Adam’s World Weekly for 1/26

At the end of the week The Bowery Electric will close its doors for the final time, ending a 17 year run as one of New York City’s hot spots for indie music.

During its lifespan I covered countless shows at Bowery Electric, saw hundreds of bands, conducted dozens of interviews, and made a plethora of friends.

The venue even had my blog sicker on one of their registers!

Unfortunately, I kinda saw the proverbial writing on the wall a little over a year ago.

Just a couple of blocks from the Bleecker Street station, for 15 years Bowery Electric was a two story venue, where people would hang out at the upstairs bar while waiting for the doors to open for the downstairs venue.

Upstairs had its own shows in a small space called the Map Room off to the side of the bar. Closed off only by a thick velvet curtain, and seemingly being renovated every six months, the space fit about 40 people, and was where a lot of up and coming acts cut their teeth.

Then, quite suddenly, a decision was made to close the upstairs bar and venue, and turn it into something wholly different in an effort to attract a completely different type of nightlife. I have no clue if it worked, because it didn’t look like my vibe, so I’d go to a coffee shop, or another bar, while waiting for the doors to the venue to open.

It was a bummer for me, because I truly enjoyed showing up early enough to grab a happy hour drink upstairs while talking with artist friends, and then seeing four bands downstairs. It was a fantastic way to spend a night.

At around this time the booking also changed, and most of the artists and bands I wanted to check out were no longer hitting the stage there. Looking back on my show calendars, it’s been roughly a year since I walked through the door, and down the stairs at Bowery Electric.

The venue will quickly be turned into a 100 seat theater, to be named Bowery Palace, with plans to open on February 18th, with Jesse Malin performing his autobiographical show five nights a week through the end of March.

Bowery Palace would actually be a perfect name for a run down rock club with terrifyingly dirty bathrooms, but, obviously, as a seated venue, it will no longer be a place for rock bands.

This leaves The Bitter End, and Arlene’s Grocery as two of the last vestiges of the city’s long history of indie music. If you’re in the area, definitely find a way to make it inside the doors of both. They are totally different experiences, but ones every music fan should have. Lady Gaga got her start at the former, while The Strokes got theirs at the latter.

Oh, and a million points to anyone who saw the subject line of this email – The Last Electric Night – and realized it was referencing both the closing of The Bowery Electric, and the Ernie Reyes film The Last Electric Knight.

Speaking of points, this week’s blog update is led off by my interview with Gif of Payusnomind, who made a number of points while addressing six questions every indie artist should be thinking about. From Streaming, to social media, he covered a lot!

In addition to that feature, I also have fresh editions of Pop Shots, and my NYC Scene Report for you to check out.

Read the full feature here

Read the full column here

Read the full column here

As always, thanks for reading, and have a fantastic week!

– Adam Bernard