{"id":47,"date":"2016-07-29T04:00:06","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T04:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/?p=47"},"modified":"2016-08-02T20:19:51","modified_gmt":"2016-08-02T20:19:51","slug":"the-more-things-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/2016\/07\/29\/the-more-things-change\/","title":{"rendered":"The More Things Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the course of accumulating this material it became obvious early on how quickly the musical climate\u00a0changed during an incredibly \u00a0short period of time. In a city thats known for change, that says a lot. Nevertheless many of the locations mentioned in this site are still around, although often with\u00a0drastically different makeovers. While BuzzFeed<\/a> covered some of the more iconic ones a few years back, below are my garage-centric\u00a0picks:<\/p>\n

The Asylum – 647 East 9th St<\/strong>
\n\"The<\/a>First up on the tour is the location that formerly housed The Asylum. An art space that doubled as a performance space for at least two very prominent gigs in 1987. The brainchild of music fan and engineer at Electric Lady Studios Jim G., it was large and actually a perfect place\u00a0for The Cynics, The Optic Nerve and The Raunch Hands (all\u00a0at the peak of their game) to cement their legacy. The last event here additionally\u00a0featured\u00a0the Chesterfield Kings. The huge ceilings serve it well now in its present incarnation as a gym.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Pyramid – 101 Avenue A
\n\"The<\/a><\/strong>Of all the places\u00a0I expected to see missing, the Pyramid club was\u00a0\u00a0happily not one of them.\u00a0Once totally representative of the counterculture of the area, The Pyramid was a gathering place for people of many persuasions and interests. What many did not realize was in addition to catering to the LGBT scene, the Pyramid was very open to booking garage and punk bands. Much of that thanks to the wonderful efforts of Deb Parker, Jody Kurilla and The Fleshtones’ Keith Streng. Its still boldly holds court on \u00a0Ave. A.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Lizmar Lounge – 41 First Avenue
\n\"The<\/a><\/strong>The Lizmar used to be a biker bar that not only served stiff drinks upstairs but also hosted some great punk rock shows in the dilapidated basement. \u00a0The Ultra V, The Rat Bastards and The Lunachicks were among some of the bands that did time here. Today, it’s still a bar but a one that specializes in specialty beers\u00a0to appeal to the area’s professionals and well as college kids.<\/p>\n

Downtown Beirut 2\u00a0– Houston and Essex Street
\n\"Downtown<\/a><\/strong>While Downtown Beirut 1 on 1st Avenue is the one most people remember fondly, it was only the second location\u00a0that offered live entertainment. Admittedly the only time it was palatable was when they featured garage bands such as The Willys, as well as many others. Needless to say it did not last long. It wasn’t long before the space\u00a0began its new\u00a0life as a series of rotating high end bars.<\/p>\n

The Knitting Factory\u00a0–\u00a047 East Houston Street
\n<\/strong>\"The<\/a>While not known as a\u00a0stopover for the smaller bands coming through NY, the Knitting Factory also served as an important place in the nightlife of mid-80s Manhattan. Performances took place on the second floor while\u00a0the downstairs bar area served as the holding space. The small room on the second floor was the first place The Gories performed in NYC (opening for Alex Chilton). Today, the bar downstairs remains as the well-known Botanica and often hosts DJ sets by garage and soul fans Jonathan Toubin and Mr. Fine Wine.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The New Theater\u00a0–\u00a062 East 4th Street
\n<\/strong>\"The<\/a>Shortly after garage bands started performing at The Strip on 14th St. Empresario Gare Balaban started hosting shows at this venue as well. The theaters dual spaces (a small theater upstairs and\u00a0downstairs) led to not just the staging of multiple performances but also screenings of cartoons, Little Rascals, and Three Stooges shorts as well. During its short life as a venue the theater hosted shows by The Willys, The A-Bones, The Cynics, The Secret Service, as well as many others. Today, the renovated theater is still going strong and decidedly NOT hosting any rock bands.<\/p>\n

Continental\u00a0Divide-\u00a025 Third Avenue
\n<\/strong>\"The<\/a>Longtime denizens of the night need no introduction to the Continental Divide. For a time the bar was one of the mainstays of the downtown music scene in New York. Hosting amazing residencies by The Senders as well as The Waldos, its stage also saw performances by the likes of The Headless Horsemen and even Iggy Pop. Legend has it that Johnny Thunders himself was once thrown out for trying to steal a chicken from the kitchen.\u00a0Although it continues to survive, music was discontinued in 2006 and the interior was retooled as an upscale dive bar for the college crowd.<\/p>\n

The Space at Chase- 98 Third Avenue
\n<\/strong>\"The<\/a>Why anyone would name a bar after a bank is beyond me, but apparently it did not matter much to the owners of the\u00a0Chase Manhattan Bar & Grill. Nevertheless, the back room (The Space) was a notable venue in the 90s, and not just because it was\u00a0one of the few places that let G.G. Allin play. Regulars included The Raunch Hands, The Vacant Lot, The Devil Dogs, and The Gashounds. While\u00a0the live music ended a long time ago, it lives on as a frat boy bar called Bar None.<\/p>\n

