A city-wide celebration of community and music
Make Music New York is NYC’s edition of the international Fête de la Musique, which takes place on the same day in over 300 cities around the world. Originated in 1982, this festival was the brainchild of Christian Dupavillon, a French architect and civil servant in the Ministry of Culture.
One morning in January 1982, Dupavillon received a letter form Maurice Fleuret, the Director of Music at the Ministry of Culture. Fleuret was concerned about a fact he had learned. At the time, French citizens owned over four million musical instruments but less than one quarter of them ever actually play.
From this simple note, Dupavillon had a brilliant idea. Why not have one day out of the year when every one of those instruments are taken out, dusted off and played for all to hear? And so, it was decided that on June 21 (Summer Solstice) 1982, the world would have it’s very first Fête de la Musique.
Brilliantly avoiding the possibility of annoying local residents, a choice was made to hold the event during daylight hours. Oddly, however, nowhere in the festival’s online historical records does it mention where that first festival took place. I’m assuming it was Paris.
New York joined the fray just last year. This year, I discovered the event for the first time thanks to friends holding court at Sixth Street & Avenue B Community Garden in the East Village. Leaves falling to the notes floating on the gentle breeze. This was the perfect way to spend the first day of summer. And while I could have spent it at any number of locations in NYC, I came here for a reason.
My friends Sacha and Francis run one of the coolest musical communities in the area, entered around a weekly open mic–originally at Lilly Coogans, now at Lucky Jacks (129 Orchard St, NYC). But it has grown to much more than that. Regulars are like family and the talent they share is stellar.
Musicians, artists, dancers, magicians poets and other assorted misfits will lift the soul l when it’s down, and lift it even higher when it is up. I don’t spend enough time in this circle, but whenever I do my world feels brighter. Yes there are those who still don’t get it.
Such as a young woman who will go unnamed who stormed off after yelling that her mic wasn’t loud enough. Or a gentleman who angrily asked me to move because he could not see. This while one of the performers was tuning up.
But a few bad apples will never spoil this bunch. God … did I just use that cliché? Calling itself Mic Club, the weekly open mic event that binds these people has survived much to remain one of the most vibrant nights in NYC. And that is not an exaggeration.
And what about this garden, this haven in Alphabet City? I’ve probably walked past this very oasis hundreds of times and never realized the treasures it held within. Bright flowers, lush greens, stone and wood and random other items to sit on, gaze at or meditate over. All that and a stage. Not just some hodge-podge of planks occasionally used to entertain, but an honest stage.
Established in 1982 by a committee of local residents, this charming park was once the dilapidated ruins of vacant buildings. Former homes to immigrant workers, the buildings were abandoned during a time of economic hardship. At one point they used as shooting galleries by drug addicts.
After successfully petitioning the city to convert the corner of 6th Street and Avenue B into green space, the committee began hauling rubble out, and bringing life in. By 1984, they had secured a one lease. Over the next several years, the garden faced opposition from developers and the city alike who felt residencies where the best use of the land.
Thankfully, the community of caregivers that fought so hard for this garden won. And today we all get to enjoy this one of many events. Their season of events is quite full and includes art, music, film and more. Not to mention the benefit of just sitting under the rustling leaves as the city pulses by.
See Also:
Photo Gallery
The Sixth Street and Avenue B Community Garden
MicClub
Thanks for the kind words about our garden.
I agreed to take on your friend Frances as a partner in booking acts as she knows a lot of artists.
I would have no trouble doing it myself as I did last year but I was feeling generous and wanted to share the love.
Unfortunately, your friends duped me.
I said no loud bands, don’t bring in a big p.a. system, we already have one appropriate for the garden.
Well, when I turned my back they unplugged my p.a. and plugged in their bigger system.
I had intended on only letting Frances work with me but she brought in her boyfriend to do sound and he is half deaf.
(another problem)
When I asked to have the sound turned down it almost got ugly.
They let loud bands play that disturbed the neighbors and we got many complaints.
They and their friends were drinking alcohol, another garden no-no.
I had to answer to my garden superiors.
