During the first wave of punk,the biggest event to hit America was The Sex Pistols tour that Warner Bros. Records financed after spending some serious money to sign the band to a U.S. deal. As it turned out, the tour lasted for only a handful of dates before imploding due to the way Warners handled things, in fighting between band members and their manager, the late Malcolm McLaren, and a hostile and confused U.S. audience;it didn't help that,for example, instead of playing New York, The Pistols played Texas! Needless to say, that did not turn out too well; radio wasn't playing the band,MTV and the worldwide web didn't exist yet,and their record sales tanked.The only Pistol to play NYC when it mattered, was Sid Vicious with his now mythological gigs at Max's Kansas City.
There to capture it all on film was the radical (and handsome) Lech Kowalski, who 'punked' his way into every gig and captured moments, conversations, and interviews that are now priceless; it all wound up on a controversial VHS release called ""D.O.A.:, which was pulled from the market a few years after it was released due to music clearance issues and some in house disagreements, and now, after many years, MVD has somehow re issued it on DVD, without the participation of Kowalski, who, I must confess, has been a friend of mine for several decades. His brilliant work still holds up, and we do get a glimpse of punk in America before it eventually became big business; I did enjoy watching it again after all these years; the dazed and confused Sid & Nancy interviews alone are worth the price of admission.
Lech is now overseas , visit him on Facebook and You Tube,where he, as always, is in the thick of social movements that affect the world,Lech tells me that somewhere down the line, he will put together the ultimate film statement on punk, which is something well worth waiting for; in the meantime, catch up on your homework and enjoy "D.O.A."
