Artsy Norfolk Street hangout Tonic announced via email on Wednesday the lineup for its final week of shows.
On its Web site, management of the soon-shuttering nine-year-old “home for avant-garde, creative, and experimental music” blamed its woes on high rent, nearby condo development (particularly of the Blue kind), and the city’s so-called “Quality of Life Task Force.”
The venue shuts down for good following an April 13 “wild dance party with dark techno, house, and electro with the occasional aural curveball.”
Full email announcement after the jump.
– Chris Shott
Dearest Tonic friends –
By now most of you have heard the sad news that Tonic will be closing its’
doors on Friday April 13th. Thanks to all of you who have sent emails or left comments on our website. We really appreciate hearing how much the club has meant to you!
For almost a decade we’ve been delighted to present creative, adventurous music to open minded and loyal fans. We will greatly miss the all the artists and the audiences that have made these last nine plus years so amazing.
For more information about our closing please visit http://www.tonicnyc.com.
We hope you come to as many of our finale concerts as you can.
Thanks for listening!
With love,
Melissa, John, and the Tonic Staff
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FINALE CONCERTS
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Please check daily for updates….
–Wed, Apr 04–
* Capital M’s 2nd Annual World Premieres Extravaganza plus Anti-Social Music at 8pm, $10 Capital M’s 2nd Annual World Premieres Extravaganza: Founded in 2004 by composer Ian Moss, CAPITAL M is an innovative electric chamber ensemble that seeks real and total integration between modern classical music and vernacular styles such as rock and jazz. Tonight, Capital M presents seven new works by Ian Dicke, Mike Gamble, Caroline Mallonee, Ian Moss, Edward RosenBerg III, Jonathan Russell, and Kyle Sanna, including five pieces written specifically for the group.
Anti-Social Music: No-one in the group is simply a chamber-music lifer or a downtown-jazz snob or a punk-rocker dabbling in the “legit music” world. ASM concerts have featured members of Gutbucket, World/Inferno Friendship Society, the Hissyfits, Songs:Ohia, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the bands of Jenny Toomey, Elliot Sharp, Jabbo Ware, and Akiko Pavolka; the New Jersey Philharmonic, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, New York City Opera, and so on and so on. Basic New York scene eclectics. All the fun without the pretension.
–Thu, Apr 05–
* Celebrating 40 Years of Excellence (and Fun): ICP Orchestra at 8pm & 9:30pm,
$15
My main thought about the ICP is: How do they do it? The show is always radically different. But perhaps what amazes me most is the way they wander in and out of strictly composed material. The crux of what they do, as the name implies, is improvisation. And they do it as well as anyone out there.”–Dave Douglas
–Fri, Apr 06–
* Celebrating 40 Years of Excellence (and Fun): ICP Orchestra at 8pm & 9:30pm,
$15
My main thought about the ICP is: How do they do it? The show is always radically different. But perhaps what amazes me most is the way they wander in and out of strictly composed material. The crux of what they do, as the name implies, is improvisation. And they do it as well as anyone out there.”–Dave Douglas
* The Bunker at 11pm, $5
With DJ Spinoza & Derek Plaslaiko.
–Sat, Apr 07–
* Tonic Alumni Festival Matinee: Loren Connors & Steve Dalachinsky plus Ben Perowsky & Sylvie Courvoisier plus Erik Friedlander & Ikue Mori plus Elliott Sharp plus Gary Lucas Solo Acoustic plus Jane Ira Bloom & Bobby Previte plus Barbez at 1pm, Suggested Donation $20
Ben Perowsky & Sylvie Courvoisier: With Ben Perowsky (drums) & Sylvie Courvoisier (piano).
Elliott Sharp: Solo acoustic action.
Gary Lucas Solo Acoustic: A veteran of the Captain Beefheart band, guitarist Lucas performs madcap originals, soulful renditions of traditional classics and left-field medleys of Marx Brothers tunes.
Barbez: Gorgeous Old world Slavic cabaret collides with Schnittke and the Residents in this Brooklyn-based punk chamber ensemble. With Dan Kaufman (guitar, vocals), Danny Tunick (marimba, vibes), Peter Hess (clarinets), Peter Lettre (bass), John Bollinger (drums).
White Magic, TK Webb, Jah Division, Samara Lubelski and others TBA, starting at 8pm, $TBA
–Sun, Apr 08–
* Tonic Alumni Festival Part 2: Burnt Sugar plus Brandon Ross & Stomu Takeishi plus Okkyung Lee plus Marty Ehrlich Group plus White Out plus Yuka Honda & Sean Lennon plus Blind Idiot God plus Big Lazy plus Smokey Hormel, Alan Licht & Anton Fier plus Forro In The Dark With special guest DJ MIKE WOLF (TIME OUT NY, POLAR BEAR CLUB) at 7pm, $20 Suggested Donation
Burnt Sugar: Burnt Sugar has been modeled after Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew ensembles and employs an ersatz version of the conduction system of improvisation developed by Butch Morris.
