I was never a fan of Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes. Like at all. But when I read this post on Jeremiah's Vanishing New York yesterday, I immediately thought of this album cover. Evidently, Panchito's on Minetta Street recently saw fit to paint over the fading remains of the Fat Black Pussycat Theatre sign that formerly loomed above their frankly unimpressive sunset tableaux. One wonders why the felt the need to do this -- were patrons walking into Panchito's expecting something different? In any case, it's gone now, and a bit of local history vanishes with it.
For a glimpse of Minetta Street in a different era, we turn back to Southside Johnny's This Time it's For Real above. If you look above the gaggle of satin-jacketed Jersey dudes in yards of lamentable denim and poorly-conceived facial hair to the left, you can see that same signage circa 1977. I spoke about same back on this similar post from 2008 (oof, was it that long ago?), but one wonders what the Jukes were doing on Minetta, being from Asbury Park after all. Whatever.
If you're curious as to what Johnny and his Jukes sounded like, here they are mercilessly butchering the Left Banke's otherwise stately "Walk Away, Renee" back in 1986. These were troubled times, obviously.
On the comments to Jeremiah's post about Panchito's, it seems that many are calling for a boycott of the establishment. I believe I dined at Panchito's once. The key word in that sentence: once.
I have that LP and I never noticed they were standing on Minetta Lane. I always wanted one of those satin jackets (featured in greater detail on the back cover). The Asbury Jukes are an easy target but they're basically just a good-time band.
Posted by: James Taylor | June 02, 2011 at 10:50 AM