Dan Lynch's Closing (long)
Margey Peters
NEW YORK, JULY 30th, 1996
Karola Herry, manager of Dan Lynch's has said that the club
will close this weekend. In one version of the story, the club is to
close at noon on Saturday, August 3rd. There is some speculation
that they will be allowed to stay open through the weekend. However,
anyone who wants to be sure of a last visit should stop by
tonight,Thursday or Friday.
Located on Second Avenue at 14th Street in New York City, Dan
Lynch's has been home to the local blues scene since its Sunday
afternoon jam sessions were begun in 1979 by Bill Dicey. Every
Sunday-and more recently Saturdays,too-musicians would gather to
play, exchange news, scout for personnel and socialize in a way that
their often tiny apartments didn't permit.Most recently, the jam
sessions were hosted by Frankie Paris, Dave Doneghey, Roxy Perry and
Ed Sullivan. Between the jam sessions and a seven-night-a-week music
policy, virtually every New York blues musician has played at
Lynch's. The Holmes Brothers often ran the jam and made the club
home base for years before they came to national attention.
Any attempted list of players who have passed through would be
incomplete, but here is a partial one:
Ray Agcaoili, Bob "Slim" Ahern, Johnny Allen, "Homeboy Steve"
(& The Mudcats) Antonakos,Eugene Apollo, Traci Bitner Aquara, Kenny
Aronson, Johnny Ascerno, Jeff Anderson, "Backdoor Benny" Horowitz,
Larry Bader, Eric Baker, Bob Bavido, Bobby Bell, Jahne Bell, "Big
Eric" Walters, "Big Ed"(& The Sidepockets) Sullivan, "Big Frank" (&
--
Margey Peters
MistyMtMan
Margey...
Your sure is a partial list... but it also looks like it's in alphabetical
order!!! Are you reading it out of your phonebook?
Here's another "partial list":
Joe Taino & The Blue Flames
Robert Ross
Mark The Harper & The Journeymen
Kid Java
Ron Sunshine & the Smoking Section
Mason Casey
Irving Louis Lattin
Pat Cisarano
Slapmeat Johnson
The Might Sweetones
The Worms
Oxford Blues
Tommy Knight
Felix and the Havanas
Moose & The Bulletproof Bluesband
Mike Dugan
Jon Paris
Flamin' Amy
Sweet Potato
Big Foot & Lucille
Chris Carter
BBQ Bob & The Spare Ribs
Little Buster & The Soul Brothers
Joyous Perrin
George Kiby Jr.
Harry Holt
TJ Swan
Bad Luck n Trouble
Bill Simms
Big Eric & The Budget Crunch
...and hey, how can you leave out:
The Holmes Brothers
Popa Chubby
Bobby Radcliffe
Michael Hill's Blues Mob
Little Mike & The Tornadoes
Little Buster & The Soul Brothers
who've since gone on to recording fame...
we can go on and on... leave your remenicses here.
Maggie Dicey
>we can go on and on... leave your remenicses here.
>
Brenda Bell and Champion Jack Dupree
Charles Otis
Bob Shatkin (was there every Sunday in my day)
miscellaneous Diceys besides Bill (Joe, Denise and Ed)...
Also, I think we should salute the late Len Kunstadt for getting it all down
with his vintage Sony two-track (held together with rope) and producing all
those "New York Really Has the Blues" anthologies on the Spivey label.
MistyMtMan
Maggie Dicey wrote:
>>Steve Guyger & the Excellos
Brenda Bell and Champion Jack Dupree
Charles Otis
Bob Shatkin (was there every Sunday in my day)
miscellaneous Diceys besides Bill (Joe, Denise and Ed)...<<
Gosh, you go WAYYYYY back! I've seen Guyger in Philly, but never can
recall him playing at Dan Lynch's.
Which is the member of the Dicey clan that looked like Fidel Castro? I
once turned Bill and one of his sons on to a bone outside, and he
introduced me to his son. I thought he actually looked older than Bill,
with the big beard and all. (this was around 5 yrs ago). Are you any
relation to Mr. Bill?
>>>Also, I think we should salute the late Len Kunstadt for getting it all
down<<
Well, God Bless Lenny and may he RIP. But he didnt' get it ALL down. I
think he pretty much quit the audio documentation about 6 years ago.
BTW, the reason I didn't mention Bill Dicey in my list was because Ms
Peters already mentioned him. Of course you can't mention ALL the
individual musicians who played there... probably THOUSANDS. My list
mentioned the bands by the band-leaders' names or otherwise the band name.
