The People's Choice

Stiv Icon, originally uploaded by Theresa K.

Last night after my photo show opening in Nashville, as a group of us were waiting to hear The Reigning Sound perform, the conversation came around to The Dead Boys. Because I realy have no critical distance where they are concerned, I really have no idea just how far and wide and deep their influence is.

I wish Cheetah Chrome had been around at that hour to hear it - he was by earlier in the day with his baby, Rogan.

The Dead Boys were an everyman's band. A bunch of bonafide, scruffy punks from a "no future" town in the Rust Belt - Youngstown, OH. They burst out of there with their love for music, ranging from garage to glam, and like the New York Dolls, smeared a sneer and dirt all over the glam and rocked it like there was no tomorrow.

The remaining Dead Boys will be getting together to pay tribute to CBGB at the end of August - at CBGB. The venue that gave the world its most influential rock n roll of the 70s may become just a memory soon. It worth the trip to see the Dead Boys in the venue that introduced them to the world.

This portrait of Stiv will be up at Grimey's in Nashville for a couple more weeks. Come check it out. In all, 23 photos are hanging, all for sale at consumer prices.