/01/79 Idols/Alda Reserve
03/02/79 Student Teachers/Nervous Rex
03/03/79 Rousers/Lynn Todd
03/04/79 The Mumps/The Heat
03/05/79 Neon Leon/Lost Hatts/Rock History Film
03/06/79 Elda Stiletto & Friends/Sharp/April Dancer
03/07/79 Fleshtones/Zantees
03/07/79 Zantees/Cellmates
03/08/79 Suicide/Internationals
03/09/79 Sapho/Birdland featuring Lester Bangs
03/10/79 Miki Zone Zoo (aka The Fast)/Kongress
03/11/79 Come On/Comateens
03/12/79 Benny Mardones/Flashcubes/Fim Screening: The Beatles
03/13/79 Clear Cloud/The Worst/Honeymooners
03/14/79 2 Timers/The Deck

03/15/79 The Delinquents/Victims
*Delinquents were: Johnny Thunders/Jerry Nolan/Billy Rath

03/16/79 Blessed/Revelons
03/17/79 Invaders/Joy & Avis
03/18/79 Walter Steding/Viletones

Read about the Viletones performance at Max's HERE.

03/19/79 Blue Humans /W/ Randolph Gray, Arto Lindsay, Alan Suicide/
Annie & the Asexuals featuring Cheetah Divorcee/Cissy Plastic/J.D. Cruel/Howie Pyro/Ty Styx/Film: Rock & Roll History Part II

03/20/79 Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/Su-Sin Shocks


(Image via: Steve Berman Collection)

03/21/79 Last Men/Flamingo
03/22/79 Elliott Murphy/Student Teachers
03/23/79 Senders/Lynn Todd & Peroxide
03/24/79 Senders/Su-Sin Shocks
03/25/79 Donna Destri/Bloodless Pharaohs
03/26/79 Ludacer/Rooms/Film: Black Box
03/27/79 Son/Stimulators

03/28/79 Misfits/Tina Peel

*Read a great story from Misfits/The Undead guitarist Bobby Steele about what happened during and after this show HERE.

03/29/79 Turner & Kirwin of Wexford/Belle Star
03/30/79 The Hurricanes/Rosie & The Shadows
03/31/79 The Hurricanes/The Zantees

04/11/ - 21/79 Max's Easter Rock Festival 1979
04/11/79 Birdland with Lester Bangs/The Heat/John Collins
04/12/79 Micki Zone Zoo/Neon Leon/Revlons/Su-Sin Shocks
04/13/79 Suicide/Student Teachers/Bloodless Pharoes/Walter Steading
04/14/79 Victims/Lynn Todd & Peroxide/Lost Hats/Scout House
04/15/79 Mumps/Chris Stamey & the DBs/Jumpers/Kieran Liscoe Rhythm Band
04/16/79 Blessed/Donny Destri & Friends/The The/Joy & Avis
04/17/79 Blue Humans/Martin Rev/Von LMO/Teenage Jesus & the Jerks
04/17/79 Movie Screening: The Offenders
04/19/79 Ruby & the Rednecks/Speedies/Comateens/Flirt
04/20/79 Senders/Necessaries/Zantees/Terrorists
04/21/79 Contortions/Model Citizens/Jeffrey Lohn/Rhys Catham

Model Citizens Live at Max's 1979 - "Shift The Blame"







Contortions Live at Max's 1979







04/24/79 Movie Screening: The Offenders
04/27/79 Heartbreakers
04/28/79 Heartbreakers *Frank Infante of Blondie jams with the band
04/29/79 Beirut Slump
05/01/79 Movie Screening: The Offenders
05/02/79 Heartbreakers
05/08/79 Movie Screening: The Offenders
05/13/79 The Blessed
05/15/79 Movie Screening: The Offenders
05/19/79 The Fast
05/22/79 Movie Screening: The Offenders
05/29/79 Movie Screening: The Offenders
06/??/79 Robin Crutchfield/Rhys Catham
06/??/79 Robin Crutchfield/Rhys Catham
06/01/79 The Heartbreakers
06/02/79 The Heartbreakers
06/30/79 The Blessed
07/04/79 Heartbreakers/The Hit Makers
07/05/79 Heartbreakers/Knots
07/06/79 Heartbreakers/Rattlers
07/07/79 Rousers/Ruby & the Rednecks
07/08/79 Mrozinski/The Roues
07/09/79 Pookie/The Twilighters
07/10/79 Miki Zone Zoo/Sorrows
07/11/79 The Offs/Chi Pig/David Javelosa
07/12/79 The Lurkers/Forced Entry
07/13/79 The Lurkers/Rentals
07/14/79 The Lurkers/Cheap Perfume
07/15/79 Bloodless Pharoes/Autistics/Bone Heads
07/16/79 Shivers/N. Dodo Band/March Heir
07/17/79 2-Timers/Liberty
07/18/79 Teenage Head/The Mods
07/19/79 Senders/The Billies
07/20/79 Sylvain Sylvain
07/21/79 Sylvain Sylvain
07/25/79 Roomful of Blues/Little Buddy & the Kids
07/26/79 Wayne County/Student Teachers
07/27/79 The Heat/The Scruffs
07/28/79 Joy Ryder & the Avis Davis Band/Oleg
07/29/79 Lyn Tod & Peroxide/Comateens
07/30/79 Maroons/Power Tools/The Erotics
07/31/79 Cheetah Chrome and the Casulties/N.Y. Niggers/Crayola
08/01/79 The Zantees/Vengence
08/02/79 Heartbreakers/Knots/NYN
08/03/79 Heartbreakers/Cellmates
08/04/79 Heartbreakers/Rattlers
08/13/79 Movie Screening: Beauty Becomes The Beast
08/15/79 Wayne County/Richard Craven/The The
08/17/79 Wayne County/VooDoo Shoes
08/29/79 Blessed/Stimulators/The Fleet

