[Microsound-announce] New Music Culural Crisis

[Kim Cascone]

> From: Ned Rothenberg <ned at nedrothenberg.com>
> Date: April 12, 2007 6:22:56 PM PDT
> To: bridge3 at takeittothebridge.com, marco at marcocappelli.com
> Subject: New Music Culural Crisis
>
>
> Dear Friends in Europe,
>         I'm writing you because New York is in a cultural crisis  
> which has reached a breaking point very close to home for  
> enthusiasts and players of creative music.  Tonic, the last sizable  
> club where this music is played nightly will be closing tomorrow  
> night as its owners can no longer afford to operate it.  I'm sure  
> you know that there is a long history of NYC's real estate market  
> driving artists and musicians from place to place, now we see the  
> loss of a key foothold on the central island of Manhattan.  The  
> following press release explains the situation and the actions that  
> are being taken.  I hope you have time to read it and if you can  
> help us either by communications of direct support or, even better,  
> creating articles in the press there, for which we would be most  
> grateful.  Europe, which has always supported this music, has a  
> great role to play because  New York's political leadership is well  
> aware that European (and Canadian tourists) are central to the  
> strength of NYC's economy.  Some of you are journalists, some  
> promoters, some musicians - whatever you may be, the most important  
> thing is that you let us know your response - we will be meeting  
> with the city's politician's in an attempt to secure a viable  
> venue.  If we can show strong support from culturally concerned  
> folks throughout Europe it would help us immeasurably.  I am also  
> sending this to a number of journalists who have extensive European  
> contacts with the hope that you will forward it to your  
> colleagues.  It is best that your respond not to me, but to the  
> email address in the release (feel free to 'cc' me on any  
> communications).
>
> Thank You For Your Time and Consideration,
> Ned Rothenberg
>
> This release is also viewable on the web at http:// 
> www.takeittothebridge.com/forums/?q=node/21
>
> April 12th, 2007
> For immediate release
> Contact:
> Norman Yamada: 646-244-1886 or
> 646-250-8361
> Via email:<bridge3 at takeittothebridge.com>
> Avant Jazz/Indie/New Music Cultural Crisis
> Responding to community outrage at the eviction of Tonic - a center  
> of New York City's new music cultural life on the Lower East Side  
> for the last 9 years - an ad hoc committee of musicians, cultural  
> activists, and supporters are convening to call for public  
> political intervention.
> When:               11:00 am this Saturday april 14th
> Where: Tonic, 107 Norfolk street between Rivington and Delancey
> Why:    To ask for public 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:     from 11 am on, musicians and other performers will stage  
> a musical protest against the planned closing of Tonic, a vital NYC  
> new music resource.
> Tonic, located at 107 Norfolk Street, has been unable to afford a  
> series of rent increases imposed by landlord William Gottleib Inc,  
> and will be forced to close its doors this 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 hugely  
> 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.
> In the words of Steven Bernstein, (leader of the band Sex Mob):
> "My band plays 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.
> Saturday's action will be the first of an ongoing series of actions  
> towards this goal.
> Further information and contacts are available at  
> www.takeittothebridge.com
> 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 music, 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.
>
>
>
> 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/experimental/ indie/jazz music 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 the avant garde 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 culture  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 its 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.
>
> -- 
> ....................................................................
> Ned Rothenberg
> ned at nedrothenberg.com
> http://www.nedrothenberg.com
>
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