The neighborhood wasn’t the way it is now. Which is unheard-of, if you are not zoned for a cabaret license. NICKI CAMP: Martin was on the community board, and he got them to give Don a cabaret license. Same bartenders, staff, door staff, dancers, DJs, bands. You could dance, you could see a show-bands or dancers-but it would register equally because they had a proper stage and soundsystem. And in turn, Don was able to bring many of these elements into Don Hill’s. MICHAEL T.: There are so many things about Cat Club that I realize I got so much out of. He loved having people come over to his place. But I said, “You’ve got to, because this is really your place.” We made up the logo ourselves off the old Dunhill’s Cigarettes ad. MARTIN SHERIDAN: At first, he didn’t want his name on the door. Don then went back to work for Pat Kenny of Kenny’s Castaways, then a friend of his named Martin Sheridan who owned Ear Inn said that was just wrong to have Don Hill working the door. He ended up getting a settlement.ĭAVID CHIDEKEL: The Cat Club was shut down. Then Don Hill got hit by a car, and he was laid up in the hospital. NICKI CAMP: In 1993, Limelight came to an end, and Cat Club came to an end. MICHAEL SCHMIDT: He wasn’t tucked away in his office counting receipts or doing drugs like a lot of other club owners he was always out there, very hands-on, watching the bands, mingling, having a good time. MICHAEL MUSTO: And down-to-earth-a far cry from some of the NYC club owners who craved attention for themselves or had combustible personalities you never knew what to expect from. He encouraged everyone, and was supportive and gracious in circumstances where lots of people would’ve been petty and mean. MOBY: Don was willing to let people express themselves however they chose. THOMAS ONORATO: He really was the person that gave all these people a platform and opened up the door and said, “Okay, how do you want to do it?” He would be so open and give the party time to grow. THEO KOGAN: He booked Lunachicks at the Cat Club with Dee Dee Ramone, when Dee Dee made the rap album! He was the first club owner to make me feel important, and that was a great thing for an insecure kid from SoCal. MISS GUY: I was 17 and he was so nice to me, making sure I got right into the Cat Club. NICKI CAMP: If any person came to Don and said, “I’ve got this great idea for this night,” Don would say, “Sure, I’ll give you a shot.” Don would give people a shot where no one else would give them a shot. MICHAEL MUSTO: Don seemed to me like a hillbilly who had wandered into the Gotham nightlife scene by mistake-he was that unpretentious. I said, “Hey, do you know anything about bartending? Because I can tell from here you sure don’t know how to work the board.” And that was how I met Don Hill. I look over and there’s this skinny guy working the soundboard. He says, “Do you know anything about bartending? I’m a man short.” I didn’t. MARTIN SHERIDAN: On the opening night of Kenny’s Castaways in 1975, Pat Kenny came up to me. PART I: Bartending at Kenny’s Castaways managing and booking talent at The Cat Club. A true and singular Don Hill story might be impossible-so we’ve enlisted the help of a few dozen of his best and most trusted friends, including Bebe Buell, Michael Musto, Moby, Martin Sheridan, the MisShapes, and Nicki Camp, to help tell the story of his career in eight parts. There is no way to sum up into words what an extraordinary impact he had in the history of music. He went to the hospital on the evening of Thursday March 31, 2011, and passed away soon after. Donald Mulvihill was better known to generations of artists, performers, dancers, DJs and-above all-musicians as the kind and too-generous owner of Don Hill’s on Greenwich Street in Manhattan.
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