In a feeble attempt to combat my constant homesickness, I compile tales of New York City rock & roll landmarks, most of 'em long gone. Moronic musings on various other enthusiasms are also thrown in for good measure.
Selected Cheetah ads. Voice issue dates and other pertinent info in the captions.
1/19/67 issue: Wilson Pickett and the Magnificent Men, presented by Rocky G. and Frankie Crocker, Sunday January 22.
4/27/67 issue.
This copy came from the 8/17/67 issue, but it appeared regularly for several weeks that summer.
8/31/67 issue: Joe Tex on September 4 (I think); The Bit A Sweet and the Showstoppers, August 31-September 6 (I think); announcement of upcoming Chicago and L.A. locations.
9/14/67 issue--this ad appeared several times that autumn.
10/19/67 issue: The Box Tops and Procol Harum on October 29.
10/26/67 issue: The Box Tops, October 29 (apparently Procol Harum cancelled). The Jewels and the All-Night Workers, October 26 to November 1.
11/30/67 issue: Psychedelic Christmas Tree Happening on December 12.
12/14/67 issue: The Kaleidoscope, starting December 12.
12/21/67 issue: Announcement that Hair moves from the Public Theater to the Cheetah.
12/21/67 issue: New Year's Eve with Mike St. Shaw and the Original Prophets, the Dave Heenan Set, the Scarecrow, Band of Gold. Hair opening date is listed in the fine print as December 22.
8/24/67 issue, full-page ad: "Be Human. We're having a party in the street, St Marks Place...Thursday August 24, 8:30 to 10:30 P.M. The price of admission is your smile."
8/31/67 issue, full-page ad: "Meet Sly. A whole new thing. Sly and the Family Stone will do it to ya. Where you can taste the Think Tank Drink." No dates given that I can see. The "Scenes" column in this issue discusses neighborhood opposition to the club: "The Electric Circus is overloaded and is not soundproofed. If the laws were enforced, it would be shut down."
9/7/67 issue. This one was repeated in several issues.
9/14/67 issue: "How to get to New York from the Electric Circus...Believe you can, believe you, believe, stay."
9/21/1967 issue: Same motto.
9/28/67 issue, full-page ad: "Without this man there would be no Electric Circus...Thomas Alva Edison, the man who turned the world on."
10/12/67 issue.
10/19/67 issue.
10/26/67 issue, full-page ad: "All Souls. Come to a Halloween Party at the Electric Circus dressed to exorcise the devils. (The most outstanding costumes win a trip.) October 28 at 9 p.m.
11/9/67 issue. Muddy Waters and His Blues Band--dates are illegible if they're there at all.
11/16/67 issue. Slightly different graphics, still no legible dates.
11/23/67 issue: "Clothes, furbelows & astonishments at the Electric Circus store."
11/23/67 issue. "An Electric Christmas at Carnegie Hall," co-produced by the New York Pro Musica and the Electric Circus, December 24 and 30, 1967.
12/14/67 issue: Further details on the Electric Christmas show. "Circus Maximus--Original Rock Music. Electronic Music by Morton Subotnick. Light Show by Anthony Martin."
12/21/67 issue: "Worship at the church of your choice...midnight December 24."
12/28/67 issue. "Avoid Drunks--New Year's Eve at the Electric Circus...Ecstasies by M. M. Koutoumas...Coffee at the Think Tank.
Here are the fruits of my new favorite time-waster--endless wading through Google's online Village Voice archive! I semi-arbitrarily started with 1967, mainly because my favorite year of 1966 is not yet archived. I'll go back to '65 (and other prior years) at some point, but quick advance peeks at a couple of that year's issues show that the listings in the "Clubs/Cafes/Coffeehouses" section were pretty slim at that time. Actually, even the '67 sections weren't nearly as jam-packed with ads and data as I was hoping they'd be...but that's probably a blessing in disguise lest I spend even more time at this than I oughta!
