In a scheme akin to something Cosmo Kramer would cook up, Cro-Mag frontman John Joseph is now offering a gritty tour of the Lower East Side where he did much of his boozing, bruising and being a goddamn heroin mule.
John Joseph who detailed his infamous life in his celebrated 2008 autobiography The Evolution Of A Cro-Magnon has been a first hand participant in the history of punk and its ground zero in New York, The Lower East Side since 1977. In that time he witnessed some of the most infamous shows at clubs of legend like Max’s Kansas City, Great Gildersleeves, The Mudd Club and CBGB’s, roadied for the Bad Brains in their legendary rise, slam danced with John Belushi, was one of the first people to stage dive on national TV (Saturday Night Live), defined and re-defined hardcore music with The Cro-Mags.
As a resident of the Lower East Side Joseph squatted in condemned tenements, lived below a murderer (The Alphabet City Butcher Daniel Rakowitz), scuffled with the Guardian of St Marks Ave John Spacely (whom the big rock stars came to cop from when in NYC) and witnessed the Tompkins Square Police Riot. While still a teen Joseph survived life on the streets acting as a heroin mule and pulling cons. He spent close to two years in the worst juvenile prisons in NY state Spafford and Lincolndale.
So Ride the Ducks it ain’t. This is available for thirty-five bucks right here and while some people may find this to be a cheap grab for hardcore nostalgia, let’s remember that John Joseph can likely beat you to death.
