I remember back during the fall of my junior year in high school in 1985, a group of my friends and me were in New York City for the weekend. Kathy A. led us all down to Greenwich Village one night. She had grown up in The City and thus knew the hip joints (aka where we could get in and drink). We ended up at the Red Lion Inn on Bleecker St. and there was some dude up on stage all alone strumming an acoustic guitar. He had just finished a righteous version of the Dead’s “Eyes of the World”, and I remember thinking that that’s what I wanted to do someday. I had been playing a lot of guitar that year, getting better, and always dreamt of being good enough to perform in front of people. Yikes. Well, low and behold that day finally arrived. Okay, my NYC debut was not actually in Dylan’s old stomping grounds, but surely close enough to count: the Hideaway Bar in Tribeca. Big thank-yous to Justin Palmer and the Meyer brothers for allowing me to achieve a life goal! My summer tour of New England “hotspots” culminated in a fantastic gig. NYC was a steambath, but thankfully the AC was working because the Hideaway was jammed full. Many friends were on hand to witness it (and also celebrate afterwards). I was so excited I played a non-stop, three hour and fifteen minute set. I’d finally made my mark in NYC and Old Blue Eyes’ words played in my head. One very special moment came when I was asked to play “The Other Side of Rainbows” by Paul Simons, a close friend of Kevin Gorter’s, who had driven all the way back into the city from the ‘burbs upon learning I was going to be playing that night. It was my first performance of that song live in public. And yes, I closed the show with my own righteous version of “Eyes” thus completing a circle 27 years in the making.
Been Here Before