Downtown Music Gallery

[user_10]

I've only been in the store a couple of times, but each time it was when i was also hitting up other music and kim's which are both within walking distance. if they were somewhere like brooklyn i probably would never end up stopping by.

how are places like other music or kim's doing with rent, speaking of downtown record stores? i imagine they do fine because they seem to have a pretty high volume of sales.

[jon abbey]

I actually asked the other music guys how their business was going last week, they had a great holiday season and a weak start so far this year. the thing about OM and (to a lesser extent) mondo's is that they've got two big things going for them: the NYU student body and the low dollar making it easy for tourists to come in and spend a few hundred dollars without blinking an eye.

obviously both of these could apply to DMG also, but they're more of a niche operation, focusing on the areas of music they're into and ignoring some of the more popular ones that probably make up quite a bit of OM and mondo's revenues. also, mondo's does DVDs upstairs, that helps them too, I'm sure.

[user_5284]

Given all the building that seemed to be going on the last time I was there, it won't be long before the entire lower east side is as mushy as Soho has become. Granted, Bruce will miss the NYU shoppers. but a move to Brooklyn would reflect the movement of the musicians and help build a scene in a more conducive environment. I would certainly make Brooklyn more of a destination than Manhattan when it's about music.

[7/4]

Future DMG Headquarters at 13 Monroe Street (Basement), NYC:
http://www.downtownmusicgallery.com/Mai ... ation.html

[Dan Warburton]

Good news. Glad Bruce and the crew have another place without having to move to South Bronx! South South Bronx! South Bronx! South South Bronx! (Fresh for 86 you suckers)

[jcg]

Good news. Glad Bruce and the crew have another place without having to move to South Bronx! South South Bronx! South Bronx! South South Bronx! (Fresh for 86 you suckers)

Give it 15-20 years and the South Bronx will be the new Williamsburg...
And didn't know you were into Boogie Down Productions!

[Dan Warburton]

Good news. Glad Bruce and the crew have another place without having to move to South Bronx! South South Bronx! South Bronx! South South Bronx! (Fresh for 86 you suckers)

Give it 15-20 years and the South Bronx will be the new Williamsburg...
And didn't know you were into Boogie Down Productions!

I actually use "Illegal Business" as a dictation exercise for my more advanced students.. it's quite amusing asking bank directors, marketing executives and even high ranking French policemen to explain the logic of "One afternoon around eleven o'clock.."
Sort of gave up on BDP after Edutainment, and interest in rap dwindled after The Geto Boys We Can't Be Stopped. Never really got off on gangsta (but Compton's Most Wanted's "Driveby Miss Daisy" is awesome..) Guess that makes me old school . I should get back into the swing of it, but people keep sending me these goddamn free improv CDs

[skrobek]

I use Krs-One's "Uh Oh" in class (talking about gun violence) and Rakim's "New York"

had to beep a few words here and there...

I'd like to do some Biz Markie sometime = Old school at school !

[7/4]

Maybe that part of Chinatown can become the new East Village/Lower East Side. All it needs now is a regular concert series in a loft.

[jon abbey]

the new DMG has been open for a little while. Yuko and I visited for the first time today, and I got her to take some pix to share her.



it's pretty incongruous, on the outskirts of Chinatown, with most of the stores around it having signs in Chinese. Yuko is going to help them do a sign in kanji.



the inside is bigger than before, certainly easier to browse, and I think more shelves (the above is maybe half the store). if and when they start instores again, there should be a lot more room for the musicians to set up.

a few more pix here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13715378@N00/

[gohleekwang]

Why not have it in chinese? here's one translation:-

[jon abbey]

she sent them it in kanji and katakana, that's all she knows. are those other signs that you can see in the pic in Chinese, Lee? if so, that would probably make more sense, and you should e-mail them a PDF that they could print out (dmg@downtownmusicgallery.com). I thought Chinese was also written in kanji, no?

[kp*]

I thought Chinese was also written in kanji, no?

heehee ... you just pissed off a billion+ people.

Kanji literally means "han writing" and i believe and is Japanese writing using Chinese characters or Chinese-Japanese script or Sino-Japanese characters however you want to phrase it.... There are some differences between Chinese writing and Japanese Kanji and Korean Hanja. For example the third character there is 'ak' in Korean, for music (sorry, i only know Korean) and appears different in Korean and Chinese than it does in Japan (very small differences if i remember) having to do with who simplified which characters and who didn't and just small changes over time. They aren't different enough in this case to confuse Koreans or Chinese, but just different enough for them to know the ethnicity of the person who wrote it. Anyway my knowledge of Sino-Korean, Kanji & Chinese characters is pretty limited so i should prolly shut my pie hole, but i know that "A-ak/Gagaku/Yayue/Nhã nhạc are the same 2 Chinese characters in all four languages, with the same meaning (but with 4 wildly different pronunciations) that have just as small handful of strokes that make the characters look a little different... I could look it up... maybe some details of the above are wrong, but you get the gist. That Japanese 'ak' would look a little different.

[gohleekwang]

In the pic those signs are in Chinese.

Chinese is "Han language". Kanji mean Japanese writing using Chinese characters.

[jon abbey]

ok, Bruce has someone doing this sign in Chinese, for all those who were concerned.

[Nim Chimpsky]

a few more pix here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13715378@N00/

Hhhmmm, cakes!!!!!

[G-Wohl]

Hi IHM, first post!

Anyway, as a friend and customer of the Downtown Music Gallery, I really think this move will be good for them. After all, it would be putting it mildly to say that Manhattan has lost its artistic edge. Brooklyn appears to be where all of the artists and hipsters are flocking to, and this means that DMG will have a new, youthful audience in addition to their old standby customers.

And while I mean absolutely no disrespect to Zorn (as I love the man to death and his music) I think it would be in the best interest of the store to supersede its label as merely a "Tzadik hub." Moving away from that downtown improvisation scene could spell greater diversification for them.

[jon abbey]

Anyway, as a friend and customer of the Downtown Music Gallery, I really think this move will be good for them. After all, it would be putting it mildly to say that Manhattan has lost its artistic edge. Brooklyn appears to be where all of the artists and hipsters are flocking to, and this means that DMG will have a new, youthful audience in addition to their old standby customers.

you know they're still in Manhattan, right?

And while I mean absolutely no disrespect to Zorn (as I love the man to death and his music) I think it would be in the best interest of the store to supersede its label as merely a "Tzadik hub." Moving away from that downtown improvisation scene could spell greater diversification for them.

hehe, I guess you haven't been to the new store yet? they have one whole rack solely filled with Tzadiks.

[Dan Warburton]

Plus ça change! Say hi to Bruce next time you stop by there, Jon..

[G-Wohl]

Anyway, as a friend and customer of the Downtown Music Gallery, I really think this move will be good for them. After all, it would be putting it mildly to say that Manhattan has lost its artistic edge. Brooklyn appears to be where all of the artists and hipsters are flocking to, and this means that DMG will have a new, youthful audience in addition to their old standby customers.

you know they're still in Manhattan, right?

And while I mean absolutely no disrespect to Zorn (as I love the man to death and his music) I think it would be in the best interest of the store to supersede its label as merely a "Tzadik hub." Moving away from that downtown improvisation scene could spell greater diversification for them.

hehe, I guess you haven't been to the new store yet? they have one whole rack solely filled with Tzadiks.

Hah, well I sure feel shtoopid!

I spoke with Manny over the summer and he told me that they were scoping out a place in upper Brooklyn. I suppose that plan was scrapped!

Thanks for correcting me, however; I would hate to have that misinformation spreading around.