156 Rivington St. between Norfolk and Suffolk
F/J/M/Z to Delancey
Oldschool DIY punk central, one of the last oases of decency in New York, a throwback to the early days of the fight against gentrification back in the 80s. They bought the building from the city, and it now serves as all-purpose gallery/poetry club/activist center/venue. Their Saturday punk/hardcore matinee has been going on since forever and can be incredibly fun: no Nazi punks allowed. This is the rare kind of place in New York where you can go all by yourself and meet random people who will become your friends. The sound is totally DIY and dodgy as you would expect, but that’s the price you pay for sanity. Please remember that this is not a bar or club, it’s a community center, a valuable resource for musicians, artists and photographers. So treat the place respectfully.
9 Great Jones St. just east of Lafayette
under the excellent Acme New Orleans-style restaurant
B/D/6 to Broadway-Lafayette/Bleecker St.
Formerly Acme Underground, no longer operated by the upstairs restaurant. Big stage with excellent sound; long, wide room with a few tables along the right side; cheap cover; small, expensive drinks (no draft beer). Musicians like playing here since the PA is powerful and the sound is good (and loud). Booking is diverse – they still get some of the loud, wretched grunge/metal bands who typified this place for years, but also plenty of good under-the-radar rock, country and oldtimey acts. No Nazi factor to speak of, and if you’re hungry you can always go upstairs (brave souls should try Acme’s cajun martini: it’ll scorch your insides for hours afterward).
287 9th St. (4th/5th Ave), Park Slope, Brooklyn
F to 7th Ave. and walk downhill on 9th St. or N/R to 4th Ave. and walk uphill
Just down the block from Barbes, this relatively new bar/restaurant with joint Puerto Rican/Peruvian ownership takes its name from a type of hot pepper. A long bar runs down the left side, tables on the right; bands play in the back on what serves as a rudimentary stage. The sound is ok, pretty much what you’d expect at a place that wasn’t really designed to be a venue. Food and drinks are remarkably inexpensive considering the somewhat swanky ambience and the quality of the acts who play here. They have a wide and consistently excellent range of music here including jazz, Brazilian and various other latin styles. Thursday is rock en Espanol night. Cover is cheap, the place draws a refreshingly laid-back neighborhood crowd and there’s no Nazi factor whatsoever. Nice place, nice people: a good place to see a show.
Ave. C and 7th St.
L to 1st Ave., walk south and east; F/J/M/Z to Delancey, walk north and east; or M14D bus which stops at 10th St. and Ave. C
This place just makes you want to laugh: their website lists events like “Jessica’s bachelorette party” (probably not open to the public – but who cares). A couple of years ago, it was one of the places where just about any band, no matter how bad or unpopular, could get a gig. And who wanted to play here, anyway: drinks were expensive (no draft beer), the sound sucked and there was always a throng of out-of-state yuppie puppies lined up at the door after the bands were finished, waiting to pay a cover to get in and listen to Eddie Money, Boston and Air Supply piped over the PA. From the looks of things, it doesn’t look like new ownership has changed things much: bands still play on the balcony facing the front door, the bar is still along the left wall, the sound is still loud and often frightfully bad, and drinks are expensive. And they really bumrush you out of there after the music is over and the yuppie puppies are lined up and panting at the door.
16 Beaver St., financial district
2/4/6/A/C/M/Z to Fulton St., walk south along either Broadway or William to Beaver
Although relatively little-known to the general public, this Arab cultural center is very popular with immigrants from every corner of the diaspora and fills up quickly: early arrival is highly recommended. They don’t have music every night, but when they do, it is outstanding, a mix of traditional sounds, jazz and even experimental stuff. They also host a wide variety of literary and dramatic events. Admission is cheap ($10 or $15, typically), considering what you get here, with a student discount available. You come off the elevator and immediately you’re in the space, which is set up like a small auditorium. Seating is not reserved. Beverages or light snacks are available in the office to the left as you walk in. The staff here are uncommonly professional and helpful. This is a great place to see groups or performers with a wide following in the Arab community who may be flying under the radar otherwise.
Orchard between Stanton and Rivington, east side of the street
F/V to 2nd Ave.
Midsize music venue in the old Bar 11 space. You’d think that simply by default, it’d be an improvement on what used to be here, but no. High ceilings; you walk into the music room with a bar to the right and one in the front around the corner from the stage. The sound is lousy, and earsplitting: it’s by far the loudest venue in New York, as loud as the Continental used to be, maybe more. Drinks are expensive and the place is the LES’ trendoid hangout du jour. Perfectly descriptive image: a flyer on the door advertising the owner’s twentieth anniversary of his suburban New Jersey bar mitzvah. The staff here are rude and obnoxious, and bands are treated with disdain. Most good acts won’t play here for obvious reasons.
253 West 125th Street
Between Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd & Frederick Douglass Blvd.
A/B/C to 125th St.
“It’s showtime!” Yeah, besides the televised open mic frequented by hordes of drunk kids booing timid performers off the stage, they have plays, musicals and the infrequent concert, mostly hip-hop or corporate pop. The dingy, multi-tiered interior is actually nowhere as big as the tv cameras would have you believe, in fact smaller than the Beacon. The sound isn’t bad but it isn’t pristine either. But this place is a landmark where pretty much everybody who was anybody, from the 30s through the 60s played at one time or another. Advance tix available at the box office. Compared to the other big theatres, the Apollo’s staff seem considerably brighter, friendly and competent.
Stanton between Orchard and Ludlow, south side of the street
F/V to 2nd Ave.
There’s a small bar as you walk in, with the music room to your left and down the stairs. This place has the potential to be an excellent-sounding room but seldom is, more a fault of the sound personnel rather than their excellent system. This isn’t really a hangout (other than the adjacent bar which becomes a tourist trap on the weekends). Drinks are on the pricy side although they have shot-and-shitbeer specials, and the bartenders are nice. The Nazi factor depends on who’s working the door. They can get really nasty here. Booking here is excellent – Arlene’s has pulled ahead of the formerly esteemed Mercury as the premier rock place on the Lower East – with plenty of good under-the-radar talent as well as frequent national touring acts. Although the segues are ridiculously jarring: singer-songwriter, hip-hop, death metal back-to-back without a thought of how much more money they’d make at the bar if the bands had something in common.
Artland
no website
609 Grand St. between Driggs and Roebling, Williamsburg
L to Bedford Ave., go down Bedford to Grand and hang a left, or J/M/Z to Marcy Ave., walk north on Havemeyer past the bus depot to Grand and hang a left.
This dingy little bar has occasional music, from jazz to acoustic acts to the occasional rock bands who play in the back of the club after they flip the pool table up on its side. The PA isn’t very powerful, but it’s a small space and the crowd surprisingly comes to listen, more often than not. This is a laid-back place where everything you can sit on looks like it was rescued from a dumpster. Drinks aren’t cheap (no draft beer), but the staff is nice.
Surf Ave and W 5th St., Coney Island
Any train to Stilwell Ave; the closest actual stop is W 8th on the F line. Walk away from the Cyclone, or if you’re getting off at W 8th, the aquarium
Free outdoor concerts are held here on Thursday nights in July and August, mostly nostalgia acts from the 50s to the 80s. The stage is huge and the sound projects well, so you can hang in the back and still hear ok. The place will be crawling with cops, so keep that bottle well-concealed: they have quotas to make. It’s free if you bring a blanket or stand on the lawn or along the side of the park, but they charge admission if you want to sit in the area where the chairs are. Be aware that bills that include more than one artist may give the opener or the supporting acts only a few minutes onstage, so it may not be worth coming out here if that’s who you want to see.
155 Bleecker at Thompson St.
A/B/D/C/E/F to W 4th St.
Actually not a bad place to hang out at, if you must kill time in this neighborhood. They have cheap beer and a surprisingly nice bar staff. The music is typically Bleecker St. lame, usually singer-songwriters doing covers on the stage to the right of the bar. The sound isn’t bad, but it doesn’t really make a difference, considering who’s playing.
Balanza
no website
426 Lorimer St. at Ten Eyck, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L/G to Lorimer St. and walk south about 3 minutes, away from Pete’s Candy Store; J to Hewes St., walk two blocks along Broadway, left on Union, right on Ten Eyck, about a 7 minute walk.
This neighborhood Spanish bar (owned by the same people who run Artland) has occasional rock bands on the small stage in the back. Drinks are surprisingly expensive (no draft beer), although the staff is nice. The sound is dodgy, but they don’t charge a cover and it’s a laid-back, old-school Williamsburg vibe.
Banjo Jim’s
Southeast corner of Ave. C and 9th St.
L to 1st Ave. or 6/N/R to Union Square; you can catch the M14 crosstown bus if you want a shorter walk. Look for the M14D which goes down Ave. C. and stops a block north.
Manhattan’s best venue for acoustic music is this tiny little corner bar, formerly country outpost 9C. They’ve removed the railing that used to enclose the space where the bands play, to the left as you walk in; the bar extends along the right and in front of you, with a couple of small couches in the right corner. Booking is often very good and diverse here, with country, jazz, oldtimey and even world music in addition to a usually good crop of songwriters, many of whom have fled the Living Room in disgust. Because it’s so small, the sound here is good, frequently excellent, and to the club’s credit, they keep the piano in tune. Drinks are priced to the suburban contingent, although they have cheap canned beer. To the owners’ further credit, they like theme nights where the crowd is encouraged to stay for more than just a single band. Despite the neighborhood, there are no little Hitlers to be found anywhere, and other than the occasional night when they have some of the hacks who follow in Snorah Jones’ orbit basically using the club as a rehearsal room, the tourists who clog this neighborhood on the weekends go elsewhere. Be aware that when the most popular acts play here, it can get very crowded; early arrival is advised.
444 7th Avenue
(corner of 15th Street & 7th Avenue), Park Slope, Brooklyn
F to 7th Ave.
This small, dark, boxy bar used to be a punk rock joint, now it’s an acoustic place. They don’t have music every night. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
Bar on A
no website
170 Ave. A at 11th St.
Laid-back neighborhood bar with occasional music on the stage to the left of the U-shaped bar where they have tables and couches: go left when you enter through the working door, on the bar’s south side. The PA is pretty primitive, so when they have music – not every night – it’s usually singer-songwriters. Nice bar staff, absolutely no Nazis to be seen anywhere, drinks aren’t cheap but they aren’t super expensive either, and the tourists have yet to discover this place other than on the weekends.
Bar Tabac
the club’s website is useless
128 Smith St., corner of Dean, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
F to Bergen St.
Owned by the same people who brought you Jules, Le Singe Vert and Cafe Noir, this pricy, popular corner bistro has Belgian beer, mediocre faux-French food and occasionally jazz acts (brilliant gypsy jazz guitarist Stephane Wrembel on Friday nights) who play in the window by the door. The staff are nice and there’s absolutely no Nazi factor, but be aware that in the summer, they frequently leave the doors open, so it can get uncomfortably hot here.
***RATED BEST BROOKLYN VENUE 2008***
corner of 6th Ave. and 9th St., Park Slope, Brooklyn
F to 7th Ave. and walk downhill
Believe the hype: there is a good act playing here virtually every night, something no other New York area venue can boast. Basically, this is what Tonic used to be, relocated to Park Slope. Day in, day out, Barbes books more exciting music than any other venue in town (maybe anywhere in the world, outside of Beirut or Cairo, anyway), a diverse bunch of jazz, oldtimey, Americana, gypsy and world music acts from every corner of the globe. Many of them are the same people who used to play Tonic, minus some of the outsider jazz guys and the trendoids with their laptops and hand-held video games. The theme here is Gallic: the place is named after Barbes-Rochechouart, a sadly gentrified former Arab ghetto in Paris. The back room here is tiny, smaller than even Pete’s Candy Store and just a tad bigger than the Rockwood, and the bands who play here always fill it. Consequently, it’s best to show up early (about 15 minutes before showtime) if you want to get into the music room, especially if you want a seat. Since it’s cozy back there, the sound is usually superb. They frequently pipe the music from the back room in over the bar, but it’s generally inaudible, whenever the bar is crowded (like it usually is) Like Tonic, Barbes draws a mixed crowd: jazzcats, trendoids, neighborhood folks and friends of the bands who play here. Drinks aren’t overwhelmingly expensive and as you’d expect from a place run by Frenchmen, they have a good wine list. The Nazi factor is nonexistent. Although the waitress will very strongly suggest a $10 contribution to the bands’ tip jar on nights when there is no cover charge, your donation is strictly voluntary if you’re low on cash. The most popular acts (and the Random Jazz Wednesday night series) both have a $10 cover.
Fulton Ferry Landing, Dumbo, Brooklyn
F to York St.; A to High St. and walk to the water
Chamber music inside a renovated barge at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, all year long. Expensive, highly regarded as a date spot and accurately so: with the almost imperceptable sway of the boat, the view of lower Manhattan and the marvelous acoustics, this can be a very romantic experience. Early arrival is advised, as the below-decks space is fairly small and sells out fast, especially in the summertime; the box office typically opens about an hour before showtime, when you may buy tickets to the current show as well as later events. The staff are helpful; the seating is a little tight with the folding chairs, but that’s a small price to pay for the quality of the music – an adventurous mix of classical, modern and jazz – and the ambience.
1/2/9 to Bowling Green or 4/6/A/C/J/M/Z to Fulton/Broadway-Nassau, walk south and east about 10 minutes
There are occasionally free shows here during the summer, including an annual 4th of July show. Attend at your own risk: parts of the park are fenced off for no apparent reason other than to severely limit the amount of space for concertgoers. As a result, you have to show up ridiculously early to get in, or take your chances and wait forever in a ridiculously long line that reaches almost all the way around the park. You may not get close enough to the stage to hear much. There will be only one entrance/exit, further complicating matters when it’s time to leave. Not the funnest place you could be on the 4th.
237 West 42 St
B/D/N/R/1/2/9 to 42nd St., or walk from the A/C/E or the 6
Despite its Disneyland location – and the fact that the King of the Blues has no more to do with this than Roy Rogers had to do with all those fried chicken places - this isn’t a bad place to see bands. Booked by the same people who own the Blue Note, they surprisingly draw some good acts: soul music, metal, reggae and even hip-hop. It’s a pretty big space. The space is downstairs, a long bar to your left as you walk in, tables toward the front, and usually plenty of standing room between them and the bar. Drinks are predictably pricy, the food is lousy, but the staff won’t hassle you and the sound is excellent. Beware: some shows are obscenely expensive, $75 or more. They also have free blues, pretty much nightly, at the adjacent, smaller Lucille’s bar (use the door on your right).
74th and Broadway
1/2/9 to 72nd St.
Not a bad seat in the house at this excellent-sounding, big-ticket old Gilded Age theatre. If price is an issue – orchestra seating is frequently even more expensive than the peanut gallery – choose the peanut gallery. Acts who play here are mostly older national touring rock bands and singer-songwriters. Tickets are predictably expensive: advance tix, available M-F 11-5 at their box office are absolutely necessary, as this place usually sells out, sometimes fast. Don’t try to bring alcohol or other beverages in here: you will be frisked. Bootlegging, on the other hand, is possible if you are discreet about it (keep that little red light hidden). Don’t waste your money on the tiny drinks they serve in little clear plastic cups. There is only one way in or out, through the front doors; you might want to station yourself close to an exit at the end of the show to beat the crowd. Be careful not to fall onto the tracks at the 72nd St. subway station: it’s the narrowest platform in the entire system.
149 7th St. between 2nd and 3rd Aves., Gowanus, Brooklyn
F/N/R to 4th Ave.
New high-ceilinged, midsize space (comparable to the recently deceased Luna in Williamsburg) brought to you by the same people behind Union Hall, which for the most part means the same tired, boring, tuneless trendoid rock along with the occasional touring band, multimedia event or strip show. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
315 W 44th between 8th and 9th Ave.
A/C/E to 42nd St/Port Authority
Legendary, pricy restaurant row jazz club named after Charlie Parker. Swanky as you can expect: table service, expensive drinks and mediocre, overpriced food. Strangely, they only book jazz here about half the time these days; otherwise, it’s a gay cabaret club. Most of the big-name acts who play here are priced beyond the means of most working people, but they’ll sometimes have niche acts for about a $25 cover, sometimes even less. The sound is outstanding as you would expect for the prices they charge. The staff are surprisingly nice, absolutely no Nazi factor, but the Vanguard is still your best bet for marquee-caliber jazz in New York.
Bleecker between LaGuardia and Thompson
A/C/E/B/D/F to West 4th St., take the exit on the south side
The stage is to your right as you enter, with tables in front of it and then beyond it all the way to the back of the club. Being on the Bleecker St. strip, this place books mostly out-of-town suburban acts lost in the 70s: lots of James Taylor and Foreigner wannabes. Which is a shame, because the sound has the potential to be excellent (it isn’t often, though, perhaps because the stage monitors aren’t positioned properly, and they feed back). There’s a cover: people don’t just come here to drink and hang out. The staff here are surprisingly nonchalant: if you aren’t an obvious NYU student with fake ID, you won’t have any trouble getting in. Not that you’d want to, considering the kind of acts who play here. Drinks are predictably Bleecker St. expensive. Once in a blue moon they’ll have a good New York songwriter or rock act.
Closed in June, 2009, this Williamsburg Middle Eastern restaurant was one of the first adventurous outposts in what was once a dicey neighborhood.
38th St. just west of 5th Ave, next door to where Cedars of Lebanon used to be
N/R/B/D/F to 34th. or 6 to 33rd.
Midtown Irish pub/restaurant basically just like the others in this local chain…except that this one has live music on the weekends. Go figure: it’s not set up to be a venue (although there is a high stage in the back) and the sound is loud and awful. And shows run way behind schedule here, as much as a couple of hours. And the promoters don’t have a clue: they’ll put a Boston heavy metal band on for a whole hour, while a New York band’s crowd is waiting patiently for their friends to go on. And then the New York band will get barely a half hour onstage, sometime after midnight. The staff here is uniformly nice, the food is ok, but drinks are midtown expensive and there are innumerable other venues that don’t come with all the geographical and logistical hassles that are seemingly built into this one.
W 3rd just east of Sixth Ave.
A/C/E/B/D/F to W 4th, take the southside exit
The sign over the entrance should be in Japanese, since that’s the crowd that comes here these days. This place was a great jazz club, most likely before you were born, and vestiges of that remain: the sound is superb. But the prices are beyond the reach of the average New Yorker: cover, dinner and drinks will set you back over $100 apiece, and the food is lousy. Even “bar seating” – which means that you’ll be on your feet for the duration of the show, and will have to crane your neck to see much of anything – will probably set you back at least $50 if you include the two-drink minimum. And the booking here is a mixed bag, with Pan-American or European performers and the occasional jazz legend interspersed among Lite FM-style elevator jazz acts. Occasionally they’ll have a rock act. On Friday and Saturdays nights, after the main acts are done, they have funk and fusion at reduced prices. Surprisingly, there’s no Nazi factor: the harried waitstaff has a hard enough time squeezing through the crowds of tourists to make sure everybody gets their check.
