In much of the USA -- flyover country -- $750 would be the mortgage payment on a pretty nice small HOUSE with 3 bedrooms, 1-2 bathrooms, a garage and a back yard.
If you were inclined to share with roommates, you could pay as little as $175-$250 a month for this.
Instead, this young man is paying a fortune to live in a single tiny room -- about the size of a bathroom in a normal house.
WIth the internet, you can make music ANYWHERE.
2
Simon you need a manager-agent my man.
First off, you don't pay the other members to play out of pocket, they play for what the band makes from a show.
Second (biiiig second), you have absolutely NO EXCUSE not to (try to) get shows at name NYC venues. My first piece of free advice is submit your music to The Big Four live music promoters in NYC: Bowery Presents, Mercury East Presents, Live Nation NYC, and AEG Live. Start with a gig at Mercury Lounge even if it's the opening slot for no money although I think you'll be paid at least $100 or basically van rental and pizza pie money. Bowery books shows in New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester County, Boston, and other places beyond NYC metro while Live Nation and AEG book NYC metro and nationwide. Mercury East is partially Live Nation controlled.
Once you've secured gigs from these promoters reach out to United Artists Agency and see if they'll consider adding you to their roster.
Last but not least and I think most importantly BOOK ENTIRE SHOWS YOURSELVES. Book someone you can open for (you then them.) Book two bands you want to play in between. Book two bands to open for you. Book, book, book. START YOUR OWN ENGINE. Also DO NOT sign with any record label short of an indie label with RED distribution or equal distro or a major label, but insist the major pay you a 1M advance (100K per band member) or they can kiss off. Best to sell your music yourselves via iTunes and AmazonMP3.
Oh yeah - join BMI for free not ASCAP.
First off, you don't pay the other members to play out of pocket, they play for what the band makes from a show.
Second (biiiig second), you have absolutely NO EXCUSE not to (try to) get shows at name NYC venues. My first piece of free advice is submit your music to The Big Four live music promoters in NYC: Bowery Presents, Mercury East Presents, Live Nation NYC, and AEG Live. Start with a gig at Mercury Lounge even if it's the opening slot for no money although I think you'll be paid at least $100 or basically van rental and pizza pie money. Bowery books shows in New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester County, Boston, and other places beyond NYC metro while Live Nation and AEG book NYC metro and nationwide. Mercury East is partially Live Nation controlled.
Once you've secured gigs from these promoters reach out to United Artists Agency and see if they'll consider adding you to their roster.
Last but not least and I think most importantly BOOK ENTIRE SHOWS YOURSELVES. Book someone you can open for (you then them.) Book two bands you want to play in between. Book two bands to open for you. Book, book, book. START YOUR OWN ENGINE. Also DO NOT sign with any record label short of an indie label with RED distribution or equal distro or a major label, but insist the major pay you a 1M advance (100K per band member) or they can kiss off. Best to sell your music yourselves via iTunes and AmazonMP3.
Oh yeah - join BMI for free not ASCAP.
2
Very nice looking 'share apartment'! Curious if any can tell me who did the artwork over the couch? Nice.
1
I grew up in Bushwick until I was 13 in 1964. Our apartment was at 255 Stanhope Street. It was one of the more modern buildings designed with inside bathrooms with floors and walls. The building always was kept up because the owner lived there with colored cocoa rugs lining the hallways and stairs. High ceilings of embossed metal. All brick construction. Mr. and Mrs. Pasquale owned it until they passed away and the Varvaros bought it. I went back at 19 for 6 months (drafted) and it still looked good with the same tenants who were there when we left. Would you believe we paid $50.45 a month?
It was a great location. 1.5 blocks from the LL train, 4 blocks from the M. Wyckoff Heights Hospital was a block away. And shopping on Knickerbocker Avenue was down the street. I'd love to know what that apartment rents for today.
My grandmother lived at 309 Stanhope St. A wreck of a building, a succession of absentee owners, bad tenants except for my grandparents who had been there since the 1920s from when my great grandmother owned it. It originally had an out house. The indoor plumbing was put in without a bathroom sink. You shaved and brushed your teeth in the kitchen sink. it was built of wood with tar paper shingling on the exterior. I imagined it was a future fire trap. In 1975 my grandparents were paying $75 a month with $20 under the table to the owner so he wouldn't try to force them out. Anyone know what the rent is there now?
