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March Madness: Nick Valensi @ The Vanderbilt

On November 29, 2001 The Strokes played a headlining show at a now defunct music venue on Long Island called The Vanderbilt. The openers were The Moldy Peaches and The Realistics and tickets were a whopping $16.50.

According to a diary entry I wrote at the time, the crowd was very young due to the fact that it was an all-ages venue. I remember the crowd was pretty intense, with huge dudes pushing tiny little girls in the front into the barricades. I also distinctly remember feeling a sharp pain around my buttocks during the show, and only later that night did I realize the vicious girl that was standing behind me had actually stabbed me with a broken drumstick that she caught during The Realistics’ set.

During the show things got even more rowdy and Julian Casablancas had to tell the crowd to “stop the fighting” and Fab Moretti stage dove into the audience… twice.

I was at the show with a couple friends, one of which was this crazy French girl I became friends with via the Internet. After the show she decided we were all going to sneak backstage, which we did with moderate ease, and while back there we managed to snag some shots with some of the band members.

Here’s a photo that was taken of guitarist Nick Valensi that night. He looks so young in this photo… and all sorts of confused.

Nick Valensi
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Leaked “Nobody Knows How to Talk to Children” Footage Reveals…Nothing

So long-time White Stripes fans who attended the 4-night stand at the Bowery Ballroom in 2002 may remember sketchy peeps in white lab coats running around the building, filming something. As it was revealed later, it was footage being shot for a documentary entitled “Nobody Knows How to Talk to Children” shot/directed/edited by one George Roca.


A still of Meg and Jack from “Nobody Knows How to Talk to Children”

The film only saw one public screening, at the 2004 Seattle Film Festival–despite the fact that the White Stripes did not give their approval to screen or distribute the film. A June 23, 2004 post on the White Stripes’ official site, the band made it known that they were extremely unhappy with the film, and that they had a signed contract from Roca that gave the band all rights to the footage.

According to an MTV News interview with Roca, after the band saw a rough cut of the footage, they extended positive words about the documentary–but only a short time later, the band released a live concert music video for “Black Math,” (below) which mirrored the style of the footage Roca had shown them, and the band cut off all communication.


“Black Math” (live) music video in black, white, and red.

I kinda forgot about the documentary, only hearing about it in passing–almost as it if never existed, gathering a myth of its own. I heard about a friend of a friend who had seen it, maybe, and said it was pretty cool, etc.

But it seems as though a few months ago someone had managed to get a copy of the documentary and upload some clips of it to the internet, and only recently did I become aware of it.
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