Sweet cream! Not the Knitting Factory, too?!?!

Wow, hopefully they end up staying there past 2009.

boo

Until the new neighbors complain about the noise.

what venues will be left in 3 years? lets start a betting pool.

I have faith that The Knitting Factory will outlast & out-rock them all.

aw jeez....

the only venues that will be left in 3 years are those that are operated by LiveNation, Bowery Presents, AEG, the BB Kings people. The city has made it clear that there is no place for the experimental-type places that aren't so profit-driven.

I've got to say this doesn't sadden me at all, the Knitting factory is one of the worst run medium sized venues I've ever seen a show. Sometimes running like a true factory; pushing bands on stage and off like an assembly line and other times letting bands go on hours late killing time for later acts. No one likes inconsistency.

I've missed great acts out of spite.

Adios! Hopefully a better run venue will take it's place.

I have an idea.....lets close all of the music venues in NYC. While we're at it...who needs the MOMA, and the Guggenheim...they're just taking up space for more ass raping condos. Who needs culture?!?!?! Lord knows we've separated our youth from it in schools why not separate the rest of us.

BRAVO.

Just think in the future NYC everyone will look like Tom Cruise, be as rich as Tom Cruise and they will all be just as glib.

Seriously? Lame.
One of my favorite venues. What is happening to the music in NYC. Sigh.

[quote=Anonymous]the only venues that will be left in 3 years are those that are operated by LiveNation, Bowery Presents, AEG, the BB Kings people. The city has made it clear that there is no place for the experimental-type places that aren't so profit-driven.[/quote]

-- todd p will come to the rescue. :D

and i guess my tags won't work -- too many forums.

Re: "the only venues that will be left in 3 years are those that are operated by LiveNation, Bowery Presents, AEG, the BB Kings people."

You forgot the biggest of all - Cablevision (msg, theatre at msg, radio city and now the beacon)!

fuck the MOMA and Guggenheim. those are bullshit culture factories. if you want real culture, you gotta move to bentonville.

Man, they just upgraded the sound system and lights too...I hope they stick around, plenty of good memories there.

Isn't the Knitting Factory owned by some hedge funder now? There won't be any problems since the guy will just pay the neighbors off.

It still won't make me go to a show there.

wtf? where are all the nyc venues going???

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this isn't the original location of the Knitting Factory, correct? I do suspect that the venue itself will persevere, even if it's not at 74 Leonard circa 2010.

You are correct Tobias. The Knit was originally located on Houston St.

What happens after their lease runs out, remains to be seen.

I performed there many years ago, so I'm a bit sentimental over it.

And I've seen some great shows there.

(sigh)

it was on houston and mulberry if i remember...i saw guided by voices there in like 93.

i always loved knitting because it was the perfect area to see a band and not feel like you were going to some carnival filled with poseurs.

how does the bowery do so well? the location is relatively irrelevant since all fans will travel anywhere remotely decent to see a band. the bookers get top quality bands nearly every night but i doubt they overpay for the priviledge...each venue seems to have enough bars to get the patrons liquored up.

i just dont get it.

BB does overpay for the privilege.

I am through bemoaning all the closings of music venues in Manhattan. It's time to face it: as far as smallish venues for loud music goes, Manhattan is OVER. Done. Dead (or very shortly will be). Save yourself a lot of agony and stress and just accept that you simply have to go to Brooklyn. Seriously, you'll feel a load lifted off your shoulders the second you do.

Well, by economic defintion BB is not "overypaying" if they're the ones who are staying in business while the other venues are closing. Maybe the other venues were just underpaying and couldn't get the talent.

This is about real estate, not a comment on the quality of shows and whatnot.

Realtors and owners see an opportunity to cash in on a situation that would be profitable to them.

They just built a huge apartment complex on that same block where a parking lot used to be.

Decisions of cultural patrimony are being informed by greed. Simple as that.

Brooklyn? the best venue in Brooklyn was just squeezed out of their neigborhood. This is city-wide...

