Rhythm Alley Redux - 17 - Acknowledgements
I hope you guys have enjoyed this - it was a painful joy to put together.
Here’s a shout-out to the people and places that made our owning Rhythm Alley not only possible, but necessary...
Those that have gone on before:
David Enloe, Faye Hunter, Gil Templeton, Dan Cowett, Stephen Akin, Stacy Guess, Carey Floyd, Sally Dunning and one of my dearest friends, Kevin Bruce, who introduced me to much good music, to home brewing and to how to appropriately use “party” as a verb - I miss you, KeeBee.
The clubs and bars of the first half of the 80s:
The 9:30 Club, Friendship Station, Psychodeli, Cagney’s (DC area)
Culture Club, The Pier, Cafe Deja Vu, The Bear's Den, Fallout Shelter, The Brewery (Raleigh)
Milestone, Viceroy Park (Charlotte)
The Riff (Winston-Salem)
Secret Garden (Greensboro)
The Cave, Cat's Cradle (Chapel Hill)
The Bands:
The Fabulous Knobs, Fetchin' Bones, The Bad Checks, UV Prom, Snatches of Pink, The Connells, Johnny Quest, Don Dixon, Shakin' Sherman and the Blazers, Flat Duo-Jets, Foreign Bodies, Terminal Mouse, Let's Active, the dB's, Chris Stamey, Mike Cross, Touchstone, New Grass Revival, Bluegrass Experience, Red Clay Ramblers, A Number of Things, The Veldt, The Othermothers, Right Profile, SCOTS, Three Hits, The Graphic, The Wood(pecker)s, Hege V and the Bijous, Gumbo Ya-Ya, Rod Dash, The Dayroom Monitors, The Accelerators, The Phantoms, all the other bands that I’m forgetting or that we saw but were never able to book and most of all, The Pressure Boys
All the other peeps that helped us along the way, like Mike Beard, Matt Matthews, Tim and Mark Harper, Bond Kenneth Bond, Kelly Dalton, Jeff and Tracy, Zingo, Dan (the one that wasn’t Zingo), Diane Smith, Bryan Milosky, Barney Pilgrim and the countless other folks that helped behind the bar, in front of the bar, on the stage or on the dance floor.
Incredibly many thanks to Hooper “Lex” Alexander IV - the best friend this boy’s ever had or ever hope to have.
Finally, it feels weird to thank Jeannette, since we were (and remain) partners in every sense of the word but thanks, hon, for putting up with me for the last 30 years, including my (not-so-) ridiculous fantasy of owning a rock and roll club.
Labels: Life, Music, Rhythm Alley
3 Comments:
First, to absent friends. Rest in peace, all of you, particular those of you who couldn't find it in this life.
Second, I look at that list of bands and think, wow, were you guys ever in the right place at the right time.
Lastly, thanks for letting me play even a small part of this story, because for the one truly bad night I had, there are many parts I will remember fondly for the rest of my life and with which, God willing, I will bore my grandchildren.
I can't tell you and Jeannette how much mileage I have gotten out of mentioning that I used to tend beer(and Soho sodas) at Rhythm Alley. People have such wonderful memories of seeing bands and the atmosphere! Thanks for letting me work the bar and feel kind of cool for the first, and only, time in my life. I really had a blast!
Lex, it truly was the right time - really the end of the Comboland era although of course we didn't know the "end" part at the time.
Diane, you've always been cool.
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