A Majestic Production

Straight outta Budapest, Little Budapest that is, North Amboy, NJ, USA. Dave always had big ambitions. Somewhat vague plans, but big ambitions nevertheless. He had always thought he could sweet talk anybody into anything, and many times he was quite right. Probably the best example of what Dave could do was the time when he got the great!? idea to produce a rock concert. A big rock concert with big names. The fact that we were just a bunch of dumb kids from Jersey, with absolutely no money or any idea of how to put on a rock show, did not discourage Dave from his self appointed mission of becoming a big shot rock promoter.

We named our production company “Majestic Productions”, because we thought that our first shows would be held downtown at the Majestic Theatre, the biggest and oldest theatre in Amboy. And the only one since the Royal closed down.. We were gonna be home town big shots. But the old farts in City Hall wanted nothing to do with rock concerts in town. They and the cops were still trying to figure out how to keep the hippies and car cruisers out of town, not invite them in for christsakes. No permits. No shows at the Majestic, but we kept the name anyway.

Of course you need money to put on a rock concert and be a big shot. Sweet talk can only get you so far. The real big shot bookers in Manhattan wanted us to show them the money. So we had to get money from somewhere. We needed a five grand deposit to book “Atomic Rooster” an early hairmetal rocker band, I think their drummer later went on to play in Rod Stewart’s band, Small faces. And then our big show, getting closer to Manhattan, booking the hippie-cowboy-rock band, Quick Silver, into the Loews Theatre at Journal Square in Jersey City. This was our warm up for NYC. Helllooo Manhattan, but not quite yet.

Before we could do anything we needed money. Since   none of us potential big shots were willing to work at some stupid job for chump change, we explored our options. They were already nickel and dimeing on Smith Street so the next logical idea was just to simply think bigger. Why not do lbs instead of nicks, make a big bingo, and bango, we got our cash.

So we had a plan, sort of. Sell lots of pot, use money for concerts, become big shots.

But the immediate problem was that no one was going to float us the 20 lbs to make it happen, so we  need some starter cash. So Dave goes to work on the mother of one of his girlfriends. He’s screwing the daughter, Carmela, while flirting with her mother. (although not exactly at the same time, I don‘t think, anyway). He had told us that he knew that the mom was probably listening while he and the daughter were getting it on it in the next room. In fact she couldn’t have not heard, as Carmela didn’t seem to be too concerned about muffling any of their sexy sounds emanating from her bedroom. After they were finished the mom would just happen to be around whenever Dave would go into the bathroom. She would be all big smiles and Dave thought that she wanted to see his big dinky. Carmela told Dave that she and her mom told each other everything! He didn’t make up stories like this, he didn‘t have to. I’ve seen him in action, in Manhattan yet, charming the panties off the hottest babes in the place.

Anyway, the mom had some cash in the bank, and Dave, all dressed up in his best Rod Stewart  threads warmly “advises” her that it would be a great opportunity for her to invest ten thousand dollars in our production company to help put the shows on. She would not only get her money back with a big profit, but also a share of the company. She was now going to be in show business with Diamond David Lee. Anyway Dave would make it all legal, signed contracts and all. Only trouble is (for her) that Dave is only 17 years old, and not legally bound to any contracts.

So she gives Dave ten grand. Good start but we needed twenty for all the hall rentals and booking deposits and more importantly, our emerging big shot lifestyles.

So now we have some cash. We realize that we must move fast or we just might use up too much of our capital in “expenses”. The last good ganj we saw around town was from Danny M. Dave figured that if we could get 20 lbs of this same stuff we could quadruple our money. So we decide to give Danny five grand in cash, (remember this was back in the early 70’s). He will go away somewhere with the money and then (hopefully) come back with the product. The hours go by and no call from Danny. Finally, incredibly, Danny does come back with the product, all 20 pounds of it! We are immensely relieved. Only problem is, we find out a bit later, that its not the same stuff as the sample, different grade, not nearly as good. Us: Watta we do now? We’re gonna be stuck with this shit.

Dave: Always the optimistic opportunist , didn’t let a little issue of “quality” slow him down. He again goes to work telling everybody about the great smoke we’ve just scored, and somehow manages to sell most of the 20 pounds of this piss poor pot in bits and pieces, at a good price yet. We have twenty grand.

