135-708: Willy DeVille (born William Paul Borsey Jr. ; August 25, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974–1986) and later on his own, DeVille created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary music, including Jack Nitzsche , Doc Pomus , Dr. John , Mark Knopfler , Allen Toussaint , and Eddie Bo . Latin rhythms , blues riffs, doo-wop , Cajun music , strains of French cabaret , and echoes of early-1960s uptown soul can be heard in DeVille's work. Mink DeVille
270-530: A Backpage sex trafficking exposé, Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars bought Village Voice Media's papers and associated web properties from its founders in September 2012, and formed the Denver-based Voice Media Group . In May 2013, The Village Voice editor Will Bourne and deputy editor Jessica Lustig told The New York Times that they were quitting
405-462: A compilation album of bands that played CBGB (for the recording sessions, drummer Thomas R. "Manfred" Allen Jr. was credited as Manfred Jones). Later in life, DeVille had only sour memories of CBGB. He did not play any benefit concerts or recordings for the nightclub. He told Music Street Journal : "The whole band only got $ 50 a night, even to the end. That's why I never went back there. I've never walked through those doors other than to have maybe
540-817: A quarterly in April 2021. The Village Voice has received three Pulitzer Prizes , the National Press Foundation Award, and the George Polk Award . The Village Voice hosted a variety of writers and artists, including writer Ezra Pound , cartoonist Lynda Barry , artist Greg Tate , music critic Robert Christgau , and film critics Andrew Sarris , Jonas Mekas , and J. Hoberman . In October 2015, The Village Voice changed ownership and severed all ties with former parent company Voice Media Group (VMG). The Voice announced on August 22, 2017, that it would cease publication of its print edition and convert to
675-511: A reggae concert at Max's Kansas City , sang background vocals . On the catchy " Spanish Stroll ", bassist Rubén Sigüenza spoke words in Spanish during the break ("Hey Rosita! Donde vas con mi carro Rosita? Tu sabes que te quiero, pero ti me quitas todo"), adding a Latin flavor to the album. This song was chosen as the album's lead single and reached No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart ; it
810-524: A Different Color in Memphis . The 1999 album, produced by Jim Dickinson , includes a chain-gang song, a cover of Fred McDowell 's "Going over the Hill," and a cover of Andre Williams 's "Bacon Fat". Allmusic said about the album, "Simply put, no one has this range or depth in interpreting not only styles, but also the poetics of virtually any set of lyrics. DeVille makes everything he sings believable. 'Horse of
945-689: A Different Color' is the most consistent and brilliant recording of Willy DeVille's long career." Horse of a Different Color was the first Willy DeVille album since 1987's Miracle to be released simultaneously in Europe and the United States. His previous five albums had been released first in Europe and picked up later, if they were picked up at all, by American record labels. By 2000, DeVille had cured his two-decades-long addiction to heroin. He relocated to Cerrillos Hills, New Mexico , where he produced and played on an album, Blue Love Monkey , with Rick Nafey,
1080-553: A beer once. I was down in New Orleans and I came up here, kind of going down Memory Lane so to speak. I ended up on Bowery down there and I thought, 'Let's see what's going on here.' I walked in (to CBGB) and I saw Hilly ( Hilly Kristal ) standing there. I had a big straw hat on, silk suit. He bought me a beer and it got around to 'Would you like to come back?' I said, 'No Hilly and you know why? Because you never treated me right. You never were fair to me.'" The exposure eventually led to
1215-422: A cane for about three years and I couldn't go anywhere or do anything. I was fucked up. I was ready for the scrapheap. "I guess I was testing the waters to see if I would live through it", DeVille told another interviewer. "It was a foolish, foolish thing to do." For the next five years, DeVille walked with a cane and performed sitting on a barstool, until he had hip replacement surgery in 2006. DeVille's stay in
1350-491: A couple of verses of my own." Backstreets of Desire was released in the United States in 1994 on Rhino Record's Forward label. In 1984, DeVille married his second wife, Lisa Leggett, who proved to be an astute business manager. On the strength of his success touring and selling albums in Europe, they bought a horse farm, Casa de Sueños , in Picayune, Mississippi and began living there as well as at their apartment and studio in
1485-463: A fat new recording deal and promised to personally shepherd his career ...", reported Rolling Stone in 1980. "According to Willy—never one to let false modesty intrude on a good story—the Atlantic Records chairman said, 'You got the look, the performance, the writing, you know exactly what to do.'" By this time, no members of the original Mink DeVille save Willy DeVille remained in
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#17331214428971620-736: A few minutes and capture all of its life and death drama. The albums Mink DeVille recorded for Atlantic sold well in Europe but not in the United States. Explained Kenny Margolis, who played piano and accordion in DeVille's early 1980s bands, "I don't think the American public had a chance to experience him because in America at that time you had MTV telling you what to like. Europe had not had MTV at that point and they were very open to different music." DeVille said about his years with Atlantic Records , "Ahmet Ertegun and I got along, but we never got anything done." Mink DeVille's last album, Sportin' Life ,
1755-654: A friend from his youth in Connecticut who had played in DeVille's first band, Billy & the Kids, as well as The Royal Pythons. In New Mexico, DeVille's wife Lisa committed suicide by hanging; DeVille discovered her body. He said: I got in a car accident because I got crazy. I think I was somewhat taunting death because somebody who I loved very much died. And I found them. That's what that lyric in that song means ("she hurts me still since I cut her down" [from "Downside of Town" on Crow Jane Alley ]). I cut her down. Next thing you know
1890-548: A full-throated Jersey Shore sound that evoked Bruce Springsteen and Southside Johnny . Wrote critic Thom Jurek about these albums: (Both) are truly solid albums—despite lukewarm reviews at the time—showcasing much of Willy's theatrical personality and his own desire to provide for the elements of fantasy in rock music that the early rockers and doo-woppers did in the 1950s and 1960s (and that Piaf and Brel did in France). Rootsy, hook-laden rock, iconic balladry, and
2025-418: A fully digital venture, on a date to be announced. The final printed edition, featuring a 1965 photo of Bob Dylan on the cover, was distributed on September 21, 2017. After halting print publication in 2017, The Voice provided daily coverage through its website until August 31, 2018, when it announced it was ceasing production of new editorial content. On December 23, 2020, editor R. C. Baker announced that
2160-426: A host to underground cartoonists. In addition to mainstay Jules Feiffer , whose cartoon ran for decades in the paper until its cancellation in 1996, well-known cartoonists featured in the paper have included R. Crumb , Matt Groening , Lynda Barry , Stan Mack , Mark Alan Stamaty , Ted Rall , Tom Tomorrow , Ward Sutton , Ruben Bolling and M. Wartella . Backpage was a classified advertisement website owned by
