(Flyer: NYCDreamin Archives)Day 5 - 07/06/08 - 0707/08 (4:00am)
After a night of real sleep, I was up early again, by around 6:00am. Following the usual morning routine of shower/reading the NYPost, I was out the door and on my way, first over to Broadway and 103rd to check and see if the homeless guy was there, which he was. Then down to 78th & Columbus to go to the Flea Market that I had attended there the previous year. When I arrived, I found signs directing me to the new location, just a few blocks away. But it didn't open untill 10:00am, still a few hours away. Luckily, I had planned on attending another flea market as well, so I hopped the subway and soon arrived at the 42nd Street/Times Square Station.
I then walked over to West 39th street between 10th & 11th avenues, to the Hells Kitchen Flea Market. It seems I was too early for this as well. There were only a few vendors set up by the time I arrived, and I quilckly looked through their wares and found nothing to my liking. I was kind of bummed out that things were not more 'hopping' at this early hour, but was soon happy to discover that you could catch a shuttle bus (for $1.00) down to West 25th Street to the Chelsea Antiques Garage (112 West 25th Street). A few minutes later, I was there. Two floors of all kinds of oddities awaited me as I entered. As I passed through, I found there were not alot of Rock 'N' Roll items (that is mostly what I look for at sales) but tons of books and artwork. Lots of charcoal sketchings, odd nude paintings, etc. It looks like somebody dumpster-dived the local art schools and gathered up all the throw-away assignments. I did find a booth that had thousands of pin-back buttons, and while rummaging through them I found a Grave-Digger 'Witch Hunter' promo pin and a cool button that reads "Run The Elite Out Of Town", for just $1.00 each. Disappointed with the lack of stuff I was interested in, I was soon on my way out the door.
I decided I would take a quick walk down to 23rd Street and see how much the Hotel Chelsea (222 West 23rd Street) charged for a night. I walked in the lobby and right up to the desk, where a very friendly guy listened to my request and told me a night started at $199.00. Not cheap, but by NYC standards, not expensive either. I walked out, taking note of the odd artwork in the lobby, then stood and read a few of the comemorative plaques installed on the front of the building, memorials to some of the previous tenants who had lived there. I found out that Arthur C. Clarke had written most of '2001 - A Space Oddity' while living there. I had not known that. The place has such a colorful history...Arthur C. Clarke and Sid Vicious...how much more diverse can you get?
A few minutes later I was on my way East on 23rd, taking some photos of the new development in the area. I just hope like hell the building at 10 East 23rd is left to stand. This is, to those who do not know, the building where Kiss solidified their act in early 1973. The building holds a special place of almost mythical status to me. It seems safe for the time being, but NYC changes so fast, who knows?
I hopped on the subway, back up to the hostel to relax for a few hours, and to get ahold of my buddy MaximumMetalHead to make plans for the Lita Ford show later that evening. Around 12:30pm, he called and we made our plans. I decided after a few more hours relaxing, I would head out to Long Island a little earlier than we had planned, as I wanted to walk around the city of Wantagh a bit and find something good to eat before heading off to the show.
So at around 3:00pm, I jumped back on the subway and headed down to Penn Station, where I purchased my ($14.00) round-trip ticket on the Long Island Rail Road (L.I.R.R.) to Wantagh. It was about a 40 minute trip, and soon I was on the ground, walking through downtown Wantagh, looking for a good place to eat. I stopped at a local gas-station and asked the lady behind the counter where the best burger in town was. She pointed me to a diner up the street, and I walked over there. When I arrived, I found the prices to be a little high, and the decor to be a little too stuffy for my tastes. This place was no Broadway Restaurant, that's for sure. So I stood on the sidewalk, looking to see what else there might be close by and I spied a BBQ joint just across the street. I decide to go there instead.
