NOVEMBER 1978, NEW YORK CITY, Tribeca. Inside the Mudd Club, The B-52’s are doing a soundcheck. They’re trying not to be distracted by Beat writer William Burroughs, who’s at the bar in a private eye trench coat and fedora, eyeballing them and scribbling notes. He’s flanked by two companions in matching outerwear.
The five-piece band from Athens, Georgia love Fellini movies, and here they are in what could be a scene from one.
They’d been asked to be part of a benefit, for Semiotext(e), a deconstructivist French magazine, and the night’s theme was outer space. “That’s probably why they picked us, because we had a few outer space songs,” says Kate Pierson, with a laugh.