2295-641: A local here in New Orleans. We were all pleased with it. It's recorded the way it was originally done back then. It's live with no overdubs anywhere, no digital, no editing. We played the song several times and just picked the best take, the one that was the most natural. It's on Fnac/Orleans Records. I'm really proud of that one. Victory Mixture was recorded for a small independent label, Orleans Records, which licensed it to Sky Ranch (Fnac Music) in France. "It sold over 100,000 units in Europe very quickly—our first gold disc ," said Carlo Ditta, founder of Orleans Records and
2430-639: A longtime member of the Mink DeVille Band , said about the stages of Willy DeVille's career: To my mind there were three main eras. The first era was the Lower East Side , skinny tie, purple shirt, West Side Story , Puerto Rican Sharks gang vibe. Then it transmuted into the Mississippi plantation-gambler riverboat rogue, the Rhett Butler thing where he had had custom-made suits, and really got into
2565-551: A lot about my look, my image on stage, and my vocal riffs to John Hammond. A lot of my musical stance is from John," Deville said. He credited Hammond's 1965 album So Many Roads with "changing my life." As a teenager, DeVille played with friends from Stamford in a blues band called Billy & the Kids, and later in another band called The Immaculate Conception. At age 17, he married Susan Berle, also known as Toots. DeVille struck out in 1971 for London in search of like-minded musicians ("obvious American with my pompadour hair "), but
2700-432: A love song like DeVille. He was the embodiment of rock and roll's romance, its theater, its style, its drama, camp, and danger." Mink DeVille Mink DeVille was a rock band founded in 1974, known for its association with early punk rock bands at New York 's CBGB nightclub and for being a showcase for the music of Willy DeVille . The band recorded six albums in the years 1977 to 1985, after which it disbanded
2835-551: A new manager. I cleaned up my act. I figured that since playing music with people I was friends with didn't seem to work out, I would hire some mercenaries, some cats who just wanted to play and get paid. And those guys turned out to be more devoted to the music than any band I ever had. They're professional, precise, but they're full of fire, too. DeVille recorded two albums for Atlantic, 1981's Coup de Grâce (produced by Jack Nitzsche ) and 1983's Where Angels Fear to Tread . Both albums featured saxophonist Louis Cortelezzi and had
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#17331214428972970-506: A new musical style sometimes called "Spanish-Americana". DeVille died of pancreatic cancer on August 6, 2009, at the age of 58. Although his commercial success waxed and waned over the years, his legacy as a songwriter has influenced many other musicians, such as Mark Knopfler and Peter Wolf . Willy DeVille was born in Stamford, Connecticut to William Paul Borsey (1919-2000), a carpenter, and Marion Elizabeth Meritt (1921-2004). He grew up in
3105-538: A new, completely contemporary Brill Building record. To the symphonic sweetness of the Drifters he added his own Gallic romance and, in his vocal, a measure of punk rock 's Bowery grit. Doc (Pomus) was elated when he heard it. Thinking they'd signed a new wave band, Capitol didn't know what to do with Willy's rock and roll chanson and shelved it for a year. When it was finally released in 1980, Le Chat Bleu remixed by Joel Dorn , made nearly every critic's list of
3240-719: A pair of nose rings , snow-white kabuki make-up and a Ronettes -style beehive the color of tar. She'd once put out a lit Marlboro in a woman's eye just for staring at Willy." In 1984, DeVille married his second wife, Lisa Leggett, whom he met in California. She became his business manager. They lived near New Orleans and on a horse farm in Picayune, Mississippi . After her suicide in 2001, he married Nina Lagerwall (daughter of Sture Lagerwall ), his third wife, whom he met in New York in August 2000. They returned to New York City, where he spent
3375-507: A partridge in a pear tree." DeVille did not have a recording contract with an American label in the mid-1990s. His next two albums, Willy DeVille Live (1993) and Big Easy Fantasy (1995), were recorded for Fnac Music , a French label. Willy DeVille Live was a number one record in Spain. Big Easy Fantasy presents live recordings of the Mink DeVille Band playing with New Orleans legends Eddie Bo and The Wild Magnolias and remixes from
3510-464: A pompadour and pencil mustache, with the dangerous air of a New York gangfighter and an underbelly vulnerability that came out through the romanticism of his music. Springsteen sounded like he was your friend in desperate times. DeVille sounded like he couldn't quite decide whether to serenade you or pull a knife on you. Said DeVille, "We were doing Little Walter stuff, we were doing Elmore James stuff. The only stuff we were doing that people had heard
3645-461: A record contract. In December 1976, Ben Edmonds (1950–2016), an A&R man for Capitol Records , and previously an editor for Creem , signed the band after spotting them at CBGB. Wrote Edmonds: When Mink DeVille took the stage (at CBGB) and tore into "Let Me Dream if I Want To" followed by another scorcher called "She's So Tough," they had me. These five guys ... were obviously part of the new energy, but I also felt immediately reconnected to all
3780-498: A record deal," he said dismissively in 1981, when asked about the punk scene. However, Mink DeVille had in common with the CBGB bands an aversion to the hippy aesthetic (what Willy DeVille called "electric this and strawberry that" ); moreover, the band brought an eclectic New York sensibility to its music that the other bands didn't have and that New York City rock fans recognized and appreciated. Critic Robert Palmer wrote, "Mr. DeVille
3915-443: A record featuring accordions and strings. "It says something about the state of the American record business—something pathetic and depressing—that Willy DeVille's finest album fell on deaf ears at Capitol," wrote Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone . Said percussionist Boris Kinberg, "Capitol in the U.S. didn't know what to do with it because they perceived Willy as this punk rocker from CBGBs and he came back from Paris with
4050-498: A solo career. Consequently, Mink DeVille played its last concert on February 20, 1986 in New York City. Although Willy DeVille had been recording and touring for ten years under the name Mink DeVille , no members of his original band had recorded or toured with him since 1980's Le Chat Bleu . Beginning in 1987 with the album Miracle , DeVille began recording and touring under his own name. He told an interviewer, "Ten years with
4185-476: A song from Miracle and the theme song of the movie The Princess Bride , was nominated for an Academy Award in 1987; DeVille performed the song at that year's Academy Awards telecast . Knopfler heard ("Storybook Love") and asked if I knew about this movie he was doing. It was a Rob Reiner film about a princess and a prince. The song was about the same subject matter as the film, so we submitted it to Reiner and he loved it. About six or seven months later, I
Willy DeVille - Misplaced Pages Continue
4320-405: A sweet, tuneful flexibility that brought out the emotional resonance beneath his nasal sneer. What the wiry, dapper DeVille had that tied him to fellow CBGB resident bands like The Ramones, Television, Blondie and Talking Heads was an edge. He was drawing on some of the same musical areas that Bruce Springsteen 's epic rock dipped into, but Willy was an entirely different creature, a macho dandy in
4455-574: A two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village ; that was its initial coverage area, which expanded to other parts of the city by the 1960s. In 1960, it moved from 22 Greenwich Avenue to 61 Christopher Street in a landmark triangular corner building adjoining Sheridan Square, and a few feet west of the Stonewall Inn ; then, from the 1970s through 1980, at 11th Street and University Place; and then Broadway and 13th Street. It moved to Cooper Square in
