Carmine And Me

Last night I ended up in a bar I had never been to before, the Nancy Whiskey Pub in Tribeca. It's a divey kind of bar you see less and less of in Manhattan these days. I like the bar a lot but the jukebox was super loud in that way that always seems to suggest to me that the people in charge are under the impression that volume equals fun. I couldn't hear a word anyone was saying and it was driving me nuts. Making matters worse was the fact that I didn't like any of the music that was playing (I can't remember what any of it was at the moment). They had one of those Internet jukeboxes there that you can play all sorts of music on, so I came up with what I thought was a genius plan to get them to turn the jukebox down- load up the playlist with '80's hair metal and other hard rock that I was guessing no one in the place (besides me, of course) would like. The plan totally backfired though. Everyone seemed to really dig all the Ratt and Dokken I cranked into the place. I was enjoying it too, so much in fact that volume wasn't really bothering me anymore. And then- in keeping with the impromptu theme I tried to create in the bar- in walked legendary hard rock and metal drummer Carmine Appice, who has played drums for Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Blue Murder, Ozzy Osbourne, Rod Stewart, and, like, a million other people. He rules. Being a big fan of people who rock balls and all, I was pretty excited about meeting him. That is a picture of Carmine and me totally standing outside the bar. He was a super nice guy but I was really impressed at how he doesn't smile for pictures. It is the rock-n-roll way. I need to work on it myself. Also, my hair could use a little help too.

Dave Hill