I walked over, and as I eneterd Tenessee Jed's BBQ (3357 Merrick Road), I noticed the sign on the window 'Now Open'. I sat down at the counter and asked the lady if they had just opened. She replied that they had only been open a week and business was pretty good so far. I placed my order and settled back to watch the large screen HD-TV on the wall, which at the moment, was showing women's pro beach volleyball. At least that was something good to watch while killing time waiting for my food to arrive. Much better than a baseball game or golf. My food arrived in a short amount of time and I found it to be absolutely delicious. A tangy BBQ pulled-pork sandwich, the fries were crispy (just right!) and the cole slaw was pretty good too. I soon finished my meal, paid up and was on my way to the spot where I had agreed to meet up with MaximumMetalHead.
As I waited, I read through the Long Island paper 'Newsday'. I saw that Blue Oyster Cult (who, that night, were playing a free show back home in Rochester, MN) would be playing in the area in the following week, and there was also a great Motley Crue interview, as they were playing the Jones Beach amphitheatre on the following Tuesday.
Lita Ford/Psychic Drive/T.C. Kross/Eartheatzdog
@ Crazy Donkey, Farmingdale, Long Island, NY
At about 6:45pm, MaximumMetalHead pulled up, I hopped in the car, and we were on the way to his house. It was very cool, finally meeting each other face-to-face after having corresponded first by letters, then by emails, for the previous 12 years. It was about time we met in person. As we drove out to his home and we conversed, it was like we had known each other for a long time. The conversation was all rock-metal oriented, as that is why we met back in 1996-97 in the first place. A few minutes later we arrived at his home and went in and he introduced me to his family. We quickly retired to the "Metal Room" and I just tried to take it all in...he has an AMAZING collection of any-and-everything related to Hard Rock/Heavy Metal. Puts my collection to shame actually. After about an hour we decided it was time to leave, drove a few miles and picked up a buddy of his (we'll call him Mr.HeadbangerX, a cool guy and another life-long rocker), and we were soon pulling into the parking lot at the Crazy Donkey Club in Farmingdale.
We got to the door, I paid my $20.00 for admission, then MaximumMetalHead informed the girl at the door that he had won a free pair of tickets from Eddie Trunk's Friday Night Rocks radio show (on Q104.3FM). She looked on the list, found his name, and a few minutes later, we were in the club. There were quite a few people there when we arrived and more streamed in as the opening acts played. When we walked in we had already missed the first band, Eartheatzdog. The 2nd band, T.C. Kross was already on stage, rocking the club with a hard-hitting set of originals and a great version of Motorhead's 'Ace Of Spades'. It WAS kind of strange hearing it sung by a female though...
When T.C. Kross finished, to my surprise, some bikini-dancers appeared, hopped up on tables and danced (gyrated suggestively?) during the set changeover. They were quite easy on the eyes and seemed to be much-appreciated by the crowd, even some chicks were sticking dollar bills in their stockings and bikini bottoms.
Not too much time was needed for the set-change, and soon the 3rd band of the evening, NYC-based Psychic Drive appeared on stage and began their set. A three-piece, featuring a female drummer and (cute-as-hell in her micro-mini skirt and vintage 'Blondie' t-shirt) bass player. The singer/guitarist dude really put his all into the show, and was soon dripping with sweat as they slammed through the rest of their too-short set. Decidedly more pop-punk than metal, they delivered a high energy, totally rockin' set of originals. I really enjoyed them.
As soon as Psychic Drive finished their set, the table-dancer chicks reappeared and again danced their way through the set change. By now there were quite a few more people in the club than there had been when we first arrived. It was nice to see so many people showed up on a Sunday night...curious to see if Lita still had the goods.
The lights went down, the intro music ('Your Wake Up Call')began, and on the side of the stage, Lita could be seen strapping on her classic red B.C. Rich Warlock (the one with the skeleton-in-the-toilet giving 'The Finger' sticker). I had seen her play this guitar once before and just seeing that guitar again after 15 years gave me chills. I knew then that she was gonna kick some ass. The intro music was a perfect choice and then the band appeared on stage and went right into 'Hungry' from the 1990 album 'Stiletto'. Within minutes it was apparent that Lita did, indeed, still have the fire. She looked great and early in the show some guy yelled out loudly "Lita! You look so Goddamn sexy!!" She looked like she might have even blushed just a little as she thanked him for the compliment.