4590-715: A valuable resource for reporters covering the Trump presidency. The Voice has published investigations of New York City politics, as well as reporting on national politics, with arts, culture, music, dance, film, and theater reviews. Writers and cartoonists for The Voice have received three Pulitzer Prizes : in 1981 ( Teresa Carpenter , for feature writing), 1986 ( Jules Feiffer , for editorial cartooning) and 2000 ( Mark Schoofs , for international reporting). The paper has, almost since its inception, recognized alternative theater in New York through its Obie Awards . The paper's " Pazz & Jop " music poll, started by Robert Christgau in
4725-442: A very different kind of record. They didn't understand the record, but they understood it in Europe. They released it immediately in Europe and everybody loved it." After Le Chat Bleu sold impressively in America as an import, Capitol finally released it in the United States. Wrote Alex Halberstadt: (Willy DeVille) created a record that sounded like nothing that had come before ... It was clear that Willy had realized his fantasy of
4860-475: Is a magnetic performer, but his macho stage presence camouflages an acute musical intelligence; his songs and arrangements are rich in ethnic rhythms and blues echoes, the most disparate stylistic references, yet they flow seamlessly and hang together solidly. He embodies (New York's) tangle of cultural contradictions while making music that's both idiomatic, in the broadest sense, and utterly original." In 1976, three Mink DeVille songs appeared on Live at CBGB's ,
4995-457: Is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village , New York City , known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly . Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf , Ed Fancher , John Wilcock , and Norman Mailer , The Voice began as a platform for the creative community of New York City. It ceased publication in 2017, although its online archives remained accessible. After an ownership change, The Voice reappeared in print as
5130-582: Is not unlike his own." This issue of Creem shows a picture of DeVille driving a car with what looks to be mink on the dashboard. Looking at music magazines in City Lights Bookstore , DeVille noticed a small ad in The Village Voice inviting bands to audition in New York City (his hometown was nearby Stamford, Connecticut ). "I convinced the guys that I could get them work, and we climbed in
5265-512: The Billboard 200 , making it Willy DeVille's highest charting album ever in his home country. In 1979, Willy DeVille took his band in a new direction and recorded an album in Paris called Le Chat Bleu . For the album, DeVille wrote several songs with Doc Pomus who had previously seen the band play in New York City. DeVille hired Jean Claude Petit to supervise string arrangements , and he dismissed
5400-724: The Editor & Publisher EPpy Award for Best Overall U.S. Newspaper Online Service – Weekly, Community, Alternative & Free in 2003. In 2005, the Phoenix alternative weekly chain New Times Media purchased the company and took the Village Voice Media name. Previous owners of The Village Voice or of Village Voice Media have included co-founders Fancher and Wolf, New York City Councilman Carter Burden , New York magazine founder Clay Felker , Rupert Murdoch , and Leonard Stern of
5535-551: The Victory Mixture sessions. DeVille said, "I was pissed off and I didn't have a record deal for a few years. At the time I didn't want one. I was getting very gun-shy about labels. I was performing in Europe and I was doing great without one. When you get to that stage in your mind, they all start coming around. It's pretty strange the way that happens". In 1995, he returned to Los Angeles to record Loup Garou , again with producer John Philip Shenale . Musician said about
Willy DeVille - Misplaced Pages Continue
5670-570: The East Village in 1991, and in 2013, to the Financial District . Early columnists of the 1950s and 1960s included Jonas Mekas , who explored the underground film movement in his "Film Journal" column; Linda Solomon , who reviewed the Village club scene in the "Riffs" column; and Sam Julty , who wrote a popular column on car ownership and maintenance. John Wilcock wrote a column every week for
5805-486: The French Quarter of New Orleans . DeVille told an interviewer in 1996: "I finally got the plantation ... I just bought this house and 11 acres (4.5 ha). It looks a little bit like Graceland ... I got into horses since my wife is into them. We're raising Spanish and Portuguese bullfighting horses. The bloodline is 2000 years old. She's into breeding , but I just love riding. I've also got five dogs, four cats and
5940-828: The Hartz Mountain empire. After The Village Voice was acquired by New Times Media in 2005, the publication's key personnel changed. The Voice was then managed by two journalists from Phoenix, Arizona . In April 2006, The Voice dismissed music editor Chuck Eddy . Four months later, the newspaper sacked longtime music critic Robert Christgau . In January 2007, the newspaper fired sex columnist and erotica author Rachel Kramer Bussel ; long-term creative director Ted Keller , art director Minh Oung, fashion columnist Lynn Yaeger and Deputy Art Director LD Beghtol were laid off or fired soon afterward. Editor in chief Donald Forst resigned in December 2005. Doug Simmons, his replacement,
6075-553: The Phil Spector stuff that we grew up with and loved. We just fell in love with each other. We were buddies to the end. He was like my crazy uncle. I called him my mentor and my tormentor. Mink DeVille recorded their debut album Cabretta (entitled Mink DeVille in the U.S.), produced by Jack Nitzsche , in January 1977. Nitzsche would, in alternation with Steve Douglas , produce the first four Mink DeVille albums. Both men, members of
6210-624: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , had apprenticed under Phil Spector and helped shape the Wall of Sound production technique. These producers were a natural fit for Mink DeVille, whose members' tastes ran to the Ronettes , the Crystals and other 1960s-era New York City bands with their Brill Building sound. Said Willy DeVille, "You listen to that music and you hear those really high strings , and that percussion, and
6345-636: The Southwest awakened his interest in his Native American heritage. On the cover of his next album, 2002's Acoustic Trio Live in Berlin , recorded to celebrate his 25 years' of performing, DeVille wore long hair. He began wearing Native American clothing and jewelry on stage. In 2004, DeVille returned to Los Angeles to record Crow Jane Alley , his third album with producer John Philip Shenale. The album continued his explorations of his Spanish-Americana sound and featured many prominent Los Angeles Latino musicians. On
6480-448: The castanets ; that's all Jack's (Jack Nitzsche's) work. All that really cool stuff". Nitzsche said about DeVille, "We hit it off right away. Willy pulled out his record collection, he started playing things, that was it. I thought, 'Holy shit! This guy's got taste!'" Wrote Ben Edmonds, who paired Nitzsche with Mink DeVille: It has always been assumed that our pairing was based on his (Nitzsche's) Spector accomplishments, but to me that
6615-459: The mike . With his pedantically trimmed pencil mustache he looked like a cross between a bullfighter and a Puerto Rican pimp . The tightest black suit clung to his thin frame; he wore a purple shirt, a narrow black tie and shoes with six-inch points. A Pompadour jutted out above his forehead like the lacquered hull of a submarine. The show was the most soulful Doc had seen in ages. Onstage, Willy's band, Mink DeVille, had nothing in common with
