Post by Fuggle on Oct 14, 2008 16:07:58 GMT -5
An anniversary and new theories on murder
By BEN FINLEY
Bucks County Courier Times
On an overcast day in April, Michelle Montalvo drove from West Virginia to Bensalem to visit the grave of a woman she had never met. But in some ways, they were sisters under the skin, women who shared a taste for the hedonistic, rock "n' roll lifestyle.
Montalvo said she has been addicted to drugs. And so was the woman in the grave, 1970s punk rock icon Nancy Spungen.
Scenes from the 1986 cult film “Sid and Nancy,” which chronicled Spungen's final years, mirror some of Montalvo's experiences decades later.
“I've been in that situation where Nancy was, and I know how bad it is,” said Montalvo, 39, who has been sober for four years. “You get high all night, have no more drugs, and you want to die.”
Some people feel a connection to Spungen, who was killed 30 years ago today at the age of 20. And that feeling has lingered, if not grown, since she was lowered into the ground at King David Cemetery.
Internet message boards, brimming with her image, serve as modern day memorials to a woman many say was misunderstood. Fans make pilgrimages to her modest grave, uploading videos of the visit onto YouTube.
And now, a documentary, to be released next year, claims that Spungen's punk rocker boyfriend didn't kill her. Sid Vicious was charged with Spungen's murder on the same day she died. He died before his trial at the age of 21.
All this, for a woman who left little more than a tragic story.
“Modern day Romeo and Juliet — dead simple,” explained Alan Parker, the British filmmaker who said he's coming out with the new film, “Who Killed Nancy?” in 2009.
“That's the reason we're fascinated with it,” he said recently by telephone from London. “We're all fascinated by things that are dangerous and that we won't do ourselves. Why is James Dean such an icon? He made three films and two of them sucked. But he died at 27.”
A SHORT LIFE
Spungen grew up in Lower Moreland, in a middle-class Jewish household. But she had severe behavior and mental issues, which were described in detail by her mother, Deborah Spungen, in her 1983 book about Nancy, “And I Don't Want to Live This Life.”
At 17, Nancy Spungen moved to New York City, where she became a groupie in the city's burgeoning and drug-filled punk rock scene. She made money as a go-go dancer.
She eventually moved to London, entrenching herself in that city's vibrant punk scene, although she never played music herself. In England, she met Sid Vicious, the musically-limited bassist of British punk band the Sex Pistols.
As a couple, Vicious and Spungen were brazen drug addicts. After the Sex Pistols disbanded, their lifestyle rollercoastered its way to New York City, where Vicious attempted a solo career.
Spungen was found dead of a single stab wound to the abdomen in the room they rented at the Chelsea Hotel. Vicious was charged with and allegedly admitted to the murder, saying he was high at the time. He also was in a drug-mired fog while being questioned by authorities. Out on bail in February 1979, he overdosed on heroin.
No one else was ever charged in Spungen's death. Vicious' mother reportedly spread his cremated ashes on Spungen's Bensalem grave.
A LONG AFTERLIFE
Vicious and Spungen's story has been told again and again and again. Deborah Spungen penned her book, movie critics praised “Sid and Nancy” and dozens of other books and films have focused, at least in part, on the couple and the music scene around them.
Parker's film “Who Killed Nancy” focuses solely on rebuking the commonly held belief of what happened three decades ago. In the 100-minute documentary, Parker said he shows through numerous interviews and documents that Vicious likely didn't kill Spungen — drug dealers did.
Parker said Vicious was whacked out on too many barbiturates that night to kill anybody. Plus, there was $20,000 cash — money Vicious earned from record companies and live gigs, Parker said. Their drug dealers knew about the money and it disappeared, Parker said.
“I've got interviews of 15 people who think they knew who did it,” Parker said. “The family seems quite happy to sit back and say he did it because his name fits the bill. But retired police officers have told me to my face that he didn't do it.”
The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching Spungen's parents, who live in Water Mill, N.Y., according to a 2007 New York Times wedding announcement for Nancy's sister. In her book, Deborah Spungen dismissed the theory that someone besides Vicious killed her daughter or that there was a big stash of cash in their hotel room. Deborah Spungen wrote that New York City police told her that Vicious admitted to killing her daughter while in a drug-fueled haze.
“No one will ever know for sure what happened that night,” Deborah Spungen wrote in her book. “t is my belief that [Nancy] engineered her death. She wanted to die, had for years. She was ready to die. So she made Sid the instrument.”
Deborah Spungen's book is hard to come by these days. Getting it new requires an order from a local chain bookstore. Internet message boards have become the filament that illuminate Nancy Spungen's legacy.
Molly Johnson, who lives in the U.K., is the administrator for the Nancy Spungen Forum. When she was 12, her mother gave her a copy of “And I Don't Want to Live This Life.”
“[Nancy] was a great inspiration to me. Not because of her bad choices, but because she was so misunderstood,” Johnson said.
“I think young girls who are slightly different from the "ideal young girl' will always relate to her if they read that book ... I think young misunderstood girls will never let her go.”
By BEN FINLEY
Bucks County Courier Times
On an overcast day in April, Michelle Montalvo drove from West Virginia to Bensalem to visit the grave of a woman she had never met. But in some ways, they were sisters under the skin, women who shared a taste for the hedonistic, rock "n' roll lifestyle.
