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Carolina Boy in Manhattan: Robert Campbell
When Robert Campbell moved into the Chelsea, he was as different as possible from Paul
and Marlowe. Campbell was a North Carolina boy, a chatty, friendly, outgoing rock guitar-
ist from a town called Hickory. He wore blue jeans with Brooks Brothers shirts, dark hair
nearly reaching his waist pulled back in a ponytail, and granny-style wire-framed glasses.
ROBERT CAMPBELL
I was twenty-three or twenty-four, and for some reason I had decided I wanted to
meet lots of people and get as wild as I could. I planned to straighten out when I
was thirty. Of course, it didn't work out that way.
Soon after moving to New York, he got a day job at Atlantic Records proofreading album
covers. But living in New York and having a job weren't enough—he wanted to live at the
Chelsea.
ROBERT CAMPBELL
I went up and told Stanley Bard, “Hey look, I work at Atlantic Records. I want to
live here.”
Bard showed Campbell a room for which the word small would be too grand.
ROBERT CAMPBELL
I think it had previously been used as a paint closet. I think it used to be Peter
Small room be damned, Campbell used his gregarious personality and knack for bringing
the right people together torapidly become a“Chelsea socialite,” knownforthe parties, jam
sessions and social happenings that blossomed in the overcrowded space he shared with his
girlfriend, the painter Carol Schmidt.
NANCY ROGERS
AttheimpromptugatheringsinRobert'sroom,therewerealotofpeoplewhohad
guitars, so there were a lot of cover songs being played. But there was always a
mixofwhatwasplayed—fromtheRamonestotheBeatlestoJohnnyCash.Itwas
definitely very open as far as musical styles, not this narrow view that if you wer-
en't punk-influenced, you weren't respected. If you came in and you played the
accordion, and played polka songs, somebody would grab an electric guitar and
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