Except that new venues have been opening in high rent areas of Manhattan...Highline Ballroom, Gramercy, Nokia (not too long ago)...the new venues are just larger with more popular bands and better management...It's more an issue of very small venues being uneconimical in Manhattan given the high rents.

the point is that the new venues are all operated by the SAME 4 or 5 corporations.

Yes, the consolidation is the same thing that happens in most any line of business over time. It's more economically efficient for a large company to run multiple venues than for small companies or individuals to run standalone venues. This is especially true in this age of globalization.

Jack, there's a difference between what's economically efficient and what's good for bands and listeners. Some of us don't trust Live Nation to decide which bands will have a place to play in Manhattan and which ones won't. And some of us even (gasp) prefer shows in smaller, more intimate venues.

Yes, but are you willing/able to pay a lot more to see bands in a small venue than you would a large venue...and even if your answer is yes, do enough people feel the same?

A better question is, why does the city where I pay taxes have to approve almost every single project that a handful of big developers come up with, regardless of how it affects my neighborhood?

Maybe because the developers pay far more to the city government than you do.

Went to see Pere Ubu tonight at the KF. I don't think I will miss that place, the layout in the new KF is just too awkward.

It's doubtful the new buyer will opt to continue to have a music club devaluing the 18 high priced lofts above after 2009 when they could easily get a quieter tennant.

"Maybe because the developers pay far more to the city government than you do."

That's not neccesarily true. Individual developers may pay more into the city than individual middle- and working-class people, but the majority of the city's revenue comes from regular people, not developers. Which is why sometimes the interests of the community should take prececedence over the rights of individual property holders. (I don't think this is one of those times, but I just felt like making that point.)

Nightclub stitched to the city
Knitting Factory vows not to go the way of CBGB
by amy zimmer / metro new york

> email this to a friend
APR 4, 2007

MANHATTAN. Though the Knitting Factory’s TriBeCa building is up for sale, the music venue promises it won’t leave New York and follow CBGB, the Bottom Line or other venerated clubs.

Its 27,000-square-foot building — roughly 11,000 square feet of which have been used by the Knitting Factory for 13 years — is up for sale and Besen & Associates expects to bring in $15 million to $16 million for it, The Real Deal reported this week.

The club was “exploring all of its options, including the potential acquisition” of the building, according to a statement yesterday from Jared Hoffman, president and CEO of Knitting Factory Entertainment.

He said the club, which originally opened 20 years ago on East Houston Street, “has always been a resilient and tenacious cultural icon.”

The company, which has three stages in its TriBeCa space and three more at a Los Angeles venue, hosts more than 5,000 shows a year and runs a few record labels. Recent performers included a party with Beck, Robyn Hitchcock and, last night, rock band Pere Ubu played the main stage.

If a bid doesn’t work out and new owners raise the venue’s rent too high, “the plan is to go forward and present music to New York audiences,” Knitting Factory spokeswoman Deana Graffeo said. “The Knitting Factory has moved before. It’s more than its brick and mortar.”

The club is celebrating its 20th anniversary and will be announcing plans. If anything, the company, which is also working on digital media projects, “is looking at a kind of expansion rather than going away,” Graffeo said.

Rising rent

The Knitting Factory’s potential move follows news

of Lower East Side club closures due to rising rents for Sin-e on Attorney Street and Tonic on Norfolk Street.

bye bye manhattan, hello brooklyn.

You all complain about the closing of Knitting Factory and the fact that NYC is killing art and experimental music, but all these "experimental" bands that you guys love so much play gigs for 3 people because the no one goes out to see them. This is why Knitting Factory is closing. They book horrible bands and no one goes and sees them. It's not because Bowery Presents is taking over the city. It is because Bowery Presents books good music and Knitting Factory and CBGB's in the last 10 years. Also all clubs are 21 and older so the fan base for most good music is killed. Unlike in the UK where the concerts are filled with real music lovers who are dancing and having a good time, but are not always 21. All in all the look at Knitting Factory's music schedule and pick a concert you think you might want to go to. I guarantee you might find one and most of the bands will be bands you've never heard of. And the one concert you do pick to go to, you won't end up going to, because it's just not worth it.

The REAL Knitting Factory died in 2003.