Last night Jim and I drove into NYC to see an old childhood acquaintance of mine, Richard X. Heyman, perform at The Living Room on Stanton Street, and whom I haven't seen in 3 decades! We reconnected through his wife Nancy via classmates.com Richard was the drummer in a garage band called "The Doughboys" from my hometown of Plainfield where we both grew up. I told this story already to some of you in private emails, so I'll spare them the details LOL! This is the first time I've been to the city since the 9-11 atrocity, so I'm excited to see Richard again but sadness overtakes both of us as we witness the NY skyline and we're approaching the Holland Tunnel. We see our lady of the harbor. It's 8:45 as look over at my dash we're driving through the tunnel. Richard's gig wasn't until 10:00, so I figure we could have a quick bite to eat and some drinks at David Lahm's Judy's Chelsea. Yeah, right. Needless to say we were running late for Rich's gig. Try to find a parking spot in Manhattan on the Friday night. The Living Room is a small venue situated on the corner of Stanton and Allen Streets in the East Village. OK, so we get there. The place is jam packed and rock'n & a roll'n. I spot Richard and Nancy his wife on bass guitar, whom I haven't met yet, we've only conversed through several emails. They had a drummer and a keyboardist and they sound feckin great; we're diggin them. Oh, and the room has a bar, all is well, the song ends it's 11:00 and I'm thinking it's break time, so I edge my way over to the front of the room. They were expecting us, but I make a pit stop and give them a chance to unwind and talk to some fans. I return to find the band dismantling their equipment. Holy feckin shit, only a one hour gig! I'm near tears at this point and really pissed at myself for getting there late. We should have never stopped at Judy's. I approach Nancy Heyman, introduce myself and have to explain our tardiness. I offer to help them with their instruments, as they have to get out of there quickly because another band is coming in. We pile everything out on the street corner as the drummer goes for the van. He's from New Jersey as well so he's got a vehicle. Understand Richard & Nancy have been residing in the East Village for the past 20 years so whenever they have a gig, lugging all this stuff to a venue is a bit of a challenge. I'm told they almost lost an instrument by forgetting it in the trunk of an NYC cab. LOL! As they're loading the van, Nancy digs into her duffle bag and gives me Richard's CD, Cornerstone, which is mostly written about our hometown. I being a sentimental slob, am enthralled. We're invited over to the Heyman's apartment just a few blocks away so we're given the address and set on our way down a very windy street. We find the building with no problem and start lugging everything up just one flight of steps. I hope that you're not allergic to cats, Nancy exclaims as we open the door to find 18 cats abound everywhere! LMAO. It was feline heaven for this cat fancier. There are tabby's, calicos, BI-colors, fat cats etc.etc. Richard is very much involved with rescuing stray animals from the streets of NYC. Oh, and did I mention he worships Ms. Mitchell :~) Richard said that Joni has been a major influence on his piano style from listening to Ladies of the Canyon. He asked me if I went to her tribute show and commented on how much he enjoyed Cyndi Lauper's rendition of Carey. During some point I explained that I was a huge Mitchell fan and belonged to this community. He asked what the Mitch has been up to lately, so I tell him about her recent recordings in London and about the upcoming CD. He wants to know if I have any Joni videos, as he has some of the early Johnny Cash tapings. I think I'll have give him a copy of the Shadows & Light video. I asked him if he's ever used any alternate tunings. He's interested in some of Joni's tunings, so I've emailed him a few from our JMDL site. We'll suck him in gradually:0) Richard played us some of the tracks on his soon to be released CD. He is just an amazing talent. I wish you guys could hear some of his stuff. Mr. Muller has, and has some nice things to say about him. He's collaborated with the likes of Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits on a CD called Heyman & Herman. I haven't heard that one yet, but I'm getting to it. He and his wife Nancy played a song for me he wrote, "Cornerstone", written about that little town we grew up in. Brought a tear to my eye. Nancy plays bass guitar in his band. The clock struck 2 and it was time to leave. Just an amazing evening for me. reconnected with an old friend and made some new ones. Just had to share it with you all.
love, rose in nj