This venue is closing, a victim of rising real estate and fewer people stopping in, but places like this are still needed.
Singing a Sad Song for Their Piano Bar - New York Times, 7/19/07:There was the story, for example, from about 10 years ago, where a glassy-eyed gentleman wandered in, steadied himself against the bar and with little ceremony unburdened himself with the force of a racehorse.
Kristine Zbornik, a professional singer and actress, was at the microphone at the time. When the gentleman’s stream advanced toward her, she raised her left foot and switched songs midway through and started belting out, “Cry Me a River.”
When news of the closing of Rose’s Turn spread last weekend among the bar’s longtime patrons, many say they felt devastated. Susan Finkelstein McElroy, 50, a regular patron who lives in North Babylon, on Long Island, received a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2004. She credits song-filled nights at Rose’s Turn with helping her endure the rigors of chemotherapy.
When she read the bad news in an e-mail message on Saturday, Ms. Finkelstein McElroy wept.
For 56 years, since it opened during the Truman administration, 55 Grove Street in the West Village has been a piano bar, cabaret and comedy club for the quick-witted and full-throated. First it was Upstairs/Downstairs, then the Duplex (which remains open at another location), and finally it became Rose’s Turn."
Showing posts with label new york. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new york. Show all posts
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Thursday, July 05, 2007
A film about classical music in unusual venues
The End of New Music - Free Speech Zone - Music - Column - New York Times, 7/04/07: "The film ['The End of New Music] documents a 2005 tour of rock clubs and alternative spaces by Free Speech Zone, a collective founded by Mr. Greenstein, David T. Little and Missy Mazzoli. In it, these three busy, highly regarded composers, whose boisterous, attractive music is influenced by neo-Romanticism, Minimalism and rock, forcefully reject the standard conventions of concert halls and academia....
“The main thing is understanding that you can actually take control over the way that your music is heard,” Mr. Greenstein said. 'Once you see that you had that power all along, then it suddenly doesn’t become ‘you versus the system’ anymore. It’s just you behaving as an adult, going out and making decisions in the world.'"
“The main thing is understanding that you can actually take control over the way that your music is heard,” Mr. Greenstein said. 'Once you see that you had that power all along, then it suddenly doesn’t become ‘you versus the system’ anymore. It’s just you behaving as an adult, going out and making decisions in the world.'"
Monday, June 11, 2007
Concerts in the Apple Music Store
Leaving New York: Goodbye Apple Store And So Long SoHo - Gawker, 6/11/07: "I'd of course heard of the Apple Store having concerts. But since I'm usually only in Manhattan from 9 to 6, Monday through Friday, I never actually happen upon these things. So this was the first time I'd seen a concert at the Apple Store, and it was totally a spectacle. There weren't just bouncers, there were security people there. The people who were there for the concert looked different (younger) than the people who were there to shop. Some hapless dude looking for a laptop bag had made his way upstairs, and the security force was all like making that direct pointing and 'outta-there' thumb motion usually reserved for mosh pits. A security guy at the top of the stairs escorted the hapless geek downstairs.
The clerk returned with my screen cleaner and rung me up from a handheld, wireless register (had not done this before, must say it was pretty cool). While she was doing this, I looked to the front door of the store. Owen Wilson and a friend (or dealer, perhaps) were being shown in and were heading right upstairs to the show.
So when the Apple Store has a concert, not only do they have bouncers and security staff, they've even got a VIP protocol. I was reminded of last summer, when I saw Lansing-Dreiden play at the 'Starbucks Salon' (also in Soho, just down the street from the Apple Store). I remember when I went to shows at venues that didn't sell grande chais and laptop screen cleaners. Surely those kinds of places still exist, and surely that's where new bands play, and where new music fans go to see them. Those are the kinds of places I went seven years ago, when I first moved here, and surely they still exist."
The clerk returned with my screen cleaner and rung me up from a handheld, wireless register (had not done this before, must say it was pretty cool). While she was doing this, I looked to the front door of the store. Owen Wilson and a friend (or dealer, perhaps) were being shown in and were heading right upstairs to the show.
So when the Apple Store has a concert, not only do they have bouncers and security staff, they've even got a VIP protocol. I was reminded of last summer, when I saw Lansing-Dreiden play at the 'Starbucks Salon' (also in Soho, just down the street from the Apple Store). I remember when I went to shows at venues that didn't sell grande chais and laptop screen cleaners. Surely those kinds of places still exist, and surely that's where new bands play, and where new music fans go to see them. Those are the kinds of places I went seven years ago, when I first moved here, and surely they still exist."
Marc Ribot: The Care and Feeding of a Musical Margin
A detailed article about the need for subsidies for music clubs -- particularly jazz and new music clubs.
