Results tagged “venues”

You know what Williamsburg needs? More venues, bars, nightclubs...that sorta thing. Luckily, tonight the people who run Cake Shop in Manhattan are opening up their Brooklyn outpost in the neighborhood, called Bruar Falls. It's located in the old Lucky Cat space on Grand Street, and they currently have their listings on a MySpace page. Not only that, Supreme Trading (located at 218 N 8th Street) "has been renovated to become a 5,000 square foot area with Turbo sound, brand new wood floors, lighting, and also Green features," according to Brownstoner. The site also reports that a wall has been "blown out" to make the space more...spacious! A reopening is planned for April.

When you want to know which venues to catch live music at in NYC, you wouldn't think to check the UK's Guardian, and there's probably a reason for that. However, they've just released their top 10 list of "where to catch the hottest new bands" in New York (written by a 5-year resident of Brooklyn)—sorry Manhattanites, the venues are all in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. The writer's top picks (and the fact that outside of these two Brooklyn neighborhood's the author suggests Bleecker Street's Bitter End as a go-to should be very telling) include Enid's (which hasn't had live music in quite some time), Trash Bar (which besides suffering from a case of bad booking, doesn't exactly boast the most convivial atmosphere), Sound Fix Lounge (which may not even host live music anymore), and Rock Star Bar (which they describe as dirty and desolate—agreed!). Some notable omissions: Music Hall of Williamsburg, Zebulon and Monkeytown. Any other Williamsburg/Greenpoint gems missing from the list?

With the Bell House opening on 7th Street in Brooklyn later this year, and the neighborhood's outdoor venue The Yard already open...Gowanus is becoming the next hot spot for venues, so it's not surprising that another new one is being tossed into the mix. This one is currently being created out of a raw warehouse space on DeGraw Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues, just a half mile from the Bell House, and allegedly it's brought to you by "some of the people involved with the Virgin Festival." Meanwhile, an old bodega in the area (on 3rd Avenue and 7th) is also being transformed into a nightclub (by the folks who brought you Save the Robots in the East Village). Here's a map showing all of the venue locations.

With the Knitting Factory looking for a new home, and Luna Lounge being closed since April, all signs are pointing to the former moving into the latter. In fact, a sign on the front door of the now defunct Luna Lounge says as much.

Blind item! What downtown venue was behind screwing over yet another band? We never did like blind items, so we'll just tell you through part of this letter we received from the disgruntled band behind the latest booking botch-up:

We had a really bad experience at the Annex, on Orchard St. last night. Basically we showed up for a 5:00 load in to find out that our show had been canceled. The two other bands on the bill faced the same problem. One of the bands had driven 5 hours through the rain from Boston just for this show, only to find out that it had been canceled. None of the bands had been called.

Continue reading "New Jersey Band vs. New York City"

The Lion's Den, which has hosted everyone from Ben Folds to jamband fan-faves Disco Biscuits since they opened in 1990 -- will be shutting their doors at the end of the year. And come January 2nd, they'll reopen...as a 345 capacity venue called Sullivan Hall. (Fear not explorers, the secret passageway to The Sullivan Room will most likely still be intact.) Why change the name? Maybe they want to leave their dank past behind,...

A few days ago The Apiary suspected that someone was out to get Rififi after reading some new comments on an old post about the multi-purpose venue, and hearing their liquor license was about to expire. One of the managers, Karin Stanley, quickly responded -- confirming the site's suspicions:

Unfortunately you are correct, there is a smear campaign being perpetrated against Rififi by some of the tenants in the surrounding buildings. They are intent on ousting Rififi during this period of license renewal, soliciting surrounding tenants to make complaints, abusing the SLA complaint webpage, and invoking archaic and racist cabaret laws (please refer to this site for a history of the cabaret laws in New York City). Many of these people seem to believe it is illegal for people to eat, drink and make merry.

Continue reading "Will Rififi Be the Next Venue Casualty? "

Well well well, when we reported in August that Lido Bar in Red Hook would be closing we were met with many emails and comments stating this was 100% untrue. Bar manager Molly Franklin even held strong that Lido Bar would remain open and that this was nothing more than "bar gossip."

Last week demolition was underway at the former CBGB. At the time Racked put their money on a Duane Reade taking over the space, but today The Post reports that John Varvados will be opening a chic boutique in the old punk rock palace. With his eye on a Spring opening, it's unclear how much of the 13,000 square feet will be taken over by the designer.

These days people tend to complain about Webster Hall more than they praise it. The drinks are expensive (even a water will set you back 4 bucks), the shows are too early and the nightclubs below the venue's main room are hopping with the B&T crowd. On the other hand, the stage has hosted some great bands, and the lighting always looks nice...so it may just be time to pay some respect to the place as it gets one step closer to being Landmarked.

Earlier this month the NY Post reported that Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction might be closing, which was met with a letter from the owners saying the Post "as usual, mixed fact with fiction." Last night a reader sent over the following letter, written by the same folks, which was sent to performers of the space:

We're sorry to say, but Mo Pitkin's will be closing on October 20th, 2007, with a closing night party/performance on October 21st at 8pm. Building our bi-level performance space was an enormous undertaking, done with a lot of love, but it created a debt load that the club just could not sustain. Our deepest apologies to all those with gigs subsequent to that; with the recent press articles about our "imminent" closing, it's just become impossible for us to continue to stay open.

