[upbeat low bass]
[vehicle screeching to a stop]
[low bass continues]
[crowd chattering]
[Host] Good evening to all. How exciting is this?
Come on, you gotta give it up for the Café Carlyle, right?
New York City... 2020?
It's really been a pleasure to introduce this guy.
One of the most bon vivant.
I said it again, elegant, super intelligent,
nicest guy in the restaurant, right?
To Mara, the beautiful Mara, tells us what's going on.
The note comes under the door, right?
We don't know, Buster Poindexter, David Johansen,
Rama Lama Ding Dong!
He's got a personality crisis.
He's gonna bring it all to you right now, OK?
He's also got the best pompadour in the business.
He's here in person. Wait, he's right there.
Ladies and gentlemen, Buster Poindexter, David Johansen!
[crowd cheering as upbeat piano starts]
You're funky, funky but chic
A funky, funky but chic
Your funky, funky but chic
All right.
You funky, but, funky but
All right, all right, all right
Got a pair of shoes somebody gave me
My momma thinks I look pretty fruity
But in jeans I feel rockin'
I don't wear nothin', not too fussy or neat
I just want somethin' baby
To be able to walk down your street
Hey, come on baby, let's get on down to the boutique
Bring back somethin' that's a funky but chic
I said funky, funky but chic
That's right, boy.
[Band] Funky, funky but chic
I tell you I'll get down in any neighborhood
My friends will take me
The people out there they all itch and bitch
Lord, I swear they gonna break me
Well, I fly just to get downtown
Where everybody's crazy
I fly on down that street
Them folks stop acting lazy
And I say...
I don't wear nothing not to fussy or neat
I just want somethin' baby
To be able to fly down your street
Hey, get on baby, who at the boutique
Bring back something that's a funky but chic, yeah
[Backup singers] Funky, funky but chic
That's what I'm talking about.
Funky, funky but chic
Correct.
Funky, funky but chic
Oh, yeah!
You funky but, funky but
All right, all right, all right
[piano solo]
I got a little car, come on, let's go driving 'round
A '56 Mercedes-Benz I had painted cocoa-brown
It's brown.
I don't drive nothin', not too fussy or neat
I just want somethin' to be able to drive down your street
Hey, beep, beep, beep, baby
Let's get down to the boutique
I'll bring back somethin' that's a funky but chic, yeah
Funky, funky but chic
Oh, chic.
Funky, funky but
Oh très chic
-[band] Funky, funky but - Oh what chic, now
You funky but, funky but
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right, all right
Got a pair of shoes somebody gave me
My momma thinks I look pretty fruity
But in jeans I feel rockin'
Cut 'em up!
I don't wear nothin' not too fussy or neat
I just want somethin' to be able to walk down your street
Hey get out of bed baby, let's get on down to the boutique
I'll bring back somethin' that's funky but chic
Oh!
-Yeah! -[crowd cheers]
Yeah!
All right, boys!
Oh, yeah!
All right. Oh, yeah.
[Conan O'Brien] You were the lead singer of the New York Dolls.
A lot of people credit you guys
with really helping to start the punk movement.
Well, yeah, but inadvertently, like,
we didn't do it on purpose.
[crowd laughs]
We were in Newcastle and it's a place in England
where they make this beer called Newcastle Brown Ale.
And we were young men and we had a reputation
of being able to hold our booze.
So they say, "Oh, boys, you gotta try the local brew."
And they give you these gigantic cans of
Newcastle Brown Ale.
And we're at like the Newcastle Polytechnic Institute
or something for a show.
We're drinking these things. "Have another one."
OK, Ok, another one.
So we drank maybe 10 of these things... and...
[Conan laughs]
Maybe, maybe 10.
We go on stage to play and everything is going fine.
All of a sudden, the drummer barfs about 12 gallons
of Brown ale onto his snare drum,
but he keeps playing.
[Conan laughing]
And so, you know, a good dollop of it hits me right in the nose
and you know how that is, it's like a chain reaction.
Yeah, I know how that is.
Why would I know how that is? I don't know how that is.
Well, I let loose and then the bass player let loose,
the guitar player let loose,
the audience was like... [gasping]
Everybody's throwing up
and at the end of the song, everybody's like, "Yeah!"
[Conan laughing]
And they thought it was part of the act
and then all the kids in England started doing this.
It became the rigor of, uh...
Oh, we gotta throw up like The Dolls!
You know, that kind of thing.
And that's... that's how the punk movement was born.
I would say that was the... if you wanted to bring it
down to a moment in time, that was the moment.
-[crowd cheering] -[soulful music]
[David] It's super sensuous, transcendental
something not to be explained in rational terms.
It's the Mansion of Fun show.
I hear that melody
On the street
My melody
Soft and sweet
Your melody, would you sing that song to me
Melodies hauntin' me
Memories just repeat
Your melodies even haunt me in my sleep
I tried to show you, you just couldn't see it
I tried to tell you, but your heart couldn't hear it
I tried to love you, but ya
Your heart had to slip away
Now that melody's hauntin' me
Melody got that beat
The memory just repeats in my mind
A melody, where I dance
In the place that I find romance
Your melody just won't give me a chance
I tried to show you, but your heart couldn't see it
I tried to tell you, but your heart couldn't hear it
I tried to love you, but your heart had to slip away
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah
Melody
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Melody
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Well certain songs I just can't take it
They start to play and my old heart starts achin'
Certain songs, I just can't fake it
They start to play and I just want to break 'em
I just can't take it
When I hear them play that song
Yeah that melody
Haunting me
A tender rhapsody, soft and sweet
The memory follows me
'Til it's insanity
Driving me
Now my melody's on the street
Oh, melody, soft and sweet
Oh, melody
Yeah, yeah, melody
Yeah, my melody
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
[crowd cheers]
Where am I?
Who am I?
[imitating animal sounds]
Ahhhh, ahhhh
Well, I'm stranded in the jungle
I'm trying to keep a date
With my little girl, that was back in the States
I'm stranded in the jungle, I'm afraid of it all
Wondering how I could get a message back home
But how was I to know that the wreckage of my plane
Had been picked up and spotted
By the girl on Lover's Lane
I said, meanwhile, back in the States
Baby, baby
Let's make romance
Your old-time love hasn't got a chance
I said he's stranded in the jungle, bad as he can be
Come on, pretty darling, just you and me
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Meanwhile, back in the jungle...
Ahhhh, ahhhh
[interviewer] Why come to a New York Dolls show?
[David] A lot of kids are like whipped dogs
and they feel like they're really terribly alienated
And I think we give 'em a feeling that they're not
the same people that feel these feelings
not the only people that feel these feelings
and that they're not alone.
They all can come together on our show
and see each other and meet each other.
[Sylvain] There's a thousand bands that are coming up
like from the streets, from the ghetto.
[crowd cheers]
[Billy] 1,2,3,4!
Trash, go pick it up
Take them lights away
Trash, go pick it up
Don't take your life away
Trash, go pick it up
Don't try to take my knife away
And please don't you ask me if I love you
If you don't know what I'm doing
What you know is
Trash, go pick it up...
[interviewer] Now, is it true that you were president
-of their fan club? -No. Not at all.
Well, were... were you involved in their fan club?
No. Not even slightly.
-[interviewer] A member? -Not even a member.
Tempted to send off of town for four months?
-Yes, it's all true. -Yeah.
-It's all true. -It is true.
You were in the fan club, you denied it.
-But it's true, isn't it? -I, I, I, I, I... was the fan club.
I was the fan club.
And what was it that drew you to The New York Dolls?
Well, they were very violent.
They were very witty and they were very intelligent.