Marc Ribot: The Care and Feeding of a Musical Margin - All About Jazz, 7/7/07: "The market is failing as a means of funding downtown new music venues. The venues have either abandoned new music booking priorities (like Knitting Factory did at the end of the '90s), switched to being subsidized by musicians (like Tonic and the above mentioned new venues are doing now) or both. Musician benefit concerts and recordings, once a 'special' situation, are being normalized as a means of funding....
New music composers of the '40s through the early '60s didn't expect to make money through the live performance market; many taught to earn a living. John Cage's income wasn't based on packing a nightclub with door-fee paying, drink-buying customers; many of his history making premieres were attended by fewer people than attended an average gig at CBGB. He was supported mainly by commissions and performance fees, by grants from private and public foundations. In experimental jazz, things were much the same, although less generously funded; avant gardists through the '70s played a 'loft' scene not known for generating big bucks. Cecil Taylor worked as a dishwasher while developing his history-changing style. And when he was able to quit his day job, it was due to the backing of mostly European, subsidized festivals....
The idea behind European public arts subsidies, the reason why NYC jazz/new music artists for at least the last 40 years have played Paris, Cologne and Zurich many more times than they've played Hartford (and how many have ever played Des Moines?) is a doctrine called “the European cultural exception”, a set of government policies based on the concept that, even within a market economy, art/culture is to be treated differently from other commodities."
Marc Ribot: The Care and Feeding of a Musical Margin - All About Jazz, 7/7/07: "The market is failing as a means of funding downtown new music venues. The venues have either abandoned new music booking priorities (like Knitting Factory did at the end of the '90s), switched to being subsidized by musicians (like Tonic and the above mentioned new venues are doing now) or both. Musician benefit concerts and recordings, once a 'special' situation, are being normalized as a means of funding....
New music composers of the '40s through the early '60s didn't expect to make money through the live performance market; many taught to earn a living. John Cage's income wasn't based on packing a nightclub with door-fee paying, drink-buying customers; many of his history making premieres were attended by fewer people than attended an average gig at CBGB. He was supported mainly by commissions and performance fees, by grants from private and public foundations. In experimental jazz, things were much the same, although less generously funded; avant gardists through the '70s played a 'loft' scene not known for generating big bucks. Cecil Taylor worked as a dishwasher while developing his history-changing style. And when he was able to quit his day job, it was due to the backing of mostly European, subsidized festivals....
The idea behind European public arts subsidies, the reason why NYC jazz/new music artists for at least the last 40 years have played Paris, Cologne and Zurich many more times than they've played Hartford (and how many have ever played Des Moines?) is a doctrine called “the European cultural exception”, a set of government policies based on the concept that, even within a market economy, art/culture is to be treated differently from other commodities."
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The blurring of genres
Bang on a Can - Music - Review - New York Times, 6/5/07: "When Bang on a Can was founded, the purpose was to provide a home for music by Mr. Gordon, Mr. Lang, Ms. Wolfe and their colleagues: an eclectic post-Minimalism that openly acknowledged an indebtedness to rock, jazz and a variety of world-music idioms. Two decades later these composers still haven’t entirely entered the concert-music mainstream. Still, this year’s marathon indicated that they may have achieved something even more meaningful.
It wasn’t just that contemporary-classical adherents shared space with alt-rock fans here. Rather, what seemed clear was that Bang on a Can has played a central role in fostering a new kind of audience that doesn’t concern itself with boundaries among new-music composition, the pianist Vijay Iyer’s sophisticated modern jazz, the Uzbek folk ensemble Mashriq’s eloquent meditations and innovative post-rock experimentation from groups like he Books, Clogs and D�lek. The prevailing tone was that if music is made with originality and integrity, these listeners will come."
It wasn’t just that contemporary-classical adherents shared space with alt-rock fans here. Rather, what seemed clear was that Bang on a Can has played a central role in fostering a new kind of audience that doesn’t concern itself with boundaries among new-music composition, the pianist Vijay Iyer’s sophisticated modern jazz, the Uzbek folk ensemble Mashriq’s eloquent meditations and innovative post-rock experimentation from groups like he Books, Clogs and D�lek. The prevailing tone was that if music is made with originality and integrity, these listeners will come."
The growth of mid-sized venues in NYC
Here's a bit of an overview of Bowery Presents, a promoter that has grown enough to take on Live Nation and AEG in NYC.
Bowery Presents - Concert Industry - Music - New York Times, 6/7/07: "It started with the 250-capacity Mercury Lounge on East Houston Street, which opened in 1994 for $250,000, some $35,000 of which came from the maxed-out credit cards of Michael Swier, one of the Bowery Presents partners. Four years later came the 575-capacity, $1 million Bowery Ballroom, and in 2004 the company began booking Webster Hall, which fits 1,400. Last year it acquired Northsix in Brooklyn, which will open in September as the Music Hall of Williamsburg, and the 3,000-capacity former Exit dance club on West 56th Street, to reopen as a rock hall in October."
