New DESTROY ALL MONSTERS & DARK CARNIVAL singles from Spain
(available soon... contact us for more info)



Destroy All Monsters, Mall Culture, Acrylic on canvas, 96×138 inches, 1 of 4 murals that comprise Strange Früt: Rock Apocrypha, 2000. Courtesy of the artists at PRISM.

Niagara & Destroy All Monsters at PRISM Gallery Los Angeles (see above Art Reviews)




COLONEL GALAXY AND NIAGARA'S 1969 DODGE DART "HOT BOX"
presented in Detroit at the 61st annual AutoRama show Niagra chose the shade of blue, and provided the artwork Niagara and Shaggy Leblanc of Shaggy's Radicals
read & see more...

Re: Brett Callwood's article on Niagara ("She Comes in Colors", Dec. 9, 2009)

The first time I saw Niagara, was with the band DAM at "The Chance" in Ann Arbor, where she bit me on the top of the head! At a couple of later shows in Detroit, (at Bookies and at the Red Carpet), she jumped off stage and danced with me. That was probably the biggest boost to my ego in my life at that point. However, when I jumped onstage to dance with her at a later show at Todd's, she whirled me around and literally kicked me offstage with such force that I had a bruise that lasted for weeks.

Apparently Niagara has just such a like-hate relationship with local artists. On the one hand, take her continued presence in the area, when she obviously can afford to move elsewhere, this is proof positive that one doesn't have to move to New York in order to be successful in the art world.

However some statements such as, "It would be so much fun to have all the other artists here" (as if there weren't any here already), and especially, "You've got me and that's it in this town, ha" both of which appear in her recent cover story, are significant only in regard to her attitude, which seems awfully presumptuous. Not that this is exactly news to me. An artist friend of mine, who has had a Metro Times cover story himself, told me that, after having been introduced to Niagara at a local gallery, she told him that he was responsible for the destruction of a local landmark. Tact is not her forte, it seems.

All of this, of course, is stuff and nonsense. Some of Niagara's lyrics on the Destroy All Monsters singles, such as "You're Gonna Die", were a thematic precursor to Goth; who knows, she probably influenced Lydia Lunch and Texicali Jones. I still enjoy them, and I also like the reproductions of her artwork that accompany the article. I'm willing to bet that my aforementioned artist friend even liked it, and animosity isn't a one way street.

As a fair warning to anyone who attends her live shows: Don't get too close to the edge of the stage.

--Don Handy, Mount Clemens MI



Colonel Galaxy offends midgets in Oz!!! "...in Bondi Beach Australia we noticed there were all these midgets in the audience, who I decided right then that we needed for our dark carnival stageshow that night. How did I know that they did not enjoy being singled out when they were just trying to have a quiet night out with friends. In a Michael Richards meltdown moment I was calling them the 'little members' of our audience. Who knew?" -Colonel Galaxy

from Niagara's inbox... SUBJECT: The Chance Shirt from 1981 Hey Niagara, I came across a shirt that I need some history on if all possible. The shirt reads "The Chance" and below it reads "Niagara '81". "The Chance" was a bar in Ann Arbor correct? Did you design this shirt/the bars logo? Any information on this shirt would be much appreciated. Thanks... CASEY Casey, The bar was the Second Chance , they used to call it "the chance", anyway the owner John Carver was always bugging Niagara to "create a logo." Niagara got John to agree to "unlimited drinks forever" in exchange. No sooner did John agree, when Niagara took out an eyebrow pencil and grabbed a napkin and jotted down the infamous scrawl , then ordered a Vodka Martini , the first of many in years to come. To his credit Carver stuck to the drink bargain & used the "logo" on the Marquee & all his promotions. The "Chance" was a famous "new wave" club that hosted many famous acts, DEAD BOYS, THE SONICS, PATTI SMITH & DESTROY ALL MONSTERS to name a few. Madonna was no longer a waitress there ... turns out the Punk crowd were not big tippers... Niagara Historian Colonel Galaxy