And as you know, most pop stars are not very intelligent.
and they're not very witty and not very violent.
Right.
[playing Suedehead]
And why-ha-hy ha-ha ha-hy
Why do you hang around
I'm so sorry
I-I-I-I'm so sorry
It was a good lay, good lay
Ah ha
[interviewer] Do you remember when you first saw the Dolls?
Mm, yes. I had gone to see them live in '72,
but their drummer had died three days earlier.
And everybody was expecting the Dolls to walk on the stage.
And of course they didn't.
There was just suddenly an announcement that
Billy had died and everybody just collapsed.
And then the next encounter was television.
They, they appeared very famously
on The Old Grey Whistle Test
which in those very dark days of '73
was a fantastic vision.
People forget how absolutely dank things were,
how dank life was and pop art was.
And there was no,
there was no sense of danger within pop music at all.
But I was obsessive.
I was, I was ridiculously obsessive.
This, this was the band for me.
This was the turning point for me.
[interviewer] Why have so few people heard New York Dolls?
[Morrissey] This is a blighted band.
I'd almost say cursed because if you listen to,
if you listen to, to, to the... the music they made,
every single song is really a hit single.
And there's no reason on earth why it shouldn't have happened.
But because they were connected
with drugs and absurdly transgender issues.
So here were boys who were calling themselves "Dolls"
and they looked like prostitutes, male prostitutes,
which at the time, you have to remember,
it was a long time ago
and all... and all of that kind of thing was really taboo.
And if a man walked
down the street wearing women's clothes,
he could be arrested and thrown into jail.
That's why they only made two studio albums.
And for a group who did so little really
and existed for such a short amount of time,
their impact has been extraordinary.
And the music, because it was such fantastic pop music,
it, it just seemed to me like
the absolute answer to everything.
Which of course... too dangerous.
[sad, solemn music playing]
[David] I just want to be like very welcoming.
'Cause the way the society is, I mean, it, it was set up is
like very strict, like...
straight, gay...
whatever, vegetarian,
whatever you want to, you know, anything you want to say.
I just wanted to kind of like bring those walls down and...
and have a party kind of a thing.
[soft instrumental music plays]
[crowd claps]
Oh, man, this is great. This is very nice.
This is a classy boîte, the Café Carlyle.
And we are starting our semi-annual bisexual--
What am I talking about?
Bi-annual residency. And the cafe called Mara,
who runs this whole shebang up here and asked
if we'd like to come back.
She said, "Yes."
No, we love it here because, I'll tell you why,
you take the elevator to work.
My whole life I've been schlepping.
Oh, in some ungodly conveyances.
[crowd applauds]
Then came the... the question of what kind of a repertoire we
would present because you have to have a new one every year.
And I was in no mood for learning 20 songs.
There's only so many hours in a day.
[crowd laughs]
So we decided that we would do Buster Poindexter--
That's me--
singing the songs of David Johansen-- that's me.
[audience murmurs, applauds]
Because I know those songs.
And so here we are, both of us.
And... tonight, I'm gonna do songs that I wrote or co-wrote,
I guess from when I was a teenager, all the way up to now.
And the one thing I could say, the unifying thing
of my existence, is that there's always been plenty of music.
[piano plays Plenty of Music]
That's nice. Very nice.
Feeling a great sadness today
I don't want to shush it or shoo it away
It belongs to the whole world, the boys and girls
It ain't just mine
Like joy and love, it's always there
I don't know how I tune in, or why that I care
But I can't pretend it don't feel like the end
And everything is fine
I feel exiled from the divine
Me and these sad friends of mine
We're just waiting down here, drinking beer
And losing time
Well, I hear plenty of music
I see superfluous beauty everywhere
Why should I care
What does it matter to me
[piano solo]
Yeah, yeah.
All right, now.
The myth of life is a song
Yeah!
And nature, too, that's the song
All right.
Don't you destroy the song
'Cause when the song is gone
You'll be gone too
I don't know how it went astray
Seem like the whole world is an ashtray
Floatin' around
Some broken-down, low-end galaxy
I don't know what I did to get sent here
Must have been some bad that I done
There in the world gone mad
Feeling sad
[sighs]
I guess I'm sorry
I don't need no one to love me
Or place theirself above me
What does it matter, I don't need a ladder
What's it to me
I hear plenty of music
I see superfluous beauty
Everywhere
So why should I care
What does it matter
Yeah, I hear plenty of music
I see superfluous beauty
Everywhere
Why should I care
What does it matter to me
What's it matter to me
Nothing matters to me
What's the matter with me
Oh!
[crowd cheers]
Beautiful. Beautiful.
[guitar playing]
Poor boy
Poor boy long way from home
When I was down in Louisiana
Just doing as I please
Now I'm in Texas
I got to work or leave
Poor boy
[interviewer] You actually knew Harry Smith?
Well, I didn't really know him,
but I met him a couple of times.
[interviewer] You went to his place at The Chelsea?
Yeah, probably, yeah.
[interviewer] What was his room like?
[chuckles]
It was kinda like, you know,
a speed den, I think at the time.
You know, like when I was a kid
you would go to The Chelsea
and you'd get stuck in there for like a week,
going to different people's rooms and stuff.
I was probably 18 at the time, you know,
so I would like to go see people that were generally older
and could impart some kind of wisdom.
[interviewer] Was Harry Smith one of those people?
Well, I, you know... [laughs]
He could have been.
-[interviewer] Who's this? -[David] Who's who?
[interviewer] This guy.
-Oh, that's Harry Smith. -[interviewer] Oh.
He was, you know, like a polymath.
This guy was into a lot of really good shit.
He would be into something
and then he would be like through with it, you know?
When he was young, he started out,
he would hang with the Lummi people.
He recorded their traditional music
and he made a lot of like experimental films later on.
He would put ads in newspapers around the country,
asking people if they wanted to get rid
of their old 78s that were in the attic.
I mean, you know, he was the kind of guy
who would collect string, you know what I mean?
His record collection is pivotal
in the American music and rock and roll
and the folk boom in the 50s.
Everybody who wanted to be a folk singer
in the 1950s would learn songs from those records.
And there was a lot of different kinds of songs.
[guitar playing]
[David] He picked like, you know, really strange tunes.
[interviewer] You recorded a lot of songs
from the Harry Smith record collection
and you named your band The Harry Smiths.
Would you say that he's someone who inspired you?
Not at all.
[Interviewer chuckles] Well, you're very averse to...
No, because he was such a grouch, this guy.
I mean, I liked a lot of the stuff he did,
but I never thought, "Oh wow, I wish I could do that."
Poor boy
[David] I grew up in Staten Island
in a house that my grandfather built.
We had a lot of records in the house.
Music was on all the time.
You know, sometimes there would play a show
while we were having dinner or something, you know.
[interviewer] What about your dad singing?
What about it?
[interviewer] Like, did you sing with
your dad around the house?
Uh no, not so much, but he was a very good singer.
He used sing like light opera like Gilbert and Sullivan.
He knew a lot of operas.
[interviewer] How old were you when you had your first band?
[David] Thirteen or fourteen.
We used to play at you know, like school dances
and we used to go into the "Battle of the Bands."
We always used to come in second because this other group
from the ass end of Staten Island,
used to play these songs with like The Ventures,
like with the guitars behind their head,
which I always saw felt like, that's really a lame gimmick.
But... they won every time.
I remember the first time we played
I remember the first song, Boogaloo Down Broadway
by the fantastic Johnny C.
-You know that song? -[interviewer] No.
[hums song]
Baby, oh baby
Boogaloo down Broadway
Yeah, yeah, funky Broadway
I closed my eyes for the whole first song...
and then I could hear them all applauding
and I opened my eyes
and I was like, "Oh, they like it."