In this series I intend to post as many ads as I can find on the various venues that interest me. I'm concentrating primarily on rock and roll venues and performers of course, but there will be a bit of crossover--e.g., ads for jazzbos or folkies at rock venues, and/or ads for rock-types at jazz/folk clubs if they happen to catch my eye. (I'll sidestep the Cafe au Go Go since it has been thoroughly covered elsewhere.) Yet I cannot promise total completist behavior. Some issues are missing, certain ads weren't always printed every week, and there are times when even my eagle-eyes fail to spot things! And of course, one cannot assume the events always transpired as advertised. In the captions I'll list the issue date and the bands mentioned in the ad.
While researching for the Rolling Stone post, I was stunned to learn that Trude Heller had a second discotheque at Broadway and 49th Street called the Trik. Trude Heller's original club at Sixth Avenue and 9th Street was one of the first places I wrote about here, and though I scoured all the resources then available to me, I failed to learn about this second outpost at that time. The name was referenced in one of the books I'd consulted, but was applied to the original place...and somehow I completely missed its brief mention in The Warhol Sixties until just last week. Luckily the Voice had a few ads to set me straight...but either the club didn't last very long or it didn't advertise much, for I found ads/mentions only in the issues spanning April to August of '67.
Front page mention, April 27, 1967 issue.
5/10/67 issue. The Indian Nuts, Rocky & His Friends, New York Rock & Roll Ensemble.
May 18 and 25, 1967 issues. Rocky and His Friends, Eddy Jacobs & the Mighty Soul Rockers.
6/8/67 issue. Monti Rock III, the Boys from NYC, Eddy Jacobs & the Mighty Soul Rockers.
6/15/67 issue. Monti Rock III, Benny Gordon & the Soul Brothers, Reparata & the Delrons.
6/22/67 issue. The Group Image, Music Machine, Danny's Reasons. The club is also mentioned in this issue's "Scenes" column, in a discussion on the expected summer influx of teen hippies: "Trude Heller, owner of the Trik, says if the hippie invasion becomes critical, she is considering making the place available for a Sleep-In. 'After hours, the Trik would be used for supervised sheltering of the hippies until they find other lodging or return home.'"
6/29/1967 issue. Time Machine (I assume the previous week's "Music Machine" was an error!), Danny's Reasons, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, the Energy Package.
7/20/67 issue. NGC 4594 & the Echoes, Roger Pace & the Pacemakers, Keith & the Wild Kingson, Erik & the Smoke Ponies.
7/27/67 issue. Keith and the Wild Kingdom, the Daiseys, the Stonehenges.
8/10/67 issue. Wilson "Pikett" on August 18...did this joint have a thing against the "C before K" spelling rule?
SCOTT MUNI'S ROLLING STONE--304 E. 48th Street, near Second Avenue. Full disclosure: ScottMuni is one of the very few music biz/radio legends that I've personally encountered--but not in the way a fangirl-type would typically like to interact with someone of his stature. Back in the early '90s I did an internship at WNEW-FM--an enjoyable experience, but one which disavowed me of any notion that I was cut out for a career in commercial media. (I understand the station is now defunct on the FM dial, but has been resuscitated via HD2 and the internet.) I can recall being told on the very first day, "Don't talk to Scott, he doesn't like interns." So I never did, and I'd kinda cower and give him a wide berth if I ever happened to pass him in the hallways. I did get sent downtown to Venus Records a few times to pick up some imports for his "Things From England" segments, but dealt only with his very nice secretary in those instances.
It's not as if I ever would have approached him anyway--I'm a rather shy, "don't speak unless spoken to" type, especially around "celebs." But if he'd deigned to give me the time of day--and I must say, everyone else there, including the other on-air talent, did so willingly and welcomingly--he'd have known I probably had more knowledge of and respect for his career than your typical intern. And what was his problem anyway--did he think we were just some troublesome flaming hookie-dookie whippersnappers out to usurp his position as the Professor of Rock & Roll?
