rhythmism
Monday, Dec 27th 2004, 04:25 PM
Last week the Village Voice's [www.villagevoice.com] ubiquitous nightlife scribe Tricia Romano reported on allegedly racist booking tactics at Spirit nightclub.
The show in question was scheduled for December 20th and was supposed to feature Eminem's DJ Green Lantern and G Unit member the Game. The concert promoter Peter "Oasis" Prudente said the show was canceled because the club's owner Robbie Wooton, "doesn't want a black crowd." Wooton countered and said his comments were taken out of context and that "[his] problem is being told one thing and ending up with something entirely different", as he tells his story to the Village Voice.
Whether cultural differences account for Irishman Wooton's comments or real concerns about the profiling of urban hip-hop events and local police pressure are at play is anyone's guess. One thing that seems to be agreed upon is Spirit's failed mission to uplift clubbing and bring spirituality to nightlife. The club even made Time Out New York's "The 12 Days Of Christmas Parties" (http://www.timeoutny.com/features/478/478.2.html) as one of the Top 2 Total Duds (http://www.timeoutny.com/features/478/478.2.html) this year as "Deadbeat Club."
Since its opening last year, Spirit was heralded as the new spiritual awakening for clubland but has since failed to maintain a consistent crowd and promotional strategy with many disgruntled promoters leaving in an angry wake. We recently received an email blast from one said angry promotional group stating, "Due to poor ethical behavior demonstrated by Spirit Management, SPIRIT Promotional Team has seized all its operations at Spirit New York (530 West 27th Street) effective today (Wednesday, December 15th)." [Editor's note: We think they meant "ceased" but then again maybe they had a hostile takeover following Godskitchen's lead on "The Club" Spike TV Reality series.] Since then, the MUZIK Fridays have seemingly migrated east to Avalon.
We haven't ruled out Spirit completely out of the clubbing picture though. Made Event, led by former Twilo manager Mike Bindra, has been producing events at Spirit, with a recent classics night featuring house maestro Danny Tenaglia and a solid line-up for New Year's Day featuring NYC's legendary house DJ Victor Calderone and Portugal's finest export DJ Vibe. We do hope that this first year was just a case of the freshman blues for Spirit.
May 2005 bring good things to the sacred dancefloor at 530 West 27th Street, that still holds the spiritual entities of clubbers past from the original Sound Factory and beloved Twilo. Let's hope they have a similiar New Year's resolution.
The show in question was scheduled for December 20th and was supposed to feature Eminem's DJ Green Lantern and G Unit member the Game. The concert promoter Peter "Oasis" Prudente said the show was canceled because the club's owner Robbie Wooton, "doesn't want a black crowd." Wooton countered and said his comments were taken out of context and that "[his] problem is being told one thing and ending up with something entirely different", as he tells his story to the Village Voice.
Whether cultural differences account for Irishman Wooton's comments or real concerns about the profiling of urban hip-hop events and local police pressure are at play is anyone's guess. One thing that seems to be agreed upon is Spirit's failed mission to uplift clubbing and bring spirituality to nightlife. The club even made Time Out New York's "The 12 Days Of Christmas Parties" (http://www.timeoutny.com/features/478/478.2.html) as one of the Top 2 Total Duds (http://www.timeoutny.com/features/478/478.2.html) this year as "Deadbeat Club."
Since its opening last year, Spirit was heralded as the new spiritual awakening for clubland but has since failed to maintain a consistent crowd and promotional strategy with many disgruntled promoters leaving in an angry wake. We recently received an email blast from one said angry promotional group stating, "Due to poor ethical behavior demonstrated by Spirit Management, SPIRIT Promotional Team has seized all its operations at Spirit New York (530 West 27th Street) effective today (Wednesday, December 15th)." [Editor's note: We think they meant "ceased" but then again maybe they had a hostile takeover following Godskitchen's lead on "The Club" Spike TV Reality series.] Since then, the MUZIK Fridays have seemingly migrated east to Avalon.
We haven't ruled out Spirit completely out of the clubbing picture though. Made Event, led by former Twilo manager Mike Bindra, has been producing events at Spirit, with a recent classics night featuring house maestro Danny Tenaglia and a solid line-up for New Year's Day featuring NYC's legendary house DJ Victor Calderone and Portugal's finest export DJ Vibe. We do hope that this first year was just a case of the freshman blues for Spirit.
May 2005 bring good things to the sacred dancefloor at 530 West 27th Street, that still holds the spiritual entities of clubbers past from the original Sound Factory and beloved Twilo. Let's hope they have a similiar New Year's resolution.