OK, here we go.
I'm gonna just reminisce for a minute here, but...
[clears throat]
...it's my birthday today.
[crowd cheering]
And I'm such a sentimental old fool.
I was recalling how when I was like 16,
my friends and I went to...
and I had a very interesting group of friends,
kind of like Maynard G. Krebs type people.
The New York Avant Garde Festival was...
held on the ferry boat.
So we went to see Charlotte Moormon
-play the cello topless. -[audience chuckles]
That's the kind of crowd we ran with.
[crowd laughing]
We liked a little culture with our pornography.
[crowd laughing]
So a friend of mine said, "I work for a guy over there
and he's looking for somebody else to work there."
It was a little store on
St. Mark's Place called Matchless
and it was run by a fellow named Lore Wilson.
And it was nice.
They had tchotchkes, you know, around the store.
And I was sent down to the basement to work,
which was like... very dark, dank, stonewalls...
like it was dug out of rock...
with moss and water dripping down.
It was a Dickensian hell.
And my job was to cut logos
off of beer cans and soda cans, like Pepsi,
and then put a fastener on it and make earrings out of them.
It was kind of pop art jewelry.
But I noticed that along the walls there were racks
and on the racks were these big fat lush boas.
There was a huge sequined phallus.
There was... all kinds of headdresses and costumes.
And so I said, "Lore, what's the deal with this...
-cosplay stuff over here?" -[audience chuckles]
And he said, "Oh, well I'm the costume designer
for the Ridiculous Theater
and these are costumes for their next production."
I think it was Whores of Babylon,
or Conquest of the Universe, or something.
So I said, "Oh, can I go to the rehearsal with you?"
And he said, "Oh yes."
And then I met the most fabulous people I think
that I could ever have imagined at that point.
So I said, "Lore, I'm not gonna be coming back tomorrow."
I was like, "I'm gonna stay over here at the theater."
And... sometimes I would do the sound and...
sometimes I would do the lights,
sometimes I would nod out while I was doing the sound
and Charles Ludlam would have to like...
give me my cue like three times.
"And then the thunder rolled."
[grumbles]
"The thunder rolled!"
And then I would go. [imitating thunder]
Sometimes I was a spear carrier and went on stage.
It was just great.
And one time I was sharing a dressing room table
with Candy Darling and Black-Eyed Susan was complaining
about her waitressing job.
And Candy said, "I've been a lot of low things in my life,
but I've never been no waitress."
[crowd laughing]
I went from hell to heaven, you know, it was fantastic.
[Temptation To Exist plays]
OK, baby.
Yeah, yeah.
Temptation to exist
Give me another kiss
Tell me how you love me
A mesmerizing kiss
That I can't resist
Say I'm the way you want me
So I can breathe your perfume
Dancing with you 'round the room
Long after a masquerade
All right, baby.
Stripped of facade and costume
The drag with being born
It's really not a thorn
Baby, it's a dagger
Most people would deny
Say it's a piece of pie
To you it doesn't matter
I hear about all the sad affairs
Up on the heights of despair
Someone's always perishing
Ah...
By the self they've assumed
All right Ray, let's go.
[whistling]
Olé!
Yeah, baby!
Aw yeah.
[band playing]
Heh-hey!
Temptation to exist
Obsession to persist
Death-defying romance
Give me another kiss
Show me what I miss
Baby, since our last dance
So I can get back in tune
All right.
Dancing with you 'round the room
Long after the masquerade
All right, baby.
With no facade, no costume
[whistling tune]
[David] Here we go, boys.
[whistling]
[crowd clapping]
Ray Grappone, everybody,
Ray Grappone on whistling and drums.
Ray, I would whistle with you anywhere.
Well, thank you, boss man.
You know, Ray and I have been practicing
in the shower and it's coming together really well.
-Oh, Thomas! -[Ray] Did he say that?
-Thomas everybody. -Thank you.
You are a living legend.
Oh, oh, oh... God bless you.
If you need anything here at the Café Carlyle,
ladies and gentlemen, just slip Thomas a "C" note
and he'll take care of it.
-I love you, thank you. -[Thomas] Same to you.
[crowd cheering]
What a class joint.
Oh, this is great.
I'm used to playing the 2:00 AM show in the Boom Boom Room.
You know what I'm saying?
Boys, we're in top form tonight.
Have you noticed?
This is The Boys in the Band Band.
Well, have you heard of a fellow named Morrissey?
If you haven't, I'll clue you in.
He was the teenage president
of the New York Dolls fan club in England.
He's kind of a Gloomy Gertie.
But he loved him some Dolls, you know what I'm saying?
And still does.
So... he called me and he said,
"I understand you're a pretty big Maria Callas fan."
And I said, "Yes, I happen to be
known for that in certain circles."
And he said, "Well, you know that film she made
where she did a fantastic concert
at the Royal Festival Hall?"
I said, "Yes, by heart."
He said, "How would you like to play the
Royal Festival Hall?"
I said, "Yes, I would."
He said, "Well, all you have to do
is get the Dolls back together."
[audience laughs]
And I thought, Royal Festival Hall, Maria Callas.
I combed every opium den in Chinatown
and I pulled that band together.
We were fantastic.
It was a big success.
They added a second show.
Then... it was the beginning of the summer
and all these festivals in Europe were
starting where they play in the fields.
I didn't know about these things.
They called, "Would you play?"
And I said, "Well, of course we would."
We were up and running.
We went all over the place.
Then we went all over the world.
Then we went all over the world three times.
And I was like, "OK, you know,
I've really seen enough of this world.
I want to go home, thank you."
I came home, my liver was like...
[imitates thumping]
So, I'm just saying this because like
if you haven't seen me around, that's why.
[Ray] One, two, three, four...
[band plays Better Than You]
Oh! That was some segue.
My baby
I don't talk nasty about her
You ain't even got no class
I'm gonna kick your ass
All 'cause my baby
Oh, wait a minute, I fucked it up.
I fucked it up.
It's all my fault.
I was thinking of another song,
I was thinking of a Jimmy Rogers song.
[crowd applauding]
[New York Dolls play Jet Boy]
Who's so fly up in the sky
Faster than any boy could ever describe
Who's got that love so deep
With everything alive, I said
Jet boys fly, jet boys gone
Jet boys stole my baby
Flying around New York City so high
Like he was my baby
[guitar solo]
This is the kind of place where no one cares
What you're living for
And Jet Boy's so preoccupied
He don't care about before
And that's why
Jet boys fly, jet boys gone
Jet boy stole my baby
Flying around New York City so high
Like he was my baby
My baby
-Yes. -Very nice.
Fantastic.
I've never seen anything like it.
Yes, you've never seen.
Happy memories looking back? What is that?
What feelings are you feeling?
I feel invincible.
[Host 1] Yes.
[Host 2] Didn't you once get arrested
for impersonating a woman?
Well, it was in Memphis, as I recall, right?
But you weren't impersonating a woman.
I wasn't, I was kind of dressed
like Liza Minnelli at the time.
He invited everybody on the stage
and he got arrested for that in Memphis, Tennessee.
But they, they pegged it on dressing like Liza Minnelli?
Yeah, I had to go to jail dressed like Liza Minnelli
and Memphis jail is not Mayberry.
It's a real jail.
[David] No if you went to like the thrift store or something,
you would most likely have to buy women's clothes
to look like a rockstar, you know?
[interviewer] It's interesting that you guys,
that you thought that you had to wear women's clothes.
[David] Well, we didn't have to
but there was nothing else available.
You know, if Granny Takes a Trip,
had opened an outlet,
then we could have wore men's woman's clothes.
