There’s this sign hanging above the southeast corner of Thompson and Bleecker street that goes mostly unnoticed. The sign belonged to the Village Gate and it still has the name of the last performer to play Art D’Lugoff’s pleasure palace. The sign is now landmarked and I’m sure creates confusion for tourists who want to see Penny Arcade perform. The Village Gate was a John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Nina Simone, Herbie Mann , Aretha Franklin, Eddie Palmieri, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, James Moody, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Hutcherson kind of place. A benefit for Timothy Leary in 1970 featured performances from Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Allen Ginsberg. Comedians like John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Garry Goodrow and Christopher Guest did their thing at this legendary club. I, along with Leslie Bernard (Clementine, Tillman’s and now the Village Tart) had the honor of doing a club there with Mr D’Lugoff called Peace. I later was given the opportunity to do my club Life there. Today it flourishes as Le Poisson Rouge.

Last night Penny Arcade came back home for her book release party. It was at the Village Gate where Penny ran her “bitch!dyke!fafhag!whore!“ events. A cornucopia of downtown performance legends came to read from Penny’s new hardcover Bad Reputation. Readers included a very social Debbie Harry, looking phenomenal as she prepares for her upcoming Blondie tour. Other readers included Sarah Schulman and dirty martini Jennifer Bell. Tons of her signature erotic dancers were titillating the crowd, including the ever beautiful and dangerous Jessica Rabbit. Penny’s street tales had the smart crowd reeling with laughter. The subjects were serious stories of life on the street, with all the bad stuff left in. She was a runaway at thirteen, sent to a reform-school at sixteen, a performer in the legendary NYC Playhouse of the Ridiculous at seventeen. She finished her teen years at Andy Warhol’s factory. And those were her wonder bread years.

Lady Kier played a truly delightful and eclectic set. At one point she traveled from The Stooges to Isaac Hayes without missing a beat. Joey Arias, Desmond Cadogan, Greg Wolf and my favorite Blisstone Laura Fay Lewis were in the crowds. 85 year old Taylor Meade, frail but chipper, made his way to the stage to recite a poem. He insisted he was “just a simple country girl who survived a wealthy father and various gross points.” He’s from Grosse Point, Michigan. He continued, “I have 8 stab wounds and have been pronounced dead 3 or 4 times.” He then told a tale of a romantic encounter under the Brooklyn Bridge with a rough man. He destroyed the crowd as always. I used to buy him whiskey back in the day as a fee to just hang with him. His sharp eyes and wit held the audience captive, even when he couldn’t remember the words to his own work. He made up new words and declared them better anyway. Debbie was introduced as a “true anti-diva,” a moniker I agree with. She read “Phone Girl.” This chapter consists of real conversations Penny accumulated in a bawdy house. The conversations between the phone girl and the men callers, all named John, are brilliant. It ends with a, “No our girls don’t kiss” because “some people just want to kiss the person they’re in love with.” Reno, comedienne, activist, fabulous loud mouth and dancer, read a women against pornography section. She greeted the audience with “I’ve just spent 3 hours with a bra on and I’m not in a good mood!” Bruce Benderson and John Kelly followed.

At one point, Art D’Lugoff’s daughter, Sharon Blithe, and I were talking about Art and how happy he would have been with this gathering. Art passed recently, but his legend continues at the Village Gate. It felt like old times, but more importantly it felt like new times as vibrant as the legendary days of yore. Penny said she had no loot for advertising so she facebooked relentlessly to get the big crowd there. Things can still happen in this town. Justine Delany, who currently books the space came over. Justine is better known as one of the great DJs in this town, using the name Justine D. We noted the history of the place: D’Lugoff had it for 40 years, then my turn came, first with Peace and then Life for four years, and now the torch is passed to the very remarkable and capable Justine. She has been there for about a year and the joint is jamming.

Spaces don’t get old and tired. The energy of operators wanes, but the space can be reinvented if there’s a willingness to do so. I’ve made a living doing just that for 25 plus years. For example, the space Greenhouse is operating in has been a club of some name or another since the 1940s. Webster Hall has existed for over a hundred years. Beatrice was Beatrice before it became Beatrice, although it featured a very different crowd. And the space I’m doing on 14th street for Richie and Scott will soon be reborn as a brand new heavy, long after Nell’s and the Noel Ashman entries have passed. The Village Gate space is haunted by the good vibrations of all the great people who have put their love and talent to work there. Some dude said you can’t go home again. Silly wabbit, of course you can.