ATP-NY Postponed 'Til At Least 2004

Since the postponement of the Los Angeles edition of All Tomorrow's Parties, fans have wondered about the status of the New York version of the festival. Though the LA shows have been rescheduled for Sept. 26-28, the New York festival, originally scheduled for September, currently exists in a limbo-like state, according to curator Stephen Malkmus.

ATP-NY, which was set to take place in Asbury Park, N.J., at the Convention Center and Paramount Theatre, has been pushed back 'til early 2004, according to information on the festival's official Web site. Apparently there were problems with the New Jersey venue, and a new one needs to be secured. "We have had problems over the past six months trying to find a suitable venue and the search has been compared to George W. Bush's quest for Weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq," reads a statement on the site. "However, we have made significant progress over the past two weeks and will be announcing details very soon so check the site for more details."

ATP founder Barry Hogan isn't sure when things will be firmed up. When asked if he knew when he'd have more information about the New York event, he emailed, "No we are still dealing with ATP LA so that is on the top of my agenda right now."

Malkmus acknowledged the frustrations in not having solid information about whether or not the festival will take place. "I'm not an expert on ATP at all," he said, laughing, during a recent interview. "Those guys [who are put on the ATP events], they're nice. I've ended up doing more press for them, just talking about the thing that's not happening."

Malkmus continued, adopting a faux British accent. "They'd ask me, like 'you going to do interviews for this?' and I'm like 'not really, you know.' I want to pick the lineup and maybe I'll do one or two, but as it's turned out I've done so many interviews with people from Indie Nation, or whatever, [which] wants to know what's going on with it. So they don't have a venue really and they've postponed it."

But Malkmus has given plenty of thought to his ideal roster of artists, drawing on neophytes, veterans and, some more popular acts. "I was thinking of people I know and the ideas were like Modest Mouse and Spoon and Sleater-Kinney, and these are the drawing bands, you know. Maybe it was Mogwai that wanted to do it. And, well, Sonic Youth, but they were going to be hard because they have a bigger guarantee and stuff, too," he said, laughing again.

"You have to ask people like 'will you do it for less?,' Malkmus said, his voice taking on a humble tone. "And that's fun to organize those bands. But then the weirder ones were going to be — the more exciting, younger bands — there's all those noise, post-Sonic Youth, Index endorsed noise bands like Lightning Bolt and Erase Errata, maybe Azita who played with us, and Dead Meadow and bands like that."

Malkmus said his proposed line-up would also focus on older acts, artists that influenced his own musical path. "The Groundhogs — they played with me in England — re-formed," he said. "And some folkie guitarists people that have been really influential from England also, like Burt Jansch and John Renbourn and maybe Sparks or something. Maybe Love — we were going to try to get the re-formed Love thing, which is supposed to be really good.

"What else? This hippie band from Sweden called Trees, Grass and Stones, that are really good. So it was going to be those more undiscovered weirdos also that aren't too expensive, and that are legends, that deserve to be seen and would be excited to do it." — Brian Orloff [Tuesday, June 24, 2003]