Harley Flanagan, a founding member of the NYHC hardcore veteran band CRO-MAGS, has been featured in NY Times magazine with his new memoir expected to be released in September!
Starting in 1981, when Harley was 14, the New York hard-core scene exploded in Alphabet City and on the Lower East Side. The A7 club, on the corner of Seventh Street and Avenue A, two blocks from Mr. Flanagan’s mother’s house, was an early rallying point. Another was CBGB, on the Bowery at Bleecker Street, a 10-minute walk southwest of Tompkins Square Park. Skinheads shared space uneasily with Hare Krishnas and drag queens. In some ways, the scene is the grittier, forgotten younger sibling of punk. It also had a strong working-class identity — and was far more inclusive of people from New York City’s other boroughs.