The Village Voice is reporting that Hilly Kristal was a millionaire. Not really surprising considering the owner of CBGB, who claimed to be broke, ran more than just a venue. Just look at all those kids wearing their Urban Outfitters t-shirts with the club's logo on it. Those cost money! So does everything branded with their logo at their own store.

Just weeks after the legendary former CBGB owner passed away, his heirs—who thought Kristal was broke—are finding out that the old punk impresario was worth a surprising $3.7 million.

Continue reading "Hilly's Mountain of Cash"

Last night Bowery Presents new Brooklyn venue, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, was supposed to open with 'ol New York rocker Patti Smith. Perhaps it's fitting that the opening night didn't go as planned, and instead the new New York rock regime (Brooklynites Matt & Kim) will now christen the new stage tonight.

Did you hear about the new arts and music venue opening in Fort Greene? Well, chances are that all of the blood, sweat, tears and money (over $1M) that went into it may have been for nothing. Amber Art and Music Space was being built out of an old liquor store at Fulton Street and Ashland Place by three friends who are now being told they can no longer develop the space.

This really is turning out to be the year of the venue -- with more openings, closings, re-brandings, re-namings and articles written about the places we go see music than ever before. Now with the latest Bowery Presents venue (The Music Hall of Williamsburg) opening next week, there's another article in The Times.

Just as we were looking over amNewYork's story on CBGB, sad news has come in. Hilly Kristal, who opened the club in 1973, died yesterday. Battling cancer for some time, the 75 year old had quite the last year -- seeing many celebrate his legendary club upon its closing last October.

The ACMA (Alliance for Creative Music Action) is a group of musicians, artists and supporters of the arts who are joining together "as a pressure group to bring awareness about the needs of art in our communities." Tonight they'll be holding a Town Hall Meeting, demanding that the city provide "an adequate subsidized performance space in Manhattan." The meeting will be held just a block away from Tonic, a recent casualty amongst downtown performance spaces.

In their quest to take over New York, Bowery Presents is opening yet another venue! Ask just about anyone (and we have) and they'll say that the Bowery Ballroom is their favorite place to see and/or play music - so who better to open even more spaces than the creators of that one?

In 2005 fans of heavy metal were darker than usual when their mecca, L'Amour, closed up shop after a teenager was killed while diving into the mosh pit. The club had been going strong for two decades throughout which time they booked many rising stars - Metallica, for one. Any metal band worth their weight in black jeans and double-neck guitars soon stopped by to play, even after they had made it big (like KISS).

The Copacabana, perhaps best known as the muse for Barry Manilow's song of the same name, is closing this weekend (the papers are reporting last night, however their website has a flyer for a Last Dance, tonight).

North 6th Street has been quiet with music venue Northsix shutting its door in January, and with Galapagos pretty much closing its doors this summer. However, after murmurings of the upcoming Music Hall of Williamsburg opening, not opening, having problems opening...for months, there's finally a date to mark on the calendar for the venue, which has been slowly taking over the Northsix space (and thensome?).

With brick and mortar sales declining, and the future of the music industry uncertain - at least live shows are always dependable. Sure, there are a lot of venues closing, but how about the ones thriving? The NY Times reports on some of the big players in the New York venue scene.

Knitting Factory has made it possible for concert-goers to purchase tickets via text message, through a partnership with ShopText. How does it work?

There have been murmurs of Galapagos moving from its current space for a while now. The Burg even did an entire episode about saving it. From that show:

There has been much to-do about the anti-establishment efforts of The Arcade Fire at their recent Radio City concert, urging the fans to rush and outnumber the security guards keeping the aisles clear. What was overshadowed was that this is perhaps the best live band touring right now, and they were absolutely at the top of their game this week, playing each of these shows as if it was the last they'd ever do and merely asking the fans to react with an equal enthusiasm. While the debate will continue as to whether the band should have toned their calls to riot down a smidge, or why they were even playing a sit-down theater tour in the first place, what shouldn't be lost is that these guys seem to get better and better as their popularity grows. The inevitable MSG show their next time around is sure to be quite the spectacle.

What will become of mainstay clam bar Little Charlie's once it closes shop later this year? The 5,500 square foot space at 19 Kenmare Street (which includes a basement and first floor) will turn in to a burlesque haven later this year, housing Ivan Kane's famous show Forty Deuce (originally named for 42nd Street). With tiered seating and a stage, the new space will be part of the transformation happening in the 14,000 square foot building purchased by David Zahabian for $10M.

AMNY continues the ongoing story about clubs and venues in New York closing. They report on the irony of it all:

NY Mag recently talked about the unexpectedness of the High Line brand. Of course venues are rebranding more and more, but the High Line is taking it to a new level - as it is, and started out as, much more than just a venue. With a festival curated by David Bowie, a neighborhood with proposed condos that allow residents to park their car on an elevator right next to their living space, and of course the park - 20 years ago no one would have dreamed all of this.

With all this talk about venues closing, opening, renaming and branding themselves...it's easy for the little venues that aren't so publicized to get lost in the shuffle. Perhaps that's good, because once you find a nice small (no drink minimum) jazz club, you don't want everyone to know about it. However, you want it to stay in business, too. Over In Brooklyn (the blog) has a list of jazz spots in the borough, and a story about Brooklynite/jazz musician/bass maker Carl Thompson:

Venues may be closing on nearly every block of the city, but this summer the Make Music New York event will turn a lot of nooks and crannies into performance spaces. Organizers will find anyone interested a place to play music, or musicians to play at your place. Even permits for any sidewalk performances will be provided.