I wish this guy the best in his career but, honestly, it's a shame this piece is being interpreted through readers' own "when I was young" nostalgia when his adventures in New York real estate highlight the city's severe, ongoing affordable housing crisis. (I was fairly lucky apartment-wise during my decade-plus in Manhattan and Brooklyn, but I'm paying less than Simon is for half of a giant two bedroom apartment, including utilities, in a fantastic UK city.) It is good to see a more grounded real estate profile, though there are plenty of people in New York from less privileged backgrounds than Simon's who face similar if not tougher housing challenges, in a city that primarily serves its wealthiest citizens while depending on everyone else's labor.
5
Simon, your music is great - will definitely try to hear your band play live. Best wishes to all of you.
NYT - thank you for introducing this band and for this article. This is one thousand times more interesting than reading of wealthy people fretting over relatively trivial compromises in their search for high-end luxury homes. It's fine to be wealthy and live well, but those stories have become as boring as the chain store/big box neighborhoods taking over NYC. Simon and Tredici Bacci are the type of new residents who contribute to the NYC's culture and arts. NYC has lost much of what made it a special place; with this article we can be hopeful all is not dead.
15
Oh to be young again. Right after college, I lived in Chelsea in a one bedroom with a roommate, she had the bedroom and I built a loft in the living room. We had the world's smallest kitchen and one couch. It was heaven, we had a view of the Empire State building (sliver of it) and were two blocks from the best bar in the 'hood. I made about zero teaching kindergarten but we had so much fun. Even the invasion of the mice one winter couldn't dampen our spirits!
4
I have tons of room and acres and success, but I'd trade it all in a minute to be young again and having the journey of getting there like you are right now. The journey is more important than the destination. Enjoy!
23
Word. I'm getting old enough to understand the expression, "If I knew then what I know now..."
2
good luck, Simon! I'll check out your music, and tell my NYC friends to go see your band.
Also, that's a really sweet guitar you have there on the left. Beautiful bodywork.
Also, that's a really sweet guitar you have there on the left. Beautiful bodywork.
4
Ah, finally, a real estate article in the NYT that's actually about genuine people dealing with affordability - like the vast majority of us that don't have a couple mil to blow on a condo. That said, of course, this is New York, which really isn't worth living in anymore anyway, Sure, it's a city filled with priceless art and over-priced real estate, but historically it's the people that gave the city its myth and glamour. New York believes it can still trade on that while shutting its gates to the throngs that made it what it once was, but no longer is.
17
I could write a book about my 26 years in Manhattan 1986-2012, but I promise you there would be zero chapters about the "priceless art" and "overpriced real estate." NYC elevated my life to beyond my wildest dreams and the journey still continues - and none of it had to do with the art or the real estate (once it was settled - I moved 14 times in those 26 years, each because the rent was jacked to stupid levels.)
If NYC isn't what it was, how come the 1 BR apartments for $5000 still go in less than a week? Because everyone wants to live there! It's only people who give up who then sit back and say "It's not what it was." But if someone offered you a studio apt. for $750.00, betcha you'd be there in a second, Chris. :)
If NYC isn't what it was, how come the 1 BR apartments for $5000 still go in less than a week? Because everyone wants to live there! It's only people who give up who then sit back and say "It's not what it was." But if someone offered you a studio apt. for $750.00, betcha you'd be there in a second, Chris. :)
1
Unfortunately, living in NYC as an artist is not worth the sacrifices anymore. NYC has lost the networking in the arts that helped many in their artistic careers, particularly, in the visual arts, unfortunately. Also, there's no center for the arts anymore. And music never had a center. Why don't you move here to Athens, GA? Housing is cheaper and you can focus and have more time for your work!
3
Another letter from someone who, apparently, never lived in NY. Georgia? Athens? Please. When you leave NYC, you ain't goin' anywhere.
2
I'm glad the Times finally saw fit to publish a pretty realistic profile of a mid-20s apartment situation in the city. I feel that all I've ever seen here are wealthy college-ish semi-adults who have their families pre-pay their rent 6 months in advance for luxe, fully-staffed, amenity-rich Gramercy aeries with fireplaces in every room (this was an actual article from a while back). As a member of the no fee-no frills Craigslist-clicking masses, I salute Simon for finding a decent space, and for being a projector man, to boot! Here's a tip - make friends with the top floor neighbors, bring the projector up to the roof, throw an extension cord down to a buddy who will catch it through a window, plug in some good speakers and a laptop, roll out a few rugs, and you've got an instant rooftop movie night! Oh, and be sure to invite the top floor folks you befriended earlier, as they'll be less likely to call the cops and/or landlord - and more likely to share some wifi for a certain HBO swords-and-dragons epic fantasy...