But we used to kind of improvise, you know.
[electric guitar music]
Come on, boys!
[interviewer] Were there places where,
or times where it felt a little more risky or dangerous?
[David] Well...
[interviewer] Or you might get beat up?
[David] Yeah, I mean, the first time we played outta town
we played at some like club in Long Island.
It was called like The Shark or something,
I don't remember what it was called.
It was just like a big room, like a warehouse kind of room.
And when we pulled up, there was all these
like muscle cars and stuff, pack of cigarettes
stuck in the shirt that was rolled up kind of a thing.
And I was like, "Oh man, people still doing this?"
[laughing]
And we started to play and all the guys moved
towards the back and the girls moved towards the front.
Somethin' happened. I don't even remember what,
but the guys started beating the hell out of each other
and then they opened up the doors on either side
-and pushed everybody out. -[interviewer] Why?
Because of the sound? The look?
What was so bad?
[David] It kind of caused a lot of sexual tension, I think,
between guys and girls.
It was a mess.
The thing about the Dolls, the original Dolls, was that
we all had very kind of similar ideas about
what it takes to be a great rockstar.
People who are really campy, but you know,
it's an old expression, but it's like the lie
that tells the truth, you know?
And it just kind of gets to the point.
[playing Jet Boy]
Baby, up all night
Baby, New York City
Baby, so so high
Don't you know that
Like he was my baby
I remember during this period when we were having this
reunion thing, the Dolls, we got a call from
one of our myriad record companies.
[audience laughing]
Every time we do a record, we get dumped.
So, they said, "Would you like to go to the island
of Kauai, Hawaii and make a record
at the home of Todd Rundgren?"
I said, "Yes... now? Like now? January now."
"Yes."
Showed up a few days early.
Todd was kind of pissed, but fuck him.
[audience laughing]
You know what I'm saying?
Who does he think he is?
So he said, "OK, what do you...
play me what you got. What do you got?"
I said, "We don't have nothing, man.
We'll get right to it though."
So, it was great.
It was verdant.
It was lush.
I don't know if you saw it in Architectural Digest,
but Todd's house,
it looks like a Cambodian drug lord's pagoda.
[audience laughing]
It's beautiful.
I was like, "Man, a gentleman of my stature
belongs right here."
You know what I'm saying?
We went back to the Bay of Honah Lee.
You know who lives there, don't you?
-Puff. -[audience laughs]
Oh, yeah.
We hung with Puff a little bit there, baby.
It was cool.
Normally it rained every day.
But intermittently, at intervals.
Usually, it stopped raining when it was time for us
to go in the studio and make some noise
with the pots and pans, but it was it was still beautiful.
[band plays Making Rain]
Anyway, we wrote this song there.
It's a good one. It's gonna be really good.
[gentle acoustic music]
Hate how the myth of separation
Really cast a spell on me
Never missing one occasion
Of the infinite varieties of agony
We pass on down our borrowed anguish
Our blasted joys, our jubilant despair
Leave us crying out here to languish
Poor outcast, it's too much to bear
Making rain
Yeah, making rain
It's always raining here
Sometimes I need a little shove, yeah
Remind me of my providence
Learn to bear the beams of love, yeah
Mending my conflict with circumstance
Just making rain
Yeah!
Yeah, making rain
It's always raining here
The heart's in pain
Crying in the rain
Here comes that rain again
Exacerbations, excruciations
That's the tears of things
[piano solo]
Yeah, baby.
Exacerbations, excruciations
Well, that's the tears of things
Very nice.
Waiting in a subway station
In some godforsaken neighborhood
It's as if my blood was dreaming
And resolved itself into melody
Yeah, making rain
Here comes the rain
It's always raining here
Our hearts in pain
Yeah, findin' the rain
Oh, the rain
Yeah, the rain
It's always raining here
Oh, the rain
Yay...
Yeah, it's always raining here
[chuckles]
-[audience applauding] -Yeah, baby.
Yup.
Keith Cotton, everybody, on the piano.
[audience applauding]
You know, when I was 18, I started hanging around at
this place, Max's Kansas City.
It was kind of like this place.
Great people.
My kind of people, you know what I'm saying?
Like, it was probably the greatest boîte of all time
after Café Carlyle.
But still up there in the top two.
It was a lot like this actually. It was a lot like this.
Some of the greatest queens you'd ever wanna meet.
Oh, my god.
I remember one night...
I believe it was... [clears throat]
Penny, you'll correct me if I'm wrong.
Because Penny Arcade was there as well this evening.
-[audience applauding] -It was Ingrid Superstar?
It was you, Bill Vehr and Ingrid Superstar and me.
OK, Penny and I, my friend Bill Vehr
from the Ridiculous Theater. The author of Turds in Hell.
He was my best friend at the time.
We were biffing.
And Ingrid Superstar.
And Ingrid said,
"You're on a trip. You're on a trip.
You're on... everybody here is on a trip except for me."
And Bill very calmly said, "But, Ingrid Superstar,
you took eight Tuinals."
She said, "Yeah, but I'm not on a trip."
Anyway, I found that amusing, you know.
So much so, that I recall that after all these years.
[scoffs]
Something about certain turns of phrase in language
that are peculiar to each of us.
[Duchess] Written for you, Tina Louise.
-What's my real name, Duchess? -[Duchess] I don't know.
You really like to destroy people, don't you?
[David] Everybody you would meet would be alive,
freewheelin' and so much stuff going on.
[Bill] So that after you've come six times, six times,
you're gonna find out that you're Superman, you see.
There's something wrong with this.
[David] Charles Ludlum came to the show one night
and he just said, "I'm having a personality crisis."
And I thought, "That's really good."
And I kind of remembered it, you know.
[Leah] Here, let me pull through the bottom.
[David] I remember when I moved into my first apartment,
which was a seventh-floor walkup on the Hells Angels block.
I turned on the radiator and it just like started hissing steam
I really didn't know what to do about it.
And so, I knocked on, I guess it was my neighbor's door,
or two doors down and this guy came in.
He was like a college professor, but kind of like, you know,
a hip college professor kind of guy.
He was very nice and very political.
He told me that I should check out his group,
which happened to be the Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers.
I said, "OK."
And he kind of like would encourage me
because apparently,
I had the stuff to rally the street if something went down,
so I used to stay on the corner,
like go climb up a lamppost and say,
"We're not gonna let these cops,
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah."
And everybody'd be like, "No, no."
And then there'd be like some kind of a...
skirmish or whatever.
And my mother said to me about them, she said,
"You know what you are? You're a commie dupe."
[laughing] I had to think like, "Yeah, maybe."
Maybe I was.
There were so many characters on St. Mark's Place in,
you know, '69,'70.
I used to really like Abbie Hoffman a lot when I was a kid.
[interviewer] Did you meet him first?
Yeah, I used to see him all the time.
He was very personable.
We planted a tree in the middle of St. Mark's Place.
He was the instigator of that.
The ruse of it was that we need more trees
on St. Mark's Place.
He said, "Where're we gonna get a tree?"
I said, "They got trees all over Staten Island."
He got a van, came to Staten Island,
dug up a tree like in the Greenbelt
or something where there's a million trees.
[interviewer] And did you put it in like a bucket
or did you--
[David] No, I think they just put a mound of dirt around it,
as I recall.
They didn't expect it to stay.
It was in the middle of the street.
Like they just wanted to like do something.
We went to Lincoln Center.
It might have been the opening of Lincoln Center.
You know, those like industrial boxes of Tide
like they have at a laundromat so you can buy
like a cupful or whatever?
They dumped one of those in the fountain.
And it just like started, it was like a comedy movie.
