cuomo

Cuomo was tending bar at the Lucky Cat the other night, contemplating the extent to which he, an anarchist, had violated his ideals by voting for Obama in the primary. I didn't catch his set at the open mic but I had a chance to play a couple songs with Drew and John before Mikey packed up the microphones and cleared the stage.

A few of us stepped outside for air and smoke and to listen to part of Drew's life story. When we came back inside the place was mostly cleared out except for a few tuesday night stragglers. Cuomo picked up Drew's new guitar, a 1930's Kay arch top, and slammed into a song standing on the edge of the circle the rest of us were sitting in. He was bearded and grinning, his eyes connecting with Emma's when she sang harmony. She was standing to his right and my left, their voices in registers high above my head. "I am no one, I know nothing, I have nowhere to be, no one's expecting me" his song started. I had somewhere to be and Ramona was expecting me there, but for eight minutes I sat where I was with my eyes shut.

At the end of the first tune, Drew was quick to request one of Cuomo's new songs. He'd played it the tuesday before and Drew said it was one of his favorite songs ever written ever. Could have been written by Neil Young or Bob Dylan he claimed. "Every lyric in this song is a fuckin jewel from heaven." The first song had justified Drew's enthusiasm, "Poor Robin" blew us all away too.

It wouldn't have surprised me if I'd opened my eyes and seen Phil Ochs standing in front of me singing one of his own songs. Cuomo's voice was so familiar and his lyrics so resonant that I couldn't shake the image of the late folk singer songwriter from an earlier New York decade. Cuomo has more rock in him than Phil Ochs did, but either one could have been singing "Poor Robin" after hours at the Lucky Cat.

CLICK HERE TO HEAR CUOMO AFTER HOURS AT THE LUCKY CAT

One Leg Chuck

He was playing at Union Square down by the L train late Friday night. We didn't have a chance to talk for long because my train pulled up at the end of his song, but he sang this killer reggae tune before I had to go. The lead guitar and vocals are live, the bass and rhythm guitar are recorded.

On his myspace page (here) he talks about driving out to New York from California and playing around Alphabet City. He hooked up with his bandmates down at Otto's Shrunken Head, a tiki bar on East 14th where the cocktails are unnatural colors and the music's loud. I played there with Philipp and Elijah a few months back on a weeknight.

This song's called "Prison" by One Leg Chuck.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

super bowl parade

Last week I headed down to City Hall to see if I could get in on the Giants' Super Bowl parade. It was madness downtown. The city had lost its mind over its team's unlikely championship and there were more people out in the streets than I've ever seen in my life. It wasn't until the parade had ended and the speeches were wrapping up that I finally got close enough to see what was going on.

I was standing at a fence looking at the side of City Hall as the players walked back to the buses. From where I was standing it was hard to make out who was who as the players passed by about two hundred feet away. My recorder was running when this woman stopped next to me, grabbed hold of the fence and shouted, "OH MY GOD!!!! WHO IS THAT? WHO IS THAT?" When the man next to her said he thought it was Kareem McKenzie (Giants tackle), she responded, "WHAT?!?!?! I LOVE YOU...and my mother...and god...I love them, too." Her enthusiasm was not directed anywhere in particular other than the general direction of the team. How sane or sober she was I can't say, but at one point she laughs at herself as if acknowledging the absurdity of her excited outbursts.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO MY CONVERSATION WITH THIS WOMAN AFTER THE SUPER BOWL PARADE