6750-510: The new wave CBGB bands that the press had lumped them with. Unlike Television , the Ramones , or Blondie , at heart Mink DeVille was an R&B band, and Willy an old-fashioned soul singer. He borrowed much of his phrasing from Ben E. King and couldn't believe it when someone told him that Doc Pomus wanted to meet him after the show. "You mean the guy who wrote ' Save the Last Dance for Me '?" He
6885-921: The "Mink" moniker and began recording under his own name. Mink DeVille played its last concert on February 20, 1986, in New York City. On playbills and on live albums such as Willy DeVille Live (1993) and Acoustic Trio Live in Berlin (2003), Willy DeVille's backup band was sometimes called The Mink DeVille Band , an allusion to the earlier Mink DeVille. Some musicians who backed up Willy DeVille in The Mink DeVille Band played and toured with him for decades. Bass player Bob Curiano , Drummer Shawn Murray for example, backed up Willy DeVille in his 1984 and 2007 European tours. As well, musicians who played in The Mink DeVille Band sometimes played on Mink DeVille and Willy DeVille albums. These members of different Mink DeVille Bands played with Willy DeVille for ten years or more: The Village Voice The Village Voice
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#17331214428977020-496: The Drifters . It was like magic, there was drama, and it would hypnotise me." DeVille quit high school and began frequenting New York City's Lower East Side and West Village . "It seemed like I just hung out and hung out. I always wanted to play music but nobody really had it together then. They had psychedelic bands but that wasn't my thing." In this period, DeVille's interests ran to blues guitarists Muddy Waters , John Lee Hooker , and especially John Hammond . "I think I owe
7155-686: The GLF petitioned it to do so. Over time, The Voice changed its stance, and, in 1982, became the second organization in the US known to have extended domestic partner benefits. Jeff Weinstein, an employee of the paper and shop steward for the publishing local of District 65 UAW, negotiated and won agreement in the union contract to extend health, life insurance, and disability benefits to the "spouse equivalents" of its union members. The Voice ' s competitors in New York City include The New York Observer and Time Out New York . Seventeen alternative weeklies around
7290-533: The Immortals they recorded the band's debut album Cabretta (simply called Mink DeVille in the U.S.) in January 1976. Cabretta , a multifaceted album of soul , R&B , rock , and blues recordings, was selected number 57 in the Village Voice ' s 1977 Pazz & Jop critics poll. Its lead single " Spanish Stroll " reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart , the only Willy DeVille recording to ever hit
7425-509: The Marquis then. We played the Barracks. After a while they would take their clothes off. This one guy—Jesus Satin he called himself—he'd dance on the pool table. It was nuts! Crazy!" In 1975, the band changed its name to Mink DeVille ; lead singer Billy Borsay took the name Willy DeVille . Said DeVille, "We were sitting around talking of names, and some of them were really rude, and I
7560-476: The Marquis, but changed the name to Mink DeVille the year after; at the same time lead singer Borsay adapted the name Willy DeVille. The same year, DeVille persuaded the band members to try their luck in New York City after spotting an ad in The Village Voice inviting bands to audition. Guitarist Fast Floyd and keyboard player Ritch Colbert stayed behind in San Francisco (Colbert would shortly head to NY to join
7695-532: The Reading Eagle Company, and holds the same roles at The Village Voice . After taking over ownership of The Voice , Barbey named Joe Levy, formerly of Rolling Stone , as interim editor in chief, and Suzan Gursoy, formerly of Ad Week , as publisher. In December 2016, Barbey named Stephen Mooallem, formerly of Harper's Bazaar , as editor in chief. Mooallem resigned in May 2018, and was not replaced before
7830-460: The Southwest, DeVille returned to New York City in 2003, where he took up residence with Nina Lagerwall, his third wife. He continued touring Europe, usually playing music festivals in the summer. On Mardi Gras of 2008, Pistola , DeVille's sixteenth album, was released. Independent Music said about the album: "(Willy DeVille) has never been more artistically potent than on Pistola , confronting
7965-455: The Texas-Mexico border area ... [T]hey call it Texico. I tried, instead of doing something that sounded like Jimi Hendrix that would have been a cliché, I tried to take the song back to the way that it must originally have sounded, which would be with mariachis. It's classic, but it's classic with a little twist. A little different. I put a bit of pachuco Canal Street slang talking. I added
8100-479: The United States are owned by The Voice's former parent company Village Voice Media . The film section writers and editors also produced a weekly Voice Film Club podcast. In 1996, after decades of carrying a cover price, The Voice switched from a paid weekly to a free, alternative weekly. The Voice website was a recipient of the National Press Foundation 's Online Journalism Award in 2001 and
8235-519: The United States in 1978 with Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe . In 1979, Willy DeVille's love of art and French culture led him to relocate to Paris for a short while. Here he took his band in a new direction and recorded an entirely original album called Le Chat Bleu . For this album, DeVille wrote several songs with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Doc Pomus . Guitarist Louis X. Erlanger had become acquainted with Pomus while frequenting New York City's blues clubs and had urged Pomus to check out
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#17331214428978370-446: The album only in Europe, in 1980. However, the album sold impressively in America as an import and Capitol finally released it in the United States later the same year. Ironically, Rolling Stone yearly critic's poll ranked Le Chat Bleu the fifth best album of 1980, and music historian Glenn A. Baker declared it the tenth best rock album of all time. By this time no members of the original Mink DeVille save Willy DeVille remained in
8505-455: The album was overproduced. Wrote Allmusic : "Its sound is steeped in mid-'80s studio gloss and compression that often overwhelms quality material." However, David Wild of Rolling Stone praised Sportin' Life , calling it "[t]he most modern, polished sound of (Willy DeVille's) career." He added, "Pushed to center stage, DeVille delivers, singing with more passion and more personality than ever before." After Sportin' Life , DeVille dropped
8640-519: The album: Willy DeVille's Backstreets of Desire stands tall as his masterpiece as both a singer and a songwriter. DeVille's considerable reputation in Paris buoyed him up to make this disc ... With guest spots by Dr. John, Zachary Richard, and David Hidalgo, DeVille creates a tapestry of roots rock and Crescent City second line , traces of 1950s doo-wop , and elegant sweeping vistas of Spanish soul balladry, combined with lyrics full of busted-down heroes, hungry lovers, and wise men trying to get off
8775-478: The album: " Loup Garou is subtle in nuance but staggering in scope, it connects the dots between all of the artist's sacrosanct influences, often within the framework of a single song ... All of it is on the money, performed from the heart ... " Loup Garou featured a duet with Brenda Lee ; DeVille said: "She didn't know who the hell I was. I just called her up, played the song for her, and she loved it. She had her business people check me out, and they reported that I
8910-488: The audience, you know strands of purple and gold beads, and they'd never seen anything like it and they loved it." In 1992, DeVille recorded Backstreets of Desire , the first of four albums he would record in Los Angeles with producer John Philip Shenale . "I say it every time I record in L.A. — that I'll never do it again, and I keep doing it ... It's crazy. I just record and go to the hotel, and never go out, then back to