14
Oh, to be 26 again! Enjoy the ride Simon, and good luck.
4
In Portland 750.00 a month doesn't get you much more space...so you're def on the right track and in the right place. Portland is NY minus any semblance of culture...so..make the most of it.
3
And better weather.
1
I just want to tell you something, young man -
Enjoy this time. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
With your big band, seek wedding work - you can make $10,000 and keep half or more as the contractor and booker. It'll fund your creative projects.
Leave town for gigs in NJ, CT and even PA, and upstate NY. Outside NYC, the bands are either cheesy or horrible or both, and you'll clean up. As soon as you get out of NYC, everything magically starts to get mediocre. Living and playing music in NYC will fill your spine with a ferocity unknown in Ithaca or Duluth or Dayton or Scranton.
And don't forget colleges - huge sources of income and crowds if you tap into it.
The clubs pay the least, they will pay however low you will go, or nothing if you allow it.
SAVE AS MUCH MONEY AS YOU CAN, I DON'T CARE IF IT'S TEN A WEEK, let your mom hold it so you can't blow it.
You are 26. One day you will be 35, then 45, and other, younger, cheaper musicians will come up right behind you and take your gigs. There is nothing you can do about it. This is young man's game both from the business side and the side of you with your youthful ability to play in several bands and stay up all night and go right to work the next day.
At that time, you may or may not decide to quit, or find something else that pays so you don't have to live like a rat with 4-5 other guys, which gets old when you're 30 and up.
In bocca al lupo, guy!
17
Come to Bismarck, we have a great bar/music place called Laughing Sun....and lots of young people who go out at night.
I don't often stop by the Real Estate section, so this is the first time I'm seeing the Renters series and a non-fancy living situation featured on the (digital) front page.
Just wanted to say thanks to the reporter and the paper for going beyond the luxury room-porn and covering some realistic NYC living spaces.
22
Mr. Hanes needs to go to the nearest corner and throw his hat up in the air like Mary Tyler Moore. Many famous, successful artists had a really hard time of it when they were first starting out in the business. This room will make a great entry in his autobiography after his many successes, and I sincerely wish him that.
5
Being young is GREAT. When you are young, all that material stuff folks are going on about is irrelevant.
Enjoy being young, my friend.
Enjoy being young, my friend.
7
I assume Mr Hanes wanted Tredici Bacci to mean "Thirteen Kisses". However that would have been "Baci" with one C. Even google translate got it right. As an Italophile myself who also speaks the language I cringe just a little.
4
Irony?
Who would ever have thought, just twenty years ago, an article would appear in the New York Times, that someone would find a nice place in Bushwick, as compared to other areas? Bushwick, where in the 1990's, one needed an Uzi and body armour to feel remotely safe! Girl, the times they are a changing!!!
6
Give Simon and his band mates a hand by visiting the Tredici Bacci website and listening to some of their music. It's the product of a pretty original idea--Italian soundtrack pop. Is there another American band anywhere creating anything like this?! The music is enjoyable and I'd buy a CD if the albums came in that form.
Buona fortuna, Tredici Bacci!
5
I share a beautiful, large house with my brother for real estate investment purposes but I've also lived in a former nun's cell in a converted convent with a large shared kitchen and living room. Mr. Hanes' place looks great: some of us don't need a lot of personal space as long as we have some great common spaces to stretch out.
8
In the 70s when I was in my 20s I lived in an art studio in Champaign Illinois for less than $100 per month. There was a toilet at one the end of the hall and in the other direction a large, oil paint encrusted sink where I washed my hair or filled a pan for a sponge bath. It had a south window, outside of which roared an exhaust fan from the restaurant next door. I perched in that window with a flute or guitar and played music to an imaginary audience. And I painted some of my most inspired pieces in those square walls, about which a musician friend composed: The floor is bare / The walls are square / With her thoughts in mine / She spends her timeā¦
4
Bonus points for opening with his song title. :)
2
Cozier with room mates who do the dishes than with raccoons which.... don't.
