A Night at the Pussy Cat Lounge, NYC
The night to go and check out some rock and roll seems to have been June 6th, 2006. 6-6-6 – the night for live music. It seems like every band was playing that night, but we are not writing about that night. Nope, we are writing about June 3rd, three days before the devil’s night of music, but still not at all too shabby a night either.
The show we checked out took place at the Pussycat Lounge, down right at the tip of Manhattan, not too far from the World Trade Center, and a few blocks from Battery Park. It is a great place! You have a go-go bar next door and this small stage for the bands, not to far from a well-stocked bar and complete with a balcony. Just a neat venue. My only complaint is that the go go bar and the rock and roll are separated. Two different places – two different worlds, and that was the way it was that night.
Now the bands that were playing that Saturday night included the Sex Slaves, the New Professionals, Deek Jenkins, and High Horse. I knew the first two all to well, but had never seen the other two. There were others but four was enough.
The band of the night was Deek Jenkins, an energetic four piece that just challenges the idea that unknown original music cannot be appreciated. Ah, maybe I am biased, but these guys were good – they just tore the place up! They knew their audience and I suppose much of the audience knew them. They were rock, a good dash of punk; they were hard rock. They had good front man with a unique voice, a solid drummer in Texas from BFZ, a solid bass player, and a guitar player who more then covered his duties. They did not just stand up there, they worked that room.
Their material was familiar but they made it their own. It was fresh. Tunes would remind me of Iggy Pop and rhythms that worked. They just made me think that you may not have to reinvent the wheel, but you do have make this stuff your own and they did that. They just got the room going and you were part of something. Deek Jenkins is a band to definitely check out and experience.
Then of course you had the Sex Slaves, who have fine tuned their show and then some. How could they not after several tours around the country. And they offered one or two new tunes they are working on. Del for good measure climbed from the stage up, across the wall, to the balcony, and then jumped down from the balcony, the audience catching him. I do hope he was alright at the end of that spectacle. He looked pretty wiped in the back of the room after the show. I still do not know how exactly he climbed across a wall. I saw it, but not sure how he did it.
Oh yeah, they did get a bottle of Jack Daniels for themselves and the fans.
So the highlight was Deek Jenkins, and then the Sex Slaves came thru again. The New Professionals were good, but they are now just Karen Curious and and a dude playing rhythm with her. So the material, old and new was good, but we just want to see them as a successful band, and Karen has had some excellent talent with her, in addition to herself. So we will have to see how this plays out with her and a band. A lot of talent there and we wish her the best.
It was a night of rock’n’roll. It had its moments. Some of those rocked. Some were classic. Some where you see potential. And some where you would like to slap somebody, but it was all rock n roll.
Bob Schaffer
June 17, 2006