So although I've long had his nightclub on my list of places to investigate, given my understandably tainted perceptions of the man, perhaps I've subconsciously been a little reluctant to fully engage in that endeavor. But I happened to get a little note from Left Banke bassist/international disc-jockeying man of mystery TomFinn a few days ago, which helped encourage the pursuit. (Um, squee!!??!! Sorry, I don't mean to come across as an inveterate name-dropper...we've merely chatted a few times on facebook ever since he and leftbanke.nu webmistress Charlemagne started a fab Left Banke facebook page.) "Hey, I hear you're into New York sixties clubs. Ever hear of a place called the Rolling Stone?" I can only guess he must have seen the Wolfgang's Vault article and noticed I'd left it out--quite inadvertently, I assure you. But enough of my personal palaver...clearly this was a sign from the universe that it was time to take on Scottso's domain!
Unfortunately, details about the club have not been abundantly forthcoming--and the fact that it shares the name of a certain ridiculously well-exposed band didn't make the search any easier. I was initially skeptical about how deep Muni's financial interests in it were, but since he was somewhat between radio gigs at the time, it seems plausible that he could have been the actual owner, at least in part. According to his wikipedia entry (corroborated by a musicradio77.com article on the WMCA Good Guys), "In 1965, Muni leftWABC and ran the Rolling Stone Night Club while doing occasional fill-in work for WMCA." And in a fine tribute to Muni from areuonsomething.com, Ray D'Ariano writes:
Muni left WA-Beatle-C. Over the next few years Muni did overnight fill-in work at WMCA and he found another night shift gig. On the New York rock scene it was the era of the Hammond B3 organ and the blue-eyed soul bands made popular by The Rascals. The Hassles featuring a young Billy Joel, The Pigeons who would become famous as The Vanilla Fudge, and The Vagrants with guitarist Leslie West played at a slew of rock clubs known as discotheques. There was The Phone Booth, Cheetah, Ungano's, and a club on East 48th where The Vagrants were the house band, Scott Muni's Rolling Stone.
Muni was a Scotch aficionado who had the ability to function flawlessly even after imbibing. One evening there was a brawl on the street out front. He intervened and discouraged the participants from continuing their aggressive behavior so close to his establishment. He did it with fewer words than the last sentence. A short while later he felt ill. He went home early only to twist and turn all night with a harsh pain in his lower back. The ex-Marine toughed it out, but was shaken the next morning when he awoke to see his sheets covered in blood. During a sober investigation he realized he had been stabbed while breaking up the fight. Later that night he was back on stage with the Vagrants. It was only rock and roll.
I've pored over the streetsyoucrossed bookshelf in search of equally atmospheric references, but so far the literature has yielded only two minuscule mentions.
From Andy Warhol's and Pat Hackett's Popism: The Warhol Sixties (NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980) From the Gymnasium we usually went on to a discotheque called the Rolling Stone, and then to Trude Heller's new place on Broadway and 49th, a few blocks down from Cheetah--"Sweet Soul Music" was the big song at all the clubs--and soon after this, Salvation opened down on Sheridan Square, so there were suddenly all these new places to go.
[Wait--there was a second Trude Heller's uptown?] [UPDATE 5/31/2010: Apparently so. I just saw a tidbit about it in the April 27, 1967 issue of the Village Voice: "And uptown, Trude Heller opened a new discotheque. Most amazingly dressed was six foot plus model Donyale Luna." A pic of her dress was printed on the front page but the reproduction in the Google archives is not very clear.]
And from Clay Cole's Sh-Boom: The Explosion of Rock & Roll (NY: Morgan James, 2009): I was told when I was auditioning dancers, I rejected both Geri Miller and Goldie Hawn. Geri was now a go-go girl at the Rolling Stone club, the girl with her legs in the air on its famous swing. Geri was overly ripe at a time when the Twiggy-look was all the rage...As Dominique, she became one of Andy Warhol's underground film stars, then a super-groupie, a topless dancer and finally a porn star. [Hey, she wasin a band for a spell too y'know! Not quite finished with this book yet, but if I come across more R.S. references in it I'll let you know.]
A couple of tasty gossip column items from 1965 turned up via the Google News Archives. I jotted them down verbatim, but didn't copy the links when I first found them. As of this writing the articles are not turning up, so I cannot back up these quotes with visual proof and linkage...but hey, would I lie to you about this stuff?
Earl Wilson, N.Y. Post, September 17, 1965 (as syndicated to another city's Herald-Tribune): The washroom at the Rolling Stone discotheque features a blackboard and chalk. The sign reads, "We don't wish to repress creative talent, so if you must write, write here."
