Last Wednesday I performed the New York edition of the Marty Monologues, 45 Minutes of Fame show at the Kraine Theater in the East Village.

My friend and award-winning New York City photographer Donna A. Rocco documented the entire evening’s performance. This will give me a chance to walk you through the whole show.

And so now…almost live, from New York City…it’s the Marty Monologues!

Here we are at the Kraine Theater located at 85 E. 4th Street.

There’s the poster designed by Chelsie Tamms of Lettering Works on the door. I love seeing that up on the door in New York City!

The Marty Monologues Ensemble for New York City is clockwise from top left: Donna A. Rocco who’s taking all of the photos this evening, Chris Erikson on guitar and vocals, Cliff Westfall on guitar and vocals and me running my mouth off as usual.

Chris and Cliff performed the opening song which was a cover of “It Don’t Come Easy” by Ringo Starr. They did a spectacular version of that well-known tune and put their own unique spin on it.

Then I came out and did the introduction and explained about the whole 15 minutes of fame theme for the evening and how I’ve experienced that fleeting phenomenon three times in my life.

The first 15 minutes of fame was the story of the game I created with my friend Greg Owens and how it landed us on the Today Show back in 1986. The game was called, Trivial Trivia The Idiot Edition and you can see the Today Show appearance that brought us brief national fame right here.

Then it was time for a candy bowl break and Greg was the lucky winner of that! Great to see him and chat with him on stage. Chris and Cliff played some wonderful instrumental music while the candy bowl was being prepared.

Now it’s on to 30 minutes of fame that happened with my New York City fanzine, fishwrap. Fishwrap was done in the ’90’s in the pre-internet era, but there is this Chicago Tribune article that’s archived that will give you a little history of the fanzine.

In this monologue I tell how a review in Sassy magazine led to national exposure and then distribution for the fanzine.

Time for another candy bowl break! My friend Tonya won this one and it was so wonderful to see her!

I hit 45 minutes of fame with my blog, A Guy Walks Into 365 Bars in 2010. It exploded after the NY Daily News did a feature on it and then the U.P.I. Wire Service put it on an international wire and the story went all over the world.

I ended up on the Australian version of the Today Show and it was probably the craziest year of my crazy life!

The final song was “Act Naturally” and Chris and Cliff hit it out of the park! Thanks to both of them for the wonderful music, to Donna for these fabulous photos and documentation of the evening and to all of my New York friends who came to the show! And thanks to James Mollo for selling tickets and working the door!

I really appreciate all of you coming to the show and it was such a great evening!

And now another edition of the Marty Monologues comes to a close. I think it’s time for a beer or twelve.

Thanks to everyone who helped and was part of the shows and thanks so much to all of you who came and supported the shows!

We’d like to thank you once again…

Surprise link, click on it…I dare you!

———————

Bonus Photos: My Last Steak Dinner At Tad’s!

Shortly before I took off to New York, I heard the disturbing and sad news that the last Tad’s Broiled Steaks restaurant in Manhattan is closing shortly after the new year!

Well I had to go and have one last steak dinner at Tad’s and the photos are below.

Tad’s has been a broiled bargain steak house in New York for decades.

At one point there were eight Tad’s restaurants in New York City and now this is the last one still open.

This is near Times Square near the corner of 50th and Seventh Avenue. I’ve always loved the neon in the windows at Tad’s.

The restaurant is famous for its cafeteria style ordering station. I love the wine selection in the Pepsi cooler and the Saran-wrapped glasses of wine on display!

As you can see, the cooks here are very proud of their opposable thumbs and who can blame them?

I ordered the classic Tad’s combo, the number 6, which is a broiled T-bone steak, a baked potato, a garden salad and garlic bread.

I went into the dining room and there’s my dining companion, The Duncester! It’s been quite a while since he’s made an appearance on a blog post and I’m thrilled that he joined me for my last steak dinner at Tad’s Broiled Steaks!

There it is in all its broiled glory, my last steak dinner at Tad’s!

And another chapter closes in New York City. Goodbye Tad’s, you’ll be missed.

Further Tad’s reading from past blog posts: Marty After Dark and Tripping With Marty.