Arlene's Grocery
based on 3 Reviews
Genres:
Paid via…
- Free food?: No (1 vote)
- Free drinks?: No (1 vote)
Business practices
- Non-profit?: No (1 vote)
- Musician-run?: No (1 vote)
- Rental fee?: No (1 vote)
- Books local acts?: Yes (1 vote)
- Books out-of-town acts?: Yes (1 vote)
- Promotes the acts it hires?: No (1 vote)
Backline
- Piano?: No (1 vote)
- Piano in tune?: No (1 vote)
- Keyboard?: No (1 vote)
- Drumset?: Yes (1 vote)
- Keyboard amp?: Yes (1 vote)
- Guitar amp?: Yes (1 vote)
- Bass amp?: Yes (1 vote)
- Direct box?: Yes (1 vote)
- PA system?: Yes (1 vote)
- Sound person?: Yes (1 vote)
The room
- Stage?: Yes (1 vote)
- Backstage/Green Room?: No (1 vote)
- Space for dancing?: Yes (1 vote)
- Primarily background music?: No (1 vote)
- Serves Food?: No (1 vote)
- Liquor License?: Yes (1 vote)
- Capacity: 50-300 (1 vote)
Reviews from musicians
03-12-2013
PA, sound in room, sound engineer, stage size and lights all excellent. Payment of the bands who do all the work to bring the crowd...total crap.
A band or artist must bring 50 people at $10 cover apiece before the band sees a dime and if you bring 49 people you get nothing. So if you get a gig here and you work your butt off to get people out and only 40 or 45 people come and pay $10 each to see your performance the club pockets $400 or $450 and you get nothing. Is this going to make you want to work hard to get people to the venue. I don't think so. Don't talk to me about "exposure for your band". That's what the internet is for these days. When we go and work as musicians we should get paid. Period! Does the bartender get paid? Does the sound engineer get paid? Does the manager get paid? Does the door person get paid? Of course they do. How about splitting each dollar that is paid at the door with the band. How about for each dollar paid in cover charge the band gets 80% and the club gets 20%. The club still makes money and the bands have a real incentive to work hard to get people to come. Let's face it, the club isn't sharing ANY of it's drink revenues with the bands and the bands are the one's providing the customers who pay for the drinks. Let's stop being exploited by crappy door policies like this one at Arlene's Grocery.
10-12-2011
I've played here a few times over the past couple of years, both solo acoustic and with band; they made improvements to the PA system a little while ago...I thought it sounded really good, def. one of the city's better-sounding rooms. I didn't have a problem with the engineers, esp. recently: they're totally pro and know what they're doing. Not dicks, too, which is always nice. The bar staff was nice, and I think their half-price beers are a better deal than most place's two-drink-ticket policy.
Keep in mind that this is the kind of place where you have to bring your own crowd.
All told, this on my short list of great clubs to play in NYC.
10-06-2011
It's been five years since I played there, but I doubt much has changed.
The stage is on the lower floor, the first floor being a kind of small bar. Generally has a nice atmosphere.
I'll start with my biggest beef about the place- If you're one of the bands waiting to go on, you have to wait upstairs, the bar does have one room where the bands wait and there's a passage there to load equipment downstairs. The room could get really crowded really quick. With that in mind, pretty much all of the people each band brings stay with the band. Upstairs. Until it's time to go on, then the band plays to the people they brought.
Wow so much for cross promotion!
The stage and audience floor is a decent size so there's really alot of potential if they start doing things right.
They had the main equipment there, amps, drums. I had no quarrel with the amp I used. I'm not sure the sound guy knew what he was doing. He miked the other amps but not mine. And I'm the lead guitarrist. How many of my solos were people able to hear?
Again this place has alot of potential. But I like playing to new faces, and this venue doesn't offer that opportunity.