A long lost friend of mine, Elizabeth, has resurfaced and oddly enough has moved rather close to me. I met her in Berlin in the year 2000 and she had photographed me (that’s her profession) at a time when I was rather sad and she said the shots show that clearly.
(Pardon if I seem distracted, I am watching my dvd “Concert for George” (Harrison) while I write. If you haven’t seen it yet, it is well worth renting/buying it. The first 25 minutes gets on my fucking nerves, cause it’s just Anoushka Shankar playing a sitar. BORING, sorry but it’s true. She is hot to look at but you simply must fast forward until you see Clapton, MCCartney, Ringo, Jeff Lynne and best of all Dhani Harrison on stage playing all George tunes. Dhani looks EXACTLY like his father did at his age, it will give you goose bumps and make your horney if you are a gal. He is tasty, fucking GORGEOUS.
Anyhow, Elizabeth and I have been back in touch and she asked me to go to a concert of her favorite group, the Pixies. I have never even heard ONE song of theirs. I have heard the Ramones mention them around me years ago, but never took any notice. Apparently this group has an outrageous fan following. They sold out several shows in NYC within minutes. She insisted I take the other ticket and wouldn’t let me even pay for it so I went.
You must know it is extremely difficult for me to watch a concert now. I have seen over 3,000 shows and now that I am so obsessed with karaoke, I think, why should I watch someone else sing when I can be on stage singing and hogging the spotlight? It has be to some one that I really fucking dig to get me to sit (or stand) and watch them play. Like last week for example, Jonesy and I went to see Godsmack and I was bored out of my fucking skull within minutes.
I made this up a saying yesterday while discussing my short attention span to Jonesy on the phone. I told him “I have an attention span like a Fruit fly on a caffeine high”. Oh how true it is. Anyways, I met her at the Hammerstein Ballroom for the show, and stood in the wicked long line (another thing I haven’t done in years) and got frisked (hid camera in my sock) and went in the front entrance like everyone else. Having gone through the backstage door since 1983, it felt odd.
I immediately thought of ways to get us better seats. She had the nose bleed balcony seats. I payed little attention to the opening act as they sounded like recycled Ramones, like so many other bands do in the city. When the Pixies started I noted there were a few empty seats in the lowest balcony, which looked like the best place to sit in the whole place. I left her alone for a minute and asked the security guy “what’s up with those empty seats?”. He says “they’re reserved”. I said “yeah, reserved for my ASS”. He laughed and then I asked him if me and my gal pal could slide in. He said, well, go get her and I’ll see what I can do.I saw right away that David Byrne was sitting there. The security guy asked a blonde lady (who appeared to be David’s assistant) if it was cool, I told her I knew David and she said, oh, ok then.
Sitting next to David was the best part of the whole show for me. Elizabeth loved every song and kept saying “I’m sure you will recognize this next tune” but I never did. They are ok, but not my cup of tea. David and Elizabeth had something in common; they both had light green rubber ear plugs in. I thought that was pretty funny, as my car stereo seems louder than their music. David was very friendly to me and remembers me massaging him in Berlin.
I gave him my flyer and told him I now live in the city and he said he does to. He said he would give me a shout when he needs a rub down. He is so fucking COOL it’s unreal. Zappa, Waters, Lennon/McCartney and Byrne are my favorite lyricists. I took some quick shots with my tiny camera every time the security guy wasn’t looking and I always got Davids head in the shot 
I have NO idea why it looks like David has flames gushing out of his neck, (looks dramatic doesn’t it?) I am guessing it’s the ‘night vision’ setting on my camera, the slow exposure makes the lights bleed. I did a lot of networking while the lovely Elizabeth enjoyed her Pixies. Hard to impress a Zappa fanatic like me anyways. I was almost dying of hunger (notice protruding ribs in all of my pictures below lol) so we went to one of my favorite restaurants the YAFFA CAFE ( 97 St. Marks Place NYC). This place is open every day, 24 hours a day! It is cheap and the food is fucking great. Service is a tad snotty but that’s the East Village for you now-a-days.
If you look close, you can see the sing Yaffa Cafe in the back ground of the picture (above left). Elizabeth at our table (middle shot) me showing off my leather pants (right)
The great thing about this place (apart from the yummy food and cheap prices and the fact it’s open 24/7) is the freaky decor. No matter where you point the camera, you get kitsch. It looks like the twins (remember I told you a while back about Petra and Iris? If not, go to the blog October 10th or so). Their bed rooms are just like this place. Like the Flintstones on acid or something. Super cool. A tip if you are heading there, when your waiter/waitress comes to you, order your drinks, food, and check all at once, as that is the last time you will see them. Also, ask for a Yaffa condom on your way out, they’re free.
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“Runnin’ naked like the day when I was born
We’re all naked in the land where I come from
I’m a long long way from New York City now
We’re all naked – if you turn us inside out
And we’re buck naked now
We ain’t got no clothes
Bare assed for sure
In the eyes of God
Naked in my heart
Naked in my soul
Well, how, how does it feel?
Does anybody know?
Well we’re naked inside
You’re naked too
Well there’s nothing to fear
And there’s nothing we can do
Well we’re buck naked now
Buck naked now
Well we’re buck naked now
In the eyes of the Lord.” DAVID BYRNE