
The Humorless Ladies of Border Control
Touring the Punk Underground from Belgrade to Ulaanbaatar
Franz Nicolay(Author)
The New Press
Published on 18. August 2016
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-1-62097-179-6 (ISBN)
Description
In 2009, musician Franz Nicolay left his job in the Hold Steady, aka "the world's greatest bar band." Over the next five years, he crossed the world with a guitar in one hand, a banjo in the other, and an accordion on his back, playing the anarcho-leftist squats and DIY spaces of the punk rock diaspora. He meets Polish artists nostalgic for their revolutionary days, Mongolian neo-Nazis in full SS regalia, and a gay expat in Ulaanbaatar who needs an armed escort between his home and his job. The Russian punk scene is thrust onto the international stage with the furor surrounding the arrest of the group Pussy Riot, and Ukrainians find themselves in the midst of a revolution and then a full-blown war.>
While engaging with the works of literary predecessors from Rebecca West to Chekhov and the nineteenth-century French aristocrat the Marquis de Custine, Nicolay explores the past and future of punk rock culture in the postcommunist world in the kind of book a punk rock Paul Theroux might have written, with a humor reminiscent of Gary Shteyngart. An audacious debut from a vivid new voice, The Humorless Ladies of Border Control is an unforgettable, funny, and sharply drawn depiction of surprisingly robust hidden spaces tucked within faraway lands.
While engaging with the works of literary predecessors from Rebecca West to Chekhov and the nineteenth-century French aristocrat the Marquis de Custine, Nicolay explores the past and future of punk rock culture in the postcommunist world in the kind of book a punk rock Paul Theroux might have written, with a humor reminiscent of Gary Shteyngart. An audacious debut from a vivid new voice, The Humorless Ladies of Border Control is an unforgettable, funny, and sharply drawn depiction of surprisingly robust hidden spaces tucked within faraway lands.
Reviews / Votes
Praise for The Humorless Ladies of Border Control:?A pleasing romp: punk in attitude but literary in execution and a fine work of armchair travel for those unwilling to strap on an accordion on the streets of Rostov for themselves."
?Kirkus Reviews
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 199 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
498 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-62097-179-6 (9781620971796)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Franz Nicolay
The Humorless Ladies of Border Control
Touring the Punk Underground from Belgrade to Ulaanbaatar
E-Book
08/2016
The New Press
€26.49
Available for download
Person
Franz Nicolay is a New York musician who has played with myriad acts including the Hold Steady, Against Me!, and the Dresden Dolls and was a founding member of the composer/performer collective Anti-Social Music. "Dying Scene" recently named him #1 of Punk s 10 Best Accordion Players. He teaches at Bard College and this is his first book."