On April 14 in a basement space
that can’t be named for fear of it
being shut down, that history re-
freshingly was mingled with New
Brunswick’s maligned and misun-
derstood hip-hop scene. Any oth-
er city in the country that had so
much rock and rap, plus more than
30,000 undergraduates at a flag-
ship state university, would em-
brace those scenes warmly, such
as in Raleigh, N.C., and Boston.
In interviews, both Lifetime and
Screaming Females have told me
that they don’t think New Bruns-
wick is an artist-friendly town.
That’s an absurd thing to say
about a city spending nearly a
quarter of a billion dollars on a
new performing arts center. But
from the standpoint of art that ap-
peals to cash-strapped students
and starving artists, that observa-
tion is spot-on.
If city and Rutgers leaders came
to an amazing show like the one
performed by Hodera, dollys,
Green Knuckle Material, Secret
Mountain and Offkey Lifestyle on
April 14, they would have found
an extremely well-designed and
comfortable basement venue that
even had a bathroom! More than
100 customers seemed thorough-
ly satisfied.
Customers! Isn’t that what New
Brunswick businesses need? A city
that prides itself on utilizing the
arts as an economic driver should
realize that even the smallest ven-
ue with the least affluent consumer
base still can contribute to that mis-
sion. The New Brunswick basement
scene has artistic value and finan-
Americana • Indie • Classic Rock • 80s Rock
and artists from Jersey.
There’s no station in the world like
AsburyMusic.com
NJ STAGE 2017 - Vol. 4 No. 3
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