The Lower East Side was the current “hot” neighborhood for the arts in general, and live music beckoned from several venues every night: C-Squat, the Bowery Ballroom, or the Mercury Lounge. The music scene dragged in outsiders and hangers-on who filled the streets most nights; the bars on Rivington, Delancey, and the nearby streets took in the overflow and the regulars: those who lived here and who wanted a quieter refuge. Not that the Bent Calliope was ever quiet. On Friday nights, the Bent Calliope brought in a DJ, who set up in the front corner of the bar. Dance music pounded through his PA system. Camille’s crowd generally avoided that area, taking over the opposite rear corner of the bar, where the bass throbbed mostly through the floorboards and where people might still talk without straining their throats. The group commandeered the large table there; usually a half dozen or more people would have shown up by 8:00, with the group fluctuating in size as the evening progressed.