When Niagara and the Colonel visited the UK, it made the papers.
"'No! I'm not Richard Boone's son. ...some journalist asked me that jokingly cuz of the all-black thing, "the morning after the night before."'
Colonel galaxy eats a 'hotbox' lunch in the wee hours ...rumors that the Colonel is actually Richard Boone's illegitimate son with actress Anna Magnani 'is totally without merit' & according to the Colonel, 'Just one of those tabloid things that gets outta hand when some typhoid mary from some rag starts asking questions.'"
-- Manchester Confidental



"FUNHOUSE" Art Show at CPOP Gallery, Detroit --

A couple years ago, February, Niagara curated the "FUNHOUSE" Art Show at CPOP. Her initial idea was to have a show with musicians, so people could see another side of their "colorful" personalities. She started with all the borderline psycho musicians that she knew: Iggy Pop & The Stooges, The Melvins, Dee Dee & Joey Ramone (posthumously), Thurston Moore & Kim/Sonic Youth, Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO, Kembra from The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black... well, you get the picture: it was chaos from the get.

To complicate matters, the Stooges and Iggy wanted to know if they could rehearse their music in our practice room. Niagara, "Iggy had heard about the quasi-glamorous cement block dungeon beneath our house. It has that perfect 'dead sound' as Iggy put it. We said 'sure'. It was a perfect Detroit media frenzy. I even got Iggy the cover of Juxtapoz, the international Art Mag. I was upstairs on the phone constantly with the press and all the while hearing the Stooges playing live coming up through the heating ducts... it was surreal, I was time-tripping with "Stooge Radio".

Iggy had done a lot of large canvasses. Niagara talked Iggy into naming them the same as his rambling descriptions. (Amy Yokin bought one of the best ones, titled: 'Rock & Roll Bacchus: Self-Portrait' -- while drunk after show in Bubble bath, Halloween 3 a.m., New Orleans, 2004). Now he wanted us to frame them...

Pat Slack, from River's Edge Gallery, was ready, willing and able. Iggy loved the beautiful thick, black laquered frames but he didn't want to pay the $10,000 bill. So he got Tom Thewes, the owner of CPOP, to pony up the money (plus Iggy's hotel bill). Pat cut Tom some slack...but Iggy was oblivious.

Niagara did the official silk-screened print of the event in that patented 60's "Grande Ballroom" style a la Gary Grimshaw. When it came time for Iggy to sign them, he balked. He was sitting in our living room, watching T.V. when Niagara told me about the impasse. He had told her, "Why should I sign art that I didn't do?" AND: "The people at Christie's auction house said signatures are worth more when there's less of them'!!!" I went round & round with him, until I cut the argument short by saying," For all that Niagara, CPOP and this town has done for you, YOU'RE GONNA SIGN THEM." He said, "...I see your point, I'll sign til' I drop, how's that?"

Well, the night of the show, the line to get in the madhouse was around the block, til late at night and in the cold of February. Iggy signed autographs, album covers, everything they threw at him. BUT again he refused to sign the posters. Ron And Scott Asheton signed and cajoled him, but no go. Jamie O'Shea, editor of Juxtapoz, said it was the thing to do, when Iggy asked his opinion. But still "No".

This time he was holed up in Tom Thewe's studio, upstairs from the gallery. I was pissed and ready for a showdown. Ron and I got into the elevator, when Ron's sister, who's not known for shyness, decided that she wanted to film this. I was on a mission and not in the mood for this discussion, so I shoved her out of the elevator. Davin Brainard came up and said brightly, "I'm coming up with you so I can meet Iggy!" "NOT NOW YOU'RE NOT," I growled. Nobody's ever seen Davin mad, but this was a night of many firsts.

I stomped up to Iggy and glared. He says, "Oh, man, not this guy again... where's those fucking posters, I'll sigh 'em all." So he did.

And we have the memory of those nights listening to the recordings that Warn Defever made of the Stooges in our basement... which still sound killer and hilarious to this day.

-- Colonel Galaxy



Dave Buick (The GO, Young Soul Rebels) and Julie Benjamen (The Fondas) dress as Niagara and the Colonel for Halloween.



Niagara, determined not to be bored: watching The Stooges show backstage with Jack White and and Henry Rollins in Sydney Australia, she intentionally sticks her eye with a paintbrush...

browse more photos at

Read Niagara's bio on the about page.

Read about Niagara's musical exploits on her music page.