The Deli #56 - Altopalo, NAMM 2019, Queens takes over Brooklyn

Housing The Struggle
It’s impossible to discuss the New York City music scene
without addressing the “900 dollars a month excluding
utilities” elephant in the room: rent. At the crux of any environment
in which young, broke musicians will thrive is
the question of how they will afford to live there, and it’s a
problem that NYC is notorious for, given the ever-increasing
cost of living expenses for anybody who call the city
home. Tangentially, when examining the city’s “It” neighborhoods
throughout the years — the areas endowed
with the ephemeral “cool factor” brought by the presence
of artists — a pattern of eastward migration emerges, one
coherent with the direction of NYC’s gentrification over
the last fifty years.
As the city’s scene expands eastwards, as creative types
settle into cramped three-bedroom Bushwick apartments
en masse, the last bastion in Brooklyn appears on the
precipice of full “artist-ification.” It makes sense why
musicians, venue owners, and scenesters have begun
looking eastwards, towards the inevitable jump to the
Borough of Queens.
Looking at the context of New York’s alternative scene
since the 1960s helps illuminate why Queens is the heir
apparent. The genesis of counterculture in Greenwich Village,
its folksy cafe society of guitar-strapped drifters, the
ilks of which included Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel,
provided a workable modus operandi that informs underground
and DIY music in the city today; all that was necessary
to host performances by up and coming musicians
was a few microphones and a space that’s willing to open
its doors to their admirers.
Over time, such soundscapes inevitably became electric
and the venues changed, moving towards the East River
and into dives like CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, both of
which played host to bands like The Velvet Underground,
Ramones, and Talking Heads, purveyors of a distinct New
York soundscape that was increasingly becoming darker,
“weirder,” and more electronic. The next big transformation
in alternative locale, however, wouldn’t occur until
the early aughts, when the Lower East Side became the
scene’s new “hot spot.” That, in tandem with the meteoric
rise of then-young indie groups like The Strokes, Yeah
Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio and Interpol, would anoint
now-established performance spaces like the Bowery
Ballroom, Mercury Lounge, Arlene’s Grocery and Pianos.
As the LES thrived, concurrent development in the
now-gentrifying Brooklyn would eventually push artists,
bookers, and venue owners over the river, forming the
basis of the two-borough New York scene we see today.
A Tougher Enviromnent
for DIY
New York scenesters have developed some kind of refrain
that’s reiterated when discussing (read: lamenting) a venue
that’s on its way out: that when one space shuts down,
another will inevitably pop up. We have come to accept
that this reincarnation cycle will take shape in converted
warehouses, multi-purpose spaces, and shabby bar/venue
hybrids. But Brooklyn’s nightlife scene has faced heavy
blows in the last few years. A combination of rising rents,
creative leadership differences, and stringent building
code restrictions have spurred a(nother) wave of closures.
Within the last few years, Brooklyn’s had to say goodbye
to DIY heavyweights like The Silent Barn, Shea Stadium,
Palisades, and Aviv, among others that filled the
void left behind by 285 Kent, Glasslands and Death By
Audio’s closure. Most recently, the underground Brooklyn
club and anchor of Brooklyn’s techno scene, Output,
announced that they would shut its doors come the new
year. This comes just weeks after The Dreamhouse and
The Gateway announced similar outcomes.
These setbacks may stem from serious concerns surrounding
illegal DIY spaces, especially in the wake of the
2016 Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, a tragic occurrence that
claimed the lives of 36 people attending a house show
at the artist collective space. While concerns surrounding
fire safety and building codes are legitimate, many venues
have faced disproportionate scrutiny from legislation
surrounding nightlife (like the cabaret laws, which until
recently banned dancing in venues) and city taskforces,
such as the NYPD’s M.A.R.C.H. Taskforce, which targets
community hotspots (as outlined by Liz Pelly in her piece
in the Baffler, “Cut The Music”).
the deli Winter 2019 15