:::Goodbye, Old Chap::Mondo Kim's @ St. Marks:::

After the shuttering of their Avenue A, Uptown, and West Village outposts, the closing of Mondo Kim's flagship location on St. Mark's following a 20 year run somehow feels like a harbinger of woes to come for indie music/ film retail. While it's not quite the death knell many predict it to be, it's certainly discouraging. Apparently, several attempts to save the store fell flat after scant negotiations...as did plans to salvage the entire VHS/ DVD rental collection. Instead, this lauded, eclectic lot will end up half way around the world in Italy. Go figure.



I used to love digging through Kim's funky little 99 cent used vinyl bins. Even though 99% of it was crap, you'd always find a gem or two in there if you were a patient enough crate digger. I went weekly to stay up on the latest indie releases and copped many a bootleg vinyl, CD, and DVD. Kim's @ St. Mark's was like an institution for me: I've traded and sold so many CDs there, browsing till the clock struck 11:59 PM, even gawked at their ridiculous porn collection. Yeah, they've opened up a more scaled down version of the store on 1st Avenue, but it will never be the same. Yet and still, it's up to this new location and Other Music to uphold the indie rock torch in NYC. But the question is...if the weight gets too heavy for them to bear with waning record/ DVD sales and a lingering economic slump, will there be any successors to pass that torch to? Are we witnessing the last gasps of an era? Stay tuned through the technical difficulties.

::The Death Of Albee Square Mall::

Another hole in the heart of Hip-Hop nostalgia.


Fulton Street will never be the same. R.I.P.


Though the entire borough of Brooklyn is undergoing a major facelift, downtown Brooklyn is ground zero for this cosmetic alteration. And while these changes may seem superficial to most, their implications are much bigger than many care to realize. It's bigger than Hip-Hop.

After you pour out a taste for the landmarks that ain't here and wax poetic in your eulogies, get up - get out - and DO SOMETHING! Especially if Brooklyn is the place where you dwell.

::A moratorium on NYC nightlife::

Walking around downtown today. Saw this tombstone. It got me to thinking...WTF HAPPENED TO NYC NIGHTLIFE!!! Can it be that it was all so simple in the late 1970s and the 1980s? Or maybe I'm just romanticizing a period in NYC's timeline that was probably equally crappy. After all, the Mudd Club was conceived as a less pretentious alternative to the glitzy, paparazzi magnet Studio 54. So I'm sure all the folks that went to the Mudd Club were singing my lament as well. Hearing the old war stories, it seems like the Mudd Club was "the shit." A place where everything converged. Around that same period, the downtown scene was bubbling. Hip-Hop, punk, and new wave were intermingling with abandon. There were lots of other spots that lent itself to the same ethos, but the Mudd Club appeared to have cornered the market on downtown cool. It was the antithesis to sophistication.

Over the past two years, I've become exceedingly bored with NYC nightlife. It has all become either predictable or posh. S.O.B.'s, Nokia Theater, Irving Plaza (Fillmore East), and others like it are snoozers in my humble opinion. Clear Channel has essentially stamped out the NYC spirit associated with live performance venues in Manhattan. I think I'll start hanging out in Brooklyn more...



But it just seems like all the cultural icons hung out there, including my man Basquiat. I guess that time period trumped ours for the simple fact that Mayor Giuliani hadn't come along with his Nazi-esque Quality Of Life manifesto yet. Up until the mid 90s, NYC still retained some of the true grit that brought some of the most awe inspiring art forms and modes of expression to fruition. It seems that art was cultivated in an environment conducive to free expression. A lot of art in the city today is created for the expressed benefit of Madison Avenue and its multinational corporate clients. After careful study, they've found a way to galvanize our nascent subcultures, polish and package it, and sell it right back to us for a handsome fee. Check the Nike sponsored gallery on Elizabeth Street.

Alas, I guess that's the trajectory of capitalism. And even Basquiat had lofty dreams of getting sponsorship from Fiorruci. And no matter how many times I watch Downtown 81 , The Warriors, Style Wars, and Wild Style or hang out in my neighborhood, the old New York is fading before my very eyes. Never to return. The Bronx is no longer burning and Times Square is now a step away from morphing into an elaborate amusement park. Pretty soon, all we will have left of the old NYC spirit are historical documents, artifacts, and tombstones like the one above.

Dear Virgin Megastore...

1. Your crappy listening stations are always broken.
2. Your staff is always dumb as nails.
3. Your "sales" have contributed to the smothering of the beloved mom & pop record shop.

As the music industry implosion nears completion, I wish you a slow and painful death...
Have a nice day ;-)

.:A requiem for the art of moving butts...on roller skates:.

First the Fat Boys break up, now this?!



I know I'm about 8 months late, but it's never too late to grieve.



At 60 years of age Brooklyn, New York's Empire Roller Rink, the birthplace of roller disco, succumbed to the social illness of random violence, rising insurance costs, and neighborhood complaints.



It leaves behind a host of devoted skaters and DJs to mourn.



Damn...now where else can I boogie on four wheels to Evelyn "Champagne" King's "I'm In Love" or Shalamar's "A Night To Remember"?!

Maybe here: http://www.downandderby.org/mainsite.html

::A requiem for the traditional record store::

It's official, folks. The record retail outlet, as we know it, is going to hell in a handbasket. Between the accelerated number of folks legally and illegally downloading music online and the shitty state of music, we may as well prepare ourselves for the imminent demise of the "record store." I remember when I used to work as a rep for BMG Distribution's NYC branch (pre-Sony merger) not long ago. Going to different record stores in the city with an armfull of P.O.P. and zeal. Beat Street, Music Factory, and Tower Records have all since bitten the dust. Used record & CD resellers like NYC's Midnight Records and Footlight Records (above) have chosen to shutter their storefronts and operate exclusively as online retailers. All these changes in the industry will no doubt have a profound effect on the way we conceptualize music as a product. After all, how many of us can remember when the 7" single was the standard way to bow in an artist's latest full-length album?


I'm sure that pretty soon, most of us won't even leave our funky little apartments to cop music (as if some don't already). In the interim, I wonder what type of intermediary music retail spot the industry will come up with. Maybe some type of highly interactive store where we can punch up our favorite artists and plug in our iPods like 8-track cassettes and download music from some sort of sleek, hi-tech terminal. And as much as I know it will come to pass, I'm really not feeling it. So over time, I'll be spotlighting some of my favorite little record shops in NYC. Stay tuned...

Ok, I'm done talking. Chime in, already.

::The old NYC is dying...get over it::

I think it's time for all of us in denial about this situation to take inventory. Ever since good ole Rudi Giuliani introduced his Quality Of Life initiative during his so-called reign of terror, NYC has been undergoing a discernable series of aesthetic and sociological changes. As much as we hate to admit it, the inevitable is in the making. In short, NYC is on a swift trajectory towards being an exclusive playground solely for the rich and elite. But, alas, all seasons must change. In 10 to 20 years, the NYC that we know and love will be no more. So who's to blame? Maybe James Q. Wilson and his stupid Broken Window Theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Window_Theory). Who knows. But for now, here's a laundry list of the things that NYC will miss after all is said and done:

1. Rent-controlled housing

2. Starving artist communities and "cool" neighborhoods

3. Non-corporate owned concert venues

4. Shitty subway system

5. Peep shows and porno shops

6. Historic landmarks

7. Astroland

8. Skid row and other seedy areas

9. Confinement of tourists to Times Square

10. A city with balls

I'm sure I'm missing somthing, so feel free to chime in. I'll be posting more pics of the new, emerging NYC over time. Stay tuned...