It just like started foaming up and all these people
who were like, you know...
uh...
society contributors to Lincoln Center, right?
They were all done up to the nines
and they were all like slipping in the foam.
And it was great. It was so beautiful.
There was a lot of liberation movements
in the East Village in those days.
They were all kind of interesting, so...
But the Yippies were the most ridiculous, you know,
so that appealed to me
and Charles Ludlam was ridiculous
and that appealed to me.
Ridiculousness is something that I've always kind of,
especially, if it's really intelligent ridiculousness
it's kind of appealing to me.
[indistinct chatter]
We've really expanded all definitions
and all mediums to where that you have to forget
those definitions that you learned in school.
[chuckles] But you got to forget that, folks.
So, you got to forget the definition of art,
the definition of music, the definition of video art now.
All these things are being expanded every single day.
Music does not aim at sound itself,
but is in a complex conception.
First, forget about sounds.
Sounds must be free.
[audience applauding]
[David] The goal of today's Mansion of Fun show
is to live with godlike composure
on the full rush of energy, like Dionysus riding the leopard
without being torn to pieces.
[sings O mio babbino caro]
[audience applauding wildly]
[Jimmy Castor whistles] Hey, Leroy!
-[Leroy] What? -[man] Your mama.
She's calling you, man.
-[all laughing] -[upbeat music]
[Hey, Leroy, Your Mama's callin' You by Jimmy Castor plays]
You know, when I was a kid, I lived on East Sixth Street.
Before that, I lived on Third Street
on the Hells Angels block.
-Not my cup of tea. -[audience laughing]
I mean, it was all right.
But... one day there was a knock at the door,
which was in the kitchen,
which is also where the bathtub was located.
I opened the door and there stood this big viking
who was wearing a tutu and paratrooper boots
and some like ripped yellow tights.
Next to him was this little Colombian guy.
He was kind of like cleaning his nails with a stiletto.
But still I thought, "I gotta watch out for this big guy."
Turned out though it was the little guy
I had to watch out for.
Anyway, it was Arthur Kane and Billy Murcia.
-[audience applauding] -And... Thank you.
Arthur said to me, "I understand you're a singer."
I didn't really expect that voice,
you know, to come out of this Cossack.
I said, "Yeah, I like to sing."
He said, "Well, we're trying to start a band
and we need a singer."
And I said, "OK, I'm in."
I mean, you know, I made snap decisions in those days.
You know, like later on in life you start thinking,
"Well, what's this gonna be like in six months?"
You know?
This is like, at that point like,
"What's this going to be like" let me do the arithmetics.
Fifty years later, you're still like,
"Oh my God, what was that?"
So we went over to 10th Street
where Johnny Thunders had a very nice apartment.
The bathtub was in the bathroom, you know what I'm saying?
Couple other rooms.
I think his mother was paying his rent.
I mean, I'm not sure, OK?
-[band plays Lonely Planet Boy] -So don't quote me on that.
[Kurt Loder] New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders
was found dead on the floor of a guest house
in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Tuesday afternoon.
The cause of death hasn't yet been determined.
But Thunders, whose given name was John Genzale,
had a longtime drug habit.
[David sings] Our will is hard
Man, it's so hard
And it's a lonely planet joy
When you bring a song from your other boy
That's when I'm a lonely planet boy
And I'm tryin'
For your love
Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah
You pick me up
You're out drivin' in your car
I tell you where I'm going
You're always telling me
It's too far
But how could you be drivin'
Down by my home
When you know
I ain't got one
And
I'm so all alone
Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah
All right.
Well, it's a lonely planet joy
When you bring the song from your other boys
That's when I'm a lonely planet boy and I'm tryin'
Yeah, cryin'
Baby for your love
Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah
[piano solo]
Oh, yeah!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah
Can't you hear me callin'
When I'm a thousand miles away
I don't wanna stay
I'm thinking of words I gotta say
'Cause I wanna be there with you
I know what to bring you
I remember
From the days
I got over
Everything
Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah
Well, it's a lonely planet joy
When you bring a song from your other boys
That's when I'm a lonely planet boy
And I'm tryin'
Yeah, I'm cryin'
Oh, can't you see that I'm dyin'
Baby, for your love
Whoa, whoa whoa, yeah
Whoa, whoa, yeah
Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah
[crowd cheering]
Let me tell you about the time I met Mara, all right?
My life was going along kind of like Groundhog Day.
I didn't really see much reason to continue
and then I met Mara and oh my God, you know?
[applause]
I don't believe it.
-I don't believe it. -[crowd cheering]
I love you, Mara.
I love you.
-Always will. -[applause]
It was a scandal.
Oh my God.
But... so worth it.
[laughter]
So anyway, I wrote this...
I wrote this lyric... [kiss]
for my love.
[band plays Dancing on the Lip of a Volcano]
Been cravin' more life
And more love
That lives in the soul
Of my heart
I don't wanna be
No artist
I'm a dancin', singin'
A work of art
Yeah, you lit my heart
With fiery aggression and you showed me
This feeling of love
Of sex and affection that ya owed me
Danger
And I ain't scared
In danger
I found the splendor there
I was dancin' on a flamin' pit
Dancing
We are creating it
We're dancing
Right on the lip
Of a volcano
Nature with its true voice cries out undissembled
Be as I am
Revealing its wildest most generous incarnation
In danger
Devil may care
Danger
The fire's everywhere
'Cause we're dancing
Atop a flamin' pit
We're dancing
We are creating it
We're dancing
Right on the lip
Of a volcano
Oh yeah. All right.
[guitar solo]
Yeah, man. All right, man.
Oh, yeah!
[David] Oh!
In the center of action of my psyche's need for love
I want liberation and joy
In a paroxysm of intoxication
Inspiration ain't no way to be coy
In danger
A blazing glare
Oh, yes!
In danger
I found the splendor there
Oh, yeah
Dancin' atop flamin' pit
Dancin', we're creating it
We're dancin' right on the lip
Of a volcano
Volcano
A volcano
Thrown in the dance with the mystics
It's burnin' us up with his music
It's sensualistic
It's ritual
It's polytheistic
-[crowd cheering] -Ye-heh-heh.
Whoa.
[Smokestack Lightning by The Harry Smiths playing]
Oh, smokestack lightning
Shinin' just like gold
Oh, don't you hear me cryin'
A-whoo-hoo
Oh, stop your tryin'
Let a poor boy ride
Oh, don't you hear me cryin'
A-whoo-hoo
A lot of these are from when I sang with Hubert.
A lot of Howlin' Wolf
Wang-Dang-Doodle and things of that nature.
Oh, here's Blind Willie McTell and his wife.
Apparently he shot his wife. He only winged her.
But from what they say, it may be apocryphal,
but they say that he stood in the middle of the room
and just, like, swung around rapid firing...
like a ballet dancer.
[interviewer] What's this one?
I don't know.
This is...
It says it's Buster's big book, so...
let's see.
[Interviewer 2] Explain to me your lyric book.
It's not just lyrics in there.
There's something else in there.
What's in that book that I used for the show?
[Interviewer 2] Uh-huh.
There's a lot of, like, devotional art in there.
There's millions of Hindu gods, you know.
You ever go to, like, Central Park
and there'll be a lot of, like, Cuban guys and Puerto-Ricans
and they're all playing congas and things like that.
Do they still have that there?
[interviewer] Yeah.
You know those guys that are into, like, the Orishas?
So, like, say you and me are playing.
'Cause you know, the rumbas all have, you know, like...
saints that each beat is dedicated to or whatever.
So they kind of just, like,
beam it up and then it comes back down to you.
It's not like we're playing, like, at each other.
