Niagara - Queen of the Motorcity!

There are some cities in this world that inspire
visceral reactions in people... they either love'em
or they can't go "yeeech!" loud enough.
Cases in point - Windsor and Detroit.

They are sister cities in many ways, and
have been for many years. I lived in Windsor
in the 70s- back then, we used to say it was
so punk it didn't need Punk.

When your friends work in places with
nicknames like 'the finger factory'
(because the stamping machines there
were known for their amputative habits)
and The Foundry, where they turned molten
metal into engine blocks, it gives everyone
a very grounded understanding
of the universe.

Maybe that's why Detroit didn't seem as
scary to us as it did to friends from Toronto.
Detroit was kind of like our rec room.
We loved it, and had some of the best times
ever over there.

 

One of the things we loved the most was
music from Detroit- Motown, obviously, but
also funk a la George Clinton, the blues and
madly truly, deeply, rock...

Rock music meant  the Bob Seger System.
It meant the Rationals, Mitch Ryder and the
Detroit Wheels, SRC, Frost and the Amboy Dukes.
Rock especially meant the MC5 and Iggy and
the Stooges... which brings us, believe it
or not, to Niagara.

Niagara first turned up on my radar
when a buddy bought a 45 called
"November 22, 1963" by a band called
Destroy All Monsters. It came with a chorus
to the effect of "Jackie, hold on to his brains"
and Niagara was the one singing it.

Her work as an artist evolved to include
the visual, which is what I wanted to show
you here... because her paintings and
prints rock every bit as hard as that single...

 ...you can see a lot more of her amazing work
- even buy a vinyl copy of the album
featuring November 22, 1963
at Niagara's site.

http://www.niagaradetroit.com/home.htm

-30-