9045-467: The band Lazy Ace , which included Allen on drums and Ritch Colbert on piano. When Lazy Ace broke up, DeVille, Allen, Colbert, Rubén Sigüenza, and guitarist Robert McKenzie (a.k.a. Fast Floyd , later of Fast Floyd and the Famous Firebirds ) formed a band called Billy de Sade and the Marquis . "We were playing the leather bars down on Folsom Street," Willy DeVille recalled. "We were Billy de Sade and
9180-408: The band contributed three songs. In December 1976, Ben Edmonds, an A&R man for Capitol Records signed the band to a contract with Capitol Records after spotting them at CBGB. Edmonds paired Mink DeVille with producer Jack Nitzsche who had apprenticed under Phil Spector and helped shape the Wall of Sound production technique. Assisted by saxophonist Steve Douglas and a cappella singers
9315-541: The band was enough for Mink DeVille; everyone was calling me 'Mink.' I thought it was about time to get the name straight." DeVille recorded Miracle in London with Mark Knopfler serving as his sideman and producer. He said, "It was Mark (Knopfler's) wife Lourdes who came up with the idea (to record Miracle ). She said to him that you don't sing like Willy and he doesn't play guitar like you, but you really like his stuff so why don't you do an album together?" "Storybook Love",
9450-515: The band), and after arriving in New York, the band hired guitarist Louis X. Erlanger , whose blues sensibilities helped shape the Mink DeVille sound. During three years, from 1975 to 1977, Mink DeVille was one of the original house bands at CBGB , the New York nightclub where punk rock music was born in the mid-1970s. Their sound from this period is witnessed by Live at CBGB's , a 1976 compilation album of bands that played CBGB and for which
9585-491: The band, but DeVille continued recording and touring under the name Mink DeVille. "Those boys went through the wars with me, the $ 50 a night bars, and I had to turn on them and lop their heads off and say, 'I love you man, but that's the way it's gotta be.' I still feel guilty about it, but we were just a good bar band. That's all we were. We weren't ready to make great rock and roll records." Wrote critic Robert Palmer in 1981: Mr. DeVille's career never quite took off, despite
9720-509: The band, but DeVille continued recording and touring under the name Mink DeVille. He then recorded two albums for Atlantic Records , 1981's Coup de Grâce —on which Jack Nitzsche returned as producer—and 1983's Where Angels Fear to Tread . Both sold well in Europe but fared less well in the United States. Coup de Grâce was DeVille's last album ever to enter the Billboard 200, peaking at number 161. Mink DeVille's last album, Sportin' Life ,
9855-618: The broadest sense, and utterly original." In a 2015 interview, Bob Dylan suggested DeVille should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . Said Dylan, "(DeVille) stood out, his voice and presentation ought to have gotten him in there by now." Critic Thom Jurek said about him, "His catalog is more diverse than virtually any other modern performer. The genre span of the songs he's written is staggering. From early rock and rhythm and blues styles, to Delta-styled blues, from Cajun music to New Orleans second line, from Latin-tinged folk to punky salseros, to elegant orchestral ballads—few people could write
9990-540: The charts in the United Kingdom. The band's follow-up album, Return to Magenta (1978), continued in the same vein as Cabretta , except that Willy DeVille and producers Nitzsche and Steve Douglas employed string arrangements on several songs. On this album Dr. John played keyboards and, once again, Douglas played saxophone. To promote the album, Mink DeVille toured the United States in 1978 with Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe . Return to Magenta reached number 126 on
10125-412: The cover, DeVille wore a Native American headdress and breastplate. Richard Marcus said of the album, "Crow Jane Alley is the work of an artist who after thirty plus years in the business still has the ability to surprise and delight his listeners. Listening to this disc only confirms that Willy DeVille is one of the greats who have been ignored for too long." After living for 15 years in New Orleans and
10260-622: The cracks, Fast Floyd glued an old mink coat he had purchased at a thrift store to the dashboard. According to a 1977 article in Creem , DeVille's wife Toots Deville suggested the name: "...the band looked like it might have been going nowhere, in reverse. So maybe another name change would help—God knows the music was great. Mink Pie ... hmmmm. 'No, it's gotta be something slick—something sorta French, somethin' sorta black ... poetry. Mink ... MINK DE VILLE!' blurted out Toots, Willie's omnipresent, black-bouffanted old lady, whose quiet intensity
10395-594: The demons of his past with an impressive lyrical honesty and unexpectedly diverse musical imagination." In 2023, the film Heaven Stood Still: The Incarnations Of Willy DeVille by director Larry Locke premiered. Willy DeVille was married in 1971 to Susan Berle (February 19, 1950 – August 12, 2004), who was known as Toots Deville . Toots and Willy had known each other while growing up in Stamford, Connecticut . They were married in 1971, and he adopted her son, Sean. Alex Halberstadt , Doc Pomus 's biographer, wrote about Toots, "Half French and half Pima Indian , Toots favored
10530-409: The earlier Mink Deville name. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame songwriter Doc Pomus said about the band, "Mink DeVille knows the truth of a city street and the courage in a ghetto love song. And the harsh reality in his voice and phrasing is yesterday, today, and tomorrow — timeless in the same way that loneliness, no money, and troubles find each other and never quit for a minute." Mink DeVille
10665-425: The early 1970s, is released annually and remains an influential survey of the nation's music critics. In 1999, film critic J. Hoberman and film section editor Dennis Lim began a similar Village Voice Film Poll for the year in film. In 2001, The Voice sponsored its first music festival, Siren Festival, a free annual event every summer held at Coney Island . The event moved to the lower tip of Manhattan in 2011, and
10800-516: The first time since 2018. At the time, The Village Voice was a quarterly publication. The Voice has published columns and works by writers such as Ezra Pound , Henry Miller , Barbara Garson , Katherine Anne Porter , James Baldwin , E.E. Cummings , Nat Hentoff , staff writer and author Ted Hoagland , Colson Whitehead , Tom Stoppard , Paul Lukas , Lorraine Hansberry , Lester Bangs , Allen Ginsberg and Joshua Clover . Former editors have included Clay Felker . The newspaper has also been
10935-461: The group. Wrote Alex Halberstadt , Pomus's biographer: One night Doc's pub crawl took him to The Bottom Line just a block east of Washington Square Park (in New York City). He sat at his usual table and watched an empty spotlight. Cigarette smoke wafted into the shaft of light from offstage while the sax player blew Earle Hagen 's "Harlem Nocturne". DeVille strode out of the wings and snatched
11070-446: The impressive breadth and depth of his talent. He is recording a new album for Atlantic records, having departed from his previous recording commitment under less than amicable circumstances. And on Friday night he was at the Savoy , where he demonstrated with an almost insolent ease that he is still ready for the recognition that should have been his several years ago. He has the songs, he has