Bowery Presents - Concert Industry - Music - New York Times, 6/7/07: "It started with the 250-capacity Mercury Lounge on East Houston Street, which opened in 1994 for $250,000, some $35,000 of which came from the maxed-out credit cards of Michael Swier, one of the Bowery Presents partners. Four years later came the 575-capacity, $1 million Bowery Ballroom, and in 2004 the company began booking Webster Hall, which fits 1,400. Last year it acquired Northsix in Brooklyn, which will open in September as the Music Hall of Williamsburg, and the 3,000-capacity former Exit dance club on West 56th Street, to reopen as a rock hall in October."
Saturday, June 02, 2007
America's 40 Best Music Venues
Paste Magazine :: Feature :: America's 40 Best Music Venues: "Sometimes it’s the view—you’re at Denver’s Red Rocks, your eyes darting back and forth from the band to the landscape, and the music seems changed by the surrounding beauty. Sometimes it’s the history—a young band, onstage at The Fillmore, stands on the shoulders of the giants whose music helped reshape the world. Sometimes it’s the sense of discovery—you’re at L.A.’s Hotel Cafe, and you suspect the night’s opening act is headed for stardom. And sometimes, like with The Bowery Ballroom in New York, it’s simply the fact that on any given night, you know they’ve booked another great show.
To help find America’s best music venues, we went to the experts—you. In addition to our many contributors scattered across the country and many of the artists driving from club to club, Paste readers nominated more than 500 different venues at PasteMagazine.com—from hole-in-the-wall rock clubs to elegant theaters, legendary halls to brand new bars, quiet listening rooms to rock extravaganzas.
We weighed history, setting, sound, character, comfort, atmosphere, vibrancy, uniqueness, and their roles in helping launch careers. Among hundreds of worthy choices, these 40 venues rose above their peers. Our picks for the best music venues in America follow in this special section..."
To help find America’s best music venues, we went to the experts—you. In addition to our many contributors scattered across the country and many of the artists driving from club to club, Paste readers nominated more than 500 different venues at PasteMagazine.com—from hole-in-the-wall rock clubs to elegant theaters, legendary halls to brand new bars, quiet listening rooms to rock extravaganzas.
We weighed history, setting, sound, character, comfort, atmosphere, vibrancy, uniqueness, and their roles in helping launch careers. Among hundreds of worthy choices, these 40 venues rose above their peers. Our picks for the best music venues in America follow in this special section..."
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Auditioning for subway gigs
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority held auditions to find performers for its subways.
NYTimes, 5/12/07 - It’s Not ‘American Idol,’ but Subway Station Auditions Draw Crowd in Washington : "An average of 700,000 commuters in the greater Washington area ride the Metro to and from work each weekday. Visitors bump that number up considerably on weekends and during the tourist seasons, making the system the second-busiest in the country after New York City’s, which also features performers chosen by audition.
In Washington, performers will need to keep their day jobs — panhandling will not be allowed.
But the musicians will be paid $200 for each two-hour performance. The Arts in Transit performances will begin in early June and last through October, before returning for the winter holiday season. The number and times for performances have not been set, nor have the stations been chosen that will feature the artists. But there will be twice-daily appearances, in the late morning and then again in the early evening, close to the morning and afternoon commutes, at the selected stations."
NYTimes, 5/12/07 - It’s Not ‘American Idol,’ but Subway Station Auditions Draw Crowd in Washington : "An average of 700,000 commuters in the greater Washington area ride the Metro to and from work each weekday. Visitors bump that number up considerably on weekends and during the tourist seasons, making the system the second-busiest in the country after New York City’s, which also features performers chosen by audition.
In Washington, performers will need to keep their day jobs — panhandling will not be allowed.
But the musicians will be paid $200 for each two-hour performance. The Arts in Transit performances will begin in early June and last through October, before returning for the winter holiday season. The number and times for performances have not been set, nor have the stations been chosen that will feature the artists. But there will be twice-daily appearances, in the late morning and then again in the early evening, close to the morning and afternoon commutes, at the selected stations."
Alternative venues for indie music
Music venues have been closing in NYC, but shows in non-traditional locations are doing well.
New York Night Life - New York Times, 5/11/07: "'Anything is a venue,' said the promoter Todd Patrick, known professionally as Todd P. For six years he has made it his mission to program music in far-flung places, from divey bars in Greenpoint to Lutheran churches to private lofts. Now New York’s alt-location guru, he has recently expanded to work with bands on the verge of stardom (Animal Collective, which he booked in 2005) and even nationally known acts (Oneida, Trans Am) at large clubs like Studio B in Brooklyn, winning the attention of the music industry.
