Island today 2019_11_15

BLANK SLATE MEDIA November 15, 2019

YOUR GUIDE TO THE ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND DINING

‘MY FATHER’S PLACE’ LIVES ON

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“ he whole film came full circle, because now it’s a redemption story where the guy never quit,” Meshakai Wolf DIRECTOR

PHOTO BY STEVE ROSENFIELD

The Roslyn concert venue My Father’s Place at the height of its popularity.

BY R O S E W E L D ON

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ow did a Roslyn bowling alley-turned country and Western bar become an underground sensation? A new film seeks to explore how and why. An as-yet-untitled documentary about the legendary concert venue My Father’s Place, and its owner and promoter Michael “Eppy” Epstein, is currently in post-production from production company Suburban Rebel Productions. The 400-seat Bryant Avenue hot spot, which hosted names like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Andy Kaufman and Joan Jett throughout the

1970s and 1980s, may have closed in 1987, but its legacy continues on, says director Meshakai Wolf. “My Father’s Place is that place that if you bring it up in conversation, somebody has a connection to it,” Wolf said. Wolf, a Manhattan native whose father grew up in Old Westbury, first heard about My Father’s Place when his father and uncle told him stories about the club and Epstein himself in 2011. He was introduced to Epstein soon after. “That’s when he told me about his story and the club’s story, and I was just very interested in how he told stories, and

found to be him personable and funny, and a character overall,” Wolf said. With Epstein’s participation, Wolf began a multi-year process to bring the documentary to life, putting together a crew and funds, and thinking of how to tell Epstein and the venue’s story. The film will also include re-enactments, with a local actor cast to play Epstein. But the venue’s legendary performers, Wolf says, won’t be included in them, with pictures and footage of concerts included instead. “We want David Byrne to be David Byrne,” Wolf explained, naming the frontman of Talk-

ing Heads, who performed on a double bill with the Ramones one night in 1976. The latter group, who performed at the original venue seven times, will be depicted, Wolf says, albeit through animation. The producers saw over $30,000 raised for the documentary through Kickstarter in March, with more fundraisers to come in order to complete postproduction, Wolf says. “We’ve done a Facebook fundraiser since then, and we’re going to do another soon,” Wolf said. “We’d love to have a big pot of money, but we don’t. We’d like it to take a little bit longer and come out with some-

thing we’re happy with.” Wolf originally put the film on the shelf when he and the production crew couldn’t think of how to end it. “We had no idea how to end it,” Wolf said. “And then I got another call from Eppy.” Epstein told Wolf that he was opening another version of My Father’s Place, in the ballroom of the Roslyn Hotel in 2018. The documentary now had a happy ending, and will enter the festival circuit in early 2020. “The whole film came full circle, because now it’s a redemption story where the guy never quit,” Wolf said.