Brian Gorsegner may seem like an average punk rocker-turned-New Jersey dad, but he's actually the Indiana Jones of alternative rock, bent on retrieving the long-lost relics of rock 'n' roll that changed his life. He is an urban archaeologist working on.
A music booking agent by day, Mr. Gorsegner has spent nights and weekends for more than 20 years combing through the basements and attics of aging punk rockers, their families, and enthusiasts like himself. , I've been searching for forgotten relics.
And in November, the 41-year-old unearthed a treasure trove in his old Queens home, discovering the original case of Johnny Ramone's beloved guitar, which sold for nearly $1 million at auction in 2021.
“For a lot of people, that might not mean much, but for me and my fellow collectors, it's like finding the Mona Lisa buried in a pile of trash. It's crazy,” Gorsegner said. he told the Post.
As with most discoveries, Gorsegner followed the trail of Ramone's guitar case through word of mouth. This time, an old New York rocker got in touch to share a story about being friends with the Ramones, the Misfits, and other influential punk bands. 70's and 80's.
After swapping stories, the rockers told Gosegner that they were planning to move and trashed most of the house, but were welcome to peruse the piles of old instruments in search of anything they wanted.
The house was in such disrepair that Gorsegner sometimes had to scratch the place with a crowbar. He was able to pry 45 records, posters, and old setlists out of the cabinet until he found a guitar case. And when he saw “RAMONES” stenciled in white paint, he knew he had found gold.
“I've seen it before. There's a very famous photo that David Godlis took of the Ramones playing at CBGB in 1977,” Gorsegner said, adding that Patti Smith, Madonna, Talking Heads, He mentioned the legendary East Village punk club where Mink Deville, Blondie and others played. We made a start.
“The picture is of all the equipment laid out on stage, and it has a really nice looking, hardware store type stencil on it. So as soon as you see the case, you know this is one of the first cases. I understand that,” he added.
The old New York rocker, who had almost forgotten about it, kept reminiscing about a Ramones show in 1978 or '79. There, the latch on the case broke and Johnny threw the case into a trash can behind the club. But the locker needed a case, so Johnny told him to bring it if he wanted to fix the latch. So Locker did that and continued to use it for years.
“This was in the trash four years before I was born,” Gorsegner said. “And now, 50 years later, I'm about to throw it in the dumpster again. That kind of excitement is what really got me into this.”
Mr. Gorsegner was able to verify the case using a photo of Godlis – the tear in its leatherette cover matched exactly the tear in the case in the 1977 photo – and with some officials. After talking with them, we determined that this was likely the case that contained Johnny's famous white Moserite guitar. He bought it that year.
“This definitely falls into the “Oh my gosh, people have been walking past this house for years” category. And this is there,” he said. “Did you know? Who knew it was in the attic of a house in Queens, sitting there for 40 years, collecting dirt and grime?”
“When you make these discoveries, it's just the coolest thing in the world.”
Although this was one of his greatest discoveries, Gorsegner has been producing hits for more than 20 years, ever since he started hunting for punk rock artifacts in the late '90s.
He fell in love with the genre at the age of 13 and started playing in his own band. By the late '90s, he was working in a screen-printing factory alongside other rockers supporting their music. A “competitive” memorabilia collecting scene arose within the group.
But Gosenger took it a step further and was soon buying entire collections from people who had seen the 70s and 80s punk scene firsthand.
“I think if you pay people well, treat people well, and have a genuine passion for what you're doing out there, and you don't do it to make money or for any other slimy reason, “I realized that's not what I'm doing. I'm doing these things to get the word out and build relationships,” he said.
He has been traveling the countryside for years, and now takes his wife and 11-year-old daughter on a guise of family vacations, chasing clues and hints about collections and stashes. A number of artifacts that may be obtained.
His best scores include a fan letter sent by 15-year-old Dave Grohl to the band Necros asking for stickers and D.C. tour dates. An early Beastie Boys concert poster hand-painted by the band. and the metal spikes on the leather jacket that were machined in a factory by one of the Misfits fathers.
But Gosenger's favorite finds are the posters and flyers he made when the band was young and just starting out, or the high school students who were just as obsessed with music as he was.
“They were a band that nobody cared about, and they were making flyers and screen printing their own T-shirts on Xerox machines in high school,” Gorsegner said. “Even the Ramones. They don't think about stenciling their guitar cases. But there was a time and a place where they did everything themselves.
“The fact that 40, 50 years later, these original artifacts, cut and pasted flyers, and original mockups still exist in someone's attic somewhere, it's hard to believe that they were left in a photocopy machine. It's surprising to me that I haven't.” No beer was ever thrown. In my opinion, it's just an artifact. ”
“When you took the poster off the Bowery pole in 1978, there's no way it was still there,” he added.
Mr. Gossener lends most of his collection (the size of which he says is difficult to quantify) to museums, university exhibits and other institutions. Although he sometimes sells items, he always reserves them at a discount for people under the age of 20, in hopes of stirring up the passion of a new generation of punks.
“I discovered punk when I was 13 and started playing in bands, and it became my whole life. It saved me in high school. Like, without that band and that scene, I wouldn't have been able to do it. “I might not have been able to get through a lot of things,” he said.
He wrote and published a book, Ancient Artifax, documenting his collection along with interviews with people who made and saw the music performed.
As for the Ramones, Gorsegner has no plans to sell or rent them out in the near future, but he expects he might let them go at some point.
“I like to store things until I’m ready to hand them over to where they need to go,” he said. “But the Ramones case is going to be difficult for me to resolve, mainly because of its historical importance and because the Ramones are the greatest band of all time, and I think everyone would agree with that.” This is due to the fact that
“But there's also the thrill of finding it. It's not just something I bought on eBay. It's something I like finding in the wild. And that memory is something I would love to have on Christmas morning.” It's like getting a gift you've always wanted. You'll never forget it.”
