Charlie Hilbert
I was sittin' in the band-van on second ave. one day, waiting for one of the guys who was in a deli buyin' a cup of coffee for the ride home, when a bum comes up to me and asks me for money. I said, "I don't have any money, I'm a musician." He says, "Well you better take this then," and he hands me some change.
When I first came back to Manhattan around '80 or '81, I joined a band called "Rock Bottom." We actually played the famous Folk City, and one day when we were playing somewhere in Queens, we had a subsitute drummer named Bobby Infante. To make a long story short, I joined his band, which included his brother, Big Joe Infante, who played a mean Tele. They were painters, so the band was called "The Housepainters." The bassist was Jumpin' Johnny Byrnes, who is also a bad harp player.
J.J.B. was the super of a building in the Bronx, so on the weekends the Infantes would pick me up and we'd drive up the FDR in their old Pinto and practice in the basement of Johnny's building. We'd drink coffee and eat buttered rolls, and then we'd rock and roll. We played Lynch's many times and opened up for Commander Cody at the Left Bank in Mt. Vernon. The Commander got Heinekins and a platter of food. All we got were some Michelobs. We partied. We rocked.
It was also in the early '80s that I met Lorraine Larocca. She was a big woman who drove a truck for the PO. And she was a maniac. So we had to get a band together.
I found this tape down in the basement. I think it's me and Larry and my friend Terrance Nugent, at the Blue Rose up on Broadway and 100th street, around 1984. The Blue Rose was great. There was stuff piled up in the corners and empty beer bottles on top of everything. Anywhere a human could put an empty beer bottle there was an empty beer bottle. There were a couple of empties sitting on top of the pay phone. A Greek lady owned the place and her ancient, deaf mother would be lying in an old recliner to the left of the band (if you were looking at the band), all night long. It didn't matter if the music was loud. She couldn't hear it anyway. Or maybe she wasn't deaf and she just liked it.
For a year or two, '87 and '88, I had a band called "The Mighty Snakes." It was me and Larry, and Charles Glasser - guitar, and Danny Pisello-drums. We practiced in my living room on west 24th street. I partially remember a roof party we played somewhere on the east side, I think it was around 100th street. Many pina coladas were consumed. It's always fun playing out in the fresh air.
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