Tower Records Redux: Re-imaging A Neighborhood

THE TWO TOWERS

Nostalgia’s a funny thing sometimes. When Tower Records originally opened on Broadway and 4th Street back in the day, let’s just say it was met with more than a little sniffing from many in the community: corporate bloodsuckers, the death of the independent record store and that hideous, monstrous yellow and red sign. Fast-forward to 2010 and Never Can Say Goodbye, a multi-media art exhibit meant to “celebrate the store’s historic role as the locus of the community.”

The installation, features record bins, album covers, music posters and a performance stage, spotlighting more than 20 artists who work with sound, light and image.

Among the themes meant to be explored here, you’ll find the notion that, “in its heyday, Tower Records was sales central for indie and contemporary music, as well as a gathering place for musicians and music lovers… a way to meet people face to face and share music and information… Today, in its place, is a virtual landscape without architecture, sales staff and community traffic. Freely downloading selected songs have created an empty space where a music store once thrived.”

The exhibit comes courtesy of Never Records by Ted Riederer and No Longer Empty, a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring art to the public by temporarily transforming vacant spaces throughout the city. Never Can Say Goodbye also features live music performances and a panel, entitled Discs to Downloads, a discussion on “how technology has transformed art, and how contemporary gadgets and the Internet have impacted contemporary music production, listening and consumption.”

The exhibition is free and open to the public, January 16 through February 13, Wednesday through Sunday 12 - 7PM. For a full schedule of events, visit the No Longer Empty website (http://www.nolongerempty.org).

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