A convergent moment in downtown New York City club history
MOMENT NYC invites you to a retrospective on the groundbreaking underground Giant Step party of the 1990s. This roving downtown party attracted generations of artists, jazzers, MCs, dancers, celebrities, and fashionistas – an eclectic mix of all kinds and personalities, creatively intermingling. Unique and of its time but also part of a long continuing tradition of underground music and dance club culture in NYC nightlife. This was the club where artists like Jamiroquai, Massive Attack, Gilles Peterson, Guru’s Jazzamatazz, Daft Punk and Digable Planets first performed. It was also a jumping off point for local artists like Groove Collective, Dana Bryant and Repercussions. Giant Step inspired other like minded parties from Los Angeles to Toronto and beyond.
The event will feature the photography of Alice Arnold with archival audio; a panel discussion w/ Maurice Bernstein, Erica Lee, DJ Smash, and David Hershkovits; and after-party DJ set by DJ Smash w/ guest performers.
6:30pm Discussing ’90s NYC Giant Step parties in the context of NYC nightlife history
David Hershkovits (founder of Paper Magazine), facilitates a discussion with Maurice Bernstein (Giant Step co-founder and CEO), Erica Lee (former Director of Events at Giant Step, and DJ Smash (original Giant Step DJ)
8pm Live exhibit of photos by Alice Arnold, Giant Step archival audio mixes, and context
8:30-11:00 After-Party DJ set by DJ Smash w/live guest performers
MOMENT NYC & Subterra Soundsystem present a live music mash-up party celebrating the diversity that has kept the Lower East Side / East Village so interesting and creative for over a century.
DROM 85 Avenue A, NYC, Sunday, June 5th, 6 pm doors
Frank London, founder of the Klezmatics, will lead Bagels and Bongos. Splicing klezmer with Latin rhythms this music defies sedentary listening; Ukrainian Village Voices presents the traditional polyphonic singing style of Ukraine’s villages; Arthur Kill + Xi Feng embellishes rock and pop with traditional Chinese instruments and will dip into the story of Kurt Weill’s connection to the Lower East Side and his classic “Mack the Knife” from Threepenny Opera, in its original German version (“Die Moritat von Mackie Messer”); Momento Rumbero will channel the rumba roots that once colored every summer day around Loisaida’s streets and parks; members of Groove Collective will cook up soul-jazz-Latin-disco grooves with special guests Ruben Rodriguez, Avram Fefer, Ernesto Abreu, Bryan Vargas, and Milo Z; Faith NYC, fronted by Felice Rosser, will bathe us in waves of reggae, soul, and rock as they have throughout the neighborhood since the 1980s; the evening will conclude with the, newly minted, local underground gathering, Subterra Soundsystem. Following the Subterra group, there will be an open jam. Throughout the evening there will be pieces of oral history, local lore, and archival notes giving context to the place we call home – the original melting pot.
$15 adv / $20 at the door / $10 student & seniors / rsvp to info[at]momentnyc.org for guest list info – All are welcome
At one time, everything South of 14th Street to Canal Street and East of Broadway to the East River was known as the Lower East Side of New York. The area has been fertile turf for underground creative street-bred activity as far back as the 1800s and probably further.
A place where terms such as “dives” and “hookers” would be coined. Beer gardens, pleasure halls, saloons, and black and tans – where races and fluid gender roles first mixed – thrived in the Lower East Side well before they were accepted by mainstream society, let alone legal.
Home to early tap dancing, Little Germany, Yiddish theaters, the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Eddie Cantor, Jimmie Durante, Al Jolson, Charlie Parker, beat poets, punk rock, Little Italy, China Town, Little Tokyo, Irish, Polish, Ukrainians, Puerto Ricans, Muslims, Indians, Alphabet City, Loisaida, the infamous masquerade balls of Webster Hall, disco at the Saint, the classic rock of the Filmore East, glitter rock, freak folk, anti-folk, the drag scene that spawned Wig Stock, Slug’s in the Far East, the Five Spot, the Half Note, University of the Streets, ABC No Rio, Basquiat, Hells Angels, CBGB, Great Glildersleeves, Henry Street Settlement, Save the Robots, the Gas Station, A7, C-Squat, seed bombed community gardens, Sonny Rollins, Sun Ra, the Velvet Underground, NY Dolls, Talking Heads…and so many others have called this little patch of the world home.
Celebrating this all-of-a-kind family, we’ll do our best to pay tribute to the lust for life, dark humor, and creative flamboyance that has defined and drawn people to the Lower East Side for so long.
6:30 Palladium Ballroom history & Panel Discussion
Panel discussion on the impact of the Palladium Ballroom and the history of mambo in the context of New York City with images and audio from the Palladium era.
7:30 Dance Social
Listen and dance to recordings of music from the Mambo era. Free dance instruction, tips, and demonstration will be offered by Franck Muhel, Satomi Montague and guests.
8:15—10pm Live Mambo band – Mitch Frohman & The Bronx Horns
Dance social continues. If this amazing band doesn’t make you want to move you better check your pulse.
The Palladium in New York City was the nexus of the Mambo scene throughout the 50s, and into the 1960s. Located at 1698 Broadway at 53rd Street in Manhattan, this 750 person capacity, 2nd-floor venue was the home of “the big three” – Machito, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodriguez. Famous for its live bands, dancers, and dance competitions, it attracted celebrities from Marlon Brando to Bing Crosby and because of its proximity to Swing Street on 52nd Street, many of jazz greats from Dizzy Gillespie to Duke Ellington would come by and on occasion sit in, opening a musical dialogue and exchange that spurred immeasurable creativity and fusion still felt in Afro-Latin jazz and other forms today.
The Palladium was the first big midtown nightclub that offered exclusively Latino music yet it was known for its diversity and played a major role in expanding the appreciation and understanding of traditional Afro Cuban rhythms in the US and around the world.
MOMENT’s mission is to preserve New York City independent music and diversity through exhibit, performance, and education. Join MOMENT at www.momentnyc.org and email us at [[email protected]]
We are pleased to present this event as part of an ongoing series exploring New York City clubs and the communities they connect. To be notified about future events, please join our mailing list and support our vision of a living museum of music in New York City.