The setlist featured the following (NOT in order):
Intro (You're Wake Up Call)/Hungry/The Ripper/Only Women Bleed/One Way To Rock/Back To The Cave/Can't Catch Me/Falling In And Out Of Love/Kiss Me Deadly/Close My Eyes Forever/Gotta Let Go/Black Widow/Shot Of Poison/and possibly a few more that I've forgotten.
I was thrilled that she played two of the songs I really wanted to hear: 'Falling In And Out Of Love' (co-written with Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue) and 'The Ripper', both killer tunes. My only complaint was no 'Run With The $', but I hadn't really expected her to pull out that gem anyway...
(Video footage from the show appeared on You-Tube almost immediately after the show, but was removed a few days later due to "Copyright Claim by Metal Method Productions.")
After a night of real sleep, I was up early again, by around 6:00am. Following the usual morning routine of shower/reading the NYPost, I was out the door and on my way, first over to Broadway and 103rd to check and see if the homeless guy was there, which he was. Then down to 78th & Columbus to go to the Flea Market that I had attended there the previous year. When I arrived, I found signs directing me to the new location, just a few blocks away. But it didn't open untill 10:00am, still a few hours away. Luckily, I had planned on attending another flea market as well, so I hopped the subway and soon arrived at the 42nd Street/Times Square Station.
I then walked over to West 39th street between 10th & 11th avenues, to the Hells Kitchen Flea Market. It seems I was too early for this as well. There were only a few vendors set up by the time I arrived, and I quilckly looked through their wares and found nothing to my liking. I was kind of bummed out that things were not more 'hopping' at this early hour, but was soon happy to discover that you could catch a shuttle bus (for $1.00) down to West 25th Street to the Chelsea Antiques Garage (112 West 25th Street). A few minutes later, I was there. Two floors of all kinds of oddities awaited me as I entered. As I passed through, I found there were not alot of Rock 'N' Roll items (that is mostly what I look for at sales) but tons of books and artwork. Lots of charcoal sketchings, odd nude paintings, etc. It looks like somebody dumpster-dived the local art schools and gathered up all the throw-away assignments. I did find a booth that had thousands of pin-back buttons, and while rummaging through them I found a Grave-Digger 'Witch Hunter' promo pin and a cool button that reads "Run The Elite Out Of Town", for just $1.00 each. Disappointed with the lack of stuff I was interested in, I was soon on my way out the door.
I decided I would take a quick walk down to 23rd Street and see how much the Hotel Chelsea (222 West 23rd Street) charged for a night. I walked in the lobby and right up to the desk, where a very friendly guy listened to my request and told me a night started at $199.00. Not cheap, but by NYC standards, not expensive either. I walked out, taking note of the odd artwork in the lobby, then stood and read a few of the comemorative plaques installed on the front of the building, memorials to some of the previous tenants who had lived there. I found out that Arthur C. Clarke had written most of '2001 - A Space Oddity' while living there. I had not known that. The place has such a colorful history...Arthur C. Clarke and Sid Vicious...how much more diverse can you get?
A few minutes later I was on my way East on 23rd, taking some photos of the new development in the area. I just hope like hell the building at 10 East 23rd is left to stand. This is, to those who do not know, the building where Kiss solidified their act in early 1973. The building holds a special place of almost mythical status to me. It seems safe for the time being, but NYC changes so fast, who knows?
I hopped on the subway, back up to the hostel to relax for a few hours, and to get ahold of my buddy MaximumMetalHead to make plans for the Lita Ford show later that evening. Around 12:30pm, he called and we made our plans. I decided after a few more hours relaxing, I would head out to Long Island a little earlier than we had planned, as I wanted to walk around the city of Wantagh a bit and find something good to eat before heading off to the show.