Delancey St. just east of Bowery
J/M/Z to Bowery or F to 2nd Ave., walk south and west
New York’s best-sounding midsize venue, a big, high-ceilinged space with a horseshoe-shaped balcony and bar upstairs, a spacious bar with couches downstairs, through which you go to get into the main room. After the bands are done the downstairs bar is open to the public: it’s a great place to be away from all the tourists in the wee hours. National touring acts and the most popular New York bands play here, so the crowd depends on who you’ve come out to see. Drinks except for beer are pricy. The door people and staff look imposing but are actually nice. If you have to choose between seeing a band here and a similar-sized venue like Irving Plaza or Webster Hall, go to the Bowery Ballroom show. Note that this place frequently sells out: advance tickets are a must, available at the Mercury Lounge before 7 PM.
327 Bowery between 2nd and 3rd Sts.
F/V to 2nd Ave. or B/D/6 to Broadway-Lafayette
Located in the split-level downstairs space that formerly housed the dreaded tourist bar the Remote Lounge, this comfortably lowlit saloon is nothing like its predecessor or its sister bar Niagara on Ave. A. At the bottom of the stairs, there’s the bar to your right, with the lower level about half-occupied by a surprisingly big stage for a space this size (similar to the Fortune Cookie Lounge under Lucky Cheng’s). Music is not an everyday thing here, but when they have it, it tends to be top-shelf rock acts. The sound is surprisingly good. Drinks aren’t overwhelmingly expensive, cover is cheap if there is one, the vibe casual, the crowd somewhat oldschool a la Otto’s and the staff are nice.
308 Bowery, across the street from where CBs Gallery used to be
6 to Bleecker St./B/D/F to Broadway-Lafayette, J/M/Z to Bowery
Music is becoming more of a staple here: they have shows about 50% of the time, rock as well as hip-hop, jazz and the occasional singer-songwriter. The stage is angled to the right, in back, with rows of folding chairs. There’s a makeshift bar, as at the Nuyorican, but drinks are small and expensive. The sound is actually pretty good, better than you would think in this comfortably dingy, warehouse-ish space. Cover is cheap if not free and there are absolutely no Nazis to be found anywhere, impressive considering the neighborhood. They also have also excellent, inexpensive, premade sandwiches available in the fridge on the right, just as you walk in
30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn Heights
The closest train is actually the G to Fulton St.; BAM is only half a block away. Otherwise take any train to Atlantic Ave.
Ironically, BAM has mostly movies these days although they frequently have free concerts upstairs in the spacious, high-ceilinged BAM Cafe. The performers are usually first-rate, drinks are expensive, Nazis conspicuous in their absence, and the PA is underpowered: find yourself a spot in the alcoves along the left wall, where nobody will hassle you as long as you don’t stand in front of the metal grates between them. The big, main space has tiered seating; the excellent sound and high ticket prices (advance tix from the BAM box office are a must) are comparable to the Beacon Theatre.
Brooklyn Bridge Park Tobacco Warehouse
Plymouth St. at Dock St., Dumbo, Brooklyn
F to York St. or A/C to Cadman Plaza – walk down Jay all the way to the water, then take a left on Plymouth and go straight about four blocks (the entrance on Water St. is now closed due to construction).
The old warehouse is something of a misnomer, since its roof was taken off. Free concerts are held here under a tent, throughout the summer. Lately the space has been turned over to the booking agents for various Brooklyn venues, who bring their favorite acts: the Barbes folks do a night of world music, the Jalopy Café people book an oldtimey jazz night, Union Hall brings a bunch of loser trendoid bands. Doors are at 6; there are very few seats, so expect to stand. The sound is dodgy. Draft beer and overpriced food are available, but why bother: bring your own, it’s hassle-free, just be on the lookout for park police who take their job VERY seriously. There are also free movies and other things going on here when they don’t have music.
Brooklyn Lyceum
The club’s website is useless
Right at the Union St. R train stop (exit at the front of the train if you are coming from Manhattan), otherwise take the F to 4th Ave. and walk back toward Brooklyn Heights about 9 blocks, past the UHaul place.
During the day, this space-for-hire has many functions. Downstairs, it’s a gym, frequently rented out for theatrical events. Upstairs is a makeshift coffeehouse. The owners don’t seem to involve themselves in anything other than renting out the hall. At night, they frequently have bands in the bare, brickwalled, spacious downstairs area and, generally once a week, there are singer-songwriters in the small upstairs room. The sound upstairs is actually quite good; downstairs is hit-and-miss since the club doesn’t have their own PA. Absolutely no Nazi factor (you could probably sneak in if you really put your mind to it); bottled beer and wine are available in small plastic cups upstairs, but both are pricy. Several promoters use this place for classical music, jazz and rock. Unfortunately, the woman who books the singer-songwriters in the upstairs room always plays a set of her own music before the scheduled acts, and because she wants to play to a captive audience, she never specifies what the order of the acts on the bill will be. Which makes it difficult to figure out when you should get here: if your favorite singer/songwriter sends you an email about a gig here, you might want to think twice before shlepping all the way out here because you may have to sit through the booker’s set plus several other lame acts before your friend gets to play.
317 Clermont Avenue at Lafayette, Ft. Greene, Brooklyn
G to Clinton/Washington, C to Lafayette Ave. or any train to Atlantic Ave. and about a 15-minute walk.
Big place – none of us are Masons or Illuminati so we’ve never been there. Concerts here 3-4 times a month, these days absolutely nothing of interest: TV on the Radio, Broken Social Scene, other trendoids du jour. Snooze. Not reviewed as of 6/09.
Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn
2/4 to Grand Army Plaza
How to describe? Well, it’s full of books. You can see the big, massive old edifice from the subway. They occasionally have free concerts here, outside on the steps during the warmer months, sometimes in one of the small public rooms on the second floor which you reach from the main entrance. Acts are diverse, ranging from jazz to hip-hop to world music. Their site also lists events at the many local BPL branches.
245 Grand St. between Driggs and Roebling, Williamsburg
L to Bedford Ave. or J/M/Z to Marcy Ave., walk along Havemeyer past the bus depot to Grand and hang a left
The old Lucky Cat space has been reopened as what looks like another trendoid bar with nightly music, but nothing of interest going on as/of 6/09. Hopefully the new owners have discovered that newfangled phenomenon called air conditioning that the Lucky Cat people were unaware of.
228 W Broadway at White St.
Every now and then this shi-shi Tribeca champagne bar has live music, usually jazz or some variant thereof. Bands play to the right of the door as you walk in. The PA is primitive, so the sound can be iffy: it’s not really a music venue. There are magnums and magnums of champagne everywhere, even up in the rafters (how do they keep it from going bad in the heat?). Since the vibe is totally swankazoid, you might want to stick to beer: they have a surprising number of bottled European brands. You might also want to take a table toward the front of the bar if you’re there for the band. There’s no Nazi factor, and a surprisingly nice bar staff.
35 W 8th St.
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St., north exit
Gone, shuttered mid-March. Sad. Another one bites the dust.
433 7th Ave. at 14th St., Park Slope, Brooklyn
F to 7th Ave.
An “Austrian comfort food” restaurant catering to the Park Slope monster-stroller crowd. Ten years ago this place would have priced itself out of the neighborhood in six months. Alas, no more. It’s cramped, noisy, and the occasional screaming rugrat does nothing to enhance your experience. Music is usually Sundays and Wednesdays, mostly jazz and old-timey acts with the occasional country performer. As you may have surmised, it’s also an afterthought; nobody listens, the PA doesn’t have the juice to drown out the crowd and besides, nobody comes here for the music anyway.
115 MacDougal St. between Bleecker and W 3rd St.
Talk about living off your reputation: Hendrix played here frequently, forty years ago. Apparently the owners also own the building, because the place is still here. Not that it needs to be: this stuffy little tourist bar caters strictly to an out-of-town crowd, and late at night and on the weekends, an unsophisticated black clientele for whom rap apparently never happened. Expensive drinks, overzealous door crew, clueless bar staff, overly loud, generic funk and cover bands phoning it in on the little stage. Ugh.
32 Jones St. off Bleecker (west of 6th Ave)
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St.
Cramped, stuffy, underventilated bistro with nightly music, a frequently excellent and adventurous mix of singer-songwriters, Americana, jazz and sometimes world music. There’s a piano and a pretty lo-fi sound system, some acts actually preferring to play acoustic without any amplification. Cover is cheap, if there is one, food and drinks are expensive as you would imagine (no draft beer) but the staff are very pleasant and sympathetic to the fact that people are crammed in on top of one another - the bar in the back is tiny and there’s virtually no standing room, so early arrival is a must because the tables fill up fast. This is the kind of place where it’s hardly rude to tell the folks at the adjacent table to shush if they’re making too much noise, because they’re basically in your face and vice versa. Can’t vouch for the quality of the food, although some of the dessert portions are enticingly humungous.
Ludlow between Stanton and Rivington, east side of the street, next to the Living Room
F/V to 2nd Ave.
You could live here. Taken strictly as a venue, Cake Shop is one of the two or three best in all of New York, Brooklyn included. So many reasons to like this place: the yummy treats at the upstairs bakery; the casual, laid back vibe; the cheap cover and relatively inexpensive drinks, nice bar staff, and most importantly, their uncommon dedication to providing excellent sound in a dingy basement space that seems like the last place you would find it. Now if only they’d book a good band once in awhile! While they have the occasional national touring acts or garage band night, as well as Dee Pop’s long-running jazz night that held court at CB’s for decades, mostly it’s just the same kind of pitchfork.com indie garbage you find at Union Hall or Pianos. The crowd depends on the band: it’s a very gay-friendly space. To their further credit, they’ve managed to avoid the Nazi factor entirely: nobody will give you a hard time here. Interesting that such a friendly place would sit right next door to the concentration camp that is the Living Room.
Cameo Gallery – see The Loving Cup Cafe
285 W Broadway, corner of Canal
A/C/E to Canal St. or 6/N/R/J/M/Z to Canal St. and walk west
Formerly known as Shine, this swanky room generally serves as a hip-hop disco, the type of place where they try to induce women to come in via reduced admission at the door. Occasionally they will have corporate singer-songwriters or Hot 97 style corporate black pop acts. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
On the water along the middle edge of Battery Park
1/9/2 to Bowling Green or A/C/E/4/6/J/M/Z to Fulton/Broadway-Nassau and walk south and east about a dozen blocks.
At 5 PM during the summer on show days, park personnel will distribute two free tickets per person to everyone on the line which forms along the benches leading to the old stone fort, meaning that you need to sneak out of work to get here no later than 4:30 PM and a half-hour earlier than that for more popular acts. The show will probably start at around 6:30 or 7. Since it’s outdoors, don’t expect great sound. Overpriced canned beer is available inside. Be aware that your bag will be searched as you enter (although lately they’ve been pretty cursory, and it’s been possible to bring beverages in). Also be aware that they will throw away any beverages they catch you with. You have to show up early to get a seat, although there’s always ample standing room in back behind the rows of plastic chairs. Since the music plays while the sun is setting over the river, wear a hat and shades. The acts here vary: NPR folk and country stuff with the occasional indie band.
Central Park, 72nd St. entrance, closer to the east side
6 to 68th St.
Most-improved venue of 2008 by a mile, a dubious achievement considering where it started, at the very bottom. Gone: the wire-fence holdings pens for unsuspecting concertgoers; the phalanxes of rent-a-pigs searching everyone; the labyrinth inside and the no-man’s-land of fences keeping visitors at a considerable distance from the arena. Most of the interior space has been reopened, and most of the bleachers in the back are once again open to the public. You still can’t bring in any kind of drinkables – your bag, if you have one, will be inspected – and your best bet is still to plan on arriving when the space opens, i.e. 3 PM even if the act you want to see doesn’t hit the stage til five. But the sound isn’t bad for an outdoor arena, and the vibe has reverted to what it was about ten years ago, everyone taking picture, making videos and bootlegs and nobody hassles you. The tents serving beer and food are predictably overpriced; there’s also a bank of porta-potties back by the bleachers in case you need them. Volunteers will still make sad-puppy faces at you as you enter, begging for a donation, but don’t be fooled: all this is paid for with taxpayer money and donations from corporations who can well afford it. If you get there too late and the place is sold out, you can still lurk on the perimeter and pretty much hear anything, although you won’t be able to see. Be aware that the ever-increasing number of ticketed shows here are not worth your while: all the acts who play those kind of gigs here always end up playing somewhere else with better sound and air conditioning, i.e. Bowery Ballroom. Concerts typically run from early June through early September, an eclectic mix of world music and rock, emphasis on the multiculti.
652 Lexington Ave. at 55th St.
6/F to 53rd St./Citicorp Center
This sonically exquisite historic landmark – beautifully remodeled after a fire about ten years ago – has frequent free lunchtime organ concerts, currently programmed by renowned organ music adventurer Gail Archer. They also have frequent lectures as well as literary and film events. The synagogue’s Moorish-inspired interior decor is a feast for the eyes as well.
on the boardwalk at Coney Island close to Stilwell Ave. next to Nathan’s
Take any train to Stilwell Ave., walk to the boardwalk and take a left
Abruptly shuttered in local developer Joseph Shitt’s recent boardwalk land grab and then reopened – but who knows for how long. A long-running Coney Island institution, this was the kind of dingy place where everybody in the joint looked like a bookie or a smalltime mob enforcer. Drinks weren’t super cheap, the sound in the spacious backroom was awful and loud, but it was a slice of history, definitely a throwback to another time and place. And because it was so loud it was usually easy to hang out on the boardwalk and hear the band if there was a cover to get inside to hear the impressive variety of rock, country, punk and ska acts who played here.
The Chapel
no website
140 Manhattan Ave. btw Meserole and Montrose, Bushwick, Brooklyn
L to Montrose Ave.; G to Broadway; J/M to Hewes St.
Space for hire occasionally utilized by diverse bands. Not reviewed as of 6/09.
Corner of Bedford Ave. and N 7th, Williamsburg
L to Bedford Ave.
The bar – Williamsburg’s first music venue – has reopened, although it’s much the same as it was before, minus the sour-faced old man who would accost you the second you walked in the door: “You have to buy a drink!” Now run by the same people who brought you the Alligator, you get a free slice – a slice, not a pie – when you buy a drink. They don’t have music every night. Bands still play in the walk-down space in the front of the club, booths along each side, standing room in the middle. Sonically, it’s still a work in progress although better than it was in its previous incarnation. Booking is a mixed bag: because it’s on the dreaded Bedford Ave. strip, it’s mostly trendoid bands playing to random tourists from out of town along with the permanent-tourist class who’ve come to stay for a few years until their trust funds kick in. You’ll probably enjoy yourself more down the block at Spikehill.
1089 Broadway between Dodworth and Lawton, Bushwick, Brooklyn
J/M to Kosciusko St.
Trendoid music site starts a club. If you have a thing for pampered white suburban girls, or guys, or you can’t make up your mind, this seems to be the place for you. Not reviewed as of 6/09.
155 Varick St. at Vandam
1/2 to Houston St.; C/E to Spring St., walk north and west; or A/B/D/F to W 4th St., walk south and west.
Owned by one of the founders of the Knitting Factory, this big, expensive, hangar-like new club seems to want to draw the demographic who went to that club back in the 80s who’ve grown old, moved to Jersey and switched their voter registration to Republican. And seating is a further concession to the hedge fund set, tables pricier and pricier the closer you get to the stage, with limited bar seats. Therefore, the music is mostly lite FM-style singer songwriters and a few of the older jazz and world music artists who were playing shows at the Knit 20 years ago, along with a weekly Sunday klezmer brunch which serves as the club’s lone vestige of edginess. The menu is pricy; the staff seem nice. Not reviewed as of 6/09.
2485 Broadway (92/93)
1/2/9 to 96th St.
Somewhat pricy white-tablecloth restaurant with nightly jazz on the little stage in the back. The sound isn’t bad, considering that the place draws a big after-work crowd for the half-priced wine and martinis 4-7:30 PM and is a popular neighborhood dining spot. Jazz usually starts at 8, a lot of good under-the-radar talent including many regular faces. Wednesday is open mic night followed by the weekly jazz jam that starts around midnight. No cover, only a $10 minimum at tables. Foodwise, you’ll do best with their excellent Middle Eastern menu which is more diverse and adventurous than what’s available at your typical falafel joint.
66 Greenpoint Ave, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
G to Greenpoint Ave. or L to Bedford and a 20-minute walk.
They have a backline and a lot of indie rock here. Not reviewed as of 6/09.
Numerous locations; the branch where they have live music is 121 W 45th St. between 6th Ave. and Broadway.
N/R to Times Square or any train to 42nd St., walk east or west as necessary.
This local chain of Irish bars no longer has music at their location on 46th St. between Park and 5th Ave. Black 47 do a lot of dates here and pack the place, otherwise, it’s a grab-bag of New York acts, with the occasional Celtic outfit. The staff at both of the east side locations is professional and cordial, the prices are predictably midtown expensive although the food is good as was the sound upstairs on East 46th St. If this is any indication, you can expect the same at the westside branch. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
337 West Broadway at Grand
A/C/E to Canal St. or N/R/Q/6/J/M to Canal St., walk north and west
A strip club in the split-level SoHo space formerly occupied by an Indian restaurant. Lately they’ve been trying to draw an early-evening crowd with occasional music, not every night, and not on the weekend: Tuesday is acoustic night, with bands sometimes early on the occasional Thursday or Friday. Acts play upstairs on a little stage between banks of couches. The PA is a little Fisher-Price thing, hard to imagine anybody being able to sing through it over the roar of amplifiers. From the looks of it, this won’t last long, especially since the music playing over the PA downstairs, and the roar of the yuppies, drowns out the sound when it’s quiet. Drinks here aren’t overwhelmingly expensive, the staff is nice, but your best bet for acoustic music is still the Rockwood or Banjo Jim’s.
29 Cornelia St. north of Bleecker
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St.
The music room is downstairs from the restaurant, which is pricy as you would expect from the location, but actually pretty good, food also available on the lower level. The sound is excellent, rows of chairs in a somewhat long, rectangular room a la the Jazz Gallery, with the stage up front. Cover is cheap, always under $15, sometimes much less, with many first-class, under-the-radar or up-and-coming acts along with the occasional poetry reading, cabaret show or singer/songwriter night. Popular with tourists, Europeans and an older neighborhood crowd; very mellow waitstaff, expensive drinks, absolutely no Nazi factor.
Bowery just north of Delancey, east side of the street
F/V to 2nd Ave.
Warning: in the fall of 2008, it appeared that an identity theft ring was working out of this generally poorly-attended place, the poor New York sister of a popular LA venue. And why go here, anyway: the sound is loud and lousy, and the crowd – such that it is – is all spoiled white children from out of state coming out for their classmates’ Pearl Jam cover band’s first gig in “the City.”
24th just west of Broadway, north side of the street
N/R to 23rd St., or take the F or 6 to 23rd and walk
This once-swanky room closed its doors abruptly in mid-January 2009 in the wake of an absurdly high rent increase.
out back of Lincoln Center
1/9 to 66th St., or just take the A/C/B to Columbus Circle and walk north
This is the park where the the annual Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival’s main events are held are held every August, daily concerts scattered around the Lincoln Center plaza: a mixed bag of A-list Americana artists, jazz and world music including some good New York performers. Pharaoh Sanders’ concerts here in the late 90s are the stuff of legend. To get a seat in the rows of white plastic chairs, get there at least 15 minutes before showtime. Nazi factor: absolute zero, although you’re not supposed to smoke. The park is somehow situated so that there’s no sonic competition with the screeching alarms on the city buses running up and down the adjacent avenues.
