8BC was an interesting joint, carved out of an abandoned tenement basement. What remained of the first floor became the stage; an alcoholic rabbit lived there somewhere in the debris. It would show up when you started to play, knock over your beer and then lap it up from the floor. The audience was East Village creatives: louche, generally broke, and far hipper than me.

I was born in Maine and a toddler when we moved to Ohio. What I've read about brain formation makes me believe that I remember nothing of these rocks, and that anything I recall comes from family photos or my mother's descriptions. And yet...

I briefly emerged from the tortured environs of early 80s NYC to commune with family. During a trip to New England we stopped at Niagara Falls and climbed the stairs and platforms under the permanent downpour at the base of the falls.

The Bad Brains were a big deal, Undead had been a big deal, and Kraut was the upcoming big deal. Jerry Williams of the Hi-Sheriffs of Blue (and many other bands) operated the storefront 171A down the street; he put on shows, ran movies, and did a significant amount of recording there. Many seminal Bad Brains and Beastie Boys tracks were put on tape there. Rat Cage Records was based out a small zine shop in the basement; they put out the first Beastie Boys recordings and the famous ROIR "Thrash" cassette. The Desis recorded five or six tracks with Jerry on the board at 171A.

The controversial plaque on the wall of Niagara, the former home of A7. Though many bands were included many more were not, and people were pissed being left off the thing.

In 1973 the Hitchcock estate pulled Vertigo and four other pictures—the so-called Hitchcock Five–out of circulation. This was Rear Window, Rope, The Trouble with Harry, and the 1956 remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. When Paramount bought the rights in 1983, Vertigo and the others acquired in the deal suddenly reappeared on movie screens. It had been a long wait.

I watched all of them except The Trouble with Harry at the D.W. Griffith on East 59th, a single-screen art house that went by many names over the years. One of its incarnations was ImaginAsian Theatre, a Bollywood house with samosas at the concession stand. In 2014 it was permanently shuttered; in New York the only constant is change.