Laura Levine « Mystery Spot Vintage

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Richard Thompson checks out our Record Room

Tuesday, June 25th, 2013

Legendary British folk/rock musician Richard Thompson, OBE, stopped by Mystery Spot Antiques in Phoenicia the other day to do some vintage vinyl digging. He ended up with a very nice stack of records. It was great to see our old friends RT and his wonderful wife Nancy Covey, Simon, and Annalise, who are up in the Catskills this week for guitar camp (Frets and Refrains) at the Full Moon Resort, and a show at the Bearsville Theatre in Woodstock this Friday. (If the concert isn’t yet sold out, run, don’t walk to get tickets to what will be an amazing show).

Richard Thompson checks out the vintage records at The Mystery Spot in Phoenicia, NY

Our history with Richard goes way back, to the cover artwork we painted for his album Rumor and Sigh in 1991…

"Rumor & Sigh" cover artwork by Laura Levine

…to even further back, when we shot this photograph of Richard and Linda Thompson when they were promoting Shoot Out the Lights in 1982.

Richard and Linda Thompson, NYC, 1982. Photo © Laura Levine.

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Just Released: Steve Wynn’s (Dream Syndicate) “Mystery Spot” Ditty (free download)

Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

Our good pal Steve Wynn immediately hopped on board the Dittypalooza! train to whip up a great little theme song for Mystery Spot Antiques. Steve and Mystery Spot proprietress Laura Levine first met when she photographed the Dream Syndicate on a winter’s night in New York City in 1983. In fact the next night, after their NYC debut at the Mudd Club, there was such a blizzard that the band ended up crashing in her Chinatown apartment. They’ve been great friends ever since.

“Mystery Spot” by Steve Wynn (listen here)

Says Steve….“Necessary confession: I have yet to visit the mystery spot though I have seen pictures and heard all about it from Laura who has been my pal for more than 30 years. So, I feel I can connect to the vibe and my song hopefully gets across the feeling of wistful, playful, surprising and, yes, mysterious wonders to be found inside. I hope to find out if my unseen impressions were in the ballpark when I visit sometime soon.”

Steve Wynn was a founding member of the Dream Syndicate who released the influential debut album “The Days of Wine and Roses” which came out in 1982. He is currently on tour with a reunited version of the band, performing that very album though the full circle has also included a prolific solo career and stops along the way with side projects like The Baseball Project, Danny & Dusty and Gutterball, amongst others. He lives in Jackson Heights, New York.

You may have heard that the Dream Syndicate is playing their first North American show since 1988 at the Wilco Solid Sound Festival at Mass MOCA this Saturday June 22nd. You’re going, right?

Here’s a photo from our first session (of many to follow over the years), and a more recent photo of Steve next to the original photo at an exhibition of Levine’s work at the Steven Kasher Gallery.

Dream Syndicate, NYC, 1982 (left), Steve Wynn in front of said photograph, 2011 (right). Both photos by Laura Levine.

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The Night Michael Hurley & Ida Played My Art Opening

Saturday, March 24th, 2012

Michael Hurley performs at Laura Levine's art opening, May 2008. (photo: Laura Levine)

OK kids, here’s a real treat. In May 2008, I had an show of my bird paintings at the Varga Gallery in Woodstock. I was incredibly honored that my friends Liz Mitchell and Daniel Littleton (otherwise known as Ida) agreed to perform at the opening, and they brought along their good friend Michael Hurley.

What an amazing evening it was! Totally intimate, sweet, incredible music. So Woodstock. My friend Bruce Pross came up from New York to record the show – here’s Michael Hurley singing Molly Malone/Loch Lomond, accompanied by Dan. Click on this link and prepare to be transported!

p.s. that’s not my artwork pictured above

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Laura Levine: Musicians at Steven Kasher Gallery

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

I’m very pleased to announce the first one-person gallery show in NYC of my photography at the Steven Kasher Gallery. The exhibition will feature over fifty of my photographs of musicians from the 1980s/early 1990s, including many vintage gelatin silver prints which have never been shown before.

The opening reception is Thursday, July 21st, from 6 – 8 PM.

The exhibition runs July 21 – August 19, 2011. Steven Kasher Gallery, 521 West 23rd St, NYC. Hope to see you there!

Gallery Images
Press Release

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Come Visit Us at MoMA!

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

When we’re not busy climbing over dead raccoons to get into dark, clutter-filled attics, fighting off grabby gabbys at estate sales or aspiring to be the first buyer at a 7 AM yard sale (note to self: give up, you’ll never get up early enough), when the Mystery Spot has taken its winter break to go into deep hibernation mode, we do in fact have another life.

Look, Ma! I made it! (photo by Candace Kaller)

That life has taken us to gallery openings and film festivals, and most recently and thrillingly, through the doors of The Museum of Modern Art and up one flight to the Yoshiko and Akio Morita Media Gallery (just off the atrium) where our photographs are currently on display in the exhibition Looking at Music 3.0.

Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz in front of my 1981 photograph of Tina Weymouth and Grandmaster Flash in front of a Lee Quinones graffiti wall.

We highly recommend you check out the show. It’s an interesting, vibrant trip back to the New York City of the 80s and 90s, the days when music and art had a few drinks, did a little dance, made a little love, and created little art babies. Kraftwerk and Afrika Bambaataa. Spike Lee and Public Enemy. Spike Jonze and Beastie Boys. Sonic Youth, Brian Eno, Run DMC, The Residents, Karen Finley, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn. Christian Marclay’s vinyl assemblages, stacks of riot grrrl zines. Lee Quinones, Cey Adams. Posters, videos and audio stations. Kathleen Hanna, Miranda July. And of course, our own contribution, ten black and white portraits of some of the most interesting musicians and artists of the day.

The entry to the gallery.

Barbara London, Associate Curator at MoMA’s Department of Media and Performance chose a generous selection of my photographs to hang in the exhibition. The gallery room itself is a sight to behold – garishly colored (in a good way!) lime green, acid orange and sunburst yellow walls, music pumping, a big-ass crash pad plopped right in front of a huge video screen where you can chill while Diamanda Galas screeches her way into your heart or Keith Haring paints Grace Jones from head to toe. I can’t think of a better place to be if forced to spend time in midtown Manhattan.

The crash pad in the middle of the gallery.

I must admit I don’t make it to my city’s art museums as often as I ought to, but this reminds me what I’ve been missing. Go on Friday if you don’t have the scratch for the twenty dollar admission. The kind folks at Target have underwritten Target Free Fridays at MoMA and basically, if you arrive around 4:30 you can sweep right in, gratis. Even the coat check is free.

My photo of Keith Haring (1983), in situ at MoMA.

That's me in front of my photos of the Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Treacherous Three, and Afrika Bambaataa. (photo by Muriel Rozin).

Check out the Ab-Ex show, Picasso’s Guitars, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and then wander over to the second floor and say hello to Tina Weymouth and Grandmaster Flash, Madonna, and the Treacherous Three. Wassup to Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, and Salt-n-Pepa. Fab Five Freddy’s in the house, as are Ann Magnuson, Afrika Bambaataa and Keith Haring. That’s the Laura Levine posse, the black and white photographs which can be seen on all four walls.