*Another Ad for the Blessed's 08/29/79 Gig

08/30/79 Neon Leon/The Boyfriends
08/31/79 Rattlers/VooDoo Shoes
09/01/79 Victims/Kongress
09/02/79 Brenda Bergman & the Realtones/Get Wet featuring Zecca/Marilyn
09/03/79 Nu Clear Energy/Superdude Party/TheMaxx/Film Screening: The Clash
09/04/79 Wild & Trendy Few/The Tickets/The Next
09/05/79 Invaders/Jumpers
09/06/79 Heartbreakers/Cheetah Chrome & the Casulties/Vengence
09/07/79 Heartbreakers/VooDoo Shoes
09/08/79 Heartbreakers/Fear
12/06/79 8 Eyed Spy









Parts 1-3 of a Heartbreakers performance at Max's from 1979.

Click HERE to see some recently unearthed footage of The Senders and Suicide playing at Max's.

1980


1980 saw the release of another Max's compilation LP, this one titled "Max's Kansas City Presents: New Wave Hits for the 80's.

01/04/80 The Blessed/Forced Entry
01/05/80 The Speedies/Buzz & the Flyers


(NYTimes - 01/10/80)

01/18/80 Suicide
02/??/80 The Rattlers



02/80 - The Rattlers at Max's performing "Slug"


(Image via: Steve Berman Collection)

03/05/80 Ants/Tornados
03/06/80 The Yankees/Thin Ice
03/07/80 The Offs/Flirt
03/08/80 Jayne County/The Dots
03/09/80 Pandemonium/Popular Science/Vivitones
03/10/80 Militia/Tirez Tirez/Nightbrigade
03/11/80 Blenders/Social Climbers/The Beeks
03/12/80 Crayola/The Minx
03/13/80 The Heat/Lis And The Lost
03/14/80 Terrorists/Science
03/15/80 Kieran Liscoe/Forced Entry

05/06/80 Heartbreakers
05/07/80 Heartbreakers *Chrissie Hynde jams with the band
05/08/80 Hearbreakers
06/05/80 Heartbreakers
06/29/80 Violators
07/04/80 The Blessed
07/05/80 Gang War

07/06/80 Johnny Thunders "So Alone Review"
/W/ David Johansen/Sylvian Sylvain

09/04/80 Heartbreakers
09/05/80 Heartbreakers
11/12/80 Major Thinkers/Reverse/The Suburbs
11/13/80 Donna Destri/Tymon Dog/Groceries
11/14/80 Lenny Kaye Connection/Film Screening: Bob Gruen's R&R Video
11/15/80 Von LMO/NastyFacts
11/16/80 Bounce/Startoon/Features
11/17/80 Candy Apples/Cooties/Powers
11/18/80 Eddie Dixon/Rubber Rodeo/Blue Fox & the Marines
11/19/80 Sorcerers/Dutch Treat
11/20/80 Circus Mort/The Strain/Pleasers
11/21/80 The Fast/Minors Aloud
11/22/80 Nitecaps/Sirius
11/22/80 Suicide
??/??/80 Cells
11/24/80 David Johansen /W/ Johnny Thunders


David Johansen can be seen (on the left of the photo) lifting his shirt to impress some sweet young things oustside Max's one night in 1980.
(Photo by Bob Gruen via Bob Gruen.com)

12/07/80 Pear Harbour Punk Party
/W/ Legionaires Disease/Violators with Johnny Thunders

