NEW YORK, NEW YORK - It’s fun to immerse yourself in pop culture classics like
Hunter S Thompson, William Burroughs and Bukowski and then somehow con yourself
that you have lived their lives. It’s another thing to go way off the map and
change your immediate surrounds with unfamiliar faces, places and danger. In my
earlier days I seemed to thrive on that and in 1988 that meant New York City.
Today the Big Apple is somewhat cleaned up and Disneyfied but back in the late
80’s things weren’t so smooth and if you weren’t careful you could end up in a lot of trouble
or close to it.
Back in the late 80's New York was a very dangerous place. It still is. But back then it was REALLY out of control.
I looked up and saw the six framed pictures of celebrities. They
had autographed their own portraits and I knew immediately who they were. These
pictures were the original cast members of Saturday Night Live. I could see
Gilda Radner, John Belushi and Garrett Morris. This was very surreal and the
sound of the pinball machines and mechanical score counters were getting to be
loud. This only made my heart race and heightened my anxiety. On top of that
the fluorescent lighting was starting to get to me and I wanted to get out in
the dark street and get moving.
All I knew
was that CBGB’s was somewhere near the Bowery. But I had no idea at the time
how to get down there for myself.
This is the story when someone tried to sell us a milk truck that was riddled with bullet holes. The same night we also found the author of the 1950's classic Naked Lunch - Mr.William Burroughs. He is somewhat of a lunatic and my buddies dared me to go knock on his door but I chickened out. There was no gate to go to his apartment and it was street level. .
Shortly after we arrived in the neighborhood we heard this.....
“Hey you guys! Are any of you interested
in buying this ****** milk truck?..... How much money do you got between the three of you?”
I spoke up because my friends were too tongue tied, “No that’s okay… I wouldn’t
know what to do with it” I answered. “ Aw come on!” the driver said, “I can let
you have this thing really cheap, I can let you have it for a song.” And he
just sort of sat there and looked over at me. There was tension there and he
wasn’t going to leave then he cleared his throat and began to speak, “Well, if
you know anyone who wants this thing tell him I am in the neighborhood and I
need to get rid of it. I’m selling this thing really cheap.”
From this position I could see, “The Bunker” and that is 222
Bowery, the one time home of William Burroughs, (one of the original Beat poets
who wrote Naked Lunch). He was a well known heroin addict and madman. Now we
were rubbing elbows with the kinds of pop culture idols that most people only
read about. The madness that they delved in was all around us.
LIVE AT THE BOWERY ---- CBGB'S BAR with Buck Naked and the Bare Bottom Boys
AT THE BOWERY ---- CBGB'S BAR with The Swans
AT THE BOWERY ---- CBGB'S BAR with The Dirty Rotten Imbeciles
TRUE ROCK AND ROLL STORIES !!
|
