Wednesday, March 29, 2023

20 Years Ago Tonight: The Charleston

20 years ago tonight, the smoking ban in New York City began. I know this because my band Hayday was playing the last show of our month-long residency at The Charleston on Bedford Avenue. Home of the $1 slice, the $6 Budweiser and the most inexplicably busy light show known to mankind. I should have known to hang up my Telecaster for good when the owner excitedly told me,  "My wife loves your sound!", her being 1) in front of a pizza oven 19 hours a day 2) 77 years old.

I will now take you down memory lane to revisit that historic night. Enjoy!
Oh look, here's Hayday rocking a nice set out at the Charleston. No big deal, just melting some faces. Hey, you worked hard all week; you've earned the right to have your ass handed to you by my bordering-on-the-absurdly frighteningly awesome fretwork.

Oh look, here's Xmastime bringing his buddy Dave up to play a song. I think it was Cant Hardly Wait, if memory serves me. And by "if memory serves me," I mean some kids from the Netherlands YouTubed it and are probably still filming me right now, as we speak.

Okay, here we are, rocking, blowing the roof off the place, and Dave comes over to sing into my mic and...OH SHIT!!! WE KISS!!!!!!!!!!! Dish & Brian have that "OMG" look on their faces.
And since we kissed, now God has decided to step in, and what does God do with dudes who kiss? That's right - he vaporizes them; turning them into green dust, never to be seen again.

To be honest, I have no idea why God spared me. But poor, poor Dave...ain't seen him since. Zap, gone. After our third encore that night, when the police finally showed up to disperse the crowd and I had picked out my "Tail of the Night," I remember thinking geez, what happened to Dave? And now we know. If you're gay, God will fucking vaporize you. 
 

Well. I guess that's it, really. Rock on, former (AND future!) Hayday fans! 

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