When I was denied entry with taping equipment (ticket in hand) into Sonic Youth’s July 28 concert at the McCarren Pool in Brooklyn, I left the venue with the belief that the band had reneged on an email that permitted access to record. I arrived back in Manhattan tired, sweating, and pissed, and wrote an ill-advised rant blaming the band, and in particular Lee Ranaldo, for what transpired.
That rant was unfortunately reposted in several places on the web, and as a result, nyctaper has had many email, forum, and in person discussions with people about the situation. Several of those people spoke directly with Lee Ranaldo about what happened, and to his eternal credit Lee has expressed regret about what happened to me at the gate, has expressed no anger towards my rant, and has quite clearly stated that no security person spoke to him about my situation.
At this point, it has become obvious to me that I was jerked around by the security personnel at McCarren Pool, and that Sonic Youth and Lee Ranaldo were the unwitting victims of my misdirected anger.
And for that, I offer my sincere apologies to Sonic Youth, their soundman Aaron Mullan, and in particular to Lee Ranaldo.
I have learned a few lessons as a result of this fiasco–namely, don’t trust venue security above the musicians, don’t publish to your blog something written in the heat of anger, and that quite clearly, Sonic Youth are extremely cool people. Support them. Please.
Additionally, Thurston Moore is playing two local NYC gigs in the next couple of weeks (click dates to buy tickets):
September 24, at Maxwells in Hoboken
September 26, at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn
Yeah…that post was pretty mean. Especially now that it has been proven that it wasn’t the band’s fault.
are you going to be taping any of the thurston shows?
I was also asked this question in another forum, so I’ll just cut and paste my answer from there:
“Re, Thurston shows:
I have another concert on the 24th, so that’s out. I might go on the 26th, but you know, I still feel like a royal asshole about this–I don’t have the gall to approach Thurston about permission and I’m not going to sneak in gear and post a recording without permission.”
It takes a big man to admit he was wrong…
it takes a bigger man to get off his arse and go tape some gigs!
I was suprised that SY may not have wanted that particular gig taped, at the time I thought they may be recording it for an official re-lease, hometown and all that…
we will see.
Don’t be too shy to ask if you can, atleast when you tape it is of a flattering quality –
not some crappy piece of crap!
SY members are Kool and I believe you may regret never asking.
Having said all that, I personally don’t collect their solo material – so I feel my opine is of a nutural stance.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED GENEROSITY – IN SHARING YOUR RECORDINGS WITH US, but be warned,
I now have a Hi-MD and hopefully once fully mastered will be upping some recordings on DaD and Zomb and even TTD!
the pool is run by live nation. live nation is a spin off of clear channel. these are evil corporations. their venues should be boycotted. that means DO NOT go to any shows produced by live nation like the new “fillmores”. there were only two fillmores. the one in nyc has been closed since ’71.
I actually thought your original post was classic!
Dammit, i guess this means i have to start liking them again. ;-)
I gotta say, I totally understood the anger, but I also know from long experience that security often are poorly informed, poorly supervised, and really, really fucking unhappy people. They are paid to be antagonistic and everyone hates them.
Many times they are just GIANT DICKWIPES who work at total cross-purposes to the band and the band management.
that said, i’ve found you catch more flies w/honey than w/vinegar and security are flies, for sure! so any way to let them pass the buck upstairs to band personnel is the way to go – be friendly and let them pass the buck and they can sometimes be managed.
also, LIVE NATION SUCKS!!!! They are Clear Channel, renamed to do what, fool us? Just avoid them. They are as freakin’ evil an entertainment conglomerate as ever, and as any of them are.