[Interviewer 2] So when you'll turn a page,
there'll be a different image there
that's associated somehow with that song.
It could be associated with that song.
It's just something that reminds me of what I'm there for,
you know.
Because it makes it a lot more fun for me, you know.
Music to me is, you know, they say playing music, you know.
They don't say like working music.
You're supposed to be playing.
So...
If I don't do it as some kind of a devotional thing,
it's gonna become a grind for me.
[orchestral music plays]
You're in the Mansion Of Fun
with Sri Rama,
Poindexter, Johansen.
Where...
aestheticism
and eroticism...
are two sides of the same coin.
And unwillingness to see this exacts a terrible price
in prudery, misery
and warped lives.
I'm just a bad boy
La la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la
All dressed up in fancy clothes
I'm taking the trouble
To blow my bubble
Away
Bad boy
La la la la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la
Life is just a bowl of cherries
I'm taking the trouble
To turn my night into day
You, were in the vanguard of punk, new wave,
with the New York Dolls.
Legendary group.
Now, what made you completely abandon
that kind of rock and roll that you were doing?
I understand in Cleveland you just decided
that you had enough of it.
Well, I'll tell you.
Contrary to popular belief, you know,
because the Dolls were such, like,
a shock kind of troop battalion that...
I think a lot of people didn't realize that
the Dolls music was...
built like basically, you know,
the roots of the thing was really rhythm and blues.
And it was, like, a classic rock and roll band.
What makes a classic rock and roll band?
Big Fat Mamas Are Back In Style.
And... uh Lavender Coffin?
Lavender... All I want is a lavender coffin
and what I call pre-haze cold rock and roll.
[interviewer] How did Buster Poindexter become?
Well, basically, after the Dolls, you know
I did the David Johansen show for many years.
I was on the road for like 250 nights a year.
And I had a lot of fun.
But after a while, you know, you want to come back home
you want to kind of establish relationships
and things like that.
So I came up with this brilliant idea
to come up with an act that could only play in New York.
There was a club in my neighborhood called Tramps
and I thought I was gonna do four Mondays there
because, it was a Blues bar
but they didn't have acts on Mondays.
And so I thought I'd do, well, since there's nobody there
on Monday, I'd try this little cabaret thing
with, like, three guys as a backup band.
And I started doing it and
it caught on and all of a sudden I was making my nut,
so to speak.
And I wasn't going on the road.
I wanted to do a show that would entertain my peers,
so to speak.
Now your peers, you're what, 36 now, about?
I'm 37.
-Thirty-seven now. -For a few more minutes.
Really inching up there.
-"Inching up there," to where? -Well, I don't know.
-To the end. -The next thing you'll be 40.
-This is the big one. -[laughter] Right.
OK, there's two Yiddish hipsters.
It's a short joke.
Two Yiddish hipsters sitting on a park bench
and one of them says
"Oy."
And the other one says, "I'm hip."
OK?
[interviewer] Do you ever write down, not jokes,
but, like, banter and things you wanna say?
Banter?
Like things you wanna say between songs that aren't jokes?
You mean that aren't funny?
-Yeah. -No.
No.
I mean, you know, if I'm playing in, like, a big place,
I'm not, like, telling jokes because...
The David Johansen band went on this whole tour
with Pat Benatar and you know, she's great.
She can really belt out a tune.
But...
they would kinda look at me
like I was a bug a lot of the times in those...
hockey rinks, you know?
[interviewer] Like you were a little guy
or like you were a freak or...
Like a bug. [laughter]
[interviewer] And what kind of songs can Buster sing
that you can't sing?
Uh...
Everything. I mean, you know,
I can sing, you know, a lot of kinds of songs, but...
I think I already went through this with you.
Like, Buster is just like, I can do anything I want.
People aren't...
expecting something else.
They come because it's unexpected,
what I'm gonna do, you know?
And they kind of trust that it's gonna be good
and it's always good. What can I say?
[Totalitarian State plays]
I woke up late one day
And turned on my TV
They said they'd take it all
When I was asleep
Well they were bringing down doors
They were purging and burning
People just like me
Well I fixed a drink, I switched around the channel
But that was all I could see
Well it's such a boring feeling
When you find that you're fallin' to a
Totalitarian state
Well, I know what's left
It don't seem right
You just don't feel so great
Well it seems we're all camping
And the Mexicans was laughing
Down at the detention center
They didn't seem to care that they were there
I couldn't find one dissenter
I didn't feel communal
I was incommunicado
I couldn't see it getting any better
I couldn't call no one
I wish I had a gun
I couldn't even send a letter
It's such a boring feeling
When you find that you're falling
To a totalitarian state
I know what's left
It don't seem right
You just don't feel so great
When they came to get me
I'd hope they would forgive me
I tried playing dead
I finished my drink, assessed the situation
Put the covers up over my head
I quit
[piano solo]
[drum solo]
[rock music]
Well, me and my friends
All hang out in a non-litigious crowd
We're sensitive to other people's needs
And on this we are proud
But this situation really bites
I mean, for crying out loud
I don't know what to do
I feel like a fool
This time I'm gonna sue
It's such a boring feeling
When you find that you're fallin' to a
Totalitarian state
You know what's left
It don't seem right
It just don't seem so great
-Oh! -[crowd cheering]
Whoa. Whoa.
Hey, hey.
Totalitarian State... Baby!
[interviewer] It sounds like you've never really been bitter
about the fact that
the Dolls never garnered these huge wages,
whereas you could look at bands like
Kiss and Aerosmith
and they made a pretty good dime off
-Yeah. -[interviewer] essentially a
watered-down version of what you were doing.
Yeah, no. We, we were a band's band, you know?
In a lot of ways.
And we influenced a lot of bands
and a lot of kids were influenced by us
who started bands, you know.
Take the Ramones.
The Ramones saw us and they,
they looked at each other and said,
"Hey, if these guys can do that, we can do that."
And to have influence like that on people,
I think, is really good, you know.
To give people the...
the idea like,
"Hey, I could do that."
[Piece Of My Heart by Emma Franklin plays]
Wow, listen to how sweet that is.
Didn't I make you feel
- Like you were the only man -Whoo!
That's probably Aretha playing piano.
- Didn't I give you everything -You know that?
That a woman possibly can
-Is this her sister? -Yeah.
But with all the love I give ya
It's never enough
But I'm gonna show ya, baby
That a woman can be tough
[interviewer] Is there any music you just don't like?
Most, most stuff on the radio. [laughs]
I don't even know what I don't like,
because I just don't hear it.
You know? It doesn't,
if I like something it stops in the middle of my head
and it just rattles around
and if I don't like it it just kind of goes through me and
I don't grab it.
You know, my show is not like
something that...
your average kid would understand.
[interviewer] Why not?
Why not?
Because it's, it's out of the ordinary,
you know, it's kind of like...
it's got, it's like peculiar to my taste, you know.
[L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Havanaise) plays]
That Marilyn Horne version, she gets right to the meat.
Did the folks play that stuff?
-How'd you get turned on to-- -Oh, you know, my old man,
he was an opera singer.
And it's like, all that we heard
had been classical music when I was a kid,
-[woman] Oh. -which used to drive me crazy.
-[woman] Mm-hmm. -My old man would be like
wearing his army clothes, paint in the house
and the Texaco Opera on the Grundig
would be in the window, blaring out.
And my friends would come by,
on Saturday and I'd be like holding the ladder
and I'd be like...
[music continues]
[David] My old man would be up there like
[loudly imitating opera singing]
[interviewer chuffs]
And now...
and now it's all over your radio show.
[instrumentation peaks]
This next song, I wrote it to
a Lightnin' Hopkins song.
