Opal Robinson’s first Rivington contract was good for just one year, but stipulated she would be paid in weekly installments of $85 (which, even after taxes, would total a few dollars more than the lump cash sum Kelly traditionally gifted his artists). Awaiting her arrival, Nev spent a lonely couple months holed up in the Ninety-Sixth Street flat, stuffing cotton balls in his ears to dull the racket of sirens and revelry outside his window. During this period he filled a notebook with new compositions, many of which would make up their first album together, Polychrome. Nearly insolvent and
...more
