The 35th annual Tompkins Square Park Riot reunion shows are happening this weekend
The free concerts commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Tompkins Square Police Riot of Aug. 6, 1988, are happening this weekend.
Tomorrow's show will also serve as a tribute to Al Landess (aka Al Hammerbrain), a longtime local resident and veteran of the NYC hardcore scene who died in February 2022 of cancer.
Bands are set to play Saturday and Sunday from 2-6 p.m.
This is an egregious use of our public space. Two continuous days of disruptive amplified noise is prohibitive to those wishing to enjoying the park outside of the concerts. Honoring history should not take the form of an aural assault in a public space. And, without proper facilities, it’s beyond frustrating to see the fenced off grassy, arbor areas used as toilets — it’s easier to spot a faded Suicidal Tendencies than a bird in the bushes today.
In spite of those in favor of this annual riot, I am afraid to admit that I agree with 5:37.
Here's the thing. I am an advocate for public expression and art. All of us enjoy music in its different forms. But there is a balance between being entertained and being perturbed by extreme noise and disruption. I live nearby the park and avoid this event completely each year by taking care of my business during earlier hours before it begins. I then stay indoors until it is finally over, go outside, and enjoy the rest of my day. Tompkins is indeed a beautiful public space designed to be shared by everyone within our community yet it shouldn't be avoided due to egregiously jarring concerts such as this.
It's a shared space. A few days during the season, for a couple of hours, there is loud rock music, some of it good (most of it music). These shows are permitted. There is a lot more live music in the park, and the occasional recurring busker treating many evenings as their nightly gig whether you or I like it or not. I find some of it intrusive, but at least the punk rock shows have a definite cut off time and they aren't there every evening.
There are many, most, parks downtown with no or very little permitted live music. Tompkins Square has a tradition of concerts. You or I being annoyed a few hours for a few days a year isn't a reason to deny others the occasional performance. It's a shared space.
Why is NYC obsessed with forcing loud music in public spaces? How have the residents become the absolute LAST priority? Why are we turning East Village into a touristy, bridge/tunnel outdoor party hood a la Bourbon street? Last night a Dj'd rooftop party lasted to wee hours of the night, thumping techno music throughout our street. I've lived here for 20 years, so don't tell me to move to the suburbs. This assault on our public space with loud music an epidemic.
@jack — this sort of logic is as egregious as the noise. You do not pollute shared spaces. This noise is pollution. Shame too, it’s a beautiful weekend to be outside.
I know, right, like it's really loud hardcore rock music. Punk. It's been well documented that this type of tribal entertainment has corrupted teens and even driven some insane. Wreckers of civilization. The authorities need to put an end to this madness!
@XTC nothing more punk than an afternoon show at a park. Just feet from the dog run, the farmer’s market, and the kid’s swings, all populated by sellout denizens we need to really stick it to.
Too bad these elderly "punks" and aging bands could not start a riot if their lived depended on it. The neighborhood could use a good riot now for a number of reasons if nothing more than to expose and piss off the big money corruption that rules the "East Effin Village". Whose Fukin Park ? Real Estate developers and their upscale mostly white big money renters Fukin Park !
Political rallies with performances and speakers have been part of Tompkins Square Park since at least the 1860s.
Since the 1960s, concerts and other events have been held in our park on a regular basis. The city even put up a bandshell in 1967 in order to facilitate this.
EVERY year, in the first week of August, we commemorate the bloody Tompkins Square Police Riot of 1988, when cops from all over the city converged on Tompkins Square, beating the crap out of everyone in their sights, whether they were demonstrating or just walking down the street, all in furtherance of a NON-existent park curfew.
We do NOT celebrate that bloody night, nor the many other skirmishes and police riots that took place over the following three years - we COMMEMORATE those events so that our HISTORY is never forgotten.
Keep in mind that, as cops were used in the 1980s-90s by the city in order to pave the way for the gentrification to come, cops can be used by the city again for present and future State repression.
If you don't like our rallies in our park, that is unfortunate. They are only a few hours each and are fully PERMITTED. Every event we host is done with RESPECT for our neighbors and for our park, which we SHED BLOOD for.
There are events that I do not care for that take place in the park, but I have NO right to object to them because EVERYONE has a right to FREE SPEECH and FREEDOM of EXPRESSION. Imagine THAT.
I still cannot imagine WHY those of you with money who do not like what we do here in OUR community INSIST on invading and occupying LOW-INCOME neighborhoods like Tompkins Square when you can so easily afford to live with your OWN kind.
Is it that you enjoy SLUMMING and CONQUERING and DISPLACING low-income residents and small businesses so that you can feel "superior" to them? So that you can impose YOUR cultural preferences here because you bought your way into a neighborhood that DOES NOT WANT YOU??
It is rather GALLING that those who invade seem to feel justified, by virtue of their overpaying for their "luxury" housing, in demanding the removal of those and that which preceded them.
Hey Chris! Just turn it DOWN a peg, will you? We are want you to COMMEMORATE the events for which you shed precious blood, just PLEASE don’t make us PAY for the fact that this still ambulatory BUT aging crowd gets HARDER of HEARING each year.
NOT a problem. Please let us know when we're doing an event. I used to put up notes on surrounding buildings to let nearby residents know about shows and that we could adjust sound, if requested, but someone kept tearing them down.
