Was looking at my blog traffic (such as it is...although now higher thanks to that lovely Wall Street Journal article!) and noticed that someone got to my site by Googling "tonic closing down nyc". I actually didn't know Tonic was closing after almost a decade, but I had mentioned it in a post last August about one of my trips back to NYC and I guess that got spidered.
Anyway, I'm sad to hear it, not because it was ever a regular haunt of mine, but because it was known as a home for experimental music and there are too few of those. The Lower East Side is becoming just another spot for high-rise condos and seems to be slowly losing the places and vibe that I love.
I guess Tonic is still continuing on in a way--although the location on Norfolk Street is closing today, Melissa and John, the owners, will be presenting new music in existing venues like the Abron's Arts Center located just a few blocks away.
In a small world kind of thing, Melissa knows Mike Sanzone who is a good friend of Jeff's (and whose art I recently blogged about) and another friend of Jeff's, Heather Greene, a pianist and songwriter who we used to see perform at Joe's Pub in the East Village. Heather moved to Scotland last year and we hear her songs are starting to catch fire in Europe where she's on tour (go, Heather!). Anyway, I've never met Melissa, but I do wish her luck keeping the spirit of Tonic alive.
