Harvie S On Tap Episode VI | Richard’s Lounge
The Wildest Night at Richard’s Lounge
When I was very young in New York, I used to play at a place in Lakewood, New Jersey, called Richard’s Lounge. It was owned by a former drummer named Richard Stein who completely gave up playing to run this amazing jazz club.
Even though it was in a weird location, it was the best club, hosting incredible musicians like Dave Sanborn, John Scofield, and John Abercrombie. It was actually the very first place I was ever hired to lead a band. Because it was a long drive back to the city and I didn’t own a car, we used to just sleep up in the attic of Richard’s house after playing.
Richard loved to experiment and do crazy things at the club. I’ll never forget waking up one afternoon in that attic, walking down to the living room for coffee, and finding a guy sitting there completely naked. He introduced himself as “Sweet Pie,” a nudist blues singer who actually performed his sets without any clothes on. The police were constantly coming in and threatening to shut the place down over it. That wild, anything-goes atmosphere perfectly set the stage for one of the most unforgettable nights I ever had playing there with Barry Miles’ fusion band.
It was a Saturday night, and we were gearing up to play the last of our three sets for the evening. Richard’s father, who was the nicest guy and happened to be the bartender, had invented a series of increasingly strong drinks called “Rush 1,” “Rush 2,” all the way up to 8. We were all feeling pretty good after having a nice drink before the final set. Just as Barry told me it was time to go on, I looked over and saw a young kid standing right there holding a handgun. At the door stood another guy with a shotgun, while a third guy held out a hat, demanding our money.
It was immediately obvious that these guys were complete amateurs. The kid holding the handgun was shaking like a leaf, and the guitar player just calmly pulled five dollars out of his wallet and handed it over. In the middle of this, one of our waitresses obliviously walked right past them carrying a massive tip jar stuffed with cash, and they didn’t even notice. The robbers then demanded the money from the cash register, so Richard’s father pulled all the bills out. What the thieves didn’t know was that when you empty the register completely, the levers drop and automatically trigger a silent alarm to the police.
The thieves grabbed the money and made their escape, but they didn’t get very far. As they were speeding down the highway, they decided it would be smart to throw the shotgun out the car window to get rid of the evidence. When the gun hit the ground, it went off and completely blew out their own tires. The police, who were already swarming the area looking for them, easily caught them stranded on the side of the road and recovered the stolen cash. We drove back to the city that night after a very weird end to the gig, just another crazy memory from Richard’s Lounge.