1981
01/01/81 Heartbreakers
02/04/81 Circus Mort/Full Hand /Rock And Roll Films
02/05/81 Ozone/Karnival/4-4
02/06/81 Cheetah Chrome/Sic F*cks /The Burps
02/07/81 Roland Alphonso/Satin Latins
02/08/81 BMT's/Roustabouts
02/09/81 Trendsetters/Lodestone/Droids
02/10/81 Cyclones/Caliber/Del-Phobics
02/11/81 Stilletto/Rickey Joyce Band/Bandit
02/12/81 The Senders /Peptides/Voltage
02/13/81 Cheap Perfume/Knots
02/14/81 Lenny Kaye Connection/Peter Dayton Band
02/15/81 Zantees/BMT
02/20/81 Buzz & the Flyers/Kiernan Liscoe
02/25/81 V/High Sheriff of Blue
02/26/81 The Jetz/Frisco White/Superior Beings
02/27/81 Nite Caps/Minors Allowed
02/28/81 Ronnie & the Jitters/Delancy Street Hawiians
03/01/81 Brooklyn Slim Blues Band/BMT


(D.I.Y. Magazine - February/March 1981)

03/02/81 Chit Chat/The Phones/Subway
03/03/81 Daemon/Privates/Saphires
03/04/81 Elodie Lauten/Kitsch/Slick
03/05/81 Ides of March/The Original Demons/Violators/Rock & Roll Films
03/06/81 Sic F*cks/Emmy
03/07/81 Lenny Kaye Connection/Robert Gem Band
05/20/81 Vectors/Voltage/Zaine Grae
05/21/81 Rousers/Doids/Madonna
05/22/81 Cheap Perfume/Karnival

Cheap Perfume performing "Tommy's Such A Tease" (Date N/A)




05/23/81 The Heros (X-Heartbreakers)/The Outsets
05/24/81 Levi & the Ripchords/Chasers
05/25/81 Points/The Article
05/26/81 New Race/Artilax/Band of Outsiders
05/27/81 Aurora Bora/X-Patriots/Decades
05/28/81 Flint from S.F./Alienation/Hi-Fi
05/29/81 Sic F*cks/Wreck the Party
05/30/81 Von LMO/Knots
06/30/81 The Undead
10/16/81 The Dictators

11/25/81 "Damaged Goods Benefit"
/W/ Heart Attack/Reagan Youth/Even Worse/Kraut/The Nihilistics

11/26/81 Johnny Thunders /W/ Jerry Nolan & Walter Lure/The Dragons/The Pedestrians
11/27/81 Von LMO/Hi Sheriffs of Blue/The Pedestrians
11/28/81 Von LMO/False Prophets/Even Worse/The Pedestrians
12/03/81 Johnny Thunders/The Dragons
12/04/81 The Mob/Heart Attack/The Nihilistics/The Misguided/The Pricks

12/05/81 The Heroes /W/ Walter Lure/Cheap Perfume - CANCELLED

Peter Crowley (Max's Talent Booking Agent)
from: Comments on this piece:
"Saturday Dec. 5 - The Heroes (Walter Lure) and Cheap Perfume were booked for this date, but both cancelled on Friday evening leaving no time to replace them, so I held over most of the Friday bands (The Possessed replaced The Pricks) and the few attendees (predictably) spent little money."

12/05/81 The Mob/Heart Attack/The Nihilistics/The Misguided/The Possessed
*This was the final show held Upstairs at Max's. When the club closed in the early AM hours of December 6th, 1981, it was the end of Max's Kansas City...but the legend lives on.


Peter Crowley (Max's Talent Booking Agent)
from: Comments on this piece:
"The final weekend of Upstairs at Max's Kansas City should have been Dec. 10 (HEARTBREAKERS/KNOTS), Dec. 11 (BAD BRAINS/BEASTIE BOYS), and Dec. 12 (RATTLERS/RONNIE & THE JITTERS), but Tommy decided to throw us all out after the disasterous Saturday night show on December 5th, 1981, so the above shows never happened.The main floor restaurant had been closed several months earlier due to neglect."

12/10/81 Heartbreakers/Knots - CANCELLED
12/11/81 Bad Brains/Beastie Boys - CANCELLED
12/12/81 Rattlers/Ronnie & the Jitters - CANCELLED

AFTERWARDS...


05/16/83 Mickey Ruskin, original owner of Max's Kansas City, dies. He was 50 years old.

01/27/98 Max's Kansas City is briefly resurected (in name only) at a new location at 240 West 52nd Street, the former location of the Lone Star Roadhouse. This club was only open for a short time before being closed down due to legal maneuvers initiated by Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin who owned the name and did not consent to it's use for the new club.


