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Maybe this has been covered or is well-known.

I read an interview with Barry Altschul. According to Altschul, David Izenzon (or Izenson--I've seen it both ways) knew the owner of Slugs', Jerry Schult. Izenzon mentioned one day to Schult that he ought to have some music in his club. Schult agreed, so Izenzon called Paul Bly, and Bley called Altschul. According to Altschul, that trio played the first gig at Slugs'.

One of the Downtown musicians told me that Izenzon died while running down the street to stop a thief from stealing his VW.

What's with that apostrophe at the end of Slugs'?

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I really was there - and I saw Ornette's band with Haden and Dewey Redman, and Mingus with some other players, I guess (hey, I was 15).

I also, and this is true I swear, saw Jean Genet there on the night I went to see Mingus.

great place to hear music.

they don't menton that it was a very scary neighborhood; at the time the Hell's Angels were running things, dealing drugs, beating people up, throwing people off roofs. Their HQ is still there (as a matter of fact Matt Shipp lives right in that neighborhood).

Edited by AllenLowe
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I started going down to the East Village when I was 16 (1968) to go to the concerts at the Fillmore East. I did that for the next couple of years. A burgeoning hippie, I loved the freaky street scene. It was electric, exotic, with the feeling of foreboding one gets before a major disaster.

I well remember the Hells Angels. I soon realized they didn't mess with small fry like myself, as long as you remembered to steer clear of the bikes. It's possible that the Angels performed "security" for the Fillmore when the crowds outside the theater got too big or rowdy or stoned. That's when things could turn dangerous in a hurry.

That area was also known as Little Ukraine. I had some Ukrainian girlfriends, so that aspect seemed pretty familiar. I still love a good pierogi or pelmeni.

All I knew at the time was rock. Jazz = Miles Davis, that was all. I wish I knew more about that scene at the time. Too young probably to get into Slugs' since they served drinks. Anyway, it's mostly gentrified now, and the electricity is gone.

I'm not surprised Genet was there. Perfect sort of place for him.

Edited by Leeway
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About the name and the apostrophe, it's in the article:

Despite its implication, Slugs’ took its name from the book All and Everything by mystic George Gurdjieff, who referred to three-brained humans as “slugs.” New York law in the ‘60s prohibited the name “saloon,” so the club re-branded itself – keeping the apostrophe – as “Slugs’ in the Far East.”

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I started going down to the East Village when I was 16 (1968) to go to the concerts at the Fillmore East. I did that for the next couple of years. A burgeoning hippie, I loved the freaky street scene. It was electric, exotic, with the feeling of foreboding one gets before a major disaster.

I well remember the Hells Angels. I soon realized they didn't mess with small fry like myself, as long as you remembered to steer clear of the bikes. It's possible that the Angels performed "security" for the Fillmore when the crowds outside the theater got too big or rowdy or stoned. That's when things could turn dangerous in a hurry.

That area was also known as Little Ukraine. I had some Ukrainian girlfriends, so that aspect seemed pretty familiar. I still love a good pierogi or pelmeni.

All I knew at the time was rock. Jazz = Miles Davis, that was all. I wish I knew more about that scene at the time. Too young probably to get into Slugs' since they served drinks. Anyway, it's mostly gentrified now, and the electricity is gone.

I'm not surprised Genet was there. Perfect sort of place for him.

My sis used to work at the Fillmore East, so I got to see a lot of free shows, and the East Village was a very exciting place back then.

She said that she saw Miles Davis snorting cocaine in the bathroom at the FE.

A friend of mine who lived in the EV said some Ukrainian guy got mad at some guy in a store, so he went to his apt. and got an axe and chopped the guy's hand off!

The Hell's Angel's were always hanging out there, but I never saw them bother anyone.

BTW, here's my favorite jazz trivia quetion:

Which great jazz guitarist was a member of the Hell's Angels, and even had a contract placed on his life by them, because he testified against them in a murder trial?

Edited by sgcim
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