Season 2 · Episode 11
Mudd Club doorman · artist and author of The Mudd Club
Released 17 Oct 2022 · 1:05:09 as a podcast · AFTERPARTY launched 6 Nov 2026
201 references · 619 mentions
Richard Boch on bartending at the Ballroom, the Mudd Club at 77 White Street, Steve Mass on the door, Anita Sarko in the DJ booth, and writing The Mudd Club.
4 mentions · in 2 AFTERPARTIES · #23 of 29 guests
Charcoal open-collar shirt and black rectangular glasses
Silver hair brushed up, black rectangular glasses, a dark charcoal open-collar shirt, at home against a white wall
Schoolroom desks and worn couches
The early second floor: old school desks with book racks under the seat and beaten-up thrift-store couches
The punk, new wave and no wave club, art and performance space at 77 White Street, opened October 1978. Black paint, a plexiglass bar over topographic maps and the people: "the red hot center of the universe"
Heard as “Mud Club / Mud / mud cup”
Founder and owner of the Mudd Club. Richard says his wildness was "all up here": he never danced, but would walk out and change the door rules on a whim, and he let teenagers' ideas happen
Heard as “Steve / Steve Mass / Steve Maas”
Richard's 2017 memoir: five years of writing and nearly 200 interviews, double- and triple-checked
Heard as “the book / The Mud Club”
Where Richard came in 1976, in what he calls a beautiful state of decay
Mudd Club DJ, newly arrived from Atlanta. As Richard tells it Steve threw her into the booth for half a night without listening and hired her; she played everything from bird noises to James Brown, wagged a finger at Richard when he got out of hand and taught Johnny Dynell to DJ
Heard as “Anita / Anita Sarco”
Filmmaker and self-proclaimed queen of the Mudd Club; Richard says she had Steve's ear and was a sweetheart. James heard she was writing a memoir, Queen of the Mudd
Heard as “Tina LaHotsky”
Painter who owned the Mudd Club building at 77 White Street; signed the lease with Steve Mass, sold it to him and later bought it back, Richard says
Heard as “Ross Bleckner / Ross Blackner”
Designed the Mudd Club basement room with Shawn Hausman before Area; stayed kind to Richard at the door of Area
Heard as “Eric Good”
Richard saw her at the Ballroom, his first job; as he tells it she drank and was loud, and it seemed natural that she would walk in
Their love story starts at the Mudd Club: Chi Chi worked the rope up to the second floor, Johnny started there as a DJ after lessons from Anita Sarko, borrowing records from Edit deAk
Heard as “Chi Chi / Johnny / Johnny Dinell”
Richard's roommate on Murray Street: came home for a place to crash after a night at the Mudd Club, fetched a Hefty bag of designer clothes and stayed for months; a scene stealer in Victor Hugo's Mudd Club play
Heard as “Terry Toy”
Where Richard came in from Long Island to see Television, Talking Heads, the Ramones and Patti Smith, and where Steve Mass hung out
Heard as “CBGBs”
The other place Richard went for bands before the Mudd Club; Mickey Ruskin founded it in 1965
Heard as “Maxis, Kansas City / Max's”
Richard's first job, bartending: a bar, a three-star New York Times restaurant and a cabaret on West Broadway - Soho's Reno Sweeney
Heard as “the Ballroom”
Opened after the Mudd Club; Richard and Fenton see a line from the Mudd Club's theme parties to Area
Heard as “Area / Ariad”
Still SAMO and a sweet teenage kid, always on the dance floor and at the DJ booth. Richard says he was rushed out for spray-painting the bathroom and let back in the next day
Heard as “Jean-Michel / Sammo”
Gave a reading at the Mudd Club, early in the night before the DJs; Richard says every cool kid knew who he was then
Heard as “William Burroughs / William Nesboros”
Running at the same time; Richard calls it a childlike, retro-50s incubator for talent, while the Mudd Club had more gravitas
Co-host; did doors himself for years and says he would have dressed down for the Mudd Club line
Heard as “James / Jayfus James”
His first apartment, at Bleecker and Sullivan
Eric Goode's partner on the basement room; Richard says Steve Mass gave the pair their start
Heard as “Sean Halisman”
The guest: artist, author of The Mudd Club and the club's doorman from early 1979 to the end of 1980
Heard as “Richard / Richard Bach”
The uptown legend most nightlife talk is about; Richard went less than a handful of times, for James Brown and Lene Lovich
The original Mudd Club DJ: straight-ahead, from Roxy Music and the Ramones to Motown, and he could fill the floor
Heard as “David Azark”
Mickey Ruskin's last restaurant, where Richard managed the dining room as the Mudd Club ended; pop artists, abstract expressionists, Bowie and the Clash all hung out there
Heard as “One University Place / 1U”
One-night themes and installations - the Rock and Roll Funeral, Mother's Day with Joan Crawford, a retro hippie party - that Richard and Fenton see feeding into Area
Heard as “theme parties / the rock and roll funeral / Mother's Day with Joan Crawford”
Co-host and World of Wonder co-founder; lived round the corner on Crosby Street when he arrived in 1981 and went to the Mudd Club "literally twice"
Heard as “Fenton”
Richard came for graduate work in printmaking and painting, never went to a single class, and got library privileges in 2012 to research the book
Heard as “NYU”
The early second floor: old school desks with book racks under the seat and beaten-up thrift-store couches
FashionSchoolroom desks and worn couches
Heard as “student desks / thrift store couches”
Where Richard worked after the Mudd Club, under Rudolf Piper and Jim Fouratt; he says he was fired after six months for being out of control
Came to see Burroughs's reading and several other times
Heard as “Ginsburg / Alan”
Early Mudd Club DJ who left to be the DJ at the Ritz when it opened
Also worked the rope to the second floor as a young teenager, Richard says; James calls her Little Deb
Heard as “Debbie Mazer / Little Deb”
James asks if Tina L'Hotsky was a Dianne Brill type; Richard calls Dianne the more glamazon version
Heard as “Diane Brill”
The Mudd Club pioneered early hip-hop and rap, Richard says - the pivot that saved its last year
Heard as “hip-hop / rap”
Their word-of-mouth 9 o'clock show was one of Richard's most memorable nights
Where Richard had his loft, nine blocks south of White Street
One of the teenage regulars whose ideas Steve Mass ran with; photographed on the Mudd Club wall and an early DJ
"No beards tonight", another night "no leather jackets" - Steve's monkey wrench thrown at the door
FashionNo beards, no leather jackets
Heard as “No beards tonight / No leather jackets”
Richard follows her on Instagram now; as he tells it the Go-Go's were not nice when they played the Mudd Club. Two years later she was in the cab to the Blues Brothers bar
Heard as “Belinda”
Moved up from Atlanta with Anita Sarko; tells her own version of how Anita got the job
Richard went up to Studio 54 to see him play; a staple of David Azarch's sets and of Anita's
Tina L'Hotsky was "very East Village" when it really was
Founder of Max's Kansas City; Richard managed the dining room at One University Place, his last restaurant
Would always have taken care of Richard at the clubs of the 80s
James says he would have dressed for the 1978 door: no tutu and tiara, a skinny tie and stovepipe pants instead
FashionSkinny tie and stovepipe pants (not a tutu and tiara)
Heard as “skinny tie and stovepipe pants / a tutu and tiara”
Fenton's company; its building, Fenton says, is where the Masque was
Heard as “World of Wonder”
Fenton lived at 56 Crosby, between Spring and Broome, when he arrived in 1981
Where Richard grew up; also home of the "sexy bridge and tunnel" crowd
Also in the cab that night
October 1978, with the B-52's; Richard came four months later
Heard as “the Mudd Club's opening night”
Black paint, exposed brick, dark grey sheetrock and every pipe and duct painted matte black
FashionBlack-box industrial interior
Heard as “painted black / matte black”
Also on James's list; Richard corrects him on the timing
James first credits him with the basement; Richard says he was talking to Serge the other day
Heard as “Surge Becker”
Eric Goode and Shawn Hausman's finished basement room by the coat check - ceiling, marble-effect floor, treated walls - one of their first installations
Heard as “marble effect on the floor”
Steve Mass's Mudd Club co-founder and muse, from the James Chance and the Contortions circle
Steve Mass's entourage at CBGB; Don Christensen played in the band