Next year we will once again open the garden to N.Y.M.M.
But we will not take on any partners.
The 6 & B Garden feel your friends abused the situation and they will not be asked back.
Your pics are great.
oh yeah,
the night ended with someone stealing my guitar.
Extremely sentimental to me.
No fun.
Make Music New York 2008 was a complete success; there were so many familiar faces and an abundance of new faces and new friends of both Mic-Club and the garden, thanks to Frances and Sacha. This team should be applauded for there hard work and dedication to this event and for being respectful and humble guides to the artistic souls of many. The amount of time and love put into Make Music New York and every event they do is touching and commendable.
Every artist that played is amazing for lack of a better word, many left me speechless as I stood listening an looking on at the slue of talented musicians
The Garden was beautiful and peaceful it’s a shame that Frances and Sacha won’t be organizing MMNY there next year because were ever they happened to be I’ll be there to share in the love and show my support, appreciation and loyalty to them
As for Mr. Wilson’s blatantly false accusations and mouth full of negativity…what you explained in your comment and what actually happened are on two different sides of the spectrum. They accommodated the sound levels as you demanded…even though the crowd yearned for a louder sound…and still you were unhappy they did nothing to disrespect you or the garden. (And that includes taking part in Drinking alcohol it SIMPLY DID NOT HAPPEN) in fact they spend a good portion of the day making sure everyone else obeyed the rules and regulations they treated the garden with love and respect.
I personally over heard Mr. Wilson explaining to people coming into the garden to part take in the event that he himself single handedly organized the whole event.
It is my personal belief that because he was not mentioned in the review as the organizer of this MMNY event his ego got the better of him.
Resulting in the nasty comment left to this beautiful review giving credit where it was rightfully due.
Joff, the mere fact that you had to voice your complaint in public shows the amount of class and integrity you have in your soul. That was quite unprofessional on your part but you have proven that to me already on previous occasions. Needless to say that if you are capable of such an act, what is to stop you from slandering, hence the comment above.
I will not defend myself for it is obvious that your ego was bruised. I will say thank you very much especially to Connie and the other Garden staff members for allowing Mic-Club performers to have their chance to shine in such a lovely place. It is truly a beautiful, magnificent, and divine space. I strongly encourage anyone from NYC or out of town to visit and give a generous donation in the box.
Despite the negative hostility you projected towards me Joff, by pressuring me throughout the whole day while I was working the sound and being a host with open arms, by accusing me of bringing up the volume when in fact, I was lowering it, and by threatening me to “pull the plug” on the show if I did not comply, I can safely say that I managed to make the audience and musicians happy.
I must say that it was rather tough on me dealing with your inconsistencies. One moment you say one thing and then you say another. You were quite rude. My heart was broken that night but I soldiered on. After the event was over and everything was done, I took a long walk teary eyed when some people stopped me near 2nd avenue. They were at the Garden and they could not stop telling me how grateful they were to have been their. My brief moment of sadness was lifted away to a smile. I have made new friends who now visit Mic-Club at Lucky Jack’s every Thursday night.
As for your guitar that was stolen, I am sorry to hear that. Are you implying something there though? I am a bit confused. I remember you being the last performer along side that guy who was singing with you (he was not singing, he was screaming “Marijuana, Marijuana” at the top of his lungs in front of the performers’ kids – Why did you not tell your man to lower his voice?). I also remember the place emptying out as you were playing. There was hardly anyone there when you finished and the Garden closed right after.
There were 23 performances in which some were bands. All had their acts together and had many musical equipment and instruments. Not one complaint about anything was made except the sound levels and not being heard. You only had a guitar and it was unplugged. How did you manage to lose your guitar? Weren’t you the last act and did you not close the garden right after? Furthermore, some of the performers met up at a local bar and informed me that they had seen you, Joff, with you guitar. Your comment insinuates that your guitar, which has sentimental value, was stolen at the Garden implying that it was my fault.
Make no mistake that you Joff, did not make it easy for me in any way shape or form. Making a public complaint like this is clearly an immature act. Frances and I worked very hard for the Musicians and the 6th Street Avenue B Garden. We gave that place love and respect and the gift of music. This is how you thank us?
