Venuewatch: No more Tonic

While the whole world apparently gathered to mourn CBGBs, the closure of New York's Tonic to make way for some much-needed luxury condos got a little less press attention, but a bit more cop action. Rebecca Moore and Marc Ribot failed to leave according to the landlord's timetable, so it was time for some heavy-handed legal intervention, as Moore told Time Out New York:

Just updating this story that Marc and I were indeed arrested that day, in our attempt to keep the music playing at Tonic, the performance space this music community had raised over $100,000 dollars in funds to try to keep open and attempt to keep the rent paid. Nothing can pay these insane rents in NYC, no art or community can survive under these circumstances. Brooklyn and Queens are not exempt and falling prey to the same circumstances. It is not a coincidence that the Blue Building Luxury Condo building is now finished, people are moving in to their million dollar residents there, and Tonic has had to shut down. I submitted myself to arrest for this reason, and hope word spreads and others are moved to stand up against real estate being the sole determining factor of what culture and art and music and people get to stay in NYC.