Rebuilding the Silent Barn

From the NY Times:

The future looks uncertain for the Silent Barn, a celebrated underground music venue in southern Queens. Members of the collective that runs the venue said they had decided to search for a new home and to shut down the space at 915 Wyckoff Avenue in Ridgewood, where they have been showcasing bands and performance artists for seven years. The reason: the city buildings department has ordered the musicians and artists living in the old industrial building to vacate it unless an extensive renovation is done.

A spokesman for the group, Joe Ahearn, said it wanted to rent a standard commercial storefront with apartments above it so the Silent Barn can operate within the law and the members can continue to live in the same building. “The space has never been particularly safe,” he said of the old location. “Unfortunately that’s a usual thing for do-it-yourself spaces.”