You did not even know about Make Music New York until Frances introduced it to you. Your comment proves it. It is not N.Y.M.M., it is M.M.N.Y; Make Music New York.
I performed fairly early in the program, and I was not aware of what was going on, but I do specifically remember the sound being turned down DURING MY -SOLO ACOUSTIC- SET. I’m not upset about that fact, but I can assure any reading that I am a first hand witnessed the the volume was reduced.
Also, I thought the event was well organized by Frances and Sacha, which is why I agreed to the event. In my few months in the city, they have shown nothing but consistent efforts to make every event a blessing to both performer and audience.
I thought MMNY was a fun community, in a beautiful garden, with food and great support for the performers. For that, I am deeply thankful for all those involved in organizing the event.
-my 2 cents
To be honest, I don’t even understand why we have to be writing something like this. Why we have to defend an event that was clearly all about the music on a day that The City itself deamed music day. In fact, they repealed the noise ordinance specifically for this day. It completely boggles my mind how problems like this arise.
Unfortunately it’s not that suprising to me in this particular instance. Here are some reasons why.
joff oh joff. I remember the first time I met you, as I know Frances does. It was at Raffifi’s open mic on mondays. I walked around, introduced myself to everyone (not that many peoeple were there. It’s funny how the first thing I did after that was turn to Frances and say, he’s (joff) an asshole. I don’t like him and he’s no good. He’s very much concerned only with with his own thing. Frances said I was wrong and you were actually a good/nice person.
I found out shortly after that my initial thoughts were true. As I got up to smoke a cigarette he complained that I was leaving during his set. I had been there for all the others beginning to end, and HE only came in to play HIS set. This in and of itself isn’t really that big an issue nor is it something that defines ones person/m.o. but the events that followed with M.M.N.Y. and pretty much all my interaction with him post that night at Raffifi’s was enough to solidify my beliefs.
joff
“I agreed to take on your friend Frances as a partner in booking acts as she knows a lot of artists.”
“I would have no trouble doing it myself as I did last year but I was feeling generous and wanted to share the love.”
You did not even know what MMNY was until Frances came in to your life. Furthermore I believe you had two acts of your own and one of them didn’t show up. I think ALL of the people we booked showed. I say we, and I think Frances will agree, beause we are a family. All of us showed up, in fact, all of us were pretty much there from beginning to end. Some people would even leave (prior engagements) just to come back as soon as they could. You however handed the key off to Frances and ran off for however long it was…without an explanation. And for someone who feels that he runs the garden it’s funny how you weren’t there. Furthermore you could not have done this without her. Next time, if you want to sit around with your friends I suggest you invite them over to your house and get a little drum circle…your friend that loves the marijuana and y’all can chant some hyms and sing oldies. It’s fine if that’s your thing but our family believes in diversity. We have poets, dancers, magicians, comedians and even visual artists that we welcome with full embrace. This wasn’t about what YOU wanted joff, it was about making music and being a family.
“I had intended on only letting Frances work with me but she brought in her boyfriend to do sound and he is half deaf”
Read above…how was a man who wasn’t there suppossed to do sound. There was a schedule to keep – sound needed to be done. He knows how we all play and that’s what he does.
Furthermore, the event was clearly well planned (I and I’m sure Joff had the schedule for over a month)so there was absoluely no confusion as to what was going to happen that day. In fact, the only reason that the schedule was disrupted was because we let joff’s/the community gardens people stay on for quite sometime. And this, to me, is fine…it’s more about how even with all the BS going around we are always welcoming and willing to bring people in to our family.
On your guitar. There was absolutely no way any one of us stole your guitar. We were the last ones out before you and you had your guitar. As I was leaving and stopping you to say thanks for everything, you were carying it. You had it in your hands and we were already out of the garden standing in front with all of our equipment. I’m sorry you lost your guitar, but don’t imply that any one of us stole your guitar. I leave my stuff at Lucky Jack’s unattended/overnight more often than I should and we all look out for eachother. I never worry someone is going to walk off with my stuff. In fact, it is actually an example I use when describing to people how wonderful and amazing we are, as well as how unique our family/community is.
