Eric Horsboll, The Promoter • 8/2/43 - 1/12/21

Rest in peace Eric.  I knew you since 1968 when I arrived in New Paltz. You were a Damon Runyon character in a Marty Scorsese film. You had arrived in New Paltz in1961.  You got your degree to teach Social Studies . You did so in a South Bronx Junior High in the mid 60s. One of your 8th grade students was David Berkowitz…aka.. The Son Of Sam…  you remembered him from class. I believe you saw him as a creepy loner…. I bet he remembers you. You were hard to forget. A garrulous person . 

     I first remember you as a bartender at The Homestead and a friend to my roommate Dan Lewis. When the Homestead closed you handed the bottle of wild Turkey to Dan and me…. They found us under a table.  You were also a bookie.. You had a great mathematical mind . You handled all kinds of betting action..  you got in trouble with the law . You were a member of the United States Chess Federation and you brought the 9th annual World Open of Chess to New Paltz  in 1981, assembling 702 chess players.  You hosted world champ Anatoly Karpov to play local chess players at The Homestead… my favorite bar.

    I knew you best as a concert promoter.  You promoted a show at The Last Chance in Poughkeepsie that has achieved legendary proportion. October 23, 1978 you paid $250 to have an unknown band called The Police play at The Last Chance. You had three paid customers that night at $4.00 a head.  You also had the usual   “hangers on” of which I was one. I was sales manager at WPDH FM a rock and roll station.  It was a Monday night. There was a big football game and you it was freezing rain. Nobody wanted to drive.  Besides, The Police were unknown. You had received a single of Roxanne and booked that Monday . You assumed that I had the record at the radio station. A & M records did not think that the band was ready for the USA. They did not service the radio station. I did not even know that they had a record until the Wednesday before the Monday and I got the single. If you had called me and given me your single of Roxanne ten days earlier… the story might have been different. It was a time of many punk bands that I had no taste for but I was immediately floored by the drummer and vocalist.  I played it for everyone at the station. I had no press kit and I gave the club a few extra 30 second spots to promote  the show . All I said was… from England… the arresting sound of The Police..at the Last Chance this Monday…  and played Roxanne for 25 seconds… I did a great job eh Eric…  3 paid customers.  The late Larry Plover was co-owner of the club and took pride in bragging that he had The Police in his club but the date was yours.  Ironically neither you or Larry were there that night. Paul Rossman was behind the bar and your Grove Street Productions partner Chris Starpoli was there. 

     That night I called Ron Nenni at the station to come down after his air shift , This band is hot.. and there are about a dozen people all tolled in the building. Ron finished his air shift at 10p and brought Professor Louie and Miss Marie… associates of The Band . Ron is now VP of programming at Pandora.

     Eric… that was the beginning of an unrivaled trifecta.  The next month you put The Talking Heads into the Joyous Lake in Woodstock  for two nights.. Wednesday and Thursday.  On the first night they drew about 18 people and the proprietor , the late Ron Merians said : ‘get this @#$% off my stage” You told Ron that your contract was for two nights and on the second night there were about 50 people…. Enough to break even for the two night …  then a few months later .you put Peter Gabriel into the Mid Hudson Civic Center in his first tour since leaving Genesis.   The MHCC seats 3,000 people . Your break even number was about 1,600 tickets.  I believe you sold 1,300 tickets … a deficit of about $4,000 .

     You also had your successes . You promoted The Ramones at The Last Chance at least four or five times. They had a smart management team. They did not try to strangle you with a heavy guarantee . It was a split of the door for the Ramones and you packed the house with them every time. For some reason we found that they had tremendous appeal with the Vassar kids more so than Marist, and our alma mater New Paltz just didn’t cross the river. We both agreed that the Ramones were junk but you laughed all the way to the bank. I remember going out to see them every 6 or 8 weeks… just to see if they had gotten any better..  I would stand in the back with Joe Lomoriello and John Platania . They would do 18 songs in 32 minutes … The curtain goers up …”1,2,3,4!”..and they were off … no more than three major chords per song… no dynamics … balls to the wall from first chord to last… after 3 songs Joe, John and I would step outside laughing .. no change… but they kept getting bigger. The back cover photo of their Road To Ruin album was the old stoop of The Last Chance before one of your shows.

       Eric, you and I had lunch at P & G’s about 3 years ago and you remembered being backstage with Peter Gabriel at Jones Beach a decade or so ago Peter introduced you to some of his associates as the guy who lost money on The Police, Talking Heads and Me in a matter of weeks.” They  all had a good laugh.

You were prescient for what was coming… the problem is that you bought the act too early.  …  Your Grove Street Productions at The Hudson Valley Winery in Highland with partner Chris Starpoli were wonderful… but your stage was directly across the Hudson River from Vassar Brothers Hospital. Sound skips over water..  even if the stage is facing the other way… Hospital patients don’t really want to hear Patti Smith. Especially not at 10pm.  Your  Two By Two Productions with Howie Schleifer  and Mike Reed managing a Genesis cover band that was 3,000 people a night in England didn’t pan out . Your band , The Big Takeover has been “ bubbling under “ for a decade.  You came really close to grabbing the brass ring a number of times.. If you only had just one more round. That was the gambler in you. 

     Another anecdote: In 1977 you presented the new singing sensation Eddie Money at The Last Chance. Another bad night . Half a house. You had promotional instructions from his management to promote him as the 21 year old sensation…   you knew he was 28.  His manager showed up at the show and stayed in his limo outside . You went out to speak with him and asked… “ why 21 year old”   His answer was … high school and college girls see a 28 year old as an old man… in show biz every new act is 21”…  The manager was Bill Graham of Fillmore fame. 

       I used to like to kid you with a Henny Youngman line:

Eric… you had the Midas touch….  Everything you touched turned to mufflers

      Eric Horsboll deserves to be recognized as an important figure in the history of New Paltz NY . There is a memorial that will place a bench in front of P & G’s 

Make any contribution to Eric Horsboll Memorial Fund 

P.O. Box 1194 New Paltz NY 12561

You can see Eric interviewed in a movie on You Tube produced by Mark Gamma 

Called : The Valley Of Music .It is about Hudson Valley musicians . Eric and I are interviewed along with Chris Starpoli and Paul Rossman about the Police date at the Chance and other things throughout  the film… the interview starts 18 minutes in… but watch the whole film

2007 backstage at Bearsville Theatre. Howard Schleifer (behind) , Eric Horsboll and Eric Burdon of The Animals