Checking In - This Ain't no Holiday Inn: Down and Out at the Chelsea Hotel 1980-1995 - page 20

they'dsay,“Hey,let'sfigureouthowwecanjamtogether.”Andeveryonewould
respect that, and even enjoy the diversity of it.
JOHN ZINSSER
Robert and his girlfriend Carol were our immediate neighbors whom we shared
ahallwaywith.ButthewallwesharedwithRobertwasverythin.Hewouldstay
upallnight,everynightwithfriends,playingrecords.Soasfarasaplacetolive,
itwashellaciousbecauseofhisnight-timehabits.Butinaway,Ididn'tmind—it
was a package deal—it came with the Chelsea.
DIMITRI MUGIANIS
Robert would say the wrong things—always—to the point where it was won-
derful! Once, he took our friend Patrick to see a friend who was a blues singer.
Robert introduced Patrick to his friend this way in Harlem: “Patrick, this is the
black guy I was telling you about.” Another time, Robert looked at me and said,
“Dimitri, you've got Jew hair!” Now Robert was never racist. I knew that for a
fact—but he just didn't know what to say! He came from Hickory, North Caro-
lina and dropped himself down in the middle of this scene at the Chelsea. He
would just do the wrong thing. He was a big kid!
DAVID LAWTON
Robert was the master of malapropisms. 20 Famously, when Robert decided to
give Dimitri some advice about his band Leisure Class, he said, “You've gotta
do something like Debbie Gibson!” 21 He was trying to make the point that you
need to make a pop record to break through. “You've gotta be like Debbie Gib-
son,man!”PaulandIlookedateachotherlike,“Hmm,whatcanwedowiththat
advice? Maybe we need to play more malls!”
Debbie Gibson or not, Campbell made his own guitar-playing skills known through his
Room 227 jam sessions.
ROBERT CAMPBELL
I wanted to be a rock star. I thought that would be cool.
It wasn't long before he received a call on his hotel phone from a real rock star. Dee Dee
Ramone had heard about Robert and invited him over to his room to jam. This led to that,
and pretty soon Campbell was a full-fledged member of the Dee Dee Ramone Group. Dee
Deewantedtostartoutbyplayingbluescovers,thesamewaytheRollingStoneshaddone.