Montalvo said she has been addicted to drugs. And so was the woman in the grave, 1970s punk rock icon Nancy Spungen.
Scenes from the 1986 cult film “Sid and Nancy,” which chronicled Spungen's final years, mirror some of Montalvo's experiences decades later.
“I've been in that situation where Nancy was, and I know how bad it is,” said Montalvo, 39, who has been sober for four years. “You get high all night, have no more drugs, and you want to die.”
Some people feel a connection to Spungen, who was killed 30 years ago today at the age of 20. And that feeling has lingered, if not grown, since she was lowered into the ground at King David Cemetery.
Internet message boards, brimming with her image, serve as modern day memorials to a woman many say was misunderstood. Fans make pilgrimages to her modest grave, uploading videos of the visit onto YouTube.
And now, a documentary, to be released next year, claims that Spungen's punk rocker boyfriend didn't kill her. Sid Vicious was charged with Spungen's murder on the same day she died. He died before his trial at the age of 21.
All this, for a woman who left little more than a tragic story.
“Modern day Romeo and Juliet — dead simple,” explained Alan Parker, the British filmmaker who said he's coming out with the new film, “Who Killed Nancy?” in 2009.
“That's the reason we're fascinated with it,” he said recently by telephone from London. “We're all fascinated by things that are dangerous and that we won't do ourselves. Why is James Dean such an icon? He made three films and two of them sucked. But he died at 27.”
A SHORT LIFE
Spungen grew up in Lower Moreland, in a middle-class Jewish household. But she had severe behavior and mental issues, which were described in detail by her mother, Deborah Spungen, in her 1983 book about Nancy, “And I Don't Want to Live This Life.”
At 17, Nancy Spungen moved to New York City, where she became a groupie in the city's burgeoning and drug-filled punk rock scene. She made money as a go-go dancer.
She eventually moved to London, entrenching herself in that city's vibrant punk scene, although she never played music herself. In England, she met Sid Vicious, the musically-limited bassist of British punk band the Sex Pistols.
As a couple, Vicious and Spungen were brazen drug addicts. After the Sex Pistols disbanded, their lifestyle rollercoastered its way to New York City, where Vicious attempted a solo career.
Spungen was found dead of a single stab wound to the abdomen in the room they rented at the Chelsea Hotel. Vicious was charged with and allegedly admitted to the murder, saying he was high at the time. He also was in a drug-mired fog while being questioned by authorities. Out on bail in February 1979, he overdosed on heroin.
No one else was ever charged in Spungen's death. Vicious' mother reportedly spread his cremated ashes on Spungen's Bensalem grave.
A LONG AFTERLIFE
Vicious and Spungen's story has been told again and again and again. Deborah Spungen penned her book, movie critics praised “Sid and Nancy” and dozens of other books and films have focused, at least in part, on the couple and the music scene around them.
Parker's film “Who Killed Nancy” focuses solely on rebuking the commonly held belief of what happened three decades ago. In the 100-minute documentary, Parker said he shows through numerous interviews and documents that Vicious likely didn't kill Spungen — drug dealers did.
Parker said Vicious was whacked out on too many barbiturates that night to kill anybody. Plus, there was $20,000 cash — money Vicious earned from record companies and live gigs, Parker said. Their drug dealers knew about the money and it disappeared, Parker said.
“I've got interviews of 15 people who think they knew who did it,” Parker said. “The family seems quite happy to sit back and say he did it because his name fits the bill. But retired police officers have told me to my face that he didn't do it.”
The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching Spungen's parents, who live in Water Mill, N.Y., according to a 2007 New York Times wedding announcement for Nancy's sister. In her book, Deborah Spungen dismissed the theory that someone besides Vicious killed her daughter or that there was a big stash of cash in their hotel room. Deborah Spungen wrote that New York City police told her that Vicious admitted to killing her daughter while in a drug-fueled haze.
“No one will ever know for sure what happened that night,” Deborah Spungen wrote in her book. “t is my belief that [Nancy] engineered her death. She wanted to die, had for years. She was ready to die. So she made Sid the instrument.”
Deborah Spungen's book is hard to come by these days. Getting it new requires an order from a local chain bookstore. Internet message boards have become the filament that illuminate Nancy Spungen's legacy.
Molly Johnson, who lives in the U.K., is the administrator for the Nancy Spungen Forum. When she was 12, her mother gave her a copy of “And I Don't Want to Live This Life.”
“[Nancy] was a great inspiration to me. Not because of her bad choices, but because she was so misunderstood,” Johnson said.
“I think young girls who are slightly different from the "ideal young girl' will always relate to her if they read that book ... I think young misunderstood girls will never let her go.”
No one knows who killed Nancy for real but it is pretty damn sure Sid and Nancy didn't have $20,000 at any time in their pitiful little dirty hotel room. If they did they wouldn't have been constantly begging Mrs. Spungen for money now would they? When WILL the lies stop and when will the fucking emos stop worshiping a dead kid that had no career whatsoever of any kind. I find it disheartening that Nancy has more devoted fans, it would appear, than our John does, a man with more talent in his little finger than either of them had.... 
.......okay I stop, my outrage makes me inarticulate 
.