Cafe Wha? opened in ’59 and is on the corner of Macdougal Street between Bleecker and West 3rd Street in the Greenwich Village about two blocks from Washington Square Park in Manhattan.

The club has been home to (and began the careers of) many musicians and comedians including Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Velvet Underground, Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen and Richard Pryor.

As a hangout for Ginsberg and the “Beat Generation” it became a stomping ground for many great artists at the start of their careers and known for its support of great talent.

Opened by Manny Roth – the uncle of David Lee Roth, frontman in 80′s Van Halen, the place was referred to by New Yorkers as one of the cities basket-houses - a den for intellectuals, hippies and aspiring folk and rock muso’s – who got paid whatever was chucked in the basket by it’s basket-case patrons.

Dylan’s first ever NY appearance was at Cafe Wha? in ’61 – his very first day in NYC. Roth hired him off the street and put him on as backing for Fred Neil (who later wrote songs for Harry Nilsson). Dylan would also play solo performances for Manny but only in the afternoons, “from twelve to eight,” Dylan recalls, also saying that it was tough to get noticed at Cafe Wha? because of the huge amount of performers that went through there and that it was usually just “tourists looking for beatniks in the Village.”

Jimi Hendrix was most famously discovered by Chas Chandler while playing at Cafe Wha? during the summer of ’66 with his short lived outfit called Jimmy James and The Blue Flames. Chandler (who was ending his time as bass player of The Animals) promptly signed Hendrix and immediately brought him to the UK to form a new outfit called The Jimi Hendrix Experience and get to work recording his debut album “Are You Experienced”.

Hendrix was suggested to Roth by Richie Havens, who also got his start at Cafe Wha?, and Roth hired Jimmy James and The Blue Flames for three months, from May thru till July, to play their psy-funked cover versions of tunes.

During their residency as the Cafe Wha? house band, the band also featured Randy Wolfe who Hendrix dubbed “Randy California” and who would later go on to found Spirit with his step-father drummer, Ed Cassidy. Randy California was only 15!!! at the time he was in The Blue Flame and it niggles me that he didn’t go to England with Hendrix and become part of The Experience, but still, Spirit are amazing, so it’s not all that bad.

A girlfriend of Keith Richards, Linda Keith, befriended Hendrix in New York sometime in ’66 and recommended him to the Stones flamboyant manager – Andrew Loog Oldham – but he wasn’t interested so she later recommended him to Chas Chandler who saw Hendrix at the Cafe Wha? on July 5th and reckoned he could make a killer single out of “Hey Joe”. The rest is history…

Although Hendrix and Dylan were Cafe Wha?’s most famous exponents, they only met once during that time in New York, at another village bar called The Kettle Fish.

Cafe Wha? is open to this day, although it was sold by Manny Roth in 1988, and is still supporting up and coming talent with its open mic nights and open door procedures.

The guitars of the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s, their designs, innovation and features are a cut above the rest. It was the Guitar’s heyday and a highpoint in guitar manufacturing. The time and the music created a huge market where a lot of large small and tiny music manufacturers could survive for a short period of time.

There was a lot of cool guitars and yeah there were lots of nice Fenders, Gretsches and Gibsons and they are the guitars that everyone remembers but the “Coolest” guitars, the most innovative guitars, the guitars that pushed design and feature boundries – well they were the Silvertones, the Danelectros, the Kays and Harmonys, the Hofners and all the other weird and wonderful small Japanese, American and European guitars.

They might have borrowed a few ideas from the big boys of guitar design and building but they in turn had their ideas adopted by the bigger companies when their ideas or designs were ahead of the game. Their affordable price enabled a generation to create a golden era of music, like cheap synths and drum machines enabled andother golden era of innovation and like the computers and software of today are doing as we speak.

These guitars are now collectable in their own right, especially as all the Fender and Gibson prices rise and rise these guitars are still relatively cheap in the collector’s guitar market for what they deliver. It’s the sound of the instruments, the pickups and the amps. It’s also the sound of the records we love and its the sound of the records, the kit and the instruments – it’s what we will always remember and connect with. The first time u play a guitar like this or any decent vintage kit – you will get it – you will make the connection. You will always remember the sound of it cause its what you have always been listening to and trying to emulate.

We Are You…

We are passionate about writing playing and recording great music. We love the processes and tools used in the past and the present to produce great music. We feel that all music is recapitulation and a reinterpretation of what has gone before, that the only thing that changes is the perspective of the creators and the knowledge that a good tool will always hold its value and can enable someone to paint a picture relative and fresh in its time .

We Want To…

Offer budding or experienced musicians and producers killer vintage guitars and basses to start with and in the mean time great we will be hunting down and finding vintage amps, synths, effects and recording gear. We want to import quality kit mainly from the US and Europe for re-sale in Ireland, the UK and Mainland Europe.

We are working away on the site here at the moment and it should be fully up and running within the next few weeks. Check Back Soon…

Been working on some Deep South Stencils for the site. Had the usual Saturday night with a few cans. Cheers to Botsy and Barry for the help.

Here’s a little video of Botsy and myself getting the first DS stencils together with some ace vinyl sticks, a roller and some black and white paint.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/23533014 w=1000&h=700]