Buster Poindexter, An Unlikely Disney Icon of the 1990s, Has Died

Buster Poindexter was a character. Not a Disney character, but a character created by musician David Johansen. Born in 1950, the punk and new wave performer best known as the frontman of the New York Dolls, found himself at age 30 looking for new musical realms to explore. One result was an “ultimate lounge singer,” with the highest pompadour, the loudest jackets, and the booziest playlist. It started as a big joke, but the 1987 release of Hot Hot Hot became both a blessing and a curse. Its success gave Johansen a steady commercial career but forever defined him in some people’s minds as Buster Poindexter.

How does Disney fit into all this? In 1990, Disneyland launched its most ambitious birthday celebration ever, as the park turned 35 years old. The parade theme was Party Gras, and Hot Hot Hot was incorporated into the mix. In a dazzling display of Disney corporate synergy, Poindexter appeared live with the Party Gras Parade. This happened just once, during the 1990 Walt Disney World Happy Easter Parade. The pre-taped segment, introduced by Alan Thicke and Joan Lunden, included a few comedy spots in the park and a complete performance of the parade, all to let people know there was a big Disney theme park in California, too.

All that celebrating might not have come to pass, though, after a now-forgotten performance on another Disneyland birthday, July 17, 1988. Fresh off the success of Hot Hot Hot, it was determined that Buster Poindexter might be just the live performer to entertain families at the daytime version of Videopolis. The nighttime version was a very popular teen dance club that had caused Disneyland’s more traditional managers a lot of headaches. (It seems the kids just wouldn’t dance in the same manner their parents had.)

Buster Poindexter showed up with a couple of not-quite-Disneyesque backup singers, a wailing band, and a cocktail glass in hand. Security primly reminded him that there was no alcohol at the Happiest Place on Earth, and substituted a soft drink cup. Most of the set went off well— only a couple of families stormed out at some of the jokes. But it was his comments about Mickey and Minnie that could have signaled the end. As the reigning characters of Disneyland arrived to perform Hot Hot Hot to end the set, Poindexter quipped, “How about a big hand for Mickey on his 60th birthday. And another hand for his long-suffering wife, Minnie!” He quickly added, “No, no. Just kidding Minnie.”

The fatal flaw in the performance, however, was when Poindexter spontaneously decided to work the crowd mid-song. He made his way off the stage, and to the consternation of Disneyland security, a full-scale rhumba broke out. By the Disney standards of 1988, this was inadmissible, and the performance was brought to a sudden halt. The show was over.

But fortunately, that was not the end of Buster Poindexter’s relationship with Disney. Collectors of esoteric cover albums will recall Dexter Poindexter and the Banshees of Blues’ version of Castle in Spain from Babes in Toyland. This villainous song of comic seduction was a perfect vehicle for Poindexter’s somewhat more salacious comic sensibilities. It appeared in the 1988 album Stay Awake.

And then there is the Party Gras. This infectious parade played for most of 1990, with Hot Hot Hot as a centerpiece. While it played, dancers waded into the crowd and encouraged guests to join them in a street party. They danced the rhumba.

Those were the days, and that was Buster Poindexter. Rest in peace.