Maggie Dicey
MistyMtMan wrote:
>Gosh, you go WAYYYYY back!
I guess you could say that; hopefully, I'm not all the way over the hill
yet. I was there when the Sunday Jam at Dan Lynch (and the so-called "New
York Blues Revival") began, and attended faithfully until we relocated to
Maryland in 1983.
>Which is the member of the Dicey clan that looked like Fidel Castro?
Haha! That would be Joe (William Joseph Dicey, Jr.), who is now fronting his
own band, Jamnation, in the DC area. The facial hair comes and goes. (I
think Fidel may have a little more on top, but Joe is "very attractive for a
bald guy." <G>)
>Are you any
>relation to Mr. Bill?
Yes, I'm Mrs. Bill. For the record, I scattered his cremains on the
Chesapeake Bay last May 20th, halfway between his birthplace, Annapolis, and
Rock Hall, MD (on the Eastern Shore), where he died March 17, 1993.
BTW, the name of the band Charles "Honeyboy" Otis fronted at Lynch's was
LIQUID SMOKE. I thought it was a really cool name -- didn't know at the time
that Liquid Smoke was a food additive. Duh.
Maggie
=================================================
mdi...@friend.ly.net
http://www.friend.ly.net/user-homepages/m/mdicey/
Bronxharp
The latest word:
Dan Lynch's Blues Bar will close Sunday night.
There will be an afternoon jam hosted by Frankie Paris, and then Frankie
Paris' band will play ALL night, and reportedly anyone who's ever played
at Lynch's and is still alive and in town will be jamming at SOME point
Sunday!
It'll be a total Blues "blow-out", a mad-house, and a party NOT to be
missed!
Once again, Lynch's is located on 2nd Ave at 14th st. in NYC 212-677-0911.
The "wake" bagan on Thursday night. Dona Oxford and Oxford Blues
performed. (Dona is a smokin boogie -woogie piano lady). On guitar was the
incredible Arthur Neilson. On drums was Barry Harrison (who also happens
to be Johnny Copeland's drummer), Tim Tindell on bass.
Among the people who came up to jam were Flamin Amy (a celebrated NYC
blues-belter in the Janis tradition), Motor-City James (harp, vox), Margey
Peters (bass), Frankie paris (vox), Mark The Harper (harp & vox), and
Henry the bouncer (vox).
See you all there on Sunday!
Jennifer A. Zogott
MistyMtMan (misty...@AOL.COM) wrote:
: Margey...
: Your sure is a partial list... but it also looks like it's in alphabetical
: order!!! Are you reading it out of your phonebook?
Looks like Margey's list got cut off somehow - she e-mailed it to me, and
it's a lot longer than what showed up here.
Anyway...I'm going to miss Lynch's terribly. There are a bunch of great
clubs to hear blues in NYC, but Lynch's is where I went to hang with my
friends. It was also a great place to see bands VERY VERY close-up (if you
sat at the rail in front of the stage, you were maybe a foot from whoever
was singing).
I used to go see the Holmes Brothers there a lot in the early eighties.
They played a lot of Saturday nights there, and the place would be packed,
and seemed to sway. Back then,Tommy Knight played keyboards with them,
and Moe Holmes (who now has his own group, Moe Holmes & the Pioneers)
would often sing with them. As I was young and cute and usually quite
drunk (those were the days), I would often get hit on by various male
creatures in attendance. Sherman Holmes said I should tell any guys who
bothered me that I was with him, and that always worked.
Louvet Jackson had a son who was maybe eight or nine, maybe younger, and
she used to bring him to the gigs. He'd get up on the rail with a little
acoustic guitar and dance and pretend to play.
Back in the early eighties, everyone wanted to play guitar like Jon
Spector.
All-time favorite Lynch's bartender: Thelma. Runner-up: Butch. (As
manager, Karola doesn't qualify for this category. Karola's in a class by
herself, anyway.)
Favorite nickname for Lynch's: Simon Chardiet used to call it "the
litterbox." There were some rather undisciplined cats living in the
basement, and the place always had a faint aroma of cat pee; combined with
the general funkiness and ramshackle quality of the place, the name
totally fit.
Sigh. I'll miss the joint.
Jennifer
* * *
"How many bubbles in soap? How many chews in gum? How many rolls in a wheel?
Where did eyeballs come from?" - Screamin' Jay Hawkins