In the old Goldenrod Brewery building
268 Meserole St (between Bushwick Pl. and Waterbury St.) Bushwick, Brooklyn
L to Montrose Ave., or take the G to Broadway or J/M to Hewes and walk toward Bushwick (opposite direction of Peter Luger)
Like the Saltmines in Dumbo, this is a rabbit-warren of rehearsal studios plus a main space where they have the occasional trendoid rock show. Nothing of interest happening there as yet. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
141 S. 5th St. #1E, South Williamsburg
J/M/Z to Marcy Ave. or L to Bedford Ave. and walk all the way down to the southside
Loft space with the occasional indie rock show, mostly trendoid crap. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
49 S. 2nd St., Williamsburg
J/M/Z to Marcy Ave., walk up Havemeyer past the bus depot, go under the BQE to S 2nd.
This lo-fi space (in the same building as Glasslands) hosts mostly boring, conformist indie rock.
It’s on that little service road that runs parallel to Delancey St. on its north side, just east of Clinton.
F/J/M/Z to Delancey or B/D to Grand St. and walk north and east.
Recent changes have vaulted this consistently excellent-sounding space into the ranks of NYC’s best venues. Bands pretty much nightly in the long, rectangular basement space, a diverse and frequently excellent mix comparable to what they have Arlene’s, but sonically superior. Plus the door staff are vastly less attitudinous. Fairly cheap cover; drink prices are about average for the neighborhood. Upstairs on Thursdays it’s Small Beast, New York’s edgiest, most exciting weekly rock night, an international mix of performers booked by Botanica’s master of menace, keyboardist Paul Wallfisch, with free admission plus open bar or drink specials, usually two-for-one happy hour after midnight. Only two complaints about this place: since they only post their live music calendar a week in advance, it’s hard to keep track of who’s playing here! They also have New York’s nastiest men’s room: those disgusting troughs make Mars Bar seem spotless by comparison. The Delancey shares ownership with Studio B, that horrid trendoid trashpit on Banker St. in Greenpoint.
433 Park Ave. S., Murray Hill
6 to 28th St.
Irish bar/greasepit restaurant that’s been there for decades with regularly scheduled live music in the back room where there are tables to sit. Drinks are predictably midtown expensive. The place has a pretty college vibe, unsurprisingly since Baruch is just a few blocks away. The sound is pretty bad; it’s not really set up to be a music venue, and nobody comes to listen, it seems. They don’t seem to pull many New York bands, or bands with a New York audience. Although their Irish staff are predictably pleasant and professional, the door crew are clearly sick of chasing off underage yuppie puppies and may take out their hostilies on you.
Rose Hall at Lincoln Center, southwest corner of Broadway at 60th St., 5th floor
A/C/B/D/1/2/9 to 59th St./Columbus Circle
Coming off the elevator, walking down the hall and then into this semicircular room with its modernist decor and big window facing south, you wouldn’t expect the sound to be very good. But it is. This a remarkably pleasant place to take in a show, a prospect made even more enticing by the wide variety of jazz here: small combos, big bands, singers, European acts, and perhaps most notably, A-list New York players who’ve been plying the scene for years and have now been rewarded for all their toil with decently paying gigs here. Cover is pricy, usually around $35 but seldom more than that; bargain shoppers should reserve or get advance tix and show up for bar seating early; otherwise, you’ll be stuck with a food bill as well. While the menu may be as overpriced as at all the other swanky jazz joints, it’s on the adventurous side, vastly superior to what you’d get at, say, the Blue Note. The comfort level here is also a cut above: there’s enough space between the tables for customers and the remarkably pleasant, casual waitstaff to make their way through without stepping on your feet or spilling drinks on you. Shows are typically 7:30 and 10:30 PM on weekdays with the possibility of a late show on the weekends plus brunch and late-night acts from time to time. Box office hours are Mon-Sat noon-6 PM
Spring St. at Washington
C/E to Spring St.
Straight outa the Dirty Jerz comes Don Hill’s. You’d think you were on a Sopranos set. Knucklehead, musclebound bouncers outside and expensive cover, especially for the no-names who play here. Inside it’s a blue-collar Jersey crowd: everybody drives, nobody takes the train here. There’s a long bar along the right side as you walk in; the stage is to the left, with booths, couches and another bar in back. Drinks are small and expensive. The sound is frightfully bad, and LOUD: the best place in the house, sonically speaking, is in the bathroom. The acts who play here are straight out of Jersey as well, awful metal and grunge cover bands along with the occasional aging punk act still playing 10 years after their Coney Island High days. Why anyone would ever want to see a show here is a mystery.
90 Manhattan Ave., Brooklyn
J/M/Z to Hewes St. or L to Montrose Ave.
Brooklyn’s best new venue, by a long shot. This club rocks: it’s an oasis of coolness right on the Williamsburg/Bushwick border. The front room is a Latin bar, where they also serve food; the back room, about the same size as Trash, has a stage to the left and a handful of tables on the right with plenty of standing room in the middle and on each side. The sound is better than you would expect, given the comfortably dingy milieu and the untreated cinderblock walls. Drinks are relatively cheap, although they don’t have draft beer. Not a Nazi to be found anywhere: the staff are cool and laid-back, and cover is inexpensive. Booking here is above average: while the usual trendoid suspects filter through here on a regular basis, Don Pedro’s also has frequent punk and garage rock shows, which are consistently good and frequently excellent.
***RATED BEST MANHATTAN VENUE 2009***
85 Ave. A between 5th and 6th Sts.
F to 2nd Ave. or J/M/Z to Delancey, walk north.
Don’t let the swanky decor scare you off: the best new room in Manhattan in a long time has pretty much everything going for it. The sound is outstanding, and the quality of the acts who play here is more diverse and exciting than just about anywhere in town – anywhere in the world, maybe – outside of Barbes in Brooklyn. This is a basement-level spot that formerly housed a frat bar and before that, back in the late 90s, a jazz club. You enter through a foyer; down the hall is a long bar to your right, with the big, spacious stage and plenty of standing room to your left. There are also rows of booths in back, and a row of tables along the left wall. Drinks aren’t cheap (no draft beer), although their menu is delicious, diversely pan-Mediterranean with a Middle Eastern nod and cheaper than you would think considering the surroundings (the peppered eggplant spread that comes with the mezze plate is to die for). Cover is generally inexpensive, especially considering what you get – usually under $20 – with advance tickets at the club’s box office highly recommended for more popular acts. From day one, booking here has been outstanding, bands and artists from every corner of the globe with a slight emphasis on gypsy and Middle Eastern acts. Lately, Tuesday night has been singer/songwriters; Greek night is Thursday. The club’s house band, the NY Gypsy All-Stars, led by killer clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski are also very much worth seeing. Nice waitstaff, casual vibe, no Nazis anywhere. There should be more clubs in town like this.
The Ear Inn
no website
Spring St. just east of the highway
C/E to Spring St.
This is the place with the butcher paper and the crayons, where everybody draws on the tables. You’ve been there. Everyone has. It’s a NYC rite of passage, and it’s straight out of 1975, a little oasis of normalcy way over on the west side far from SoHo Eurotrash hell. Beer is fairly cheap, they have decent bar food and live music that starts late (midnight-ish) and goes much later, even during the week. Country, blues, jazz mostly. They don’t have a website nor do they advertise a calendar so you either have to know who’s performing there or just happen to be there on a good night. The music is on a tiny stage to the right of the door as you walk in. The PA system is pretty primitive, so the sound is iffy, but this is the kind of place where if you’re still there in the wee hours, pretty much anything starts to sound good. The Sunday, 7:30 PM hot jazz show hosted by trumpeter Jon Kellso and (usually) guitarist Matt Munisteri is reliably bracing.
510 E 11th St. between Ave. A and B
L to 1st Ave.., or take the M14A bus which goes south on A.
Popular Midtown-style Irish bar in a strange location, a back street in the East Village. Drinks aren’t cheap, as you can expect, although the staff is nice. Absolutely no Nazi factor. Singer-songwriters occasionally play through the tiny PA system in the back where there are tables: the closer you are to the music, the better you’ll hear it. Occasionally this place will surprise you with some very good acts: Mary Lee’s Corvette played a brief residency here a couple of years ago.
98 Meserole Avenue at Manhattan Ave., Greenpoint, Brooklyn
G to Nassau St. or L to Bedford Ave., walk to Manhattan Ave. and go left, it’s about a 10 minute stroll.
This big, beautiful bi-level Polish nightclub has frequent rock shows – these days, mostly metal – on the second floor. The big stage faces rows of tables, with ample space on the dance floor for standing room. Drinks aren’t overwhelmingly expensive, the staff is shockingly friendly and laid-back and the sound is good. It’s a ticketed venue, so the only people who hang out here are neighborhood Polish kids who seemingly come here no matter who’s playing, and they’re pretty laid-back as well.
112 Rivington St.between Ludlow and Essex, north side of the street
Something of an anomaly among the usually tourist-infested LES watering holes, this little triplex bar makes up in coolness for what it lacks in personality, with more of a dingily generic oldschool feel than its cluelessly starstruck neighborhood counterparts. Enter the door on your right; the main bar is a long, rectangular space with a low-ceilinged balcony overhead. Music is downstairs in a space that reminds of Lit, and it’s not an everyday thing: when they have it, it tends to be loud rock. Like Arlenes, Cake Shop and Fontana’s, a lot of the A-list filter through here eventually. Drink prices are pretty much what you’d expect (they do have draft beer), and the sound is actually pretty good. The staff are shockingly cool and casual (for this part of town, anyway): no Nazis to be seen anywhere.
75 Christopher at 7th Ave. S.
The sister club to Small’s.
55 Christopher St. between 6th and 7th Ave.
1/9 to Christopher St. or A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St. and walk west
Small, low-ceilinged basement space where Jack Kerouac used to hold court fifty years ago. It hasn’t changed much since then. A couple rows of tables to the left of the bar, remarkably cheap cover if in fact there is one at all, no Nazi factor whatsoever, iffy sound . Mostly jazz here nightly, with the occasional soul or blues act, frequently making use of the club’s ancient, rickety Fender Rhodes electric piano. Drinks are on the pricy side despite the dingy milieu. Plan on getting here early if you’re thinking of seeing a show as it’s popular with both tourists and an older neighborhood crowd.
Eldridge St. between Grand and Delancey, Chinatown
B/D to Grand St, J/M/Z to Bowery or F to 2nd Ave., walk south and a block east.
Until lately, there have been are two completely separate crowds here: the tourists who hung at the big, spacious bar upstairs, and the crowd coming downstairs to see their friends play. Now that little Mallory and Prada and all their sorority friends have been called home to Montclair or Dover Plains by mommy and daddy, the vibe is closer to what the LES used to be around the turn of the last century. Live music here most every night: like Arlene’s and the Delancey, they get their share of good bands, including the occasional rock en Espanol bill. Drinks are expensive, whether upstairs or downstairs; the sound is pretty good, considering that the music is in the basement of an old police station. The Nazi factor is pretty much the same as the Ludlow Street strip: you will be carded.
The Fortune Cookie Lounge
The club’s website is useless
24 1st Ave. (2nd/3rd. Sts.)
F/V to 2nd Ave.
The basement room under Lucky Cheng’s is nothing like you might imagine, i.e. no furtive activity in the shadows. You walk past a little bar right at the front door, down a hallway past the bathrooms and then you’re in the space, couches with tables along the walls and some but not a lot of room in front of the stage for standing. Both the stage and PA here are oversize for the room, perhaps because that the room was not originally designed for music but as a theatrical or dance space. The sound is loud and kind of iffy: vocals may not be very high in the mix if the band onstage is cranked up. But that’s a small price to pay for the totally oldschool vibe, the cheap cover and the surprisingly high quality of the acts who play here (not every night). The drink selection is limited and pricy, but the staff are laid-back and despite the fact that the upstairs is a notorious tourist trap, there’s absolutely no Nazi factor. If you’re deciding whether to see your favorite up-and-coming band here or elsewhere, go here.
485 Dean St., sort of Prospect Heights area, Brooklyn
Any train to Atlantic Ave., walk along Flatbush, left on Pacific, right on Dean, the bar is on the corner just past the (soon to be demolished?) police precinct
This legendary neighborhood dive has a corner bar upstairs and the music room downstairs. The sound is so-so in the fairly small, low-ceilinged basement room with benches and tables. The crowd is totally oldschool Brooklyn: it’s a friendly place. Drinks are cheap and the waitstaff is nice. There’s absolutely no Nazi factor here. The quality of the acts here is above average; booking here is adventurous, especially considering that the bar considers itself a neighborhood institution (it is) and tries to reflect that. All kinds of stuff: country, jazz, rock, you name it. And Freddy’s seemingly endless court battle with megalomaniac developer Bruce Ratner finally looks like it’s almost over (Freddy’s wins, yeahhhhh!): Ratso’s plans to bring the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn (why didn’t somebody consult Dr. J beforehand?!?), and seize private property via eminent domain are all but dead in the water since all the money dried up. Til the verdict becomes official, if you’re in the neighborhood, this is one establishment that deserves your support, considering how valiantly they’ve fought to stay in business.
Pier 63, west of the highway between 23rd and 24th St.
C/E to 23rd St. or M23 bus to the end of the line, going west
This is an old Coast Guard lightship tied up at one of the Chelsea Piers, where they have live music occasionally. Bands typically play on the stage at the stern of the ship; singer-songwriters play in a small room below decks further aft. The sound is iffy as you would expect. Drinks are expensive, there’s a cover charge and they serve food, but don’t bother. On the other hand, there’s absolutely no Nazi factor, the views are marvelous, and so is the breeze off the river in the warmer months. This is a great place to take a date.
16 Main Street at the corner of Water Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn
F to York St., walk toward the water and then left.
For awhile, it looked like the owners in their new digs were trying to make it as a multi-purpose arts center, an admirable goal. These days, as at the old location, it’s basically a strip club with the occasional avante-garde music night, film or literary event. In many ways, the club’s new, vastly larger Dumbo space has nothing in common with the old one in Williamsburg, quite an improvement to be sure. This is a big old warehouse space a little bigger than the Music Hall of Williamsburg, big stage in front, balcony above with a few benches for seating. Ground level seating is provided in four semi-elliptical pods in the style of a Tilt-A-Whirl that you reach via a walkway surrounded by water (what is it with these folks’ water fixation, anyway?). Meaning that if you want to sit, you have to share with strangers, subway- or Tilt-A-Whirl- style. And the trouble is, looks like somebody took the sound budget and spent it on decor instead – and considering how relatively few people those pods can seat, they really minimize the club’s potential capacity. Sonically, the place is a dead ringer for the old location (pun intended), frequencies bouncing off the bare, untreated brick walls, a muddy soup that only gets worse as the volume increases. Which is too bad, because the vibe is 180 from what it was at the old location: the staff are pleasant, even eager to assist, and cover is still fairly cheap.
48th Ave. and the river, Long Island City
7 to Vernon-Jackson, take 48th Ave. straight to the river, or G to 21st/Van Alst, take 45th Ave. as far toward the water as you can and then make a left.
Surprisingly easy to get to, this little amphitheatre-like park is situated between the old crane gantries left behind when the Pepsi bottling plant was razed, and a complex of shoddy, hastily thrown up luxury condos across the street. The free, early evening concert series here from June through August is booked by the Queens Council for the Arts, which means a terrifically diverse mix of music from all over the world. You can see acts here who would otherwise cost you a hundred bucks at Lincoln Center. Bands play on the flagstones in the middle of the park, looking up at the audience who typically gather on the park steps facing the cranes and the water. The sound is iffy (the PA isn’t very powerful), but the breeze off the river is nice and once the sun goes down behind the skyscrapers across the water, it’s a lovely place to be. Bring a date
99 7th Ave S at Christopher
1/2/9 to Christopher St.
“More live jazz than any other NY venue,” the restaurant’s website boasts, and they vary it considerably, big bands as well as small combos, typically two acts a night plus jazz brunch on the weekends. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
Gaslight
400 W 14th St. at 9th Ave.
the bar’s website is useless
All the iconic 60s folkies: Dylan, Joan Baez, etc. played here over 40 years ago. There’s still a stage to the left as you walk in, the bar in front of you. The sound is actually not bad, even loud sometimes: how times change. Drinks are West Village expensive (as opposed to Meatpacking District unaffordable), although the bar staff is nice and there were no Nazis here last time we stopped by. But nobody of note plays here anymore anyway, and in case you were wondering – not that you were – the trannie hookers on the corner have been replaced by wealthy Jersey and Connnecticut tourists.
289 Kent Ave, Williamsburg
L to Bedford Ave., walk south and west or J/M/Z to Marcy Ave., walk up Havemeyer past the bus depot, go north and west.
Big, cavernous gallery which used to host the occasional fashion show. It’s now a venue. The sound is predictably atrocious, to match the crowd: even more than Zebulon, this is trendoid central. You’ll never meet anyone here who works for a living (or will admit to it, anyway), including the wealthy teenagers from New Jersey who have just discovered Williamsburg and plan to make this their post-prom destination. This place is chaotic and disorganized to the point where any attempt at Nazification would be pointless, but it’s also impossibly hot and crowded. There are less painful experiences awaiting you should you wish to see your favorite Fall Out Boy wannabes elsewhere.
936 Park Ave on the corner of 10th & Park in Hoboken
Path train to Hoboken; walk away from the train to Washington St. (Hoboken’s main drag) to 10th St., take a left, the club is three blocks away. It’s about 20 minutes on foot, max.
Scheduled to close in July, 2009 – sad. A comfortable, friendly, mostly acoustic venue a bit off the beaten path. Essentially, the Goldhawk is a neighborhood pub with frequent live music (usually not on the weekend). These days they book mostly Hoboken artists, but some of them can be quite good. Since this is Hoboken, there are no Nazis to be found anywhere. Cheap drinks (especially beer), good sound from the small stage and what can be a boisterous party crowd in pleasant surroundings that look somewhat like your usual Jersey yuppie bar but are actually laid-back: this isn’t exactly a typical uptight, overpriced folkie joint. If you’re coming from out of town, note that the Path train only runs every half-hour after midnight, and on weekends it can get completely screwed up
1087 Broadway, Bushwick, Brooklyn
J/M/Z to Kosciusko St., the venue is a block away from the subway rear exit
Be aware that bands frequently get very little time onstage here: unless you’re a rabid fan and you don’t mind shlepping all the way out to Bushwick for twenty minutes of your favorite trendoids, it might not be worth your while. This is a junk shop posing as venue, the only caucasian-owned business on this otherwise decayed ghetto block, ostensibly a descendant of the legendary West Village punk rock hangout the Scrap Bar. Everything in the place is for sale but nothing has a pricetag: caveat emptor. There isn’t much of a sound system although on what serves as a stage in the back, there is a piano (for sale, but in tune? Anybody’s guess). Both bands and singer-songwriters play here, to a captive audience: this place draws a trendoid crowd that’s too fearful to brave the surrounding nonwhite establishments. They have fairly cheap beer and wine.
23rd just west of Lexington Ave.
6 to 23rd St.