Dorothy Kilgallen, N.Y. Journal-American, October 12, 1965 (as syndicated to the Toledo Blade): Disc jockey Scott Muni, who scored with the Rolling Stone discotheque, has a table set aside for his colleagues. It's equipped with the latest music trade publications, a list of the top 40 records, and a pretty girl whose job is to see that their requests are played first. [As a What's My Line? fanatic, I can't help but notice this column was published less than a month before Kilgallen's mystery-shrouded death.]
Since Tom Finn inspired this post, I asked him if I could pick his brain for Rolling Stone synapses, and he graciously obliged.
I first went to the Rolling Stone with Mick Wexler who was the writer, singer and guitarist for The Magic Plants. Warren Sherhorst and I signed on after the record "I'm A Nothing." Anyway Mick was a Mick Jagger imposter. Back in late '65 a lot of people didn't know what Jagger looked like. So we went to The Rolling Stone. Mick was wearing a big pair of sunglasses at night in a already darkened nightclub, and he sported a heavy Cockney accent...Everybody knew he wasn't Jagger, but he insisted anyway. So I saw The Vagrants perform, and WOW! What a production! I had never heard a group play with so much volume and production. I was impressed--I didn't think they were a recording type of group, but live they were amazing. So when we were leaving Mick tripped over a little rise on the floor, and fell on his face. I remember people saying what's the matter Mickey Boy. They ridiculed him. But he deserved it. Imagine dark glasses. I thought The Club was pretty big compared to Ondine or The Scene. It looked like a fancy type of place.
Well, the Vagrants seem as appropriate a band as any to head our short list of R.S. notables. I haven't tracked down any dates, but I gather this was their main Manhattan showplace in '65 and '66. Check out pages 3 and 4 of the photo gallery on the splendid thevagrants.net for some visual evidence. I won't steal those pics, but I'm compelled to purloin their copy of an R.S. flyer.
TheYardbirds played there on September 17, 1965--the club's biggest international booking that I know of. (Pic came from stratcollector.com.)
I was hoping the Billboard archives would hold at least as many items on the Rolling Stone as it did for the Phone Booth, but I managed to find only two: for the Seven of Us ("a new vocal combo") in the November 6, 1965 issue, and for the Bit'a Sweet ("a new rock-soul group") in the June 4, 1966 one.
A British Beach Boys site reveals this tidbit involving '70s B.B. pianist Carlos Munoz: "From 1965 to 1968, Muñoz led a rock band with Jorge Calderón called The Living End, a.k.a. Space (jazz-rock band); they were the house band at Scott Muni´s Rolling Stone and released a single album, Space (Capitol Records)." (It's a long shot, but I wonder if Carlos was at all related to Scott, whose real name was Donald Allen Munoz.)
In an interview with Ugly Things editor-in-chief Mike Stax, Peter Sando discusses how his band the Rahgoos fit the scene: "Most of the uptown Discotheques were dominated by Rascal-clone bands like the Rich Kids, the Vagrants, and the Pilgrims. We were not immune to that as we converted to a B3 sound when we played at the Rolling Stone and Phone Booth...but as the band progressed, we were falling into the Rascal sound too much." Lineup changes and a gradual evolution toward psychedelia led the band to change their name to Gandalf--apparently inspired by a copy of The Hobbit that drummer David Bauer happened to be reading one night backstage at the Rolling Stone.
60sgaragebands.com offers profiles on two bands who played there, theTeemates (laterrenamed the Kickers after their second manager's involvement with the N.Y. Jets) and a Dallas band called Truth. And Mike Patalano of theOthers--famed among caveteens for "Can't Stand This Love, Goodbye"--gave some nice recollections to Fancy Magazine. (Be sure to check out the great pic of the club's front sign: "Come in tux or tights and give our girls in the swings a push...two dance floors, no cover, no minimum.")
