A letter from Marc Ribot regarding The Tonic

An Open Letter to the Musicians, Staff, and Fans of Tonic

When Tonic closes this friday, we will have a lost a great club, and the last avant jazz/indie/new music club in manhattan with a capacity of over 90 presenting music on a nightly basis.

Tonic's closing is not an isolated event: Coming on the heals of the closing of CBGB's, Siné, The Fez, the Continental, this wave of club closings, downsizings, and displacements to Brooklyn constitutes a market failure.

But we don't have to accept the diminishment of our musical culture. We're organizing a response, and we intend to fight for the viability of new music/ indie/experimental jazz traditionally based in the LES. We don't intend to let Tonic's eviction pass without making some serious noise.

We hope you'll join us. If you'd like to help out or be kept informed of upcoming events, please sign up for the mailing list by sending an email to: indy_music_action-subscribe@... [NB: sorry this was cut off in the email I received...I'll pass along the full address when I get it - DM].

and if you just want to keep up to date with what we're planning, you should go to:

http://www.takeittothebridge.com

We are an ad hoc coalition of musicians and supporters of new/ experimental jazz/indie music. We represent a racially and culturally diverse community united in our desire to preserve the cultural legacy and future viability of the progressive jazz, experimental rock, and new music historically based in the LES.

Thank you,
Marc Ribot