THE STRANGE CASE OF Buster Poindexter

THE STRANGE CASE OF Buster Poindexter

FEATURES

Roy Trakm

by

�Why ya gonna write this for CREEM?,� rasps David Johansen in that gravelly Noo Yawk slang his alter ego Buster Poindexter has put to such good use with his Marlboro-and-martini-soaked betweensong patter. "Those kids could care less..

If you think the one-time lead singer for pioneering punk band the New York Dolls is having a bit of a �personality crisis� with the lounge lizard, toastmeister character he�s created, guess again. The 38-year-old Staten Island native shrugs off the irony of going from the grungy, high-heeled sleazoid glam-rock of the Dolls to the champagne cocktail-sipping, tux-clad party host Poindexter.

�What do you want? A middle-aged Communist in a dress?� he winks. �Who should I be? George Melly (the English jazz camp queen)?� ,

Say one thing about David, er, Buster. Ya can�t help but feel good about his latest success. He�s a helluva nice guy and nobody can dispute the man has busted his butt since the demise of the Dolls—I can hardly believe it—more than 12 years ago. David spent most of his five-LP solo career—the last of which, Sweet Revenge, came out in 1984—trying to live down the notoriety.

�I�ve had that act behind me for 15 years,� says Johansen about his first group. �It was a lotta fun, but it was a kid act. I look back at that as my college years. I think people who lament things are sick. Nostalgia. I didn�t like it then and I don�t like it now. Give me a break. People just reveal their tormented souls. To me, it�s a laugh, but it�s kinda sad at the same time. It�s not my problem. Life goes on. I can do anything I want to do. This is America, goddammit!!�

It wasn�t too long ago that Johansen�s career was at a virtual standstill. He got locked into the 200-night-a-year grind on the rock club circuit and wasn�t having any fun.

�It�s a tough way to live,� he says of the non-stop touring. �I just got too old for it. I loved it when I was a kid. It just got to the point where I said, there�s gotta be a better way. It just didn�t turn me on anymore. I figured if I created an act that could only play New York, I�d never have to leave again.

�I wanted to be home and have relationships, like other people had. That long residency in New York did wonders for my life. I got married (to photographer Kate Simon).�

Of course, the real story isn�t quite as calculated as all that, although all those elements played a part in the creation of David Johansen�s Frankenstein, Buster Poindexter. Actually, Mr. Poindexter got his start at Tramps, a bar in David�s Gramercy Park neighborhood whose Irish owners booked an eclectic variety of blues, soul and roots acts.

�I used to come in on Monday nights and there was nobody there except the sailors from the Lutheran Sinai home next door, so I said, let me put an act on,� recalls David about Buster�s origins.

That was 1984. What started as David, piano player Joe Delia and drummer Tony Machine, working out on obscure and not-so-obscure jump-swing and cabaret chestnuts like Jimmy Lunceford�s �Screwy Music� and Louis Armstrong�s �Bad Boy,� eventually mushroomed to include guitarist Brian Koonin, bassist Tony Garnier, percussionist Fred Wolcott, the Uptown Horns and singer Soozie Tyrell, all of whom still comprise Buster�s Banshees of Blue.

�I wanted to entertain my peers,� says Buster about his three-year residency at the small club, which led to a regular gig

on Saturday Night Live and a stint at the Bottom Line. �People didn�t want to go to a rock club to get puked on and have their heads knocked together. So I came up with something, which wasn�t too hard since I�m an entertainer. I went straight to my record collection and picked some of the songs I�ve always wanted to sing.�

An elaborate personal history was created for the Buster Poindexter character: he was born in Bogaloosa, Louisiana, the only child of a song-and-dance team who traveled all over the South, lugging their son with them. When he was six, his father was tragically murdered in a bridge game, so Buster�s mother got a job in New York City as Tallulah Bankhead�s aide-de-camp, where Poindexter grew up in the maid�s quarters of the actress� Park Avenue house. The truth is, David�s mom used to call him Buster as a kid; Poindexter was a nickname hung on him by schoolmates because of his propensity for reading.

�I was a smart kid, but I had an attitude also, so it was the best of both worlds really,�-� he says.

Who would have thought this new wave Bobby Short could ever translate outside of the parochial environs of Manhattan? If Peoria didn�t �get� the Dolls, how could you expect them to grok Buster?

�Are you kidding? Buster is reaching all ages. This is the largest music demographic since maybe Bing Crosby,� he laughs. �I�ve seen people bring their parents and their kids. Three generations loving you. You don�t get that in rock �n� roll.

Indeed, Buster Poindexter has opened doors that were shut to David Johansen: Top 40 success, movies, the Tonight Show... Buster is reaching an audience that has no idea who the New York Dolls or even David Johansen was. The character�s swallowing him up, like the marionette in Dead Of Night...

�Or Maude Frickett and Jonathan Winters. He couldn�t stop being Maude, so his wife had him committed,� jokes David. �What I�m doing now allows me to use more of my show biz chops. Rock �n� roll was not show business to me. I�m just using myself to better advantage now. While before, I was only using a tenth of me, now maybe I�m using half. After all, you don�t want to give away the store.

