John Kelly (pictured above)
Performance and visual artist, Hell’s Kitchen
How is it being back at the Pyramid club?
It was crazy being on that stage again. The footprint’s exactly the same. But it’s 40 years later, I’m a different person, and the world is vastly different. My generation — half of them are gone. The ’80s were this incredible last gasp of Bohemia in New York that coincided with the AIDS pandemic. In fact, I lost my first partner in 1982 when it wasn’t even called AIDS quite yet. So it was a very loaded scenario to be there, and we paid tribute to those who weren’t with us in the room.
Do you have a favorite Pyramid club memory?
Opening night was pretty amazing. I performed the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian in an upside-down bustier and a black half-slip with kind of punked-out hair. And then for New Year’s Eve, Peter Littlefield staged a piece about the end of the old year and ushering in the new one, and we walked through the crowd to the strains of the love duet from Verdi’s Otello. The electricity was really clear in the air and then this big roar happened before the countdown. That was kind of great. I was also tripping on acid and had a fever — that’s indicative of the exuberance that kept us in the club and not at home in bed.
James Tigger! Ferguson
Burlesque stripper, Jersey City, New Jersey
Eric Mueller
Graphic-design director, Yonkers
Bonnie Sue Stein
Artist and producer, East Village
How’s it feel to be back here?
Like going through a time machine. Those stairs at the Pyramid — my God, they’re the same. It was kind of a feeling of being 20 again. And now I’m 72.
Benjamin Forster
Performer, Greenpoint
Jorge Clar
Performance artist and DJ, Lower East Side
Tell me about your outfit.
It’s an homage to Brian Butterick, a.k.a. Hattie Hathaway, who was the manager of the Pyramid after Bobby Bradley left. Hattie would always say that leopard was his favorite color. The outfit is doing double duty because I also used it as my costume for my performance.
Claire Buckingham
Actor, Clinton Hill
Julia Fought
TV producer, Murray Hill
Hapi Phace
Performance artist, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Holly George-Warren
Author, Phoenicia
What’s your connection to the Pyramid club?
I used to play in an all-girls punk-rock-polka band called Das Furlines. We were kind of like the house band in the late ’80s. When our band would go play in Montreal or Miami Beach, a lot of our Pyramid fans would join us. They were like our own little Dead Heads.
Deb O’Nair
Musician and artist, Alphabet City
Joshua Fried
Experimental composer-performer, Bushwick
Judy Levy
Artist, Washington Heights
Any wild recollections from your club days?
One night, I came home and I had a hole in my foot. Someone had stepped on it with a spiked heel. I didn’t even feel it. I saw it when I got home, and I soaked my foot in a bucket of hot water with salt. It was a mess.
Walter Durkacz
Vintage shop and showroom owner, Williamsburg
Iris Rose
Artisan and chanteuse, East Village
Katy K. Kattelman
Fashion designer, Harlem
Julie Hair
Artist, Bushwick
You used to work the door at the Pyramid. Did you see a lot of familiar faces tonight?
To be perfectly honest, some people came up to me and were like, “Hey, how you doing?” And I’m like, “Fuck, I’m not sure who you are.” I’ve done a lot of drugs in my life. I’ve burned a lot of brain cells, and people change.
Susan Martin
Nonprofit director and author, Abiquiu, New Mexico
Deb Parker
Business owner and Realtor, New Baltimore
James Tigger! Ferguson
Burlesque stripper, Jersey City, New Jersey
Eric Mueller
Graphic-design director, Yonkers
Bonnie Sue Stein
Artist and producer, East Village
How’s it feel to be back here?
Like going through a time machine. Those stairs at the Pyramid — my God, they’re the same. It was kind of a feeling of being 20 again. And now I’m 72.
Benjamin Forster
Performer, Greenpoint
Jorge Clar
Performance artist and DJ, Lower East Side
Tell me about your outfit.
It’s an homage to Brian Butterick, a.k.a. Hattie Hathaway, who was the manager of the Pyramid after Bobby Bradley left. Hattie would always say that leopard was his favorite color. The outfit is doing double duty because I also used it as my costume for my performance.
Claire Buckingham
Actor, Clinton Hill
Julia Fought
TV producer, Murray Hill
Hapi Phace
Performance artist, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Holly George-Warren
Author, Phoenicia
What’s your connection to the Pyramid club?
I used to play in an all-girls punk-rock-polka band called Das Furlines. We were kind of like the house band in the late ’80s. When our band would go play in Montreal or Miami Beach, a lot of our Pyramid fans would join us. They were like our own little Dead Heads.
Deb O’Nair
Musician and artist, Alphabet City
Joshua Fried
Experimental composer-performer, Bushwick
Judy Levy
Artist, Washington Heights
Any wild recollections from your club days?
One night, I came home and I had a hole in my foot. Someone had stepped on it with a spiked heel. I didn’t even feel it. I saw it when I got home, and I soaked my foot in a bucket of hot water with salt. It was a mess.
Walter Durkacz
Vintage shop and showroom owner, Williamsburg
Iris Rose
Artisan and chanteuse, East Village
Katy K. Kattelman
Fashion designer, Harlem
Julie Hair
Artist, Bushwick
You used to work the door at the Pyramid. Did you see a lot of familiar faces tonight?
To be perfectly honest, some people came up to me and were like, “Hey, how you doing?” And I’m like, “Fuck, I’m not sure who you are.” I’ve done a lot of drugs in my life. I’ve burned a lot of brain cells, and people change.
Susan Martin
Nonprofit director and author, Abiquiu, New Mexico
Deb Parker
Business owner and Realtor, New Baltimore
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