Standing beside Garth Hudson

For Hallowe’en, 1998 the late/great record producer Hal Willner

(photo of Hal by JK in his Midtown studio)

And his most dependable whip-smart sidekick Janine Nichols

(photo of Janine overlooking the Bowery by JK)

conjured a fabulous night of music and poetry at St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn Heights, to celebrate his recent release, Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems & Tales of Edgar Allan Poe.

(Yes! it’s a Ralph Steadman cover, and great album - track it down!)

The cast of readers included Steve Buscemi (who read “The Raven” down on one knee) Anna Gasteyer, Colin Quinn, Lili Taylor, John Ventimiglia, and Umar Bin Hassan (of the Last Poets). Vocals and music were created by John Cale, Garth Hudson, Elysian Fields (who worked up a gorgeous “Annabel Lee,”) Mark Bingham, Lenny Pickett and the genius of toy piano, Margaret Leng Tan.

The house band included bassist, singer Eric Mingus, Karen Mantler on keyboards and chromatic harmonica, And myself on mandolin, flute and recorder. I think keyboard/accordionist Rob Burger was also in the house, and I can’t recall who the drummer/percussionist was. (Please feel free to correct my fading memory.)

At one point I found myself standing beside Garth Hudson backstage. What do you say to the legendary bearded keyboard wizard of the Band? “A man of few words and many notes,” as Janine regaled him.

So, I hesitantly asked him, “What music do you like to listen to at home?” “Mostly the weather channel,” he replied with no trace of irony. “You never know what you’re going to hear… could be Monk, or Debussy.” With that the conversation turned to dogs and whatever nervousness I felt about standing next to a genius instantly melted away. (The same thing happened when I first met William Burroughs. I knew he loved cats, so we stuck to felines, and nobody got hurt.)

While Garth was a truly cosmic being, he was surprisingly down to earth. At one point during the performance, I looked over at him as he played the church organ, his silhouette bathed in red light and was startled at how closely he resembled Brahms bobbing up and down at the keyboards.

May the heavens resound with a most brilliant music of the likes you’ve never heard upon your auspicious arrival Good Sir!