From the outside, The Lakeside Lounge on Avenue B and 10th Street looks
like a nondescript dive.  Two stores joined in the back in a 1930s'
vintage apartment building, the southernmost store looks like a bar
with some signs in the windows advising of which musician  is playing
the place when.  The other store is a mostly empty room with a bench
against the left wall and a few tables and chairs in front of that.  If
you look a bit closer, you'll also see a stage area in the front.  It's
hard to really see that it's a stage because it's only raised about
three inches from the floor.

What you can't really see, though, is the spirit of the place.  Owned
by
musician Eric "Roscoe" Ambel (even if you don't know him,you've heard
him; he
does the lead parts in Joan Jett's I Love Rock 'N' Roll), the Lakeside
is very musician friendly.  And the one musician who seems to feel that
vibe the most is Amy Rigby.

I've seen Amy play at a number of places in New York City over the
years.  But the one thing that became apparent to me was that Amy's
shows at the Lakeside were invariably her better ones.

So Wednesday night I made my way over to Avenue B for the NYC
appearance of Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby. Last year Amy married
Wreckless Eric, one of the performers on the old Stiff Records back in
the 70s.  After that marriage, they also married their careers and
started recording and performing as a duo.

 And I have to say that the old Lakewood magic was evident once again. 
Eric and Amy have meshed their sound well.  Eric's lead guitar and bass
were quite pleasing and Amy's rhythm guitar anchored the songs.  She
also played keyboard on a few songs, and a what looked to be a brand
new electric guitar, which she should think about playing more.  Their
songs for the evening reached back into the catalog of both Amy and
Eric, came from their duo album from last year, logically titled
Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby, and included a few cover tunes as well.

And there were the zingers: Eric looked at the people looking through
the window at the show and noted that they were too cheap to come
inside to see a free show.  Amy told us about how she went to the bar
where her daughter's band was playing and saw the kid playing bass and
rocking out, smoking and drinking beer.  Amy said she was very proud of
her, but only for the bass part.

Yes, the Lakeside is a nondescript dive.  But it has heart and
Wednesday night it was a great place to be.

 –Eliot Wagner