Jennifer Miro of The Nuns, photographed by James Stark, & Brittley Black of Crime, photographed by Jeff Good.
Their ‘Romeo & Juliet’ romance was the late-’70s punk version of forbidden love, back in the days of the early San Francisco punk scene:
"Crime & Nuns were the two hottest bands in San Francisco during the early punk era and they had an intense rivalry. A couple of times, band members nearly came to fistcuffs before cooler heads prevailed.
Jennifer Miro was the Nun's keyboard player, singer and songwriter, Brittley was Crime drummer. When Jennifer and Brittley hooked up, Jennifer would hang out with Crime instead of Nuns. Jennifer felt that love affairs were more important than band and more fun. Brittley would play Frank Sinatra records for her and take her out in his Cadillac for cocktails at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.."
James Stark, photographer (“The Band Crime: Punk '77 Revisited“)
As any powerful punk romantic story, this needed a fitting dramatic ending and in this case the curtain fell on it at the legendary Sex Pistols concert at San Francisco's Winterland in 1978, where The Nuns would perform as the opening band, along with The Avengers.
“...On January 14, 1978, at the Winterland in San Francisco, what would be the final show ever for the Sex Pistols, the most talked-about punk show in history, before the mob of 5,000 roared to life and pelted the stage with spit and D-sized batteries, before anyone knew what to expect, before rock media anointed this night as the death of punk rock, before the voiceover introduction, "We're The Nuns, and we ain't from New York, and we ain't from England, we're from San Francisco!", the very first person to take the stage was Jennifer, walking out by herself in a single spotlight, scared to death and emotionally fragile from just having broken up with Crime drummer Brittley Black.
She sat at her piano, began a closing-time saloon melody, leaned into the mic and sang, "I'm so lazy, so lazy...I'm too lazy to fall in love...It's such a bother, I'd much rather stay home and watch TV..."
Jack Boulware, author
And here’s Jennifer Miro’s own memories from that night:
“...I was dating Brittley Black, who was in Crime, and he broke up with me the night before the show. So I was crying the whole night. I went on first, all by myself, the very first person on the stage, and I was wearing this green taffeta vampire-collared mini-dress with black spike-heeled boots. I was terrified, in the spotlight, and I just stood there and they cheered.
After that, you can't go back to a normal life..."
Jennifer Miro, The Nuns (“Gimme Something Better”)
There’s even video footage of that particular haunting solo piano performance (followed by the band’s unleash of punk fury) and it’s really heartbreaking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH977XSEHok
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