The Cat Club-\u00a076 East 13th Street
\n<\/strong>\"Cat<\/a>Opened as a “rock” club, The Cat Club nevertheless managed to book some great bands during it’s heyday. Although its main acts\u00a0were the hard-rocking metal\u00a0bands that were so popular during the late 80s early 90s,\u00a0\u00a0The Vipers, Smithereens, and Optic Nerve also managed to grace the stage as well. Another unusual garage music supporter during these times was\u00a0High Times magazine who\u00a0sponsored psychedelic-styled events. Even CMJ brought in stellar\u00a0talent like Australia’s Lime Spiders. Nevertheless\u00a0after interest in hard rock waned, the club closed and sat unused for many years.\u00a0Eventually it was converted into part of the sprawling\u00a0Hyatt Union Square complex. These days just the address exists above a renovated exterior.<\/p>\n

Tramps- 125 East\u00a015th Street
\n\"Tramps<\/a><\/strong>Tramps is one of those clubs that inadvertently played a big part of NYC’s garage (and alt) music scene. Catering mainly to blues music for years, Tramps started booking the odd rock band, often sponsored by NYU. Then,\u00a0around the time that the Dive closed and the Strip took over\u00a0as the defacto HQ of garage punk, Tramps began\u00a0hosting monthly psychedelic nights co-hosted by Ivy V. and Ann D. Interested in creating an all-immersive experience, the fledgling impresarios booked garage and psych bands and had them perform to live liquid light shows and gyrating go-go dancers. While leaning more toward the hippy-ish aspects of the genre,\u00a0they nevertheless brought in exceptional groups that otherwise would not have been heard in NYC. Noise concerns ended the live music at the 15th Street club, eventually forcing the club to move to west 21st St. Where it lasted for a few more years before closing. The original location became a short-lived hip hop club(!) before morphing into what it is today, a\u00a0full-time Irish bar. \u00a0
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Peppermint Lounge II\u00a0– 100 5th\u00a0Avenue
\n<\/strong>\"The<\/a>While not reaching the lofty heights of its predecessor on 45th St, the second and final location of the famed Peppermint Lounge nevertheless served as one of the first showcases for\u00a0the growing 80s garage rock movement. Shortly before it closed in 1985 the club was host to shows by The Chesterfield Kings, The Vipers \u00a0and some of the last shows from\u00a0the soon to be West Coast-bound\u00a0Fuzztones. Due to its prominent address, the\u00a0space has since been host to several high-end clothing stores.<\/p>\n

The Strip (McCarthys Bar)\u00a0– 205 West\u00a014th Street
\n<\/strong>\"The<\/a>Home of the second wave of garage rock \u00a0after the closing of The Dive, Gare Balaban and Deb Parker’s brainchild was short lived but managed to provide the perfect atmosphere\u00a0for local and touring\u00a0garage bands to play. As\u00a0a hardcore run-down drinkers bar, McCarthys had seen better days when Endsville Enterprises\u00a0approached the owner with a win-win proposition. On a typical Saturday night, customers and residents sat elbow-to-elbow at the bar or shared\u00a0the back booths while the bands played on in the fluorescent-lit back space. Every now and then someone would stumble in front of the band, realize they were\u00a0playing, and happily dance along. And, oh, what bands. The A-Bones, The Headless Horsemen, The Secret Service, The Ravens, Lord John, The Talismen, The Wylde Mammoths and on and on.\u00a0Garage rock\u00a0never had a more appropriate showcase. After a change of owners\u00a0and a massive renovation in the late 80s\u00a0McCarthys (now renamed\u00a0Flannerys) briefly held shows in the basement by the likes of The Lyres, The Insomniacs, and Nine Pound Hammer to name just a few. But, the magic was lost. Management started hosting cover\u00a0bands\u00a0and before long it just became just another Irish bar.\u00a0
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

And if you’re still feeling a bit wistful, here<\/a> are a few more underground bars brought to you by the good folks at Flamin’ Pablum<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the course of accumulating this material it became obvious early on how quickly the musical climate\u00a0changed during an incredibly \u00a0short period of time. In a city thats known for change, that says a lot. Nevertheless many of the locations mentioned in this site are still around, although often with\u00a0drastically different makeovers. While BuzzFeed covered … Continue reading “The More Things Change”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[15,21,18,19,17,14,20,16,23,25,22,26,24,13],"ppma_author":[281],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-venues","tag-asylum","tag-continental-divide","tag-downtown-beirut","tag-knitting-factory","tag-lizmar-lounge","tag-manhattan","tag-new-theater","tag-pyramid","tag-the-cat-club","tag-the-peppermint-lounge","tag-the-space-at-chase","tag-the-strip","tag-tramps","tag-venues"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","authors":[{"term_id":281,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jcuyubamba","display_name":"Jeff","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f7f2689c4c49560eb348832cb73281b822a7fbae40c8e1598e8e3c09b6d4de91?s=96&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}