Rhys Chatham also played a role in the convergence of underground rock and experimental music. This connection began when he was talking to his composer friend Peter Gordon, who asked, “Have you ever in your life been to a rock concert?” No, the twenty-four-year-old replied. Gordon laughed and told him about a great neighborhood club where a cool local band was playing, and asked him to go. “So this was me in 1976,” he said, “the band was the Ramones, the place was CBGB’s.” Chatham had never seen or heard anything like it, and it was utterly romantic to him. “The music was complex,” he said, perhaps the only time “complex” was used to describe the Ramones—a group best known for its short, fast, and sweet bubblepunk songs. “I was playing one chord, and they were playing three, but I felt something in common with that music.” He got an electric guitar and began developing a new compositional style that led to his first major breakthrough, “Guitar Trio.” Informed by both classical minimalism and punk rock, Chatham’s landmark instrumental piece carved out a hypnotic, dissonant template that influenced 1980s post-punk groups such as Sonic Youth.

From Chapter 27 of The Downtown Pop Underground — order online, or from a local independent bookstore

The Kitchen was founded by Steina and Woody Vasulka, two European immigrants who wanted to create an alternative arts space at Mercer’s that programmed everything from video to electronic music—though they also made room for rock ’n’ roll. “The New York Dolls started in the Kitchen,” Steina said. “They rehearsed in the Kitchen and then they performed there, and it got very wild. Their audiences were very out there.” She recalled one night when she saw a bag of heroin on the floor during a Dolls show; Steina ran over to hide it from the police just outside the room, but an enterprising audience member snatched it up first. The Vasulkas also helped incubate an all-male ballet troupe founded by Larry Ree. “Les Ballets Trockadero started in the Kitchen, after he performed his dance in Vain Victory,” she said, referring to Ree’s interpretation of Anna Pavlova’s famous dance, “The Dying Swan.” “I knew Larry through Jackie Curtis,” Steina added, “and he asked if he could rehearse there.” Steina gave the Kitchen’s keys to Ree, who used it as a rehearsal space for his troupe, which was originally named Trockadero Gloxinia Ballet Company (some members eventually branched off and formed the well-known Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo company). Many other contemporary dancers also performed at the Kitchen, including Shirley Clarke collaborator Daniel Nagrin, who asked the composer Rhys Chatham to accompany him in 1971. “I saw these Slavic-looking people that Daniel also invited to come play, and it was Woody and Steina,” Chatham recalled. “Steina was on viola and Woody had his synthesizer. So we hit it off.”

From Chapter 27 of The Downtown Pop Underground — order online, or from a local independent bookstore