Brandon Ross & Stomu Takeishi: With Brandon Ross (guitar) & Stomu Takeishi (bass). Harriet Tubman’s guitarist plays with bassist Stomu Takeishi and special guest Tyshawn Sorey.
White Out: With Tom Surgal (drums) & Lin Culbertson (synthesizer).
Blind Idiot God: Blind Idiot God first formed in St. Louis, MO in 1982 with Andy Hawkins, guitar-Gabe Katz, bass-Ted Epstein, drums. As an instrumental band, they were free to move between genres and map out new territory. Using volume, repetition and dynamics, B.I.G. were able to define a new sound which utilized the heft of hardcore, the push-pull of funk, the spaciousness of dub and a willingness to expand genre vocabularies. The current lineup features Tim Wyskida-also of Khanate-on drums.
Big Lazy: Twangy, lurid, primeval instrumentals.
Forro In The Dark: With Mauro Refosco(zabumba), Rob Curto (accordion) and Smokey Hormel (guitar), plus some guests. “We play forro music. It’s a style from the northeast of Brasil. The most well known composer and the one we play most of the songs of is Luis Gonzaga (The King of Baiao).”–Mauro Refosco.
–Tue, Apr 10–
* Floriculture plus Sylvie Courvoisier & Mark Feldman Duo at 8pm,
Floriculture: Floriculture’s (Chris Mannigan, saxophone, Stephanie Griffin, viola, Carl Maguire, piano, John Herbert, bass, Dan Weiss, drums) recent release on Between The Lines was proclaimed by Glenn Astarita “one of the true modern jazz surprises of 2006” and summed up by Bruce Gallanter as “Excellent work from some of my favorite local heroes.”
Sylvie Courvoisier & Mark Feldman Duo: With Mark Feldman (violin) & Sylvie Courvoisier (piano). Violinist Mark Feldman (John Zorn, John Abercrombie, and Loretta Lynn) and pianist Sylvie (John Zorn, Yusef Lateef and Mephista)return Home after a 21 gig European Tour for a night of New Music at Tonic.
(www.markfeldmanviolin.com) (www.sylviecourvoisier.com)
–Wed, Apr 11–
* Peter Brotzmann, Marino Pliakas & Michael Wertmueller at 8pm, $12 With Peter Brotzmann (saxophone), MARINO PLIAKAS & Michael Wertmueller (drums). Peter Brotzmann (Germany, reeds) – the living legend of the European new jazz. A founder of European Free Jazz movement, his work includes collaborations and recordings with Last Exit (with Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock and Ronald Shannon Jackson), Evan Parker, Misha Mengelberg, and Borah Bergman. Recent projects include Die Like a Dog (with William Parker, Hamid Drake and Toshinori Kondo), his homage to Albert Ayler, the Chicago-based Brotzmann Tentet and many more.
* Charles Curtis & Raha Raissnia at 10pm, $8
–Thu, Apr 12–
* Suphala at 8pm, $10
Tabla artist, composer, and producer, Suphala, is a protege of the great tabla master and Ustad Zakir Hussain. She has collaborated with artists including Sean Lennon, Edie Brickell, Norah Jones, Perry Ferrell (Jane’s Addiction), hip- hop producer Timbaland, Lady Ms. Kier (Dee-Lite), 4Hero, Vernon Reid (Living Colour), and Yoko Ono. In January 2005, Suphala was the first artist and first female to perform in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban.
* Alex Delivery plus Other Passengers at 9:30pm, Other Passengers: Other Passengers first emerged on the underground NYC music scene in March 2004 and quickly grabbed attention with their moody and dramatic sound: at times loud and jarring and in an instant moving to the realm of eerie and ethereal space creating a collage of post-punk psychedelia that reflects the dichotomy of the city: isolation among millions. They released their debut EP, Is It Nothing to You, All Those Who Pass By? in October 2004.
–Fri, Apr 13–
* John Zorn Improv Night at 7:30pm, Special guests TBA, $TBA
* The Bunker at 11pm, $5
With DJ Spinoza & Derek Plaslaiko.
–Sat, Apr 14–
* Tonic presents at Abrons Arts Center: Jandek at 8pm, $20, $20 in advance Abrons Arts Center is located at 466 Grand St. (at Pitt), just a few blocks from Tonic on the lower east side. Tickets still available at Tonic’s box office and at Other Music, 15th E. 4th St. at Lafayette www.othermusic.com With a representative from Corwood Industries, guitar & vocal; Tim Foljahn (of Two Dollar Guitar, Int’l Shades, Boredoms, etc.) on bass, and Jim White (Dirty Three, Cat Power, etc.) on drums. We are very pleased to present Jandek in the wonderful and comfortable theatre setting, in only his second ever New York live appearance, despite a 30 year recording career which has yielded nearly 50 full-length releases.