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Band Not Heard of Since the 80s Invades Chelsea

Last night when I arrived home the lobby was filled with junk – lights, cables, trunks, cameras, you name it—and people running around this way and that. All of the seats in the lobby were taken by extras or Earlysetup whoever and even Stanley’s office had been commandeered.  I went to get on an elevator.  Sorry this elevator is out of service one of the hipster helpers told me. Given over apparently for the use of the film crew.  He told me to use the other elevator.  (That’s crap.  In all of his years Stanley never let them have an elevator for their own personal use. This constitutes a reduction of services for the residents of this hotel.) (Photo is from earlier in the day when they were moving in.)

There was a woman in the elevator wearing a brightly colored blue skirt and yellow socks and a lot of baubles and bangles and scarves around her head.  I thought to myself for a minute, is this a tourist?  Then I looked closely at her face, Liza Minnelli eyelashes and thick pancake make-up.  I get it, they’ve hired someone to play an eccentric old lady. Maybe they had cluelessly intended her to represent a gypsy or a real Bohemian that is someone from the country of Bohemia. They had dressed other people up as bohemians as well even as their real life counterparts stood by.
     Asking around I discovered that these faux bohemians had been employed by the rock band Depche Mode.  Not even remotely cool since the 80s the Mode had descended upon the hotel to shoot a music video.
     What we want to know is have the band members been apprised of the situation at the hotel, that is to say the fact that Stanley Bard has been ousted and replaced by corporate suits.  Being musicians I’m sure they are aware of the cultural significance of the Chelsea.  It may be possible that somebody in their organization set this up and they have no knowledge of the situation.  It’s either that or they’re just trying to tap into the recent press coverage of the Chelsea to resurrect their moribund street creed.   If the latter shame on them.  If the former they should fire whoever is responsible for setting up this video shoot.

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13 responses to “Band Not Heard of Since the 80s Invades Chelsea”

  1. Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine Avatar
    Daily Intelligencer – New York Magazine

    Curbed Takes on Red Hook, New York

    Red Hook: OMG, you guys, like, every post on Curbed today is about le Hook Rouge! And half of them provide photo evidence aiming to disprove New York’s latest story</…

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  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    i’m sure this was planned before the takeover, and it was too late, or they were too uninformed, to change it. Maybe the song will be a lament.

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  3. Room 100 Avatar
    Room 100

    Washed-up Artists Not Heard of Since the 80s Infest Chelsea
    This afternoon when I checked into the hotel, the lobby was filled with losers – unemployed waiters, writers who wrote tv shows in the 80s, drug dealers, you name it – and crazy people lounging about here and there. All of the seats in the lobby were taken by aging hippies mooching free internet signals. I went to get on an elevator and it didn’t work because the owners and managers had looted what little money there was in the hotel, and not enough residents pay their rent to support maintenance costs.
    What I want to know is whether the “artist” residents continue to live here because they never “made it” in the art world, and therefore couldn’t afford to go anywhere else, or because they are simply too drug-resistant to o.d. or commit suicide.
    If it’s the latter, they’re not using the drugs sold in the hotel. If the former, well, at least they had a chance to live with legends, if they couldn’t be one themselves. But then again, there’s a legend on every street corner in NYC…
    … idiots.

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  4. Carrie Bedsore /Cherry Ramone / Rob from Aus Avatar
    Carrie Bedsore /Cherry Ramone / Rob from Aus

    Well, that makes me feel old and past it! Depeche Mode have been missing for twenty years and I didn’t notice…

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  5. WowItsAFlashback Avatar
    WowItsAFlashback

    Maybe you haven’t heard of Depeche Mode since the 1980s because you haven’t been paying attention. They have had more recent success and awards (most notably a 2006 Grammy nomination), and while not my favorite band by a longshot, they are far removed from hitting the Six Flags Over New Jersey circuit.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depeche_Mode

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  6. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Another uninformed post by Ed Hamilton. Seems to be the standard for this blog.

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  7. katy martinez Avatar
    katy martinez

    You Chelseaites sure are a tought crowd. I bet you could not be pleased, even if we hung you with a hew rope!!!LOL

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  8. The Ghosts Avatar
    The Ghosts

    Room 100, is that you Glennon? There are plenty of artists and others who have “made it” in the hotel. Some are past their glory years, some just approaching, some within. You would know this, my friend, if you knew the residents. Of course, there have been only rare new admissions thank you to the minority shareholders, in the last five or six years, so quite a few talented people who would have liked to have lived at the chelsea have been forced to go elsewhere. Regardless of a resident’s fame quotient, which I know impresses those smitten with flash in the pan celebrity, all the residents of the hotel are human beings with rights who have contributed to the overall legend of the hotel. And what have you done towards that end?

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  9. Hotel Chelsea Stranglers Avatar
    Hotel Chelsea Stranglers

    Wasn’t Glendon (sic) working for Best Buy before his gig at the Chelsea? Yeah, he was. Or was it McDonald’s Corp? Seriously. This is what he unabashedly told the hotel’s UNION employees when he came on the scene. We know he was a lapdog for photog Patrick McMullan for awhile. Talk about not being heard from since the 80s…
    PS The Depeche Mode crew came en masse, but unlike Glennon they were at least polite and Dave Gahan lives close by so its possible they chose the Chelsea because of the publicity surrounding this horseshit takeover.

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  10. headless horseman Avatar
    headless horseman

    Not heard of since the 1980’s? You must be joking, right? This blog never fails to yield copious amounts of amusement.
    They still pack out Madison Square Garden and every other venue they grace.
    This is a funny place. The residents choose to bitch and moan regarding every post here, yet the return of one their own from the clutches of death offers up little more than a wimper…
    nice work.

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  11. Avatar
    Anonymous

    easy to see why you’re headless.

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  12. being here Avatar
    being here

    and why you’re nameless

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  13. Kawada1 Avatar
    Kawada1

    Just to clear up a few facts about Depeche Mode…they were quite popular by the mid 80s with the indy scenes. By 1988 they would play stadiums that included headlining the Pasadena Rosebowl. The Depeche Mode “explosion” if you like happened from late 89 to late 1994 with two huge No.1 albums Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion…and sell out tours for arenas/stadium. Since then they have still been selling out the same venues….

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