Taking it Back with: Bill Spector
In what may become a new segment, Taking it Back will feature stories from individuals who were involved in nightlife pre-early 2000s, before social media kicked in. First up is Bill Spector, whose forays in New York nightlife began in the 1980s. Decades later, Bill is still active in New York (after a successful stint in Miami), with no shortage of stories from the past. Below is one of them.
Date: Circa 1989.
I was working as a bar back at M.K., a club owned by Serge Becker and Eric Goode (investors included Andre Balazs and Aby Rosen). They did a birthday for Queen Latifah. The place was insane, well over 1,000 people inside and the same amount outside. A fight broke out engulfed the whole club. A group of like 30 to 40 guys beating down everyone. The whole staff of the club bolts out; doorman, security, cashiers, managers, bartenders, everyone flees.
My boy is a bar back as well and tells me we are staying. He proceeded to drag me around breaking up fights, saving a kids life, removing kids from behind the bar from stealing liquor and money. About what felt like an hour was actually less then 15 minutes. Cops come in and managers, security and staff come back in to a club utterly destroyed and yet very little robbed and us two idiots standing there. The whole staff was like: "what the fuck is wrong with you?!"
Next day the owners call us in to a meeting and give us "combat pay" ($50 more). WTF?!
Can't believe this kid, my childhood friend, convinced me to stay in the melee. Funny how life turns out; I stayed in nightlife and he is an active Navy SEAL and trains SEAL Team 6, the one that got Osama bin Laden. Catch Bill Spector on Twitter: @BillSpec