But Mr. Patrick’s hallmark remains the cheap, on-the-fly, do-it-yourself concert, promoted through his Web site (toddpnyc.com), his e-mail list (13,000 strong) and MySpace, blog and newspaper and magazine listings. Essentially a one-man band, Mr. Patrick, 31, has interns who work the door (ticket prices rarely go above $10) and stamp hands (he only does all-ages shows) while he helps set up.
'Because the idea is about D.I.Y., I like to show the strings,' he said. 'I want people to come to the show and see me build the P.A. system, see that there’s nothing glossy about what we’re doing. I think alternative venues are a great way of doing that. It just kind of throws it off. If a club is the quote-unquote appropriate place to see music, why do people have so much more fun in a warehouse?'...
Nearby, interns counted the door money; Mr. Patrick takes 10 percent before expenses (security, interns) and the rest goes to performers....
Along with low overhead other common traits of this scene include out-of-the way locations (a long walk from the subway is common), online promotion, candles instead of spotlights and a high tolerance for graffiti: GlassLands, where the Yeah Yeah Yeahs performed as part of a video shoot, has two rooms where anyone can scribble on the walls, markers and paint provided. Many places lack proper licensing; Mr. Patrick switches locations often to avoid the authorities. (Don Pedro is a legal establishment with a liquor license; the loft space was not.)"
New York Night Life - New York Times, 5/11/07: "'Anything is a venue,' said the promoter Todd Patrick, known professionally as Todd P. For six years he has made it his mission to program music in far-flung places, from divey bars in Greenpoint to Lutheran churches to private lofts. Now New York’s alt-location guru, he has recently expanded to work with bands on the verge of stardom (Animal Collective, which he booked in 2005) and even nationally known acts (Oneida, Trans Am) at large clubs like Studio B in Brooklyn, winning the attention of the music industry.
But Mr. Patrick’s hallmark remains the cheap, on-the-fly, do-it-yourself concert, promoted through his Web site (toddpnyc.com), his e-mail list (13,000 strong) and MySpace, blog and newspaper and magazine listings. Essentially a one-man band, Mr. Patrick, 31, has interns who work the door (ticket prices rarely go above $10) and stamp hands (he only does all-ages shows) while he helps set up.
'Because the idea is about D.I.Y., I like to show the strings,' he said. 'I want people to come to the show and see me build the P.A. system, see that there’s nothing glossy about what we’re doing. I think alternative venues are a great way of doing that. It just kind of throws it off. If a club is the quote-unquote appropriate place to see music, why do people have so much more fun in a warehouse?'...
Nearby, interns counted the door money; Mr. Patrick takes 10 percent before expenses (security, interns) and the rest goes to performers....
Along with low overhead other common traits of this scene include out-of-the way locations (a long walk from the subway is common), online promotion, candles instead of spotlights and a high tolerance for graffiti: GlassLands, where the Yeah Yeah Yeahs performed as part of a video shoot, has two rooms where anyone can scribble on the walls, markers and paint provided. Many places lack proper licensing; Mr. Patrick switches locations often to avoid the authorities. (Don Pedro is a legal establishment with a liquor license; the loft space was not.)"
Saturday, April 21, 2007
More venue changes in NYC
Gothamist: New York's Venues Are Changing, Closing, Opening: "With that in mind, it seems New York has been losing venues left and right as of late."
A city-wide music festival
Make Music New York :: Home: "The first annual MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK is coming to New York this June 21!
For one day a year – the first day of summer – public spaces in all five boroughs will become informal musical stages for all New Yorkers, amateurs and professionals, to perform for friends, neighbors, and passers-by, turning the city into a festival of live music making.
More than 300 cities around the world, from Paris to Panama to Phnom Penh, celebrate their own 'Make Music' events each June 21st. Join us for the first year in New York!"
For one day a year – the first day of summer – public spaces in all five boroughs will become informal musical stages for all New Yorkers, amateurs and professionals, to perform for friends, neighbors, and passers-by, turning the city into a festival of live music making.
More than 300 cities around the world, from Paris to Panama to Phnom Penh, celebrate their own 'Make Music' events each June 21st. Join us for the first year in New York!"
Friday, April 13, 2007
The New Music Scene in NYC
Combining classical influences with experimental music and even pop and rock, these music groups are probably more indie/hip/cool than can be found in most hipster clubs.
Club Acts: Musical Events: The New Yorker: "Forty years ago, New York had just two full-time new-music ensembles: the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and the Group for Contemporary Music. Now there are more than forty such outfits, from Alarm Will Sound to Wet Ink. Although these groups sometimes play in the uptown concert halls, they more often appear downtown and in Brooklyn....
"An exceptionally vital group of young composers is driving the proliferation of new music. As they pontificate on blogs and Web sites such as Sequenza21 and NewMusicBox, distribute music via MySpace pages and Internet radio, and post flyers for their shows, they act for all the world like unsigned rockers trying to make it in the city.... Classifying their work becomes tricky; many composers of Tignor’s generation are erasing the line between classical and pop, dispensing with performers in favor of laptops, incorporating improvisation and world-music practices, or singing their own art songs in semi-pop style. Complicating the picture further is a new breed of pop artist who composes on the side....
