[Dixielandjazz] Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 71, Issue 18

[Stephen G Barbone]

On Nov 18, 2008, at 3:00 PM, dixielandjazz-request at ml.islandnet.com  
wrote:

> "Robert Ringwald" <rsr at ringwald.com> wrote"
>
>> Several witnesses described a melee involving more than two dozen  
>> people,
>> with chairs and bottles flying.
>
>
> Sounds like some of the joints I used to work in.

I hear you Bob. The Melody Lounge in the Sunnyside section of NYC was  
a joint like that in the 1950s. The band I worked in there was Condon  
style Dixieland. You had to have a jacket & tie to get in. The  
audience included a broad cross section of Mafia type goodfellas,  
airline stewardesses, blue collar workers, jazz buffs, local hoods,  
local music lovers and a few hookers.

Fights occurred almost every night we were there. Usually the bouncers  
stopped them before they got really going. But one night a fight broke  
out because a guy who had been hogging the phone booth next to the  
bandstand and rear door wouldn't end his conversation when another guy  
wanted to make a call. One thing led to another and they got into it.  
The bouncer finally pushed them both outside.

About 10 minutes later, one of them came back in with his jacket on,  
but minus his shirt which had been ripped off. He was all bloody, but  
had his tie still on, attached only to his shirt collar which somehow  
survived. He smiled at the band and said, you should see the other  
guy. (who was unconscious on the sidewalk). Cops came and hauled them  
both away.

Another time a local hood, (and fan) who had just been convicted of  
manslaughter after a fight a few blocks away (he loved the band)  
brought his mother in the night before he was to report to jail. He  
wanted her to hear us. It was a sentimental moment.

The bouncers were quite active.  Usually they were moonlighting cops,  
and/or local boxers/wrestlers who fought in nearby Sunnyside Gardens  
Arena.

Then there was "Danny from Chicago" who came top see us every weekend  
with his pals and gals. He wanted us to go there for a 6 month gig.  
But we declined because 3 of us had decided to go to Law School.

What a place. <grin>  We were there for 6 months and both the bouncers  
and the local hoods "protected" us like we were adopted kinfolk.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband