CONCERT
JOE ..

January 15, 1992 ... New York Press

Concert Jones
by Neil Strauss

I meet Joe near the Downtown Tower Records security desk a little after eight o'clock Saturday night. He's in a ripped construction jacket with an Eric Clapton backstage pass on the back; he's tall and heavyset, sporting a Jerry Garcia tie-dye shirt and a curly, unkempt beard. He's with a friend, Judge Roy Bean, a tattoo artist who grew up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood Joe did.

"Are you ready?" Joe asks.

I'm ready. [This guy] is no ordinary Joe, he's Concert Joe, the guy who went out 350 nights last year and saw over 730 live shows. The catch is that Joe has absolutely no affiliation with the music business. In 1989 he spent over 15 grand on concerts, a sizable sum for a "mostly unemployed construction worker." It's only four days into 1992, and, by the end of the night, his tally for this year will be somewhere around 12.

Concert Joe's miffed. He has spent more than half his life running around clubs, bars, theaters, and arenas, catching some 6,000 shows and documenting his presence at each one. he has been in school for more than three decades (now night classes have become just an excuse to be in Manhattan at a convenient time), and he has blown roughly $50 each night he's gone out over six years of intensive concert consumption. The least the guy could get is a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records -- something like Most Concerts Attended by Someone Outside the Music Industry -- but Joe says, "I called them and they laughed. I think they're more interested in people who can throw cow turds the farthest. They told me to call them back if I ate more than 176 snails."

Joe won't deny he's somewhat of a Deadhead, but at least after a Grateful Dead concert he'll go catch Ella Fitzgerald, then Kitaro, and finally close the night with the Butthole Surfers, a night he remembers fondly as one of those highlights of his two decades of concert-going.

"New York is the best place to see concerts," Joe insists. He might be right, but not because he knows any better. Though he made pilgrimages to California and Hawaii last year, most of the four to seven concerts he goes to a night are in Manhattan.

Under his arm, Concert Joe is carrying "his bibles," tattered copies of NYPress and theVoice. Around his neck is a small "stealth" pot pipe which he made himself; it helps to pass time on the walks between venues. he spends his spare hours inventing pipes in jewelry, pipes in kazoos, pipes in frisbees.

Tonight begins at the Bottom Line, where tickets for Dave mason are $15, standing room only. "What tine's is supposed to start?" Joe asks the cashier after he buys two tix, one for a girl he's supposed to meet (though he says he's supposed to meet two). Judge Roy Bean and I head inside while Concert Joe waits outside for his dates. Pretty soon Mason's bassist lumbers on stage, guitar sticking out of his stomach like a knife in an apple, followed by the 45-year-old mason, who has no qualms about putting on earplugs in front of a sold-out house. Concert Joe is nowhere in sight. Stood up, we suppose. Sometime during an Eagles cover, Joe strolls in with a couple of friends, all guys, and directs us to a corner where he claims the acoustics are best. We try to enjoy the show, but by the time Mason begins his encore, Concert Joe and I are alone and his friends are on their way home.

Outside the club there's a line a hundred people long, waiting for the 11 o'clock show. Joe recognizes two ragged fellows in front of the queue and stops to talk to them. "There're about five guys who go to concerts all the time," Joe explains to me. "We all know each other. Those two see a couple hundred shows a year. There's this other guy I know named Ed who sees one play, one movie, or one concert a night. he's been going out every night for the past 32 years, knows the streets better than the rats."

We cross 4th St. and snack on a couple of soy burgers at Dojo West. Concert Joe unzips his hip pouch and makes sure his Walkman dubbed the show. "I used to record every concert," he says. "I've got hundreds of stacks of tapes at home, all pretty bad quality. I never listen to them. They're just for documentation. I've got like six or seven hundred t-shirts also."

He pulls a handful of quarters and a crumbled piece of paper out of his pocket. On one side of the paper, he has a list of the shows he planned on seeing last night -- Public Enemy, P.M. Dawn, Mephiskapheles, Uncle Floyd. on the other side, tonight's agenda: Dave Mason, D'Tripp, Simon and the Bar Sinisters, Hip Nips, 970-SOUL, Skadunks, Amy Rubin, Savoy Truffle -- half of which we end up seeing. next to each band is an address and a phone number. "You got to call to see when the bands are coming on," Joe says. "A lot of guys wait around an hour or so for a concert to begin when they could have gone off and seen another show in that time."

Concert Joe pumps quarters into the phone, and the night comes together like a mail-order bicycle. "Too many people stay home at night,: Joe says between puffs on his necklace as we walk to the Continental (nee Continental Divide) to catch the Hip Nips, five Japanese musicians who play hardcore Elvis covers. unfortunately. the woman who spoke to Joe on the phone was a little too enthusiastic. The Hip Nips aren't due on for another half-hour. "Timing is everything," Joe says sagely. "But people in clubs, they lie a lot. They just want to get you in their club."

We head to Dan Lynch by way of Ben & Jerry's, where, true to form, Joe asks the woman at the counter, "Do you have that new flavor, Wavy Gravy?" They don't, and they're out of Cherry Garcia, so any old flavor will do. "I'm a vegetarian and I don't drink alcohol, Joe explains while washing down his blueberry cone with a vial of ginseng. "But I eat lots of pizza and sweets. It's the ginseng, royal bee pollen, vitamin E, and carrot juice that keeps me going. I'm getting too old to keep running around like this. Without the ginseng, I'd be asleep by now."

We walk into Dan Lynch while D'Tripp is segueing Curtis Mayfield into L.L. Cool J into the Ohio players into a long psychedelic jam. "Of all the bands in the city they've got the best voices," Concert Joe says. The young Bootsy Collins-modeled bassist is singing phrases across four octaves while D'Tripp's front man is belting, "Freddie's dehhhhhhd" with funkgospel fervor. They're hot, they're young, they're fun, and over the course of an hour, they cover a lot of territory in only four jams.

"It's better than sitting home watching tv," Joe justifies himself as we hop into a cab and shuttle across town. The music doesn't stop. "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" is booming out the taxi's back speakers. "This is the best Temptations song," Joe says objectively, in the same way he says the Spin Doctors is the best band in town, Monday is the best night to see local acts, the Allman Brothers was one of last year's three best shows.

The cab stops in front of Flannery's to the tune of the Marvelettes, Joe leaves a generous tip, and we walk downstairs into a deathly hot basement, the Strip, where Simon and the Bar Sinisters are covering "Born Too Loose." it reminds Joe of the time he was lightening up a pipe at a Johnny Thunders concert, and Thunders reached off the stage for the pipe, stuck it in his mouth, puffed like a dragon, and continued his guitar solo without missing any more notes than usual. The shaven-headed singer of Simon and the Bar Sinisters, who does bear an uncanny resemblance to Underdog's nemesis, pulls out of "Born Too Loose" and into a country ditty, then a touch of rockabilly, a little hardcore, and, finally, closing the show, a snatch of spy movie music. "I used to see this guy ten years ago, when he was Joey Miserable and the Worms," Joe shouts in my ear. The wait is just over 15 minutes for Johnny legend, the main event, in town for a Fangoria convention, and Concert Joe is impatient. he doesn't like to wait, but he's stranded on the West side; he can't run over to, say, New Frontier and catch the Skadunks, or Mondo Cane to see 970-SOUL. "Quarters," he says, sitting down sadly like a defeated video game champ.

Backed by a drummer, an electric bassist. and three guitarists -- some from the World Famous Blue Jays, the rest from the A-Bones -- Legend is swamped in sound. Sunglasses splattered in paint, hair akin to Johnny Fever's WKRP in Cincinnati do, beard hanging at mid-chest, legend fights back with an uncensored, Arch hall Jr.-style "Night of the Sadist" before handing the mic to A-Bone Billy Miller, who matches suit with another low-budget movie title, Frank Zappa's "The World Greatest Sinner."

Two minutes after Legend leaves the stage for the seventh and last time, Concert Joe and I are in a cab on the way to Wetlands. "This is my favorite place in the whole world," he says. "They're having their third anniversary soon, and I've seen like six or seven hundred shows there since they opened. one day last year they told me I had paid admission more than anyone else and I didn't have to pay anymore."

It doesn't matter tonight, because it's 3 am, and no one's working the door this late. Savoy Truffle is on stage playing a -- guess -- Grateful Dead song. A five-foot tall hippie chick is dancing like she's auditioning for Hair and a few others in the audience are shaking maracas and tambourines. The scene is serene. "It's like 20 years ago," Joe says happily.

He says the same thing to a security guard outside the club an hour alter. "You're crazy, Joe. You're nuts," the guard responds with a benevolent smile when he's assaulted with the day's concert chronology.

"I'm getting older. I can't keep this up any longer," Joe says for the tenth time that night.

Concert Joe is 50 bucks the poorer and four concerts the wiser, but he's got plans for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. He tries to catch the big shows when he can, but mainly he circulates in the local scene, where there's a lot of talent, but not a lot of originality. What was new 20 years ago is a cover song today, and that's the way Joe likes it. It probably won't get him in the Guinness Book of World Records.

...................................................
.

December 19, 1992 . New York Post

from Page Six, by Frank DiGiacomo and Joanna Molloy, with Florence Anthony

"I'm addicted," says Joe when asked why he's been to 999 concerts this year. "I don't smoke pot, drink, or eat meat, but I do have a three-concert a night habit." "Concert Joe," as he's known, will break the 1,000 barrier tomorrow night at Wetlands for the Jorma Kaukonen show. How does he manage? "I flew back from a Grateful Dead Concert in Arizona for the anniversary of Lincoln Center," says the 38-year-old construction worker. "After Ella Fitzgerald, it was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I saw Megadeath after Philip Glass, and the Butthole Surfers after Kitaro." A stunning achievement--especially since Joe uses the subway to get from show to show, and he pays for them. "I've been to SOB's about 200 times this year," he says. "I pay every time."

..................................................

February 9, 1993... The STAR

Music-mad Joe hits up to 8 concerts a night
Construction worker racks up $14,000 debt to "feed" his habit

Wacky "Concert" Joe is in love with the sound of music -- and he's run up a $14,000 debt by shelling out big bucks for up to eight concerts a night. Construction worker Joe, 39, has been hooked on live shows for more than 20 years, taking in 1,031 last year alone. The self-confessed addict even managed eight concerts in one marathon night, and has asked The Guinness Book of World Records to create a new category for him.

He loves all kinds of music. A typical evening can see him taking in a New York Philharmonic concert at Lincoln Center before going downtown to see a grunge band, such as the Screaming Headless Torsos, and winding down with jazz great Cecil Taylor.

"I like diversity in music," he says. "I've seen the Grateful Dead nearly 400 times and last year I flew back from one of their shows in Arizona to catch a classical recital in Manhattan."

Joe plans his concert nights with military precision three months in advance.

"I'll look through the newspaper and pick 10 to 15 concerts I like and write down the details on one of the little cards I have for every day of the week," explains Joe, who lives in Brooklyn, NY.

He orders tickets for the big shows and then plans his seven-night-a-week schedule as he goes along, depending on when headlining bands are going on stage.

"Timing is everything," says the king of concerts, who spends an average of $50 a night on shows. "Schedulers are always lying about when the headliners are coming on stage, so I always phone ahead to find out how far into the set the opening act is. That way I know when to arrive for a show.

"I use the subway or walk, so my timing has to be exact. I get taxis only when I'm out on a date. If I had a car and lived in Manhattan, I reckon I could have broken 2,000 concerts last year."

Joe says he has no problem with dress codes for concerts and often carries a white shirt to put over one of his 700 T-shirts in case the occasion demands it.

But he pays a high price in more ways than one for his crazy routine. Joe, who rarely gets home until 3 am after taking a 30-minute subway ride, has to survive on just a few hours sleep. He says he manages to stay awake during his punishing concert schedule by drinking lots of ginseng and eating royal jelly and bee pollen. Now he is planning to start a 900 hotline to share his expertise. Concert Joe says: "I'm not looking to make a lot of money, but it would be a great way to pay for my tickets and get out of debt."

......................................................

13 February, 1993
New Music Express

A music-mad New York construction worker has run up $14,000 in debts after attending up to eight concerts in one night. Joe saw 1,031 shows in 1992. In a typical evening, he saw the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, then went downtown to catch the Screaming Headless Torsos, before finishing off with jazz great Cecil Taylor. Joe has seen The Grateful Dead nearly 400 times and flew back last year from an Arizona show by The Dead to catch a classical recital in Manhattan. He spends an average of $50 a night on concerts.

.....................................................

More articles about Concert Joe

June 28, 1992

September 3, 1997

*July 30, 2001

*October 2001

*October 18, 2004
24/7 .Brooklyn News

January 2005
SPIN Magazine