Music Meridian

Super-important, so I had to repost this after getting it from the Downtown Music Gallery's email list. Help out if you can.
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Responding to community outrage at the eviction of Tonic - a center of New York City's new music cultural life for the last 9 years - an ad hoc committee of musicians, cultural activists, and supporters are convening to call for public and political intervention.


When:
12:00 pm, Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Where:
City Hall Steps

Why:
To ask for public and political intervention to protect new music/indie/avant/jazz in New York City and to ask the city to provide a minimum 200 capacity, centrally located venue for experimental music.

What:
Musicians and supporters will speak about their call for public and political intervention regarding the closing of Tonic, a vital NYC new music resource. City Council Member Alan Gerson will join the group on the steps.

Tonic, located at 107 Norfolk Street, has been unable to afford a series of rent increases imposed by landlord William Gottleib Inc, and was forced to close its doors on April 14th.

Coming on the heels of the closing of CBGB's, Sin-e, Fez, the Continental, and numerous other downtown venues, the closing of Tonic represents the continued shutting down of NYC's most important live music experimental jazz, indie, and new music scene.

This wave of club closings constitutes a market failure. If there is not immediate and sufficient public intervention, either in the form of limiting rents, or supplying alternate space and funding, or both, New York City will lose an essential part of its heritage, culture, and economy.

Tonic is the last new music/indie/avant jazz venue in Manhattan with a capacity above 90, presenting concerts on a nightly basis. It is also the last such venue in the city with the relatively musician friendly policy of paying 75% of door receipts.

The coalition is asking:

1. that the city council adopt a general principle similar to European cultural policy: that NYC's new music and experimental jazz/indie musical culture is a unique asset, an essential part of the city's history, economy, and identity, and not to be left entirely at the mercy of market forces.

2. that the city recognize the damage done to its cultural heritage and status as a 'cultural capitol' by the displacement of venues central to experimental musics, and act now to protect those venues still left from displacement either by providing funding sufficient to allow them to withstand the explosion of commercial rents, or by legislation forcing landlords to restrict rents of culturally valuable venues, or both.

3. that New York City intervene to preserve 107 Norfolk Street as an experimental music venue, or make available a comparably sized and centrally located space for that purpose.

In the words of Steven Bernstein, (leader of the band Sex Mob) "My band headlines some of the biggest festivals in Europe...Meanwhile there's only one club I can play in New York and it's about to close." (New York Times)

According to Patricia Nicholson-Parker, organizer of the Vision Festival:
"We have come together to say we deserve a space and in essence, we have already paid for our space. Musicians contribute to the economy of this city every day with world class performances. in the case of Tonic, many musicians came together and invested in the space.
Through benefits and organizing they raised significant sums of money (100+ grand) for the venue, 'Tonic.' The city needs to acknowledge this. It is good for the city and good for the artists and their audiences that the city make available a musician-friendly community club/space which holds up to 200 audience members. It is important that it not be in the outer boroughs but be centrally located in the LES where this serious alternative music has been birthed and where it can be easily accessed by audiences."

This press release is being issued by an ad hoc coalition of musicians and supporters of new/experimental jazz/indie music. We represent a racially and culturally diverse community united in our desire to preserve the cultural legacy and future viability of the progressive jazz, experimental rock, and new music historically based in the LES. The group has launched a series of actions towards this goal.

Further information and contacts are available at www.takeittothebridge.com

BACKGROUND

Economic impact:
There has been little discussion of the economic impact of shutting down nightly new music venues in NYC. Beyond its own inherent value as art, new music/experimental indie/jazz also serves as crucial research and development for a much larger music industry- entertainment products, including music, are a major New York City export, and live entertainment in NYC is a major factor in restaurant, tourism, and hotel industries.

The reason people come here from all over the world to hear music, and hire ensembles from New York to tour all over the world- derives from the unique sound of the city's music. This uniqueness derives in turn from the historic interaction between NYC's mainstream and its avant garde and other indigenous scenes.

The proximity, the mutual artistic influence, the trading back and forth of players between mainstream and avant gardes is what has created the competitive advantage of NYC music- its world famous "edge." The avant garde draws from a pool of excellent professionals also working in NYC pop, classical, and mainstream jazz and rock:
these are enriched by the cultural ideas of its avant garde. This "edge" brings millions in local club and restaurant business, music and film production, and tourism to New York annually, in addition to creating employment for the thousands of NYC-based musicians who tour world markets on a yearly basis.

The Mostly Mozart festival is a wonderful experience for many New Yorkers. However, it is neither an export nor the type of music representing New York City's musical cultural abroad. Europeans can travel to Salzburg or Vienna to hear Mozart. New York's indigenous forms, however, are being presented every night of the year in cities throughout Europe, Asia and around the world. New music/experimental indie/jazz has support abroad completely disproportionate with its profile in NYC, as even a brief visit to http://www.europejazz.net/, the European jazz network website will confirm. And tourists from abroad can and do travel to New York to hear this music in its local setting.

But all this depends on having a local setting: including a viable new indie and experimental music nightly club scene. It is not only culturally barbarous, but also incredibly short sighted economic policy that the internationally and critically recognized value of this music should be without an adequate, well advertised, and easily accessible showcase in its place of birth: one funded well enough to be able to both nurture new talent and present established musicians.

