585 Magazine has a feature in the new issue on solo dining that is a must read for singles. The piece is written by our friend, Martin, so we are biased but there are some good restaurant tips in there for couples as well.
I first met Martin when he was working for Midtown Records on the second floor of the mall. I loved that store because they had real urban crowd and the 45 racks were well stocked and up to the minute. Martin tells the story of when Lenny Silver brought in a truckload of Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” 12 inches and piled them next to the register in the front of the store. He sold them all. Martin had a long ponytail at the time and he was looking to join a band but he didn’t have an instrument. He bought something he called “the plank,” a homemade bass guitar, before our first practice as the HiTechs. We opened for Grandmaster Flash at the Haunt in Ithaca. They had a song called “White Lines” at the time. “White lines, don’t do it.” They were were doing it.
I’m glad to see Martin is back in the food critic business. He used to do quite a bit of that, anonymously, back in the Refrigerator days. Maybe he’ll comment on this post. I’ve probably mixed up some of the so-called facts. I did a painting many years ago of Martin as “The Eccentric.”
Martin Edic plays bass on Hi-Techs – Subscriptions Are My Prescription
The funny thing about the plank is that Mike Holm was the previous owner and had pulled the frets out with pliers so he could play fretless. I had to have them put back in because my intonation was awful and we were recording that single. Mike came to work at Record Theater and we discovered I owned his old bass! Little did I know how much I would end up liking Grandmaster. There was a point when it made me want to puke. We sold hundreds of them. Thanks for the tribute but I’m not dead yet, though 2016 ain’t over. Knock on wood.