Defeated Sanity @ Silent Barn (more by Samantha Marble)

"The Silent Barn is an immersion into the art of New York City as it lives. It's a double-floor music venue inside of a kitchen, an independent video games arcade, an art theater & performance space, a party surveillance system, a zine library, a museum of gigantic murals, and a home for Castle Oscar. Founded in 2004, The Silent Barn is now grandfather to a beautiful re-emergence of similar spaces across Brooklyn, and a quintessential model for all-ages DIY art and music culture in America. It resides proudly alongside Flux Factory and the Museum of the Moving Image as a rare contemporary art institution in Queens, New York. It has long been the headquarters of both Showpaper and Babycastles, young and booming art institutions in NYC. It has birthed the careers of The Dirty Projectors, Dan Deacon, Future Islands, Deerhunter, Teengirl Fantasy, Vivian Girls, Real Estate, The Black Lips, Pictureplane, and many, many others.

A recent and massive theft has put the Silent Barn in a position to temporarily close operations, and we are viewing this as an opportunity to begin our transition into a viably permanent, resilient, and safe part of New York City. After several years of a rotating cast of operators, including Skeletons, Todd P, John Chavez, and Andy Borsz, The Silent Barn has settled into permanent marriage to G. Lucas Crane (Woods, Nonhorse), Joe Ahearn (ART on AIR, Showpaper), Kunal (Loud Objects, Babycastles), and Nat Roe (WFMU). We are working to co-sign a new 5-year lease for Silent Barn, officially making this a long standing piece of New York City.

We are now raising up to $80,000 in order to ensure the viability of The Silent Barn as a permanent all-ages venue for independent and experimental music, games, and art...."

Check out a video of Dirty Projects playing the Queens venue below...

Continue reading "Silent Barn raising money to rebuild & be even better"

Chat Logs @ Silent Barn (more by Amanda Dandaneau)

Hi everybody! Here is a list of the major sound gear that was stolen from the Silent Barn. There's plenty more that was stolen, including a bunch of bikes, personal stuff, cash, computers, etc etc. But if anybody thinks they may know where these are, please contact us at Silentbarn@gmail.com

2 powered QSC K8 speakers
2 powered behringer Eurolive B1800D-PRO subwoofers
1 Yamaha MG166CX 16-Channel Mixer
1 snake with 8 XLR inputs and 4 1/4"" inputs
2 Yamaha passive PA speakers (painted white)
Peavey Bass Cab
Two Peavy power amps
Soundcraft Spirit 4 mixer
Tape Decks
Ampeg bass amp BA 115 bass combo
Peavey bass combo amplifier
Silver Stanton USB turntable
behringer bcf2000 usb mixer

Thanks!!! Your support has literally kept us from folding and giving up. Everybody's warmth has been totally amazing and uplifting.

UPDATE: Now there's a kickstarter too

MSG (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

While on the subject of venues, might as well catch up and post this...

Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena, is going dark for the summer -- and top acts like Sade, Britney Spears and Taylor Swift are having to perform on the outskirts of the Big Apple as the renowned venue prepares for a long-term makeover.

MSG will spend the next three summers reconstructing its arena. That's good news for New Jersey venues like the Prudential Center and IZOD Center, which are experiencing an increase in high-profile performers as a result. Even Long Island's Nassau Coliseum is getting a small boost.

"MSG is the busiest arena and has been the busiest arena that I've seen in the States ... and anytime you take out that supply, especially if you have an increase in demand, it's going benefit the Prudential Center, and certainly we expect that to be the case," said Jeff Vanderbeek, who owns the Prudential Center in Newark.

It's a busy summer for top musical acts: Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block are on the road together, the cast of "American Idol" and "Glee" are performing live and hitmakers like Katy Perry and Rihanna -- accompanied by Cee Lo Green -- have tours. [AP]

Kemado/Mexican Summer opened Co-op 87 in October 2009 to to sell their own records and others from local labels like Captured Tracks, Rvng, Minimal Wave, and Group Tightener. The store has now expanded. In their words...

While the shop was a great experience, it was time to expand the opportunity to create a space that not only carried our labels and friends, but also to be a major source of used collector pieces, rarities, concert bootlegs at great prices.

We give you, the new, irreverent, mighty record head-filled haunt: CO-OP 87-redone and waiting to be dug into with lasting hang power.