The Irving Plaza people opened this place to compete with Bowery Ballroom, booking a mix of trendoid bands, metal, hip-hop and pretty much anything that’ll fill the space. It’s about the same size as Bowery; this former movie theatre still has tiered seating in the back, and the floor for standing rooms slopes down to the stage for something of an amphitheatre effect. Sightlines are good and so is the sound. Advance tickets are required and available at the Irving Plaza box office. As at Irving Plaza, the bathrooms are nasty. Overpriced beer and drinks are available. No Nazi factor to speak of, a nice development.
44 Charlton at Varick, enter on Charlton
1 or 9 to Houston, C/E to Spring or any train to W 4th St., walk south and east
In what was until recently a deli/soup place, WNYC has built a brand-new, sonically immaculate studio for live broadcasts, lectures and the occasional concert. In addition to what looks to be so far a pricy slate of events, they’re also holding a culturally diverse, adventurous mix of free music and art events, some at which you can chat up your favorite WNYC on-air talent. It’s not overwhelmingly big (smaller than Sullivan Hall), so advance tix are highly recommended. The staff seem psyched to be here and sightlines are good. If you’re there for a live broadcast, PLEASE turn off your phone and keep your eye on the “on-air” light to the right of the stage: when it’s on, that means the broadcast is in progress so no talking or unwrapping that crinkly bagel. If you can’t make it to the event, tune in at 93.9 FM and AM 820 or go to the live webcast.
Groove
no website
W 3rd St. and Thompson St.
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St.
Homeless guys thrusting flyers in your face try to lure tourists into this Israeli-owned bar with a stage in the back that caters mainly to an aging black crowd. Cover bands and the occasional funk act play on the stage at the back. Drinks aren’t cheap and although there’s no Nazi factor, the sound is lousy and loud. It’s hard to think of a reason why you’d ever want to go here.
corner of 3rd Ave. and Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn
Take any train to Atlantic Ave./Pacific St., get out via the 4th Ave. exit, the venue is a block away, past the falafel joint and the Arab grocery, across the street from the YWCA.
This dingy Falafel Hill old man bar, surprisingly one of New York’s best music venues, has been on the block forever as a “development site” for luxury housing. Consequently, rumors of its imminent demise have been swirling for years. But it’s still there. The sound is consistently excellent and so are the acts who play here. On the weekend they have a mix of punk, indie rock, country, blues and goth bands. Drinks are cheap, the staff are nice and there’s never a cover. Absolutely no Nazi factor here: people hang out after the bands til closing time. Live band karaoke night is Wednesday.
431 W 16th St., north side of the street just past Western Beef
A/C/E to 14th St.
Big second-floor space, smaller than Irving Plaza but larger than Santos Party House. The stage faces you as you walk in, with bars to your right and your left, elevated areas with seats (that get taken real fast) adjacent to the bars. Depending on the act, there may or may not be tables set out in the middle of the floor; if so, you’ll want to stand since there is a food/drink minimum if you want to sit. The sound is excellent. When the club first opened they seemed to be going after an affluent stoner and druggie crowd; since then, booking has become impressively diverse, including rock, folk and world music. It’s a ticketed venue (although tix are typically not overwhelmingly expensive, usually under $25), so people don’t hang out here. The Nazi factor is what you would expect: there is a doorman and you may be frisked as at Irving Plaza. Advance tix, available daily at their box office, are usually cheaper than day of show and highly recommended.
30 W 26th St.
F to 23rd St.
Barbecue restaurant with nightly music, mostly country or blues. No cover. Lots of good bands play here. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
located in the Maritime Hotel, 363 W 16th betw 8th and 9th Ave.
A/C/E/L to 14th St.
This is an actual hotel ballroom, a ritzy, midsize, high-ceilinged space with dodgy sound: it wasn’t built with rock music in mind. Live bands are only an occasional thing here, strictly national touring acts. Otherwise it’s a hellacious tourist trap, strictly for the New Jersey/Connecticut/Westchester Humvee stretch limo crowd. Drinks are as pricy as you would expect. The staff are surly, but you’d be too if you had to deal with so many assholes: for obvious reasons, New Yorkers don’t go here. Nor should you.
Hope St. south of Bedford Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford Ave.
Hidden away on a side street off the Bedford Ave. strip is this somewhat swanky, pricy, Jersey-style yuppie bar awaiting the Wall Street crowd soon to move into the surrounding luxury condos and clog the sidewalks with their Humvee-size strollers. Til then, it’ll be a trendoid hangout. Once in awhile – they rarely have music here – there’ll be a band in the adjacent garden that used to be a parking lot, or on the miniscule stage to the right of the door as you walk in. Whether outdoors or in, the sound is iffy as you would expect.
1650 Broadway, downstairs, just south of 51st. St.
B/D/F to Rockefeller Ctr.
The most recent incarnation of the club finally has the feel of a jazz joint and not a tourist trap, more lowlit and hospitable, happily missing the officious, uptight vibe of their two previous spaces further uptown. It’s what the Blue Note ought to be, home to most of the best of today’s most popular quality jazz artists. What’s more, not only have they lowered their prices (usually in the $30-$35 range), but they also now have weekly, midnight Saturday night rock shows which are considerably cheaper and can be excellent. Get here early if you want a seat at the little bar to your left at the bottom of the stairs, otherwise you can take a table. The sound is excellent as you would imagine. They serve food, which we can’t vouch for, being as expensive as it is. A couple of things you may not know: Iridium tix are half-price with a reservation and student i.d., and the club is all-ages.
Irving Place (which runs parallel to the avenues, between Lexington and 3rd Ave.) and 16th St.
4/6/N/R/L to 14th St.
A mix of corporate bands not quite popular enough for Roseland or Terminal 5 as well as the occasional ethnic or nostalgia act play here. It’s a big, high-ceilinged, ticketed venue which sells out frequently: the box office is only open til 6 PM, and not on the day of the show, meaning that advance tix are a must. You will be frisked when entering, so don’t try to bring drinks inside. However, the door crew will not lie to you about what time the act you want to see is playing (headliners usually hit around 11 PM here). Don’t waste your money on their overpriced drinks; expect the sound to be a good and a little loud. The downstairs bathrooms quickly become a swamp; avoid at all costs.
232 3rd St. 3rd Fl, Gowanus, Brooklyn
F to 4th Ave. or R to Union St.
Outsider music central: this place has recently seen a resurgence in the spirit of the adventurous 80, and the sonics are among the best if not the best of any privately-owned New York venue. It’s a big, high-ceilinged former industrial space expertly tricked out for sound, stage in front as you walk in, rows of chairs to either side of the aisle. The sound comes down from a custom-made PA made up of speakers that look something like chandeliers, individually programmable to project certain specific frequencies. This opens up a wealth of possibilities for the sound engineer as well as the artists onstage, allowing them to fine-tune the mix to emphasize even minute fractions of the sonic spectrum. Drinks are available, but this isn’t really a bar. Booking covers pretty much the entire spectrum of “experimental” music, a mix of dilettantes with laptops as well as the occasional innovative classical, jazz, rock or world music artist. Fairly cheap admission, usually under $20, no Nazi factor whatsoever. Don’t let the crowd (an aging mix of the most annoying, pretentious types you’d occasionally run into at Tonic) bum you out. A move to a former theatre space on Livingston Street in Brooklyn Heights is planned for around 2009. Memo to some of the acts who play here: get off the damn computer and learn how to play a real instrument.
315 Columbia Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
B61 bus to the end of the line (the Red Hook-bound B61 runs down Driggs Ave. in Brooklyn, stopping in Brooklyn Heights on Atlantic Ave. north of Court St.). They frequently have jazz, oldtimey music and sometimes singer-songwriters here. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
290 Hudson St. between Dominick and Spring
C/E to Spring St.; 1/9 to Houston St. or B/D/F to W 4th, walk south and west
Comfortably dingy, rectangular upstairs venue that sells out frequently: get there early if you’re going. Like Smalls and, to a lesser extent, the Cornelia St. Cafe, the Jazz Gallery is a fertile incubator for topnotch, up-and-coming jazz talent: some of the acts from the Tonic scene have gravitated here. The gallery also frequently commissions works by an impressively diverse list of composers (their 2009 big band commissions have been outstanding), with an emphasis on African and Latin sounds. The sound is good and the staff are refreshingly nonchalant – nobody notices or cares if you bring a bottle with you or step outside for a smoke. Admission is cheap, especially considering the quality of the acts, virtually always under $20, sometimes much less; if you see shows here frequently, consider a membership which entitles you to even more of a discount.
116 E 27th St. east of Park Ave.
6 to 28th St.
Downstairs from the Blue Smoke barbecue restaurant, with whom they share ownership. Along with the Village Vanguard, this is your best bet for top-echelon jazz in New York City. The sound is just as good, and the comfort level is 180 degrees from the competition: this place is an oasis. For one, it’s a lot more spacious: a small bar area to your left as you walk in, larger tables past a barrier straight ahead and then a more cozy space with smaller tables to your right. What will strike you fastest is how casual and laid back the vibe is: the staff are pleasant and professional, drinks are cheaper here than at the other swanky jazz joints (they have draft beer), and most of all, there’s no minimum. Cover is also more affordable, typically in the $20-30 range, seldom more, frequently less. Booking here is also vastly more adventurous and diverse than at the other big-ticket clubs: Monday is Mingus night, with either the Mingus Big Band, Orchestra or Mingus Dynasty; they also have regular latin jazz as well as pretty much every modern or vintage jazz style. Food is typically pricy, although the menu has many tasty snacks, all under $10 and some under $5. You can’t go wrong with a show here.
401 9th Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn
F to 7th Ave.
Relatively new spot just down the block from Barbes. Booking is very diverse here, encompassing jam bands, world music, jazz and indie rock. Not reviewed as of 6/09.
Lafayette St. just south of St. Mark’s Place, next to the Public Theatre (of which it is a part)
B/D/F to Broadway/Lafayette or 6 to Astor Place
It’s a high-ceilinged, poorly designed room with tables in the main area by the stage and a small bar area with more tables separated from the front tables by a balcony and wide columns that block your view of the stage. The sound is remarkably lousy, especially for such a swanky room. It’s a ticketed venue, so people don’t hang out here. Food and drinks are expensive: beer is served in flutes rather than pint glasses. The Nazi factor is pretty nonexistent, although the door staff frequently doesn’t have a clue who’s playing or when.This venue frequently sells out: if you’re planning to see a popular act here, make sure you get tix at the box office which is open in the early evening before shows. Booking here has seen a real turn for the better: if you remember the old Bottom Line, that’s who plays here, minus the has-been 70s top 40 bands.
Bleecker between Sullivan and Thompson, north side of the street
A/C/E/B/D/F to West 4th St., take the exit on the south side
For a second this consistently excellent-sounding club seemed like they wanted to vault into the ranks of the elite, but now the Journey and Dashboard Confessional wannabes are back. It’s Bleecker St., anyway, no great surprise. The bar is in front to your left as you enter, rail on your right where you can stand, the stage with tables and waitress service in the back. Beer is fairly cheap although drinks aren’t, and the club personnel are surprisingly laid-back and pleasant. Depending on who’s playing, it can get pretty loud, so you might want to think about taking a seat at the front bar or standing along the rail to your right. Sundays they have free live band karaoke with several members of Plastic Beef, which is either wickedly fun or sheer hell, depending on how you perceive it. And as you leave, the door staff will still thank you for coming. No joke.
66 Park Avenue at 38th Street
6 to 34th St.
Hotel bar with jazz Weds-Sat. Shows are free with $15 min. Weds-Thurs, $25 plus $15 min. on the weekend. Res. recommended to 212-885-7119. Lots of quality acts filter through here. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
512 W 19th (10th/11th Ave.)
C/E to 23rd St. or L/A to 14th St. and a long walk north and west
Dance, film, art but not a whole lot of music anymore at this once-happening but now upscaled Chelsea performance space. Tix not overwhelmingly expensive (you should get them in advance for popular performers), nice enough people running the place, diverse cultures and ethnicities represented here, and the sound in the surprisingly comfy auditorium is good. There’s just less going on than there used to be. Although that could be said for the city in general.
74 Leonard St. betw. Broadway and Church
Any train to Canal St., walk three blocks south Put the Knit at the top of your dead pool for NYC clubs. They’re back at their most recent Tribeca space after a flirtation with taking over the old/new Luna in Williamsburg, which as of this update (5/09) doesn’t look like it’s going to last much longer. While they try to make a go of it again, it’s not likely they’ve changed much. Most recently this was an all-ages venue, and they REALLY liked wristbands: one to show you’ve paid admission, another if you want to drink (they’ll card you even if you’re in in the band!), and probably another for your pee-pee if you want to use the bathroom. The big main room upstairs was typically where the touring indie rock bands (and, to the club’s credit, hip-hop acts) play; there was also music in the tap bar one flight down and the “old office” on the third level down, no idea if/when they’ll have music scheduled down there again. The sound in the main room is ok to good, hit-and-miss in the tap bar and on the lower level. Once a hangout with cheap beer and a nice staff, but that was a long time ago. Most recently, there was a remarkably nasty Nazi factor here, smokers outside sequestered behind a velvet rope outside getting barked at by the door staff (scared shitless by the yuppies in the adjacent highrises, no doubt), officious interns with walkie-talkies wandering around inside, sometimes outnumbering the customers.
***RATED BEST MANHATTAN VENUE 2007***
92 Ave. B just north of 10th St., around the corner from Life Cafe
L to 1st Ave or 4/6/N/R/L to Union Square, you can catch the M14 crosstown bus if you want a shorter walk. Look for the M14B which goes down Ave. B.
There’s the bar in front, music room with tables in the back to the right. The sound is consistently excellent: it’s a cozy room. The crowd is what’s left of the old East Village, neighborhood people and an uncommonly nice bar staff. They have 2 for 1 happy hour til 8 and the drinks are cheap and strong. Their jukebox of obscure old R&B and garage music is legendary. And every New York band has at one time or another used their vintage photo booth (which still works fine) for band shots. There’s absolutely no Nazi factor. Their weekend doorman does a good job keeping the underage tourists out. The music is generally retro: country, garage, surf, bar bands, reliably listenable and frequently first-rate. With the decline of the East Village, Lakeside has become a prestige venue in addition to being a great hangout bar: bands love to play here because it’s such an oasis of decency in the midst of what’s becoming a suburban hell.
288 Lenox Ave. (124/125)
Any Westside train to 125th St.
Long-running Harlem jazz club with their own vintage Hammond B3 organ onstage. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
93 2nd Ave between 5th and 6th Sts.
F/V to 2nd Ave., 6 to Astor Place or R to 8th St.
The prototypical loud bodega basement room, high frequencies bouncing all over the place. Bands play downstairs in the long, narrow stone cellar, a little stage up front, small bar in the back. The vibe is refreshingly laid-back and casual: no Nazis to be found anywhere, a nice plus. Lit picked up some of the spillover from when the Continental and Sin-e closed, i.e. the louder trendoid bands along with what’s left of the Brooklyn/Queens punk contingent, and frequently has good under-the-radar acts ranging from singer-songwriters to loud rock. Drinks are kind of pricy. Avoid the upstairs bar mobbed with tourists and NYU kids.
Ludlow between Stanton and Rivington, east side of the street
F/V to 2nd Ave.
New York’s worst music venue, unrivalled in its private hell by any other club in town or for that matter maybe anywhere in the world. Musicians avoid this place like the plague, and so should you. The Living Room validates Mike Dukakis’ old comment about a fish rotting from the head down: everyone here is uncommonly rude, from the door people to the waitstaff to the management (it’s owned by a bitter, failed singer-songwriter). Given the state of the economy, you’d think they’d welcome customer traffic, but no: if you don’t look yuppie enough, the surly bouncers may deny you entry. They even force the musicians who play here to show ID! And they’ll want to scan your license with their electronic scanner (who knows where all your personal info goes when they do that). If you in fact make it through the security gauntlet and the hordes of yuppie puppies from out of state bellowing at each other at the front bar, you’ll be accosted within seconds by a sour-faced waitress who will demand that you buy a drink, just like the old guy at the Charleston used to do. What she won’t tell you is that the bottles behind the bar have been watered down by at least fifty percent: no wonder you can’t taste the alcohol in any of their drinks, since there basically isn’t any. The sound in both the larger downstairs room and the smaller one upstairs is dreadful: there’s nothing wrong with the equipment, it’s just that the club refuses to pay what it would cost to hire competent help. The club’s previous location around the corner used to draw a lot of good singer-songwriters, but not anymore. Now it’s all American Idol wannabes from out of state. If your favorite folkie is playing here, keep in mind that he or she will also inevitably play either the Rockwood or Banjo Jim’s, both vastly more comfortable, sonically superior clubs where customers are actually treated like human beings.
Local 269
no website
269 E Houston St. at Suffolk
F to 2nd Ave.
The old Meow Mix space has music again, sometimes. In the bar’s newest lowlit, upscaled incarnation, the size of the stage to the left as you walk in has been reduced, and there are now tables where there used to be standing room. The sound actually isn’t bad (and a LOT quieter than Meow Mix used to be), cover is cheap if there is one, drinks are about on par, pricewise with the rest of the hood and the vibe is very cool and laid-back – at least during the week.
45-58 Vernon Blvd., Long Island City
G/7 to 21st St./Court House Square
Music on Sundays and sometimes weekend nights, singer-songwriters and bands. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
93 N 6th St. (Wythe/Berry), Williamsburg
L to Bedford Ave.
If the game plan is to keep the music pretty well hidden so as not to disturb the neighbors, they’ve succeeded beyond their dreams. Shows take place not in the lowlit confines of this new comfort food bar/restaurant but in the Cameo Gallery in the rear, straight down a fairly long corridor on the left past the bathrooms. It’s a high-ceilinged space with a surprisingly big stage considering the size of the room, about half the size of Spikehill. The vibe is refreshingly oldschool DIY Williamsburg: cover is cheap (under $10), the staff, such as they are, are laid-back; drinks are available at a small bar on the right as you enter the gallery. The sound is a work in progress, but can be excellent if the act onstage isn’t overwhelmingly loud. Music isn’t an everyday thing here, mostly singer/songwriters, with the occasional band. Nice place.
237 W 42nd St. between 7/8th Aves.
Any train to 42nd St.; walk east or west as necessary.
To the right of the big main downstairs room, B.B. King’s, is the more recent of New York’s two blues bars (long-running Terra Blues on Bleecker is the other). It’s pretty much what you would expect for this neighborhood, a swankily appointed, dimlit tourist bar with overpriced pub grub. But the staff are nice! And they don’t charge a cover for the occasionally superb performers who play here, both national touring artists and local acts, who generally play two sets starting at 8. Drinks are pricy; the crowd is a mix of tourists who just wandered in and people who actually came for the music, and listen. The sound is excellent, just as good as it is in the larger room. Absolutely no Nazi factor, either. This is a real nice place to see music.
Lucky Mojo’s
the website is useless
5-14 51st Ave., between Vernon Blvd. and 5th St., Long Island City, Queens
7 to Vernon-Jackson
Combination barbecue and sushi joint with frequent live music. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
at the corner of Second and Coles (322 Second Street ) in Jersey City, NJ
Path train to Grove St., walk four blocks west down Newark Avenue and then make a right on Coles.
