Twenty-six years ago today, DLR and I hung out on W 4th street in Greenwich Village.
December 30, 1984 - 'twas a Sunday morning and I'd spent the week crashing with Hoboken friends in advance of a big New Year's Eve party, but Saturday afternoon had relocated to Manhattan to join my visiting family who had rooms booked at Morgan's, the new Steve "Studio" Rubell / Ian "54" Schrager hotel on Madison near 38th. Following Sunday breakfast I called the Hobokeners and we agreed on a noon meet-up at McBell's tavern, a great old Irish place on Sixth just south of Washington Place where a decent steak and cold beer could be had cheaply.
As I'd cabbed down to the neighborhood around 11:30, I was prowling "Geoffe's Trail" of neighborhood record shops and turned west off Sixth Avenue onto West 4th, where it bent northward to cross Cornelia and then Jones streets. Mid-block, I spotted a small bric-a-brac place - really no bigger than a large walk-in closet, and the wallspace chock-full of cheap sunglasses. Stepping in, I saw a large mane of blond hair over the back of a jean jacket that had a gorgeous, WWII
Memphis Belle warplane 'nose art' style, hand-painted Pin-up-Girl-in-Champagne-Glass image. 'Round turns
David Lee Roth - at the time, my absolute #1 idol in the world - and says to me
"Hey buddy!"
[Ulp] "Hi, Dave! What are you doing here?"
"We're just picking up some fine glasses for tomorrow night! You're gonna watch me hostin' the MTV New Year's Eve party, ain'tcha?"
"Big party in Hoboken - we'll be watching on TV" was my 'cool' response.
I'd been such a huge Van Halen fan and recalled how, a year earlier, VH had released their mammoth "1984" on New Year's Eve, and MTV had then beaten that drum for months. Dave was one of the most recognized mascots and dependable faces on MTV - a total showman