In fact, the Buster Poindexter show made its West Coast debut at L.A.�s Roxy, with the likes of Michelle Phillips and Herbie Hancock looking on, and proved quite entertaining. David�s shtick ranged from hoary old vaudeville jokes to up-to-the-minute monologues about stuff he�d read in the trades, like Debra Winger wanting to star in a movie about old-time cabaret singer Libby Holman. In many ways, the spritz outdid the music, which was nevertheless spirited and thoroughly unpretentious. There were even emotional sparks when Buster covered his pal David Johansen�s signature song, �Heart Of Gold.� But no �Personality Crisis,� and very few other originals.

�Why should I sing that song,� cracks David. �At my age, I�ll probably pop a gasket, pull a Jackie Wilson. I�ll start writing again, but at this point in my life, I�m not finished with all the songs I want to sing. Maybe after four or five LPs, i�ll start writing most of the material and cover just one or two oldies...�

Sure takes the pressure off having to come up with 10 new tunes for each album.

�F—in�-A, it does,� snaps Buster. �Gives me time to make movies.�

So, while Mr. Poindexter is doing his Banshees of Blue thing, David Johansen has become an actor, with roles in legendary underground filmmaker Robert Frank s Candy Mountain (as a rock star who is the �symbol of all evil on the planet�), Jonathan Demme�s Married To The Mob (as a Mafia priest) and the bigbudget re-make of The Christmas Carol, Scrooge (as the Ghost of Christmas Past opposite star Bill Murray).

Photo (left) by

�I�m actually a Spencer Tracy kind of performer,� he says. �Remember your lines and try not to bump into the furniture. I took a coupla classes and read a coupla books, but what an actor studies to do, I already know because of my years of schlepping around. A singer has to dig up emotion just like an actor. I use all the same tricks. ..�

Well, then, is Buster Poindexter all an act?

�Buster Poindexter is me,� insists David. �It�s no hoax. I�m working very hard.. .and I�m entertaining people. Of course, it�s light entertainment. I�m not gonna stop aid to the Contras with this thing. I�m here to entertain people, and not necessarily just kids. If you want me to talk about my great love for the blues,

I could, but it�s boring, schmaltzy. It�s obvious I love the music I do. I�m not just using it, I�m living it.

�I�m a performer. That�s how I make my living. I never relied on record income to pay the rent. I can always go out, sing a few tunes and get fed... �

With the success of the self-titled Poindexter album and its Carib-flavoi^d party song, �Hot, Hot, Hot,� it doesn�t look like eating will be too much of a problem for David Jo in the future, but does he worry that the Top 40 hit might be a oneshot novelty?

�If you�re trying to be provocative,, you�re doing a shitty job,� kids Johansen. �I�m beginning to feel a little like Lester Bangs going up against Lou Reed in one of those classic CREEM confrontations now. When the record first came out, I think we had to ovei*come the stigma, but I think we�ve accomplished that. We�re on KIIS, we�re on HOT103, we�re swinging. There are certain old industry hacks who�ll probably go, �Aha, it�s just a novelty record,� but who cares about them? What do they know about the soul of an artist?�

Then what about the element of blackface minstrels involved in the character ization? Hasn�t anybody yelled �racist� yet? I was at my �devil�s advocate� best now, but David/Buster wouldn�t flinch...

�Al Jolson? Gimme a break,� chortles JoPoindexter. �When I was doing Saturday Night Live, G.E. Smith used to go, �D�ya think we should be doing this?� And I�d say, �Whaddya got, a guilty conscience?� I marched, I was in Selma, Alabama. ..�

And what would he have done if Buster Poindexter hadn�t come along when he did?

�I would have written for the New Yorker, been a bartender and d.j.�ed at WBGO, the jazz station in Newark NJ,� he retorts. �I started Buster Poindexter because I wanted to sing a coupla songs and have a coupla laughs. It wasn�t planned, it�s totally organic, y�know?�

The conversation turns to bands like Poison and Motley Crue, and how these groups were achieving massive success with calculated outrage not unlike the Dolls did 15 years ago.

�I saw Poison�s album cover today and I thought they were girls,� says Dave. ��The gender-bending thing can be a cathartic experience for kids, y�know. It was for me. It comes from loving broads so much, you wanna be one, and I�m not talking homosexuality. It�s like, I love when babes wear those shoes, so you buy them for yourself. It�s weird. Maybe I should be talking about this to Psychology Today...�

Of course, Buster is pretty happy to put those days behind him.

��You see these rock stars tottering around in their high heels, long hair and tight pants and you go, �There but for the grace of God... he says, rolling his eyes. �I can walk down the street like a man now.�

So, as we leave Buster Poindexter nee David Johansen, it�s time to ponder the painful process of growing up and letting go, which isn�t easy for a lot of people, especially aging rock critics. Ya can�t blame the guy for finding the perfect artistic solution to the rock �n� rollers� premature obsolesence. David just decided to parody himself before he became a self-parody. Mick Jagger should be so lucky.. .

��There�s nothing new under the sun,� concludes DJ/BP�It�s not cynical to say that and it�s not sad to realize that. We�re stuck here on this planet, so we might as well have a good time and try not to screw too many people while we�re doing it. I�m getting pretty philosophical here. Must be the gin... �

Case closed.