Big Apple Band

After graduating from Sarah Lawrence in 1981, I lived in New York for the next 7 years. Those were heady times. New York in the 80's may have been better than New York in the 70's, but not by much. And I loved it. What better place to be in my 20's?

Emily found a place on E. 12th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues, at the time a borderline OK street. The East Village in general was pretty sketchy. Our building, however, was a co-op (this was a new thing back then) and the owner, Dieter something or other, managed to get permission from the other tenants to rent to us. I think he (and his wife?) actually lived in Germany and our apartment was an investment.

The apartment was quite nice. It was on the 2nd or 3rd floor, covering the left half of the floor, front to back. The front windows opened onto 12th Street. We had a back door that opened onto the roof. Huh. I guess we were on the 3rd floor, then. It had hardwood floors. And it wasn't very expensive. As a matter of fact (and you will find this hard to believe), I never paid more than $575 for an apartment in New York, and only one was kind of questionable.

I wonder now what we ate. I only remember going to the little Chinese take-out place around the corner. It was a walk-up place, long and skinny. No tables, just a man at a counter to take your order. I loved getting take-out. It was so cheap! I also loved buying challah bread. But did we cook? Shop? What was in our fridge? The only thing I ever really remember eating in that apartment was pesto with Italian bread. Gio had made some and brought it to a KoKoKu rehearsal. It was my first time having pesto. I was hooked.

I remember rehearsing in that apartment. KoKoKu was in full, albeit what would turn out to be a tragically short, swing. I remember playing Gio's electric guitar (a Gretsch, I think) and her making a recording of it, a rough cut of "Quite Happy." I wrote that song on the electric and have never been able to play it as well on the acoustic. Damn bar chords. Plus, it just doesn't have the same movement.

KoKoKu. I still think that's a cool name, 30 years later. Gio came up with it. She told us it was the name of a Laurie Anderson song. It fit because, as Gio said, Emily and I were KoKo and she was Ku.

Emily and I had been playing and writing together for several years, starting in Tennessee then continuing at Sarah Lawrence. (In fact, we are waiting this very moment for delivery of a long lost cassette of one of our concerts at Sarah Lawrence.) One summer day after graduation, Emily and I took the train to wherever Cheryl was living with Gio to rehearse. Only when we got there, Cheryl was in a pissy mood and didn't want to play. Gio piped up, "I'll play with you." Not wanting to have wasted a trip, of course we said, "OK."

My memory is that we all got our guitars and stood in a circle facing each other. Emily and I played one of our songs. Gio joined in, both playing and singing. And when we finished, we looked at each other, mouths hanging open. KoKoKu was born.

After a month or so of rehearsals, it was Gio who suggested we perform at an open mic night somewhere. She picked the famous Folk City. We invited a few friends to go with us one night. We signed up. We waited. I remember the interior of the place. Red. And so many framed photographs of everyone who was anyone in folk music from the 60's and 70's. Then it was our turn. We had three songs. I don't remember which ones we played but I'm guessing "Darkness," "In Your Way," and "Gimme Your Secret." One written by each of us.

I do remember loud applause and when we finished, the owners came up to us immediately and wanted to book us for a gig. KoKoKu was on.