Danny Fields is an unsung, non-musician, heroes of modern rock ‘n’ roll. He is the kind of guy who seems to have been at the right place at the right time and smart enough to know what he was doing. During the mid-late sixties, he was involved with the Andy Warhol scene, which then included Nico and The Velvet Underground; he had a radio show on WFMU during its early days pioneering the free-form format; he was involved with getting rock musicians on the covers of teen magazines; he worked at folk-oriented Elektra Records when it was becoming more involved with rock music; at Elektra, he helped publicize Judy Collins and The Doors (according to legend, it was Mr. Fields who suggested to Elektra that an edit of the seven-minute song “Light My Fire” would be a hit), and he got The Stooges and the MC5 signed to the label; he worked with The Modern Lovers; and he discovered The Ramones, even managed them during their early years.
That’s not all. He was a friend of Linda Eastman before she married Paul McCartney. He managed a young folk singer from Mississippi named Steve Forbert. He is an author and a photographer. And now he is the subject of a documentary called Danny Says—titled after a Ramones song that name-checks him. The film was recently completed and had its New York premier on Tuesday September 22 at the Players Theater in the West Village. Check here for more information on the movie.
After the premier, a reception for the movie was held at 49 Grove—an elegant, dimly lit, exclusive nightclub just a few blocks away from the theater. Hosted by the authors of the New York Punk Rock Bible Please Kill Me Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil. Asked to DJ the party was none other than Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus, who was honored to do so.
Unfortunately, due to the location of the DJ booth in the club—literally a hole in the wall that could easily be overlooked—The Boog was unable to identify most of the luminaries in attendance—except the tall Mr. Thurston Moore, who towered over everyone in the room. Other notable attendees were a whole bunch of folks who currently DJ at free-form radio station WFMU, including Todd-O-Phonic Todd, Miss Shiela B, Joe Belock and Dave the Spazz, as well as the Boog’s old pal and ex-WFMU DJ The Hound. Danny Fields, of course, was too hip to be at his own movie premier and/or reception! The photos appearing in this post were mostly taken from inside the DJ booth (click on the photos and they will big-o-fi).
For his part, Phast Phreddie played all sorts of records that were appropriate for the evening, which started when he played The Ramones’ “Danny Says”—which was played about three or four more times during the evening, as the occasion necessitated. Here’s a list of all the songs played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at the reception for the film Danny Says:
- Ramones–Danny Says [from LP End of the Century] (Sire)
- Bob Thiele and his New Happy Times Orch. with Gabor Szabo–Light My Fire (Impulse)
- The Velvet Underground and Nico–All Tomorrow’s Parties (Verve)
- Patti Smith–Piss Factory (Mer)
- Tim Buckley–Aren’t You the Girl (Elektra; UK)
- Mott the Hoople–All the Young Dudes (Columbia)
- T-Rex–The Groover (EMI; UK)
- Steve Forbert–Goin’ Down to Laurel (Nemperor)
- The Doors–Take It as It Comes (Elektra; UK)
- Lou Reed–Vicious (RCA; Germany)
- The Stooges–Real Cool Time (Elektra; France)
- The Velvet Underground & Nico–Femme Fatale (Verve)
- Mink DeVille–Soul Twist (Capitol; UK)
- The Byrds–Mr. Spaceman (Columbia)
- The Rolling Stones–Get Off of My Cloud (Decca; UK)
- Paul Revere and the Raiders featuring Mark Lindsay–Kicks (Columbia)
- The Monkees–A Little Bit Me a Little Bit You (Colgems)
- The Ramones–I Wanna Be Sedated (RSO)
- The Velvet Underground–White Light/White Heat (Verve)
- Eddie & the Hot Rods–Do Anything You Wanna Do (Island; UK)
- Television–Venus (Elektra; Japan)
- The Modern Lovers–Roadrunner (Beserkley; UK)
- The Fleshtones–Remember the Ramones (Yep Roc)
- Ramones–Sheena Is a Punk Rocker (Sire)
- The Flamin’ Groovies–Shake Some Action (Sire; UK)
- MC5–Looking at You (A Square)
- New York Dolls–Who Are the Mystery Girls? (Mercury)
- Patti Smith–Ask the Angels (Arista)
- The Doors–Break on Through (Elektra; UK)
- Les Baronets–Hello Je T’Aime (CanUSA; Canada)
- La Lupe–Touch Me (Roulette)
- Blondie–X Offender (Private Stock)
- The Shangri-Las–Give Him a Great Big Kiss (Red Bird)
- Martha & the Vandellas–Nowhere to Run (Gordy)
- David Johansen–Funky But Chic (Blue Sky)
- Talking Heads–Life During Wartime (Sire)
- Roxy Music–Do the Strand (Warner Bros./Back to Back Hits)
- Alice Cooper–Under My Wheels (Warner Bros.)
- The Velvet Underground featuring Lou Reed–Sweet Jane (Atlantic; Germany)
- MC5–Kick Out the Jams (Elektra)
- The Stooges–I Wanna Be Your Dog (Elektra)
- Ramones–Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue [from LP Ramones] (Sire)
- Andy Wharol’s Velvet Underground–I’m Waiting for the Man (M-G-M; Germany)
- The Rolling Stones–Mothers Little Helper (London)
- The Equals–Police on My Back (RCA; Japan)
- Elliott Murphy–Last of the Rock Stars (Polydor)
- Jimi Hendrix Experience–All Along the Watchtower (Reprise)
- Love–Little Red Book (Elektra)
- The Doors–Soul Kitchen (Elektra)
- Lou Reed–Walk and Talk It (RCA)
- Pretenders–The Wait (Real; UK)
- The Beatles–Helter Skelter (Capitol)
- Iggy & the Stooges–Penetration (Columbia)
- The Move–Brontosaurus (A&M)
- The Doors–Not to Touch the Earth (Elektra; Portugal)
None of these records are for sale.