Seward Park

High Porch

Musician turns out an Audio Drinking Companion on Seward's 20th floor

by Margaret Mitchell

Joe Quigley Purchased 1-bedroom, 20th floor apartment in Seward Park. Broker: LoHo Realty

Joe Quigley on the south-east end of his terrace, with the Manhattan, Brooklyn, and even a snippet of the Verrazano Joe on the north-east side, with the Williamsburg Joe Quigley’s kitchen is a breakthrough, making the living room spacious and comfortable Joe’s living room is dominated by the view from his windows

oe Quigley lives on a 20th floor terrace with a snug, cozy apartment attached to it. When his friends come to visit for the first time, he has to warn them to keep their Oohs and Ahs to a minimum when they step in, on account of the small baby living next door. You see, Joe’s entrance faces the panorama view of three bridges, three sprawling boroughs and one curling river.

The magnificence of this urban and gritty view is so overwhelming, one’s feet proceed porch-bound even as one’s brain attempts to register the breakthrough kitchen and casual furnishing which make the living area seem spacious and exceedingly comfy.

It took Joe all of three minutes to decide he wanted the apartment, when ushered in by a LoHo Realty agent. He was impressed both by the ease with which his broker guided him through the process and by the fact that the Seward Park Co-op board members he met didn’t raise a suspicious eyebrow when he told them he was a professional base player.

“Back where I used to live, in Carol Gardens, Brooklyn, I had to convince the board I could be trusted,” he says with a broad smile. “Here they were actually glad to see a musician move in.”

Born in a suburb of Philadelphia, bassist Joe Quigley hit the big time in 1994, accompanying singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb in her breakout song Stay (I Missed You), which was part of the soundtrack to the hit motion picture Reality Bites. The song earned Lisa a Grammy nomination and seriously revved up Joe’s career.

Today Joe constitutes one quarter of The Drakes, with Laura Ponce (who just happens to live a few floors below at Seward). The Drakes are punky and sexy. Their current CD The Drakes is doing well in local markets, with the hit Collide and their invigorating remake of Rod Stewart’s Tonight’s the Night. Joe’s grownup job is on Broadway, where he played in the orchestras for The Full Monty and a recent revival of Jesus Christ Super Star, and in recording studios and tours, here and abroad.

And now for something completely different. Joe Quigley’s most recent venture is a solo CD which belongs in the novelty genre, and will probably be selling in gift shops and tourist stops from the Jersey Shore to California. It’s an exceedingly silly collection of made up drinking tunes called Audio Drinking Companion, with light-hearted attempts to offend several major ethnic groups with tributes to their booze of choice.

We thought the gulag vodka song was a bit over the top, but the high-school French cognac chanson made us lose our coffee (Je n’ai pas besoin de chien / Depuis quand est-il a l’hopital? / Estce qu’il fait beau?) and the smorgasbord of Jewish culturoids, Manischewitz, is a celebration of confusion, sung to a variant of Rawhide (Every day I’m working / In the bialy factory / Making kosher baked goods / For all the Hasidim / When my day is over / And I return to the kibbutz / Sophie makes me happy / When in my hand she puts / Manischewitz).

Joe records in his bedroom, running cables from his Apple system in the living room (overlooking the eastern seaboard). He lays down one track at a time, and takes the material to a more sophisticated facility to produce the final versions.

When his next door neighbors had their baby he made sure they understood he’d stop playing any time his music is disturbing the little one’s sleep. The calm, accepting atmosphere of the Lower East Side is something he cherishes, and he understands good neighbors are something you cultivate.

The soft late afternoon sunlight caresses Joe’s cozy place, as we’re standing on his porch, looking the lazy seagulls in the eye as they glide down from the Manhattan Bridge into the water for their sushi supper. And Joe, still mesmerized by the view, after almost two years at this perch, is telling us about his new project: A CD devoted to girlie drinks.

Joe Quigley will be appearing at the Living Room June 1, 154 Ludlow Street, between Stanton and Rivington, 212.533.7235. We’ll keep you posted on his upcoming shows later in the summer.