Frequent music, both bands along with singer-songwriters on Tuesday nights at this bar/restaurant. Some good stuff happening here. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
Madison Square Garden
For a laugh, we decided to include this venerable basketball arena which began life decades ago as a boxing ring at 23rd St. and Broadway, migrated uptown and eventually found a permanent home at 34th St. and 7th Ave. Home of the Knicks (and regional basketball tournaments, which are a far better bargain, plus they don’t blast nonstop, earsplitting hip-hop and endless commercials at you like they do before, during and after NBA games here). This place no longer has any concerts worth seeing: tickets are stratospherically expensive, priced to the hedge fund contingent, frequently hundreds of dollars apiece: the Van Halen reunion tour, Fall Out Boy, Bon Jovi, ad infinitum. It’s been a long time since we’ve been here, for the Knicks or otherwise. Back in 2003, security was surprisingly lax (we smuggled in booze and other stuff), tickets were obscenely expensive (almost $40 for Iron Maiden), Bud was $8 for a little plastic bottle, the sound was boomy as it always is and we were stuck way up in the rafters. There is also a theatre under the arena, formerly known as the Felt Forum, whose name seems to change every few months and while slightly less expensive, is still beyond the means of most New Yorkers.
north of 23rd St. at Broadway
N/R to 23rd St. or take the F or 6 and walk to Broadway
There are a few free concerts here during the summer and fall and they are typically excellent: Laura Cantrell and Sharon Jones have played here recently. Unlike some NYC parks concerts, this is a very mellow scene: they don’t indiscriminately rope off half the park and cram the audience into a tiny space. This is midtown and it’s heavily policed, so you might want to do your drinking elsewhere. The sound isn’t all that great, but you’ll probably be able to get pretty close to the stage, which faces west.
34th St. between 8th and 9th Ave., north side of the street
This building houses both the Hammerstein Ballroom and Grand Ballroom, both large, Gilded Age style theatres with tiered seating in the back and floor seating between the tiers in the back and the stage. Advance tix – which can be ridiculously expensive – are a must, available at the Irving Plaza box office. The door staff aren’t very pleasant and you will be frisked: don’t bring anything drinkable in here. But the sound is excellent. They only have music here a few times a month, although their booking is more adventurous than most clubs this size: the Wu-Tang Clan kicked off a reunion tour here recently.
1025 Greenpoint Ave. between Freeman and Green, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
G to Greenpoint Ave. or L to Bedford Ave., it’s about a 20 minute walk
Popular local hangout that draws both the unpretentious neighborhood kids and the trendoids. They don’t have music often. Beer is fairly cheap and the staff is nice. Bands, if they have them, usually play in front by the door, through their amps: they don’t seem to have a PA system of their own.
957 Broadway (corner of Myrtle), Bushwick, Brooklyn, upstairs over the fruit stand
J/M/Z to Myrtle
Southside Williamsburg loft space hosting the occasional rock show. Mostly trendoid stuff, not worth the hassle. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
Matchless
The website is useless
557 Manhattan Ave. at Driggs Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford Ave., walk north (as the street numbers get larger), take a right on Manhattan Ave.
Pretty nice place: fairly cheap beer, low-key, Nazi-free local bar, something of a throwback to an older, less shi-shi Williamsburg. They have bands and singer-songwriters frequently but not every night. The sound is so-so but it’s a nice, stress-free environment.
1039 Washington St. at 12th St., Hoboken
Path train to Hoboken, walk 2 blocks from the Path to Washington St. (Hoboken’s main street), then 12 long blocks to the club. You can catch the Path at 34th, 23rd, W 9th and Christopher west of Hudson.
If Maxwell’s was in Manhattan, it would instantly be one of the two or three best venues in town. Many bands far too popular to play a room as small as this one will do a gig here right before or after a New York date for a little extra cash. The adjacent bar/restaurant is cheap and serves excellent bar food, the sound is pristine, the cover is inexpensive, the bands start on time and the staff is laid-back and friendly. For all of these reasons, this place sells out very fast. Not all shows are ticketed, but for those that are, tix are available at the club and in Manhattan at Other Music. Given the choice between a show at most Manhattan venues and this place, the trip under the river is well worth your time. Hoboken may have suffered the same gentrification as many New York neighborhoods, but it beats the hell out of the Lower East Side
113 Ludlow St. just north of Delancey, west side of the street
F/J/M/Z to Delancey
Even with the disco in the basement and the upstairs railings with tables that encircle the club, the legendary Bulgarian bar’s new digs are about a third the size of their former Chinatown location. Enter through the door on the right (the one on the left doesn’t work); the bar is in the back to your right. Drinks aren’t cheap, but they have several brands of exotic Eastern European bottled beer. They don’t have music every night but when they do is is consistently excellent, gypsy music or variants thereof, from Macedonia to the Ukraine and all points in between. Bands play in the area that serves as the stage in front of the non-working door. The sound is a work in progress: the staff seems to be learning on the job. And during quieter moments, the thud from the disco sometimes clashes or even drowns out the music, which can be jarring, to say the least. The crowd is the same pan-global bon vivants who frequented the club’s former location. There are no trendoids to be found anywhere, since trendoids are by nature xenophobic and think places like this are “weird.” Even more shockingly, there are no Nazis to be found here either: the staff all have the same bemused expression, as if to say, “Stupid Americans, why don’t you loosen up?” When not touring, Eugene Hutz from Gogol Bordello spins his usual delightfully danceable mix of Balkan turbo-folk on Thursday nights. Be aware that on nights when there is live music, there is usually no cover before 10:30 PM. While the sonics here can be iffy, Mehanata is by far the best bar on the LES.
Houston just east of Essex
F/V to 2nd Ave
What CBGB was in its last few years, the Mercury is today, a relic of a bygone era, which is sad. For a good ten years beginning in the early 90s, this was the place to play in New York: pretty much anyone who was anyone, here or elsewhere, played here because the sound was so great and it was a nice late-night hangout. These days, dwarfed beneath a hastily thrown up “luxury” condo building that threatens to collapse on top of it at any minute, the quality of acts who play here have deteriorated just like the neighborhood. Drink prices have risen to match the hood’s newfound wealth, so people don’t hang out at the bar anymore. And the sound, once so pristine, is hit and miss now. Every now and then they’ll have a good indie band or songwriter here, but mostly it’s just corporate bands looking to get their songs in a commercial or on a video game. And their staff, always on the attitudinous side, have become really nasty in recent years. The Mercury is also the box office for advance tix for Bowery Ballroom, Music Hall of Williamsburg and Terminal 5 shows, open weekdays 5-7 PM.
129 W. 67th St., between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave.
1/9 to 66th St. or A/C/B/D to Columbus Circle and walk north
Recent renovations have done wonders for this late 70s-vintage concert hall with tiered seating which has become a popular Upper West attraction and a remarkably cost-effective alternative to Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall. Orchestral, chamber music and mellower jazz sounds best here: while places like this weren’t built for amplification, the sound here has become truly superb. If the lower level sells out, they may open up the balcony, where the sound is just as good as it is in the orchestra. Programming is diverse and imaginative, running the gamut from various classical styles to jazz, world and sometimes folk music. Conspicuously and happily absent are the nickel-and-dime concessions to the hedge fund set that you find at the other classical halls: the overpriced coat check, the booze, the officious staff and the ubiquitous corporate vibe. The staff here are competent and courteous; advance tix at their box office, open Tues-Sat til 7, are highly recommended, as are their numerous subscription options which are a real bargain (you can bring a friend free) if you plan to see several concerts here. Note that for shows where there is no assigned seating, early arrival is very highly recommended.
5th Ave at 82nd St
6 to 86th St.
Two things a lot of people don’t know about the Met: A) you can pay what you want, a quarter or a dime and they’ll still let you in, and B) they have some excellent concerts that are free with museum admission. Check the website to see what they have coming up: they often have chamber music or jazz, and if you’re lucky you’ll catch someone good playing the vintage 1830 Appleton organ on the balcony in the musical instruments section.
At the end of Myrtle Ave. between Jay and Bridge Sts., downtown Brooklyn
F to Jay St. (rear exit if you’re coming from Manhattan) or 2/4 to Borough Hall
Located amidst scam Jersey developer Bruce Ratner’s first failed project, BAM books free weekly noontime concerts here on Thursdays during the summer, a mix of Hot 97/Mariah Carey style “R&B” and older soul, blues and reggae acts. The park draws a mix of local retirees and blue collar workers on their lunch break, predominantly West Indian. The sound is surprisingly good. The park staff puts out plastic chairs, which quickly get taken by the lunch crowd and groups of daycamp kids out for the afternoon.
52 Walker St., Chinatown
6/N/R/Q/W/J/M/Z to Canal St.
Cavernous, high-ceilinged place that opened in mid-2007 and has yet to be discovered by the Humvee stretch limo crowd, large horseshoe-shaped bar in the middle, some tables in the back, big high stage to the left as you walk in. Til the tourists find it, it’s an oasis of decency in a neighborhood where there aren’t many places to hang. Nice bar staff; drink prices are about average, in fact on the cheap side for this area. The sound is on the loud side and boomy as you would expect from the space. Music is only an occasional thing here. Wednesdays they typically have Brazilian bands; Friday is goth night. Note that the name of the bar derives from the standard-issue American Army rifle rather than the British equivalent of the CIA.
58 N 3rd St.
L to Bedford Ave.
Grotesquely expensive, Beverly Hills style restaurant (they have a sommelier) which shows the occasional movie and has a singer-songwriter or indie rock band every now and then. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
Moto
their website is useless
394 Broadway, South Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Located right at the exit of the Hewes St. J/M stop
There’s a bicycle hanging over the door: shouldn’t this place be called Velo instead? Like Barbes, the decor is Gallic, with tables and a horseshoe-shaped bar. This expensive, low-lit bistro in a former check-cashing space has been expertly tricked out to look like it’s been there a hundred years, right down to the pull-handle toilet downstairs. The food is excellent; drinks are on the pricy side, but they have an uncommonly good wine list. The music is frequently excellent as well. They do nightly themes: bluegrass, jazz, oldtimey and even gypsy music, generally from about 9 to midnight. Musicians squeeze in behind the door where you walk in. Unfortunately, due to the prices, the place pulls an annoying, pretentious trust-fund kid crowd. Since this is Brooklyn, there’s no Nazi factor. Be aware that there is a bus stop directly outside: the earsplitting screech of the alarms that go off as the bus doors open will jolt you out of whatever reverie you manage to slip into. For that reason, this isn’t a place you’ll want to spend any time at during rush hour.
53rd between 5th and 6th
V to 53rd/5th Ave.; B/D/F to Rockefeller Ctr.; 6 to 51st
The $20 cover charge is unconscionable, and Friday free day, starting at 4 PM, is a nightmare: the staff set up a wire holding pen in the adjacent lot, and it can take literally hours to get in (and by then, the museum is about to close: how about that for free?). However, if you have rich friends, you can see a free classical concert in the back garden every week during the summer. A different composer is featured every year.
The Music Hall of Williamsburg
N 6th St. between Wythe and Kent, next door to the old Galapagos space, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford Ave.
The former Northsix space was taken over by the people who own Bowery Ballroom and the Mercury and to their credit, they did a good job. The silly bleachers downstairs are completely gone, opening up a lot of room on the floor. Like Bowery, there is a balcony with a bar upstairs, accessible only via elevator. It’s unclear if this is merely a concession to people with disabilities, or to the crowds of trendoids who are too effete to walk up a flight of stairs. The downstairs dressing rooms and smaller, seldom-used performance space are also gone, replaced by a large, open bar area. Same with the bank of bathrooms formerly to the right of the stage, replaced by a slightly elevated catwalk where the sightlines are best. The sound is vastly improved and the staff is nice. Now if only they’d book a good band once in awhile. Considering the general popularity of the acts who play here, advance tix are highly recommended, available at the Mercury Lounge box office 5-7 PM Mon-Sat. And if you find yourself in the balcony, you might want to move downstairs before the show ends: otherwise, you may find the line for the elevator giving new meaning to the phrase “it’s a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll.”
159 Houston St. between Allen & Eldridge
F to 2nd Ave.
Split-level bar located in the space that housed two ludicrous tourist traps in recent years. The upstairs bar with small stage to your right as you walk in is a lot smaller than the downstairs, where they have louder acts. This place was a country bar for about two seconds before becoming a mainly singer/songwriter joint (it’s owned by one). The sound upstairs is better than in the basement since it’s so intimate. Upstairs, acoustic acts including many country and Americana types play weekly residencies; downstairs is mainly songwriters with bands behind them. The vibe here is typically casual, although that can change depending on the crowd – remember, this is the LES and the noise/crowding factor from the suburban tourists can be as annoying as it is anywhere else (although the economy could change that fast). Drink prices are about average for the neighborhood, and so far it looks like staff have no interest in being Nazi, a nice plus. Lots of potential here: if they wanted to, they could put the Living Room out of business.
92nd St and Lexington Ave.
6 to 86th St.
Did you know, if you’re under 35 you can get discounted tix to shows here for around $25? That makes the popular Upper East auditorium a real bargain compared to the other swanky classical/jazz halls. Otherwise, prices here are frequently beyond the pale, even more than at Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall. They also have frequent free chamber music in the smaller Weill Art Gallery space. Because this place is an institution (in both senses of the word: there’s always a crisis being narrowly averted), early arrival is a must.
200 Hudson at Canal, east side of the street
A/C/E to Canal (front of trains headed uptown/back of trains headed downtown) or N/R/Q/W/6/J/M/Z to Canal, walk west and then take a left on Hudson. Be careful to take the sidewalk on the north side of the street because there is none on the south side as you cross Varick, and beware of drunks driving home to New Jersey, especially at night: nobody cares if you get hit.
Not sure how you pronounce the name of this spacious, swankily appointed new place, the long-running Upper Eastside cultural center’s southern outpost. Along with movies, literary and dramatic events, they also have music. For awhile it looked like they wanted to keep things diverse, with a slight emphasis on Jewish artists – a worthy goal - but recently they’ve brought in an amateur promoter from Williamsburg to book lame pitchfork.com-style trendoid rock. The music room is down a long corridor past the ticket counter, a spacious, modernist venue (a little bigger than Santos or Sullivan Hall) with a few tables in front by the stage and off to the left, and plenty of standing room as well as a pricy bar to your right as you enter. Sightlines are compromised by several big pillars; early arrival is advised if you must see the band. The sound is excellent. The staff are pleasant and professional, no Nazis anywhere. Tickets are typically reasonably priced – usually under $20 – with advance tickets for more popular acts highly recommended at the counter, open daily except Satuday. There’s also a coffee shop/bakery selling drinks and lighter fare to the left of the ticket window if you’re hungry.
1515 Broadway at 45th St.
Take pretty much any train to 42nd St., walk east or west as necessary
Formerly operated by the WWF and known as the World, this big, spacious theatre most recently had multiple levels of seats looking down on the stage. Tix for shows here are typically more expensive than at Irving Plaza or Bowery Ballroom but not as outrageous as at the Garden. Box office hours are Mon-Sat noon-6 and on show nights until a half-hour before showtime. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
North Fourth Bar
no website
160 N. 4th St. (between Bedford & Driggs, next to San Loco), Williamsburg
L to Bedford Ave.
New place that seems to have a thing for retro music. Some good bands playing here. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
62 Ave. C (4th/5th Sts.), east side of the street
F to 2nd Ave. or L to 1st Ave. – or wait for the M14D bus which will drop you at Ave. D and 5th St.
Mostly hip-hop, latin and Brazilian styles at this downstairs-level LES club, unrecognizable from the street except for the occasional person working the door. Music not an everyday thing here, but they book a fair amount of good acts. Weekdays bands typically play start around 9:30 and go til after one; weekends, when they have music, it starts around 10 and goes later. Not reviewed as/of 6/09
263 E 3rd St. between Ave. B and C
F/V to 2nd Ave.
This friendly, socially conscious neighborhood institution has been around forever and still has regular Latin jazz shows, with the occasional band, songwriter or aspiring reggaeton artist. Booking here is diverse and imaginative, reflecting what the neighborhood used to be ten years ago. They have a liquor license but the bar is still as makeshift as it probably was when they first opened the place. Bands play on the stage in the back, where there are a few tables and plenty of standing room. Cover is cheap, there are no Nazis whatsoever, the sound is surprisingly good and so are the acts who play here: people you’d usually drop $100 on at the Blue Note come through here on a regular basis. Also frequent, well-attended Wednesday and Thursday hip-hop slams.
In the middle of little Byrne Park, bordered by Fourth and Fifth Avenues and Third and Fourth Streets, Park Slope, Brooklyn
R to Union St. or any train to Atlantic Ave. and about a 10 minute walk
Reconstruction of a 1699 Dutch farmhouse that served as a pivotal site during the Battle of Brooklyn and was eventually razed in 1890. Kind of small and quaint with occasional jazz, classical or folk concerts on the weekend. Relatively cheap cover (under $15 usually), wine and pricy snacks are available. Get there on time if you want a seat: they get taken quickly by the oldtimers and neighborhood people.
169 Bar
East Broadway just east of Essex St., south side of the street, Chinatown
F to East Broadway
the club’s website is useless
This place has an interesting history: formerly a Chinatown mob bar, it was sold to Russian gangsters who mysteriously disappeared after remodeling the place, right after 9/11. The latest owners reaped the benefits of a redesigned interior. Still, the sound sucks: it wasn’t designed to be a music venue, and nobody thought about making this little bar suitable for music when they started booking bands here. This is the kind of place bands play when they’re just starting out, when they can’t get a gig anywhere else. Drinks are surprisingly expensive for this part of town, and the venue is surprisingly Nazi: the front door is on an electronic door lock operated by the door person, which means if you go out for a smoke and the door girl isn’t there, you may have to wait 10-15 minutes til she gets back before she lets you in again. Once in awhile somebody good plays here, oblivious to how awful it sounds; otherwise, like R Bar and the Underscore, this is a venue of last resort.
14th St. just west of Ave. B, south side of the street
L to 1st Ave. or 4/6/N/R to Union Square and walk east or take the M14 bus to Ave. B
Formerly Barmacy. A few years after they’d bought the place from the woman who owns Beauty Bar, the owners realized that since this place has a tiki bar theme, maybe they should have surf music. Wow, what a concept! Now the little room in the back of this long, narrow bar has Unsteady Freddie’s multi-band surf extravaganza the first Saturday of every month, which is consistently excellent. Otherwise, it’s a mix of retro styles: rockabilly, blues and punk, along with the occasional indie band. This place likes monthly residencies: rockabilly the last Saturday of the month, Tuesday is goth night, second Saturday of the month is garage rock, etc. The music room is small, quite loud and the sound is pretty bad, although it’s fine for instrumental music. Beer is cheap (but don’t get taken in by their enormous but still ridiculously overpriced tiki cocktails, which are nothing more than frathouse punch). Some of the waitstaff are oldschool nonchalant; others are snooty and rude. This place draws an older crowd, a lot of former CBGB/Continental hangers-on, although on the weekends the yuppie puppies invade (you can tell who’s from out of state by who’s drinking from the giant goblets that look like the Statue of Liberty’s head). The Nazi factor depends on who’s working the door. Women should be aware that this place seems to have modeled itself on CBGB’s, at least as far as cleanliness is concerned; you might want to make a pit stop somwhere else before you get here.
