All Around Sound Is Turning Five - Day 4: Rami Haykal (Glasslands/Popgun)

While there a number of good venues to catch music in New York City, there was never a particular venue I favored going to; never a venue I care about; never a venue I would go to for the sake of the venue itself like Glasslands. I wasn't the first to discover the hidden wonders of the Williamsburg haunt as like almost all things I stumbled upon it due to its association with bands I loved and music I liked. Sadly Glasslands is dead and gone but it's made a lasting impression as for three years it was my most consistently attended venue of choice and the sense of community there was enough to silence the crotchetiness the crowd at a live show can and often does inspire in me.

And despite Glasslands being one of my regular haunts, it's almost absurd the amount of time it took me to meet Rami Haykal, its co-owner and co-founder of the booking company responsible for much of the shows that drew me there in the first place. When Hundred Waters' headlining show there sold out before I could grab tickets, I took to the internet to see if there was some sort of way to offset my poor life planning - Rami came through with a completely unwarranted act of kindness and for the first time since my first show there and only a rather short time before my last, we met.

Though Glasslands is gone but not forgotten, its spirit lives on through Popgun's amazing tastes. There might not be a one stop shop for all the bands I want to see, in a space where everything was just so but they still manage to put together shows worth going to and write emails worth reading with a sense of humor and joy for what they do that many music people would do well to take notice of.

So even though the only place I felt a familial connection with is gone, it seemed a pretty forgone conclusion that during the time when I celebration the impact others have had on this wee blog that Rami and his work with Glasslands and Popgun would factor into it in someway. I reach out and he was happy to provide a mix of some of his favorite jams 2015 has doled out so far.



Thanks not only to Rami for the mix but to Jake Rosenthal, and to both the Glasslands and Popgun staffs for creating a sense of community in a city where it's incredibly easy not to feel anything at all.