The Rock N Roll Café was opened  in about 1983. Before that it was called The Burger Boys of Brooklyn. I was managing the place for the 2 owners, Jay Reidel and Arthur Dash.
 
We were located on one of the most famed musical streets in the world, Bleecker Street. On the street, were legendary clubs like, The Bitter End, Kenney’s Castaway, the Back Fence and the Village Gate. The street would explode with people from every country in the world, with an influx of bridge and tunnel people from LI and the Boroughs.
 
Ever since I got to the Burger Boys, I knew we were missing something, missing the action. We would close around 11 at night, when the street was just getting started. Without live music, you were just not a happening place. Inevitably, the place was going bankrupt, declaring chapter 11. The judge gave us 2 weeks to come up with a plan or go out of  business.
 
I came up with a place called The Pink Cadillac Café. A guy named Scotty, Shane and myself worked around the clock, painting, picking out the pink and black tabletops, hanging up rock photos, getting sound system, lights, shirts, signs, etc all with a very tiny budget. But, we did it. We got threatened with a law suit by the Cadillac Bar and Tommy’s Red Cadillac, so instead of going to court, I just changed the name to “The Rock 'N Roll Café”. Actually, it was very easy, all the shirts said “The Pink Cadillac“ .... a Rock N Roll Café. We just dropped the Pink Cadillac and kept The Rock N Roll Cafe. Genius!
 
I will never forget the opening night. The opening act was Paul Hipp, a solo act, who could rock the place by himself. At the time, his girlfriend was Patti Scialfa, who sat at a table with my parents. The rest is history.
 
For the next 10 years, we became one of the “it” spots in the city. We had some of the best musicians in the world on that stage.  Tommy Brynes, who has been playing lead guitar for Billy Joel for the past 20 years and Tony Bruno, who played with Joan Jett, Enrique Iglesias and is currently with Rihanna, were almost like our house band.
 
Here were some of the bands they graced that stage: John Cafferty, Bobby Bandiera Band, Gary US Bonds, Badfinger,  Davey Jones of the Monkees, Mazarin, Josie Sang featuring Stuttering John, Rick Derringer, Jon Paris, The Nerds , Full House, etc.
 
Some guest celebrities that came in to sing or play with some of the bands were: Paul Stanley of Kiss, Carole King, Phoebe Snow, Sam Shepard, Garry Tallent, Vinny”Mad Dog Lopez”, Elliot Easton of the Cars, Will Lee and Anton Fig from Letterman’s band,  Taylor Dane.
 
One of my favorite memories was when Soozie Tyrell and Lisa Lowell were playing as a duo, and Patti Scialfa came in and they did an amazing acapella version of Rockin Robin!
 
Then, came the tribute bands, who became a very popular draw. We had The Soft Parade, Four Sticks, Turnstyles, Mentally Bankrupt (a Van Halen tribute), The Machine, Maggies Farm and Of course, Tramps Like Us.
 
I will take credit for Tramps Like Us, because as legend goes, It was because of me! John Fico, who was helping me book bands at the time, told me about a great band in Westchester called ”The Whole Thing”. I gave them a shot. They did classic rock, but I realized that they did Springsteen very good. I told them that they should start a Springsteen tribute band and call it something like” Tramps Like Us” and the rest, as they say is history, Congratulations on the article in Music and Musicians calling Tramps Like Us, one of the best tribute bands out there!!