Blade Just Wants to Be Entertained
A fixture of Saratoga's nightlife scene for the last 20 years, Daniel "Blade" Macejka is hot on the hunt for a good time. But his next move may surprise you.
The first priority of Saratoga Living After Hours has always been to keep locals in the know about what’s going on around town. The second priority has always been to interview with Daniel Macejka, a fever dream of a man who’s been shaking up downtown Saratoga’s nightlife scene for the last two decades. If you’ve gone out in the last 20 years and woken up with a faint memory of a guy bringing entire pizzas into the bar at midnight, a guy walking around Caroline Street with a monkey on his shoulder, or a guy at the pool table singing The Beatles as he sank the 8-ball, that was no dream. That was Dan, also known as Blade.
Ever since he was described to me as an “eccentric Saratoga character who infiltrated our lives” by a longtime Saratogian at a dinner party back in the earliest days of this newsletter, Blade has lived rent-free in a corner of my brain. Once I knew what I was looking for—a man of Beatlemania age bringing food to late-shift bartenders on Caroline Street—he wasn’t hard to find.
Since introducing myself to him at Tap & Barrel a few years ago, our paths have crossed several times, often at Bailey’s, where you’ve probably seen him helping out the staff by bussing tables, and recently at West Ave Pizza, where he works as a delivery driver. I’ve tried in the past to set up a time to interview him, but he always suggests we meet up at 10pm on a Thursday when I don’t particularly feel like leaving my house at 10pm. So I resigned myself to fate: If the interview happened, it happened.
On a Friday night after several rounds of drinks at Comfort Kitchen this past summer, the stars aligned: A few minutes after midnight, I spotted Blade talking on a landline phone outside of Bailey’s. I flagged him down after he was off the call and cornered him on the sidewalk for an interview that lasted exactly 13 minutes before he started singing.
SLAH: Tell me where you’re from and how you wound up in Saratoga.
B: I came from Rotterdam in 2003 with a monkey on my shoulder. And a bird. I had a conure and a monkey, but I didn’t know anybody. I just came out every night and shot pool, sang the Beatles, and chilled with everybody. Then I got a job delivering pizzas, and once I started delivering pizzas, I became more popular because everybody saw me all the time. Then, unfortunately, after about a year of running around up here, the monkey died. Then it was like, I gotta reinvent myself.
OK, what was the deal with the monkey?
It was a squirrel monkey. I had two of them. I always wanted them. I had friends that had monkeys when they were kids. My monkeys were the best part of my life. To this point, I’d have to say the monkeys are when I was the happiest in my life. Unfortunately, pets die. I understand that. Anyway, moving forward, I started bringing food out because I realized that even though people work in the food and drink industry, they always like to eat a little something different, like pizza. And then I just became addicted to bringing stuff out and doing nice things. People started gravitating towards me. Like, that Blade is cool. When you feed people…do you understand?
Oh, yes—people love free food.
And I just have trouble with throwing food out. I’m also one MF-ing good pool player. And that doesn’t hurt when you go out to bars.
Where were you playing pool?
Everywhere.
I never see you playing at Tin & Lint or Tap & Barrel…Are you retired?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no—not retired, just bored, because I play and then when I beat people they’re like, “I don’t want to play anymore.” It got to a point where people didn’t even want to play against me because it was like, oh, that’s the monkey man. But for some reason, people like hanging out with me, whether it’s because I sing with them or the food. I think it’s the food more than anything.
Is the food from West Ave?
The food is from wherever I work. I used to work at a couple of other places, but now it’s West Ave. There’s nothing better at the end of the night when the bar crew and the workers are hungry and all of a sudden you got a loaded Stromboli, or whatever I bring out. On other nights when I don’t work, I bring snacks out. It’s become a habit. But I don’t like to do it all the time either, because it’s too predictable.
Where did the name Blade come from?
One of my teachers in middle school. I was a basketball player, and he said, “You move on the court like a blade of grass—your name is The Blade.” And it stuck. To this day, my family members still call me Blade.
You’re from Rotterdam—did you go to school at Mohonasen?
Yep. Now, don’t ask me my age. We don’t talk about numbers.
The first night I met you you had a bunch of Beatles pins on your jacket. Where do The Beatles fit in?
I had two older brothers and they loved the Beatles. So as a little kid, I’d hide under the bed while they were playing Beatles music. They knew I was there, but they’re playing all these songs, and I’m a kid. The Beatles are just different. There’s never been anything like them. What I like about The Beatles is this: They knew how good they were, and they pushed themselves to see how good they could be. There’s groups, there’s music, and then there’s The Beatles.
Tell me what your nightlife MO is. You get out of work, and then what?
All I want is to be entertained when I come out. I entertain everybody, but I want to be entertained. I come out every night looking for a different experience, an adventure. A couple of nights ago, I was just walking around; I wasn’t even drinking. I just like the experience.
You’ve made plenty of friends in Saratoga over the years. Morgan Choquette from Bailey’s told me you were the witness on her marriage certificate.
Well, the only reason that happened was because I was at the dessert table at the right time.
How has Saratoga changed since you’ve been coming out?
Saratoga has changed—in my opinion—not that much. Obviously, different cultural things are going on, different shows are popular, different things. But people don’t change. Cultures change, but I still deal with the same dudes that like to bet football. They like to shoot pool.
You’ve been delivering pizzas for so long. What’s next for you?
When we sell my father’s house, I’m bye-bye. BYE-BYE, LOVE. BYE-BYE HAPPINESS.
[At this point in the interview, a presumably intoxicated passerby joined in and sang a duet of the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love” with Blade.]
So after you retire, what’s the game plan? Do you have any hobbies you plan to pursue?
My main hobby right now is to try to make myself happy every day. I like to go to the movies a lot. I like to shoot pool still. Anything else? I think you've got almost everything, right?
No, I’m not done with you quite yet. When I saw you at West Ave Pizza and called you Blade, the owner, Mario, said that at work, you’re Dan. At what point in the day do you switch over from Dan to Blade?
It all depends on what time Mario lets me out of work. And there’s a reason I do that—trust me. Dan is Dan at work. My private life is very important to me. I gotta go to work because I have to. But I should be on the beach already. My last goal in life, and this is true and I’m gonna do it: I don’t know what beach it’s going to be. I don’t know what island. But I want to sell popsicles on the beach. That’s my goal in life. ROOT BEER! CHERRY! GRAPE!
—Natalie