12/06/05 Max's Kansas City 40th Anniversary Party
@ Former Hit Factory Studios
421 West 54th Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues)
NYC, NY
-A benefit for the Max's Kansas City Project
See the Press Release / Photos / More Photos /

Full view and close-up detail of a Max's Kansas City 40th Anniversary t-shirt from the NYCDreamin Archives/Collection (Thanks Sesu!!)





(Rolling Stone Magazine - 11/01/07)

06/29/08 Neversoft/Activision releases the video game: "Guitar Hero - Aerosmith". In the game the band refers to the shows they played at Max's Kansas City back in August 1972. Here's a video from the game:




07/19/08 Rock & Roll Party for Peter Crowley
@ Kenny's Castaways, NYC, NY
/W/ Paul Ryder's Bloodrunners/Freddy Frogs/Ruby & the Rednecks/Hudson Dusters/Tuff Darts/Cheap Perfume + special guests Walter Lure/Joey Kelly/Lou Bova/Nikki Fuse/Luigi/DJ sets by Peter Crowley
*Photos HERE from Joey Kelly's Facebook

2010

2010 looks to be a year that will see some very cool Max's Kansas City history brought to light. In early 2010, I was thrilled and honored to be contacted by a Sr. Editor at Abrams Books who found this blog piece and asked me to contribute a list of artists/musicians who appeared at Max's from roughy 1970 - 1981, when the club closed, to a new book project. In early spring 2010, Abrams Books announced a September 1st release date for "Max's Kansas City: Art, Glamour and Rock 'n' Roll" edited by Steven Kasher.

There is also a Max's documentary film in the works - no further details on when that will be released.

January 2010: Extra Place by Max's Kansas City opens as a "private events space" in the basement of the John Varvatos Gallery at 315 Bowery in New York City, the former location of the birthplace of punk rock, CBGB.

03/04/10 Rolling Stone.com reports on the upcoming Max's Kansas City book and film.
08/30/10 The New Yorker - "The Back Room"



09/01/10 "Max's Kansas City: Art, Glamour, Rock and Roll" released by Abrams Books.
Available directly from Abrams HERE or from Amazon.com HERE. I am extremely proud to see my list of bands, information originally published here, included in the book on pages 152 - 155. Thanks again to Tamar Brazis and all the staff at Abrams for including my submission in this amazing project. To celebrate the release of the book, edited by Steven Kasher, there will be a few exciting events coming up shortly for those of you in the NYC area or who are able to travel in September.

09/XX/10 Vanity Fair - "They All Hung Out At Max's"
09/01/10 New York Times - "Revisiting Max's, Sanctuary for the Hip"
09/01/10 New York Times - Slideshow of 11 photos from the new Max's Book
09/05/10 New York Magazine - "Accidental Mythology"
09/09/10 Los Angeles Times - "Beauty and the Beasts: On Edge On Two Coasts"
09/10/10 New York Times - "When Style Was Perfected At Max's Kansas City"

Details have been announced about the "2010 Max's Kansas City Alumni Reunion" on the groups Facebook page HERE. This September three-night, open to the public event, promises to be one hell of a party where you are sure to rub elbows with plenty of the original Max's crowd and hear stories only they can share. If you can hear them speaking above the music that is.


Artwork for the September 2010 Max's Kansas City Alumni Reunion events in NYC.
(Artwork by: Shari Saffioti)

Things kick off on September 10th and continue on the 11th with two nights of music and schmoozing at the Delancey Lounge, located at 168 Delancey Street. Peter Crowley (if you ask "Who?" you're reading the wrong blog - beat it!) says of this event: "I can't emphasize too emphatically the fact that this event will probably draw more people than can fit in The Delancey. Please don't plan to be fashionably late, 'cause you might not get in, and for sure you'll miss the excellent headliners who are playing the early slots." So pay heed and get there early folks.

09/10/10 @ Delancey Lounge
Blood Runners/The Crusher/Fuse Gari & Friends/Avant Duel with VON LMO and Otto Von Ruggins/The Undead/The Planets/Sunday Masquerade/New York Junk
*Photos HERE from Fernando Carpaneda's Facebook
*Photos HERE from Sybil Gage's Facebook



09/10/10 Low Society/Avant Duel @ Delancey Lounge


09/10/10 Planets @ Delancey Lounge

09/11/10 @ Delancey Lounge
Lipstick Killers/Ruby & the Rednecks/Sweetbryar & the Shivers/Five Points Band/Sic F*cks/Stop with Mickey Leigh/The Bully with Joy Ryder/The Waldos/Sea Monster
*Photos HERE from Mykel Board's Facebook



09/11/10 Jimmy LaLumia introducing Sic F*cks @ Delancey Lounge

Then, on September 12th, the 2010 Max's Alumni Reunion takes the party over to Otto's Shrunken Head, located at 538 East 14th Street, to finish things off with one more night of music and mingling.

