Nevermind The Posers

By Nicole Seitz

My dad always says to me, “When I was a kid, we spent our money on vinyl records, not whatever you kids do today.” The act of listening to music was a huge part of people’s lives. More often than not, people would make an experience out of listening to a whole 45 minute or so album. Buying and listening to music used to be a big event for music lovers, which made the music more meaningful.

Music was made for the sole purpose of listening and experiencing the music. Now, music seems to be just the background noise in everyone’s lives. Many people only listen to music at parties or when they’re out just to dance or have something playing to fill the space. There’s nothing wrong with dancing to music, but there is so much more to it that younger people today don’t understand.

The world of music is similar today as it was during our parents and grandparents’ generation. There are still boy bands, pop icons, rock stars, etc. The big difference is what is important to fans about these artists. In the 1960s when fan girls swooned over The Beatles members’ long hair and British accents; they weren’t only concerned with the band’s image, they were attached to their music. If you heard a song on the radio that you really liked, you would go find that song on whatever album it was on, then buy the vinyl record for it, and spin it until the record wore out.

Today’s artists are still making music that their fans like, but their fans aren’t overly concerned with how good their album is and are more concerned with how the artists looks.

Dave DePaola, a senior music industry student, said, “Artists used to go on tour to support their new album, now artists make music just so they can tour.” DePaola explains how the focus has really shifted from the music to the image. Some people go to concerts now just to have something to do, not really to listen to the music.

Often times you’ll see on social media feeds friends going to a country concert at PNC Bank Arts Center. They won’t say anything about the music the artist was playing, they’re more concerned with the amount of beer they drank and how dreamy the singer was. That’s fine and dandy, but what happened to the art of music?

The art of music isn’t only just the music (while that is still very important) it is also about the album artwork and the liner notes. You can only really get these little things from buying an album (CD or vinyl). Album covers and liner notes used to be something that an artist or band put a lot of thought into when making the final product of their album; it was part of the experience.

Some of the most iconic album covers are Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane, and The Beatles’ Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. All of these album covers told a story that helped paint a picture for the music on the album. When most new artists come out with an album now, the cover is just a picture of them, which shows the focus on artist image rather than art.

DePaola also said, “My dad tells me how when he was younger, he would get a new album and then open up the liner notes and read through them while he was listening to the album.” Liner notes are found inside the album usually. Often times, liner notes include pictures and stories of the making of that album.

The liner notes on Blink-182’s self-titled album that included hits like “I Miss You,” shared stories of how each song was created and what inspired those songs. The notes specifically for the song “Feeling This” talk about how Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge both wrote separate lyrics about their sexual experiences and brought it together to write that song. It’s little stories like those that you wouldn’t know just from listening to these songs on the radio or streaming the music.

Music should be an experience. It should be more than a good-looking guy singing with auto-tune. Music is an art. From the writing of a song, to producing it, all the way to creating the album art for it, musicians write stories that they want people to hear, but people need to listen to the story, not just look at the person.

• Cake Shop on Ludlow Street will be closing after their New Year’s Eve bash.  This one is hard to stomach as I’ve seen a lot of incredible sets downstairs at this crowded, heat-trapped stage since 2005.  When their neighbors The Living Room closed their doors to re-open up in Brooklyn on Metropolitan Avenue, I was saddened to see three music venues in a row on Ludlow knocked down to two.  But now just one?  If anything happens to Pianos there’s going to be hell to pay!
• Oi vey…now to talk about the closing of (many) music venues due to hosting NYC Oi Fest.
  • Black Bear Bar (which was right next to Music Hall of Williamsburg and formally Public Assembly and Galapagos Art Space) closed their doors in early September.  They hosted the first night of the controversial Oi Fest! over Memorial Day weekend and cancelled the event in progress due to pressure by promoters.  Black Bear Bar posted this statement on Facebook: “This past Saturday night it came to our attention that our venue room was booked for a two-day festival which featured reprehensible displays of hate and intolerance. We immediately took action that night to cancel the remainder of the event as soon as we confirmed what had taken place. The booking was made by a third-party booking agent and not by Black Bear. That booker also used our social media accounts to make posts that neither I nor any owner of Black Bear condoned or approved. We have fired the booking agent. The owners of Black Bear apologize to our fellow New Yorkers for this disgusting event. Hate and intolerance are not welcome at our bar and have no place in our great city.”  Not long after hosting this mistake of an event the skate bowl/motorcycle bar was forced to closed.
  • Santo’s Party House in Chinatown closed immediately after hosting the second night of NYC’s Oi Fest on May 29th.  I’ve had so many great nights at this place and for years wanted to host my own party here. This place will be deeply missed and I have no beef against Andrew W.K. who was part owner of the venue.  People make mistakes, and clearly deciding to have anything to do with Oi Fest is one of them.
  • That being said, The Acheron also closed their doors in July “As a result of numerous factors that are completely out of our control, the space can no longer be used for shows,” said in a statement from the owners.  The adjacent bar, The Anchored Inn, will remain open.  The Ancheron hosted NYC’s Oi Fest back in 2013 and apologized to their regulars who felt the need to leave.
• The Grand Victory, another grungy dive bar gem on Grand Street in Brooklyn, closed their doors on July 31st.  The Trash Bar used to be across the street, and closed back in 2015.  Long live the grungy dive bars, lost but never forgotten.
• It’s with a very heavy heart I say that Rebel Rebel Records on Bleeker Street closed this past June.  Sure, there’s Rough Trade in Brooklyn, but it will never hold as much history as Rebel Rebel did.  Due to rising rent prices, they were forced to close their doors forever after being in business for 28 years.
• Peanut Butter & Co. on Sullivan Street closed at the end of February. Luckily you can still buy their delicious peanut butter, but you’ll be responsible for your own sandwich creations.  They were in business at this location for 17 years and one of the first single-ingredient sandwich shops in the area.
• Carnegie Deli on 7th closed their doors yesterday, 12/30.  You can still get tasty pastrami sandwiches at their other locations, although I’ve always preferred Katz.

Okay, that’s enough sad reminiscing.  Let’s get positive and review what has opened up this year, and what will open up in 2017:

• Brooklyn Steel (a The Bowery Presents venue) is set to open in the spring of 2017 at 319 Frost Street.  They are already booking shows, opening with 3 days of The Decemberists.
• The Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk officially opened June 25th and has already hosted many great acts.
• Brooklyn Bazaar closed in 2015 but has now reopened as of September 9th at 150 Greenpoint Avenue.  So many great things to do here; if you’re bored, this is where you should be.  Live music, market place with the most unique vendors, karaoke/arcade/ping pong/mini-golf, and The Brooklyn Star food and bar (serving brunch on Sundays)
• The Lucky Bee – 252 Broome Street – opened towards the end of January this year.  They serve seasonal Thai curries, Southeast Asian street snacks and cocktails in a colorful space. The cocktail menu features drinks made with honey, and a dollar of every drink sold is donated to the New York City Beekeepers Association. The owners hope to raise bees on the roof in the future. 
• Pet Shop opened up in Jersey City this past August.  They host occasional live music and have a wine bar in the basement, not to mention a menu of original vegetarian plates.
• Park and Orchard in Rutherford, NJ closed in July 2015 and re-opened under new ownership on April 1st 2016.  This restaurant has always been about healthy, organic vegetarian options and the new menu still seems to carry that torch. They also say they’ve kept a few classics on the menu, but I do not see the famous Crawfish Enchiladas so I have been hesitant to try it out.  Hopefully they still make the best French martini known to man.

Hope everyone has a happy new year!