Past Event: Cocktails & Culture: GoNightclubbing with DJ Bill Bahlman

Relive the drama and electricity of New York's downtown music scene circa 1980 with legendary Punk/New Wave DJ Bill Bahlman and a Video Lounge presented by Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong of GoNightclubbing featuring iconic live video performances by the biggest names in Punk, New Wave and No Wave: the Cramps, Bad Brains, Suicide, Richard Hell, the Dead Boys, Kid Creole, and more. A Q & A with Ivers & Armstrong, “the Lewis and Clark of music video" (NYT), will follow the screening.

Check out our monthly MC'NY Poets' Café and open mic hosted by Shanelle Gabriel.  All Museum galleries will be open for viewing, including New York, New Music: 1980-1986. Drinks available for purchase from the MCNY bar.

About DJ Bill Bahlman:
Legendary Punk/New Wave DJ Bill Bahlman was in-house DJ at Hurrah, Danceteria & The Anvil. His highly energetic lyrical style led his dedicated following on musical journeys on paths of self-discovery. Bill believes in storytelling as one song leads to another. His brother Ed Bahlman owned 99 Records, the independent label that produced The Bush Tetras, Liguid Liquid, Glenn Branca & ESG. Bill’s musical family was on the pulse of ground-breaking new music. Bahlman is also a noted sports photographer & videographer. His historic video of ACT UP has appeared in numerous documentary films including the Oscar-nominated How to Survive A Plague; Bill also appears in the film.

About Shanelle Gabriel:
Shanelle Gabriel is a poet, singer, and lupus warrior from Brooklyn, NY who has performed internationally including Africa and Europe. Widely known for featuring on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, she has shared the stage with artists such as Jill Scott, Nas, Nikki Giovanni, and more. She was listed as one of Blavity.com's "Artist Activists You Should Know" and one of "8 Millennial Feminist Poets That Deserve Recognition" by BET.com. Shanelle is also a health activist who has featured on the Lifetime Network about her continued battle with lupus. Presently, she is working on her third album while serving as the Interim Executive Director at Urban Word NYC, a youth organization that uses poetry & hip-hop to promote literacy and youth voice. shanellegabriel.com

About GoNightclubbing:
Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong are the creators of the GoNightclubbing archive, the definitive video record of the New York downtown music scene 1977-1980. They began documenting punk music together in 1977. Shooting in clubs from CBGBs to Irving Plaza to the Mudd Club, they amassed a huge body of work and produced a cable program, “Nightclubbing,” the first weekly tv show to feature bands like The Cramps, Richard Hell and the Voidoids and the Dead Kennedys. In 1980, they created the Video Lounge at Danceteria, a video installation that became a permanent feature at the club and pioneered the concept of the video DJ. They have screened their work in museums, independent cinemas and universities, nationally and internationally. In 2010, New York University, Fales Library /Downtown Collection acquired and digitally restored their archive, where it is available for study and research by scholars and interested parties.

Event Logistics (Subject to change based on NYC regulations)

• Please note that in case of rain, this event will take place indoors on the same day.
• Please contact programs@mcny.org with any questions or ticketing issues.