Remembering Don Hill, Nightlife Legend
By
April 7, 2011
DON HILL IN MIAMI.
DonaldMulvihill was better known to generations of artists, performers,dancers, DJs and—above all—musicians as the kind and too-generous ownerof Don Hill’s on Greenwich Street in Manhattan. He went to the hospitalon the evening of Thursday March 31, 2011, and passed away soon after.There is no way to sum up into words what an extraordinary impact he had in the history of music. A true and singular Don Hill story might be impossible—so we’ve enlisted the help of a few dozen of his best andmost 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. Don Hill, you’ll be missed.
PART I: Bartending at Kenny’s Castaways; managing and booking talent at The Cat Club.
MARTINSHERIDAN: On the opening night of Kenny’s Castaways in 1975, Pat Kennycame up to me. He says, “Do you know anything about bartending? I’m aman short.” I didn’t. But he threw me back there anyway. I don’t know athing about bartending. I look over and there’s this skinny guy working the soundboard. 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.
MICHAEL MUSTO: Don seemed to me like a hillbilly who had wandered into the Gotham nightlife scene by mistake—he was that unpretentious.
