WHEN I WAS BOOKING FRIDAYS AT THE GRAND CENTRAL BAR IN BROOKLYN A FEW YEARS BACK, MY PARTNER JOSEPHINE AND THIS GUY RICH PUT ON AN OPEN MIKE BEFORE THE BANDS. ONE WEEK I CAME IN LATE AND EVERYONE WAS BUZZING ABOUT THIS BLUES GUY THAT PLAYED. I GOT EVERYTHING SQUARED AWAY WITH MY SHOW, AND WENT INTO THE BACKYARD TO SMOKE A JOINT. THIS OLD MAN, LOOKED TO BE IN HIS LATE 50’S, ASKED IF HE COULD SMOKE WITH ME. I WAS LIKE SURE. I TALKED TO HIM FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT. HE TOLD ME HIS NAME WAS CHRIS, AND HOW HE’D NOT BEEN PLAYING PUBLICLY FOR 25 YEARS. HE LIVED IN A SHOTGUN SHACK DOWN BY THE WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE AND RARELY LEFT HIS PLACE. A MUSICIAN WHO WAS GOING TO THE OPEN MIKE PERSUADED HIM TO COME DOWN WHILE HE WAS AT A BODEGA. HE BORROWED A GUITAR AND PLAYED. HE TOLD ME HOW ALIVE IT MADE HIM FEEL TO PLAY IN FRONT OF PEOPLE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. THAT THE ONLY REASON HE WENT ON WAS THAT HE WANTED TO PLAY AGAIN. HE WAS SICK. BUT THERE WAS THIS GLOW IN HIS EYE...I TOLD HIM TO HANG OUT TIL THE BANDS WERE DONE. AFTER IT WAS JUST THE FEW OF US WHO WERE ALWAYS THERE LEFT, I INSISTED THAT CHRIS JOIN ME ON STAGE FOR A JAM. WE PLAYED UNTIL THE SUN CAME UP. IT WAS A FANTASTIC NIGHT. I DON’T EVEN REMEMBER WHAT WE PLAYED OR WHO SAW US. IT WAS A MOMENT IN TIME THAT HAPPENED RANDOMLY AND SHOWED ME TRULY THAT THERE WAS A RHYME AND A REASON IN LIFE. THE BAR CLOSED 3 WEEKS LATER, I ENDED UP DISAPPEARING AND NEVER HEARD FROM HIM AGAIN. THEN LAST SUMMER, I FOUND A TAPE MARKED CHRISTIAN SATAN AT AN OLD RECORD STORE IN THE VILLAGE. I HAD TO GET IT. THE NAME BLEW ME AWAY. WHEN I PUT IT ON, I WAS TAKEN BACK TO THAT NIGHT IN FEB ’06 WHEN ME AND THIS DUDE NAMED CHRIS SHARED WHAT WOULD TURN OUT TO BE THE LAST TIME I EVER PLAYED AT THE GRAND CENTRAL BAR. JONESY 3-19-08
Born in 1955 in the swamps of Jersey, Christian Satan was an outcast among outcasts. Churches damned him and his family due to a mispronounciation of the famly’s last name. People tormented the family by burning crosses on their property, and attacking Christian on the way to and from school. By the time he was 13, Christian had dropped out of school and ran away from home. In the Spring of 1970, Christian had been introduced to Muddy Waters at an afterhours bar he worked at. The bluesman had such a pronounced impact on Christian, he learned to play the blues on guitar and sing about the horrors of his life through his new found talent. Playing around NYC’s Village folk scene, Christian landed a show at Cafe Wha? in the spring of 1973. Here he met an aspiring engineer named Ricky Johanson. Ricky offered to record Christian Satan as his final project at Audio Institute. The professor of Ricky’s class, Bob Urbanick was so moved by the music, he financed Christian Satan’s debut album, Life In Hell.
Recorded over the summer of 1973 at Ricky’s home reel to reel 8 track, Life in Hell captures a young student of blues with an inherent mind for stereo images, at a time when it was just being manipulated by Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.
