IPOD
RADIO
Rikki Ercoli
By Daniel Robert Epstein
Feb 3, 2004
Rikki Ercoli is one of luckiest guys around. Not only does he work for one of the biggest male porn distributors (and that means loads of free gay porn) but BACK IN THE DAY he used chill with people like Sid Vicious, Blondie, The Ramones, The Clash, Circle Jerks and a hell of a lot more. Now you can travel back in time to when Ercoli used to get into all the cool punk shows and hang out with them too. Now you may say, “How the fuck can we do that you asshole? Time travel doesn’t exist. You’re a fucker.” Well now you can travel back to those times via all the pictures Ercoli took of those famous musicians. Ercoli just walked into the shows like he was Puff Daddy and went right up onstage and snapped pictures. After that he just strolled backstage like he was Bill Clinton and took more pictures both candid and posed. Now Ercoli is finally releasing these pictures in his book, LEGENDS OF PUNK: Photos from the Vault, which has been released by Manic D Press.
Check out the Legends of Punk website
Daniel Robert Epstein: When did you start taking these photos exactly?
Rikki Ercoli: Exactly? That’s a hard one. I think it was before 1978. So I’m saying 1977. I think it started with the Dead Boys, the B-52s or The Cramps.
DRE:
Why did you start doing it? Were you a journalist at the time?
RE:
No I was just a young music lover. I may have been a journalist but just not known it yet.
DRE:
Did you realize it was a special time?
RE:
I definitely did and I fully planned on photographing the whole thing exactly for the reason of talking about it 30 years later.
DRE:
Most people don’t think like that.
RE:
I don’t know why I thought like that. I just did. I didn’t even have a camera. I had to rent, borrow and take them out of school.
DRE:
Did all the photos come out looking good? Are there bunches that won’t ever get reprinted?
RE:
Oh yeah, a lot. I used to develop them and I didn’t know what I was doing. I would just rip the film without cutting it between frames and stuff like that [laughs].
DRE:
How old were you at the time?
RE:
About 19.
DRE:
There must have been no problem bringing a camera into shows. It was a different time.
RE:
It really was. I had no problem at all. The audience and the bands were like the same people. Everyone hung out together and people like the camera.
DRE:
Sid Vicious didn’t pose for too many photos back then but it seems like he did for you.
RE:
He did pose for me and he liked me.
DRE:
Are you good looking?
RE:
I don’t know [laughs]. Everyone was kind of playful and so was I. I wasn’t shy and people liked that. We were all the same age. Sid was so funny but Nancy was nuts, a bitch and so mean. There was like a whole cloud around her.
DRE:
No wonder he killed her.
RE:
He doesn’t even know if he did [laughs] and they never found out who did.
DRE:
I’m surprised you’re not mad at me for saying such a thing.
RE:
Eh, he probably did kill her. It is surprising that no one did it a long time before that.
DRE:
Did you think about killing her too?
RE:
I did because she was just horrible. One time she was walking off the curb in front of Max’s and almost got hit by a cab but I grabbed and saved her. I kind of wish I didn’t do that.
DRE:
It would have changed the course of history.
RE:
Yeah I was always all over the place.
DRE:
What were shows like that back then?
RE:
I would just walk up to the stage and walk backstage.
DRE:
No credentials at all?
RE:
None, nothing. I just knew I was a reporter at the scene and I just did it. A lot of where I went was in Philadelphia where I’m from. The club was regular club and my band even played there once.
DRE:
Of course I read that this is the first time many of photos are being shown. Why is that?
RE:
Mostly I just took pictures for myself. I was kind of holding them waiting for the right time. I didn’t have contacts and this book happened because I was living in Bangkok for the last 12 years so my friend there saw my pictures and he had just done a book himself. He told me that I had to do the book. He ran to the phone and called his publisher in Italy so I told him I would start working on it. Then that didn’t come through but I had started putting it together. To me they were just pictures I had so I never thought about it. My friend helped me give them new meaning that I didn’t know was there.
DRE:
What was special about Manic D Press, I guess that you knew them because they are based in San Francisco?
RE:
No not at all. I liked their name but I came back to America and another friend suggested I call the Bill Graham Foundation to try to get a grant. I tried to get funding to do it myself because I was a freelancer in Bangkok for all those years so I was still in the mode of doing everything myself. In answering the questions for the grant I had to contact publishers to find out how much things cost. I just picked some names at random and Manic D was one of them. They asked to see the photos and when [Manic D founder] Jennifer Joseph saw the pictures she said she would publish them. I didn’t even know they were in San Francisco.
DRE:
Did you ever keep in contact with any of the people you took photos of?