Bob Marshall became our manager. He got us a gig at the Rolling Stone Discotheque in NYC at the corner of 48th and 2nd Ave. that summer of 65. We were the house band and played six nights a week, half hour on, half hour off, 9 pm to 3am. We all got paid a couple hundred dollars a week. We had lines of people around the block for hours waiting to get in. It was owned by Scott Muni. He would stop in and introduce us to the crowd every once in a while. We had a blast—Met David Winters, the dancer from West Side Story, and Gene Pitney there. There were go-go girls, and a swing. Afterwards we would be invited to parties all over the city. It was wild.
Apparently there is now a karaokebar and a parking garage at the address. But folks, I'm afraid that's about all the info I've been able to find so far! Please don't hesitate to leave a comment if you have any recollections or facts of your own to share--this skimpy post could sure use 'em!
UPDATE 9/24/2010: Bob Polhemus of Bobby and the Teemates sent this great shot of them playing at Scott Muni's Rolling Stone. "His club the Rolling Stone was one of the hottest gigs I ever played...The place was like a celebrity gathering with every soon to be legend of rock visiting...The picture is us The Teemates--Me second from left. We were the house band there the first week he opened the club. We were there a month followed by the Vagrants, with the Yardbirds doing a set every now and then along with Eric Burdon, Chas, The Gentrys. Opening night there was a line stretching up 48th Street to Second Avenue...Barry Oslander was the Sound Engineer there, and co-produced our LP "Jet Set Dance"...This was our last week there. Scott was furious we gave up our Beatles squeaky-clean look for these striped shirts. Cancelled our contract--Vagrants followed...The picture above was taken shortly after the Teemates changed their name under new management with a guy by the name of Bill Blackburn who was associated with the New York Jets--thus the name 'Kickers." I believe this was our last week at Scott's, after which the Vagrants or another Band followed us in."
If you're any sort of an NYC history or NYC rock & roll geek worth your salt (or a Minneapolis-area metal/punk concert review-readin' maniac for that matter), you should probably read This Ain't the Summer of Love in its entirety. But at the very least, you need to be hip to its posts on '70s NYC rock venue history, which plumb depths that this humble blog does not dare fathom. Here's a handy-dandy list of links to the places NYCDreamin' has covered thus far:
I don't know how he does it, but I'm so glad he does!!! And it's great to know there's a kindred spirit out there who's even more obsessed with tracking down such minutiae than I am. He also found some fun memorabilia on Trude Heller's, the Electric Circus, Club 82, the Cafe au Go Go, and the Cheetah. But seriously, take the time to absorb his entire site--you won't be sorry!
Speaking of '70s clubs, check out the facebook photo album of interior shots taken by N.Y. Rocker lensman Steve Lombardi. There's a link to one of his Max's pics in NYCDreamin's post, but the entire album is worth perusing for rare glimpses inside such joints as Great Gildersleeves, Hurrah, the Lone Star Cafe, the Squat Theatre, Tomato's, TR3, and Trax. Other albums on his profile feature '70s performance shots and scenester portraits too--click away!
Quite by accident, I just found a treasure trove of StonesForest Hills concert shots on the Life images archive! Taken by Walter Daran on July 2, 1966. Personally, this kind of stuff excites me more than, say, the new Exile reissue.
Pssst....coincidentally, this post should give you a little hint as to the next joint I'm working on...
Thought I'd freshen up the place with a new template and a much-needed labels list and search box. And allow me to share a couple of videos I was just hipped to by a Facebook pal, Jet Screamer.
First, photos of the Outcasts taken at the Cafe Wha--and yes, I do have a weakness for "Empty Heart" covers, the more primitive and garage-y the better. The band apparently reunited and performed at the current incarnation of the Wha in 2009.
And some silent-but-deadly footage of Clay Cole. There are a few more YT vids of him, including his scenes in Twist Around the Clock and more recent clips of him promoting his book, but it seems like precious little footage from his TV show has survived.
I'll leave you with some choice pics recently posted on tumblr by the aforementioned Hip Toad and her equally '60s teen mag/Lovin' Spoonful/vintage NYC-obsessed best buddy, cheapocheapo.
Cafe Wha? exterior.
Rare glimpses of the Night Owl's interior, though Peter Tork and Buzzy Linhart are the main subjects.