It was a miracle we didn’t get busted.

Almost ShowTime

We needed a venue. After being shut out of the Majestic in Perth Amboy, we crossed the river to South Amboy, where the town fathers and the cops didn’t really know us. Nobody from Perth Amboy ever hung out in South Amboy, at least not anybody we knew. Johnny De’s brother got us a hall rental at, get this, the St. Mary's catholic school Auditorium in South Amboy. Unlikely locale if you’ve had asked me, being attached to a church, and considering our unusual financing plan. But it was a place nonetheless. Again Dave wouldn’t let a little issue of propriety get in his way.

So big Shots Dave and RT go into Manhattan and sit down with some big shot NYC talent promoters. They put down the deposits in cash for the talent and we get some dates. I think Dave told me that one of the bookers was John Sher, who later became the most prolific rock show promoter ever in NYC, although at that time he was probably just starting out. So they walk out having booked the band Atomic Rooster for a Saturday Night in August at St Mary’s school auditorium in South Amboy, NJ.

Our first show!

I’m pretty sure the South Amboy officials didn’t exactly know what was going on. They didn’t really deal with us. JD’s brother, who was over 21 and a well know member of the church, handled the hall rental negotiations. He pushed his way into the deal, as he thought he too might have a chance of becoming a big shot . However I don’t think he knew where  the money had come from. So now we have a date and a place.

We have four weeks to show time. First thing we do is get 4 color cardboard posters printed up. This was a good idea. Especially since there was not much money left for any other types of advertising. We spread out over Middlesex County with our posters. Putting them up anywhere there might be kids hanging around. Malls, pizza parlors, down the shore, Rutgers, Middlesex College, delis, anywhere and everywhere until we ran out of posters. In the process we were starting to attract quite a bit of attention. But a lot of the guys back on Smith Street  said they wouldn’t be going to the show. They were obviously envious of Dave and the boys and wouldn’t give us the satisfaction of coming.  Anyway, who cares, losers. So miss the party. All the girls came to the show though, making the guys even more pissed. We were outgrowing that town anyway so we didn’t care if the guys liked us or not. We were headed to NYC. Soon. Big shots.

One good thing about South Amboy was that there were a lot of kids in that town, and they all were looking for something to do. So we had somewhat of a built in audience in place. It was summer time, and Dave and the boys made the rounds and spread the word. We even had one radio spot run on WNEW rock radio. I remember we had to listen closely all day because the station wouldn’t tell us the exact time when it was going to air. But finally about 4pm we heard our spot. We turned on the New York Radio Station and we couldn’t believe what we heard at all, not at all. It was quite a thrill but some of us wondered if maybe we weren’t getting in a little bit over our heads. But not Dave of course. From him you never heard a discouraging word. He was a true believer. In himself.

We had  some advance ticket sales at the school hall, the only place where they were on sale, except of course, from Dave and the boys. We had plenty of tickets as it wasn’t a seated concert, just a large  hall. Dave hawked the tickets everywhere and made group deals. Traded tickets for “party favors”. But the overall success of the show depended on how many paying people actually showed up at the door that night.

So the show went on. We were lucky. It was a warm and dry summer Saturday night but the day had been cloudy, so not many people had gone down the shore and were still around. Earlier that afternoon the sound crew arrived and a bit later we greeted the band. We were only vaguely familiar with their music but they were pretty cool guys. They seemed to enjoy the fact that they were going to be playing in a catholic school auditorium. We shared a jay with them backstage with a statue of the Virgin Mary looking down on us. She didn’t say anything, and lightning didn’t strike us, so I guess it was all right.    I guess.

As 8 o'clock approached, the kids came. We sold about three hundred tickets, or so we thought. It seems that the kids who purchased the first tickets threw their stubs out the windows to their buddies who were then able to get in on the same ticket. We didn’t find out about this until it was too late and the show had already started. Oh well. But anyway Atomic Rooster rocked South Amboy and we had our first show under our belt. We somehow managed to pay everybody and once the band was onstage playing, we were able to relax, enjoy the music, and party down. And that we did.             

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