"Sometimes the blurring of boundaries leads to overamplified mush. Just as often, though, it generates a new kind of interstitial music—one that makes a virtue of falling between the cracks....
"Since George Gershwin’s time, people have been talking about a total synthesis of pop and classical traditions. Such a fusion is probably as undesirable as it is unattainable: genre distinctions are part of what makes music comprehensible in the first place. Nonetheless, all music exists on a continuum, and it’s thrilling when a programmer decides to follow a common thread from one genre to another....
"Everyone has something to gain from this exercise. Classical types can expose their wares to a new crowd: the youthful-intellectual demographic that classical presenters often talk about but seldom attract. At the same time, the so-called “pop” artists—none of them remotely of the Top Forty variety—can enjoy an atmosphere free of background chatter and clinking beer bottles. Listeners benefit the most; they experience familiar repertory from new angles or discover music that they otherwise might have missed."
Club Acts: Musical Events: The New Yorker: "Forty years ago, New York had just two full-time new-music ensembles: the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and the Group for Contemporary Music. Now there are more than forty such outfits, from Alarm Will Sound to Wet Ink. Although these groups sometimes play in the uptown concert halls, they more often appear downtown and in Brooklyn....
"An exceptionally vital group of young composers is driving the proliferation of new music. As they pontificate on blogs and Web sites such as Sequenza21 and NewMusicBox, distribute music via MySpace pages and Internet radio, and post flyers for their shows, they act for all the world like unsigned rockers trying to make it in the city.... Classifying their work becomes tricky; many composers of Tignor’s generation are erasing the line between classical and pop, dispensing with performers in favor of laptops, incorporating improvisation and world-music practices, or singing their own art songs in semi-pop style. Complicating the picture further is a new breed of pop artist who composes on the side....
"Sometimes the blurring of boundaries leads to overamplified mush. Just as often, though, it generates a new kind of interstitial music—one that makes a virtue of falling between the cracks....
"Since George Gershwin’s time, people have been talking about a total synthesis of pop and classical traditions. Such a fusion is probably as undesirable as it is unattainable: genre distinctions are part of what makes music comprehensible in the first place. Nonetheless, all music exists on a continuum, and it’s thrilling when a programmer decides to follow a common thread from one genre to another....
"Everyone has something to gain from this exercise. Classical types can expose their wares to a new crowd: the youthful-intellectual demographic that classical presenters often talk about but seldom attract. At the same time, the so-called “pop” artists—none of them remotely of the Top Forty variety—can enjoy an atmosphere free of background chatter and clinking beer bottles. Listeners benefit the most; they experience familiar repertory from new angles or discover music that they otherwise might have missed."
Thursday, April 05, 2007
What the club owner really thinks of your band
"Shhhh-it!": Introducing Idolator's AnonIMous Music-Biz Interview Series - Idolator: "VivSavage1984: okay, so first question: do you actually read/care about music blogs?
RockClubBigWig: I do read them, every day, when I get to work. Just the major ones--Idolator, of course, Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, Stereogum, Product Shop NYC, etc.
VivSavage1984: well, thanks for the plug. So, do the blogs have any big impact on what bands you guys book?
RockClubBigWig: Sometimes. I would say that more often, we book the bands first and then the blogs write about them. Blogs are more useful for finding out about shows going on at other venues.
VivSavage1984: really! interesting. well, what do you think about when blogs take credit for helping to 'break' a band? is there any merit to that? so what's the day-to-day of your job like?
RockClubBigWig: go over the schedule for the evening. listen to a lot of cd's and visit a bunch of myspace pages. respond (or don't respond) to a couple hundred e-mails. answer the phone. bullshit with colleagues. talk shit about shitty bands. and praise good ones. ... There are a lot of new venues. But there's a big market out there. I mean, I wish I could say that there's cutthroat competition in the New York live music scene. But it's kind of like, Clear Channel/Live Nation, whatever, they're on one side, and everyone else is on the other. And the balance seems to be tilting towards the independents. Irving Plaza, Nokia Theater, BB Kings: their booking has really gone downhill in the last couple years."
clubs
New York
Brooklyn
Williamsburg
RockClubBigWig: I do read them, every day, when I get to work. Just the major ones--Idolator, of course, Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, Stereogum, Product Shop NYC, etc.
VivSavage1984: well, thanks for the plug. So, do the blogs have any big impact on what bands you guys book?
RockClubBigWig: Sometimes. I would say that more often, we book the bands first and then the blogs write about them. Blogs are more useful for finding out about shows going on at other venues.
VivSavage1984: really! interesting. well, what do you think about when blogs take credit for helping to 'break' a band? is there any merit to that? so what's the day-to-day of your job like?
