New York City Circa 1985

New York City will pull you in like a vortex, it will hold you to its bosom and it will enchant you at the  same time.

I’m walking down 8^th. Street in Greenwich Village and I can feel the electricity in the air. I have on my combat boots, torn jeans and of course the leather jacket. I have rosary beads around my neck another crucifix and my hair is spiked in the look of Johnny Rotten (I had just turned 21 on New Year’s Eve a couple of month ago). My Mother and I had landed at JFK Airport mere 6 years ago March 22^nd. 1979 to be precise, the street is full of people, they are (White, Black, Asian,) Punk Rockers, Hippies, Rastafarians, Jesus Freaks, Drug Dealers, Skinheads you name it.

I keep walking past 5^th. Avenue, Broadway, Cooper Square and arrive at 4^th. Ave and 8^th. Street. The street is again packed with people, I am just people watching for a while when some girl who has been talking to another guy asks me if I want to go over to her house on Long Island. I say sure I go get my car  she takes a couple of other people with her in her Honda Civic and I follow her on the Long Island Express way to her house. We party and in the morning I drive home to Jersey City.

A few months earlier on a Friday I had gone to the famous CBGB’s and I saw this band named “Krieg Kopf” then on Saturday I saw them again going into a club called Danceteria. I really wanted to get into Danceteria but the bouncer would not let me in, told me about some bogus rule that you have to have a date.

So I came by the following weekend and finally got in, from then on I was a regular at Danceteria. There were 4 floors at Danceteria 1^st. floor was where live bands performed, second floor was the dance floor, third floor had video screens ( that’s where I hung out) fourth floor was mostly Gay parties and there was the roof which was open weather permitting.  I got to be friends with the guys from “Krieg Kopf” (War Head) they actually turned out to be guys from two bands; “Krieg Kopf” and “Disorderly Conduct”.

The guys from Disorderly were; Damian (Yugoslav – Croatian), Vlado (Yugoslav – Serb), Jerry (Yugoslav- Serb), Paul (Polish) Jason (was American) he was from “Krieg Kopf”  

We were all (except for Jason) Immigrants and in New York especially at that time, almost every other person was an Immigrant

Typical night at Danceteria would be me hanging with my homies at the bar, Depeche Mode blasting “People are People” and we trying to to pick up girls to get laid. One night I met a girl from Italy very cute, it turns out she was in an addict recovery program (the place was in midtown Manhattan) that was popular with a lot of Italians (from Italy not Brooklyn Lol.)

Danceteria is where Madonna got her start; it was also popular with other artists. One night Lemmy from Motorhead showed up, I saw Matt Dillon, Nina Hagen and many other bands. Limelight was also on the same street it was an old Church which was converted into a club, it was popular with Billy Idol and many other artists.

New York pre 9/11 was a very different place; it felt like anything was possible you’d never know whom you were going to meet or where you were going to end up partying. It was also a lot more dangerous than it is now, muggings, assaults, robberies and burglaries went on daily. The Subway was also not very safe and there was graffiti everywhere. New York City however wasn’t boring.

Some of the Bands that I saw in concert were; Dead Kennedys, UK Subs ( saw this concert at the Rock Hotel in NYC and Andy Warhol was in attendance), The Exploited, Kraut, Cause for Alarm, Agnostic Front, Cromags and many more. Prior to the Punk scene, I saw Judas Priest, AC-DC, Rainbow and Scorpions at the Madison Square Garden.  One of the best concerts I’ve attended was the WHO with the Clash opening up at the Shea Stadium in Queens NY, I was right up front. I also saw REM and the Police at Shea.

I appreciate that NYC is now safe and clean and subways are free of graffiti, but it just seems that something the city was lost. Yuppies have moved in and have bought out all the dilapidated buildings, and the rates have gone sky high. The average person cannot afford to live in NYC anymore and that’s the sad part.

Although it’s still exciting to visit NYC, I try to get there at least once a year. :-)