When I learned this week that Williamsburg's Monkeytown will be closing its doors for good in two weeks due to "landlord issues," it made me question yet again the long-term viability of anything worthwhile in this disposable city of ours. We've already lost Tonic, and the real Knitting Factory. Who's next: The Stone? Issue Project Room? Barbes? Can any venue with an ear for new and experimental music survive in this town?
At least Monkeytown – with its unique combination of elegant, reasonably-priced food, full-wall video projections, and cutting-edge music – isn't going out with a whimper. Last night, they opened for dinner with Porn Week Redux: their annual retrospective of vintage and offbeat porn, projected on each of the space's four walls. That was followed by a late set by Loud Objects, in which Tristan, Kunal Gupta and Katie Shima used a soldering iron to wire up live circuits, creating a non-musical polyphony that grew louder and louder with each closed circuit. Performing with them was minimalist pioneer Tony Conrad, who sawed away on his violin as if he were in a trance.
All together, it felt like having your head stuck inside a beehive, or being lost in a warren of turbines. At one point, I swear I could feel the floor shaking, and thought the walls might actually cave in. Which, save for the huge crowd in attendance, would serve their stupid landlord right. (More pics below.)