Lower East Sider helps capture great
street music scene despite the pandemic
BY BOB KRASNER
The COVID-19 pandemic turned the
world upside down and the music
scene inside out, literally. For someone
like music writer Charley Crespo, who
long ago earned the nickname “Everynight
Charley” for his nightly dedication to the
NYC music scene, the lockdown was a
shock to a music lover for whom live concerts
were part of his daily life.
Charley Crespo, in happier times, in May 2019 at Otto’s Shrunken Head. His
trademark blue beard has since been trimmed due to COVID concerns.
Crespo, a lifelong resident of the Lower
East Side, jokes that while in high school
he “majored in Fillmore East.” One lesson
that he learned well was how to get in
for free, enabling him to see the Jefferson
Airplane, the Doors and Jimi Hendrix, as
well as every other show he could fi nd.
In 1974, he began writing about the
music, contributing to The Aquarian
and eventually becoming a fi xture at Hit
Parader magazine, among others.
“The tag ‘Everynight Charley’ was given
to me in the mid-1970s by a former editor
because I went to concerts every night,”
he recalls.
Although he’s been through some
changes — including taking an extended
break from NYC life — he returned and
resumed his old habits, justifying that
moniker nightly until COVID-19 forced a
shutdown of the concert scene.
Forced to work his day job at home, and
with nowhere to go at night, Crespo was
climbing the walls.
“I have come to understand why dogs
chew on furniture when they are left home
alone for a long time,” he notes.
Luckily, around the time he grew sick of
sitting on the couch watching live streams,
musicians began to play again outside. Like
the music fans, the musicians were also going
crazy. More than one musician told us
the same thing: “We miss playing out like
everyone else.”
Crespo is once again fi nding himself
fulfi lled with the abundance of available
PHOTOS BY BOB KRASNER
sounds. Walking nightly (and on the weekends,
daily too), he encounters an extremely
diverse choice of tunes.
“Many restaurants that never featured
music before now have a music series,
which unfortunately they cannot advertise
due to governmental regulations. Several
musicians found unconventional places to
play, including a laundromat, a school yard,
and a pickup truck,” Crespo says.
He mentions several favorite night spots,
including Marshall Stack (Rock and Roll),
Nomad (World ), Anyway Cafe (Jazz, Flamenco),
Pinky’s Space (Jazz and Blues) and
the Drom (Greek, Turkish).
Crespo notes that one of the highlights
of the non-commercial venues has included
Tompkins Square Park, where Chris Flash
has been producing Punk Rock shows, Jazz
can frequently be heard and a somewhat
unclassifi able act called Pinc Louds has
been the “hit of the summer.”
Claudi, leader of the band (and sometimes
a solo performer) has been thrilled
with his weekly appearances there, usually
on Saturdays.
“This is a perfect situation for a musician
— outdoor shows are my favorites,”
she tells us. Aside from a man with a
baseball bat absconding with the tip money,
“everybody has been so nice, it feels like a
real neighborhood! I’ve met all kinds of
crazy, wonderful people.”
Though the Latin quartet PANDEMIC!!
was encouraged to leave the park by the
Parks Department as the result of an intermittent
crackdown on amplifi ed performance,
they have happily settled into a spot
in front of the cube at Astor Place, where
they are attracting all kinds of dancers on
Tuesday and Saturday evenings.
“We’ve gotten multi-cultural support,”
says bandleader Carlos Acevedo. ” It feels
like the world is coming together to support
us. We even got tipped by a cop!”
Further west in Washington Square
Park, Eyal Vilner’s 15-piece horn band was
playing to an enthusiastic crowd, many of
whom were well dressed swing dancers.
Walking across town with Crespo, it
becomes apparent that he knows most
of the musicians who reside downtown.
Stopping to chat with Jazz guitarist Piers
Lawrence, who plays Saturday evenings at
David’s Cafe, we were informed of another
piece of the new reality. “The Venmo tips
went over the cash! ” he exclaims.
Another Jazz guitarist, the renowned
Leni Stern, has played a few gigs at The
Front on 11th Street and has enjoyed the
experience immensely. Despite the reason
for the unusual gig venues, she feels that ”
the old spirit of the East Village has come
back.”
Crespo can always be seen jumping to
the front to take a few shots of the artists,
although he doesn’t claim to be anything
like a pro photographer.
What he does with those pics is illustrate
his frequent posts on his blog, “Everynight
Charley’s Manhattan Beat.”
And so, he continues to wander the
streets soaking up every kind of music he
can fi nd. As he explains, “I have no Netfl ix,
no cable, no TV. I live in the most exciting
city in the world and I refuse to live a
boring life.”
Most of the bands listed can be found
on Instagram, Facebook or both. Charley’s
posts are at themanhattanbeat.blogspot.
com.
Jazz guitarist Piers Lawrence chatting
with Charley Crespo at David’s
Cafe, where he regularly performs
on Saturday evenings.
Creature, lead vocalist for the band
Rebelmatic, proves that he can
shake, jump and sing simultaneously.
Charley Crespo, far left, enjoying
the Fleshtones at Bowery Electric in
October, 2019
PANDEMIC!!, a recently formed
Latin quartet , were forced to move
to Astor Place from Tompkins
Square Park. L-R: Hector “Pepote”
Jiminez (lead vocal, congas), Luis
Ayala (bass, vocals), Carlos Acevedo
(bongos, clave, vocals), ZoilaPianista
(keyboards, vocals).
Schneps Media October 1, 2020 13