RE:
Not the bands although I did just to see a couple of shows, Patti Smith and also The Sex Pistols. But I’m not in contact with anybody.
DRE:
How does seeing The Sex Pistols now compare to when you saw them in the 70’s?
RE:
A little bit different. They were still really good. A couple things were odd, old and strange. Most of the energy was still there.
DRE:
What was one of the crazier things that happened to you when you were taking pictures?
RE:
Not that I can remember, but one time my camera got smashed at a Public Image show. It was so crowded and I was upfront. The crowd was jumping around so much and my arms felt like they were going to get ripped off.
DRE:
Who is nuttier, Edie the Egg Lady or Lydia Lunch?
RE:
Hmm well they are both nutty but Lydia was an abrasive kind of nutty while Edie is a lovely kind of nutty. I hung out with her one night with her band. She had a single called "Hey Punks: Get Off The Grass."
DRE:
What’s this Andy Warhol/Truman Capote goissip you have?
RE:
The publisher wanted me to put that in and I didn’t want to. But I took photos of Andy Warhol at a book signing then I lunged across the table at him and said “I need a job.” He was cruising me before that because I was all punk rock. He told me to make an appointment and come see him so I did. He spent hours with me looking at all my photos. It was just me, him and Jade Jagger. Then one picture in particular of a friend of mine eating French fries in McDonald’s he held in his hand for so long.
Then some princess called in wanting to be interviewed for his magazine. So Andy said “get her to buy an ad and we’ll interview her.” Then Truman called from some island and Andy was talking to him. I was just watching everything them William Burroughs came and Andy said “Do you have your camera?” But I didn’t because I didn’t want him to think I was just there to take photos. I really regret that.
DRE:
Did you smoke a joint all together?
RE:
Well Burroughs shuffled in and Andy was so excited. He introduced me to him and after that Andy wanted to be alone with Burroughs so they went to his back office.
DRE:
That is what is beautiful to him.
RE:
I was hoping he was going to silk screen it. There were silk screens everywhere.
DRE:
When did you take the next step to becoming a photojournalist?
RE:
Once I got to Bangkok I did. I did work for Bangkok Metro Magazine which is like Time Out. But mostly I was freelance for international publications like Ralph Magazine, Blue magazine, Silk Road and guidebooks anything and everywhere all over that region.
DRE:
How did your photo experience with musicians crop up later in life?
RE:
It made me fearless. I was never shy to rearrange things or just walk right into offices.
DRE:
What were you like growing up?
RE:
I can’t figure out what drew me to the punk scene. It had to be the energy of it. The fact that it wasn’t that generic disco and mass produced stuff. You could do anything and not follow anyone else’s lead or ideas.
DRE:
Where’d you grow up?
RE:
In New Jersey right across from the airport in Philadelphia. It was really fun. I had a normal suburban life.
DRE:
What college did you go to?
RE:
Glassborough State College. I studied TV and film. I wanted to make films but it was so expensive and you had to get so many people involved I think that’s why I started doing photography so I could do it by myself.
DRE:
When did you first pick up a camera?
RE:
I must have been 15 because I remember my mom sent my brothers and sisters to a weekend photo class. I loved it and that’s when I first saw real photography.
DRE:
I saw that you work for Falcon Studios. What is that exactly?
RE:
It’s the biggest male porn site on the web.
DRE:
I couldn’t believe it when I saw it in your bio on Amazon.
RE:
Yeah the publisher put that in there. I figured if it was in there then people could contact me somehow so I left it. I don’t know if it’s good to have or not.
DRE:
What do you do for them?
RE:
I’m the photo editor for it and it’s really fun. I edit all the photos that come from the shoots. We put out forty films a year. Some are old films that were on VHS that we’re reissuing on DVD so we have to pull all those all pictures. Mostly I edit digital photos.
DRE:
How long have you been there?
RE:
About a year, so I’m still in culture shock. I didn’t think anyone would hire me because I was out of the country all those years. I was applying for any kind of job so even though they interviewed 252 people they hired me. I didn’t even care what kind of company it was and now I think I’m so lucky. I like doing it.
DRE:
Is it just a regular office?
RE:
Yeah people always ask me stuff like “Do you have fuck buddies over there?” I have a computer and we don’t film here. It’s all on location and the models rarely come in. Sometimes I crack up because we’ll shoot 350 pictures of a model and I’ll edit them down to about 60 to 80 then show them to the president who picks out the ones for the box covers. So talking with the president he’ll say stuff like “we need to have his dick a bit bigger for this cover.” Or “we need to cover up this butthole here.”
