Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog

Marlene's Shame

Be sure to check out Chris Shott’s piece in The New York Observer about BD’s shameful attempt to evict a dying man, Jann Paxton.  So what about it Marlene?  Is it so important to win your war against Stanley Bard that you’re willing to abandon ever last shred of common decency?  We think that, as a show of good will, you should at least pledge not to evict Jann Paxton. -- Ed Hamilton

Jack White Visits Chelsea to Aid Dylan Revenge Plan

We ran into Jack White the other night at the Chelsea, wearing a cowboy hat with a big white feather that made him appear even taller than he is, and a huge fur coat of a kind only a true rock star such as himself could pull off.  If he was trying to go incognito, I must say he failed rather miserably!  We wondered why he would grace our hotel with his presence, and now we know:  he’s working on an album with Bob Dylan and wanted to soak up some of the rarified ambience of the legendary performer’s former haunt.  Well, we’re confident that –even with BD in charge – he was not disappointed. 

    The two artists are working on an album of songs that Hank Williams left uncompleted at the time of his death --  which is kind of funny since, isn’t it part of Dylan’s legend that he tried to steal a trunk of songs out of Woody Guthrie’s basement after the old folkie croaked?  I think those songs were later recorded by Wilco – much to Bob’s consternation, I’m sure – but now, in a way, he has his revenge. 

    Oh, another Chelsea connection:  Hank William’s granddaughter, Holly Williams, used to live here.

Fever Marlene Still Waiting for the Man at the Chelsea

Milwaukee alterna band Fever Marlene wrote and recorded their second album, "White China" (Is that like the heroin man? Shades of Lou Reed!), over a four night stay in room 219 at the Chelsea . The 10 song album features a DVD documentary of the writing process and a photo journal. "White China" is set to be released on March 7, 2008.

Hip Hopper Goldie Stops By The Chelsea

On Goldie's first trip to NYC in June 1986, he stayed at the Chelsea Hotel with Birdie and manager Martin Jones. As dawn breaks, he rants at imaginary people from his bedroom window. Clip from Zulu Dawn, a documentary on the pioneer UK hip hoppers of the 80s, that catches up with their lives today.

Adam "Jaz Jericho" Rushfield: Redefining Tradition at the Chelsea (And Standing up to BD Hotels)

Pianist and singer/songwriter Adam Rushfield, who goes by the professional name of Jaz Jericho, comes from a long line of musical talent: his great grandfather banged singer Sophie Tucker!   When we met with Adam in his tiny room/music studio recently, he played us a tape of longtime resident 87-year- old Stormé DeLarverié belting out an old standard, "Since I Fell For You," her voice still as impressive as in her heyday in the 50s and 60s, husky, evocative, and powerful.

Of course we immediately asked Adam if we could share Stormé's song with our blog readers, but it turns out he wants to keep it under wraps for awhile, as he is working on a song cycle partially revolving around the remarkable recording.   (The work will delve into the lives and lore of Chelsea residents as well as other stories.)  He played us a couple of pieces on his piano and they expertly evoked the dysfunctional family dynamic of the Chelsea.

Where are you from?

I was born in Okinawa, Japan in 1979. I grew up in Las Vegas, where I lived from the time I was six months old.   It's a very comfortable place to live, but not easy for a musician unless you play cover tunes and don't care if people listen to you or not.   Everybody wants to get out, but nobody does anything about it.   But by this point in my life I was ready to go, I needed a change.  Some of my friends who were musicians moved to LA, but that wasn't for me.  I visited NY three years ago and something about it just grabbed me.

How did you hear about the Chelsea?

Just from folklore and movies and books and then later through my work in music.  When my friend and I visited NY it was too expensive to stay here the whole week, but on our last night we walked in to check the place out and the guys at the front desk were really cool and offered us a discount, so we decided to stay one night.   We rode up in the elevator with Rene Ricard, of all people.  He was carrying an envelope and he opened it and showed us that there was a knife inside.   He said, jokingly, that we'd better not be up to no good.  If we were here to steal the art, we'd have to answer to him.   That was when I knew I had to move to the Chelsea.

How did you become interested in music?

My Dad's a musician.  He plays in a 50s and 60s rock band.  So I grew up around all kinds of music.   My great grandfather played in a big band, and banged singer Sophie Tucker.  That's his claim to fame.

What are your main musical influences?

Bowie, Beatles, Motown, everything.  In college I was a musical theatre major, and I'd like to write musicals someday.   Or maybe not, since they're so cheesy.  Rock Operas, really, that's what I'd like to write.

