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 

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