Thompson Newkirk is what they call in the trade an indie artist. Without the financial backing of a major label, he records, distributes and post videos for the songs he writes, and tours aggressively to promote them. He also designs and sells merch ranging from tee shirts to coolies. He even appeared in an indie movie (playing Police guitarist Andy Summer in 2013’s CBGB). And oh yeah, Thompson’s also my favorite bartender – a singular achievement in and of itself. As his favorite guitarist Mark Knopfler pointed out in Sultans of Swing, “Harry doesn’t mind if he doesn’t make the scene – he’s got a daytime job, he’s doing alright.”
On a beautiful late summer night I attended a video shoot for Thompson’s new single, What You Sippin On?, a clever country-adjacent song Billy Joel might have composed if he ever tended bar at The Castello Plan on Cortelyou Road in Ditmas Park. (The joint’s name – thanks to a Wall Street guy turned tavern owner with a heart of gold, Taj Singh – is a disguised homage to Jacques Cortelyou, the Dutch map-maker who birthed the Manhattan street grid.) If Thompson was a Warner Music artist, the place would have been swarming with sound/lighting/makeup crews and dolled up extras, along with some proverbial Deputy-Under-Assistant-East-Coast-Promo-Men (check out the flip side of the Stone’s (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction for more about those dudes).
The Castello Plan had none of that jazz going down. And so, while the usual crowd shuffled in to eat and drink, Thompson’s staff kept the customers satisfied while his videographer pal Derek did a lot of takes. By the end of the night, some tables started singing along – a good sign for a new song.
Later, Thompson gave me the low-down on his journey from the land of the Allman Brothers.
Q: How did you ever wind up here, Thompson?
TN: I was born here…
Q: Where?
TN: Right here. In this bar…Just joking! I was born on 96th Street in Manhattan but I grew up in Savannah, went to college for a few years, studied classical guitar and moved to Atlanta for some acting gigs.
Q: Why did you leave Atlanta?
TN: I was in a few small TV shows there, so logically the next step for me was to move to either LA or NYC. I guess I’m an east coast kind of guy. When I got here, it took at least a year, maybe two to adjust. Man, this city really teaches you something about yourself and lets you know that if you really want something, you have to go and get after it. Hard.
Q: Like playing Andy Summer?
TN: That was a bit part and an accident really.
Q: So you didn’t go all Method actor and learn all of Sting’s songs?
TN [Laughs]: Believe me, I knew most of them already!
Q: Did your classical guitar chops influence your electric guitar style?
TN: Well, I use many of the same positional rules and techniques that I use playing classical. I think it helps me have a more uniform approach on electric. I’m not into soloing unless a song really needs it. I like to improvise but it’s not what my live set’s all about. I generally stick to what I wrote. If you bought my record, that’s exactly what you’re gonna hear, crisp and clear.
Q: When did you know you wanted to play rock and roll with a southland flavor for a living?
TN: I always wanted to be in the performing arts in some way and music turned out to be my way. When I was younger I wanted to be in a rock or punk band but then as you get older the things you write about change and the style of music that fits those lyrics and stories changes as well. For example, moving to New York made me write about what I missed. First one I wrote here was about just taking it easy and not let the city get to you.
Q: How do you write songs? After you have a hook/melody or do you have some words first…
TN: A lot of songs that I try to write never get off the page. It’s the ideas that kind of just come out of you naturally that make it. Maybe I’ll play a progression on the guitar and start putting words to it and it will just flow. I’ll put as much of it on paper as I can so when I come back later, I’ll know what I was trying to convey. Your mind will usually find other ways to rework it, make it more concise and witty perhaps.
Q: What’s it been like touring joints in the Metro Area for the past few years?
TN: Man, the music scene here is tough. There’s a lot of things that get in the way that aren’t easy to get around. You can cut your teeth here and get to be good but ultimately, you need to look outside of the New York club scene, get on the road and put your music in front of people that don’t know you.
Q: When’s your next gig?
TN: The Stone Pony in Asbury Park September 5th. We’ll be releasing “What You Sippin’ On?” there.
Q: By the way Mr. Newkirk, how does it feel to have two Flatbush subway stations named after you?
TN: Wish it was true, Joe. Then maybe I could ride for free.
BACK STORY:
I’ve been working with Community Board 14 and the Flatbush Development Corporation to convince the Department of Transportation and the Transit Authority to stop playing Alphonse & Gaston – passing the paternity for Newkirk Plaza back & forth – by marshaling historical records/photos, creating videos, web postings, writing letters, taking meetings. After one of those meetings, I drifted over to my favorite tavern, needing a belt of scotch, and a discussion with my favorite bartender ensued about Dire Straits. I said I’d email him an interesting YouTube post about Mark Knopfler so he gave me his email address. It embedded his surname, which I had not been privy to until that moment. There are coincidences and then there are Jungian Synchronicities. The latter, Jung wrote, is a very unlikely, often impossible coincidence meant to convey some unique meaning to the percipient. I took this one to mean that Newkirk Plaza wanted me to tell Thompson to cover Knopfler’s Walk of Life. in his sets.
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