Wild tales of sex, drugs and punk rock at NYC club Max’s Kansas City: new doc

The Beatles famously sang about “Lucy within the Sky With Diamonds.” However for one of many Fab 4, it was George within the Again Room with Rubies on the iconic New York rock membership Max’s Kansas Metropolis.

The brand new documentary “Nightclubbing: The Beginning of Punk Rock in NYC” — which can be screening at Joe’s Pub on Tuesday, Wednesday and July 30 — reveals that George Harrison had a gem of a approach of selecting up chicks within the VIP again room of Max’s.

“He all the time carried somewhat pouch of rubies,” recalled Max’s legend Alice Cooper within the doc. “And as soon as he determined which one he needed to be with, then he would put the ruby down in entrance of her. And if she picked up the ruby, that was a finished deal then.”

“Nightclubbing” — which premiered on the Dock of the Bay Movie Competition in San Sebastián, Spain,  in Might — takes you contained in the intercourse, medication and rock ’n’ roll that went down at Max’s Kansas Metropolis within the nascent thrashing of the punk-rock motion with NYC-bred acts such because the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls and the Ramones. Not only a punk mecca, it was additionally the place the place the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Aerosmith had been signed by Clive Davis, and the place Debbie Harry served new-wave angle as a waitress earlier than forming Blondie.

“It was the cool issue,” mentioned Cooper. “There was plenty of different little locations to play, however Max’s was the place. It was the cool place.”

“It was one of many properties of punk,” added Billy Idol. “That’s what it was for us.”

Restaurateur Mickey Ruskin opened Max’s Kansas Metropolis at 213 Park Ave. South in December 1965 — eight years earlier than the more-heralded CBGB. With a restaurant within the entrance and a again room for VIPs, it was a hipster hangout when Andy Warhol grew to become an everyday together with scenesters from his close by studio, the Manufacturing unit.

Fashions and film stars — from Warren Beatty and Jane Fonda to Jack Nicholson and Elizabeth Taylor— would combine and mingle within the buzzy again room. “It was a terrific place to hang around,” mentioned Cooper. “There was no person there attempting to get your autograph, ’trigger everyone was greater than you.”

Max’s added dwell music in 1969, that includes acts such because the Stooges. Cooper remembers one notably piercing efficiency by Stooges frontman Iggy Pop, who, bloodied from rolling round on glass onstage, needed to get 16 stitches afterward. “I believe [Stooges manager] Danny Fields and I had been those who took him to the hospital,” he mentioned.

It was additionally at Max’s the place Iggy Pop met David Bowie, sparking their famend inventive collaboration, whereas Ziggy Stardust additionally drew inspiration from Cooper and his eponymous group for his Spiders from Mars backing band. 

As Max’s grew to become extra of a correct dwell music venue with its upstairs room within the early ’70s, there was loads of debauchery. It wasn’t unusual to seek out folks having intercourse within the toilet or capturing amphetamine into their butt.

“It was all about intercourse and medicines,” mentioned trans punk-rocker Jayne County.

County additionally recalled Dee Dee Ramone revealing his scarred penis after he was attacked throughout an altercation along with his girlfriend. “She freaked out and tried to stab Dee Dee within the c–okay, and tried to chop his c–okay off,” she mentioned. “And he had scars on his c–okay.”

“Nightclubbing” additionally recounts how Sid Vicious performed his final present at Max’s in 1978, 12 days earlier than his girlfriend Nancy Spungen was discovered lifeless on the Chelsea Lodge. Vicious was arrested for her homicide however by no means went to trial, as a result of he died from a heroin overdose whereas out on bail.

Idol fondly recalled taking part in the closing evening at Max’s Kansas Metropolis in 1981, performing “Dancing With Myself” amongst different tunes. “It was my approach of claiming thanks…cementing myself somewhat bit with the Max’s historical past in a approach,” he mentioned.