Thursday, January 17, 2008

CMT Spotlights NYC's Rodeo

I used to live 7 blocks away from a bar that sits on the corner of 27th and 3rd avenue in Manhattan. For me, it was a comfortable place to find a good meal in a laid back environment in a town where that was so hard to find. On most nights there, we would overhear the sounds of country and rock n' roll music coming from the intimate live music space in the other room. And tonight, I was very excited and surprised to find this article on CMT.com providing a look inside the history of the place.
"The thing is that we're a honky-tonk in New York City," says talent booker Jack Grace, "and it's not a make-believe honky-tonk. It's an actual honky-tonk. To me, it's where people can get away, drink, dance, listen to the music. That's what I think a honky-tonk should be, and it should lack pretension."
Read the full article accompanying this quote

2 comments:

WeightStaff said...

Levon Helm was spotted at Rodeo Bar a few years back by a source close to The Weight...

DS

Anonymous said...

Not just spotted...but I shook the man's hand. He was still riddled with cancer, couldn't speak more than a raspy whisper. He was "performing" (really just pounding a tiny drum kit) with an outfit called The Last Hombres, or something like that (someone can fact check it), anyway, the bar was more crowded than usual, but there was no real scene. After the set, he came upstairs accompanied by a big fat stereotypical Manager type, I forced myself in front of him, shook his hand, told him he played a good set (although I really didn't think so ...dont tell Levon) and he whispered "thanks" and walked up the big fire escape style stair case into that weird lofted office. For the next 15 minutes or so, clouds of "familiar smelling" smoke poured down from that office (maybe he had a prescription for it). Next thing we knew, he came down the steps, with his manager carrying some equipment and they took off. True Rodeo bar story.

ak