Danny Says Page #11

about his life, I think.

He feels like he needs

to do something he hasn't done.

I'm not sure,

but I think it's really basic...

existential despair.

I think it's like

the dark night of the soul,

that he goes back to

over and over and over again.

His whole apartment

is anthropomorphized.

He's got all the files and

all the things that he's saved,

and the photographs,

- there's spirits of all.

- The people he's loved.

And known everywhere.

It's out of love

that he has that stuff.

He's very romantic,

wanting somebody to blossom.

And wanting somebody's

spiritual, creative,

intellectual development

to be fulfilled

as much as you want your own,

and helping them do that.

He does that for so many people.

That's loving.

Gloria Stavers, then at 16,

who had been my supposed rival,

I never got near

to what she did,

asked me to be her personal

assistant at 16 Magazine.

That lasted until her final

fight with the publisher.

And the magazine then fell to

the co-editorship

of me and the brilliant.

Randi Reisfeld.

Mara:
Danny did

absolutely bring a sense of fun.

It was going to be

about David Cassidy,

and it was going to be

about Davey Jones,

but he also would be interested

in exposing the readers

to the Ramones,

or what was happening

on the hipper New York scene.

- You went through a phase where.

- You had the Beatles,

- You had the Monkees,

- you had David,

Bobby Sherman, the boom days...

But then harder-edged

rock 'n' roll took over,

so Danny made Alice

into sort of a teen idol.

- Alice:
I said, "There's so many.

- Rock heroes,

So many Peter Pans,

where's Captain Hook?"

- The great thing

- about 16 Magazine was that.

t was Donny Osmond was

the devil and I was the angel,

which was kinda funny to be

on the cover of 16

with Donny Osmond.

(laughs)

'Cause we couldn't have been

further apart.

Somehow Danny kinda liked

that juxtaposition of the two.

You know, the opposites.

I think that he loved glam rock,

punk rock and horror rock.

Iggy was the punk rock guy,

I was sorta

the glam/horror rock guy,

Bowie was

this space oddity/glam guy.

- Danny was in the middle.

- Of all of it,

Almost orchestrating it.

And those are the guys that...

They are always in the wings,

but they're always

the most effective people.

He was always helping us,

and pushing us.

("Be My Lover"

(by Alice Cooper plays)

Danny:
Max's was our after

hours,

before hours place to be.

The New York Dolls

were our band,

but because they wore lipstick

and had that attitude on

the cover of their first album,

they were slammed nationally.

Patti Smith

and Robert Mappelthorpe

knew about Max's,

but they were terrified.

It seemed so impenetrable

and so in,

especially the back room,

everyone was so cool.

We'd say, "They're are those

cute people again.

- Which is a boy,

- which is a girl?"

If one of them is a boy,

we should be f***ing him,

and if one of them is a girl,

you should be f***ing her.

They're just standing there,

- they look like.

- They want to meet us.

- Let's bring them in.

- And f*** them.

- At one moment,

- I just went up to them:

"Sit down, you're here all the

time, why don't you sit down.

Have a cup of coffee,

it's free."

Hey, it was Patti Smith and.

Robert Mapplethorpe in infancy,

cultural infancy and...

as opposed to Jim Morrison,

she was a good poet.

And he was adorable

and everyone f***ed him.

So that was their kick-off.

With the Patti Smith Group,

our sense of punk

was more one of attitude.

- Nobody knew.

- What the heck we were doing.

Patti would come out

and do a few standards,

and then I'd scrub away

on guitar,

and we'd do some rock oldies

and then some noise.

Danny says, "I know

a really great piano player."

And he introduces us

to Richard Sohl.

He's just a beautiful boy,

and we're thinking,

"Can he actually play?"

- And then he sits down,

- and phew...

("Piss Factory"

(by Patti Smith plays)

And that was probably

the most important thing

for the development

for our band,

and for Patti as a singer.

He helped shepherd me as...

a young, questing human

into my life.

Forty years later,

I'm still playing,

which is a beautiful thing.

And Danny recognized

that element in me

before I even had a clue...

who I could be.

Danny:
The Ramones

and their fighting, competitive,

we-hate-everyone-else spirit,

Johnny would yell at Tommy,

"You're our publicity guy,

why isn't this guy

writing about us?

Why is writing about these

f***ing beatniks or hippies?"

- They were also after.

- Lisa Robinson,

She was the editor

of Rock Scene.

And of course Rock Scene

was full of, you know...

"David Johansen

has dinner in Chinatown"

or, you know, "The New York.

Dolls buy lipstick."

All pictures, all glam,

nothing about music, it was

just all about celebrities.

Everyone was a star.

Lisa and I said, "Ugh...

are you getting bothered

by these Ramones?"

She said, "Ugh, they don't stop.

- I'm afraid to pick up the.

- Phone."

- I said, "We have to get them.

- Off our backs.

You go see the Ramones,

I'll go see

the whatever elses."

She called the next day

and she said,

"You've got to see this band,

you will love them."

Their songs are all

two minutes long,

their whole set is

about 14 minutes.

It's what we dream of!

- So I went to see them.

- The next time they played and...

t was true.

I Don't Wanna Go Down.

To The Basement!

Come on, let's do "Loudmouth,"

all right?

F*** it.

No, I wanna do "I Don't Wanna.

Go Down To The Basement" too.

Yeah, I know,

that's two against one.

- Oh, really?

- Yeah.

Really?

F*** you all!

- Take it, take it, let's go!

- Quick, lively!

1, 2, 3, 4

Hey, daddy-o

I don't want to go

down to the basement

There's somethin' down there

I don't want to go

Hey, Romeo

There's somethin' down there

I don't want to go

Down to the basement

- Danny:

- I decided within 15 seconds.

- Because if it ever takes me.

- Longer than that.

To know if I like

something or not,

I probably don't like it.

I don't want to have to wonder.

It's just gotta

knock me over like...

atomic wind.

This is just everything,

no guitar solos,

the songs are over so fast,

they're all so cute,

they look great,

I love what they're wearing.

- I loved them,

- they had everything.

- I introduced myself to them.

- Afterwards and

I said right away,

"I want to be your manager."

"We need a few thousand dollars

for a drum kit and...

if you come up with that,

you can be our manager."

- "Okay."

- (laughs)

So I flew down to Florida and

went to visit my mother,

"I just discovered this band

I really love and

they're going to sign

a long contract with me,

and they're gonna make me rich.

I need $3,000."

"Okay, if you're sure."

- And she wrote me a check.

- And I gave it to them,

They bought what they needed

and I was their manager.

("Blitzkrieg Bop"

(by The Ramones plays)

Lou Reed:
Do you hear the way

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes