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2.  ...That's All: Information From Answers.com

3.  One Manâs Opinion "The Greatest Bar Band Of All Time"

4.  From Eight Million Stories
The Hardest Working Guitar Player in New York: The 8MS Interview with Steve Antonakos
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008
- Kevin M. Heald

Sunday night at the Continental, early 1990's, The Blue Chieftains were up on stage playing their own brand of country punk rock and roll. The joint was packed, each and every Sunday night. Midway through the set, the drummer would come out from behind his kit and sing the most raucous version of Minnie the Moocher since Cab Calloway himself was a young man. The bartender would jump up on the bar and start pouring free shots of 'the blue chieftain' straight from the bottle to all those who clamored their way to his feet. The guitarist would come up and, improbably,launch into a rap over a country rock backbeat. It was Sunday night at the Continental, every Sunday night. They were the best bar band that you could still go see at an actual bar.

The Blue Chieftains went out with a bang many years back. Tim Carroll, guitar and lead singer and primary songwriter, moved down to Nashville to write songs full time. Mark Horn, the larger than life drummer and "Moocher" singer, kept playing drums, notably with The Amazing Rhythm Aces down in Tennessee and Alabama. Scott Yoder, bassist, after a few more band stints retired from music.

More than a decade later, Steve Antonakos, guitarist, is still making live music in New York City. He has his own Cajun roots rock band, along with Neil Thomas, accordion, the Dirty Water Dogs, and regularly gigs around with a seemingly unlimited number of other important New York bands including, Van Hayride, which is Jack Grace's countrified Van Halen "cover" band (DLR songs only), Sean Kershaw's New Jack Ramblers, and Magges, a band specializing in Greek music.

8MS: I want to talk to you first about what it was like for you back when The Blue Chieftains were playing the Sunday night residency at Continental. It seemed even then, and more so now that so much time has passed and nothing else like it has happened since, that there was something special going on there. That this was more than just a gig, that it was, for lack of a better word, a scene happening around your band and this place. Did it feel that way to you too? As musicians? Or was it just a fan's perspective?

Steve Antonakos: Yeah, it did seem like something special was going on. There was a common element that brought all these bands together there. Roger. He knows who he is. I'm not going to mention his last name. Roger was the booker at Continental. He may have bartended too. He encouraged us a lot. He left and went to Coney Island High, and it seemed like a new scene followed him there.

Then he tended bar at 9C. That became a scene with Greg Garing. I don't really know how he did it. Just giving musicians free reign. Also, a side note, to be insulted by Roger is the highest compliment.

But at Continental, and later at 9C, there did seem like something special was going on there. We'd go and play and stuff would happen. The next morning, we'd say, "Wow, man, that was something." And then the next week, something even crazier would happen. It was like that every week.

It was a nice thing to be a part of. We went to each other's gigs. We covered each other's songs.

8MS: How did The Blue Chieftains come together?

SA: We started in 1987. I'd been playing professionally for 12 years at that point. I met Mark, and he and Tim were playing together. Scott joined us right around that time too. Mark brought me into the band.

Mark and I shared a love of the Allman Brothers. He's from Toledo but he's got a lot of the South in him. Mark's a musician who has the enthusiasm for music as a non-musician fan.

8MS: That certainly came out on stage back then.

SA: I was the only guy from New York. Born and raised here. The other three were from the Midwest. Tim came from Indiana. He'd been in a punk rock band called the Gizmos. They're really well known in Bloomington. I was more of a jazz and blues guy.

Both Tim and Mark were into Punk Rock and Southern Rock. We'd do a medley of "Real Good Time/Personality Crisis".

One time, Cheetah Chrome came and sat in with us for a song. He asked for "Freebird", which, as you know, has come to be kind of a joke for some people. But he didn't do it as a joke. He knew the second and third verses. I asked him how he knew the whole song and all he said was, "I'm from Cleveland".

8MS: What was it like playing in New York before The Blue Chieftains? I got here in 1991, so everything for me begins with The Blue Chieftains.

SA: That was my school. Bob Pomeroy had a band, BBQ Bob and the Spareribs. This was back in 1976. He was the center in our little circle. It was a different time in New York . Everyone had a band at their party. There was a lot of busking in New York up until about 1985. I guess a lot of people hated that. Instruments were confiscated. You got fined. But there was a time when you'd have competing bands on the streets with generators and PA systems and amplifiers.

The amps - you'd start with a little one called a 'mouse' or a 'pignose' and then build up from there. But I remember playing on the streets and having hundreds of people listening.

It was just a different time. We even played hospital gigs. The Blue Chieftains did a gig, on more than a couple of occasions, for a jeans designer at Macy's. Several clubs had regular lunch time gigs. Tramps had a lunch time gig. Tramps' closing was very tough. They had a very diverse booking policy. It was the de rigueur spot for any roots band.

We played gigs at two clubs next door to each other on Second Avenue at 13th Street, Nightingales and Dan Lynch's. That was a great place. You could go see the Holmes Brothers at Dan Lynch's. Charles Otis on drums. We cut our teeth playing there. They had a Sunday afternoon jam session.

There was a guy named Howie Wyeth. He played stride piano and drums. He played drums on Dylan's Rolling Thunder tour and he was on his album that came out then. He played with Link Wray in the early '70's. He was the unassuming center of what I was doing at the time. He was very important. He was very encouraging. One of the most generous people. He had a childlike enthusiasm that was infectious. If you didn't know something, he'd show it to you. No question. He'd encourage you. He was important to me and to a lot of people.

When Howie died we lost one of the best teachers for young musicians learning on the job in New York. This was our school and he was one of the teachers. I realized when he died, someone was asking me to show them something on the guitar, 'Oh fuck, now I'm the guy'. And I thought, you know, 'I'm not the guy. Howie's the guy.' But that's how it goes. It's a very odd feeling.

8MS: It seems like there's something special beginning to happen now around Banjo Jim's.

SA: There's definitely a sense of community there. Even before Lisa and Richard [the current owners] took it over, when it was 9C, there was that sense. That was the place I went to after 9/11 happened. That was when Roger, who had been the guy behind Continental booking and Coney Island High, was there.

Then it went through a couple of changes. But Lisa and Richard have done a great job of fostering that community. Also, and this is very important to musicians, they've steadily made the technical improvements to make the music sound better. As nice as people are, it's still nice to see them invest in the music.