How many people can say they once saw Paul McCartney give an impromptu performance in a tiny nightclub? Or Jimmy Buffett? Or Van Morrison, or Billy Joel?
How many young and aspiring rock-and-rollers can say they were joined onstage by Mick Jones from the band Foreigner? How many music fans can say they sat shoulder to shoulder with Mick Jagger in a crowded bar, or partied alongside Howard Stern, Brooke Shields, Michael J. Fox, Kim Basinger, or Jerry Seinfeld?
The Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett has been delivering such experiences with astonishing frequency for nearly 40 years, and night after night in the summer months this jewel of the South Fork draws hundreds of visitors and residents alike. Even after a 1994 expansion, the club is tiny, remaining an almost unbelievably intimate space.
Coinciding with its 39th anniversary under the stewardship of partners led by Peter Honerkamp (once an aspiring novelist and ambulance salesman) comes “Bar,” a 400-page coffee-table book chock-full of photographs of these unforgettable moments as well as recollections from those who created and savor those memories.
Years in the making, “Bar” brings the Talkhouse to life in book form. Many of the interviews were conducted more than a decade ago by The Star’s Christopher Walsh (who, as a 23-year-old rock and roller, experienced the aforementioned encounter with Mr. Jones of Foreigner). Ted Delano, a longtime patron, was the lead editor for “Bar.” In their reminiscences, performers and patrons alike express their affection for a beloved institution and gathering place — and for Mr. Honerkamp.
As he recollects in “Bar,” his vision for the future of the Talkhouse crystallized during a conversation with the writer Clifford Irving, who advised him to “buy that bar.”
“I knew I had to,” Mr. Honerkamp writes, “and if I didn’t, I’d regret it forever.”
Before Mr. Honerkamp went ahead and followed Mr. Irving’s advice in 1987, the business had been in operation under the name Stephen Talkhouse (with the portrait of the famed walker and mail-deliverer from the Montauket tribe as its brand and logo) since 1970, but it began as a restaurant serving lobster and steak, with live music once or twice a week, rather than a nightclub. In the 1980s, it was a popular bar where regulars danced to a jukebox on a postage-stamp-sized dancefloor. Under Mr. Honerkamp’s management, it became a unique and legendary stealth venue for superstar acts and a watering hole to the stars.
And the Talkhouse is a business that gives back. Were you there when Paul Simon played a benefit for a neighbor who’d been stricken with cancer? (Happily, more than 20 years later, that resident is alive and well.) Are you one of the lucky SiriusXM satellite radio subscribers who has gotten in to see Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Brandi Carlile, Dave Matthews, the Killers, Metallica, or, on Wednesday, John Mayer?
While many of the performers from the early days are gone — John Lee Hooker, Rick Danko, Toy Caldwell, and Richie Havens among them — a new generation of talent takes the stage through much of the year. This summer alone, Jackie Greene, G.E. Smith, Suzanne Vega, Christone (Kingfish) Ingram, Neal Francis, Low Cut Connie, Joan Osborne, Martin Sexton, Rhett Miller, the Record Company, and Steve Earle have or will soon perform on the Talkhouse stage.
It’s true that the crowds swarming the place on a Saturday in summer can be something of a nuisance; they have been known to clamber onto the roof in an attempt to get in or to wander into Main Street, disrupting traffic at 2 a.m. But the East Hampton Town Police Department has always done an excellent job of managing the overflow — kudos to them — and we can say unreservedly that having the Talkhouse here in town has been an unmitigated good fortune for us all.
If you see him, offer your congratulations to Mr. Honerkamp, as well as to his son and daughter, Max and Ruby Honerkamp, who have taken on leadership roles. Long may they and the Talkhouse run.