New York's
music scene
reflects the city's diversity.
Traditional and contemporary
jazz
are still in abundance, with the
annual JVC and
Knitting
Factory's "What Is
Jazz?" festivals bringing top
international talent to the city
every year. The downtown
avant-garde
scene and its attendant art noise
bands - the most famous being
Sonic Youth - continue to
influence the area's musicians.
Spoken-word
performers, along with the current
crop of singer/songwriters, are
reviving the Beats' poetry scene.
If you travel uptown or to the
outer boroughs, you'll find
pockets of Brazilian music, West
Indian music, reggae and hip-hop,
but if you stay downtown,
indie
rock will fill your ears.
Techno, hip-hop, and electronica -
and every hybrid form thereof,
from classical violin played over
skrawking German beats on the
subway to experiments in mixology
at your local bar - are
everywhere; dance music has
finally taken New York and New
York is playing it in every place
it can.
Despite what the designers on
any avenue would like you to
believe, New York is not uptight
about appearance. In the most
expensive, glitzy clubs ,
however, appearances do matter:
acolytes must adhere to the
current look, with bouncers
guarding the doors against the
gauche. But if you just want to
dance, there are plenty of
more-casual places, especially the
city's gay clubs , which
often offer more creative music
and less hassle.
The sections that follow
provide accounts of the cream of
current venues. Remember, though,
that the music - and especially
the club scenes - change
continually. Consult weekly listings
publications. Excellent freebies
include the Village Voice (
www.villagevoice.com ), New
York Press ( www.nypress.com
), Homo Xtra ( www.hx.com
) and the monthly club sheet Flyer
which all contain detailed club,
theater and venue listings for the
straight and gay scenes; you can
find them in corner self-serve
newspaper boxes and music stores.
Also on the web and on the ball
are Time Out New York ( www.timeoutny.com
) and Citysearch ( www.newyork.citysearch.com
).
It may seem a ridiculous and
puritanical requirement, but you
will undoubtedly be
"carded" at the door in
New York, so it's imperative to
bring your ID (driver's
license or passport) with you when
you go out. Venues and bars do
enforce the legal drinking age of
21 and you must be 18 to enter
some music. venues.
From Broadway glitter to Lower
East Side grunge, the range and
variety of the
performing arts
in New York is exactly what you
might expect. Broadway, and even
Off-Broadway
theater , is
notoriously expensive, but if you
know where to look, there are a
variety of ways to get tickets
cheaper, and on the
Off-Off-Broadway fringe you can
see a play for little more than
the price of a movie ticket. As
for
dance, music and
opera
, the big mainstream events are
extremely expensive, but smaller
ones are often equally as
interesting and far cheaper. New
York gets the first run of most
American
films (and many
foreign ones before they reach
Europe) and has a very healthy
arthouse and revival scene.
Listings for the arts
can be found in a number of
places. The most useful sources
are the clear and comprehensive
listings in Time Out New York
, the free Village Voice
(especially the pull-out
"Voice Choices"
section), or the also-free New
York Press , all especially
useful for things downtown and
vaguely "alternative."
For tonier events try the
"Cue" section in the
weekly New York Magazine ,
the "Goings On About
Town" section of the New
Yorker , or Friday's
"Weekend" or Sunday's
"Arts and Leisure"
sections of the New York Times
. Specific Broadway listings can
be found in the free Official
Broadway Theater Guide ,
available at theater and hotel
lobbies or at the New York
Convention and Visitors' Bureau.
