COMMUNITY HANDBOOK 2012
Chelsea Girls Beautiful, adored, troubled, exotic, and tragic finally, the singer/ actress/writer Nico was born Christa Päffgen in Cologne during World War II. At seven and a half minutes long, her “Chelsea Girls” is a slow, mournful, simple ballad of the tragic girls in the Chelsea Hotel. Room numbers, first names, sexual fetishes, drugs of choice, Nico takes no prisoners: “Here they come now/ See them run now /Here they come now/ Chelsea Girls.” Having starred in Warhol’s film of the same name and with a cameo role in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, Nico was involved with Morrison, the Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground, and to whom Dylan wrote and gave “I’ll Keep It with Mine,” She released her first album Chelsea Girls in 1967. The title song has only a background guitar beneath Nico’s odd, faintly
accented voice, then there’s the strings and that eerie, sensual flute. Dropout, she’s in a fix, Amphetamine has made her sick White powder in the air She’s got no bones and can’t be scared Nico was a hit at CBGB’s in 1980 when I first heard her: my girlfriend at the time was German and took us to that long, narrow, dingy club on Bowery just a few steps uptown
from East First Street where I lived. Later Nico appeared regularly at the Mudd Club way downtown on White Street; with works of Keith Haring on the walls and a bathroom for both men and women, it was the alternative to the glitz of Studio 54. But like too many artists, and musicians in particular, Fate doomed Nico: after kicking heroin and turning to a healthy regimen of good food and exercise, she died in a freak bicycle accident in Italy in 1988.
Assistance Resources Administration for Children’s Services 150 William St., 18th Fl. New York, NY 10038 877-KIDS-NYC www.nyc.gov/html/acs
Agenda for Children Tomorrow 2 Washington St., 20th Fl. New York, NY 10004 212-487-8284 fax: 212-487-8581 actnet1@earthlink.net www.actnyc.org
American Red Cross New York Delegation to the UN International Federation 800 2nd Ave., Suite 355, 3rd fl. New York, NY 10017 212-338-0161 fax: 212-338-9832 www.ifrc.org
Child Abuse and Neglect Reports
General Public Hotline: 800-342-3720 Mandated Reporter Hotline: 1-800-635-1522
Counseling Support & Stress Debriefing 212-366-8035 www.fegs.org
Federal Emergency Management Agency
26 Federal Plaza Suite 1337 New York, NY 10278-0002 212-680-3609 General Information: 800621-FEMA www.fema.gov
F.E.G.S.
315 Hudson St. New York, NY 10013 212-366-8038 Employment Services: 212366-8550
Foster and Adoptive Parent Hotline 212-676-WISH
New York State Office of Children and Family Services 163 W. 125th St. New York, NY 10027 212-961-4121 fax: 212-961-4109 www.ocfs.state.ny.us
Safe Horizons
Juvenile Justice Dept.
2 Lafayette St. New York, NY 10007 212-577-7777 800-621-HOPE www.safehorizon.org
New York State Crime Victims Board
Youthline
212-925-7779 www.nyc.gov/nycdjj
55 Hanson Place, 10th Fl. Brooklyn, NY 11217 800-247-8035 cvbinfo@cvb.state.ny.us
8
800-246-4646