You moved into the hotel in February of 07.  How did you score your room at the Chelsea?

I called Stanleyfrom Vegas and told him I was thinking of coming to New York soon, and asked if he had any rooms available.   He said not right now but just let me know when you're on your way and I'm sure we can find something for you.  I called him when I crossed the Mississippi.   When I got here he brought me right up to this room and I took it, the first one he showed me.  It was pretty expensive and he was charging me by the night, as a transient guest ($75/night, plus hotel tax), but he said he'd try to get my rent down, and he did lower it at one point, right before he left ($70/night, plus tax).   I believe that he would have eventually offered me an affordable, permanent, monthly rate.

At that point he was forced out by the minority shareholders and BD Hotels took over.   What did BD say about your rent?

They still tried to charge me the high rate.  I said I had been here long enough to be considered a permanent tenant and I was being illegally overcharged and they needed to reduce my rent, but they refused to listen to my arguments.   I decided not to pay until the courts could resolve the issue. Though I kind of feel like I was cheated out of my full Chelsea experience since Stanley's no longer around, I plan to get as much as I can out of what's left of it.

Where will you go if you have to leave the Chelsea?

Well, I think the Chelsea has spoiled me, so no place else in New York would do.  Maybe the Lower East Side, but everything's too expensive anyway.   I have some friends living in Providence so maybe I'll crash with them for awhile.  There's a pretty cool art's scene there, with lots of space in all the abandoned factory buildings.   The Chelsea is a place where I can just relax and be, and I know it's not going to be easy for me to recreate that vibe somewhere else.

Withholding his rent allowed Adam to buy some time at the Chelsea, time well spent, it turns out, as he has been using it to soak up the inspirational atmosphere and transform it into music.   I accompanied him to Housing Court on Wednesday, Dec 12, hoping I could at least offer moral support.  He met with BD's lawyer and they negotiated a deal whereby Adam will be given an affordable rent through the end of February, at which time he will be expected to leave the hotel.   So, while it certainly wasn't an ideal result, at least it will make a full year that Adam has lived at the Chelsea.   We'll be sorry to lose Adam, as he seems a perfect fit for the Chelsea, with his respect for the history of the hotel, coupled with a forward-looking creative impetus to celebrate and reinvigorate that tradition.   On the other hand, he's not gone yet--and no one knows what the situation at the Chelsea will be in two months. -- Ed Hamilton

DEATH OF A SLEAZE-ROCK EMPORIUM

“The new generation of bands, they’re all nice boys,” chirps a boutique hotel owner (“Just Call Our Band the Model Guests,” David Brown, New York Times, 11/25/07).  Articles such as this appear from time to time--obviously based heavily on press releases from the hotel industry—trumpeting the end of hotel-trashing behavior.  For you see, the guys from Led Zeppelin and the Who need walkers to get around these days, and the new generation of “rock stars” are more interested in gyms and spas and high-speed internet access.

As the article/press release says, these days one is, “. . . unlikely to encounter many bands with larger-than-life personas.”  Which makes me wonder why anyone would give a rat’s ass about them.  The function of rock stars in society is cathartic: to live the lives of speed and excess that the rest of us can only dream of—and that includes, obviously, throwing TVs from hotel windows.  Of such behavior, a drummer from an obscure band with the hateful name of the Editors even goes so far as to say, “It’s not. . .respectful,” causing both John Bonham and Keith Moon to roll over and vomit (or dry-heave at least!) in their graves.

The purpose of such articles is twofold: 1. to promote the false worship of American-Idol-type stars, manufactured by the record companies because they are easier to control than actual, talented musicians, who inevitably carry the requisite baggage of inner demons to be exorcised; and 2. to sound the death knell of quirky old hotels with actual character, together with the ascendancy of sterile, soulless boutique hotels.

To the later point, the article contains the requisite predictions of the death of the Chelsea (which it calls a “party palace” and a “sleaze-rock emporium”), together with—something new—a bit of gloating over the fact that one of their own damned and demented breed, BD Hotels, has seized control of the revered counterculture Mecca. 

Regrettable as that is, however, BD has not quite managed to snuff out our legendary life-force as yet, and so the real rock stars--albeit perhaps without major label support--will continue to make the pilgrimage to the Chelsea for as long as they can still slip in undetected.  Though the new flat screens don’t have quite the POP! of the old tube TVs, they will still provide quite a spectacle when they come crashing down onto the newly gentrified 23^rd Street.

