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GIFT BOOKS & POPULAR CULTURE

PUBLISHER
Damiani

BOOK FORMAT
Flexi, 7 x 9.5 in. / 416 pgs / 88 color / 45 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2024 p. 48   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9788862088169 TRADE
List Price: $55.00 CAD $79.00

AVAILABILITY
Out of stock

TERRITORY
NA LA

THE FALL 2024 ARTBOOK | D.A.P. CATALOG

Artbook | D.A.P. Catalog Cover Link
Preview our FALL 2024 catalog, featuring more than 500 new books on art, photography, design, architecture, film, music and visual culture.
  

DAMIANI

We Started a Nightclub

The Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It

By Brian Butterick, Susan Martin, Kestutis Nakas.

We Started a Nightclub

Performers, barbacks, doormen and DJs reminisce on the East Village club that galvanized New York’s alternative scene

What Studio 54 was for disco, the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge was for the alternative scene of 1980s downtown New York. Located at 101 Avenue A, the Pyramid offered a mixture of cultures: from groundbreaking, irreverent theater and experimental music to “anti-drag” that challenged the norms of gender binaries. It began in 1981 when the East Village was considered a dangerous no man’s land, rents were cheap, AIDS was still unknown and a new generation of creators broke the mold and went on to make art in an atmosphere of unbridled celebration. Theme nights and bar dancers, fixtures of the downtown avant-garde and kids escaping their past all added to the club’s popularity. At the Pyramid, John Jesurun and Ann Magnuson rubbed elbows with They Might Be Giants, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and 3 Teens Kill 4, who shared a stage with Lady Bunny and Hapi Phace. By offering a home to obscure, genre-defying and unpolished acts, the Pyramid played a crucial role in shaping the city’s underground cultural scene for decades to come. In 2021, the Pyramid closed permanently. Though the venue was no longer the hotspot of its early years, its closure prompted an outpouring of reminiscence and mourning for a bygone era, amid a broad renewed interest in the art and culture of 1980s New York.
"We Started a Nightclub" is an inside look at the cultural history of the East Village in the early 1980s. The project, which began in 2006, represents the only in-depth exploration of the Pyramid’s origins. An oral history comprising more than 75 interviews, it covers the early years of the Pyramid from the time of its founding through its rise, near demise and rebirth. The book includes previously unpublished photos, flyers and other ephemera, as well as excerpts from more than 50 press releases written between 1983 and 1986.


Featured image is reproduced from 'We Started a Nightclub.'

PRAISE AND REVIEWS

Dazed

Miss Rosen

Following the classic three-act format, the book weaves hypnotic tales from the edge of night, creating a majestic tapestry of memories from a cast of characters including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Nan Goldin, Keith Haring, Lydia Lunch, John Waters, Cookie Mueller and Fran Lebowitz.

We Started a Nightclub

STATUS: Out of stock

Temporarily out of stock pending additional inventory.

FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 4/18/2024

Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive presents Pyramid Pioneers with 'We Started a Nightclub' signing

Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive presents Pyramid Pioneers with 'We Started a Nightclub' signing

Thursday, April 18, Howl! Arts/Howl! (HA/HA) presents a two-day happening, exhibition, celebration and book signing for We Started a Nightclub, Damiani's highly anticipated history of NYC's notorious Pyramid Cocktail Lounge.
continue to blog


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