(photo: Cassidy Dawn Graves)
Empty Spaces takes a closer look at the buildings that used to house well-loved establishments, shuttered due to inevitable rent hikes or an unfortunate turn of events. When one establishment leaves a building, it is expected that another will take its place. Some, however, remain unoccupied for months or even years. We check in on these Empty Spaces to find out what’s up.
Address: 940 Flushing Avenue, Bushwick
Someone had to immortalize the Trash Bar before its impending move to Bushwick and the ABC crime show Forever has gone and done it in the most ridiculous possible way. The episode ingeniously named “Punk Is Dead” opens with the above clip, wherein a NYPD detective hanging at Trash Bar with a smooth hotelier (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) tells him, “You know this place was actually open before CBGB.” (Leave it to a show about an immortal medical examiner who’s been alive since 1779 to get its chronology wrong.) Turns out, Cuba plans to tear the club down and put up one of his hotels. “But this is a New York landmark,” the cop whines.
At the Sailor Jerry Gypsy Lounge event in East Austin, Slothrust opened their set with the same song they always open with. Simply titled “Intro,” it’s a minute and a half of intimidating sound that boldly proves Leah Wellbaum is much more than a pretty face. The crowd head-banged as the band thumped through a blistering set, literally shaking the stage.
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