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A CULTURAL EMERGENCY
Musicians and Friends - Time to Claim Our Right to Space! |
 Last
Updated: April 23, 2007
Tonic, located at 107 Norfolk Street, closed its doors on Friday April
14, 2007 due to rent increases imposed by landlord William Gottleib
Inc. On Saturday the 15th, an ad hoc coalition organized a demonstration
and the club was occupied by musicians and their fans with the intention
to impress upon the city how important an experimental music venue
is to them. It was a wonderful day of music and good feelings. At
around 4pm, upon the arrival of the police, Tonic was handed over.
When police officers requested that Marc Ribot and Rebecca Moore vacate
the premises, they refused and were arrested. An important act of
civil disobedience. They did this for all of us.
Due to the peaceful nature of the demonstration, and the support of
a lawyer from the musicians union, they were not kept overnight and
were released after a few hours with a court date.
With the club's closure, we are making an appeal to the City to secure
for the music community. The loss of Tonichas meant a diminishment
of our livelihoods, and has dealt a real blow to NY's position as
a cultural capital.
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 culture
is a unique asset, and 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. Non-commercial musics have considerable government support
abroad - completely disproportionate with their profile in NYC, as
even a brief visit to http://www.europejazz.net/, the European jazz
network website will confirm. Venues that present this music regularly
receive subsidies in countries outside of the US, ensuring that both
the venues that present this music and the musicians who compose and
perform it, can continue to thrive -- a sensibility which only exists
for classical music in this country. Such a commitment to a thriving
experimental community of artists, presenters and audiences in New
York would have an impact even beyond basic ongoing support for places
to play and hear this music. Tourists from abroad, often fortunate
enough to live
in cities where this music is regularly presented, can and dotravel
to New York to hear this music in its native setting.
3. that New York City donate to a non-profit organization an experimental
music venue which is able to hold an audience of 200, and is centrally
located in the birth place of much of the experimental music scenes
- that is, the Lower East Side.
As a vibrant community of musicians and artists, we are coming 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 venue which holds up to 200 audience members. It is important that
it t be centrally located in the LES where this serious alternative
music has been birthed and where it can be easily accessed by audiences.
Background Information
A vibrant community of musicians and fans worked for
years to maintain Tonic - raising over $100,000 through benefit concerts
and donations to pay off debt, fund repairs, buy a sound system, and
keep the club open in the devastating week following 9/11/01.
Tonic is the last venue of its kind in Manhattan with a capacity above
90, presenting concerts on a nightly basis. It is also the last such
venue in NYC with the relatively friendly policy of paying 75% of
door receipts.
Coming on the heels of the closing of CBGB's, Sine, Fez, The Continental,
and numerous other downtown venues, the closing of Tonic represents
the shutting down of NYC's important live music experimental jazz,
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.
The closing of Tonic has meant a diminishment of livelihood for those
musicians who were able to work there. Tonic like the Knitting Factory
before them, booked more and more rock bands - not because they necessarily
drew larger audiences but because rock audiences drink more. The existence
of cutting edge avant jazz or new music should not be dependent on
how much alcohol their audiences consume.
"My band closes 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."
- Steven Bernstein, (trumpeter and leader of Sex Mob) NY times
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 and experimental 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
NYC's musical cultural abroad. Europeans can travel to Salzburg or
Vienna to hear Mozart. New York's indigenous forms are being presented
every night of the year in cities throughout Europe and around the
world. NY's experimental musics have support abroad completely disproportionate
with its profile in NYC. Tourists from abroad can and do travel to
New York to hear this music in its local setting. This depends on
having a local setting: including a viable 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. |
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