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Rikki Ercoli is one of luckiest guys around. Not only does he work for one of the biggest male porn distributors (and that means loads of free gay porn) but BACK IN THE DAY he used chill with people like Sid Vicious, Blondie, The Ramones, The Clash, Circle Jerks and a hell of a lot more. Now you can travel back in time to when Ercoli used to get into all the cool punk shows and hang out with them too. Now you may say, “How the fuck can we do that you asshole? Time travel doesn’t exist. You’re a fucker.” Well now you can travel back to those times via all the pictures Ercoli took of those famous musicians. Ercoli just walked into the shows like he was Puff Daddy and went right up onstage and snapped pictures. After that he just strolled backstage like he was Bill Clinton and took more pictures both candid and posed. Now Ercoli is finally releasing these pictures in his book, LEGENDS OF PUNK: Photos from the Vault, which has been released by Manic D Press.
Check out the Legends of Punk website
Daniel Robert Epstein: When did you start taking these photos exactly?
Rikki Ercoli: Exactly? That’s a hard one. I think it was before 1978. So I’m saying 1977. I think it started with the Dead Boys, the B-52s or The Cramps.
DRE:
Why did you start doing it? Were you a journalist at the time?
RE:
No I was just a young music lover. I may have been a journalist but just not known it yet.
DRE:
Did you realize it was a special time?
RE:
I definitely did and I fully planned on photographing the whole thing exactly for the reason of talking about it 30 years later.
DRE:
Most people don’t think like that.
RE:
I don’t know why I thought like that. I just did. I didn’t even have a camera. I had to rent, borrow and take them out of school.
DRE:
Did all the photos come out looking good? Are there bunches that won’t ever get reprinted?
RE:
Oh yeah, a lot. I used to develop them and I didn’t know what I was doing. I would just rip the film without cutting it between frames and stuff like that [laughs].
DRE:
How old were you at the time?
RE:
About 19.
DRE:
There must have been no problem bringing a camera into shows. It was a different time.
RE:
It really was. I had no problem at all. The audience and the bands were like the same people. Everyone hung out together and people like the camera.
DRE:
Sid Vicious didn’t pose for too many photos back then but it seems like he did for you.
RE:
He did pose for me and he liked me.
DRE:
Are you good looking?
RE:
I don’t know [laughs]. Everyone was kind of playful and so was I. I wasn’t shy and people liked that. We were all the same age. Sid was so funny but Nancy was nuts, a bitch and so mean. There was like a whole cloud around her.
DRE:
No wonder he killed her.
RE:
He doesn’t even know if he did [laughs] and they never found out who did.
DRE:
I’m surprised you’re not mad at me for saying such a thing.
RE:
Eh, he probably did kill her. It is surprising that no one did it a long time before that.
DRE:
Did you think about killing her too?
RE:
I did because she was just horrible. One time she was walking off the curb in front of Max’s and almost got hit by a cab but I grabbed and saved her. I kind of wish I didn’t do that.
DRE:
It would have changed the course of history.
RE:
Yeah I was always all over the place.
DRE:
What were shows like that back then?
RE:
I would just walk up to the stage and walk backstage.
DRE:
No credentials at all?
RE:
None, nothing. I just knew I was a reporter at the scene and I just did it. A lot of where I went was in Philadelphia where I’m from. The club was regular club and my band even played there once.
DRE:
Of course I read that this is the first time many of photos are being shown. Why is that?
RE:
Mostly I just took pictures for myself. I was kind of holding them waiting for the right time. I didn’t have contacts and this book happened because I was living in Bangkok for the last 12 years so my friend there saw my pictures and he had just done a book himself. He told me that I had to do the book. He ran to the phone and called his publisher in Italy so I told him I would start working on it. Then that didn’t come through but I had started putting it together. To me they were just pictures I had so I never thought about it. My friend helped me give them new meaning that I didn’t know was there.
DRE:
What was special about Manic D Press, I guess that you knew them because they are based in San Francisco?
RE:
No not at all. I liked their name but I came back to America and another friend suggested I call the Bill Graham Foundation to try to get a grant. I tried to get funding to do it myself because I was a freelancer in Bangkok for all those years so I was still in the mode of doing everything myself. In answering the questions for the grant I had to contact publishers to find out how much things cost. I just picked some names at random and Manic D was one of them. They asked to see the photos and when [Manic D founder] Jennifer Joseph saw the pictures she said she would publish them. I didn’t even know they were in San Francisco.
DRE:
Did you ever keep in contact with any of the people you took photos of?
RE:
Not the bands although I did just to see a couple of shows, Patti Smith and also The Sex Pistols. But I’m not in contact with anybody.
DRE:
How does seeing The Sex Pistols now compare to when you saw them in the 70’s?