Paddy Reilly’s
no website
519 2nd Ave. at 29th St.
Guinness, Guinness and more Guinness. That’s all they serve at this legendary Irish pub. Live music isn’t the staple it used to be here – Black 47’s Saturday night residency at the club’s old location a couple of blocks south in the 80s and 90s is stuff of legend – but they still have traditional jam sessions and the occasional Irish band here in the back on random nights. Absolutely no Nazi factor: even if there’s no music, it remains a great place to hang out after all these years, drawing a mix of neighborhood folks, unpretentious young people and expats.
Houston and Attorney Sts.
F/V to 2nd Ave.
Old-school LES bar with a music room in the back. The sound is erratic and can be really bad: bands have a lot of problems with feedback here, and the sound guy is frequently absent from the board at the very moment when he should be paying attention. The crowd at the bar is surprisingly mixed: since it’s so far east, it tends to draw locals who’ve been driven away from the Ludlow Street strip by the tourists. Beer is fairly cheap but everything else isn’t. The Nazi factor is pretty nonexistent. There are door personnel on the weekend, but they’ll let you in without carding you if you’re obviously of age. The quality of acts here varies. They do weekly theme nights: comedy, salsa, singer-songwriters, etc.: Sometimes there will be a good group of bands all on the same bill.
Lorimer between Frost and Richardson, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L/G to Lorimer St., walk along Union toward the BQE (downhill), take a right, walk along the BQE to Lorimer, left on Lorimer, under the BQE and about 5 blocks to the venue
There’s a bar as you walk in, the music room straight ahead. When bands are playing you need to go through the walkway to your right, into the small room. It’s a tiny little place with what can be great sound (bands do it themselves). Beer is fairly cheap and they also have delicious pressed sandwiches (although prices have risen in recent months). Also, they’ve had a doorman lately on the weekends (at what used to be Brooklyn’s coolest venue: a sign of the times, or what?). Pete’s started out ten-odd years ago as the place to see Brooklyn people playing country, bluegrass or oldtimey acoustic music, but when co-owner/booking agent Juliana Nash left, the place went into a steep decline and the trendoids took over. Lately, though, the club has seen a real resurgence with lots of adventurous classical and jazz-inclined acts in addition to the usual country types, folkies and dilettantes. Too bad that the front bar is still a totally trendoid scene, and the back garden where you can smoke gets packed on the weekends.
Ludlow between Stanton and Rivington, east side of the street just north of the Living Room
F/V to 2nd Ave.
There’s a bar/restaurant as you walk in, another bar upstairs, with live music in the back room. The sound is lousy: a place with as good a system as they have here shouldn’t sound this bad. This was trendoid central til the Annex opened, now it’s more of a Jersey/Westchester/Long Island cokehead crowd with a big out-of-town pickup scene. Drinks are fairly expensive: good luck muscling your way to the bar through the throngs of fratboys, Britney Spears wannabes and drug dealers. If you carry a purse, keep it close at hand. As at the Living Room, they’re Nazis: they have an ID scanner (bring your passport if you have one: the machine can’t read it and capture all your vital info), the staff is rude and so is the clientele. They also don’t treat bands well. Those who play here typically do so once and don’t come back. You’d do well to see your favorite band elsewhere.
13th St. and the highway
A/C/E/L to 14 th St., if you’re lucky you can catch a M14 bus to 10th Ave. and walk from there (the bus abruptly goes north to 18 th St. and the highway after that)
It’s a long shipping pier with a big stage at the end, by the water. Not really a viable option for the occasional free summer concert: gates typically open at 6, but it can take as long as an hour for the crowd lined up for blocks and blocks along the highway to make their way in. Security is fierce: you can’t even bring in water, even though the setting sun will be blasting you like a flamethrower. There are numerous concessions selling food and drink, all ridiculously overpriced as you would expect. If there are multiple, popular rock bands on the bill, forget about seeing the opener: instead, show up a little after 7 and catch most of the headliner’s set. You’ll have much better luck at the occasional salsa or blues show here, although the security dragnet may prove even more vicious for nonwhites. Otherwise, this is strictly for diehard fans who can’t miss a single show by their favorite band
70th St. and the river, upper westside: walk down the stairs at Riverside and 68th St.
1/2/9 or A/C to 72nd St.
This is an actual former shipping pier, not a home decor store. There’s a brief free outdoor concert series here in July and August. Most of it is smarmy kiddie entertainment straight out of Capturing the Friedmans, but there’s an occasional jazz or classical act. There are plenty of chairs but no one listens: it’s an upper westside yuppie hang. To get to the pier you have to walk down a series of stairs over the highway from the north; go out the way you came in unless you’re up for a long stroll.
158 Bleecker St. just west of LaGuardia, south side of the street
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St.
French for “goldfish.” Downstairs from the space that formerly held the Village Gate jazz club, the new owners have made a sizeable investment in this basement-level club just a bit smaller than Drom, beautifully appointed and expertly tricked out for sound. Coming in from the street, you walk downstairs past a small bar and into the music room, the stage immediately to your left with tables in front and some standing room along the back wall. Drinks aren’t cheap but not overwhelmingly expensive either (bizarrely, they carry Night Train crack wine – ask your waitress). Booking is all over the map here, with jazz, trendoid bands, strippers, classical, you name it – looks like they’re throwing everything they can find against the wall to see what sticks. Nothing wrong with that, either: the staff are strikingly pleasant and professional, especially considering the location; tickets usually under $20 (advance tix highly recommended at their box office, open 12-5 Mon-Sat and also on show nights); and given the diversity of the music here, there’s literally something for everyone. A welcome addition to the New York music scene.
between Greenpoint Ave. and Kent St,, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
113 Franklin St.
G to Greenpoint Ave., the bar is two blocks away
New El Lay-themed (director chairs and cameras everywhere) watering hole which has recently been making its backline (amps, drums and even keys and guitars) available to musicians who wander in. If nothing else, good for a free rehearsal plus beers. Not reviewed as of 6/09.
Prospect Park West at 9th St., Park Slope, Brooklyn
F to 7th Ave. and walk uphill on 9th St., the entrance will be on your left. Accessible via other trains, but as you walk through the park you will realize how large and difficult to negotiate it is.
Free concerts are held here from June through August, mostly a mix of the kind of stuff you’ll hear on NPR: popular world music and folk acts, with the occasional rock band. This used to be a marvelous place to see shows but not anymore: you won’t find Prospect Park in the same circle of hell as the Living Room, but in order to see the most popular acts, you have to arrive ridiculously early (i.e 5 PM for a 7 PM show) and then stand in line. Which pretty much puts this off limits to the vast majority of Brooklynites, i.e. those who work for a living. Doors typically open at 6 for a show that starts an hour later. At the gate, they’ll try to get you for $3, but just tell them you paid on April 15 – you did, if you’re a New York resident, anyway. As with Central Park Summerstage, the free shows here are being phased out by expensive “benefit” concerts subsidized by your taxpayer money. Since all this takes place during the summer and there is very little breeze beneath the trees here, it can get brutally hot. The sound is good, although the place is crawling with cops (don’t even THINK of bringing in a bottle, rolling trees, etc.) and the seats get taken within seconds of when the gates open. The fence along the rear perimeter gets further and further away from the stage every year, meaning that if you want to stand outside the arena and hear the show, you won’t hear much unless the band is really loud. Strictly for diehard fans of the acts who play here.
70 N 6th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford Ave.
The old Galapagos space is now owned by the same people who run Southpaw in Park Slope, and it’s improved to the point that it’s a lot better than their main venue! That silly moat that greeted you as you walked in is finally gone, replaced by a wide floor space with a few tables. Music in both the front by the bar and in the larger, equally dumpy back room, although not every night, and the sound is vastly improved. They’ve stopped serving beer in flutes – thank god – and the vibe is shockingly comfortable and laid-back. Seems the new owners have realized that spending for an army of bouncers in a relatively small space like this might not be cost-effective. Booking is a mixed bag, a throwback to the early days of the space around the turn of the century. The one drawback here is that like the Brooklyn Lyceum, they rely on the bands who play there to do all their own publicity - the club’s music calendar page doesn’t even list who’s playing there!
481 5th Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn
F/N/R to 4th Ave. or F to 7th Ave
Somewhat nondescript from the outside, this somewhat narrow, rectangular room has a lot of good jazz, every night of the week. It’s sort of the Slope version of Smalls. Lots of higher-profile acts will do a low-key gig here to warm up for something bigger, or a tour. Everything here is pleasantly laid-back: the service, the decor, the vibe and their vegetarian menu is cheap and delicious. Given the size of the place, the sound is good since you’re so close to the band. Cover is cheap (under $10 very often), quite a bargain; likewise, drinks are good and strong and they have relatively cheap beer. Happy hour specials M-F 5-8 PM. The occasional gaggle of tourists filters through here as well as neighborhood yuppie puppy couples who’ll have dinner or drinks and then leave, oblivious to the music.
Ave. A between 6th and 7th St.
F/V to 2nd Ave. This legendary East Village dive did double duty in the 80s as punk rock club and gay disco. These days, it usually alternates between hip-hop and the 80s disco nights they’ve been having since…the 80s. Apparently, playing the same Wham and Dexys Midnight Runners records over and over and over again is an effective moneymaking scheme. Lately at 7 PM on Sundays they’ve been serving as home to the excellent, long-running live hip-hop show hip-hop show End of the Weak here, a cheap way to discover some of the best under-the-radar lyricists around. But watch your back and your wallet: the staff can be nasty and drinks aren’t cheap
In the middle of Corona Park, across the street from Shea Stadium, past the tennis stadium and the skeletal remains of the Globosphere.
7 to Shea Stadium/Willets Point and no more than a ten minute walk: go back in the direction the Manhattan-bound trains are running, cross the street and take your first accessible left (there’s a lot of construction and wire fences up as/of this writing, summer 2008).
Located close to the Queens Art Museum in the park, this small theatre with a single level of tiered seating only has occasional concerts, usually in the summer and around the year-end holidays. Tickets range from cheap ($10) for less-popular or ethnic acts, to prohibitively expensive, and are available at their box office. Frequently, they’re cheaper if you buy a subscription. The acoustics are surprisingly good. Surprisingly cheap wine and bottled beer are available. The staff and volunteers here are remarkably pleasant and professional, no Nazis anywhere. If you don’t know the neighborhood (or feel lost in Queens), there will be a free shuttle van which runs from the Shea Stadium parking lot to the theatre: look for flyers on surrounding lampposts as you exit the train
218 Bowery between Delancey and Rivington
J/M to Bowery or F/V to 2nd Ave.
Formerly the Pioneer, a high-ceilinged, Midtown-style tourist bar which achieved recent notoriety when a trust fund kid from Boston was captured on the spycam here during a coke-fueled nightcrawl which came to an end when she was murdered a few blocks west. The space has been remodeled since then and is now the reverse image of what it used to be. The big bar is still to the left as you walk in, but the stage in back is to the right, not the left, and the space as a whole doesn’t seem as deep as it was before. Then again, nothing seems as deep as it was before. The vibe here is uncommonly casual for this neighborhood, the bar staff is nice, cover is fairly cheap, the sound isn’t bad and booking is diverse (the scam artist who used to do it here finally got the boot, with the quality of the acts here taking a significant turn for the better).
113 N 3 Street, corner of Berry, Williamsburg
L to Bedford Ave.
Considerably smaller than Bohemian Hall in Queens but still cavernous with wooden booths along the walls, restaurant seating adjacent to the bar area, and an outdoor space with picnic tables where the bands may or not play (there’s also something of a stage to your left as you walk in). As at Zebulon, the owners here are blessed with good taste in music – gypsy bands Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9 – and cursed with an awful location. Meaning that if you came here to hear music, you probably won’t because the roar of the trendoids yapping at each other drowns out everything else. The menu is pricy ($4 for a pretzel), though they have an excellent beer selection. A nice place to drink when it’s quiet, maybe, but unfortunately not a destination for listening.
48th St. and 6th Ave., enter on the avenue
B/F to Rockefeller Ctr.
Legendary art-deco theatre whose equally legendary sound is actually only adequate when rock acts play here. Enter on the southeast corner, walk past the ticket window on your right and then straight into the hall. Red plush seats upstairs and down; bathrooms in the basement. They don’t often have concerts here anymore, and when they do, they’re typically popular indie rock or corporate acts. Surprisingly, this place is anything but Nazi: nobody frisks you unless you obviously have a fifth of whiskey down your pants. Advance tix are a must, available at the box office, and ridiculously overpriced (it’s booked by the same people who book Madison Square Garden): you’d do well to wait til your favorite band who is playing here does a gig at Bowery Ballroom.
The Red Lion
no website
151 Bleecker at Thompson St.
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4 th St.
The prototypical Bleecker St. bar: blue-collar Long Island tourists pay a cover to see a rotation of singer-songwriters phoning in James Taylor and Counting Crows covers on the tiny stage along the wall of the bar’s inner room. Drinks aren’t cheap and the sound isn’t very loud: nobody listens here. It’s more of a post-Long Island Railroad meetup spot.
Red Star
The club’s website is useless
37 Greenpoint Ave., Greenpoint
G to Greenpoint Ave., walk downhill away from Long Island City,
New York’s most bizarre venue, hands-down: a midtown-expensive, plushly appointed sports bar with big-screen tvs and a large crew of uniformed employees who usually outnumber the bar patrons, located in the middle of nowhere in what was once a pencil factory in Greenpoint. Disturbingly, a sign on the front door prohibits “baggy clothing or baseball caps,” code for “whites only.” Music is upstairs, the stage at one end, another bar a couple of steps down on the other. Because the room hasn’t been treated for sound, high frequencies bounce all over the place, meaning that they can’t be amplified too loud and as a result, the sound is a muddy mess. Whether this place ever expects to make any money –it’s not as if most people in the neighborhood can afford (or would have any interest in) $18 fish and chips and $7 Guinness – is the operative question: perhaps they have a secondary source of income.
Ave. B between 2nd and 3rd Sts.
F/V to 2nd Ave.
Too bad that like the Living Room and Pianos, this is the latest club to start using a digital ID scanner, because it’s a nice place, the sound is good and they have some good bands here sometimes. If you must patronize this place, by all means, bring your passport, not your license (the scanner doesn’t work on passports). Because of concerns about identity theft – how do you think thieves get their hands on your personal info, anyway? - and the fact that not everybody has a passport, we can’t recommend that you go here.
In the middle of Roosevelt Island adjacent to the subway station
F to Roosevelt Island
Frequent free Sunday evening summer concerts, everything from world music to bluegrass to trendoid rock in a pleasant tourist-free milieu with river breezes! Yay!
Kent Ave. and S 5th St., South Williamsburg
J/M/Z to Marcy Ave., walk north past the bus depot along Havemeyer, then left on S 5th; or L to Bedford Ave., it’s about a 15 minute walk south and west.
The former Ship’s Mast is one of the last bastions of old-school Williamsburg: this is a cool place to hang. The decor has been left exactly as it was back in the 70s; you’ll think you’re in a Robert Altman movie. It’s a dingy, spacious, high-ceilinged joint with a circular bar in the middle, with what passes for a stage to the left in back. Drinks are cheap and strong and there are no Nazis anywhere. The sound is really loud, and it’s not good: back when it was the Ship’s Mast, it was a punk rock venue, and that’s what works best here. But this place is still worth the trip, especially if a good band is playing here. They only have music on the occasional weekend these days.
Chambers St. and the water, Battery Park City
1/2/9 to Chambers
This is the park with all the cool brass sculptures, a stunningly transgressive mix of the same New York caricatures who populate the A train platform at 14th St. Free outdoor concerts are held here on the big lawn from June through August, a diverse mix from country to blues to reggae. Shows typically start around 7. The stage faces the water; the PA is good and powerful and if you’re discreet, you can party pretty much any way you want, just watch your back: the po-po have quotas to make. Bring a blanket, sunscreen, hat and shades: the evening sun over the water is intense.
One of the funnest things you can do this summer. Boats sail rain or shine with an impressively good mix of party bands: funk, reggae, ska, soul and occasionally world music. Chicha Libre even played one of these. There are two boats: the smaller Half Moon, leaving from behind the heliport at 23rd Street and the FDR, and the Temptress, a 500-capacity ship that usually departs from 41st Street on the West Side. The Half Moon heads south along the East River and passes underneath the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges to the Statue of Liberty and then goes back the way it came: prepare for as much as three hours of revelry. The Temptress goes north on the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge, then turns around, heading straight for the Statue of Liberty and then back to the harbor. For what you get, tix are not overwhelmingly expensive (almost always under $30, sometimes considerably less), the staff are laid-back and friendly – the fun is contagious – and the boats are immaculate. Even the restrooms are clean. Drinks are pricy but generous, cheap snacks like hot dogs and empanadas are available and the sound is pretty good considering where you are, under a canopy topside (if you prefer to remain below decks away from the crush of people, they pipe the music down there). These cruises are extremely popular and frequently sell out so advance tix – available online or at their box office, 630 9th Ave. #602 (between 44th and 45th, open M-F noon-6:30 PM) and early arrival are a must. Believe it or not, tourists for the most part have not yet discovered this: it’s usually a pretty hometown crowd. They also have the occasional Mets cruise, a leisurely way to get the party started and get you to the ballpark in time for the game. Be aware that bottles and other containers are not allowed onboard: you’ll have to leave them on the dock and then retrieve them afterward.
Allen St. just south of Houston, east side of the street south of the overpriced pizza place
F/V to 2nd Ave.
New York’s smallest venue (smaller than even Barbes), separated from the sidewalk outside by only a big plate glass window. Someday someone is bound to fall through it. Don’t be that person. There is also a small bar adjacent to the music room with its tiny stage. Because of its size, drinks are priced almost double what they would be if they had the room to serve more people. It’s uncomfortably small, so people don’t hang out here. However, the Nazi factor is nonexistent, and they frequently have good singer-songwriters here (although the segues between acts are sometimes ludicrously jarring, and even more incongruously, they sometimes squeeze loud corporate rock bands onto the tiny stage here on the weekends). The sound is superb, with owner Ken Rockwood (half of the folk duo Professor and Maryann) doing a meticulous job up on his little perch at the board. If you don’t mind listening without seeing anything, you also have the option of hanging at the bar on the other side, where they pipe the music from the stage.
***RATED BEST MANHATTAN VENUE 2008***
27th St. and 3rd Ave., Murray Hill
6 to 28th St.
Best Manhattan venue: Rodeo Bar?!?!? You have to be kidding, right? No. While to a certain extent an indication of the steep decline of New York nightlife in recent years, it’s also testament to the Rodeo’s singleminded dedication to booking consistently excellent music in a space which for many reasons is one of the last places you would expect to find it. Disabuse yourself of any notion that the Rodeo might be an uncool place. It’s the only joint in town that serves deep-fried pickles, reason alone to stop by “New York’s only honkytonk.” The restaurant takes up the south side of the club, separated by a wall from the adjacent bar and venue. You can hear the music if you take a table at the back of the restaurant. Rodeo Bar books the best music of any Manhattan venue, even better than Lakeside, a mix of nationally touring country acts along with the creme de la creme of the New York country scene, with the occasional singer-songwriter or rock band. The sound can be excellent if you’re close to the stage, just make sure you’re in front of the legions of drunken Baruch college kids who boink in the bathrooms, have zero interest in the music and bellow over it. Drinks aren’t cheap but the food is good and greasy if a little pricy: if you’re planning on eating, take a table in the front and enjoy the show. There’s absolutely no Nazi factor here. You can take a seat across from the bar, eat their free peanuts and nobody will bother you.
