COLUMNS NEW YORK STORY LANDMARKS THE BRONX The places, spaces, and monuments of THE LOFT NYC's musical past, present, and future. the story of the Loft is a story of survival. It’s also a quintessentially New York tale. The Loft was one of the PAST FEATURED LANDMARKS 1 MAX NEUHAUS’ “TIMES SQUARE” first, if not the first, dance-centric parties of its kind—it 2 THE THING SECONDHAND STORE A column on involved an open space conducive to communal danc- the gear and ing, mirror balls, state-of-the-art sound system, and the processes that inform DJ as demigod—and it set the blueprint for New York’s the music we make. burgeoning underground dance-party movement before 1 disco was ascendant. Larry Levan and the Paradise Ga- rage, Francis Grasso and the Sanctuary, Nicky Siano and the Gallery—each party had its own unique style, but QUEENS few would contest that David Mancuso’s Loft informed if you’re a proper rock venue—think all of them. Manhattan’s fantastic Bowery Ballroom—a In many ways the Loft was New York: peripatetic and 2 good-sounding room is a compromise. It’s shape-shifting, operating in grey legal territory, but once often less about the room’s acoustics and inside, you were part of the family. It was a place to cel- more about the canny digital processing ebrate the counterculture and embrace a fluid range of MANHATTAN that happens before the sound gets to the sexual identities at a time when men who went to gay loudspeakers. Finely tuned algorithms will bars often carried bail money. equalize the mix or simulate larger speaker The backstory: in early 1970, David Mancuso threw cabinets for bigger bass; they don’t accen- a “rent party” for about 100 friends in his loft space at tuate the room’s acoustics so much as com- 647 Broadway. The ’60s were over, but Mancuso, a Tim- pensate for them. othy Leary acolyte and music maven, channeled the bo- So what’s a bad-sounding room? Often hemian spirit of that era. The inaugural party was held LOGOS it’s just a room whose acoustics we hear too on Valentine’s Day and was called Love Saves the Day. much of. The balance between the sound It was strictly invite-only; that and two dollars would coming from the instruments and the get you free food (fruit, nuts, and juice) and a night of WHAT: THE LOFT sound of their reverberation is off. Maybe dancing to songs like Manu Dibango’s “Soul Makossa,” WHERE: 647 BROADWAY; The origins of the room is unequipped to handle the re- MFSB’s “Love Is the Message,” and Ashford & Simpson’s 99 PRINCE ST; 3RD flections. The room becomes an inadvertent “Stay Free,” curated by Mancuso himself. ST BTW AVES B & C; iconic images from collaborator, which is a scary prospect for a No booze was ever served, which no doubt contribut- UKRAINIAN NATIONAL lot of artists. There’s less control. ed to the party’s longevity. Even so, the Loft was raided HOME, EAST VILLAGE NYC's musical history A lot of dance artists (and their bookers) numerous times. After a protracted battle with the city’s WHY: INVITE-ONLY COMMUNAL DANCE PARTY are rightfully afraid of these kinds of rooms. Department of Consumer Affairs, Mancuso reopened the explained. WHEN: But for someone like Ric Leichtung, it’s an Loft at 99 Prince Street. Here the weekly party thrived 1970-PRESENT artistic opportunity. “I’ve had a personal until the early ’80s, when Mancuso bought a building STATEN ISLAND mission to put all these new types of dance on 3rd Street between Avenues B and C. In 1994 the Loft BROOKLYN music into the DIY venues,” says Leichtung, moved again, and then again, buffeted by gentrification who is one of the city’s most forward-think- and the vagaries of local law. Despite a few fallow pe- ing DIY bookers. “As silly as it sounds, the riods, the Loft recently celebrated its 43rd anniversary IN VERDANT WHITE LAKE, New York, near interlocking letterforms worked perfectly context of listening is just as important as and is still going strong, though it's now an early-evening the sound waves.” affair held several times a year at the Ukrainian National where Woodstock happened, the seeds and have stood the test of time. When One room that Leichtung books, 285 Home in the East Village. Finagle an invite and we’ll see of thrash-metal band Anthrax’s visual Peter Corriston designed the second Kent in Williamsburg, is an enormous you on the