12 Comments on Studio B Is Taking Their Cabaret License Hearing Very Seriously

dc108 on Tue, 29th Jul 2008 7:50 am


Biz Markie has run this city since ’91, so it’s not that big a surprise to see him skirting the rule like a gangster in The Dark Knight. 😉

rbeshenk on Tue, 29th Jul 2008 11:41 am


You really must love this place, because you give them great press!! I am TOTALLY going to this party! Do you know when the last time Biz Markie played was? He didn’t even play the VMB reunion at Central Park. That’s what’s so great about Studio B. They get exclusive international acts and local legends to play at a venue that would normally be used for…. well…. nothing, right? Because there is nothing on that block. There is no commerce in that area. If Studio B wasn’t there, there would probably be no police presence either. Little manic-panic dyed transplants would be getting mugged by south side kids left and right. Yeah for Studio B!!

Where’s all the posts about the illegal loft events that the “artists” in the area are throwing, selling illegal liquor and…. oh no… dancing without a cabaret license? You’re like the Mayor in Footloose. Where’s Kevin Bacon when you need him?

jake_tuff on Tue, 29th Jul 2008 12:37 pm


^^ Please read the article instead of having reflexsive reactions to headlines. People aren’t upset about the existence of Studio B, they are upset about how it conducts its business how that affects its immediate neighbors.

You actually watched Footloose? Really?

FutureMan on Tue, 29th Jul 2008 1:19 pm


Bizmarkie!! Thanks for the heads up

rbeshenk on Tue, 29th Jul 2008 1:42 pm


Yeah, I watched Footloose. I’m assuming that you were a zygote in the eighties, since you find that surprising.

My response is not “reflexsive” [sic]. I have read most of the commentary here on this subject. Having frequented Studio B often, and having observed how they actually conduct business, I find many of the remarks that have been made (lack of bouncers, lack of supervision outside and upstairs, people meandering up and down the street by others’ stoops) to be false. If you just google the address and take a look around the street view, you can see that the complaints about garbage in front of this building and the supposed number of neighbors within steps from the entrance are greatly exaggerated. You’re in Greenpoint. If you’re saying you never saw a stumbling drunk in that neighborhood before Studio B, then you’re not living in “Little Poland.”

To put it in perspective, take a look at PS1. PS1 throws a HUGE party all day long on Saturdays during the summer. There are thousands of people there, which I’m pretty positive is over capacity for that museum. They make an excessive amount of noise. They have apartments literally adjacent to and, in the open air, on top of their establishment. They make a ridiculous amount of trash. They have not once applied for a Department of Buildings permit to put up any of the structures that they build in the outside area. These structures are over people’s heads. They throw a dance party every week and yet have no cabaret license. They are also one of the most unique, interesting and fabulous places to visit (and to party at) in the world. Let’s enforce one of the most outdated pieces of legislation that had the misfortune to find itself on the books in New York and advocate shutting them down, too. Then NYC can be really interesting.

digitalfront on Tue, 29th Jul 2008 9:47 pm


rbeshenk,

I skimmed your last paragraph and at first thought you were writing about Studio B until I reread the first sentence.

P.S.
Heather, thank you for posting this. Now I know to stay as far away from Studio B as fucking possible on the 31st.

d on Tue, 29th Jul 2008 9:55 pm


Haha “Footloose” was so awesomely cheesy. But anyway, I am around the corner from Studio B and I’ve never seen or heard anything like what some people say goes on there. When I’ve passed crowds outside they usually seem to be in order, maybe I’m just lucky? I used to live in Manhattan below the Noisiest Man on the Planet though, next to that horrendous neighbor, not much else looks bad.

b203 on Wed, 30th Jul 2008 9:50 am


Tend to agree with rbeshenk here. I’ve been to Studio B a few times and live close to the Greenpoint-Northside border, so I walk by it fairly frequently. The trash situation seems exaggerated, and while I’m not sure on how close/how many neighbors are really affected by clubgoers, it does seem like there’s a lot of complaining for complaining’s sake here. There’s a difference between appealing to a business to cooperate with the neighborhood’s wishes and antagonizing them at every turn. How do you expect results that way?

jake_tuff on Wed, 30th Jul 2008 10:25 am


rebschenk. i offer you my most sincere apologies for the spelling mistake, i didnt know it would perturb you so much. are you still TOTALLY going to this party? just how HUGE are the PS1 parties? how are you touting your maturity and celebrating spelling mistakes while speaking like a 12 year old long island girl?

rbeshenk on Wed, 30th Jul 2008 10:56 am


Jake. Sorry for being such a stickler about spelling, as it seems to antagonize you. I also apologize for my use of capital letters and sarcastic adverbs. I’d say the PS1 parties attract at least 3,000 people on an average weekend, which I would characterize as huge. Do you speak like a Long Island guy since you live in Brooklyn, which is actually on Long Island? You’re talking poorly about the little 12-year old that lives on your block? Now that sounds like a bad neighbor.

ShatteredMonocle on Wed, 30th Jul 2008 4:13 pm


Oh, when will the world of blog comments achieve some level of decorum?

I don’t think that looking at images from Google Street View really constitutes a shrewd test for the validity of the trash complaints. I’m not familiar with the block, but I keep seeing suggestions that there aren’t even residences within earshot of Studio B. Do people live around there or not? Were all these folks piping up at the CB1 meeting really just a bunch of busy-body, Biz Markie-hating lunatics?

rbeshenk says…
“If Studio B wasn’t there, there would probably be no police presence either. Little manic-panic dyed transplants would be getting mugged by south side kids left and right.”

I would be quite comfortable with that scenario.

missheather on Wed, 30th Jul 2008 5:02 pm


ShatteredMonocle: I am inclined to agree with you re. commenting decorum. Volleying insults back and forth is not usually conducive to meaningful dialogue. That said, this is, for better or worse a very contentious issue. It is also about a lot more than cabaret licenses or garbage.

To me personally it is about one business’s total and flagrant disregard for obeying the law. This does not solely encompass angry neighbors, but also patrons. If this entity has seen fit to operate w/o a proper license and violate stop work orders (repeatedly), what else have they cut corners on? Seriously?

Studio B caught with over 650 people in a space sanctioned to hold 461 back in April. I seriously doubt this was an isolated incident either. Had there been a medical emergency or a fire how could EMS workers or New York’s Bravest possibly get in there? Or how would the patrons of said establishment get out?

Simply put, I am concerned about BOTH the needs of the people who live adjacent to this business AND the people who patronize it. I do not want a repeat of The Station nightclub fiasco happening here. Human life (be they manic panicked or not) is human life— and you can’t put a price on that.

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