Please forgive me if this is disjointed and for spelling/grammer mistakes…it is very hard to keep it calm when I am so very pissed/confused/hurt.
I would like to say thank you to the Garden for having us – and thank you for helping in any way you did. Of course, thank you Jack for finding the grill glove and helping me out with the grilling in general.
joff, I hope we don’t cross paths again.
Anthony
I played with 2 of the acts that day, Dean and the Travellers and the Allen Gogarty Band.
Upon returning to the garden later in the afternoon, as I was walking past the corner on 6th street and Ave B, there was a car across the street from which a blasting stereo was playing. As I walked to the garden’s entrance, I didn’t hear any music from the stage until I was well inside the garden. Amura was performing and his sound was extremely low. When I approached Sacha about the sound, he explained to me that he was getting complaints from the organizers of the garden and he was trying to keep the peace with them, which i thought was crazy as the noise from the surrounding street was loader then what was coming from the stage.
All of the performers I spoke with that day were aware of the fact that they should keep the volume down, which for the most part of the day I feel was kept at a respectable level. Most of the performers were sincerely concerned with upsetting the garden community and the audience were well behaved.
While it was extremely generous of the people at the 6th avenue garden to donate their garden for our little celebration to which we all were appreciative, at no point of the day did I feel we were welcomed. Which made me wonder why they approved this in the first place. It was a great opportunity for them to open their garden and show off their work in this community in which I also live, however they come off no better then a board of condo developers who would develop something on the corner of 6th Street and Avenue B.
I don’t know Joff personally, but it’s unfortunate that his ego seems to be ultimately overshadowing a day and an event that was about a community of like-minded people, not any one individual.
Pining and lobbying for credit for putting the showcase together is pathetic, particularly when such claims are a complete lie. Clearly, this Joff character does not share the same ideals that most of us involved with Mic Club do. As such, not having the “honor” of working with him again in the future is no big loss.
The Garden was great, and I am truly appreciative of those involved with the garden who welcomed and supported us.
Firstly I would like to say thank-you to Joff, before I say anything else. Without Joff we wouldn’t have had our day in the garden. Frances first met Joff there a few months ago and he offered her the garden space for Make Music New York. He also invited her to help him run a Monday night open mic. Frances and Sacha were ecstatic for the chance to create more spaces that allow artists to express themselves in a safe and uninhibited environment. And why shouldn’t they be glad of such a thing? In this city of cement and censure such opportunities are rare and should not be passed up. Joff, you provided all of us Mic Club not one but two spaces to allow our community to get together, and you should be thanked for that.
So why, Joff, did you invite us to be a part of your community and then refuse to be a part of ours? You gave us a space to work in and then left all the work to Sacha and Frances. You offered us the garden for a festival of music that was all about harmony and then, with a barrage of demands, brought discord by forcing everyone into two separate groups over an issue of volume. It wasn’t your fault, Joff, that there were complaints about the noise, but it was your fault that you took upon you the concerns of the naysayers, let that get to you and make you feel like things were going wrong. You let negativity bring you down and you let that reflect on your person. Joff, I met you back in the days of CBGB when you and the Bowery Boys ran a great open mic and had a whole lot of fun. What happened to that fun, Joff? Where did your sense of fun go?
I know the 6th&B garden well, and have passed many a fine day there at the free events and enjoying the sunshine. I think we were indeed welcome at the garden not just because of the organisers but because the people who use it – the members of the community and the very life-blood of the place – came in and stayed for the day, and they spoke with us and shared food with us. We were ALL part of a great community that day. People from the area go to the garden for respite from the drudgery and duress of the city. They bring their kids, their books, their aches and their unrest, and they let go. Cat Stevens asks, “Where do the children play?” They could play in the streets among the broken bottles and cigarette butts, or they could play among green growing things on grass and beneath trees. We don’t silence children when they shriek in innocent glee, or when they call out to say “come look!” We are all children of nature, and that’s what the garden is all about – a space where we can be children and play. Why should we silence our inner children?
