MARTIN SCORSESE – NEW DAVID JOHANSEN DOC

Martin Scorsese has made a documentary film about the ultimate New York rocker David Johansen

David Johansen is known as the spectacular frontman of the original New York glam rock band New York Dolls.

With the Velvet Underground they defined the sound of the Big Apple in the 1970s, paving the way with the legendary club CBGBs and boundary-breaking bands such as the Ramones, The Patti Smith Group, Television, Talking Heads and Blondie.

David Johansen on the left, photo by AVRO

Martin Scorsese has never hidden the fact that he has a close relationship with music. He was a photographer at the Woodstock festival and directed the legendary, "The Last Waltz", The Band's farewell concert in 1976.

He later made major documentaries with Bob Dylan and George Harrison and a concert film with the Rolling Stones.

Now Scorcese has turned to David Johansen himself (with Norwegian roots in Arendal), the man who was both good at high heels in a funky 70s New York and later reinvented himself, with great success, as the lounge singer Buster Poindexter.

He has also delved deep into blues history with the band The Harry Smiths and has visited the Notodden Blues Festival.

The new two-hour documentary premieres now in New York in mid-October and is built around a Buster Poindexter concert at the Café Carlyle club in Manhattan in 2020.

Scorcese, photo by Siebbi

The film was written by David Tedeschi and contains extensive archive material taken from the New York "mean streets" years in the 70s.