“Please Kill Me” Reading at Lethal Amounts Gallery

Posted on August 16, 2014 by

As the 20th anniversary approaches for one of the defining books on the punk era, “Please Kill Me,” it was only appropriate that a reading be held at the Lethal Amounts Gallery, surrounded by an exhibit of photos of Joey Ramone, Wayne Jayne County, Johnny Thunders and others who made the New York City ‘70s scene a milestone in rock ‘n’ roll history.

On hand were authors Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil to read from their oral history, which came together from hundreds of interviews with key scenesters and musicians.

Though the summer heat had the gallery steaming, and Legs was running late (really late), it didn’t sway the crowd of young and old punk fans from sticking around. Photographer Paul Zone introduced the reading and his exhibit – a majority of the photos taken when he was between the ages of 14-16 and running around clubs CBGB and Max’s Kansas City. (Man, I wish I was that cool at 14!) Zone also has his own book now available, “Playground: Growing Up in the New York Underground.”

Gillian and Legs then took the mic and traded off parts reading first from their most recent book, “Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose,” an edited diary of a teenage girl who struggles with addiction and bullying.

For the readings from “Please Kill Me,” they then called up old pal Howie Pyro to read a few pages about the death of Sid Vicious. They then wanted to find Howie’s part in the book when he was mistaken for Johnny Thunders, but since they all had different prints of the book with different page numbers, they gave up and just had Howie tell the story from memory – which ended up being even funnier than the book version!

If you haven’t read “Please Kill Me,” you can’t claim to know your rock history. Get it now. And pick up Paul Zone’s book while you’re at it. Click the images to buy ’em*.

And if you are looking to incorporate a little punk style into your wardrobe, check out these classic pieces to get a look worthy of shouting, “Gabba Gabba Hey!”