Author: DougR
Date: 2009-04-15 14:21
I was there yesterday (for the Wright Music "Woodwind Day" in Patelson's upstairs front room, featuring Jonathan Watkins from Wright Music, Scott Kurzweil from Conn/Selmer, many many clarinets and accessories--including 3, count'em, 3 Selmer low-C Privilege basses--to try) AND Clark Fobes in person, with a full line of mouthpieces, barrels, Eb extensions, etc.)...(if you're in NYC on 4/15, so are they, so...)
The loss of Patelson's is mostly symbolic at this point, but hugely sad all the same. The place has an atmosphere all its own that hasn't changed for 50 years, a combination of the smells of ink, paper, books, and a very old, musty building-smell that really hits you as you make your way through the crowded upstairs stacks. The Wright Music event was partly an opportunity for me to get a fortunate glimpse of the Patelsons' upstairs apartment, still intact in a timeless, timeworn, slightly dowdy fashion.
Slightly off-topic, I wish NYC were more creative about keeping businesses functioning that are such a huge and irreplaceable part of the city's cultural life and traditions. I'm thinking of Patelson's, Frank Music, the Claremont stables (in business since the early 1900s, now being turned into condos), Columbia's legendary 30th Street studios, the Carnegie Hall teaching studios that are continually threatened by real-estate market realities, etc. I understand part of the cash-flow issue with Patelson's was a $7,000 a month tax bill. Surely a municipality that is conscious of the value of its institutions could find a way to neutralize that particular burden, at least. (I'm familiar with the concept of selling "air rights;" possibly there's a creative way to offset such burdens on worthy institutions?)
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