dancefloor. !ADRIENNE DAY concrete box with minimal treatment. identity were first planted. Anthrax album, Spreading the Disease, The sound there doesn’t ever do what you Though he grew up in Rockland County, the letters got refined, but Joshpe’s expect it to—there’s something mischie- vous, if not illicit, in the way it behaves. guitarist Dan Spitz and his family would logo design remained. “I think I was One gets the sense that this is partly what spend summers upstate, and through his somewhat influenced by Iron Maiden’s enables artists to do things they know they shouldn’t there, such as climb on older brother Dave—later a bassist for logo,” Joshpe recalls. “I tried not to look the speakers (Andrew W.K.) or light fires Black Sabbath—he became friends with a [at] too many others, because I didn’t (Eugenics Council). local teen named Kent Joshpe, who would want it to feel like anyone else’s.” Leichtung has booked shows on a pe- destrian bridge, in a deli, in an auto-parts TOP 5… eventually design the Anthrax logo. For Cooper Union design professor and garage, and in a yoga studio. Each room has SONGS FROM THE “I used to always draw these caricatures metal fan Mike Essl, Joshpe’s lettering its own sonic footprint, and part of Leich- tung’s art is pairing the right artist with a WILDFLOWERS LOFT 1 2 3 4 5 room that will bring out the music’s black ROSCOE MITCHELL OLIVER LAKE SUNNY MURRAY HENRY THREADGILL DAVE BURRELL of all our friends,” recalls Joshpe, who now has another precursor. “Every time I see “CHANT” “ZAKI” “SOMEWHERE OVER “USO DANCE” “BLACK ROBERT” has an advertising agency in Rochester. it, I think there’s a direct line to Herb magic: the stuff that’s felt more than heard. JAZZ COMPILATIONS This song is a bo- Oliver Lake starts THE RAINBOW” This may be the Dave Burrell plays It gives an aggressiveness to a lot of the nanza. Roscoe Mitch- the song by making A beast of a most free song of the piano manically, like ell repeats the same his saxophone sound blower, Sunny Murray entire series. It's both he and it are “When the guys formed Anthrax, Danny Lubalin, to the Avant Garde typeface and electronic music Leichtung has booked— PRESENTED BY acts like Container, Vatican Shadow, and sax call, while Don like a kazoo before delicately tackles played at a breakneck falling off a cliff. asked me if I would do the logo and their the whole era of custom typography,” he Ital—but also a humility. Recently, he's been Moye pounds the life going into a loopy a classic, but you pace and with a good But here he’s sweet out of the drums. freakout. Then every- can feel him holding deal of aplomb. Free and organized, play- In the 1970s, saxophonist Sam Rivers and his first album cover [1983’s Fistful of Metal]. says. “Avant Garde was one of the first booking experimental and minimal techno They manage to be one chills out, the onto twinges of reed jazz doesn’t have to ing almost a cruise- wife Bea opened Studio Rivbea, a loft on Bond shows at Ran Tea House, a clean, softly lit both meditative and bass gets bowed, and shredding. be crazy to be excel- ship rumba. Street. They hosted most of the free-jazz per- They explained to me that they wanted it typefaces that had all of these ridiculous ballistic at once. it’s beautiful. lent, but this song tearoom on the same block as 285 Kent. formers playing around NYC at that time, until is a fine argument “You can do the coolest thing and they couldn't afford the place. Before clos- to look like a guy’s face was being punched ligatures,” or letterforms that connect, that it helps. then people will get so bored of it,” Leich- ing, they released a series of five LPs called through from the back of the head,” he a very “metal” quality. Humbled by the tung says. “What people really want is an Wildflowers, made over a single week in 1976. experience. They want to go to a party These recordings are a crucial primer for the says, laughing. comparison, Joshpe says, “He’s one of evolution that jazz was going through at the The Fistful illustration is comically my favorites. I think for logos, Herb and they want to get really wasted and time, the push-pull between hippie vibes and talk to their friends and maybe hook up fusion’s coke-fueled smoothness. gruesome, but Joshpe’s sharp-angled, Lubalin is god.” ! S UE APFELBAUM with somebody.” !NICK SYLVESTER 12 13.