With the help of- Mike Sniper, Keith Abrahamsson, and Mike Catalano (credits including running the local record labels Mexican Summer and Captured Tracks, as well as formerly operating shops like Academy Records in Brooklyn) the relaunch of CO-OP 87 has been a grand curation. Using taste and experience they've warped the space into a true record buying destination. Starting with donations from major album collectors and estate sales all over the country, Co-Op 87 is a sweet addition to an ever growing neighborhood, filled with an oasis of handpicked vinyl ranging from all genres and time.

Back in January, we mentioned that legendary East Village dive bar Mars Bar was set to close. Yesterday the venue reportedly closed for good....

Earlier this afternoon, word spread that Mars Bar, the beloved and soon to be leveled dive on 2nd Avenue, was closed by the Health Department and would be opening up soon. Not the case. An EV Grieve tipster just stopped by and says it's finally time to close for good. Grieve writes "George is frantically taking down art. So -- if you have stuff here, now would be a good time to stop by and collect it."

The owner Hank Penza plans on reopening the bar once the shiny, new replacement condo building project is completed. [Eater]

Coco66 in October 2010 (more by Andrew St. Clair)

As mentioned, Coco66 was shut down on July 9 so SBTRKT couldn't DJ after his PS1 show. We also recently mentioned that the July 23rd Pictureplane, Teengirl Fantasy, Gatekeeper show originally scheduled at Coco66 has been moved to 285 Kent. That's because Coco66 never reopened after the SBTRKT incident...

It seems that Greenpoint music venue and bar Coco66 was raided by both the NYPD and SLA for operating without a liquor license last weekend. According to reports at Paper and New York Shitty, the authorities showed up at some point Saturday night and arrested the venue's owner David Kelleran and in a scene out of prohibition, all of the booze was destroyed by the SLA when they made the bartenders pour out every last drop of about $20,000 worth of alcohol. What a waste! The bar's problems began in October, 2010 when the NYPD conducted an initial raid and lost its liquor license. Kelleran had been buying booze at retail shops for the bar's events and apparently wants to try to reopen the bar without a liquor license. [Eater]

Silent Barn (more by Leia Jospe)

This weekend has been incredibly heartbreaking for all of us at The Silent Barn. On top of many issues that we're currently dealing with, over the weekend our house was completely ransacked. About $15k worth of audio equipment, house projects and personal belongings are gone. The violence to the space is almost as upsetting as the theft. Doors were ripped off of hinges, furniture ripped to shreds, and everything in the space strewn about in a sea of debris. We've lost 7 years worth of accumulated equipment, tools, and artwork donated and built by individuals from every end of the scene's spectrum, and we're still reeling with what this means for our own lives and the future of the space. If you would like to find out what you can do, email silentbarn@gmail.com. We need your help to continue.

Thank you for your concern over the last few days. It means as much to us as the space itself.

- Castle Oscar, Momma, Kunal, Lucas, Nat, Jordan, James, Joe

An article in today's Wall Street Journal:

This week, the Iridium will begin broadcasting three to four live performances a week through a partnership with Livestream.com, the Manhattan-based platform and network that facilitates the web streaming of live events--be it a jazz show, red-carpet arrivals or a space-shuttle launch.

Iridium owner Ron Sturm decided to tap into the Livestream network as a way to make sure that what happens at the Iridium doesn't stay in the Iridium. "We are trying to grow beyond our four walls," he said...

...Livestream also has a dedicated concert page that houses enough acts and venues to give it a festival feel: A viewer can hop among streaming or archived concerts from venues such as Birdland, Joe's Pub, SOB's and the Knitting Factory Brooklyn. "These venues are not Madison Square Garden--this is about finding a balance to help small venues with up-to-date technology, so it's not a crazy investment on either side," Mr. Haot said. "If we promote it and they promote it, we can increase the audience by 10 times."

More details below...

Continue reading "2A hosting acoustic shows, free show w/ Lenny Kaye & friends happening Sunday night (tonight)"

"The Barclays Center, the 18,000-seat arena at the heart of the project, will host performances by artists selected by the Brooklyn Academy of Music in a programming alliance between the two neighboring institutions, their directors said. The collaboration will include three or four shows a year and allow the academy to bring to Brooklyn work that would not fit into its theaters -- the largest of which has 2,000 seats -- with costs underwritten by the arena." [NY Times]