RockClubBigWig: go over the schedule for the evening. listen to a lot of cd's and visit a bunch of myspace pages. respond (or don't respond) to a couple hundred e-mails. answer the phone. bullshit with colleagues. talk shit about shitty bands. and praise good ones. ... There are a lot of new venues. But there's a big market out there. I mean, I wish I could say that there's cutthroat competition in the New York live music scene. But it's kind of like, Clear Channel/Live Nation, whatever, they're on one side, and everyone else is on the other. And the balance seems to be tilting towards the independents. Irving Plaza, Nokia Theater, BB Kings: their booking has really gone downhill in the last couple years."
clubs
New York
Brooklyn
Williamsburg
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Another NYC venue gone
Sin-�, Lower East Side Club - New York Times: "Yes, another one bites the dust: Sin-� (pronounced shih-NAY), after a weekend of goodbye shows, will close for good on Sunday. Over two decades and three locations, the owner, Shane Doyle, maintained it as a cozy, unassuming place for up-and-coming musical acts, charting the perimeters of gentrifying areas as surely as Starbucks now defines them. But two months ago, as wealthy neighbors and city and state regulators encroached, he decided his low-key vision was out of step.
'I look at this block, and I know it’s over,' Mr. Doyle, 55, said in an interview in his club on Attorney Street near Stanton. Once an industrial stretch of liquor warehouses and auto-repair shops, that block is now within spitting distance of several million-dollar apartment complexes. When those buildings’ residents started calling to complain of noise and crowds, he knew. 'Then the obvious thing is, O.K., let me go somewhere else,' he said. 'But I can’t find somewhere else. And even if I could the lifespan would be too short.'"
New York
live music
clubs
'I look at this block, and I know it’s over,' Mr. Doyle, 55, said in an interview in his club on Attorney Street near Stanton. Once an industrial stretch of liquor warehouses and auto-repair shops, that block is now within spitting distance of several million-dollar apartment complexes. When those buildings’ residents started calling to complain of noise and crowds, he knew. 'Then the obvious thing is, O.K., let me go somewhere else,' he said. 'But I can’t find somewhere else. And even if I could the lifespan would be too short.'"
New York
live music
clubs
Monday, March 26, 2007
The hunger for community
This is about an art gathering rather than music, but I think the same concept would work. People want a community, and it could be built around music. Bring them together, have them share food, and have them bond over creativity.
Slideluck Potshow - New York Times, 3/27/07: "The main attraction, a two-hour slide show of work by 37 artists, drew nearly 800 people, representing a jaunty cross section of the city’s young creative class.
It was the possibility of a lively communal viewing experience that inspired the series. Casey Kelbaugh, a goateed freelance photographer who has worked for publications including The New York Times, founded Slideluck Potshow in his tiny backyard in Seattle in 2000 with a simple invitation to friends and colleagues to bring slides and food. The idea caught on quickly, and he held 20 slide show parties there before moving to New York in 2003.
'I got here thinking, well, I have this thing that’s very popular in Seattle, but the idea of a potluck dinner in New York would never get off the ground,' said Mr. Kelbaugh, 32.
Still, he spread the word and held a Slideluck Potshow in his East Village apartment in early 2004. He was surprised when 120 people arrived, obligingly toting home-cooked dishes as well as images of their work. The event mushroomed into a kind of open-mike night for photographers and other artists, who would show up with trays of slides or CDs to show.
'The whole thing is that it’s participatory, and it’s about creative expression,' Mr. Kelbaugh said. 'It’s a little bit outside the photography establishment.'”
New York
creative class
third places
creativity
Slideluck Potshow - New York Times, 3/27/07: "The main attraction, a two-hour slide show of work by 37 artists, drew nearly 800 people, representing a jaunty cross section of the city’s young creative class.
It was the possibility of a lively communal viewing experience that inspired the series. Casey Kelbaugh, a goateed freelance photographer who has worked for publications including The New York Times, founded Slideluck Potshow in his tiny backyard in Seattle in 2000 with a simple invitation to friends and colleagues to bring slides and food. The idea caught on quickly, and he held 20 slide show parties there before moving to New York in 2003.
'I got here thinking, well, I have this thing that’s very popular in Seattle, but the idea of a potluck dinner in New York would never get off the ground,' said Mr. Kelbaugh, 32.
Still, he spread the word and held a Slideluck Potshow in his East Village apartment in early 2004. He was surprised when 120 people arrived, obligingly toting home-cooked dishes as well as images of their work. The event mushroomed into a kind of open-mike night for photographers and other artists, who would show up with trays of slides or CDs to show.
'The whole thing is that it’s participatory, and it’s about creative expression,' Mr. Kelbaugh said. 'It’s a little bit outside the photography establishment.'”
