Musings: Fringe culture in real estate hubs

Last weekend was the one when everyone decided to hold events, so we found ourselves going from one place to another in the city. First we hit The Tank for some hyper-alternative comedy courtesy of Tremendous Rabbit and the Weiner Philharmonic. Then we went out to East Williamsburg where an loft/resident/performance space hosted a night of electro-punk music. The next night we went to a classical music concert at a high school on Irving Place.

Culture aside, the places themselves were fascinating. The Tank, housed in a former gas station, is currently under threat of losing its space because development of Times Square is quickly spilling over to the edge of the island. Not surprising, really, though sad as it is one of the hipper spots in midtown. Out in Williamsburg, a few people live in the loft space full-time, but perhaps for a cut in rent, they put up with 50 or so people listening to loud music and hanging out in their living room on weekends. We were told this is an "illegal" loft (a la Williamsburg-Bedford stop in the 1980s), but the only illegal aspect I could fathom is that they collected money at the door and we had to pay for our drinks. Otherwise, it could be any standard college party.

Finally, a switcharound - a somewhat dying culture in a hot area. The Irving High School hosts the Peoples' Symphony Concerts. It's well known that classical music audiences decrease dramatically every year, so it was nice that we could go listen to some avant-garde music performed by eight blackbird just down the street from Irving Plaza (where the line snaked around the corner).