So at around 3:00pm, I jumped back on the subway and headed down to Penn Station, where I purchased my ($14.00) round-trip ticket on the Long Island Rail Road (L.I.R.R.) to Wantagh. It was about a 40 minute trip, and soon I was on the ground, walking through downtown Wantagh, looking for a good place to eat. I stopped at a local gas-station and asked the lady behind the counter where the best burger in town was. She pointed me to a diner up the street, and I walked over there. When I arrived, I found the prices to be a little high, and the decor to be a little too stuffy for my tastes. This place was no Broadway Restaurant, that's for sure. So I stood on the sidewalk, looking to see what else there might be close by and I spied a BBQ joint just across the street. I decide to go there instead.
I walked over, and as I eneterd Tenessee Jed's BBQ (3357 Merrick Road), I noticed the sign on the window 'Now Open'. I sat down at the counter and asked the lady if they had just opened. She replied that they had only been open a week and business was pretty good so far. I placed my order and settled back to watch the large screen HD-TV on the wall, which at the moment, was showing women's pro beach volleyball. At least that was something good to watch while killing time waiting for my food to arrive. Much better than a baseball game or golf. My food arrived in a short amount of time and I found it to be absolutely delicious. A tangy BBQ pulled-pork sandwich, the fries were crispy (just right!) and the cole slaw was pretty good too. I soon finished my meal, paid up and was on my way to the spot where I had agreed to meet up with MaximumMetalHead.
As I waited, I read through the Long Island paper 'Newsday'. I saw that Blue Oyster Cult (who, that night, were playing a free show back home in Rochester, MN) would be playing in the area in the following week, and there was also a great Motley Crue interview, as they were playing the Jones Beach amphitheatre on the following Tuesday.
Lita Ford/Psychic Drive/T.C. Kross/Eartheatzdog
@ Crazy Donkey, Farmingdale, Long Island, NY
At about 6:45pm, MaximumMetalHead pulled up, I hopped in the car, and we were on the way to his house. It was very cool, finally meeting each other face-to-face after having corresponded first by letters, then by emails, for the previous 12 years. It was about time we met in person. As we drove out to his home and we conversed, it was like we had known each other for a long time. The conversation was all rock-metal oriented, as that is why we met back in 1996-97 in the first place. A few minutes later we arrived at his home and went in and he introduced me to his family. We quickly retired to the "Metal Room" and I just tried to take it all in...he has an AMAZING collection of any-and-everything related to Hard Rock/Heavy Metal. Puts my collection to shame actually. After about an hour we decided it was time to leave, drove a few miles and picked up a buddy of his (we'll call him Mr.HeadbangerX, a cool guy and another life-long rocker), and we were soon pulling into the parking lot at the Crazy Donkey Club in Farmingdale.
We got to the door, I paid my $20.00 for admission, then MaximumMetalHead informed the girl at the door that he had won a free pair of tickets from Eddie Trunk's Friday Night Rocks radio show (on Q104.3FM). She looked on the list, found his name, and a few minutes later, we were in the club. There were quite a few people there when we arrived and more streamed in as the opening acts played. When we walked in we had already missed the first band, Eartheatzdog. The 2nd band, T.C. Kross was already on stage, rocking the club with a hard-hitting set of originals and a great version of Motorhead's 'Ace Of Spades'. It WAS kind of strange hearing it sung by a female though...
When T.C. Kross finished, to my surprise, some bikini-dancers appeared, hopped up on tables and danced (gyrated suggestively?) during the set changeover. They were quite easy on the eyes and seemed to be much-appreciated by the crowd, even some chicks were sticking dollar bills in their stockings and bikini bottoms.