11205-530: The last article to be published on the website. Two weeks after the Village Voice ceased operations on September 13, co-founder John Wilcock died in California at the age of 91. In January 2021, a new original story — the first one in two-and-a-half years — was published on the website of The Village Voice . On April 17, 2021, the Spring 2021 issue of The Village Voice appeared in news boxes and on newsstands for
11340-429: The management by some of its current writers, Hentoff himself, and by The Voice ' s ideological rival paper National Review , which referred to Hentoff as a "treasure". At the end of 2011, Wayne Barrett, who had written for the paper since 1973, was laid off. Fellow muckraking investigative reporter Tom Robbins then resigned in solidarity. Following a scandal concerning The Village Voice 's editorial attack on
11475-440: The members of the band except for guitarist Louis X. Erlanger in favor of new musicians: Accordionist Kenny Margolis, Jerry Scheff (bass), Ron Tutt (drums) and, once again, Steve Douglas (saxophone), who also served as producer. Capitol Records was not happy with Le Chat Bleu , believing that American audiences were incapable of listening to songs with accordions and lavish string arrangements; consequently they initially released
11610-401: The newspaper referred to the riots as "The Great Faggot Rebellion". Two reporters, Howard Smith and Lucian Truscott IV, both used the words " faggot " and " dyke " in their articles about the riots. (These words were not commonly used by homosexuals to refer to each other at this time.) Smith and Truscott retrieved their press cards from The Voice offices, which were very close to the bar, as
11745-433: The next year. Except for frontman Willy DeVille, the original members of the band played only on the first two albums ( Cabretta and Return to Magenta ). For the remaining albums and for tours, Willy DeVille assembled musicians to play under the name "Mink Deville". After 1985, when Willy DeVille began recording and touring under his own name, his backup bands were sometimes called "The Mink DeVille Band", an allusion to
11880-411: The paper for decades. Feingold was rehired as a writer for The Village Voice in January 2016. Michael Musto was also rehired in 2016 and wrote cover stories regarding subjects like Oscar scandals and Madonna's body of work. Musto returned again to write features in 2021 under new publisher Brian Calle. In July 2013, Voice Media Group executives named Tom Finkel as editor. Peter Barbey , through
12015-445: The paper rather than executing further staff layoffs. Both had been recent appointments. By then, The Voice had employed five editors since 2005. Following Bourne's and Lustig's departure, Village Media Group management fired three of The Voice ' s longest-serving contributors: gossip and nightlife columnist Michael Musto , restaurant critic Robert Sietsema , and theater critic Michael Feingold , all of whom had been writing for
12150-431: The paper would resume publishing new articles both online and in a quarterly print edition. In January 2021, new original stories began being published again on the website. A spring print edition was released in April 2021. The Voice 's website continues to feature archival material related to current events. The Village Voice was launched by Ed Fancher , Dan Wolf, and Norman Mailer on October 26, 1955, from
12285-647: The paper's first ten years. Another regular from that period was the cartoonist Kin Platt , who did weekly theatrical caricatures. Other prominent regulars have included Peter Schjeldahl , Ellen Willis , Jill Johnston , Tom Carson, and Richard Goldstein . Staff of The Voice joined a union, the Distributive Workers of America , in 1977. For more than 40 years, Wayne Barrett was the newspaper's muckraker , covering New York real estate developers and politicians, including Donald Trump . The material continued to be
12420-404: The period and the clothes and just totally immersed himself in New Orleans, not the present New Orleans, but the New Orleans of the 1880s and 1890s—the absinthe -drinking, voodoo New Orleans. He totally immersed himself in that. Then he left New Orleans and moved to the Southwest and came back as the second coming of Black Elk . Before moving to the Southwest in 2000, DeVille recorded Horse of
12555-468: The police show up, I was in tears ... I was in love with another woman and we were going through some hard times, and I got in the car and I wanted to go off the cliff. I was in the mountains in New Mexico ... They came right around the corner head on. You know how big a Dodge Ram truck is? I broke my arm in three places and my knee went into the dash board ... It was bone to bone ... I was on crutches and on
12690-507: The privately owned investment company Black Walnut Holdings LLC, purchased The Village Voice from Voice Media Group in October 2015. Barbey is a member of one of America's wealthiest families. The family has had ownership interest in the Reading Eagle , a daily newspaper serving the city of Reading, Pennsylvania and the surrounding region, for many years. Barbey serves as president and CEO of
12825-401: The producer of Victory Mixture . In the summer of 1992, DeVille toured Europe with Dr John, Johnny Adams, Zachary Richard , and The Wild Magnolias as part of his "New Orleans Revue" tour. "The travel, buses, and planes and the accommodations had to be some of the worst I've ever experienced ... but the shows themselves were great. At the end of each show we'd throw Mardi Gras throws out to
12960-450: The publication's shutdown. Under the Barbey ownership, advertisements for escort agencies and phone sex services came to an end. On August 31, 2018, it was announced that the Village Voice would cease production and lay off half of its staff. The remaining staff would be kept on for a limited period for archival projects. An August 31 piece by freelancer Steven Wishnia was hailed as
13095-508: The rest of his life. In February 2009, DeVille was diagnosed with Hepatitis C , and in May of that year doctors discovered pancreatic cancer in the course of his Hepatitis C treatment. He died in New York City in the late hours of August 6, 2009, three weeks shy of his 59th birthday. About his legacy, DeVille told an interviewer, "I have a theory. I know that I'll sell much more records when I'm dead. It isn't very pleasant, but I have to get used to this idea." Jack Nitzsche said that DeVille
13230-499: The rhythm section of The Meters on a couple of cuts. We call it the "little" record. It's funny, because I was just trying to get them money, the writers of the songs, 'cause they all got ripped off in the 1950s and 1960s. They were all fascinated, and Dr. John (who had played on DeVille's 1978 album Return to Magenta and who DeVille knew from his association with Doc Pomus ) convinced them that they wouldn't get ripped off by this northern white boy. That's when I crossed over to being
13365-410: The rock & roll I loved best: the bluesy early Stones , Van Morrison ..., the subway scenarios of The Velvet Underground , Dylan's folk-rock inflections, the heartbreak of Little Willie John , and a thousand scratchy old flea market 45s. Plus they seemed to contain all the flavors of their New York neighborhood, from Spanish accents to reggae spice. Said Willy DeVille about Edmonds: There
13500-497: The same parent company as The Village Voice. In 2012, Nicholas Kristof wrote an article in The New York Times detailing a young woman's account of being sold on Backpage. The Village Voice released an article entitled "What Nick Kristof Got Wrong" accusing Kristof of fabricating the story and ignoring journalistic standards. Kristof responded, noting that The Voice did not dispute the column, but rather tried to show how
13635-438: The scene. "Onstage, Willy's band, Mink DeVille, had nothing in common with the new wave CBGB bands that the press had lumped them with," wrote Alex Halberstadt . "Unlike Television , The Ramones , or Blondie , at heart Mink DeVille was an R&B band, and Willy an old-fashioned soul singer ..." Wrote Mark Keresman, "Mink DeVille's earthy, streamlined sound, rejecting the mainstream high-gloss that ruined much of 1970s rock,
