The Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith and Alice Cooper honed their talents performing “Upstairs at Max’s,” the first restaurant/bar/club in NYC to feature unsigned bands. Aerosmith got signed to a record deal upstairs at Max’s, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Marley and the Wailers performed for a memorable two week double billing. It jumpstarted the careers of Bonnie Raitt, Billy Joel, Waylon Jennings, Iggy Pop, Devo, the B52s and Little Feat just to name a few. For fifteen years, until it finally closed its doors in 1981, as William Burroughs stated, “ Max’s was at the intersection of everything. ”