Richard Hell: Concerts Set for May to Raise Funds for Ivan Julian, Founding Member of Voidoids

Richard Hell sent out a note in March, 2016:

I don’t know if you’ve heard about the plight of Ivan Julian. Ivan was a stalwart of CBGB in the ’70s as a founding member of Richard Hell and the Voidoids.

He played guitar in that band, with Bob Quine (who gets credit for some great recorded solos of Ivan’s!), and also composed some of their music, and went on to play and record and tour with Matthew Sweet and with Shriekback, and even to appear on a Clash record, among many other achievements.

Last year he was diagnosed with cancer and has been in treatment for months and months, terrible radiation and chemotherapy, rendering him unable to work, of course, and so destroying his income and putting him into debt.

Some of Ivan’s friends and colleagues have banded together to raise funds for him, and I’m part of the fundraising effort. The purpose of this message is to tell you about two benefit concerts (one already sold out, the next to be publicly announced next week), and a GoFundMe page set up to receive donations for Ivan.

The roster for the May 4 concert at New York City Winery, tickets for which sold out immediately, the day they went up, is:

May 4 lineup

MC: Debbie Harry. Performers: Richard Barone; the Bush Tetras; the Dictators; Richard Hell; Ian Hunter; Garland Jeffreys; Lenny Kaye; Willie Nile; Vernon Reid & Burnt Sugar; and special guests. House band:  Vinny DeNunzio (percussion), Steve Goulding (drums), Al Maddy (keyboards, guitar), James Mastro (guitar), Tony Shanahan (bass), Fred Smith (bass), Nicholas Tremulis (guitar).

The added concert will take place Saturday, May 7, and will be announced by City Winery in the next few days. Tickets are scheduled to go on sale to the public next Thursday, March 31. The performers that night will be:

May 7 lineup

MC: Lydia Lunch. Performers: The Dictators; Ira Kaplan; Arto Lindsay; Thurston Moore; Lee Ranaldo; Vernon Reid & Burnt Sugar; Jim Scavulos; Matthew Sweet; and special guests.

House band:  Vinny DeNunzio (percussion), Steve Goulding (drums), Al Maddy (keyboards, guitar), James Mastro (guitar), Tony Shanahan (bass), Fred Smith (bass), Nicholas Tremulis (guitar).

I’ll be there too, though I’m not planning to “perform.”

So, this is a head’s up about concert tickets–

available through the venue calendar, though the May 7 tix aren’t due to show till next Thursday, March 31:

http://www.citywinery.com/newyork/tickets.html?view=calendar&month=5&year=2016

as well as about the means to simply donate money to Ivan’s fund, which can be done at:

GoFundMe

https://www.gofundme.com/IvanJulianFund

…I’d like to add that I’ve known Ivan since he was 21, in spring 1976 (40 years ago), when Bob Quine and Marc Bell and I were auditioning people to become Quine’s Voidoid co-guitarist. Bob was so impressed by Ivan’s chops, he copped the slot on the spot. He’s only gotten better, year after year, as a player and all around monster of goodness, and that’s the truth. I love him. It’s horrible that he has to suffer some terribly painful, life-threatening illness, and have it ravage him financially as well. American barbarism. What’s left are his friends, admirers, and sympathizers. Please contribute to his fund if you possibly can.

Ivan himself can be seen in a video, describing his experience of the past year, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JXgREAUi0E