Jesse Rifkin, a music historian and owner of Walk on the Wild Side Tours NYC, takes listeners through the gritty underbelly of 1970s New York's punk scene. Discover how iconic clubs like CBGB and the Mercer Arts Center shaped a cultural renaissance amid urban decay. Rifkin shares personal stories of transformation from musician to cultural guide, while illuminating the importance of community in music. He also highlights the influence of figures like Eric Emerson and the overlooked legacy of Jane County, showcasing the punk movement's complexity and vibrancy.
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From Musician to Tour Guide
Jesse Rifkin turned his passion for music history into a successful walking tour business in NYC.
His tours grew from a side project into his primary income source quickly and joyfully.
insights INSIGHT
1970s NYC Scene Uniqueness
The 1970s NYC music scene was unique due to the city's economic collapse and cheap living.
This created a permissive environment attracting artists to abandoned industrial spaces, fostering diverse genres like punk and disco.
insights INSIGHT
Venue Scarcity Sparks Punk
Early 1970s NYC lacked rock venues, forcing bands to find alternative performance spaces.
This scarcity set the stage for the emergence of punk rock through venues like the Mercer Arts Center.
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This Must Be the Place is a sophisticated novel that explores the intricacies of a marriage between Daniel Sullivan, a New Yorker living in Ireland, and Claudette Wells, a reclusive ex-film star. The story delves into themes of family, identity, and love, weaving a narrative that spans continents and time zones. O'Farrell's writing is characterized by its complexity, humor, and emotional depth, making this a compelling read about the fragility and beauty of human connections.
In the fourth episode of Soundscapes NYC, host Ryan Purcell and music historian Jesse Rifkin tour a constellation of seedy bars and venues in the 1970s that nurtured bands during the early days of punk rock. These spaces include well-known clubs like CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City and lesser-known haunts like the Mercer Arts Center and Mother’s that shed light on hidden meanings behind punk rock. These stories illuminate echoes of the trans liberation struggle, and how punk rock embodied the sounds of the city collapsing in a literal sense.
Jesse Rifkin is the owner and operator of Walk on the Wild Side Tours NYC, a music history walking tour company in New York City, and consults as a pop music historian for the Association for Cultural Equity. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveller, and Vice among other venues. Before his work as a historian, he spent twelve years touring the country as a working musician, playing at CBGB, Lincoln Center, and venues of every size and shape in between. In 2023, Rifkin published his debut book, This Must be the Place: Music, Community and Vanished Spaces in New York City (Harper Collins, 2023).
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