The cautionary rock n roll fable of a New York Doll Night Flight. Todays the anniversary of Johnny Thunders birthday he was born on July 1. April 2. 3, 1. 99. Danny Garcias 2. Looking for Johnny The Legend of Johnny Thunders, now streaming on our Night Flight Plus channel, which chronicles the short, troubled life of the one time New York Doll. After the demise of the NY Dolls, Thunder became a Heartbreaker before ending up recording a classic 1. So Alone until his decades long descent into drug addiction bent the trajectory of the rest of his life downward towards its eventual sad end, dying at age 3. April 2. 3, 1. 99. Read more below. The low budget 9. Spanish filmmaker raised some of the films estimated 1. Indie. Go. Go tells Thunders story, chronologically, from his birth as John Anthony Genzale, Jr. Queens, New York he first called himself Johnny Volume, then changed it to Thunders, which came from a Kinks song all the way to his sad last days, dying of an overdose in Room 3. St. Peter House, a New Orleans flophouse, although the film speculates that the amount of drugs in his blood wasnt high enough to kill him, leading some to think that his death was the result of locals robbing him for his methadone supply. Along the way we hear from the people who knew him best, like his bandmate Syl Sylvain of the New York Dolls, who tells us that Johnny was the best songwriter that ever lived, and how he once heard that Bob Dylan state that hed wished hed written You Cant Put Your Arms Around a Memory. How To Watch The Full Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles Movie. We also hear from writermusician and cultural maven Lenny Kaye, who says Thunders is the essence of rock n roll. Garcia who previously directed The Rise and Fall of the Clash spent eighteen months traveling all across the USA and Europe, filming interviews with fifty people from various parts of Thunders life, talking to people like Heartbreakers guitaristvocalist Walter Lure now a stockbroker, celebrated New York photographer Bob Gruen, the late Alan Vega of Suicide, Richard Lloyd of Television, Terry Chimes of the Clash, three of his late managers Marty Thau, Leee Black Childers and Malcolm Mc. Laren both Thau and Childers passed away after the film was completed BP Fallon, Heartbreakers bassist Billy Rath, Don Letts, Sami Yaffa and many others, each providing a personal perspective on the man they knew. We learn along the way about the legend he became and, also, how he ripped off friends and bandmates, living the desperate life of a junkie, the sum total of the takeaway feeling very much like a cautionary rock n roll fable. We also hear the story of Thunders involvement in the founding of the New York Dolls, as well as the stories of the later bands he founded, including the Heartbreakers who had a classic masterpiece of raw, energetic punk doused rawk, L. A. M. F. and a solo career that gave us some memorable recordings to remember Thunders by, including the aforementioned album So Alone, featuring guest appearances by Thin Lizzys Phil Lynott, the Pretenders Chrissie Hynde and others. The movie moves along briskly, particularly during the New York Dolls period, which highlights his talents as a songwriter. The film is rich with archival live footage interspersed throughout, beginning with his early life in Queens, growing up without a father. We learn that like many young boys he wanted to play professional baseball until he got into high school and discovered music. Read more about Johnny Thunders below. Hey Do you have a Night Flight Plus subscription Were offering up original uncut air masters of Night Flight programming from the video vaults of the 1. TV show, as well as an extensive library of entertainment from our streaming partners, Music Video Distributors MVD, Arrow Video, Something Weird, Full Moon, Wild East spaghetti westerns, the Wu Tang Collection and also samurai films and other partners soon to come Subscribers can revisit episodes of Night Flight which has not been broadcast for over thirty years transferred from the original USA Network air masters, some of them the full, uncut versions complete with 8. TV commercials You will have exclusive access to original Night Flight episodes featuring thousands of 1. Night Flight Take Off episodes, Video Profiles, Visions, Comedy Cuts, episodes of Dynaman and New Wave Theatre, to name just a fewNight Flight Plus currently has more than 2. Night Flight DNA, and were adding more selections all the time, including our Dr. Ruth Collection, the original Gumby TV series, TV Party, and more Were also offering up an array of provocative new selections from the world of music, documentaries, animation, cult films and more, and occasionally well have specials and features too, like our Midnight Movies. Night Flight has partnered with the major in home streaming networks currently were on all web browsers, as well as Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku TV, and Googles Chromecast to deliver our premium subscription channel to thousands of customers. A Night Flight subscription membership is seriously reasonable 2. Get your Night Flight Plus subscription today In 1. Johnny Thunders was living in the basement of the home at 2. Street, with his sister and mother, when he first started playing in a Newtown high school rock band with Arthur Kane, Billy Murcia, and Rick Rivets. At the time Thunders was playing bass, calling himself Johnny Volume, and the band were originally called Actress. Later that same year, Rivets would be replaced by Sylvain Sylvain, and with the change in personnel came a new name, the Dolls. Thunders added the New York prefix. By the end of the year, theyd also be adding a new vocalist from another band in Queens, called Vagabond Missionaries named David Johansen. The New York Dolls would play their first ever show at a Christmas party at the Endicott Hotel, filling in for another band who cancelled. They played mostly R B and soul covers. By the next Spring, they were playing shows in the Oscar Wilde Room capacity 1. Mercer Arts Center on Mercer Street in Greenwich Village, which led to a Tuesday night residency, and their popularity leads to a manager, Marty Thau, a former Paramount Records A R man, who got the band into the studio to record nine tracks which will later be released as Lipstick Killers the first release is actually on cassette by the ROIR label. Thau is a major force in the bands trajectory, setting up deals for the band like their own publishing company, their Dollhouse Productions company, and taking charge of their publicity, promotions and recordings. Two booking agents, late of the William Morris Agency, handled the Dolls accounting, legal crapola and tour booking. By mid summer 1. Dolls were attracting celebrities to their Mercer gigs, people like Lou Reed, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, John Cale, Todd Rundgren and others, and soon theyre picked up to open a massive show headlined by Rod Stewart at the Empire Pool now called Wembley Arena. While in the UK, they become the toast of the town, and a handful of record companies begin courting the band. The Dolls end up recording demos at a studio in Kent these recordings are later released by a number of labels the band never seeing any money from these releases. On November 6, 1. Billy Murcia drowned in a bathtub while drunk. Hes just 1. 8 years old. The band returned to New York City cancelling their plans to meet with Track Records, who are interested in signing the band where they mourn their bandmates death. Soldiering on, they find a new drummer, Jerry Nolan, and play their first show with him in December. In the spring of 1. Dolls sign with Mercury Records, and begin recording their debut album with Todd Rundgren producing. The self titled platter, released in late July, takes just a week to record because they know the songs so well by this time. It will eventually peak on the Billboard album charts at 1.