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Richard Hell autobiography has been published, I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp which is on Harper
Collins. He was in Huntington's Book Revue for a signing. Arriving about twenty minutes early
last night I was dismayed by sparse audience. There may have been six of us. The others were older than me, discussing
their children in their twenties, divorces and lives they’re living outside of
the book store. One man had a Long Island
Duck’s jacket and brought an album to get signed. You like punk? Maybe you need a little background of the
man? Richard Hell was a staple in the
New York punk scene in the late seventies to the early eighties. He has the reputation of being the person to
influence the punk fashion style of the Sex Pistols. He was in Television, The Heartbreakers (Not
Tom Petty’s band) and Richard Hell and the Voidoids. His story is different, running away from
private school in Delaware, getting arrested in Alabama after setting fire to a
field (because he wanted to see it burn) and eventually arriving into New York where he wanted to make a name for
himself as a poet. The fact he is alive
is a miracle since the book will depict his struggles with drugs and eventual
retirement from music back in 1984. I am
not familiar with his music as I should be, so I checked YouTube and watched
the Blank Generation. I will see if I
can link it to this entry. If not, do
yourself a favor, it’s a good clip and has excellent audio and visual that was
shot at CBGB’s. Hell is the man who
helped build the stage at CB’s and made an appeal to the owner of the venue to
recruit other bands to play there like Patti Smith and her band, as well as
Blondie and Talking Heads. So I wanted
to hear him read and describe the book in some detail. I was disappointed. Hell was late for the signing, close to
twenty minutes, “They picked me up late.”
By the time he arrived there was a decent showing, around thirty bodies
of various ages and identities. But he
seemed less prepared than what I would expect for a reading. For most readings and/or signings, the writer
will share some stories of the book and make the reader want to read it. It only makes sense. They may actually read from the book, but did
not. So when Hell was introduced and walked up to the microphone he seemed
nervous and awkward. His voice was sort
of muffled maybe the influence of the southern drawl he may had. He said, “I should describe the book, but
I’ve never done that.” Instead he
referred to a recent interview. The
journalist did not want to ask him the typical question. Richard thought this was different - the
reporter cared what questions he was asking.
“Why did you write the book now?
It came time to write another book.
I regard myself as a novelist, I’ve been out of music for thirty years
and I wanted to be a professional writer.
Finish one book and start the next.
It’s truly my vocation. For
fiction, I’m not very good at the plot.
I need a strategy. For instance
my first novel is a road novel. The
characters travel across the country. It
has momentum. I didn’t have to conjure
up a story. My second novel, Godlike is
based on a pre-existing story in history.
A couple of poet s from the 19th century, so I took advantage
of their interesting story and set them in New York City in the seventies. I never thought I’d do an autobiography. It’s easier to write fiction. With fiction, you don’t have the constraint
of describing things, following something that actually happened….when you hit
your forties you assess who you are and what you’ve been through and get a
handle on it. I could work through that
problem or question by writing about it.
My purpose is to write a good book.
The point is to write well. It’s
almost incidental what the story is.
Richard said his writing style is clear and concise. Hell is also a voracious reader, has an
extensive poetry collection which is described and referenced some of his
favorites writers like Raymond Chandler and an obscure British writer (hope to
get the name) as well as William S. Bourrough’s later novels (not the cut and
paste works)…the audience was allotted a few minutes for a Q&A and had some
good questions. I was curious if he
wrote his autobiography after reading Patti Smith’s very popular book, Just
Kids. A woman asked this. He said he was afraid of the comparison, but
her book was a memoir. A memoir can be
a book about having a disease like cancer or having a relationship, like Patti
and Robert’s love. What was surprising
was Richard’s taste for music. “I don’t
listen to punk music. I’d listen to
rockabilly or something else for entertainment.” He discussed how long it took for punk to gain popularity, more than twenty years. He did not see any royalty checks till years after his albums were released and what was a shocker, The Ramones who are a legend today did not have the status back then, they toured constantly and were frowned upon back then. After waiting a few minutes to get my book signed - the line was
fairly short, I got up to the table and took my picture as he signed my book
and CD. I asked him, “Why did you quit
music?” He glanced away from the book
and looked up and said, “You have to read the book.” I’m curious what he has to write about Johnny
Thunders who was influenced so many, played in the NY Dolls as well as The Heartbreakers. Another guitarist, Robert
Quine who I met before a Lou Reed concert at Stony Brook back in the late eighties. I was told Quine was a legend and I remember how
he was down to earth, a gentleman who was short and bald with dark glasses and smiled from embarrassment when I was told he was a legend. Both men are dead,
but were important friends in Richard’s life and have most of the space within
the book…
Thank you for reading this
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