New York
creative class
third places
creativity
Saturday, March 24, 2007
New York vs. London
This week's New York Magazine has a series of articles comparing New York to London and which one is hipper/better. Now I suppose this is a good way to sell magazines (and some of the articles did turn up on my Google News searches), but if you are truly cool, aren't you supposed to not care?
I mean, if one of the Denver papers actually did an article saying, "Who is cooler, Denver or ....?" it would confirm to the world our inferiority complex. If we are hip enough, we aren't supposed to care what anyone thinks.
Table of Contents -- March 26, 2007 Issue of New York Magazine: An extensive examination of London’s challenge to our city’s global preeminence. From finance, to fashion, to urban planning, to music and even restaurants, should New Yorkers be minding the world’s-greatest-city gap more carefully?
I mean, if one of the Denver papers actually did an article saying, "Who is cooler, Denver or ....?" it would confirm to the world our inferiority complex. If we are hip enough, we aren't supposed to care what anyone thinks.
Table of Contents -- March 26, 2007 Issue of New York Magazine: An extensive examination of London’s challenge to our city’s global preeminence. From finance, to fashion, to urban planning, to music and even restaurants, should New Yorkers be minding the world’s-greatest-city gap more carefully?
Sunday, March 04, 2007
The arts and economic growth
The whole premise of the creative class is that they enrich an area and attract high quality economic development.
Here's a bit on that from the blog that covers the subject in depth.
The Creativity Exchange: The Bohemian Factor:
"Arts, design and related occupations are very highly correlated with regional wages, income and housing values. They are more closely correlated with income than life scientists, engineers, and management occupations. Only two occupations - computer scientists and business and financial professionals - outperform them.
The core arts occupations of fine artists, musicians, dancers, and so on are most important of all. The correlations between them and regional wages, income and housing values are far far higher than for designers and decorators, entertainment and media, and sports where the correlations are low or insignificant.
The top 10 regions for core arts occupations are: New York, DC, LA, Honolulu and San Franciso.
Santa Fe tops the list for fine artists.
LA leads in actors with Orlando second.
Honolulu, San Fran, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City top the list for dancers.
Honolulu, New York, San Fran and Nashville lead for musicians."
economic development
creative class
Here's a bit on that from the blog that covers the subject in depth.
The Creativity Exchange: The Bohemian Factor:
"Arts, design and related occupations are very highly correlated with regional wages, income and housing values. They are more closely correlated with income than life scientists, engineers, and management occupations. Only two occupations - computer scientists and business and financial professionals - outperform them.
The core arts occupations of fine artists, musicians, dancers, and so on are most important of all. The correlations between them and regional wages, income and housing values are far far higher than for designers and decorators, entertainment and media, and sports where the correlations are low or insignificant.
The top 10 regions for core arts occupations are: New York, DC, LA, Honolulu and San Franciso.
Santa Fe tops the list for fine artists.
LA leads in actors with Orlando second.
Honolulu, San Fran, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City top the list for dancers.
Honolulu, New York, San Fran and Nashville lead for musicians."
economic development
creative class
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
You can't dance in NYC
As it turns out, you can't dance just anywhere in NYC. Only in certain places.
New York City not ready to cut footloose - Los Angeles Times, 2/26/07: "The 1926 law, which requires bars and restaurants to obtain a cabaret license before three or more patrons can dance, ...
There are about 150 licensed cabarets in New York, according to the city's Department of Consumer Affairs, and 42 pending applications. Dancers say most of those play club and house music, whereas just a handful of venues offer genres such as country and western, salsa, tango, ballroom and swing."
New York
clubs
New York City not ready to cut footloose - Los Angeles Times, 2/26/07: "The 1926 law, which requires bars and restaurants to obtain a cabaret license before three or more patrons can dance, ...
There are about 150 licensed cabarets in New York, according to the city's Department of Consumer Affairs, and 42 pending applications. Dancers say most of those play club and house music, whereas just a handful of venues offer genres such as country and western, salsa, tango, ballroom and swing."
New York
clubs
Monday, February 05, 2007
Playing cabarets
Here's an article about a guy with a rock band, Excuses, who takes it into piano bars and cabarets. Just another addition to the "take music to the people" theme of this blog.
North Jersey Media Group, 2/4/07 - Between rock and cabaret - not a hard place: "[Evan] Toth, an English teacher by day (for the last four years at Community High School in Teaneck) got a role in the touring, off-Broadway and Japanese productions of the long-running audience-immersion comedy 'Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding.' ...
By the time he finished his three-year run in that show, in 2001, he was ready to hit the cabaret trail with a vengeance.
'I've spent a long time building a local fan base, and it's been a long road connecting to people along the way, but they do come out,' says Toth, 28.
It helps, in his brave new career as a crossover cabaret star, that Toth can sit at the Steinway and whip out a rendition of 'Strangers in the Night' or 'Cabaret' for the piano bar crowd.