639A Fifth Avenue, between 18th & 19th Sts., Park Slope, Brooklyn
R to Prospect Ave. or any train to Atlantic Ave, walk up to 5th Ave and go right
Southern-flavored coffee shop/bakery with singer-songwriters. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
345 Grand St. east of Roebling, Williamsburg, J/M/Z to Marcy Ave., walk up Havemeyer and hang a right or L to Bedford and a 10 minute walk.
This comfortably secluded latin bar – tucked just off the BQE where Grand St. ends – has had its personality tweaked so many times that it should be black and blue by now. But it’s not – in fact, its current incarnation is the best yet. It’s basically the Williamsburg version of the Nuyorican. For a somewhat off-the-beaten-path kind of place, they sure get some topnotch, high-profile acts, many of whom would cost you $100 or more at places like the Blue Note. Music is not an everyday thing here – when they have it, it’s mostly latin jazz with frequent hip-hop, reggae or the occasional trendoid project. You walk into a dark entryway; there’s a wine bar to your left and also one in the basement, the bar with music to your right. Both serve expensive bistro food, although drinks aren’t overwhelmingly so, and the wine list isn’t as pricy as you would assume. Bands play on the right corner stage, past the bar. The sound is excellent. This latest incarnation has a remarkably casual, friendly vibe – although the crowd can change that, if the house is full of trendoids. Don’t let the swanky decor scare you away. Be aware that acts here sometimes run later than advertised, as much as an hour after the scheduled showtime.
239 W 52nd betw Bwy/8th Ave.
B/E to to 50th St./7th Ave.
Through the decade of the 90s, it was a real ballroom for Latin dancing. Since it wasn’t built with amplified music in mind, the sound is predictably bad and often downright abysmal. National touring bands too popular for Bowery Ballroom or Irving Plaza but not big enough to sell out Madison Square Garden play here. Tickets are available at the Irving Plaza box office, and usually very expensive. Depending on who’s playing here and how many tickets they expect to sell, they may or may not have bleachers for seating on both sides of the big dance floor. Drinks are way overpriced. Roseland is notorious for having the nastiest door crew in New York, to rival the Living Room. If you absolutely must go to a show here, plan on arriving at the last minute because if you show up with everybody else, you will be left in an interminably long line, harrassed and maybe even physically assaulted by the steriod-addled ex-con bouncers who scream at you in thick Long Island accents through their bullhorns if in fact they don’t smack you around. And don’t even think of bringing any contraband in: they really like to feel you up before they let you through the doors. This applies to both men and women.
Rubulad
no website
Events are usually held at the Rubulad “home base”, 338 Flushing Ave. betw Classon & Taffee, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
G to Flushing Ave., follow the street signs, it’s right next to the gas station.
Rubulad is a New York rite of passage: everyone goes to at least one Rubulad event in their lives. The name is the event’s originator’s phone number spelled out on a keypad. The “home base” is a totally old-school Brooklyn, punk rock vibe, kids drinking cheap keg beer from plastic cups, no bathrooms or sound system, although occasionally they’ve been known to rent a multi-level space somewhere in Manhattan. Bands play through their amps and maybe a couple of JBLs borrowed from somebody’s rehearsal space. It used to be a lot more fun than it is now: in recent years it’s taken on an annoying Burning Man feel, wall-to-wall trendoids and smelly hoons, and clowns. There ought to be clowns, anyway. Until there are, you’ll have to make do with fire twirlers, gypsy dancers, jugglers and people selling what purports to be absinthe but might also be bathtub gin: caveat emptor. And you might want to pass on that muffin if you don’t want to show up for work the next day tripping. In the event’s early years they would get a ton of good bands, but the quality has declined to match the audience’s taste or lack thereof. And the promoters have taken to gouging you extra at the door if you don’t show up in the “costume” they expect you to assemble in the few brief hours between the time you get the email announcing the event and the time it starts.
Park Ave. at 51st St.
6 to 53rd St.
Home of one of the world’s most distinctive, powerful church organs (including a dramatic trumpet located in the ceiling), there are occasional organ concerts here, along with regularly scheduled, free choral music. This church has an impressive social conscience, reflected in the artists who play here. As you would expect, the sound is amazing.
5th Ave. between 50th and 51st St.
E to 53rd St. or B/D/F to Rockefeller Center
A few years ago, one of the local television stations aired an alarmist piece about germs on door handles. One of the doors tested happened to be right here at the church, and for some mysterious reason – you be the judge – it turned out to be the only one in town that was completely germ-free. The “world’s most famous U.S. gothic Roman Catholic Cathedral,” as they bill themselves has world-class acoustics, a world-class organ with the most powerful, low bass pedal stops in town, and a dynamic and talented music director and head organist in Dr. Jennifer Pascual. Their series of organ, classical and choral music concerts is outstanding, and admission is usually free. Organ concerts are typically held on a Sunday at 4:45 PM sharp. Because the sonics here are the best in town and among the best in the world (and because tourists are constantly wandering in and out), concerts here tend to be very well-attended: early arrival is advised. Please remember that you are in a church and behave respectfully: no talking, no snacking, no cellphones.
Broadway between Fulton and Vesey St.
A/C/E/2/4/J/M/Z to Fulton/Broadway-Nassau St.
Booked by the same people who run the music series at Trinity Church, this beautiful old historic landmark has frequent, free Thursday, 1 PM concerts featuring the same diverse performers as at Trinity: classical, jazz, choral and world music. Because the space is smaller than at Trinity, it fills up faster: unless you get there a little early, you may be stuck up in the peanut gallery. Where the sound is just as good as it is downstairs, although you may not be able to see the performers. From all appearances, the organ here is the original one, and it’s somewhat underpowered compared to what you might expect in a space this size (although for authenticity, it can’t be beat). Because this is a house of worship, please be respectful (among other things, this means leaving your tired, cranky, squalling infant at home!).
53rd and 5th Ave.
B/D/F to Rockefeller Center
The sound is as incredible as you would expect from an architecturally beautiful old stone church. There isn’t much of a crowd for the free, weekly 5:15 PM Sunday organ concerts here, mid-September through the end of May, mostly older folks. This is a beautiful, historic landmark, and you can hear a pin drop, so please turn off your phone, refrain from talking during the music and don’t litter. Also, men wearing headgear should remove it as they enter the sanctuary. All the best organists on concert tour want to play here because the sound and the organs are so good (the old Skinner in the front is scheduled to be replaced in the next couple of years, so, carpe diem). Acts here are booked several months in advance, and there’s a handy schedule on the website. Be aware that the church’s main organist John Scott (who recently performed an acclaimed Buxtehude marathon here) is extremely popular, so get here a half-hour early if you want to see him. As you would expect, it also gets extremely crowded around Christmas or Easter. They also have frequent choral music concerts.
100 Lafayette St. south of Walker, Chinatown.
N/R/Q/6/J/M to Canal St.
Don’t be scared off by the phalanx of scary-looking bouncers or the velvet rope: they’re there for the Connecticut and New Jersey tourists who frequent the downstairs disco, not the upstairs club where they have frequent live shows. It’s a pretty big room, about the same size as Sullivan Hall with comparably good sound (although be aware that if the act you’re seeing here is on the quiet side, the thud of the computer-simulated percussion emanating from the basement can be somewhat jarring). There are bars on the left as you walk in, and in the far right corner, possibly with tables in front of the big stage for quieter acts, along with a little alcove of booths on the right behind the sound board. Drinks aren’t cheap, as you can imagine, although the staff are surprisingly nice, and word on the street is that bands are treated well here which is always a plus. Booking here is adventurous: reggae, jazz, singer-songwriters, rock and the occasional gay act. Advance tix for more popular acts are recommended and available at their box office
2271 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. (133-134 St)
B/2/3 to 135th St.
This scruffy storefront restaurant/bar/club, just three blocks from the train, wins on just about every count: it’s simply one of Manhattan’s three or four best venues. Vaguely African-themed restaurant in front, music in the back in a small space about the same size as the back room at Lakeside with impressively good sound. Music is as about as diverse as it gets here: reggae, ska, jazz, singer-songwriters, indie rock, jam bands and world music. Cover is cheap, if there is one. The place and the people who run it have a strikingly casual, laid-back vibe: no Nazis anywhere. The food is excellent, fairly inexpensive and there are a lot of vegetarian options (their homemade habanero sauce is heaven for hot pepper addicts but should be avoided at all costs if you can’t handle spicy food). Draft beer is expensive and drinks are even more so but they are extremely strong – however, happy hour is 5-8 PM when they are only $4 (as of this writing, May 2009) . One thing you should know is that the service here seems to run on African time so settle up fast if you have to be somewhere afterward.
Ave. A and 6th St.
F/V to 2nd Ave., walk north and east, or take the M101 bus uptown (or the M102 downtown) to St. Mark’s.
Dork central – if you like whiny, nasal, insecure guys and girls awkwardly trying to wrap their fingers around a simple chord or two as they mewl one nonsequitur after another, this is the place for you (the Moldy Peaches got their start here). Once in awhile, they’ll have a good oldtimey act or even a rock band or two. You enter the bar on the avenue; the restaurant is to your right, music in the back room. The sound is lousy except for when the impressively competent Somer is working the board. Otherwise, it’s friends of the bands. Serious alcoholics hang out at the bar during happy hour. The waitress may get pissed if you bring your beer in from the bar to the back room as a band is starting: you’re supposed to order from her. There’s no happy hour service in the back and although they don’t enforce the two-drink per set minimum, the waitress will bug you to order something. Happy hour at the bar is now 2-for-1 but only on wells and drafts, 5-7 PM at the bar: you’d do better to go to Lakeside. Other than the occasional attitudinous waitperson, the Nazi factor is nonexistent. The restaurant has lousy diner food 24 hours a day, which you can get in the back room.
915 Wyckoff Avenue at Halsey St., Ridgewood, Queens
L to Halsey or M to Myrtle-Wyckoff St.
A relatively new indie rock/outsider jazz loft in Queens. Who knew. Not reviewed as/of 6/09
68 Jay St., Dumbo, Brooklyn
F to York St.; walk downhill, the bar will be on your left at the corner of Water
A throwback to another, vastly more pleasant era when the streets down here were strictly for the adventurous and the down-and-out. This dark, narrow little rectangular space in the old Grand Union tea warehouse is quietly supplanting Pete’s Candy Store as old-timey music central: they don’t have shows every night, but when they do, they are excellent, everything from bluegrass to delta blues. Mississippi hill country bluesman Will Scott plays here every Wednesday and is reliably good. In the early evening, many of the neighborhood trust fund kids wake up and come here. But when the music starts, they all leave, because it’s good. Relatively cheap drinks, a nice bar staff, casual atmosphere and no little Hitlers to be found anywhere.
The Slipper Room
their website is absolutely useless
corner of Orchard and Stanton
F/V to 2nd Ave.
This small, dark, red-curtained room has a bar to your right, with the stage straight ahead in the back. Drinks are small and expensive (no draft beer). They don’t have music every night: it’s usually a strip club. This is the quietest venue in town, so quiet, in fact that when bands play here, you end up wishing it was louder. Since they charge a cover, it doesn’t have a regular crowd that comes out to drink. Surprisingly, there isn’t much of a Nazi factor, especially since there are usually women inside taking off their clothes. Once in a while they’ll have a live band night or a singer-songwriter or two.
183 W 10th St. just west of 7th Ave. S, north side of the street
1/9 to Christopher St.; A/C/E/B/D/F to W 4th St. and walk west
This lovable, basement-level dump remains as fertile an incubator for jazz talent as it was in the 90s: ever notice how so many bands from the Smalls scene during that era are playing Lincoln Center now? Cover is typically $20 and the level of talent is outstanding, a mix of up-and-coming artists and better-known acts playing diverse styles from traditional to latin to vocal jazz. A lot of familiar faces seem to make this place their home. The sound here is much better than you would expect from the junk-shop decor – several live albums have been recorded here. Drinks are as pricy as you would expect; the staff are casual and pleasant. Early arrival is always a good idea because this place sells out frequently.
2751 Broadway (105/106)
1/9 or C to 103rd St.
New York, NY 10025
Popular, fancy uptown jazz club. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
204 Varick St. at Houston
Mostly latin, Brazilian and hip-hop at this long-running, swanky west village Brazilian restaurant/club. The sound on the big stage is typically good, and surprisingly, there’s absolutely no Nazi factor. Tix tend to be expensive – over $20 – at the box office. The food is mediocre and at their prices, to be avoided. Be aware that while sometimes the club opens up the floor for more popular acts, sometimes (especially for older acts) they don’t, meaning that unless you take a table for dinner, you may be squished into a narrow corridor between the dining area and the relatively small bar space. Lately Monday has been free reggae night.
110 Bedford Ave., Williamsburg, entrance on N 11th just west of Bedford
L to Bedford Ave.
Scheduled to move about a block away and reopen around September 1, 2009.
Fulton St. at the river, 4/6/A/C/J/M/Z to Fulton/Broadway-Nassau
There are a lot of free shows here during the summer, during the day as well as the evening. Daytime shows are typically Latin and soul music at lunchtime; nighttime concerts are generally indie rock with the occasional Americana act. It’s a very mellow place, not what you would expect: the loud, drunken Wall St. trash who usually hang out here en masse are conspicuously absent. The stage is across South St. right next to the tall ships. The sound is good, considering that it’s outdoors, and surprisingly there’s never much of a crowd. Surrounding stands sell draft beer in plastic cups, so it’s actually legal to drink here, even though it’s a public place. There’s a small seating area, but the chairs get taken quickly.
125 5th Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn
R to Union St. and walk uphill; you can also take the F to 7th Ave. or any of the Atlantic Ave. trains, but it’s a fairly long walk to the club.
Midsized, lowlit space with lots of low tables and a little standing room in front by the stage. Nazi factor: pretty low, although the bouncers get mad and may throw you out if you visit your friends’ band in their downstairs dressing room. It’s booked by the same people who book Maxwell’s in Hoboken, so they get a lot of touring indie rock bands, although lately they’ve been cutting back on the music and doing kiddie events for the monster-stroller crowd. Beer isn’t vastly expensive, and you don’t need advance tix. Too bad the place is situated in such a weird location – this isn’t the easiest place in town to get to – and the sound is downright awful. Bands who play here typically either play Maxwell’s or some other place when they come to town: best to see them there rather than here.
Southside Lounge
no website
41 Broadway, South Williamsburg, Brooklyn
J/M/Z to Marcy Ave, walk along Broadway toward the water (away from Bushwick, which is where the Brooklyn-bound subway is going) about 5 minutes, past Peter Luger’s.
Suddenly it’s 1997 again: this casual, totally unpretentious neighborhood bar is a throwback to the days before the trendoids took over. Nazi factor: absolute zero. Drinks aren’t any cheaper here than anywhere else, but the vibe is a welcome change from the Los Angelesification of the Bedford Ave strip. They have acoustic music at the back of the bar on weekend nights; the PA isn’t very powerful, but the crowd tends to be attentive and listens, for the most part. They also have a nightly midnight happy hour with $3 drafts.
Behind South Street Seaport on the water
A/C/J/M/2/4/6 to Fulton St.
Don’t waste your money. In the beginning during the warmer months there was a single one of these imported German circus tents set up here. Now there’s a whole Spiegelburg of them, and one of them’s a strip club. So when whoever’s onstage is doing the bump ‘n grind, the whole area reverberates with synthesized bass raised to the level of a jet engine during takeoff. Which means that if you’re there for a show, the band has to be very, very loud in order to avoid being drowned out by the “whoomp, whoomp, whoomp” from the adjacent tent. Since most of the musical acts they book here are on the quiet side, this place is a considerable ripoff, a complete waste of time.
***RATED BEST BROOKLYN VENUE 2009***
184 Bedford Ave close to N 7th St., right at the Bedford Ave. L train stop.
The best new bar to pop up in Williamsburg in a long time. Despite its location just across the street from the subway on the dreaded Bedford strip, this relatively new joint has more of an old-school Williamsburg, less touristy vibe than most of the other nearby watering holes, and it’s far more comfortable than any of them. There are two long, rectangular bars facing the street, connected by a doorway in the back: enter on the left where the music is. The stage will be straight ahead. The sound is shockingly good, the staff are very pleasant and there are no Nazis to be found anywhere! Drinks aren’t overwhelmingly expensive; a pub grub menu is also available. Music here is very diverse and frequently very good: bands have discovered that this is a great place to play. Monday is jazz night, Wednesday is open mic with singer-songwriters. Otherwise, it’s a mix of various rock styles from indie to metal along with frequent old-timey acts.
262 Taafe Pl., Ft. Greene, Brooklyn
G to Classon Ave.
Neighborhood watering hole that doubles as a pricy free-range burger joint. Music is only an occasional thing here, usually hip-hop, funk or latin, which makes good sense since although it seems they’re trying to pull trendoids and Pratt kids with the burgers, they also want to appeal to the neighborhood crowd. Not reviewed as of 6/09.
Ave. C and 2nd St.
F/V to 2nd Ave.
Outsider jazz guy John Zorn’s little Alphabet City corner room is where most of his late 80s Knitting Factory crowd has gravitated since Tonic closed. It’s smaller than you would think; they may or may not have seating, depending on the popularity of the act onstage. The sound isn’t what you get at the Jazz Standard, but the crowd usually comes to listen. Booking is all over the place: since a rotating cast of musicians from Zorn’s circle take turns booking the place, there will be months where the acts here are consistently excellent, then they’ll hit a dry spell. Cover is typically $10, sometimes less, seldom more. They don’t serve alcohol, although you can bring it in. Actually a real nice, laid-back place to see a lot of top-quality jazz and jazz-oriented acts, even if it can get stuffy and hot if there’s a big crowd.
259 Banker Street, Greenpoint
G to Greenpoint Ave., or L to Bedford Ave. and a long, perhaps 25-minute walk.
A huge, cavernous former warehouse space that usually serves as a gay disco and has lately become home to the gay trust fund child contingent. Hardly any music here anymore. Despite its prodigious size, this place gets packed, and the line to get in sometimes snakes around the corner (these are long, industrial blocks out here). The sound isn’t much to write home about, and the door staff are nasty. The venue shares ownership with the Delancey. And unless you’ve decided to drop $30 on a car service home, it’s a long, desolate walk from even the closest subway. Ask yourself, is it really worth it?
214 Sullivan St.
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St.
