Then that month, without any publicity or anything, it became very popular, so I started doing weekends there. I decided to do four Mondays at this little cabaret, and I used that moniker because I didn’t want people to be coming in and yelling for songs that I was famous for. Tramps was a little bar and had bands and singers I liked-such as Big Joe Turner and Big Mama Thornton-who’d do residencies. I was living on 17th street and Third Avenue and I had this bar in my neighborhood, Tramps. JOHANSEN: The Dolls were a rock band and we used to travel all over the place in a van. It was so exciting to see you then, and here you are! I knew a lot about you before you transferred to Buster, but would you say you transitioned because you wanted to sing those songs? It was at The Other Side, a cool, very outré gay club with wild, crazy drag queens. VISCO: As a teenager, seeing the New York Dolls perform was a major event in my life. JOHANSEN: We really started playing in ’72. I went to see you when The New York Dolls came to Boston. VISCO: I’ve read a lot about you in the past. JOHANSEN: When I do Buster, the whole idea of it is to sing songs that I want to sing that are not essentially “rock songs.” VISCO: Do you usually like to write all your own songs or do you prefer to do covers? JOHANSEN: We’re just thinking about the Carlyle right now but I want to keep doing Buster shows and we’ll probably make a record. VISCO: That’s the thing about the Carlyle, it’s old New York and it’s fabulous. JOHANSEN: Definitely, but just the feeling of the room. VISCO: I guess the drinks are more expensive. The vibe in the Café Carlyle actually reminds me of it because it’s a small room like that and it gets a little rowdy. The first time I did Buster we used to play at Tramps on 15th Street and it was great. JOHANSEN: We’re going to keep playing places around town or a little out of town, but not that far. Sometimes they have people there for two weeks. It sold out both times so I guess they decided that they would do a week. I guess they were testing us to see how it would work out. Now we’re going to do the suppertime show. JOHANSEN: Yes, and then we did another one. GERRY VISCO: So, David, this is your third gig at Café Carlyle?ĭAVID JOHANSEN: Yes, the first time we played was a 10:45 PM show last Halloween and it was great. The show was such a success that venue has already invited Johansen back to perform next spring. Since the early 2000s, he has hosted “David Johansen’s Mansion of Fun,” a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio.Ī still youthful 64 years old, Johansen, who was born and raised in Staten Island, has just finished a five-night residency at Café Carlyle in New York. He had some hits, in particular his song “Hot Hot Hot,” and began working as a character actor with roles in films like Scrooged (1988). With his with big, carefully arranged hair, glittery tuxedos and formal wear, and exaggerated singing style he became a crooner. As Poindexter, he resuscitated the lounge music genre that, while popular in the ’50s and ’60s, had come to be seen as passé, and refashioned it into a vehicle for his over-the-top-personality. In the late 1980s, Johansen invented a new comic persona for himself called Buster Poindexter. The band dissolved in 1977, although a few of them including Johansen reunited again in 2004. The Dolls were the fashion pioneers of rock, the first to defiantly wear big hair, dresses, high heels, platform shoes, red vinyl pants, lipstick, and glittery vintage thrift shop finds. Johansen was among the first glam punk rockers of the early 1970s and influenced bands such as the Sex Pistols, Kiss, the Ramones, Guns N’ Roses, and the Smiths. When he stepped out of the car accompanied by his wife Mara Hennessey, his hair was sculpted into one of his characteristic skyscraper pompadours. Johansen, who also performs under the name Buster Poindexter, was uptown getting his hair done at Mizu New York Salon. Due to car trouble involving a dying battery, however, we sat in his black Acura sedan on Third Avenue. The plan was to meet David Johansen of New York Dolls for Saturday afternoon tea at Alice’s Tea Cup on the Upper East. The best-laid plans often go awry and, occasionally, something even better happens. ABOVE: BUSTER POINDEXTER IN NEW YORK, OCTOBER 2014.
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