Not too much time was needed for the set-change, and soon the 3rd band of the evening, NYC-based Psychic Drive appeared on stage and began their set. A three-piece, featuring a female drummer and (cute-as-hell in her micro-mini skirt and vintage 'Blondie' t-shirt) bass player. The singer/guitarist dude really put his all into the show, and was soon dripping with sweat as they slammed through the rest of their too-short set. Decidedly more pop-punk than metal, they delivered a high energy, totally rockin' set of originals. I really enjoyed them.
As soon as Psychic Drive finished their set, the table-dancer chicks reappeared and again danced their way through the set change. By now there were quite a few more people in the club than there had been when we first arrived. It was nice to see so many people showed up on a Sunday night...curious to see if Lita still had the goods.
The lights went down, the intro music ('Your Wake Up Call')began, and on the side of the stage, Lita could be seen strapping on her classic red B.C. Rich Warlock (the one with the skeleton-in-the-toilet giving 'The Finger' sticker). I had seen her play this guitar once before and just seeing that guitar again after 15 years gave me chills. I knew then that she was gonna kick some ass. The intro music was a perfect choice and then the band appeared on stage and went right into 'Hungry' from the 1990 album 'Stiletto'. Within minutes it was apparent that Lita did, indeed, still have the fire. She looked great and early in the show some guy yelled out loudly "Lita! You look so Goddamn sexy!!" She looked like she might have even blushed just a little as she thanked him for the compliment.
The setlist featured the following (NOT in order):
Intro (You're Wake Up Call)/Hungry/The Ripper/Only Women Bleed/One Way To Rock/Back To The Cave/Can't Catch Me/Falling In And Out Of Love/Kiss Me Deadly/Close My Eyes Forever/Gotta Let Go/Black Widow/Shot Of Poison/and possibly a few more that I've forgotten.
I was thrilled that she played two of the songs I really wanted to hear: 'Falling In And Out Of Love' (co-written with Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue) and 'The Ripper', both killer tunes. My only complaint was no 'Run With The $', but I hadn't really expected her to pull out that gem anyway...
(Video footage from the show appeared on You-Tube almost immediately after the show, but was removed a few days later due to "Copyright Claim by Metal Method Productions.")
*UPDATE 10/25/08 - New Videos of this show have appeared! I've linked them in the set list above.
Lita seemed a little apprehensive at times throughout the show. She would take off her guitar and just sing, letting her band handle the musical duties. But every time she strapped back up, the sound improved 100% with that 2nd, hot sounding guitar added to the mix. She should never put it down...years away from the stage had done nothing to diminish her obvious talent. She was quite clearly enjoying being back on stage.
At one point later in the show, as she strapped on another guitar there seemed to be technical problems. After a minute or so fidgeting with it, she yelled for her guitar-tech to "get me a real guitar!" The crowd seemed totally into it, some reliving memories of the glory that was 1988, others...younger, who just had to wish they had been there...everyone singing along loudly to each song. Lita complimented her band several times throughout the evening and I had to agree with her, they were tight. Dring an interview with Eddie Trunk a few weeks prior to the show she said this might be the best band she had ever put together.
All too soon, the show was over and we milled around for a while as MaximumMetalHead tried to score some autographs. He was unsuccessful, as Lita's husband (Jim Gillette of Nitro) and her two sons had been waiting in a car outside the club. The minute she walked off stage she was out the back door, into the waiting car and the family of rockers sped away.
Lita seemed a little apprehensive at times throughout the show. She would take off her guitar and just sing, letting her band handle the musical duties. But every time she strapped back up, the sound improved 100% with that 2nd, hot sounding guitar added to the mix. She should never put it down...years away from the stage had done nothing to diminish her obvious talent. She was quite clearly enjoying being back on stage.
At one point later in the show, as she strapped on another guitar there seemed to be technical problems. After a minute or so fidgeting with it, she yelled for her guitar-tech to "get me a real guitar!" The crowd seemed totally into it, some reliving memories of the glory that was 1988, others...younger, who just had to wish they had been there...everyone singing along loudly to each song. Lita complimented her band several times throughout the evening and I had to agree with her, they were tight. Dring an interview with Eddie Trunk a few weeks prior to the show she said this might be the best band she had ever put together.
