tonic closes in nyc

[willywoody]

Dear Musicians, Fans and Friends:

After more than 9 years as a home for avant-garde, creative, and experimental music, Tonic will reluctantly close its doors on Friday, April 13th, 2007. We simply can no longer afford the rent and all of the other costs associated with doing business on the Lower East Side.

 

The neighborhood around us has been increasingly consumed by "luxury condominiums", boutique hotels and glass towers, all making the value of our salvaged space worth more then our business could ever realistically support. We have also been repeatedly harassed by the city

[aricandover]

fuck, I loved that place.

[willywoody]

i was fortunate enough to catch nels' set there the night or two after wilco's nye msg show a few years back. great night and a cool bar. looks like they wanna try to open elsewhere at least.

[aricandover]

looks like they wanna try to open elsewhere at least.

 

a lot bars/clubs that get forced into closing, always say stuff like that. it almost never happens.

[Twisted Acres]

twas a grand, mighty place indeed... saw Nels w/Carla there, and Jon Brion (thank you Heidi)

[Basil II]

Homogenization and largess sucks.....

 

 

 

-Robert

[WaronWar]

I know of Tonic as being the place to hear avant-garde music in NYC. But does anyone else know in Chicago, or LA, or other places in NY, where experimental music can be heard?

[jhh4321]

I saw that on their website on April 1st, i thought it was a joke...is that for sure?

[Hodie]

I saw Nels and his friends there, and I saw my best non-Largo Jon Brion shows ever there. RIP, you lovely place, you.

[bjorn_skurj]

It's depressing, what's happened to the LES.

[pnêyu]

Between this and the Irving Plaza silliness, it's not a good week for venues in NYC.

[Deaf Ro]

I know of Tonic as being the place to hear avant-garde music in NYC. But does anyone else know in Chicago, or LA, or other places in NY, where experimental music can be heard?

 

There are *plenty* of places to hear experimental music in NYC. It is definitely sad that Tonic is closing but the music will move somewhere else.

[oatmealblizzard]

This sucks. Lots of crappy music news today...

[MattZ]

I also walked by two of my favorite bars in NYC today -- closed. I still wouldn't live anywhere else, but man, this place is changing.

 

RIP Tonic. We shared some great shows by John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Cubanos Postizos, Medeski Martin & Wood, Cyro Baptista, etc.

 

[bjorn_skurj]

Did you ever hang out at the International, on the corner of 1st and 7th, I think? That bar ruled.

[MattZ]

Did you ever hang out at the International, on the corner of 1st and 7th, I think? That bar ruled.

 

Haha! That bar most certainly ruled. And it is one of the bars I was referring to above. I knew it closed, but it still bums me out when I pass it. The bizarre thing is all these places close because landlords raise the rent and then the space goes unoccupied. I don't get it. International had to close at least a year ago, right? Its still empty and the front window still has the letters ATION from INTERNATIONAL.

[Ludwig Von Drake]

yet another place I've never been to, but always heard stories about and wanted to see, and now I never will.

[LouieB]

Sadly clubs close all the time. The Jazz Showcase here in Chicago closed recently as well.....

 

LouieB

[jff]

Here's an interesting letter/proposal in response to Tonic's closing from the folks at NYC's "Downtown Music Gallery":

 

AN OPEN LETTER TO ANY VIABLE MUSIC-ACTIVIST GROUPS HERE IN NYC:

 

"It's time for [at least one] building to be

bought and owned by a downtown-Manhattan

new-music collective.

 

All future fundraising and energies -

undissipating anger, political drive - should be

towards this goal.

 

The corrupting effect, which began appx 20 years

ago on the real estate market, of national chains

who would pay any amount to have representative

retail outlets in NYC, without heed to the amount

they would pay for rent - they were fully

prepared to take a tax loss - has led to this

current crisis where everyday services

[supermarkets, shoe repair, etc; never mind 'new

music' clubs!] that should, and did exist, in

every neighborhood, no longer do so.

This economic land disease is irreversible,

fueled as it is by the Realtor Agents, who tell

landlords that "of course" this is what the value

of their space should be [because others have

been suckered into it].

We see the result all around us: spaces that

should be in use remain empty for years, while

the landlord is bullied into 'waiting' by the

rental agents, who tell them that their losses

will be more than made up when someone DOES rent

at the extravagant asking price in the future.

 

And if/when, such a building [ideally wholly

commercial in designation] is bought [at city

auction, or from whomever] or otherwise acquired

through grant or political pressure, by some

group collective [i.e. takeittothebridge

non-profit inc, et al], the storefront/first

floor in the building should be rented out FOR

PROFIT to some regular merchant [maybe even DMG,

who knows?], enough to pay for real-estate taxes

on the building, code upkeep, and some/all of the

utilities for the rest of the building, so as to

ease the financial pressure on the performance

facilities itself [located in the rest of the

building, perhaps more than one stage], so that

economic freedom to nurture performers that are

not yet financially viable, even in the best of

economic environs, will exist.