People from the community that day brought their kids to hear music not birdsong, brought food to share instead of books to get lost in, and made friends instead of shutting down. The garden is a place to revitalise and share in our common humanity, and that’s why Mic Club wanted to be there, for that is the ethos of our community, too. We were not there to jeapordise that, nor did we take it for granted. No one sang about hate or destruction, there were no words of fear or mistrust. No! There were songs to laugh to, to make love to, to sing along with, to get up and dance to. Why didn’t you get up and dance, Joff?
I understand the precarious existence of the 6th&B garden, were developers eye the lot with hunger, salivating over any opportunity to shut the garden down and turn the prime corner real-estate into a cash cow. But it really is true that for the 21st of June the noise ordinance in all of New York City was suspended. All over the city that we have come to see as grey and uncaring there were people out making music, making noise, having a good time. So why should everyone in the 6th&B garden cower in the corner when on every corner there was joyous sound? We were all in love with life that day among the vines and tendrils. It was the summer solsitce day when, as a species, it is our perogative, if not our imperative, to bare our heads and chests to the regnant sun and howl at the moon with the energy of growth and hot blood!
People DID make noise, and in the garden it was not just our Mic Club family asking for the chance to cut loose and make merry but people from the community itself. Kids there were in rapt attention, sitting wide-eyed in wonder, and laughing at the jubilant energy around them. People basked in the sunshine and broke bread with their neighbors and fellow humans. Everyone wanted to holler out their gladness at being alive on a summer’s day. John Cage says that every sound is a beautiful sound, and when we shout and sing and scream with delight, that is truly the most beautiful sound.
Joff, without you we at Mic Club would still be living in a rose-tinted bubble where we thought everyone who was a part of the counter-culture underground music scene was like-minded. We have found that to be untrue. But that has cast in sharp relief the importance of what we do at Mic Club. We create a community wherein each individual can counteract the clinical, calculating cold of cynicism with love and beauty and emotional vulnerability in the knowledge that there is support and trustworthy good folk around them. Thanks to you we have seen first hand what happens when someone loses their sense of fun. You have been an excellent teacher by example. We have all learned that pride and hubris are poison, that when someone in our community gets ground down we all lose, and that the ability to truly cut loose and celebrate is a gift that not everyone has and so should be cherished. We thank you, Joff, for these hard-learned lessons.
Joff:
Not being as eloquent as my musical Mic-Club counterparts, I would have been simply satisfied to call you a dick. However, upon further review, I realized that such a claim would be unfair to dicks, for the following reasons:
1. Dicks are Fun- Be it your dick, someone else’s dick or just a big ol’ rubber dick, a dick is a continual source of entertainment and glee. People enjoy having a dick around. A dick would never stand in the way of a good time. Dicks stand for a good time, literally. In fact, the very appearance of a dick is a signal that a good time is about to begin. Joff’s presence indicates the very opposite.
2. Dicks Serve a Purpose- Let’s not forget that without dicks, none of us would be here. Not only that, but they relieve stress and generally brighten a sunny day. This is in direct contradiction to the principles that Joff represents.
3. Dicks are Unique- Big dicks, small dicks, and everything inbetween. Dicks have personality. Dicks have originality. Dicks contribute to the state of the world and the variety that makes it special. Joff, on the other hand, draws from the communal honeypot of the world and offers only criticism and malice.
So congratulations, Joff, on being anything but a dick.
Joff, Sorry about the guitar . maybe it fell into the hands of someone with love in their heart instead of a egomaniac who talks shit about hard working , loving, kind souls such as Frances and Sacha. I’d like to stick my foot up your ass for calling Sacha ” half deaf “.. grow up !!! the guy worked so hard that day as did Frances to make it a great day.. I had my 3000. dollar Les Paul sitting in the garden all day and never once did i think someone would touch it or any of my other stuff.
Karma can be a real bitch sometimes asshole..
For Sale: One Guitar. Inquire within. Never played by actual player before. Like an abused pet, needs a nice new owner