Sometimes, when the club has an outer lounge and an inner theater ... he can serve as his own pitchman, playing sample tunes on the outside to lure customers to the inner sanctum."
clubs
New York
North Jersey Media Group, 2/4/07 - Between rock and cabaret - not a hard place: "[Evan] Toth, an English teacher by day (for the last four years at Community High School in Teaneck) got a role in the touring, off-Broadway and Japanese productions of the long-running audience-immersion comedy 'Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding.' ...
By the time he finished his three-year run in that show, in 2001, he was ready to hit the cabaret trail with a vengeance.
'I've spent a long time building a local fan base, and it's been a long road connecting to people along the way, but they do come out,' says Toth, 28.
It helps, in his brave new career as a crossover cabaret star, that Toth can sit at the Steinway and whip out a rendition of 'Strangers in the Night' or 'Cabaret' for the piano bar crowd.
Sometimes, when the club has an outer lounge and an inner theater ... he can serve as his own pitchman, playing sample tunes on the outside to lure customers to the inner sanctum."
clubs
New York
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Exclusive is "in"
This article talks about NYC clubs that are hard to find and hard to get into, which adds to their cachet.
A club that I visited in NYC years ago operated on that same principle and was great fun to visit because of it.
A friend, who was rich and lived in a penthouse that overlooked Central Park West, decided to we should go out because she was depressed and was about to break up with the boyfriend who owned the penthouse.
We went to Chelsea, where she took me into a small, kind of tacky, gift shop. We went to the back, pushed open a door, and found ourselves inside a tiny piano bar with an androgynous man exuberantly playing sing-along songs like "American Pie." Everyone there appeared to be having a great time. After we hung out for a few minutes, she led me to the back of that room, pushed through the door, and we found ourselves in a tiny charming restaurant overlooking a courtyard with rain streaming down the windows. It was a very romantic setting. We stayed for dinner. When we were finished, we went back to the piano bar, and she led me upstairs where there was yet another room, a darkly lit piano bar with a black guy playing blues, Gerswin, and Cole Porter standards.
With so many rooms, and so many different atmospheres, it was like a minature NYC Disneyland for adults. I picked up a printed matchbook which it said, "Chelsea Place. Tell only your best friends."
I returned a couple of nights later with another friend. And again a couple of nights after that with another friend. Each of them then went back with more friends.
One of the nights I was there, around midnight the limos with tall blonde models were showing up. The piano bar was packed with rich, good-looking professionals. It definitely had a "in place" vibe to it.
Come to Our Club. Or Not. Whatever. - New York Times, 1/14/07: "These cozy bars and clubby restaurants signal a retreat from the night-life largess of the meatpacking district and West Chelsea. Instead of V.I.P. seating, they rely on techniques, some from the speak-easy era, like obscure locations, secret (and oft-changed) reservation numbers and 'soft openings' that cater to insiders, to create the perception of exclusivity. While these are well-worn sleights of hand, a flurry of subtle arrivals suggests that small and quiet is back in vogue."
clubs
New York
A club that I visited in NYC years ago operated on that same principle and was great fun to visit because of it.
A friend, who was rich and lived in a penthouse that overlooked Central Park West, decided to we should go out because she was depressed and was about to break up with the boyfriend who owned the penthouse.
We went to Chelsea, where she took me into a small, kind of tacky, gift shop. We went to the back, pushed open a door, and found ourselves inside a tiny piano bar with an androgynous man exuberantly playing sing-along songs like "American Pie." Everyone there appeared to be having a great time. After we hung out for a few minutes, she led me to the back of that room, pushed through the door, and we found ourselves in a tiny charming restaurant overlooking a courtyard with rain streaming down the windows. It was a very romantic setting. We stayed for dinner. When we were finished, we went back to the piano bar, and she led me upstairs where there was yet another room, a darkly lit piano bar with a black guy playing blues, Gerswin, and Cole Porter standards.
With so many rooms, and so many different atmospheres, it was like a minature NYC Disneyland for adults. I picked up a printed matchbook which it said, "Chelsea Place. Tell only your best friends."
I returned a couple of nights later with another friend. And again a couple of nights after that with another friend. Each of them then went back with more friends.
One of the nights I was there, around midnight the limos with tall blonde models were showing up. The piano bar was packed with rich, good-looking professionals. It definitely had a "in place" vibe to it.
Come to Our Club. Or Not. Whatever. - New York Times, 1/14/07: "These cozy bars and clubby restaurants signal a retreat from the night-life largess of the meatpacking district and West Chelsea. Instead of V.I.P. seating, they rely on techniques, some from the speak-easy era, like obscure locations, secret (and oft-changed) reservation numbers and 'soft openings' that cater to insiders, to create the perception of exclusivity. While these are well-worn sleights of hand, a flurry of subtle arrivals suggests that small and quiet is back in vogue."
clubs
New York
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