Endorsers (list in formation): Marco Stangherlin, Wakeupandream promotion & booking, Italy · Giuseppe Vigna, Musicus Concentus, Italy · Fredi Bosshard, Taktlos Festival, Switzerland · Sandy Kilpatrick, Theatro Circo, Portugal · Sara Piazza, Radiotelevisione Italiana, Germany · Josef Ego, JazzKempten, Germany · Marie-Helène Parant, SHARE, Canada

# # # #

Contact: 646-250-9361 / 646-244-1886
bridge3@takeittothebridge.com

Posted By: Phil Plencner
at 4/17/2007 7:53:00 AM

Permalink | Category: Avant-Garde | Comment On This Post | Reader Comments (0)

This is awesome! Marco is totally insane, and I'll definately be checking out the tour when it comes to town.

From Relapse Records press release:

Last week German death metal band NECROPHAGIST announced the addition of world renowned drummer Marco Minnemann to their line-up. Minnemann will begin playing drums for NECROPHAGIST on the band's upcoming headlining North American tour, the 'Summer Slaughter Tour' featuring NECROPHAGIST label-mates CEPHALIC CARNAGE as well as DECAPITATED, ION DISSONANCE, CATTLE DECAPITATION, ARSIS and more.

Ok, the lineup of Lollapalooza was released. I'm sure you can find the full lineup all over the net, including at their official website, so I'll just list here the bands that make up some of the reasons why I'm excited to be attending this year.

Pearl Jam
Daft Punk
Muse
Iggy & The Stooges
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Roots
Patti Smith
TV On The Radio
LCD Soundsystem
Femi Kuti
Yo La Tengo
Stephen Marley
M.I.A.
Blonde Redhead
Son Volt
Polyphonic Spree
Ted Leo
The Wailers
Tapes N Tapes
Rhymefest

Yep, at least 20 bands there that I'm totally psyched about. I'm sure there will be more annoucements as summer approaches, so it's bound to get even better.

Even though they didn't seem to listen to my requests for Hella and Orthrelm to be at the fest. Maybe next year guys!

Can't wait!

Today is the official launch of my new online music store, BrutalProg.com!

Check it out here.

It's an online mp3 download store I'm running. Basically putting a bunch of out-of-print or hard ot find albums from underground bands that I like. The first batch of albums for sale is a doozy, and there's more stuff lining up for the future.

Starting out we have releases from Zs [chamber-prog], Orthrelm [spastic guitar/drum duo], Empyrean Sky [death metal], Sitari [IDM], and Malaku [free improv]. A wide range of stuff that still kind of fits under the "brutal prog" banner.

All mp3s are DRM-Free and are reasonably priced. Enjoy the music! Tell your friends. If you're in a band that wants to be on the site, email info@brutalprog.com for details.

Thanks!

A few new tracks came to my attention on myspace and are worth listening to:

Quodia
Side project from Trey Gunn. He plays warr guitar in King Crimson along with a bunch of other projects. This band finds him playing creepy tunes with visual accompiant (songs are good, watch the youtubes)
http://www.myspace.com/quodia

Counterfeit Disaster
Cool pop band from NYC which includes the drummer from progsters Time Of Orchids. Time of Orchids coincidently have a new album coming out on the awesome Cuniform Records label. Looking forward to that, but until then I'm enjoying this.
http://www.myspace.com/counterfeitdisaster

Child Abuse
I've been hyping these guys for a while now. Insane, grind inspired madness with a bunch of carnival craziness thrown in. Their new song "Wrong Hole" is totally killer. Check that out, but if you haven't heard these guys yet, check out the other songs in their profile too. It'll blow you away. "Wrong Hole" will be on their upcoming album on Lovepump records that I'm totally psyched about.
http://www.myspace.com/childabuse

The Locust
The Locust have a new album out on Anti called "New Erections". I've yet to track it down, but the new song they have on their profile is great. They're on tour right now with Daughters and Cattle Decapitation and I'm gonna check it out when it hits town.
http://www.myspace.com/thelocust

Beta Popes
Here's a weird one. A bunch of avant-jazzers playing some totally hateful death metal. Jamie Saft on guitar, Skerik on vocals and Bobby Previte on drums.
http://www.myspace.com/betapopes

Mute Socialite
Moe! Staiano, the junk-percussionist from Sleepytime Gorilla Museum has all kinds of great projects going on, including some long pieces for percussion ensemble. But this is his new "rock" band. Very cool stuff...like a twitchier version of SGM. Very nervous sounding.
http://www.myspace.com/mutesocialite

Random Bill Bruford Videos!
I've been on a bit of a Bill Bruford kick this week. Listening to a bunch of Yes & King Crimson with him featured. But I've also been digging out his old solo albums and the excelled album he did with the band U.K. Here are a couple YouTube videos of Bill doing his thing:

With Allan Holdsworth and others playing "Beelzebub"

With U.K. playing "In The Dead Of Night"



Happy Listening!

Lollapalooza 2007 tickets are onsale NOW at "early-bird pricing". Go to their website to buy them.

They claim it's a buck a band. The lineup is announced on April 12, so kind of a risk but the past two years have been excellent and I have high hopes for this year.

I just secured my 3-day pass. See you there?

Check out the new Zappa.com website. They're already offering a new CD called "Zappa Buffalo". It's a live show from Buffalo, New York in 1980! A prime year for the band and at two discs, it should be a monster!

According to the site, it's suppose to ship by the end of the week, so hopefully we shouldn't run into any half-year delays like we did for the 4 CD MOFO release.

I'm excited!