Remain in Love by Chris Frantz

Author:Chris Frantz
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

32

THE SUMMER OF SAM

Tina and I returned to our loft in Long Island City to find that David, who was not exactly a people person, had moved his houseguest from London into our place without even asking. Leigh Blake was a journalist and fashion person who had interviewed us over in the UK. We liked Leigh. She was smart and fun, but we had just been married and had not been expecting to have a new roommate. She had managed to get herself to New York but now she was broke and had nowhere to live, so we took her in. In appreciation, she gave Tina a beautiful Kenzo dress and a set of British National Health hospital pajamas. Tina looked smashing in both. Because she was good with the press, we asked Leigh to be our unofficial publicist. We already had a publicist, but Leigh could help, and she was happy to do so. We had a lot of fun together.

We had four nights, July 5–8, booked at a famous nightclub called the Village Gate on the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets. The Village Gate was a basement jazz club that had featured Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Tito Puente, Nina Simone, and Aretha Franklin, among many other big names. Jimi Hendrix and the Velvet Underground had played there, too. Now the Village Gate was booking Talking Heads, Blondie, and the Patti Smith Group during the month of July. We had a different support band each night. We especially liked the Erasers, who were an all-girl outfit and friends of ours.

This is the set list from our first night:

“Love Building on Fire”

“Uh-oh, Love Comes to Town”

“Don’t Worry About the Government”

“Take Me to the River” (Al Green)

“Happy Day”

“The Book I Read”

“New Feeling”

“Pulled Up”

“I’m Not in Love”

“Psycho Killer”

“No Compassion”

“Warning Sign”

“Love Is All Around” (The Troggs)

This was the time when the .44 Caliber Killer, later known as Son of Sam, was stalking the city, shooting young women and their lovers. As if New York did not feel dangerous enough already, now there was a killer on the loose. People were uneasy and wondering where he would kill next. There was also an interminable heat wave going on. Even the toughest New Yorkers were teetering on the edge of sanity.

On July 13, Tina and I decided to have a little barbeque on the roof of our loft. Thanks to a slight breeze coming from the East River, it was cooler up there than it was inside. We were going to start mixing our album the next day and everyone was in the mood for a celebration. We were drinking wine and beer and grilling hamburgers and chicken as we gazed at the sunset over Manhattan. From our rooftop you could see most of downtown, midtown, the Upper East Side, Harlem, and the Bronx. As the sky became darker and darker, the lights of the city came on. I was watching the cars zooming across the 59th Street Bridge when I noticed something strange. All the lights in the Bronx had gone off.

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