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Now there is one song I used to sing back at Tramps called “Stay as Sick as You Are” that we’re singing. Lee,” by the Bobbettes, and stuff like that.

Then I built a bunch of other songs around it, because as long as I’m going to go out there, I might as well do 15 songs or maybe 20 songs. So I heard this song and I thought, “Oh, I want to sing this song.” Then I thought, “Where am I going to sing it?” So, O.K., I’ll do Buster. Like there’s a song called “Down in Mexico,” by the Coasters. I just started telling some jokes every once in a while to keep the thing rollicking. It gave me an opportunity to sing songs that I wanted to sing but couldn’t normally, because if I go out as David Johansen, I have a certain kind of repertoire that people expect, whereas this, I get a chance to sing whatever I want to sing. I had been itchin’ to sing some of these jump-blues songs, so I booked the place for four Mondays to do a little cabaret, and that’s how I started doing Buster. I used to hang around in a saloon on 15th street called Tramps, where they had a lot of great acts like Big Joe Turner and Big Mama Thornton, who residencies there.

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How did you develop him?ĭavid Johansen: What happened is that years ago, I was playing in a rock band and I was listening to a lot of what I call pre–Hays Code rock ’n’ roll, what I call jump blues.

_ VF Daily:_ You’ve been doing Buster Poindexter since the 80s, but he still seems like such a departure from your persona. We spoke to Johansen about his set selection for the night, his memories of past Carlyle shows, and why he invented Buster in the first place. But tomorrow night he will appear onstage as his martini-swigging, tuxedo-clad alter ego Buster Poindexter. When did the Upper East Side staple get so edgy? Johansen is known for fronting the snarling, cross-dressing glam band the New York Dolls. When word got out that legendary cabaret club Cafe Carlyle was bringing downtown rock legend David Johansen uptown for Halloween, tongues were wagging.

Buster poindexter