Teenage Jesus & The Jerks Reunion in NYC

Bradly Field, original drummer for Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, photographed eating a burger at Duke's

Teenage Jesus & the Jerks was the first band that Lydia Lunch formed and/or was in. Formed in 1977, they were one of the first so-called "no wave" bands - post punk before there was even a notion of post punk. I chalk it up to Lydia's innate sensibility for postmodernity and post-structuralism. She was just 16 and had nothing to lose. The band was loud, noisy, painful to listen to and they knew it - they called their music "aural terror."

I was scared to meet Bradly Field, pictured above, when I did in 1978. He came to Los Angeles with Mumps when they made an extended visit to do some recordings, play some shows and hopefully secure a record deal. Bradly was a pussy cat compared to the urban legend of Teenage Jesus & the Jerks.

Alas, Bradly has left the planet, but almost 30 years after the band's break-up, Lydia and Jim Sclavunos together with special guest/event organizer, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) are reuniting for one night only at New York's Knitting Factory. It is a fitting location for the show - Tribeca was always the hotbed of the next big thing. I had an apartment very briefly in the actual post punk no wave days of 1980/81 on White Street, next door to the Mudd Club. I crossed paths on a banal daily level with the likes of future bold face names such as Jim Jarmusch & Sara Driver, Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring as well as familiar faces like Johnny Thunders. Jim Carroll taught Stiv Bators and I how to appear to make the scene at the Mudd Club - make a grand entrance, say hello to everyone and head straight for the back door and hit the next club.

Those days are just memories but for New Yorkers, this weekend offers you a chance to experience a little bit of the halcyon days of the beginning of the end.

NOTE: The flyer below says Friday July 13 - but the real date is Friday JUNE 13!!

Don't miss this! Go to The Knitting Factory website to buy tickets