wakeme-book-cover

Luna Lounge's Rob Sacher wrote a book about his experiences as a club owner

by Bill Pearis

Wake Me When Its Over

Rob Sacher had a hand in three iconic New York rock clubs in the in the last three decades: Sanctuary (1981-1986), Mission (1988-1993), and Luna Lounge (1995-2008). He’s written about those experiences and more in a new self-published memoir titled Wake Me When It’s Over which just completed a successful Kickstarter campaign. Here’s more from Sacher himself:

I grew up in Brooklyn. Raised on the girl groups, I discovered The Beatles on the first day their first single was radio played in New York. Rocked at the age of eleven when I first heard an electric twelve string guitar, it was then that I knew that I would be a musician, spend my time around music, and live my life among friends who played and made music too.

This is my story, a musician and entrepreneur who created and co-owned nightclubs, now part of the history of music and nightlife in New York City. Starting with my first club, Sanctuary, and continuing with Mission in Manhattan’s East Village and ending with the highly regarded Luna Lounge, this is the first book to cover a part of the New York rock music scene that came after punk, new wave, and no wave.

Luna Lounge opened the same year I moved to New York and I probably spent more time there (1995 – 2005) than just about any other single venue (maybe even bar) in the city. (Admittedly, I had good friends who played in bands there often, but still.) I said in the piece I wrote about Lotion’s reunion show last year, that “What there was of a [mid/late ’90s indie rock] scene, it mostly happened at Luna Lounge” and I stand by that.

Cake Like, Lotion, Muckafurgason, and Space Needle may have played Brownies just as many times (not to mention Coney Island High) but Luna Lounge was free, and that front room with the couches and foosball was a real hangout. If you had nothing else to do, you could always see who was at Luna Lounge. No doubt Rob has some stories from that time.

You can order Wake Me When Its Over directly from its website, where you can read excerpts as well.