 

All energies should be set towards this goal.

And, VERY IMPORTANT: fundraisers, et al, should

keep secret - from the public - prospective

properties that are being eyeballed.

 

I'm not naive: we're talking at least a million

dollars here, if not more. But if 90K can be, in

fact was, raised between audience and affluent

musical personalities to help Tonic's rent woes a

couple of years ago, cannot the same and more

enthusiastic impulse be brought to bear to give a

down-payment on some wreck, after which more

fundraisers can be held on this new premises to

complete the purchase?

 

I think so. And after the monies are spent this

time, the building will still remain in the hands

of the collective...not a situation again

starting from zero accruing rent liabilities all

over again, with nothing to show for monies gone

by.

 

Anybody listening?

 

Respectfully, one man's opinion

 

Manny 'Lunch' Maris at DMG

 

"The best advice will always be of a nature that

one does not want to hear or entertain it; if it

were not, one would have already begun acting on

it"

[MattZ]

Here's an interesting letter/proposal in response to Tonic's closing from the folks at NYC's "Downtown Music Gallery":

 

Thanks for that. DMG is great.

 

For what its worth, I am/was a huge fan of tonic, and now that it is closing for good (as are the bars in the area) and now that my neighborhood in general is turning into a mass of high rise cookie cutter apartment buildings, I can't help but be bummed.

 

And then I try to put myself in the shoes of Tonic's landlord. Or any other person/company that owns a plot of land in NYC. Tonic went months without paying rent. How is that acceptable? Why should someone with a plot of land keep a 5 story walkup with 10 apartments when they can build a high-rise with ten times that? It is true that many places close down only to remain empty for months or years -- depriving owners of rent, and the neighborhood of character and business, but I don't know if it is fair to fault the landlords here. I dont know who I should blame for the Disney-fication of NYC, but I need to find someone to blame. Fast. Life is much easier with a scapegoat.

[bjorn_skurj]

I dont know who I should blame for the Disney-fication of NYC, but I need to find someone to blame. Fast. Life is much easier with a scapegoat.

Rudy Giuliani.

[LouieB]

Maybe Rudy is to blame, but that kind of gentrification is going on everywhere in the USA, both urban, rural, and suburban. The overarching problem is that non-stop development is more important than anything. The Jazz Showcase was a one of a kind club which featured nationally famous jazz acts and despite having been in many locations in Chicago, was probably the longest running club anywhere. It had a sweet location on the near north side that attracted both locals and tourists, yet it closed down. The Velvet Lounge, alsoa one of a kind club here, was forced out by development and was lucky to relocate around the corner.

 

No one is going to stop developers from doing what they do and disrupting or destroying for good cultural sites. Its just the way it goes.

 

LouieB

[jff]

The overarching problem is that non-stop development is more important than anything.

 

No one is going to stop developers from doing what they do and disrupting or destroying for good cultural sites. Its just the way it goes.

 

LouieB

 

I think the overarching problem is that the end result of capitalism is greed.

 

DMG has offered the only long term solution that could actually work, and even if their vision became a reality and they bought a building it would still be vulnerable to eminent domain seizure.

[LouieB]

I think the overarching problem is that the end result of capitalism is greed.

 

DMG has offered the only long term solution that could actually work, and even if their vision became a reality and they bought a building it would still be vulnerable to eminent domain seizure.

Well yea....

 

I am guessing few club owners can afford the buildings they are in when a neighborhood starts to change or gentrify. I am always shocked that even retail businesses, long term ones at that, find it difficult to actually purchase their places of business. The best solution is to buy a building, but clubs are usually not in a position to do that.

 

LouieB

[MattZ]

Rudy Giuliani.

 

Yeah, I can blame him for Times Square, but the Lower East Side? That's less clear to me. I suppose he got the ball rolling.

 

 

DMG has offered the only long term solution that could actually work.

 

No they haven't. Don't get me wrong -- I love DMG and I applaud them for throwing their hat in the ring, but they haven't. Their solution is to put "the building...in the hands of the collective". Do you know how much money it would take to buy the building that tonic was housed in (which was, let's face it a piece of crap)? I certainly don't. Once they've raised the money (which I bet they can't), how does a collective manage the day to day? Fix the leaks? Who runs the business? Who makes the decisions about whether the tenants stay true to avant-garde roots or branch out to more popular music? Everyone who contributes $$ will have an opinion, and likely, an agenda. And this assumes that the collective could even raise enough money. The collective needs lawyers (if a not-for-profit is formed, to negotiate the deal, etc.) This is an enormous undertaking. Do you really think this is a solution that could work in reality? I'd love it if it could, but I just don't see it. Too many cooks in the kitchen.