Nico Teen

Hanging out at Danceteria

As mentioned, Nihilistics had the good luck to play a number of legendary NYC venues – CBGB, Great Gildersleeves, Max’s Kansas City, Mudd Club, Peppermint Lounge, etc. – but when we weren’t on the bill you’d often find us hanging out watching someone else’s band. Or just hanging out. One of my favorite spots was the second incarnation (1982–1990) of Danceteria on 21st Street. From Wikipedia:

“…the club became renowned as one of the centers of new wave music in New York and was frequented by many musicians and artists who became famous during the decade, such as Madonna, New Order, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Sade, Wham!, R.E.M., the Smiths, Squeeze, Cyndi Lauper, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Run-DMC, Depeche Mode, Butthole Surfers, The Fall, the B-52's, Samhain, Bauhaus, RuPaul, Berlin, Units, Romeo Void, Sonic Youth, Swans, Stephen Merritt, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the Cult, Karen Finley, Violent Femmes, Soft Cell, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, and Rob Zombie.”

I was at Danceteria one night in 1983 or ‘84 with a teenaged Paul Bearer (of future NYHC legends Sheer Terror) and I’ll let him take it from here…

“Upstairs, 3rd floor lounge… we were sitting on a couch, not really doing much. She walked by and I said “That looked like Nico.” We weren’t positive but it looked a lot like her, so you yelled out “Nico!” and she turned around and came over to us. She asked us if we knew someone, can’t remember the name. I said to her “No. I just always wanted to say hello to you.” She smiled and touched my cheek. She walked away and we were a little starstruck. That quickly turned into “Holy crap! We just met Nico!”

(Editor’s Note: I’d like to think I said something besides just shouting “Nico!”)

Nico frequented the club and even performed there.

I’d known about Nico’s involvement in Velvet Underground but it hadn’t occurred to me back then that her career continued beyond VU. I was a dope. It wasn’t until years later when Tammy Fave Starlite brought her Nico Underground show to WFMU (I played the part of the radio DJ) that I recalled meeting Nico at Danceteria. I’m glad Paul was there to fill in the blanks.

Nico is gone but Tammy Faye Starlite has a new production of Nico Underground running for two more weeks at Joe’s Pub in NYC. It’s a must-see (and the guy playing the DJ in this production makes me look like a community theater actor). Now check out this bizarre 1984 Danceteria commercial:

NEXT WEEK: That time Mike met Mike.