Texas Blues.
I gave the lyrics to Brian,
see what he wanted to do with it.
And he came up with this really great song
and we're gonna sing it for you now.
So the only one who sounds like Lightnin' Hopkins
in this version is me.
[audience laughs]
I give you that Eddie Murphy smile, like...
[audience laughs]
[Wandering Spirit Prayer plays]
I keep watching and wondering
Why a little bird flies up to the sky
Only God knows, maybe he don't
You know that holy talk has been a lie
I keep praying it's the truth
And I ain't got no death to die
I ain't got no death to die
Yeah, I keep hollering and prayin'
I don't have to be such a hurtful bum
How could I sometimes be so good
And turn around and be so wrong to some
Ah, what's the use of all this praying
When I don't know the spirit from
The spirit from who this prayer have come
That old eternal spirit
Always whispering in my ear
Radiance of the infinite
Seems to be everywhere
But my weary eyes can't see
And I'm afraid my old ears cannot hear
Afraid my old ears cannot hear
You've been a consolation of my life
And you will be of my death
And I pray that you'll have mercy
Moment of my last breath
I know these words of weariness
Just don't make me wander from death to death
Don't make me wander from death to death
[audience cheers and applauds]
Beautiful.
[audience cheers and applauds]
[Ben Vereen] Now, our next guest is truly a unique rock star.
I mean he's what you call a free spirit, a knockout singer,
starting a heat wave right here at the Waldorf-Astoria
singing Hot Hot Hot, Buster Poindexter!
-[audience cheers] -[Drummer] One, two, three!
-[Hot Hot Hot plays] - Ole-Ole-Ole-Ole
Ole-Ole-Ole-Ole
That was like, the bane of my existence, that song, you know.
I don't know how I feel about it now.
I haven't heard it lately.
[interviewer] Would you hear it like
all over the place like--
Oh, God, that's ubiquitous, that song.
It was like, forget about it.
It's like, you know,
they play it at weddings, bar mitzvahs. It's like...
[interviewer] Six Flags.
Six Flags! [laughs]
Hot hot hot
[David] They used to have a show on VH1 called One Hit Wonders.
And I was on it twice because I sang,
you know, like that Animals medley thing as David Johansen.
And then I sang Hot Hot Hot as Buster,
so I was a one hit wonder twice.
[interviewer] Did you have like a vision for
what your life would be like at this point?
[David] You can make plans and they're fun to do,
but they're rarely...
What you want to do by the time you get there.
I think I used to be like...
five year increments.
Where I'll be in five years or whatever, when I was a kid.
[interviewer] Yeah.
[David] Somebody said that some guy
who was a record producer,
he was a... he was a millionaire.
And I thought, "Wow, a millionaire."
He was 23, you know?
And I was like, "Wow, a millionaire at 23.
That'd be great."
But I didn't...
I came to realize, well, that's not really so good.
Because the guy, turned out,
he was a murderer.
[both laugh]
-Do I want to do like this? -[Mara] Yeah.
Yeah. I like this.
[Mara] Get the oil off your chest.
Just because I'm not like responding,
doesn't mean I'm not in ecstasy.
[Mara laughs] I know that. We're married.
Here you go.
[interviewer] So what were you saying Mommy
about what we wanna make sure we get in this?
[Mara] You spend a lot of time putting on a show,
while you're keeping hidden not just your interior life,
but a lot of other aspects of your life, right?
-And-- -Yeah.
You guys see the pants?
[interviewer] I can see the, the pants are yellow.
-That's good. -[interviewer] But I can't
see like the whole style of the pants.
That's OK.
[interviewer] You wanna see what you look like?
I wanna see what you're gonna shoot.
It's best to leave an incomplete--
-[Mara] Yeah. -picture of yourself.
[Mara] Can we have the, uh,
like can we have the coquettes showing on the book?
[interviewer] I was gonna have David
look at that book, actually.
[Mara] Oh!
I mean let's face it. We've been very happy together.
We're very happy and Leah is very happy.
That's like really good because...
occasionally we have to deal with like, you know,
I don't wanna use the word crisis.
But you know, whatever.
-Something that's-- -[Mara] We've had some crises.
Yeah.
[interviewer] As we get older, we accumulate ghosts.
'Cause, you know, there's a lot more dead people
than there are the living.
I've lived through like, Vietnam War,
the AIDS epidemic...
and so many things, you know?
And had people who I love
that have died from COVID very recently, you know.
Put your sweet lips
A little closer to mine
You know, there's Hal Wilner, for example.
[interviewer] Given that you lost someone
in your band at 21,
was an early death something that you yourself feared...
-when this-- -No.
No. I never learned my lesson.
[soft music playing]
You know, after I was in the original Dolls,
the ones that there was a lot of you know, catastrophic stuff.
I had a band called David Johansen Band I made for...
[clapping]
We got in a van and went back and forth,
across this country about, I don't know, nine times,
opening for heavy mental acts at hockey rinks.
Oh my God.
When I think of that...
It killed me. It actually killed me.
These guys, they called magazines, books.
[laughing]
OK.
So, what are you readin' there, pal?
Viva.
My book.
I said, that's not a book. That's a Viva Magazine.
You know what I'm saying?
Thank God they had, they'd come out with Walkmans by then,
you know.
And of course gin, you know, which they always had.
A one, two, three, four...
[plays Frenchette]
You call that love in French, but it's just Frenchette
I've been to France, so let's just dance
I get all the love I need in a luncheonette
In just one glance, so let's just dance
I can't get the kind of love that I want
And I need
So let's just dance
You come on like it's all natural darling
But you know
Oh it's really only naturalette
It's just like all of your leathers darling
They don't scare me
I know what's really only leatherette
I could take it down and wash it down
I scrub you on down in any old launderette
I can't get the kind of love, that I want
Let's just dance and I 'll forget
I want you to come in my kitchen
Not my kitchenette
I want you to come in my dining room
Not my dinette
I can't get the kind of love
So let's just dance and I'll forget
I can't the kind of love that I want and I need
So let's just dance
I can't the kind of love that I want and I need
So let's just dance
Come on, boys! So let's just dance!
[guitar solo]
Oh woah-wo-wo-wo-wo
Come on, every one join.
Oh woah-wo-wo-wo-wo
Remember how we marveled darling, we was marveling
We were marveling at The Marvelettes
Yeah we fell in love with Veronica
And every last one of The Ronettes
It sure got hot when Levis Stubbs
He got burned boy
Messing around with Bernadette
You call that love in French, but it's just Frenchette
I've been to France, so let's just dance
I get all the love I need in a luncheonette
In just one glance, so let's just dance
Let's just dance
Let's just dance now
Let's dance
Let's just dance
Going to take a little roll with you, honey
Let's just dance
A little stroll with you, honey
Yeah, let's just dance
Just dance
My doctor said to take it easy, baby
So let's just dance
My doctor said to take it easy, baby
Let's dance
Come on, let's just dance
Yeah, baby
Let's just dance
All right.
Let's just dance
Come on, let's just dance
I can't get the kind of love that I want
And I need
So, let's
Just
Dance
[audience clapping]
Oh, hi... [chuckles]
You know, when I was a... a kid,
I was probably like, not a kid.
I was probably like almost 30-years-old or something.
Maybe I acted like a kid.
I... went to...
see Milos Forman
to audition for a...
a part of one of the two,
like lead guys in Hair.
In the movie Hair.
You know, I figured, an actor, what is that?
So, I think I have all the prerequisites,
completely irresponsible,
drunk a lot.
Hey, I can go on and on.
But... I fit the bill.
So I went to see Milos and...
I didn't even do the audition.
I mean, we got along like a house on fire.