Bands are set to play Saturday and Sunday from 2-6 p.m. 
14 comments:
Kinda of wild that NYC just had a real riot at Union Square on Friday.
This is an egregious use of our public space. Two continuous days of disruptive amplified noise is prohibitive to those wishing to enjoying the park outside of the concerts. Honoring history should not take the form of an aural assault in a public space. And, without proper facilities, it’s beyond frustrating to see the fenced off grassy, arbor areas used as toilets — it’s easier to spot a faded Suicidal Tendencies than a bird in the bushes today.
In spite of those in favor of this annual riot, I am afraid to admit that I agree with 5:37.
Here's the thing. I am an advocate for public expression and art. All of us enjoy music in its different forms. But there is a balance between being entertained and being perturbed by extreme noise and disruption. I live nearby the park and avoid this event completely each year by taking care of my business during earlier hours before it begins. I then stay indoors until it is finally over, go outside, and enjoy the rest of my day. Tompkins is indeed a beautiful public space designed to be shared by everyone within our community yet it shouldn't be avoided due to egregiously jarring concerts such as this.
@Mark
It's a shared space. A few days during the season, for a couple of hours, there is loud rock music, some of it good (most of it music). These shows are permitted. There is a lot more live music in the park, and the occasional recurring busker treating many evenings as their nightly gig whether you or I like it or not. I find some of it intrusive, but at least the punk rock shows have a definite cut off time and they aren't there every evening.
There are many, most, parks downtown with no or very little permitted live music. Tompkins Square has a tradition of concerts. You or I being annoyed a few hours for a few days a year isn't a reason to deny others the occasional performance. It's a shared space.
Why is NYC obsessed with forcing loud music in public spaces? How have the residents become the absolute LAST priority? Why are we turning East Village into a touristy, bridge/tunnel outdoor party hood a la Bourbon street? Last night a Dj'd rooftop party lasted to wee hours of the night, thumping techno music throughout our street. I've lived here for 20 years, so don't tell me to move to the suburbs. This assault on our public space with loud music an epidemic.
@jack — this sort of logic is as egregious as the noise. You do not pollute shared spaces. This noise is pollution. Shame too, it’s a beautiful weekend to be outside.
Thanks Jack for mansplaining this to me or do I dare say gaslighting.
"egregiously jarring concerts such as this one"
I know, right, like it's really loud hardcore rock music. Punk. It's been well documented that this type of tribal entertainment has corrupted teens and even driven some insane. Wreckers of civilization. The authorities need to put an end to this madness!
/S
@XTC nothing more punk than an afternoon show at a park. Just feet from the dog run, the farmer’s market, and the kid’s swings, all populated by sellout denizens we need to really stick it to.
Too bad these elderly "punks" and aging bands could not start a riot if their lived depended on it. The neighborhood could use a good riot now for a number of reasons if nothing more than to expose and piss off the big money corruption that rules the "East Effin Village". Whose Fukin Park ? Real Estate developers and their upscale mostly white big money renters Fukin Park !
Or you could start a riot in the city you live in.
Political rallies with performances and speakers have been part of Tompkins Square Park since at least the 1860s.
Since the 1960s, concerts and other events have been held in our park on a regular basis. The city even put up a bandshell in 1967 in order to facilitate this.
EVERY year, in the first week of August, we commemorate the bloody Tompkins Square Police Riot of 1988, when cops from all over the city converged on Tompkins Square, beating the crap out of everyone in their sights, whether they were demonstrating or just walking down the street, all in furtherance of a NON-existent park curfew.
We do NOT celebrate that bloody night, nor the many other skirmishes and police riots that took place over the following three years - we COMMEMORATE those events so that our HISTORY is never forgotten.
Keep in mind that, as cops were used in the 1980s-90s by the city in order to pave the way for the gentrification to come, cops can be used by the city again for present and future State repression.
If you don't like our rallies in our park, that is unfortunate. They are only a few hours each and are fully PERMITTED. Every event we host is done with RESPECT for our neighbors and for our park, which we SHED BLOOD for.
There are events that I do not care for that take place in the park, but I have NO right to object to them because EVERYONE has a right to FREE SPEECH and FREEDOM of EXPRESSION. Imagine THAT.
I still cannot imagine WHY those of you with money who do not like what we do here in OUR community INSIST on invading and occupying LOW-INCOME neighborhoods like Tompkins Square when you can so easily afford to live with your OWN kind.
Is it that you enjoy SLUMMING and CONQUERING and DISPLACING low-income residents and small businesses so that you can feel "superior" to them? So that you can impose YOUR cultural preferences here because you bought your way into a neighborhood that DOES NOT WANT YOU??
It is rather GALLING that those who invade seem to feel justified, by virtue of their overpaying for their "luxury" housing, in demanding the removal of those and that which preceded them.
Such arrogance....
--Chris Flash
Hey Chris! Just turn it DOWN a peg, will you? We are want you to COMMEMORATE the events for which you shed precious blood, just PLEASE don’t make us PAY for the fact that this still ambulatory BUT aging crowd gets HARDER of HEARING each year.
NOT a problem. Please let us know when we're doing an event. I used to put up notes on surrounding buildings to let nearby residents know about shows and that we could adjust sound, if requested, but someone kept tearing them down.
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