Gallery 98’s Marc H Miller is the subject of a long interview by Eric Davidson now featured on PLEASE KILL ME, the popular website that takes its name from a Richard Hell t-shirt made famous by Legs McNeil and Gilliam McCain when they co-opted it as the title of their best-selling oral history of Punk. Of course, much of the article focuses on Miller’s connections to Punk, and spotlights his role as curator of the seminal Punk Art Show in 1978, and more recently the Ramones exhibition at the Queens Museum in 2016. But tucked away throughout the lengthy conversation are lots of other tidbits including the origin of Miller’s website 98 Bowery and its offshoot Gallery 98.
“Eric is a Punk himself,” observes Miller, “he transcribed this at warp speed and then left almost everything in, warts and typos.” Sure, there are some awkward edits, questionable transcriptions, half-thoughts, mistaken memories, and things that maybe shouldn’t have been said, but more important, Davidson succeeded in getting Miller to relay fresh information and entertaining stories.
People and places mentioned (in order of appearance): P.F. Sloan, Bob Dylan, Marilyn Rovell, Brian Wilson, Shirley Hopps, Ferus Gallery, Andy Warhol, Velvet Underground, Carla Dee Ellis, Harry’s Bar, Mike Malloy, Stooges, Slugs, Fine Arts Building, Erasers, Susan Springfield, Jackie Onassis, Alain Resnais, CBGB, Bettie Ringma, Marcia Resnick, Deadboys, Ramones, Danny Fields, Curt Hoppe, John Holmstrom, Legs McNeil, Alan Vega, Edit DeAk, OK Harris Gallery, Alice Denney, Roberta Bayley, Arturo Vega, Patti Astor, Shrapnel, John Morton, Neke Carson, John Waters, Edith Massey, East Village Eye, ABC No Rio, Annette Kuhn, Queens Museum, Louis Armstrong, Paul Tschinkel, Marquette Folley, Albert Murray, Tom Finkelpearl, Carlo McCormick, Monte Melnick, Jeff Jampol, Nancy Spungen, Sable Starr, Linda Ramone, Claudia Tienan, Mickey Leigh, Laura Raicovich, Robert Santelli, and Grammy Museum.
There is more to come on Saturday, October 19, when Miller officially unveils the recently revamped 98 Bowery website at Howl Happening at 6 East 1st Street in New York’s East Village.
Outside the Ramones exhibition at the Queens Museum with John Holmstrom’s The Ramones in New York City map; Yoshitomo Nara’s painting Hey! Ho! Let’s Go! in background, 2016. Photo by Spencer Rumsey.
