efore the previously unfathomable terrorist attacks on New York City on September 11, 2001, the band that would become the Edison Rocket Train was known as “The New York Sheiks.”

It became very clear very quickly that any sort of imagery that might be connected to terrorism was going to be a marketing disaster of New Coke proportions and Mike Edison set out to reinvent the group’s image, saving only a leopard-skin fez from the Sheik’s sartorial repetoire.

Although the traditional head-dress and middle-eastern imagery now too-frequently conjures images of hatred, Edison had drawn his persona as “The Original New York Sheik” from a rich subculture of blues singers, matinee idols and professional wrestlers.

Back in the 20s and 30s, to be a Sheik meant to be a super-cool dude, a lady’s man, a real player. Rudolph Valentino as Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan was king of the silver-screen’s dreamy-eyed lovers. That’s where the Mississippi Sheiks, a famous pre-war country blues combo, got their handle. But as far as we know they didn’t dress up like sheiks.

There are lots of African-American R&B and blues artists who carried on the sheik tradition manifested in some pretty stylish lids. Chuck Willis was famous for wearing a turban. J.B. Hutto used to sport a suave-looking fez.

The greatest Sheik of them all was the original fire-throwing Sheik from Detroit, known simply as The Sheik. He was the most dangerous professional wrestler who ever lived. His main strategy was to carve up his opponent with a sharpened wooden stick, although occasionally he would burn people with a fireball. You’d have to see it to believe it. This guy was the master of the foreign object; no one was safe in the ring with him. His matches with Abdullah the Butcher (who was from Sudan and was also known to wear a very Sheik-like burnoose) are legendary bloodbaths. In fact, there was a movement to ban The Sheik from wrestling forever, which is documented in the movie I Like to Hurt People.

Naturally a man this great has inspired countless lesser sheiks, but there have also been some terrific ones. The Iron Sheik from Tehran, Iran beat Hulk Hogan for the World Championship under the tutelage of Ayatollah Fred Blassie and for a while he was the most hated man in the sport.

But back to rock’n’roll. The kings of the post-modern sheik groove were Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, who dressed something like Egyptian acid freaks. The Seeds also had a thing for dressing like psychedelic oil sheiks. Why not? It’s cool. Poison Ivy of The Cramps has been known to do the Arabesque harem girl belly dancer thing, which is also an important part of el mundo Sheik. Elvis took a sheik trip in Harem Scare’em.

Mike Edison vows to bring back the persona of “The Original New York Sheik” after he finishes saving the world for rock n roll.