COCO NUT: New York

CBGB'S 1994 pic by © Maria Zastrow

I've been in New York several times, the first time was in August 1988 when I first walked the American soil on my way with the Lolitas to Memphis,TN to cut an album under the direction of Alex Chilton at "Ardent" studios. I was of course very impressed by the skyscrapers of Manhattan and it was only after the recordings in Memphis, TN that we spent about ten days in the East Village. We even had a live show at the legendary Wah Wah Hut Café on Avenue A & 7th Street.We came another time for a month in 1990,to record our 4th album, this time under the direction of Chris Spedding.

An unforgettable memory during this stay was a show we went to see at Fat Tuesday's, the legendary club located on 190 Third Avenue, between 17th and 18th Street,

with guitar legend Les Paul.

I came another time in 1994 in Transit on my way to the West Indies and stayed for 2 month. By the same time a former roomate & friend from Berlin: Maria Zastrow lived in New York. We ran into each other in an "Underground Bar" on Ludlow street called "Max Fish" where she worked as a bartender. From then hung around all the time and had the best time in clubs and bars, we got see many bands and shows.
My last visit in New York was winter 1997. I had the pleasant surprise that a concert by my friend Alex Chilton was scheduled at the "Knitting Factory". It was a very special concert since in the middle of his set the power went out so he ended the show with an acoustic guitar in an exceptional, campfire style atmosphere. When in 2016 I met his wife Laura after his death, she gave me a CD which was actually the live recording of this concert, she was not at the show back then, but had contributed to the release of this CD. She was very glad to offer it to me when she got to know that I was in the audience.