Quantcast

Goodbye Blue Monday saying goodbye — again

Goodbye Blue Monday saying goodbye — again

Time to add another name to the ever growing list of music venues shutting down in Brooklyn.

Goodbye Blue Monday, the quirky music and performance art venue on Broadway in Bushwick, will close down at the end of the month. The venue’s last day will be Nov. 30, confirmed former owner Steve Trimboli.

“I, for one, am both saddened and relieved,” said Trimboli, who still assists in some aspects of the business.

Goodbye Blue Monday has had a few fits and starts in the past couple of years. The venue held a series of benefit shows and an online fundraising campaign in early 2013 to pay for upgrades to the falling apart facility. And the venue announced earlier this year that it would close down if it did not come up with several thousands dollars to pay fines it owed to the city.

But news of the closure still comes as a blow, said one staff member.

“The community is going to be broken down,” said Goodbye Blue Monday employee Adeline Thery. “It is very sad.”

The venue is known for an open booking policy that allows any band to play and for not charging a cover for shows. Bands typically pass a hat around to raise money for shows.

A notable number of Brooklyn music venues have gone — or at least announced they are going — the way of the dodo in the past several months. Those closures including Death By Audio, Glasslands, Public Assembly, and Spike Hill.

“New York is making it impossible now for anyone to make a buck doing anything creative,” said Trimboli, who said the landlord approached the current owner with a new lease where the rent was tripled. “I am sure that sports bars or bars that only have cover bands will stay open forever.”

Artists and musicians say they are disgusted at the rate at which venues are being pushed out.

“If New York City wants to become an occupied territory for the wealthy only, by all means, let’s just admit it and stop pretending already,” said Rachel Eisley, founder of Teleportation Arts, a multi-disciplinary art collective that operated out of a loft a few doors down from Goodbye Blue Monday until the landlord found a higher paying tenant. “Good luck with further gentrification at such a pace. Once the artists are forced out, we will not be paving the way for you anymore.”

Reach reporter Danielle Furfaro at dfurf‌aro@c‌ngloc‌al.com or by calling (718) 260–2511. Follow her at twitt‌er.com/‌Danie‌lleFu‌rfaro.