All too soon, the show was over and we milled around for a while as MaximumMetalHead tried to score some autographs. He was unsuccessful, as Lita's husband (Jim Gillette of Nitro) and her two sons had been waiting in a car outside the club. The minute she walked off stage she was out the back door, into the waiting car and the family of rockers sped away.
*For a photo gallery of Lita Ford photos from the show click HERE.
*For Psychic Drive photos from the show click HERE.
*Read the Good Times Magazine Review of the show HERE.
We left the club, drove a while and dropped off Mr.HeadbangerX, then MaximumMetalHead and I drove back to Wantagh where we waited for the next (1:35am) train. I soon found myself on a nearly empty train heading back into Manhattan. I arrived back in the city a little after 2:00am and decided to walk back to the hostel. I stopped at the Bread Factory Cafe on the way and had bowl of Chicken Noodle Vegetable soup and a hard roll, then continued on my way.
While walking north on Central Park West, as I passed through the high 70's, I spied a raccoon. He was out of the park, across the street on the sidewalk, looking for a meal no-doubt. He then noticed me coming up the sidewalk, so he quickly climbed up one of the scaffolding-support poles and up into the scaffolding surrounding a building. As I passed by, I could hear him rummaging around just above my head. I chuckled a little, wondering what the construction guys would think when they arrived in a few hours and found this guy in the midst of all their equipment.
A few blocks further north, somewhere in the mid 80's, I had another only-in-NYC moment. I could see this guy coming down the street...slowly. From a few blocks away he appeared to be staggering. As he and I continued to walk twords each other, I began to hear him. I couldn't make out his words at first, but as we got closer I began to hear him. He was yelling, loudly, at 3:00am to no one and everyone..."how BIG my DICK is MOTHERFU*KER!! Yeeeah!!! It's HUGE!" Etc, Etc, Etc. He and I passed on the sidewalk and to my relief he ignored me, he just continued on his way down the street...yelling his message to the world.
We left the club, drove a while and dropped off Mr.HeadbangerX, then MaximumMetalHead and I drove back to Wantagh where we waited for the next (1:35am) train. I soon found myself on a nearly empty train heading back into Manhattan. I arrived back in the city a little after 2:00am and decided to walk back to the hostel. I stopped at the Bread Factory Cafe on the way and had bowl of Chicken Noodle Vegetable soup and a hard roll, then continued on my way.
While walking north on Central Park West, as I passed through the high 70's, I spied a raccoon. He was out of the park, across the street on the sidewalk, looking for a meal no-doubt. He then noticed me coming up the sidewalk, so he quickly climbed up one of the scaffolding-support poles and up into the scaffolding surrounding a building. As I passed by, I could hear him rummaging around just above my head. I chuckled a little, wondering what the construction guys would think when they arrived in a few hours and found this guy in the midst of all their equipment.
A few blocks further north, somewhere in the mid 80's, I had another only-in-NYC moment. I could see this guy coming down the street...slowly. From a few blocks away he appeared to be staggering. As he and I continued to walk twords each other, I began to hear him. I couldn't make out his words at first, but as we got closer I began to hear him. He was yelling, loudly, at 3:00am to no one and everyone..."how BIG my DICK is MOTHERFU*KER!! Yeeeah!!! It's HUGE!" Etc, Etc, Etc. He and I passed on the sidewalk and to my relief he ignored me, he just continued on his way down the street...yelling his message to the world.
When I got up to 100th Street, I cut west over to Broadway and walked up the few remaining blocks to 103rd, pausing to check out the situation with the homeless guy. He was there, asleep in his little alcove. It appeared that he had sold the baby stroller...it was no longer there.
I finally arrived at the hostel and by the time I got situated and turned in, it was approaching 4:00am...it had been a long day.
To Be Continued...
To Be Continued...
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