New York Nightlife Assassin runs for President
Author: Jonty Skrufff
Friday, February 9, 2007
Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani entered America’s Presidency content this week, applying to become the Republican nominee for next year’s election.
The notoriously puritanical anti-club zealot declared, “I’m in this to win” in an interview with Fox News and stressed his conservative credentials on the right wing TV network.
His candidacy could have dire implications for American club culture, given the devastating impact he had on New York nightlife during his Mayoral reign between 1993 and 2001.
Veteran club promoter/DJ and label chief Andrew Price relocated his Satamile Records to San Francisco last year after 20 years in the City and directly blamed Giuliani for destroying its once great alternative music scene.
“New York City is dead, Mayor Giuliani killed it and 9/11 buried it. Giuliani came up with the ‘Cabaret Law’ idea, making it illegal to dance in clubs unless you have a special license, which cost a fortune and many famous clubs were shut down because of this law,” Andrew told Skrufff contributor Katrin Richter.
“The Giuliani administration closed down the underground institutions and systems that educated and cultivated knowledge about new music. This is part of the erosion of culture that the politics of New York have played a large part in.”
As well as running Satamile, Andrew promoted over 400 events in Manhattan, presenting acts including Adult, Auteche and Luke Slater, though predicted such acts are unlikely to be welcomed ever again.
“What killed New York were the conservative politics that Giuliani used to ‘Clean up the city’; their idea of cleaning up,” he said.
“They don’t want creative cultural pools of music and art, the want money, and real estate development. All the large alternative parties that go off get shut down, promoters are threatened with arrest or arrested. Basically the cultivating grounds for new and different things musically or for the arts have been shut down or have become too expensive to use.”
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