I mean, "Oh God, David. David, I love you."
And we were drinking schnapps
and we were smacking each other on of back
and we were having a gay old time, OK?
Oh my God, it was so great.
So then he calls Twyla Tharp and he says,
"I got, I got the guy.
This is the guy. I'm gonna send him over.
You see if he can dance."
In order to get this part,
the... one of the major parts that you had to pass.
Milos, Twyla...
and Galt MacDermot,
who wrote the music.
So I went over to Twyla Tharp's.
I was...
dancing... like Nijinsky.
I mean, I was like...
like a gazelle.
Back and forth
with the whole troop back and forth, like throwing flowers.
I mean imaginary flowers, but still.
Twyla calls up Milos,
"He's, he's great. He's a natural. He's great."
I'm thinking, you know, "Hollywood, here I come."
I'm like picking out real estate,
you know what I'm saying?
Next day I go to see Galt McDermott.
It's up on one of those Broadway rehearsal rooms,
you know, at the piano and everybody's standing around.
He's got the piano and I come in
and I decide to sing the song Hair.
I figured, you know,
I hadn't really prepared.
You know and... but Galt McDermott stood up.
He shut the... the... the lid of the keyboard
and he said, "This guy can't sing!"
I was like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute.
I don't, I don't act.
I don't dance, but I'm a singer.
You know, I, that's what I do. I'm a singer."
I didn't get the part anyway.
My dreams were crushed.
But I only had those dreams for three days.
So it wasn't like a lifetime.
You know, years later...
I saw...
Galt McDermott at an awards ceremony.
We were both getting a medal for something and...
he was in his dotage.
And... we shook hands and the whole thing.
He didn't remember me from, from that day.
But, I didn't remind him I didn't mention it.
You know, I didn't mention it.
I'm not that kind of guy.
[audience laughing]
[Maimed Happiness plays]
This is nice.
It's a maimed happiness
I keep trying to acquiesce
It's like a tempestuous child
You play with and humor to keep
Quiet as you possibly can
'Til finally it goes to sleep
Life takes a lot of finesse
It's a maimed happiness
I keep myself to every way
Both refined and uncouth
Then maybe once in a while
I can be with the truth
Don't know
If there's that much to be said
I thought this world and all the time
That we spend
Still I think
I want to live
This crazy life over again
Yeah, I've been to the doctor
He said there ain't much he can do
Said you got the human condition
Boy, I feel sorry for you
There's a sorrowful joy
I know it since I was a boy
Joyful sorrow, I guess
It's a maimed happiness
[audience clapping]
Beautiful!
You guys have been great.
Thank you. Thank you.
[music begins]
My friends.
[interviewer] Maimed Happiness.
I feel like that could be your thesis for the show.
Yeah. Mara, what's that...
Those two brothers, they were writers,
but one was a philosopher.
[Mara] Henry James and William James?
[David] Who wrote that book?
[Mara] Well, Henry James was the novelist.
Right. So it was William James was the philosopher.
-Right. -[Mara] Yeah.
I was reading that William James
Variety of Spiritual Experiences,
I guess it's called.
At one point he used the expression "maimed happiness."
"It's kind of like a maimed happiness," whatever he said.
And it just stuck in my mind, you know.
It's just, existence is...
maimed happiness.
[Freddy] Happy birthday, man.
-Freddy. -A lot more energy tonight.
Yeah, I slept like 10 hours last night.
You are not today who you were when you were 17.
So...
-you were this innocent... -Hmm...
Listen, sorry.
You were spinning around
on the parking meter in front of Gem Spa.
I was spinning around on the other parking meter.
[David] It's the Mansion of Fun show
where we do our thing and we don't worry about the outcome,
because we recognize sorrow as of the essence.
Because when there's time, there's sorrow
and we can't rid the world of sorrow,
but we can choose to live in joy.
[Man] Look how beautiful.
[Mara] Hi, baby.
Long time no see.
[interviewer] Like when was the first time
you felt like your sadness
kind of connected you to the world?
Oh.
[L'elisir d'amore: Una furtiva lagrima by Luciano Pavarotti plays]
Yeah, in 3D.
[sighs] Oh, man.
Then the ostrich comes out.
People think I'm so young, right?
And I'm sure people say that to you, "You're so young."
'Cause it took us so long to grow up.
Like we hit every crack.
We had to be...
we fulfilled the premise of becoming.
-That's right. -We fulfilled it.
-What's the rush? -What's the rush?
[David] There's a lot of different things that
you can hear or see,
you know, people overcoming obstacles.
Surviving.
[L'elisir d'amore: Una furtiva lagrima by Luciano Pavarotti plays]
[band plays Personality Crisis]
Come on!
Wow!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah baby no
Go baby yeah
Yeah, no, yeah, yeah
Wow
Wah-hah!
We can't take it this week
And her friends don't want another speech
Hoping for a better day to hear
What she's got to say
All about that personality crisis
You got it while it was hot
But frustration, heartache that's what you got
I gotta say about the personality
Yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Now you're trying to be something
Now you gotta do something
Wanna be someone who cow wow wows
But you thinking about the time you did
They took every ounce
Well it's sure gonna be a shame
When you start to scream and shout
Wow
You contradict all the time
You were butterflying about
Butterfly
But that personality crisis
You got it while it was hot
It's always hard to know when frustration
Heartache that's what you got
It's just a song about personality
We are
[guitar solo]
[applause]
And you're a prima ballerina
On a spring afternoon
Turn into a wolfman howlin' at the moon
Yahoooooooo
With a personality crisis
You got it while you was hot
It's always hot.
Frustration, heartache that's what you got
Oh, I'm talking about your personality
Now with all the crossin' fingers
Mother Nature said
Your mirror's getting jammed up
With all your friends
Personality
It was just starting to blend
It ain't like one.
With the personality
When your mind's going to bend
Personality
Glad you know a friend, of a friend of a friend
Friend of a friend
Personality
One that has celebrities ever mend
Lookin' fine on television
Personality crisis
Yeah, you got it while it was hot
It's frustration, heartache
It's what you've got
All right.
Personality crisis
Please don't cry
A personality crisis
Please don't stop
Because you walk with personality
You talk with personality
Yeah.
Yeah, baby.
That's what I'm talking about.
Personality.
Yeah.
[audience applauds and cheers]
You know, Plastic Bertrand goes around saying he...
invented punk rock,
but I think that one was really good.
[audience cheers]
You know what I always say?
Nothing recedes like success.
[laughter]
Am I...
[audience claps]
[plays Heart of Gold]
You think I'm a whore
But I got a heart of gold
You're lockin' your doors
You're leavin' me out in the cold
Well I've been bought and baby
I've been sold and I
I need protection from the cold
You may think that my humanity
Has been the cause of all this insanity
This whole damn world's got so much uncertainty
I sure wish you'd see something in me
You think I'm a whore
But I got a heart of gold
You're lockin' your doors
You're leavin' me out in the cold
Yeah, I've been bought, baby
I've been sold and I
I need protection from the cold
[audience applauds]
[soft piano music]
[slow bass guitar solo]
[audience applauds]
Happy birthday, boss.
[audience cheers]
And many more.
Oh, baby.
[band continues playing Heart of Gold]
You may think that my humanity
Was the cause of all this insanity
Hm-hmm.
This whole damn world's got so much uncertainty
I sure wish you'd see something in me
You think I'm a whore
But I got a heart of gold
You're lockin' your doors
You're leavin' me out in the cold
I've been bought and baby
Yeah, I've been sold and I
I need protection from the cold
Yeah, man.
I need protection from the cold
All right, baby.
I need protection
From the cold
[audience applauds]