13770-474: The street. The sound of the album balances Creole soul and pure rock pyrotechnics. DeVille sounds like a man resurrected, digging as deep as the cavernous recesses of the human heart. Backstreets of Desire included a novel mariachi version of the Jimi Hendrix standard " Hey Joe " that was a hit in Europe, rising to number one in Spain and France. DeVille said about "Hey Joe": "The song originally comes from
13905-519: The streets, and in the morning, when I wake up, I hear the blues ." In 1990, DeVille made Victory Mixture , a tribute album of classic New Orleans soul and R&B which he recorded with some of the songs' original composers. The album was recorded without the use of overdubbing or sound editing with the goal of capturing the spirit of the original recordings. I got all the original guys to come back in, like Earl King , Dr. John and Eddie Bo . Allen Toussaint played side piano. I brought in
14040-773: The studio. I hate L.A. It's the worst. I think they eat their children there. I never saw any kids. It's a pity there aren't more studios in New Orleans ." Although DeVille complained about having to record in Los Angeles, recording in that city put him in touch with many talented Latino musicians who helped shape his distinctive Spanish-Americana sound. For Backstreets of Desire , he was joined by David Hidalgo of Los Lobos , Efrain Toro , Mariachi los Camperos , and Jimmy Zavala , as well as New Orleans musicians Dr. John and Zachary Richard and L.A. session musicians Jeff Baxter , Freebo , Jim Gilstrap , and Brian Ray . Allmusic said about
14175-441: The tape. 'When do we start?' he said. They had him. And that was the whole of it, plain and simple. I didn't get Jack Nitzsche. The voice of Willy DeVille did. Cabretta , a multifaceted album of soul , R&B , rock , and blues recordings, is generally regarded as one of the best debut albums by a new band of the mid-1970s. Steve Douglas played saxophone , and the Immortals, a cappella singers whom Willy DeVille discovered at
14310-401: The theater of aural experience were all contained in songs that offered the illusion that one could still find acted out under a streetlamp-lit stage, in front of a trashcan bonfire, narrated by one costumed in the decadent attire of a Euro-trash lothario-cum-stiletto-carrying 1950s gang banger ... They captivate a listener in the same way a great period film would—they tell an epic story in
14445-505: The timeline in Kristof's original piece was inaccurate. In this rebuttal, he not only justified his original timeline, but expressed sadness "to see Village Voice Media become a major player in sex trafficking, and to see it use its journalists as attack dogs for those who threaten its corporate interests", noting another instance of The Village Voice attacking journalists reporting on Backpage's role in sex trafficking. After repeated calls for
14580-541: The trouble began; they were among the first journalists to record the event, Smith being trapped inside the bar with the police, and Truscott reporting from the street. After the riot, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) attempted to promote dances for gays and lesbians in The Voice , but were not allowed to use the words "gay" or "homosexual", which the newspaper considered derogatory. The newspaper changed its policy after
14715-438: The van and drove back the other way." Guitarist Fast Floyd and keyboard player Ritch Colbert arrived in New York City several months later. Fast Floyd was replaced by Louis X. Erlanger , who had played with John Lee Hooker and brought a deeper blues sensibility to the band; Colbert left the band and returned to California in 1977 and was replaced by Bobby Leonards (formerly of Tiffany Shade ). From 1975 to 1977, Mink DeVille
14850-402: The voice, and he has the band. And he has expanded the scope of his music by adding elements of French cafe songs and Louisiana zydeco to the mixture of rock , blues , Latin and Brill Building soul that was already there. Said DeVille: I had band problems, manager problems, record company problems. And yeah, I had drug problems. Finally I got a new recording contract, with Atlantic, and
14985-498: The working-class Belltown district of Stamford. His maternal grandmother was a Pequot , and he was also of Spanish and Irish descent. As he put it, "A little of this and a little of that; a real street dog." DeVille said about Stamford, "It was post-industrial . Everybody worked in factories, you know. Not me. I wouldn't have that. People from Stamford don't get too far. That's a place where you die." DeVille said about his youthful musical tastes, "I still remember listening to groups like
15120-442: The year's best records. The Rolling Stone Critic's Poll ranked Le Chat Bleu the fifth best album of 1980, and music historian Glenn A. Baker declared it the tenth best rock album of all time. The song "Just to Walk That Little Girl Home" was featured briefly in the 1984 movie The Pope of Greenwich Village . [1] "Willy had found a more appreciative reception at Atlantic Records , where head man Ahmet Ertegun signed him to
15255-528: Was ' Please, Please, Please ' by James Brown . We used to do an Apollo thing. We played CBGBs for three years, and all of the sudden word got out, and then came this word Punk, which where I come from is a bad word. A punk is somebody who picks a fight with you and then never shows up." In 2007, Willy DeVille said about the bands that played CBGBs, "We were all labeled as part of this American punk thing but I really didn't see any of us having much in common." "Every f----n' art student that plays out of tune gets
15390-528: Was a house band at CBGB , the historic New York City nightclub where punk rock was born in the mid-1970s. DeVille helped redefine the Brill Building sound . In 1987 his song "Storybook Love" was nominated for an Academy Award . After his move to New Orleans in 1988, he helped spark the roots revival of classic New Orleans R&B . His soulful lyrics and explorations in Latin rhythms and sounds helped define
15525-461: Was a dream come true. I've got Phil Spector 's horn player, Steve Douglas (who also served as producer), on tenor and baritone . Elvis Presley 's rhythm section , Ron Tutt and Jerry Scheff , want to play with me. Wow! That's pretty cool! Songwriting with Doc Pomus. Not to mention Jean-Claude doing the strings. How can I go wrong?" Capitol Records released Le Chat Bleu in Europe in 1980, but believed that American audiences would not warm to
15660-442: Was accepted by the same folks who'd go to see Blondie , The Shirts , and Television ." Wrote Daily Telegraph critic Neil McCormick: DeVille and his band reached deep into blues and soul, the classic romantic pop of Ben E. King and The Drifters , with a side order of Spanish spices and New Orleans Zydeco swing. They favoured castanets over tom-toms, and accordion over distorted guitars, and Willy delivered his vocals with
15795-509: Was big in Europe and had been recording for twenty years. So I flew to Nashville [to record with her] ... That's got to go down in my book as one of the most memorable experiences in my career." The cover of Loup Garou showed DeVille in turn of the 20th century New Orleans garb posing on a street corner in New Orleans' French Quarter . It included voodoo chants and a song subtitled "Vampire's Lullaby". The singer had completely immersed himself in New Orleans culture. Percussionist Boris Kinberg,
15930-413: Was even more amazed when Doc asked whether he'd write with him. "Look me up. I'm in the book ," Doc hollered before rolling away (in his wheelchair). DeVille said about their first meeting, "Now here I am at 29, a writer, doing pretty good and I've just been asked if I want to write songs with a guy who helped lay the foundations for the music I fell in love with sitting at my mother's kitchen table when I
