Media Bytes - Noho Edition

It was such a beautiful day that I played hooky yesterday - again. I actually put this post together because I'm trying to make it a Sunday feature at the poliblog but once I had all the links I realized the one theme that emerged is that I partied with every one of these people at some point in my life and it seemed to fit here better. So here's a little mini-tour of my debauched past.

Don't let the scary videos fool you. Angry Johnny is one of the nicest and most unpretentious human beings I've ever met. Relentlessly creative. Endlessly prolific in many media. Check out his website and have a look at his art. Nothing pretty about what comes out that twisted mind, not even his music, but he's a true original and one my favorite people. Sometimes I really miss those glory days when we all hung out at his studio, aptly named Hell.

The Drunk Stuntmen and I don't go nearly as far back as Angry and I do, but they're are really dear to me. The lead guitarist and the bass player and I have had some wild times in days gone by. If you like their stuff, there's lots more.

I spent some time searching for my old pals. A lot of them still have no internet presence but not so for my friend Chris. I still find it funny that I knew him for about two years before I figured out his band was famous. Here he is singing backup with Neil Sedaka and the whole band on Conan O'Brien.

I really wanted to find a video of one of my oldest friends, Tom McClung and he's playing keyboard on this Archie Shepp piece but you can't see him. Steve McCraven is on the drums but you can't see him either. That the only video that turned up under either of their names on YouTube. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I'm not sure Tom even knows how to use a computer.

Otherwise, I spent a long time looking but most of the searches came up empty. I did find this band, who changes members a lot but Dave, the lead singer of the Equalites and I go way back. And I've spent some quality time with Boo, the drummer standing next to him. Needless to say, it wasn't about drinking at their parties.

And there's Jaya the Cat. I wasn't exactly friends with these kids. They were my upstairs neighbors about 10 years ago but we became friendly. Probably because I never complained even when they were praticing at 2:00am. And they were really awful when they first started out.

But they went on to some measure of success and I see they're based in Amsterdam now. This band seems to have changed members as well, but I'm pretty sure that the lead singer is still my old neighbor Geoff. By the way, Jaya the Cat really did exist and she was real sweetie. I spent more time hanging around with her on the stoop than I did with the boys.