09/12/10 @ Otto's Shrunken Head
Frank Wood and his NYC All-Stars Band/Stumblebunny with Chris Robison/Candy Apple/Buddy Love/Dirty & Naughty/Hudson Dusters/King Bee and the Stingers
*Photos HERE from Jim Kiernan's Facebook
*Photos HERE from David W. Stoler's Facebook
*Photos HERE from Joey Kelly's Facebook
*Photos HERE from Billy Vector's Facebook

09/13/10 WNYC - Leonard Lopate Show
Interview /w/ Steven Kasher and Forrest "Frosty" Meyers






09/15/10 "Max's Kansas City: Art, Glamour, Rock and Roll" exhibition opens at Steven Kasher Gallery in NYC: there will be a reception and book launch party from 6:00 - 8:00pm at the Steven Kasher Gallery, located at 521 West 23rd Street. The party also marks the beginning of a 3-week long Max's Kansas City photo and art exhibition at the gallery as well, which runs from 09/15/10 - 10/09/10. Regular hours at the Kasher Gallery are Monday through Friday, 11:00am to 6:00pm for those who may be interested in viewing the exhibition. The exhibition will feature over 150 vintage and limited edition photographs, and monumental sculptures and paintings by the inner circle of Max's artists, including John Chamberlain, Forrest Myers, Larry Zox, Neil Williams, and Andy Warhol. A highlight will be Myers's recreation of his famous laser/jukebox installation.

A series of short clips from Max's Kansas City by Anton Perich. This is the edited version of the video in the Max's Kansas City exhibition held at the Steven Kasher Gallery from September 15, 2010-October 9, 2010.




09/15/10 - Another Max's exhibition, "Artists at Max's Kansas City 1965 - 1974: Hetero-Holics and Some Women Too," opens within walking distance of the Kasher Gallery, taking place at the Loretta Howard Gallery, located at 525 West 26th Street. Per the Loretta Howard press release: "In this exhibition we attempt to recreate with curatorial accuracy the art that hung in Max’s and that artists traded with Mickey for bar tabs. Increasingly this art is seen to rank with the most extraordinary periods of history in centuries." This project has been organized by Maurice Tuchman for Loretta Howard Gallery.

09/15/10 Wall Street Journal - "The Club Everybody Wanted To Be In"
09/16/10 NYDaily News - "Max's Kansas City, Hottest Cultural Melting Pot..."
09/16/10 Stupefaction - "Max's Kansas City Exhibit and Book Launch"
09/18/10 Blog To Comm - Max's Book Review

11/01/10 "Lick Me: How I became Cherry Vanilla" released by Chicago Review Press Book. of course Cherry was a Max regular back in the early-mid 70's, so there are quite a few Max's mentions in her great new book.

04/04/12 (Tenative) Max's Alumni Easter Passover Festival, NYC
04/05/12 (Tenative) Max's Alumni Easter Passover Festival, NYC

213 Park Avenue South as it appears today...
(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives - July 2008)



Additional Resources:


*Be sure to visit the official website: Max's Kansas City.com

*Check out all the great Max's photos and memories on the Max's Kansas City Facebook Page.
*Order a copy of Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin's excellet memoir:
"High On Rebellion - Inside the Underground at Max's Kansas City"

*Visit Yvonne's website as well: Max's Kansas City Project and learn about how her organization benefits financially struggling artists and musicians as well as helping teens and young adults dealing with substance abuse issues.


*Read Max's employee Cliff Hausman's memories of Max's 1978-1980:
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6


*Special thanks to the following for their help and support:



Peter Crowley, Sesu Coleman and the Magic Tramps, FromTheArchives.com, BruceBase.org.uk, Mindspring.com, Karate Boogaloo at Stupefaction, "New York Magazine" and "Billboard Magazine" Archives at Google Books, New York Times Archives, Paul Tschinkel's "Innertube/New York Music New York" , Just Water Band, Otto Von Ruggins and Kongress, Howie Pyro and Billy 'Stark' Stone and The Blessed, JLP Originals, Johnny X and Rich Wretch and The Violators, Tom Milmore and The Rousers, Mykola Dementiuk, Tamar Brazis at Abrams Books, Miriam Linna and her amazing Kicksville 66 blog, Steve Berman and The Victims,