FKA the Lion’s Den; stoner central. This place draws a mix of weedhead NYU kids and smelly hoons with dreadlocks who would have congregated at Wetlands ten years ago. Once in awhile they’ll have a decent reggae, ska or jam band here, otherwise it’s NYU bands and lame cover acts, which is too bad because this is a great room. The sound is excellent and there’s plenty of space to either take a table or stand in front of the big stage. Drinks aren’t overwhelmingly expensive either, although the door staff is as Nazi as you would expect in this neighborhood. Don’t even think of using your phone inside the club because you may be ejected – they vigorously enforce a no-cellphones policy (which, considering the usual clientele, actually isn’t such a bad idea). And be aware that whenever crowds are sparse, the club may yank a band offstage unexpectedly after just a couple of songs. So if it’s raining, it’s snowing or late on a weeknight and your friend’s band is playing here, it might not be worth coming out. For the most popular touring acts, advance tix are recommended at their box office, open 7:30 – 11:30 PM Wed – Sat.
88 7th Ave. S. at Bleecker
1/2/9 to Christopher St. or A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St., walk south and west.
Formerly Sweet Basil, this sit-down jazz joint is comparable to Smalls or the Jazz Gallery and frequently even more of a bargain. Cover is sometimes as low as $10 for up-and-coming acts. The sound is excellent. Shows are at 8 and 10 with a midnight set added on Fridays and Saturdays. Like most of the other big-ticket jazz joints in town, they serve overpriced food, although Sweet Rhythm’s Greek/Middle Eastern menu is a cut above the competition. In addition to jazz, they also have frequent comedy and cabaret shows. In the summer, the club is often closed during the week.
1118 Cortelyou Road between Stratford and Westminster, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
B/Q to Newkirk Ave., walk three blocks on 15th St. to Cortelyou and make a left
New venue doing triple duty as bar, club and flower shop. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
1/2/3 to 96th St.
95th St. & Broadway
There are two rooms here: the long, cavernous ground-floor auditorium with floor seating in front and tiered seats in the back, and the downstairs Thalia Theatre which usually shows movies but which sometimes features music as well. They’ve been doing jazz, classical and world music here forever, along with frequent dramatic and literary events (a couple of NPR shows tape here). The sound is very good upstairs and fine for movies downstairs but a little lacking otherwise. Tickets are expensive, usually over $30. No Nazi factor whatsoever. There’s now a shi-shi bar on the way down to the theatre which serves predictably overpriced little glasses of wine and fancy sandwiches. Tickets for many of the world music events here are available at the World Music Institute box office, 49 W. 27th Street between 6th Avenue and Broadway, 9th floor, Suite 930, open Mon-Thurs, 10 AM – 6 PM , Fri 10 AM – 1 PM , not open on weekends.
837 Union St., Park Slope, Brooklyn.
R to Union St., walk uphill or F to 4th Ave., walk back toward Brooklyn Heights and uphill. Local coffee shop chain. The branch where they have music is at 837 Union St., a huge, spacious space in what was once a garage for delivery trucks. When they have live shows here, it’s mostly jazz, sometimes some really far-out stuff on the big stage to the left in back. Everything here is expensive, alcohol included. There’s no Nazi factor, but as you might expect in an atmosphere fueled by caffeine rather than booze, the crowd, huddled over their laptops, can be annoyingly uptight. Note also that shows can run way, way behind schedule here, as much as a couple of hours: since they’re playing to a captive audience, the bands don’t seem to care
Teneleven
No website
171 Ave. C between 10th and 11th St.
L to 1st Ave.; look for the M14D bus which will drop you at the corner of C and 10th.
The former Mickey’s Blue Room space is vacant again, another victim of gentrification
610 W. 56th Street
Booked by the Mercury Lounge, where you can buy advance tix, this big, cavernous venue features the same type of acts who used to play Roseland, i.e. those too popular for Irving Plaza or Bowery Ballroom but not big enough to fill Madison Square Garden. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
Bleecker between LaGuardia and Thompson, north side of the street, upstairs
A/C/E/B/D/F to West 4th St., take the exit on the south side
One of New York’s only two remaining blues bars (Lucille’s is the other) has terrific sound, and cover is cheap even if drinks are not. Usually it’s the same lame Clapton wannabes playing here week after week, but sometimes they’ll have some really good acts (Hazmat Modine frequently plays here on the weekends). Considering the neighborhood, the staff is surprisingly friendly. Tables up front with waitress service; bar straight ahead of you as you walk in. Take a seat along the rail on your far right, along the wall, if you don’t feel like drinking: usually, you’ll be left alone.
Third Street Music School Settlement
235 E 11th St (2nd/3rd Ave)
Free classical concerts every Friday, usually at 7:30 PM in the comfy first floor auditorium with a few rows of chairs as well as seating along the walls, amphitheatre-style. Seating not reserved, prompt arrival advised. Something of a shock that this isn’t better-known than it is – so far it draws a mostly older neighborhood crowd. The performers are reliably first-rate, players you’d usually have to fork over fifty bucks or so to see at Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall.
248 DeKalb Ave., Ft. Greene, Brooklyn
J/M/Z to DeKalb and walk down the hill; 2/4 to Nevins or A/C to Lafayette
Crunchy, socially conscious coffeeshop. Jazz and acoustic acts play in the back of the shop on the weekends. The sound isn’t much to speak of, but crowds that come here tend to be attentive. Absolutely no Nazi factor: it has an old hippie vibe. Once in awhile they’ll surprise you with somebody really good here.
1041 Manhattan Ave. (corner of Freeman), Greenpoint, Brooklyn
G to Greenpoint Ave.
Laid-back local watering hole that does double duty as trendoid music venue with relatively cheap drinks. Not reviewed as of 6/09.
123 W 43rd St. just west of 6th Ave
B/D/F to 42nd St.
This big old 19th century theatre, a favorite with the folkie crowd back in the 60s, was parodied in the film A Mighty Wind. Tickets are expensive, often ridiculously so (advance tix a must, and generally not through their box office: you may have to go to a Ticketmaster outlet like Irving Plaza). Ironically, the sonics here work best when there’s a loud rock band onstage. Acoustic acts sound lost in this boomy, spacious room. Unlike at the Beacon, they’ll let you out to smoke (there’s frequently an intermission), and if you’re not obvious about it, you can sneak alcohol in (forget about their small, overpriced drinks). Bootlegging is a piece of cake. These days they book a mix of world music, classical, jazz and Americana, mostly older artists.
Grand between Roebling/Havemeyer, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford (walk on Bedford south as the streets get smaller, left on Grand) or J/M/Z to Marcy (walk up Havemeyer past the bus depot and under the BQE, up to Grand where you make a left)
There’s a bar in front as you walk in, a fairly spacious music room with a small bar in the back. The sound is better than you would expect, and fairly loud: this is one of the better sounding rooms in town. The bar is predictably a trendoid scene, but avoid that, pay the cover charge and go to the back where there’s one of the best deals in town: open bar with wells and PBRs with paid admission, 8-9 PM. At the main bar, they have free tater tots on the hour and are very generous with them. To their immense credit, the vibe here is 180 from what it was a couple of years ago: the Nazis have vanished, and it’s actually become a good place to hang out. Drinks at the front bar are as expensive as they are elsewhere, but with power hour in the back, who cares. Booking here is impressively diverse: although given the location, there’s still a lot of trendoid twee and indie rock, they also have punk, metal and even the occasional singer-songwriter (which creates some of the most jarring segues of any club in town). Bands should be aware that everyone is paid AT THE END OF THE NIGHT, not after they play, meaning that if you play early, either you have to stick around or send a bandmate back to collect your cash in the wee hours.
Broadway at Wall St.
2/3/4/5 to Wall St. or any train to Fulton St., walk south and west
A beautiful historic landmark and a remarkably progressive institution, especially considering how close it is to enemy lines. Their free, early afternoon summer series of organ concerts is diverse and exciting, featuring performers from all over the world playing the “virtual organ” – the church previous one was destroyed on 9/11. They also have frequent classical, jazz, world and choral music concerts throughout the year, most of them free. The acoustics here are superb as you would imagine; because these shows are popular, early arrival is always a good idea. Please remember that you are in a house of worship and be respectful: no talking, no cellphones, no crinkly bags of potato chips, no screaming rugrats. If you miss a concert, the church archives them for free streaming here.
351 Broadway (Keap & Rodney)
J/M/Z to Marcy Ave
Williamsburg gallery owners lost their lease so they opened a bar on the southside just seconds from the train. Pleasantly lowlit, rectangular space; music only an occasional thing here, but when they have it, it’s good: Balkan music or jazz in the corner in the back. The sound isn’t all that great because this isn’t really a venue, it’s a bar. Nice enough people running it, drinks on the pricy side, no Nazi factor but a really annoying, rude trust-fund kid crowd. Won’t it be nice when their parents cut off their allowances and call them all back to Malibu.
514 2nd St. btw 7th and 8th Ave, Park Slope, Brooklyn
Just about equidistant from either the R at 4th Ave. or the F at 7th Ave. and a ten minute walk either way.
Sister to the pizza place on Ave. A in Manhattan, they have occasional free live music, usually on the weekend when they’re open til midnight. Shows usually start around 9, acoustic acts or bands cramming into the tiny area that serves as a stage. Given the limitations, it’s actually not a bad place to see music, especially if you’re hungry or underage. Since this is a pizza place, not a bar or club, don’t expect great sound, and expect to be surrounded by screaming rugrats dragged along by their inattentive yuppie parents until they finally go home around 10. The slices here are nothing special but better than what they have at the Manhattan location.
1733 1st Ave. at 90th St.
6 to 86th St. or M2 bus north on 2nd Ave.
This upper Eastside bar has live music Thursday-Saturday, a mix of rock and singer-songwriters, the quality of which has been on the upswing lately. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
702 Union St. at 5th Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn
R to Union St. and walk a block back toward Brooklyn Heights or F to 4th Ave., walk about 9 blocks back toward Bkn. Hts.
There’s a dimlit, cavernous restaurant space upstairs, the front lined with shelves full of junk-shop books, the rear taken up mostly by a large, little-used, space-wasting bocci court. The downstairs music room is surprisingly small by comparison to the upstairs, no bigger than the basement room at Freddy’s, with comparable sound. Most of the bands here are trendoid fodder: twee acts, mumbly Calla wannabes and East Coast suburbanites feigning Southern accents. Upstairs seems to be a big yuppie puppy pickup scene; because there’s a cover, usually around $10, the downstairs crowd varies according to who’s playing there. While the vibe here is pretty bland, it’s also not Nazi or overwhelmingly annoying, either.
corner of Union and the BQE, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L or G to Lorimer, walk straight down Union toward the BQE, club is on the corner on your right.
The music is usually in the back building at this two-building complex, once a pool supply dealership, that you reach after crossing the courtyard outside. It’s a high-ceilinged room with iffy, generally loud sound. Avoid standing under the little balcony in the back if you can: someone might spill their beer on you. Ten years ago, this place was rockabilly central, now it’s mostly tourists and trendoids. Not a place where you’d want to hang out. Drinks aren’t cheap. The Nazi factor is low. There’s a door guy on the weekends, but if you’re obviously of age you won’t have any problem getting in. The quality of the acts here depends. They like theme nights. On a good night you can see several good bands. Rev. Vince Anderson – a New York institution and incredibly charismatic performer who you should see at least once in your life – plays here on Mondays at 11.
240 Meserole St., Bushwick, Brooklyn
L to Montrose Ave.
Vanished, kaput after barely a few months in business.
130 W 3rd St. just east of 6th Ave.
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St.
Steve Weitzman, who booked the late, lamented Tramps back in the 80s and 90s, brought many of that club’s act to this downstairs club, which lasted for about five years before closing its doors in the early zeros. Lately reopened as a hip-hop disco, and now it looks like they’re bringing other styles into the mix. The previous incarnation was basically a sit-down joint, tables and booths flanking the stage and in front, with a long bar and a relatively small standing-room area for people who didn’t want to have to subject themselves to a pricy drink minimum to squeeze into. Back in 2002 the sound was excellent, the staff were nice – absolutely no Nazis, although that was a different time and place – food was expensive and so were tix (typically $20 and up). Not reviewed as of 5/09.
1/2/9 to Christopher St. or A/C/B/D/E to W 4th St. and walk west
178 7th Ave. S
This small, legendary basement venue has booked pretty much every jazz legend since the end of World War II (believe it or not, CBGB owner Hilly Kristal got his start here). Drinks are notoriously expensive and tiny (although you get a drink ticket with paid admission), as are the little chairs and tables they squeeze you into. But the sound is pristine (there’s a reason why so many jazz groups have made live albums here), the staff is professional if obviously harried – you have to be something of an acrobat to work here – and the acts are reliably first-rate. It’s pricy but cheaper than the other jazz clubs – $20 cover plus a $10 drink minimum during the week, $35 cover plus $10 drink minimum on weekends. Despite its limitations, this is your best bet for big-name jazz in New York.
1022 Cortelyou Road, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Coffeeshop with the occasional singer/songwriter or band show. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
2/4 to Bowling Green
This is the smaller park just to the north of Battery Park. The two are like night and day. This one has a small plaza overlooking the bike path along the water; there are numerous free shows here during the summer from June through early September. Of all the downtown summer concert series, the one here is the best, typically roots music ranging from blues to country to a lot of Latin music toward the end of the summer. Bands play at the edge of the plaza, facing away from the water. Bring a blanket, wear a hat and shades and sunscreen since the evening sun gets very intense as it sets over the river. The crowd is mellow, there are no uniformed Nazis wandering around and you can do pretty much whatever you like so long as you’re not bothering anyone.
Warsaw
No website
261 Driggs Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford Ave. or G to Nassau St.
Big, beautiful, cavernous Polish wedding banquet hall. Plus cheap Polish draft beer and cheap steam-table Polish eats. Since this place dates from before the turn of the previous century, the architects did not predict the advent of rock n roll, the sound can be boomy: the closer you are to the stage, the better you’ll hear, and there’s plenty of room here. Music is only an occasional thing here, although the acts they get are frequently topnotch: Gogol Bordello, Rasputina, Patti Smith. Advance tix are available at their box office, there’s absolutely no Nazi factor, and on nights when there are no events, the bar and the snack bar are open to the public. For the most part, the crowd is neighborhood Polish kids: the trendoids, being xenophobic, generally stay away.
Webster Hall
E 11th between 3rd and 4th Aves.
Do you really want to go here? Read this and then decide.
Get a ticket to a show here at your peril: do not pass go, do not collect $200. Why? Because even if you have a ticket, the Biggie Smalls wannabes who man the doors here may refuse to let you in to see the show you just spent $30 for. In addition to the former Ritz space - where the bands play – there are several other rooms here (the Connecticut room, the Long Island room and the Westchester room, one would imagine). Regardless of whether you have a ticket to see a band, or you just want to pay $30 to hang out with your Massapequa friends, drink $10 Rolling Rocks and listen to Journey on somebody’s ipod blasting through big speakers, everybody has to stand in the same line. Which moves at a snail’s pace. Meaning that an hour after you got in line, you might be exactly where you were when you first got here. Bands who play here always end up playing elsewhere (Bowery Ballroom, Irving Plaza, the Town Hall, etc.), so you’ll always get another chance to see the band you thought of seeing here before you read this and came to your senses.
367 Bedford Ave., (at S 4th St.)
J/M to Marcy Ave. or walk south down Bedford from the L.
Semimonthly shows – jazz mostly. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
On the water between North 8th and 9th Sts.
L to Bedford Ave.
AKA East River State Park. This is where the McCarren Pool shows have been moved. Other than the And You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead show here on July 26, nothing else worth seeing here in 2009 (note that the August 2 Deerhunter show is in the round with a couple of loser acts). Since this is now a state park, look for 5-0 – in uniform and out - looking to make his quota of cheap arrests: drink at your own risk.
Wingate Field, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
2 train to Winthrop Street, walk 2 blocks east or by bus: B12 on Clarkson Avenue to New York Avenue, walk north; B44 on Nostrand Avenue and New York Avenues to Winthrop Street, walk east. Park entrances on Brooklyn Avenue (Rutland Road and Winthrop Street)
This is the Monday night ghetto version of the free concerts at Coney Island, held from the end of June through August. Unsurprisingly, it’s mostly older black acts from the 70s, with the occasional reggae or old-school hip-hop act. The Nazis who made Central Park Summerstage such a hellacious experience until recently seem to have relocated here: in order to get into the space, you either have to arrive right at 7:30 when the gates open, or late, at 9 or so, otherwise you’ll be trapped within a labyrinth of fences with perhaps thousands of other people, completely unable to move. To get inside, you have to enter the labyrinth on Winthrop Street: it runs a full block down the street and then all the way back again in the opposite direction. You will then be subjected to a rigorous full-body search and then a search of anything you’re carrying (no beverages allowed) by as many as three security goons (like at Roseland, they REALLY like to feel you up here, regardless of whether you’re a woman or a man). Bring a chair if you want to sit because the bleachers running around the back of this sports field fill up fast. The stage is big and the PA is loud and powerful, but as at Coney Island, the sound is iffy unless you’re close to the stage. The crowd tends to be older and mellow, but watch your back: 5-0 is out in full force, looking to make his quota of “quality of life offenses.” That means no smoking anything, tobacco or otherwise. Be extra careful if you’re going to see hip-hop: the crowd is fine, it’s the cops you have to worry about.
49 West 27th Street, Suite 930 west of 5th Ave.
R to 28th St.
Not a club: this is the box office. They’re promoters of an astonishingly good range of music from around the world. Lately they’ve been putting on a lot of shows at Symphony Space and the Town Hall, though they move around a lot. Typically, they choose venues with excellent sound. Tickets to their shows used to be available only at the WMI office in the flower district, but now you can get also get them at Town Hall and Symphony Space for shows at each respective venue. Tix are also available online for some shows for a substantial extra charge. Season subscriptions and membership (which includes a 20% discount on show tix, which could be worth it if you see a lot of them) are also available.
258 Wythe Ave. between Metropolitan and S 3rd, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford Ave., Wythe runs parallel to Bedford: go two blocks west (slightly uphill), then take a left.
Reopened after a fire at the end of April 2008, it remains trendoid central. No one, absolutely no one comes here for the music, and that’s too bad: it’s free, and can be interesting. Mostly instrumental stuff, jazz, funk and world music. Zebulon’s theme is French-African, but you’d never know because the crowd is strictly O.C. This slightly cavernous space with a bunch of tables close to the bar and the stage up front gets absolutely packed at night and on the weekends; forget about getting a seat. And forget about being able to hear anything unless you’re on top of the stage. Nothing wrong with the PA or the sound people here, but the crowd drowns everything out. No Nazi factor, surprisingly, but drinks can be extremely expensive, i.e. $20 for a glass of wine. This is a yucky place to try to see music.
82 West 3rd Street (btw. Thompson & Sullivan)
A/B/C/D/E/F to W 4th St.
After a recent move from their old digs on Houston to the old Sun Mountain/Baggot Inn space, the owners have reputedly renovated the interior and revamped the sound system, a fortuitous development. Live jazz pretty much every night. Saturday is bossa night, Sundays are samba, Mondays guitarist Ron Affif plays with his trio. Fridays are African jazz. Many topnotch jazz acts, typically with some kind of tropical flavor, filter through here. Nice bar staff, drink prices are average for the neighborhood, cheap cover considering what they have here. Hopefully they can pick up where Cachaca tried and failed, and make it work. Not reviewed as/of 6/09.
336 W. 37th St. (8th/9th Aves.)
A/C/E to 34th St.
The latest casualty of the depression, another upscale venue bites the dust. Sad – this was a nice place. RIP.
