Playground

[A] striking photo memoir of the decade. * Publishers Weekly, May 26, 2014 *
[Paul Zone's] book, Playground: Growing Up in the New York Underground, is an album about stardom’s essential feature: an interesting aura shaped by an interesting face...Zone’s black-and-white images are beautiful because they’re filled with attitude. -- Hilton Als * The New Yorker, July 7, 2014 *
Playground is perhaps the definite publication depicting that snippet of time, when everything was up for grabs and plenty were there for the taking. Grab yourself a copy and like me, you will keep going back, again and again. * February 7, 2015 *
It was the mid-1970s when the death of glam and the birth of punk collided in a celebration of glitter and grime, and 14-year old Paul Zone had a front-row seat for it all....Featured photographs include images of Blondie, Debbie Harry, the Ramones, the New York Dolls, Iggy and the Stooges, the Dead Boys, Suicide, T. Rex, the Fast, and Kiss as well as musicians, artists, and scenesters such as Richard Hell, Johnny Thunders, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Jayne County, Alice Cooper, Lance Loud, Stephen Sprouse, Christopher Makos, Anya Phillips, Cherry Vanilla, Arturo Vega, Anna Sui, Sable Starr, James Chance, Lydia Lunch, and more. -- Christopher Harrity * The Advocate, May 26, 2015 *
You've seen photos from the heyday of CBGB and Max's Kansas City a thousand times. In a way, they never get old, but a new photo book out by Paul Zone (and an exhibition opening tomorrow at Leslie-Lohman's Prince Street Project Space) gets even closer to the likes of Blondie, the Ramones, and the Dead Boys than we've ever been. The downtown figures we know and love still certainly look cooler than iced tea, but it's clear their guards are let down - it's something like seeing the punks in their natural element. -- Nicole Disser, Bedford + Bowery (online site) * May 29, 2015 *
It’s a great way to explore a priceless piece of New York City history. Although The Mercer Arts Center collapsed years ago, and Max’s and CBGB are no longer what they used to be (now a deli and a high-end clothing store), I always like to visit these places, anyway. I find that reading a book and looking at pictures, followed by visiting the old venues, allows you to connect a little bit more with something you may not have been able to experience. And, even if you did, this is still a great way to reminisce about years past. -- Amy Welch, Bowery Boogie (online site) * June 2, 2015 *
Paul Zone was just a kid from Brooklyn when he and his brothers first took the stage of legendary venues including Max's Kansas City, Mercer Arts Center, Club 82, and CBGBs during the pivotal glam rock and punk eras of the 1970s and 80s. As a member of The Fast, the teenage Zone had backstage access to everyone on the scene, from the rock royalty and drag queens to the actors and drug fiends. Armed with inexpensive cameras, Zone photographed his friends as they blazed a path that would one day become among the most heroic periods of modern music. -- Miss Rosen * Crave Online, June 10, 2015 *
It's hard to imagine a time when everyone was comfortable with a 14-year-old kid running around taking pictures at rock concerts but luckily for Paul Zone, his friends, and us, that's exactly what happened throughout the '70s, with the evidence collected in Paul Zone's mammoth good-times anthology, Playground: Growing Up in the New York Underground. -- Shade Rupe * Night Flight, June 12, 2015 *
Playground: Growing Up in the New York Underground (Glitterati) is a collection of Zone's rarely-seen images which chronicle the downtown scene's evolution from glam to punk to commercial success. Zone, who also fronted his brothers' band the Fast, tirelessly snapped photos from the inner circle while many of his friends stood on the cusp of fame — Blondie, the Ramones, New York Dolls, Anna Sui, Stephen Sprouse, Richard Hell, Patti Smith. Also in Playground is Zone's recounting of his own adolescence, a coming-of-age story woven through genuinely comedic anecdotes juxtaposing family life in conservative Boro Park with sweaty late nights on the Lower East Side. ‘Going to school at 8am was rough,' he laments, ‘especially because I had to remove my makeup for school.' Zone goes into engrossing depth, talking about his progressive mother, who helped create much of his glitzy wardrobe, his alcoholic, blue collar father, and his kooky, lovable grandmother, a ‘complete freak' who wore hula skirts and wedding gowns and hosted sex-themed Tupperware parties. -- Stacey Appel * Fashion Follower, June 15, 2015 *
It also chronicles a watershed time when gender-bending, androgyny, and cross-dressing were just beginning to find accepting outlets in American pop culture: highlights include a shot of Baltimore drag legend Divine in a red pleather mini-dress, shaking maracas; and shots of Paul Zone's own band, The Fast, with his two brothers, with KISS-like face paint, sequin capes, and teased hair. -- Carey Dunne * Brooklyn Magazine, May 28, 2015 *
New York's 1970s glam and punk scenes are captured through the lends of teenage Paul Zone, who candidly shot the likes of Lou Reed, Blondie, and trans singer Jayne County during his outings to CBGS and Club 82. * Out Magazine *