RE:
A little bit different. They were still really good. A couple things were odd, old and strange. Most of the energy was still there.
DRE:
What was one of the crazier things that happened to you when you were taking pictures?
RE:
Not that I can remember, but one time my camera got smashed at a Public Image show. It was so crowded and I was upfront. The crowd was jumping around so much and my arms felt like they were going to get ripped off.
DRE:
Who is nuttier, Edie the Egg Lady or Lydia Lunch?
RE:
Hmm well they are both nutty but Lydia was an abrasive kind of nutty while Edie is a lovely kind of nutty. I hung out with her one night with her band. She had a single called "Hey Punks: Get Off The Grass."
DRE:
What’s this Andy Warhol/Truman Capote goissip you have?
RE:
The publisher wanted me to put that in and I didn’t want to. But I took photos of Andy Warhol at a book signing then I lunged across the table at him and said “I need a job.” He was cruising me before that because I was all punk rock. He told me to make an appointment and come see him so I did. He spent hours with me looking at all my photos. It was just me, him and Jade Jagger. Then one picture in particular of a friend of mine eating French fries in McDonald’s he held in his hand for so long.
Then some princess called in wanting to be interviewed for his magazine. So Andy said “get her to buy an ad and we’ll interview her.” Then Truman called from some island and Andy was talking to him. I was just watching everything them William Burroughs came and Andy said “Do you have your camera?” But I didn’t because I didn’t want him to think I was just there to take photos. I really regret that.
Then some princess called in wanting to be interviewed for his magazine. So Andy said “get her to buy an ad and we’ll interview her.” Then Truman called from some island and Andy was talking to him. I was just watching everything them William Burroughs came and Andy said “Do you have your camera?” But I didn’t because I didn’t want him to think I was just there to take photos. I really regret that.
DRE:
Did you smoke a joint all together?
RE:
Well Burroughs shuffled in and Andy was so excited. He introduced me to him and after that Andy wanted to be alone with Burroughs so they went to his back office.
DRE:
That is what is beautiful to him.
RE:
I was hoping he was going to silk screen it. There were silk screens everywhere.
DRE:
When did you take the next step to becoming a photojournalist?
RE:
Once I got to Bangkok I did. I did work for Bangkok Metro Magazine which is like Time Out. But mostly I was freelance for international publications like Ralph Magazine, Blue magazine, Silk Road and guidebooks anything and everywhere all over that region.
DRE:
How did your photo experience with musicians crop up later in life?
RE:
It made me fearless. I was never shy to rearrange things or just walk right into offices.
DRE:
What were you like growing up?
RE:
I can’t figure out what drew me to the punk scene. It had to be the energy of it. The fact that it wasn’t that generic disco and mass produced stuff. You could do anything and not follow anyone else’s lead or ideas.
DRE:
Where’d you grow up?
RE:
In New Jersey right across from the airport in Philadelphia. It was really fun. I had a normal suburban life.
DRE:
What college did you go to?
RE:
Glassborough State College. I studied TV and film. I wanted to make films but it was so expensive and you had to get so many people involved I think that’s why I started doing photography so I could do it by myself.
DRE:
When did you first pick up a camera?
RE:
I must have been 15 because I remember my mom sent my brothers and sisters to a weekend photo class. I loved it and that’s when I first saw real photography.
DRE:
I saw that you work for Falcon Studios. What is that exactly?
RE:
It’s the biggest male porn site on the web.
DRE:
I couldn’t believe it when I saw it in your bio on Amazon.
RE:
Yeah the publisher put that in there. I figured if it was in there then people could contact me somehow so I left it. I don’t know if it’s good to have or not.
DRE:
What do you do for them?
RE:
I’m the photo editor for it and it’s really fun. I edit all the photos that come from the shoots. We put out forty films a year. Some are old films that were on VHS that we’re reissuing on DVD so we have to pull all those all pictures. Mostly I edit digital photos.
DRE:
How long have you been there?
RE:
About a year, so I’m still in culture shock. I didn’t think anyone would hire me because I was out of the country all those years. I was applying for any kind of job so even though they interviewed 252 people they hired me. I didn’t even care what kind of company it was and now I think I’m so lucky. I like doing it.
DRE:
Is it just a regular office?
RE:
Yeah people always ask me stuff like “Do you have fuck buddies over there?” I have a computer and we don’t film here. It’s all on location and the models rarely come in. Sometimes I crack up because we’ll shoot 350 pictures of a model and I’ll edit them down to about 60 to 80 then show them to the president who picks out the ones for the box covers. So talking with the president he’ll say stuff like “we need to have his dick a bit bigger for this cover.” Or “we need to cover up this butthole here.”
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