Heard as “the Contortions”
Her gallery's stable of artists came to the Mudd Club and to One University Place
Her Mudd Club night, right after Broken English: crowds from nine, on at one in the morning, and as Richard tells it she left after three songs with her voice gone - yet it was one of the club's most legendary nights
Heard as “Marianne Faithful”
Just out when she played the Mudd Club, with the same band
Heard as “Broken English”
Where Richard follows Belinda Carlisle
Glass's sax player, at the Mudd Club all the time; played sax in Einstein on the Beach
Then married to Don Christensen; Richard calls her one of Philip Glass's closest associates
Heard as “Rebecca Christiansen”
In Victor Hugo's Mudd Club play
Where James remembers Anita's bird noises and speeches
Art critic Johnny Dynell lived with on Wooster Street; he borrowed her case of records to start DJing
Heard as “Edittiak / Edditt Diac”
Beautiful whether in a Valentino dress or khakis, a white T-shirt and Chuck Taylors
FashionValentino dress / khakis, white T-shirt and Chuck Taylors
Heard as “a Valentino dress / khakis and a white t-shirt and Chuck Taylors”
Ran the Peppermint Lounge with Jim Fouratt for about a month; Richard quotes his "sexy bridge and tunnel"
Heard as “Rudolph”
Came down for the play; told Richard to come to Studio 54 whenever he wanted
A Jayne Mansfield type - full-figured, blonde and brilliant - but very East Village and rough round the edges
FashionJayne Mansfield blonde, East Village edges
Heard as “a Jane Mansfield type / full-figured beautiful blonde”
Tina's film in which she sautés a Barbie doll in a frying pan
Heard as “Barbie”
Hung out at One University Place and came to the Mudd Club
Hung out at One University Place; Richard caught a few songs every night of their Bond's run
Heard as “the Clash”
Richard wasn't drawn to party dresses, big hair and retro 50s; he liked the Mudd Club's darker, heavier vibe
FashionRetro 50s party dresses and big hair versus downtown black
Heard as “party dresses and big hair / something a little darker”
Brought Richard on at the Peppermint Lounge
Heard as “Jim Fratt”
"Matty the Horse"; Richard says the Peppermint Lounge was then a money-laundering front for the Midtown mob
Heard as “Matty the Horse”
What the Peppermint Lounge space had been before
Home of the "Midtown mob" Richard links to the Peppermint Lounge
Heard as “Midtown”
One of the 80s clubs Richard went to without working there
Heard as “Tunnel”
Same era; the Limelight club kids were James's crowd
In an early incarnation before they were the Beastie Boys
Co-host; away on "secret assignment" for this episode
Heard as “Randy Barbado”
James compares the Mudd Club book to them: read it straight through or open any page
Heard as “the Warhol Diaries”
Fenton compares his half-remembered Mudd Club song to her music
A song Fenton heard at the Mudd Club and has never found since - probably 'Fred vom Jupiter' by Die Doraus & Die Marinas (1981)
Richard's first apartment was diagonally across from where it used to be
In walking distance of the apartment
To the west of the apartment
One of the bands Richard saw at CBGB
Seen at CBGB
Cabaret on West 13th Street the Ballroom was compared to
The Ballroom was SoHo's answer to Reno Sweeney
Heard as “Soho”
Gave the Ballroom three stars as a restaurant
Heard as “New York Times”
Richard says he did a two-week nightclub run at the Ballroom
Heard as “Joe Papp”
Did a run at the Ballroom cabaret
The long oval bar's only design touch: topographic maps under a plexiglass top
FashionTopographic maps under plexiglass
Heard as “topographic maps”
Photographer whose framed portraits of regulars were the Mudd Club's only wall decoration
Heard as “William Kupan”
One of the regulars in the photos on the Mudd Club wall
Photographer and regular on the Mudd Club wall
On James's list of second-floor stars
Another teenage regular who brought Steve ideas
Steve Mass ran with the Contortions crowd at CBGB
The other Mudd Club co-founder, whom Richard calls a muse to Steve; the club was Steve's money
Came to the Mudd Club through Ross Bleckner's circle, James says
A 9 o'clock word-of-mouth show: "get down here right now"
Heard as “Talking Heads are going to play”
Marianne Faithfull bombed there the night before her Mudd Club show, Richard says
The packed night meant to make up for SNL, with a second-floor afterparty
Heard as “her night to make it right”
As Richard tells it they were mean girls at the Mudd Club, before their record deal; he has softened since
Heard as “Gogos / Go-Go's”
Belinda Carlisle is "a rich Beverly Hills girl now", Richard jokes
In the cab from the Peppermint Lounge to the Blues Brothers bar
Also in the cab that night
Belushi and Aykroyd's hole-in-the-wall bar above Canal Street, where Richard and the musicians jammed one night
Heard as “the Blues Brothers Bar”
The Blues Brothers bar was just above it
Richard places the Blues Brothers bar on Varick or Hudson Street
Heard as “Varick or Hudson Street”
The LA punk club; Fenton says World of Wonder's building is where it was
Heard as “the Mask Club”
Richard thought them one of the greatest bands he had ever heard when they played in June 1980
The show that made Richard call them one of the greatest bands he had ever heard
Heard as “when they played the mud club in June of 1980”
The Glass opera Dickie Landry played sax in
Played in the Contortions and the Raybeats
Heard as “Donnie Christiansen”
Another Beat who came to the Mudd Club
An early-evening event before the DJs, with Ginsberg and Orlovsky in the room
Heard as “William Burroughs did a reading”
A David Azarch staple
Anita would drop one of his speeches into her sets, James remembers from the Palladium
Heard as “Martin Luther King”
One of Basquiat's best friends; tells the same story of the kids loving Anita's nights
Owner of the Ritz who poached Justin Strauss from the Mudd Club
Heard as “Jerry Brand”
Richard's roommate on Murray Street
Heard as “my roommate Gary”
Staged a play at the Mudd Club that brought Halston, Steve Rubell and Roy Cohn downtown, James says
Came down for Victor Hugo's play
With Jackie Curtis, Taylor Mead and Teri Toye; Halston, Steve Rubell and Roy Cohn came
Heard as “Victor Hugo was doing a play at the MUD Club”
In Victor Hugo's play; James says Teri Toye stole every scene from her
Studio 54's doorman, who also told Richard to come up any time
Heard as “Mark Benneke”
James remembers a scene in the book with Richard sitting with her
Tina L'Hotsky's block by the men's shelter, known as Little Hollywood
Heard as “East 3rd Street / Little Hollywood”
Lived on East 3rd Street, the block called Little Hollywood
James lived on 4th and Bowery, round the corner from the men's shelter
Heard as “4th and Bowery”
Where James heard Tina L'Hotsky was living, working on her memoir
The memoir James heard Tina was writing
Heard as “Queen of the Mud”
Mickey Ruskin's place on Chambers Street, opened after he sold Max's
One of the artists who hung out at One University Place
Heard as “Lichtenstein”
Hung out at One University Place
Hung out at One University Place
Hung out at One University Place
Hung out at One University Place
Mickey's partner and the mother of two of his children, trying to get a film about his places made
Heard as “Yvonne”
Gave a film presentation at the Mudd Club
Came to the Mudd Club - an artist Richard had studied in school
Steve Mass's roommate when the Mudd Club opened
Where Richard went to hear a few songs from the Clash every night of their two-week run
Heard as “Bond's Casino”
Their two-week run at Bond's, which Richard dropped into every night
Heard as “playing at Bond's Casino for that two week run”
Eric Goode and Shawn Hausman had a loft there, round the corner from the Mudd Club
Ad-Rock had a band called Young and Useless that played the Mudd Club, before the Beastie Boys as we know them
Heard as “Adrock”
"The Bronx was starting to come down" - and hip-hop saved the Mudd Club's last year
Heard as “The Bronx”
Ad-Rock's pre-Beastie Boys band, which played the Mudd Club
Silver hair brushed up, black rectangular glasses, a dark charcoal open-collar shirt, at home against a white wall
FashionCharcoal open-collar shirt and black rectangular glasses
Black jacket over a red ruffled blouse and heavy black glasses, in front of his bookshelves
FashionRed ruffled blouse under a black jacket
Blue and orange striped T-shirt and rimless glasses, against rust curtains and sunflower wallpaper
FashionBlue and orange striped T-shirt
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