The Buster Poindexter Burrito or: How David Johansen Learned to Stop Living as a Doll and Love Performing Again

I’m going to go ahead and tell you straight away that we ate homemade burritos today (yes — another burrito post). But instead of getting right to a description of our meal, I’d like to talk a little bit about the New York Dolls. I love the Dolls. They were super loud, outrageous in sound and in look, sloppy, played some great rock ‘n’ roll, and they seemed to have a good time doing it. In my mid to late teens Johnny Thunders became my favorite band member, but when I was just a small child, I most enjoyed the Dolls’ frontman, David Johansen. David was always the most animated and flamboyant of the bunch and if you watch footage of the Dolls’ live shows, it always seems as though he is having the most fun on stage. One can tell that he just likes to rock and he is exactly where he wants to be while performing.

The Dolls did not age well. The initial shock induced by their “audacious” dress and their raucous brand of rock ‘n’ roll wore off pretty quickly. They began to resort to increasingly obvious and uninspired gimmicks in an effort to recapture some of their shock value so as to stay “hip” and “new.” At the same time, some of the band members began hard drug abuse and their interest in performing as well as their ability to play diminished as a consequence. Heroin has a particularly effective ability to take a good situation and to turn it into a really shitty one very quickly. Pictured below is a representation of the New York Dolls at the time of the release of their eponymous debut album in burrito form (it also happens to be what I ate today):

Good New York Dolls burrito

This burrito contained spinach greens, serrano peppers, black beans, spicy guacamole, sour cream, extra sharp cheddar cheese, sriracha, and a nice dosage of Peppy Pete’s “En Fuego” salsa. All of that was bound together in a warm whole wheat tortilla. The burrito was pretty healthy, spicy, and it tasted and “felt” fresh. It was exciting to consume.

This next image is a representation (again in burrito form) of the New York Dolls just before they broke apart:

Terrible New York Dolls burrito

This burrito is wrapped inside of a ridiculous package, it is unhealthy, it is filled with chemicals, it is frozen, and it is stale. I didn’t bother to find out what it is like to consume because that would be the equivalent of giving up absolutely, saying to myself, “What the hell, I’ll just eat some trash,” and then doing just that.

After completely losing interest in the Dolls, Johnny Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan hid away in New York where they knew they could find plenty of dope. They’d later go on to form a really great band called The Heartbreakers (as they continued to destroy themselves in mind and body) but that is a story for another time.

Meanwhile, the remaining Dolls traveled to Florida for a gig. They tried hard to make the band work. David Johansen still enjoyed writing and performing and he wanted to continue to do those things. However, without the talents of Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan and with the emergence of newer, fresher bands who carried with them a more interesting or relevant “message,” the Dolls faded away and ultimately disbanded. David Johansen continued to make music and to perform as a solo artist but with little success. Then some time passed. I was born in 1985. By that time, David had grown up and had evolved as a person. The need to present himself as a shocking, screaming, ultra heterosexual man in drag had left him. He decided to package himself in a very different way. He created an alter ego — Buster Poindexter — a pseudo-slick, tuxedo wearing lounge singer type. His new act was still a rather cheap gimmick but it seemed that he fully accepted and embraced this new role because, maybe for the first time since the heyday of the New York Dolls, he was having fun with his music. He dropped the Doll ego. He accepted the fact that he would never be a Mick Jagger. He was Buster Poindexter: friendly, average, somewhat unremarkable but likeable sleazeball. In 1987 he released an eponymous album (Buster Poindexter) and it enjoyed some success. A particular single from the album gained a good amount of attention and the music video was frequently played on MTV. That song was a cover of Arrow’s tune, “Hot, Hot, Hot.” It is such a freewheeling, fun-loving, great time of a track. It was the musical manifestation of David Johansen’s state of mind and it was, without a doubt, my favorite song as a child. Here’s Buster Poindexter’s burrito. It’s refined, it’s got some heat, and it’s a blast to enjoy:

¡Ay, qué rico!

Now go ahead and have a listen to this post’s musical inspiration. It always brings me great joy. I hope it brings that same joy to you!