Jan 1, 2009

At Knitting Factory, a Final Manhattan Show

Meet the new year, same as the old year. Not that I'm particularly nostalgic at all about the Knitting Factory closing/moving, but its worth noting. The NY Times has an article regarding the last show there and notes the nearby opening of a new venue by Knitting Factory founder, Michael Dorf:

"The Knitting Factory has been celebrating noise and eclecticism since it opened on East Houston Street in 1987, and in its earlier days the club gained a wide reputation as a defining stage of downtown music, that clamorous and unclassifiable New York amalgam of jazz, punk, art-rock and experimental new music.

But eventually, gentrification came to claim the arty Manhattan outpost, and on Wednesday the Knitting Factory had the last show in the TriBeCa building that has been its home for the last 14 years. In May it is to reopen in a considerably smaller and less expensive space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn."


[It was already "gentrified" when they moved there - we need to come up with a new word.]

"Mr. Dorf says the space is intended for music fans who have outgrown the dive-bar phase and want an elegant night out. Grapes are brought in, crushed and fermented on premises, and a membership program gives customers their own barrel in the basement. Clients include Lou Reed.

Kerianne Flynn, 41, who lives nearby in TriBeCa, said she signed up her husband, James, for a barrel for his birthday.

'There’s really nothing this sophisticated in the city,' Ms. Flynn said, 'where you can see live music and have great wine, great food and be with grown-ups.'"


[Please...What a pretentious bunch of crap!] Continued here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Barf. Thanks for ruining my new year....

Anonymous said...

These people are such corporate robots. Starbucks, Jamba Juice, Gap, Banana Republic, New York is no different than the Mall of America and these buttwipes want the chains to reign.

What makes this city unique (were) the mom & pop shops and ethnic restaurants, now it's chain everything. The only thing great left about Times Square are the few Peep Shows still standing and Gray's Papaya on 8th Avenue.

Anyways, I'm sick of ranting, you all love your chains and don't care about the city.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, you are not ranting at all, to me at least. It's true, NYC is nothing but strip mall transplants and NYU dorms which go hand in hand really.

When I came to NYC in my teens 20+ years ago, you found Jenny Holzer speaking to me via the old Marquees in a magic kingdom called 42nd st, then the real magic kingdom took over, and drove a heart right through it. It's gone down hill ever since. Chains are ok, but all things in moderation.

NYC was great because you could find lawyers sitting next to warhol, and hanging out with B-boys and drag queens, all in the same diner, when the meat packing district actually packed meat.

Anonymous said...

Good thing they're moving to somewhere ungentrified, like Williamsburg. oh, wait...

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