And as for all those fancy-schmancy new boutique hotels: the fixtures will become old in time, and perhaps even develop some character; and because the lure of sex, drugs, and Rock and Roll will forever remain strong, with the power to corrupt even studio-manufactured lip sync-ers and air guitarists, the fine art of hotel trashing will rise Phoenix-like from the ashes of its own too-hastily predicted demise.  To this day our illustrious proprietor Stanley Bard will tell you that Sid Vicious was a nice boy too. -- Ed Hamilton

Japanese Film Documents the History of Rock Music at the Chelsea

   For our Japanese readers, be sure to tune in to Sekaigumi TV #9 tonight (November 28 - Fuiji TV Network) for a documentary on the Chelsea. A full hour long, this film, focuses on the history of rock music associated with the Chelsea, profiling Sid and Nancy, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, etc., and taking the viewer on tours of some of their former rooms—including the infamous bathroom where Nancy was stabbed to death in 1978 (since renovated, of course, though it probably still looks about the same as it did back then).
     I was able to view an advance copy of the film, and, though I don’t speak Japanese, I still found it fairly entertaining. In particular, there was a lot of very good music playing throughout the film: Velvet Underground, Jimi, Janis, the Sex Pistols, etc.; and a lot of footage of Bob Dylan from the Newport Music Festival where he went electric. As I watched, I couldn’t help thinking that they must have spent a good deal of money buying the rights to all these songs. There’s a long segment on Harry Smith, who compiled the influential Anthology of American Folk Music, and his collaboration with Allen Ginsberg, as well.
     The film also profiles current residents, including composer Gerald Busby, painter David Combs, photographer Linda Troeller and of course our illustrious proprietor Stanley Bard. They also talked to Mike the DJ about how it feels to live in Bob Dylan’s room. There’s also a segment on the blog, and I get to tell my story about meeting punk rocker Dee Dee Ramone, and how he subsequently challenged some construction workers to a knife fight (a version of this appears in my book, Legends of the Chelsea Hotel.)   
     The director and the various crew members kept asking me about Harry Smith’s recording of Allen Ginsberg’s folk songs, but I knew nothing of that and wondered why they even cared about something so obscure, but maybe, after all, Harry is big in Japan. Nobody believed me when I told them that Harry kept a Zombie at the Chelsea.
     The photo shows some of the members of the film crew, who were great fun to work with. They were jazz fans—or at least one of them was--and I showed them a poster from Shirley Clarke’s film about roformer Chelsea resident Ornette Coleman (obtained from a resident who lives down the hall and knew him back then). Noticing that I had several works of Japanese literature on my shelves, they were kind enough to recommend a couple of authors—Natsume Soseki (I read Botchan and Mon—both of which I greatly enjoyed) and Osamu Dazai, to round out my education. -- Ed Hamilton

Long Live Rock-and-Roll on 23rd Street

Remember Vlad, the scruffy looking fellow who used to play the guitar, grimacing as he did so, at the corner of 7^th Ave. and 23^rd.  Well, he’s back.  The reason he hadn’t been around for awhile was that some jerk complained about him and the cops had to give him a ticket and tell him to move along—even though they really didn’t want to.  The problem was that Vlad was using an amplifier—a necessity for a guitar to be heard above the cacophony of

23^rd St.  The prospect of further tickets—and maybe even the slammer—looming before him, Vlad moved his act up to

Columbus Ave. and 111^th St., and the Chelsea Neighborhood was deprived for a month or so of a vital part of it’s rock-and-roll spirit.

            Anyway, thanks to the people at Dan’s guitar, a solution has been found.  They lent Vlad a steel resonator guitar, which was designed to make a big noise in an era before amplified sound.  Vlad’s new instrument looks really cool, is chrome-like finish flashing in the sunlight, and if anything actually sounds louder than the guitar-and-amp combo he had before.  Best of all, since it’s not amplified, it’s perfectly legal.  “First amendment and all,” Vlad says.  The guitar looks like something an old Mississippi Bluesman would have played in back in the 20s, Blind Lemon Jefferson or somebody like that.  “All I need now are dark glasses and dog,” Vlad jokes, glad to back where he belongs. -- Ed Hamilton

Holy Moses. Johnny Craviotto Says NO MALL IN THE CHELSEA

As a Drummer and Drum Builder to the stars, Johnny Craviotto has been involved in the music business for nearly half a century.  He began his professional playing career in the early 1960s and quickly progressed to touring and performing with such rock-and-roll legends as Ry Cooter, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Moby Grape, and Neil Young.

