Downtown: Today
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
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Live on Soundcheck
On Soundcheck, you'll find in-studio performances by everyone from indie rockers to string quartets to jazz ensembles.
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Downtown Manhattan has long been a hotbed for experimental art and culture, from pop art to avant-garde theater to punk and classical minimalism.
(Click the word cloud to see a word cloud of what Downtown means to people.)
But the downtown spirit has spread to Williamsburg, Long Island City and other areas. As WNYC opens a new performance space south of Houston, Soundcheck asks: In one word, how do you define downtown? Joining us to discuss the changing face and sound of downtown are rocker Lou Reed, genre-bending singer Santigold and the string quartet Ethel.Tell us: In one word, how do you define downtown?
Slide show: View images of downtown Manhattan
Comments [90]
Yeah Lou,
Where are the Brothers!?
One of the reasons I spent most of my life patronizing downtown venues was because of the musical & cultural diversity...from CBGB's, Max's Kansas City, etc. the loft scene, and music...it all was inclusive.
With stints as Knitting Factory GM & a Mgr at Wetlands I was fortunate to see/hear a bunch...
Rare that I feel the need to mention race in the context of art...But yeah today NYC seems to have missed the likes of Oliver Lake, Threadgill, Lester Bowie, Blood Ulmer, Mos Def, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Leroy Jenkins, The BRC, ...need I say more?
Good looking out Lou! (and the colored girls sing...)
Chuck Brownley
TheMMAC
Multi Media Arts Center
goodbye blue monday
inOrganic
one of the first cities to take part in the evolution of humanity
new yorker since birth.
ran through downtown scenes since early seventies.
owned scrap bar on macdougal in 1980's.
seen a lot, maybe not everything..
"downtown"?
1087 broadway on bushwick-bed-stuy borderline
www.goodbye-blue-monday.com
total freeform booking - only place in all nyc.
ask david amram.
he's played here.
he told me he thought it was 1955 when he walked in here.
he's 79 and is the last link to ginsberg and kerouac.
he ought to know....
LOU REED, thank you
4 Bringing up that point of who picked who(pertaining to ppl of color in the audience).
By THINKING about that caller's question and NOT immediately dismissing it, you did a service for everyone listening....and hopefully working there.
ENTROPY. .. wherever it can be harnessed by a group of creatives and visionaries.. much more likely in cheaper areas.. so as far as by goes.. it's definatley in the outlying brooklyn areas..
home
FUCKED....but still we fight (ex:ABC NO RIO & DIY community spaces for art,activism & community)
LES= not just a place to BE SCENE,it's homes & families that fight to carve their rightful space against not only the condos but ALSO the music & art industries.
DUMBO
(UN)Artful
I have run an art studio for 10 years on chyrstie st. and Stanton. I started as a fine artist but have moved into designing and building props for theatre as I found the artworld impossible to navigate and make any sort of money.
My neighboorhood has become increasingly sterile and overpriced. I am moving my studio to the Gwanans Canal area soon.
My one word for downtown:
DONE
Cosmopolitanism
(UN)Artistic
Lou Reed dismisses The Voice by saying that no one would pay for it but then he praises The Stone saying that it's a place where musicians aren't chosen by how many records they sell. Consistency?
was
Mall.
Just a note: it's SantOgold, not SantIgold.
overgrew
middle-aged
nostalgia
overgentrified
a memory
Overpriced and overrated.
Or just Over.
downtown is OPPORTUNITY
Me
Gritty!
Restless
Over
It is impossible to start something when you have to spend so much
dieyuppiescum
Eighties
punk
Fun!
overrated
I'm afraid downtown is getting to look like every other boring US city. I miss the grunge, after all that's why I moved to New York
soulful
lost
COOL
Antithetical
Charged. (pun intended)
melting-pot
mutifaceted
Iconic
Vintage.
Trousers.
saudade
Saudade
lightning
Intoxicating
searching
crooked
crooked
Jonathan, I'd like to change my answer to:
"Egg" as pronounced by Elaine Stritch. Title of a great PBS program about the downtown scene.
Magnetic (although sometimes you wonder how)
gentrified
haunted
miraculous
Commercialized
sterilized
scrubbed.
Frenetic. Or, more pleasantly: dynamic.
frenetic. or, more pleasantly: dynamic.
South.
Conflicted
Ambitious.
Gentrified
overcrowded
Bright!
Varied
metamorphosing
Alive.
Sexy!
Historic
Invigorating!
Intimidating.
Infamous
lost
Gasping!
undefinable
broke
petula-clark.
SOHO - meaning south of Houston, but in this case everything south of Houston Street!
shopping.
Homogenized
supercalafragalisticexpialladocious
whatever
LaurieAndersonPhilipGlass
>>RSM
Lounge Lizards
Vibrant
expensive
Can you define downtown in just one word? You might look to the state of art and music in lower Manhattan -- or your inspiration could come from other aspects of the area. The sky's the limit.
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