16065-518: Was formed in 1974 when singer Willy DeVille (then called Billy Borsay ) met drummer Thomas R. "Manfred" Allen Jr. and bassist Rubén Sigüenza in San Francisco . Said DeVille, "I met Manfred at a party; he'd been playing with John Lee Hooker and a lot of blues people around San Francisco. ... I met Rubén at a basement jam in San Francisco, and he liked everything I liked from The Drifters to, uh, Fritz Lang ." Willy DeVille occasionally sat in with
16200-580: Was half asleep when the phone rang. It was the Academy of Arts and Sciences with the whole spiel. I hung up on them! They called back and Lisa (his wife) answered the phone. She came in to tell me that I was nominated for "Storybook Love." It's pretty wild. It's not the Grammys — it's the Academy Awards, which is different for a musician. Before I knew it, I was performing on the awards show with Little Richard . It
16335-453: Was one of the original house bands at CBGB , the New York City nightclub where punk rock music was born in the mid-1970s. "We auditioned along with hundreds of others, but they liked us and took us on. We played for three years ... [D]uring that time we didn't get paid more than fifty bucks a night", DeVille said. In 1975, CBGB was the epicenter of punk rock and what would later be called new wave , but Mink DeVille didn't necessarily fit in
16470-511: Was only seven years old. You've got to be kidding!" Willy DeVille hired Jean Claude Petit to supervise string arrangements , and he dismissed the members of the band except for guitarist Louis X. Erlanger in favor of new musicians, including accordionist Kenny Margolis. Said DeVille: "I wanted to record the album in Paris ... because I desperately wanted to use Jean-Claude Petit, whom I had contacted through Édith Piaf 's songwriter Charles Dumont, for string arrangements ... The band with me
16605-503: Was re-christened the " 4knots Music Festival", a reference to the speed of the East River's current. During the 1980s and onward, The Voice was known for its staunch support for gay rights , and it published an annual Gay Pride issue every June. However, early in its history, the newspaper had a reputation as having a homophobic slant. While reporting on the Stonewall riots of 1969,
16740-559: Was real Night of the Living Dead . So I bought a truck and headed out west. I traveled all around the country for a couple of years, looking for musicians who had heart, instead of playing 20-minute guitar solos, which is pure ego." By 1974 Willy DeVille (under the name Billy Borsay) was singing in a band with drummer Thomas R. "Manfred" Allen, Jr., bassist Rubén Sigüenza, guitarist Robert McKenzie (a.k.a. Fast Floyd), and Ritch Colbert on keyboards. The band called themselves Billy de Sade and
16875-589: Was recorded for Polydor in 1985. For this album, DeVille penned two more songs with Doc Pomus ("Something Beautiful Dying" and "When You Walk My Way"). The album was recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section , and DeVille and Duncan Cameron producing. The song "Italian Shoes" was a hit in some European countries, but some critics thought
17010-627: Was recorded for Polydor in 1985. For this album, DeVille penned two more songs with Doc Pomus. The album was recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section , and DeVille and Duncan Cameron producing. The album was a hit in some European countries, entering the top 20 in Switzerland and Sweden. In 1986, DeVille filed for bankruptcy as part of what Billboard called "a major restructuring of his career". He fired his personal manager, Michael Barnett, and announced that he would "put Mink DeVille to bed" and start
17145-447: Was sacked in March 2006 after it was discovered that a reporter had fabricated portions of an article. Simmons' successor, Erik Wemple , resigned after two weeks. His replacement, David Blum , was fired in March 2007. Tony Ortega then held the position of editor in chief from 2007 to 2012. The sacking of Nat Hentoff , who worked for the paper from 1958 to 2008, led to further criticism of
17280-424: Was saying, guys we can't do that. Then one of the guys said how about Mink DeVille? There can't be anything cooler than a fur-lined Cadillac can there?" DeVille also remarked about the name, "What could be more pimp than a mink Cadillac? In an impressionistic sort of way." Another story about the Mink DeVille name says that it originated with Fast Floyd, who owned an old Cadillac with a cracked dashboard. To cover
17415-511: Was secondary. In the beginning I saw Mink DeVille as a hard-edged rock and roll band, and I wanted the Nitzsche who'd produced " Memo from Turner " (off the Performance soundtrack) and the great first Crazy Horse album ... 'How did you ever get Jack Nitzsche?' Elliott Murphy later asked me incredulously. 'I tried to get him for years.' The sad truth is that it took one phone call, and even that
17550-404: Was sheer luck—or maybe divine providence . I mentioned my mission while chatting with friend and Del Shannon manager Dan Bourgoise, who responded 'Jack? I can put you in touch with him.' Two days later the elusive producer was sitting in my office. I put on a live recording and after the first song, the band's version of Otis Redding 's 'These Arms of Mine,' Nitzsche motioned for me to stop
17685-594: Was the Ramones , Patti Smith , Television , the Talking Heads , and us. We were the five big draws. And then one night this blond-headed guy came in to CBGB, Ben Edmonds. He was the guy who was responsible for being the visionary who saw that we were different than they were and that we could probably have a career playing music. So we went into this cheap little studio and did four songs, which Edmonds gave to Jack Nitzsche . I didn't even know who Nitzsche was. Nitzsche did all
17820-473: Was the best singer he had ever worked with. Critic Robert Palmer wrote about him in 1980, "Mr. DeVille is a magnetic performer, but his macho stage presence camouflages an acute musical intelligence; his songs and arrangements are rich in ethnic rhythms and blues echoes, the most disparate stylistic references, yet they flow seamlessly and hang together solidly. He embodies (New York's) tangle of cultural contradictions while making music that's both idiomatic, in
17955-399: Was the year of Dirty Dancing , and they won. In 1988, DeVille relocated from New York City to New Orleans , where he found a spiritual home. "I was stunned", he said in a 1993 interview. "I had the feeling that I was going back home. It was very strange ... I live in the French Quarter , two streets away from Bourbon Street ; at night, when I go to bed, I hear the boogie that comes from
18090-753: Was to be DeVille's only record ever to chart in the UK. The song went to No. 3 in the Netherlands. Cabretta was elected number 57 in the Village Voice ' s 1977 end-of-the-year Pazz & Jop critics poll. The band's 1978 follow-up album Return to Magenta continued in the same vein as Cabretta , but with a twist. "We went against strings on the first album—decided it should be outright, raw, and rude." On Return to Magenta , Willy DeVille and producers Nitzsche and Steve Douglas employed lavish string arrangements on several songs. Dr. John played keyboards and, once again, Douglas played saxophone. Mink DeVille toured
18225-405: Was unsuccessful finding them; he returned to New York City after a two-year absence. His next band, The Royal Pythons ("a gang that turned into a musical group"), was not a success either. Said DeVille: "I decided to go to San Francisco; there was nothing really happening in New York. Flower power was dead. All the day-glo paint was peeling off the walls. People were shooting speed . I mean, it
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