Rubbing Elbows. Brushes with Celebrities and How I Became Buddy Beaverhausen, Celebrity Blogger: a Memoir (chapter 1 preview)

It was the summer of 1975 and I was three years out of University of Colorado. I moved from my mom's house in our hometown of Paterson, NJ, just 20 miles from New York City, where I intended to live. All these years later, I live here still.

I got myself a fleabag room in a West Village hotel that, nowadays, is quite elegant. I applied for a job as a host at The Bottom Line, and I got it. I escorted people to their seats for the shows.

It was just a little more than minimum wage but I had a fun crew to work with and a great group to hang out with afterwords, mostly for drinks from our tip money, at the nearby Phoebe's, itself a legend that is still around on The Bowery.

Free kitchen food at The Bottom Line was a perk! Great burgers & fries, chef salad -- were my favorites. I never left hungry.

My first show at The Bottom Line featured Bruce Springsteen as their star. It was that week, in June, that Bruce appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone. The house was packed to the rafters for that five-night engagement.

The now-classic Thunder Road album was about to be released, and he and the original E-Street Band opened with "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out." Chills ran up and down my spine. A star was born!

But, before he even took to the stage, I saw Bruce shirtless in his dressing room, and my heart skipped a beat! What a lithe, muscular body!

My bosses, Alan Pepper and the late Stanley Snadowsky, asked me to go backstage and get some chairs back for the patrons. It was a daunting task but I thought they were testing my mettle.

So, backstage I went, where Bruce was having his torso powder-puffed by a female assistant. He gave me a big grin and I practically melted. I passed on the request and he was totally agreable. His entourage carried seats back out to the audience.

And thus began my brushes with celebrities. Eventually, I got a promotion to Bottom Line's box-office, where I often dealt with celebs -- like Bette Midler and Lou Reed -- face-to-face. But those are stories to be told later in this book.

Buddy Beaverhausen Remembers Ellie Greenwich

Ellie Greenwich was born October 23, 1940 and died in 2009 of a heart attack due to complications from pneumonia, six years ago today, August 26, 1999. She was born in Brooklyn (isn't elmost everybody?) but, at age 10, moved with her family to Levittown, Long Island.

I grew up listening to Ellie's songs (written with then songwrting partner and hubby, Jeff Barry) on the radio on on my turntable. I loved these songs though, at the time, had no idea who wrote them. She and Barry frequently wrote for Phil Spector. She also recorded lead vocals as The Raindrops and as a solo artist. She and Barry were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991.

I wore out most of the records on which she'd written the songs -- singles like "Be My Baby," "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Maybe I Know," "Chapel of Love," "He's Got the Power" and "River Deep, Mountain High" to name but a few.



In 1983, Ellie wrote a hit single for Nona Hendryx, "Keep It Confidential." She followed that up with the song, "Right Track, Wrong Train." It was written specially for Cyndi Lauper, whose voice Ms Greenwich admired. It appeared on the B-side of the original "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" 45.

Shortly thereafter, Alan Pepper ~ my old boss at The Bottom Line, and all-around great guy ~ had a show created around Ellie's songs. Leader of the Pack was such a long-running hit at the club, it was brought to Broadway, featuring Darlene Love, Annie Golden and Ms Greenwich herself. I was lucky enough to see both versions.

RIP, Ellie (Eleanor) Greenwich. Your quintessential pop songs are forever in our hearts and on our "turntables," whatever media that is nowadays.

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