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October 22, 2007
Closing Night @ Mo Pitkins - 10.21.7
On Sunday night, Mo Pitkins swaggered off into the sunset with a 5-hour finale that captured the charm and the camraderie the venue had always been searching for. "Smoke 'em if you got 'em," announced the emcee, Wonder-Woman clad Seth Herzog, "because there's nothing left to lose." And so people did. The crowded audience of artists, performers, trendsetters, and friends soaked in the vibe for one last time.
There are many factors that can bring about a venue's demise. The cost of doing business in Manhattan is most commonly cited. However, the physical set-up of Mo's is what we believe to be its improbable achilles heel. There was nowhere to stand when waiting for a show, there was nowhere to stand if the seats were filled, and the viewing angles created by the community style table arrangements always made one passively aware that it required effort just to sit and watch. Last night was no different really with the standing/sitting issues, but given the circumstances, we were fine with it.
Over the course of the evening, several dozen artists and performers took the stage one or two at a time to send off Mo's in their own way, a coterie of individual voices creating a motley goodbye choir. Even Mo's scraggly-haired co-owner, Jesse Hartman, saddled into an acoustic guitar to croon a spiteful Scotch-tongued misery ballad about reveling in the failure of others. Oddly, it was in the final moments of the show, with Moby and Lady Rizo singing the burlesque blues, when we finally had a "Do You Realize?" moment. Despite any grumblings we've ever harbored, Mo's was pretty sweet.
As we walked past the liquidated bar and out onto the sidewalk, we thought though we can't ever know what the East Village performing arts scene was like back before it was an extension NYU's campus, the intentions of Mo's owners to create a space that could evoke that era and the space's ultimate collapse, is telling of how far Lower Manhattan has moved away from that.
PREVIOUSLY FEATURED SHOWS AT MO'S
The Other Talent Show @ Mo Pitkins - 12.11.6
How To Kick People @ Mo Pitkins - 11.29.6
CBS/NYC Presents: Louis CK @ Mo Pitkins - 8.14.6
Flight of the Conchords @ Mo Pitkins - 7.17.6
The Other Talent Show @ Mo Pitkins - 5.8.6
Ritalin Readings @ Mo Pitkins - 1.10.6
Jesse Hartman, Owner-Operator/Singer-Songwriter
The night's last performers; Moby on guitar, Lady Rizo on vocals, Chi Chi Jones on burlesque
Posted by The Apiary at October 22, 2007 1:52 PM
Comments
actually the last performance of the night was seth herzog singing over the last song with extemporaneous lyrics about how he had just showed his left ball to the audience.
Posted by: shockwave at October 23, 2007 9:19 AM