Andrew Dubber     

Having abandoned the idea of a chronological account of my visit to New York, I thought I’d just drop a few vignettes — short stories of little things that happened while I was there.

Cute Mike (right) with NZ music management legend Rhys ‘Murray’ Darby

So I’m at a pub across the road from the Puck Building on Lafayette, where the Trade Fair part of the CMJ Music Marathon was going on. I was with Gary Fortune from the NZ Music Industry Commission and Mike McClung from New Zealand On Air.

We’d just done a spot of shopping – Gary (also in his post-30s) had picked up something for his daughter, I’d found a pair of jeans and a T-shirt for Jake, and Mike was very pleased with the shoes he’d had his eye on all week and had finally purchased. We were enjoying a burger and a beer (except Mike, who’s a Diet Coke boy until the night gets going).

When the waitress brought us the check, she presented Mike with his own.

- My friend asked me to give this to you.
- Who did?
- Behind the bar. She thinks you’re cute.

Mike picked up the check and read it. It had no numbers on it. Just a space for him to write his name, age and where he lives. It was addressed to ‘Cute Boy’.

He laughed. It struck me as a nervous laugh. Mike’s engaged. He turned to us for advice. I was immediately put in mind of a night years earlier when Lyn McNamara (aka Macca) had been similarly approached by a woman in a nightclub when I was in his company.

- Oh my God, she’s looking at me, mate — what do I do? what do I do?

Bloody radio DJs…

We counselled Mike with the all the experience our combined years of being randomly approached by attractive strangers had afforded us (yeah, right).

- Don’t know, mate. Be nice, I guess.

Married men. Useless in this sort of situation.

To Mike’s credit, he went the honourable route. Not that he was ever going to entertain the idea of a liaison with this woman, but he could have been far less diplomatic in his response than he was. He decided to treat her feelings with as much respect as you can for someone who addresses notes to ‘Cute Boy’ in a bar. He filled in the check and sent it back.

Tagged: Travel