Coincidences and six degrees of blah blah blah
I was sitting on the tube the other morning minding my own business. I looked up from my book (Man About Town by Mark Merlis) and the book being read by the chap opposite me caught my eye. He was a fairly ordinary fella. Tall, grey hair, plain looking and about 50 years old and he was reading ‘Keep On Dancing (My Life And The Paradise Garage)’ by Mel Cheren. I knew this book existed and I knew it would have a fairly cliquey readership but I had never seen a copy (let alone a hardback version like this chap was reading). Not that I’m a big disco fan you understand (though I did have a Studio 54 phase a few years ago and bought a shed load of books about that place but I was never really keen on the actual music). Anyway, we all know the importance of The Paradise Garage in the larger scheme of things (don’t we?) but the real reason my interest was pricked on the tube was because Mel Cheren owns the hotel Darren and I Stay in when we visit New York. It’s a lovely Brownstone in Chelsea called The Colonial House Inn. That crackhead from Brookside, Jimmy Corkhill, was also a guest when we were last there.
Here’s Mel doing a disco laugh with Grace Jones.