PRESS
“Supporters of the cabaret law repeal were present in droves. Some were merely New Yorkers that loved dancing, others were business owners or DJs. Several people who testified in June did so again, including attorney Jerry Goldman, Discwoman and Dance Liberation Network’s Frankie Hutchinson, bar owners Rachel Nelson and John Barclay, Local 802’s Christopher Caroll, and House Coalition DJ Ali Coleman. All had differing stories and perspectives, but all of them passionately articulated that fully repealing the cabaret law was the only logical step forward.”
“The DJ, producer and party organizer Ali Coleman, 51, is optimistic about the repeal of the cabaret law. “Most of the clubs that we went to 10, 15 and 20 years ago no longer exist, especially in Manhattan. Many of them couldn’t keep up with the skyrocketing rents, some of them were in neighbourhoods that are completely different now and the ones that came up in their places cater to the bottle crowd,” he says.”
“I choose to be an artist and play music, and I need a place to do that,” DJ Ali Coleman said. “And with this law, it’s making less and less of those places exist.” Coleman, who has been involved with the Dance Parade since its inception, easily details repeated times he’s seen venues shut down or interrupted. When “the lights come on,” he said, it only means trouble.”
“About a month ago, the city of New York repealed its cabaret law, which banned dancing in any place that didn’t have a license. It was enacted in 1926, a year after the Charleston craze swept the speakeasies of Harlem, and was enforced mainly to suppress gatherings that police found undesirable. Not surprisingly, the New York City Cabaret Law made an indelible mark on music history. The effects of the law were far-reaching. Licenses were expensive and hard to get; other than in about 100 legal New York cabarets, a club faced fines if a patron decided to get up and dance. And they were only allowed a maximum of three musicians. It wasn’t just establishments that were targeted, either. Musicians needed a Cabaret license to play clubs. This meant having a clean police record, which can be problematic; some of the greatest luminaries of jazz - Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Chet Baker, Billie Holiday - went through periods of not being able to gig in their own town”
“DJ and party organiser Ali Coleman from House Coalition, who has been dancing in the city since the late 70s, says the law is being used today like it was in the nineties “with the task force [MARCH, or Multi-Agency Response to Community Hot Spots, which usually distributes Cabaret violations] coming in during peak hours of the parties and harassing owners and their patrons”. He adds: “Sometimes this harassment leads to owners of these smaller venues in Williamsburg, Bushwick, Crown Heights and the surrounding neighbourhoods to shut their doors.” This, he says, impacts not only venues but also their employees and patrons. Mixmag has contacted NYPD, one of the agencies that comprises MARCH, and City Hall for comment.”