7
This is the downside of real estate development. I remember in the '70's and '80's going to the Village and musicians, poets all were able to live/work in lofts/storefronts. We have lost out on so much talent because there is no place for them to thrive as artists.
47
We live in Bushwick and write and sketch and read on the L train into the city. It's not so bad, but yeah....would be great to live in Manhattan. Sigh.
2
I remember suffering for my art. Nothing romantic about it...or raccoons. You'll get over it.
11
Is charging for just a room in an apartment even legal? As for those basement apartments - most likely illegal.
8
Of course it's legal! It's called a roommate. NY would become de-populated if it were suddenly to become illegal to have a roomie. Remember Oscar & Felix?
8
God bless you, Simon - I've been a professional musician my whole lengthier life but I don't think I ever loved it enough to put up with those kinds of privations for the sake of my artistic ambitions. And it is discouraging to see young guys having to play out for less money -far less - than I was making 35 years ago. But I hope the RS mention, not to mention a NYT article, gives your career some propulsion! Hey, 26 is the age to live in a closet...if you're going to live in a closet.
44
my favourite ever share house was with two girls in a small terrace house - they took the two larger bedrooms leaving the smallest room - I think 7 foot by 9 foot. As no-one wanted it I got it for really cheap rent.
With 10 foot ceiling I knocked up a cheap wooden mezzanine bedframe, place a double bed base and mattress on it, got an old ladder, and placed underneath my wooden table/desk, ergonomic chair, armchair, bookcase, clothes rack, and a persian carpet on the floor. A perfect cosy space - and required very little heating in the cold winter.
My girlfriend liked it so much she was a very frequent visitor, and others were amazed that I had turned an unused unwanted space into a perfect habitation.
42
A lofted bed might be a good idea for Simon. He could put his desk underneath and free up some floor space.
1
He'll make it, somehow. Think of this as the 2018 version of striking out to cross the country in a covered wagon, with a destination that is mostly in your imagination. And he is an utterly charming guy. I'm sure the raccoons missed his music!
76
I wish Mr. Hanes much success with his music, and much success with his current living arrangements. May his future ones be even better. I can't imagine living in some of the places he called home in the past. A basement apartment in Bushwick with animals in the walls? I don't think so. And to think, there are people who have to live in such places, often for years, because they have no other choice. Lordy.
45
"...they have no other choice. Lordy." Actually there other choices. Many. The starving artist life is detailed in the Spurling bio of Matisse. Fascinating what people will sacrifice in pursuit of their art/passion. https://www.amazon.com/Matisse-Henri-Early-Years-1869-1908/dp/0375711333...
1
Wow, I admire your dedication. I'm from Brooklyn and never lived in these conditions. I wish him the best of luck.
27
this is probably why Amazon won't locate its big factory here. There is no place for anyone to live.
72
Lots of places to live. There is a great deal of unused real estate in NYC. It just isn't affordable for anyone making less than 50,000 a year.
1
You know you're a dinosaur when out of town kids move to parts of the city your parents and grandparents couldn't flee fast enough in 1950s and 60s. Bushwick of all places! Who'd have thunk it?
54
My parents moved out of a Fort Greene apartment building in 1960. The area had become dangerous by then. Things worked out for them though. They bought a 2-family house in Kensington. The mortgage was about $200/month, which I guess was average for 1960. Better that than dealing with a NYC landlord. By 1970 all that 1960s inflation made that $200/month pretty cheap. IIRC by that time nice apartments on nearby Ocean Parkway were renting for more than that.
9
One must respect Mr. Hanes dedication and commitment to his music. He is actually pursuing his dream and is willing to put aside comforts and luxuries to achieve it. So many so called artists call it quits when the niceties of their upper middle class upbringings are taken from them. Hang in in there Simon, you have fortitude and dedication to spare.
24
Yep. Like Somerville, MA.
2
Simon Hanes - I hope you get a productive agent and prosper very soon! I'd happily pay $20-$30 to see such a band. I'm sure others would also.
48
If the goal is to make money, LA is probably a better place to be than NY for music. It's cheaper, warmer and the industry is there. If the goal is to make art, NY is probably better - more attentive audience, more creative players.
If the goal is to do both...change careers unless you don't mind living in a tiny apartment for years, maybe for life.
30
Simon, good for you! Wishing you joy and success with your music.
83
Here's the music ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TnMypCphWM
Pretty interesting .. kind of noir-James Bond .. someone evil will soon disappear ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TnMypCphWM
2