Legends: How’d you get interested in drums?
Johnny: My mother was a pianist, so there was always music in our house.  By the time I was 12 I knew I wanted to be a drummer. 

Legends: How did you hear about the Chelsea Hotel?
Johnny: I was jamming with some hippy guys and one of the guitar players knew Buffy Sainte-Marie.  They had run into her on the beach in Hawaii.  Buffy wanted to go from being a solo performer to having a trio, so during the first week of November 1968 I flew to New York for an audition with her.  I auditioned for Buffy at the Chelsea on a stack of New York City phonebooks with sticks and brushes.  She said, “It sounds great. You’re hired.” 

Legends: How’d you score your room at the Chelsea?
Johnny: Before we moved to New York we had gone to the Fillmore in San Francisco to see Rod Stewart and while we were at the concert our car was broken into and all of our bags and stuff were stolen. We then got on a 2 a.m. flight to New York. When we arrived, Stanley Bard was in the lobby.  I told him, “we’ve got no money and no clothes.”  He looked at us kind of funny, as if to say, “You mean to tell me you came to New York with no money and no clothes?”  But he gave us a room.  I went straight out of the mountains of Santa Cruz to 23rd Street and the famous Chelsea Hotel.

Legends: Can you describe the Vibe of the Hotel at the time?
Johnny: We moved into the Chelsea in Jan 1, 1969. Holy Moses! I can’t even begin to describe the vibe in the lobby.  It was really rock & roll.  There would be a surprise every time you got off of the elevator.  You’d find Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin hanging out, or the Grateful Dead just sitting around in the lobby. I think the owners of the Fillmore East had a deal with the Chelsea whereby they put up the musicians at the hotel when they came to New York to perform.  Anyway, I hope these new people don’t try to modernize the lobby. Can’t you guys say “NO MALL in this joint!”  (Photo: Janis Joplin at the Fillmore East in 1968)

Legends: We’ve heard that Leonard Cohen drove everybody crazy with all his incense. Do you know anything about this?
Johnny: Buffy Sainte-Marie set us up in a room with a kitchenette & a fireplace right next door to Leonard.  And yes, now that you mention it, he did burn a lot of incense.  I didn’t know who Leonard Cohen was from Adam when Marie introduced me to him. After I got to know him, one time he took me to a Turkish coffee shop. You had to climb three flights up the fire escape and go through the window to get inside. There were all of these little old Turkish guys sitting around smoking and drinking some really strong espresso.

Legends: Did you get to Hobnob with any other celebrities?
Johnny: I was 21 or 22 years old and everything was like a whirlwind.  Honey, I saw Joe Crocker & The Grease Band the very first time he ever performed in the U.S. That was at Stephen Paul’s The Scene. I went to a lot of jazz clubs. Slugs in the East Village and the Village Vanguard were great.  Vanguard Studios was next door to El Quixote and that was where everybody went to record.  (Maynard Solomon was the owner) So that accounted for a lot of the musicians hanging out at the Chelsea.  We used to go down to El Quixote and get drunk.  How’s the Sangria these days?  Is it still as good as it used to be?  [Editor’s note: yeah, it’s holding up pretty well]   (Photo: Jimi Hendrix at the Fillmore East in 1968)

Legends: How has the Chelsea changed since you lived here?
Johnny: We moved out of the Chelsea when Buffy went to LA to record a semi-rock album with Jack Nitzsche, the guy the Rolling Stones’ song “Jumping Jack Flash” is about.  We moved back to the Chelsea in 1971, and though it was still great, I didn’t see Leonard around anymore.  We did a lot of concerts upstate and in Europe, but the Chelsea was always our homebase.  But once the Fillmore East closed, the vibe at the Chelsea changed.  It wasn’t as vibrant a place for musicians to hang out.  After the Fillmore closed you stopped seeing people like the Allman brothers in the lobby.  Soon, Buffy wanted to go in a different direction, so I moved back to the Sunset Marquee in LA [Editor’s Note: another famous rock & roll hotel] and that was the end of the Chelsea for me.  I’ve never been back since.  I went on to work with Ry Cooter on his first solo album. He was demanding, but a great artist.

Buffy Sainte Marie performs her hit "Universal Soldier" in 1970.

John Vanderslice Follows in the Grateful Dead's Footsteps

Legend has it that on August 10, 1967 the Grateful Dead played a concert on the roof of the Chelsea Hotel.  Flash forward 40 years and check out this concert by San Francisco singer/songwriter John Vanderslice.