ABC No Rio

ABC No Rio is your standard all ages underground punk venue. Lots of graffiti, noisy amateurish bands, a bunch of people who mostly don’t/can’t vote ranting about politics. It’s an alcohol free venue which cuts down on the fights you might otherwise see at punk shows. It’s a good place for the punk rock kids who aren’t old enough for bars, but I wouldn’t really recommend it to the over 21 crowd.

I remember my dad telling us about living in LES back in the 70’s. And specifically talking about squatters in the area that had been stealing electricity and water. My dad has always been very crafty on how to save money. I think he was mesmerized that people could be so creative on their ways on «damning the man».
ABC No Rio has always been more the squatters. It has been a staple to art and music over the years. Anytime we would come to visit NY, we would hit up a number of punk rock matinée shows at the venue. We always grabbed a couple beers at Welcome to the Johnson’s before heading over. The venue is always all ages. And has continued to promote and artist environment and political platforms.
We recently attended a photography exhibit of the punk rock matinée’s from 1990 – 1. The show included tons of pictures from bands like Subhumans, Nausea & Ted Leo. Celebrity citing: Ted Leo and Aimee Mann came to the show. There was an older crowd and I noticed people pointing themselves out in the pictures.
I am a lover of music, metal, punk and such and I always felt like growing up people would talk about punk/​metal as a phase. And I find it offensive that people would think one day you will wake up and not like the music you love so much. Well this crowd proves you know what you like and you will continue to be who you are no matter what.

Amazing and very special place. I am a musician who performs at this space, and loves it!

I was really excited to hear some music, but it was simply too loud. WAY TOO LOUD. I have been to many punk shows and other shows in clubs, but this was just painful. The place is really dumpy, but that adds to the «punk» ambiance. I wish we could have stayed. Next time I’ll have to bring noise-​canceling headphones.

Only been here a few times, can’t make most of the matinees that are booked but I don’t see any reason someone can not like a shitty place with a band playing

Again, you’re just another wanna-​be-​New Yorker-​transplant unless you’ve performed or been to at least 2 dozen shows in this LES institution. Transplants can come by simply reading reviews in Time Out or the Village Voice and saying «Huh this sounds cool– Let’s just check out a show,» before they head back home to California or Pennsylvania… but you won’t get it unless you’ve been deep in the DIY art/​hardcore/​punk scene and moshed, po-go’ed, threw up on the sidewalk after drinking too much beer as a teenager after a Toasters show while your junior year mini-​crush held your hair back while telling you that you should have gotten a mohawk or liberty spikes along with those bright red laces for your Docs (Btw– see if you can find my tag — furthermore, guess what it was back in the day); Jansports, rebellion, mini zines and the Specials were all I thought about whenever anyone mentioned this bulwark of a venue.
The early to late 90’s was a blur between hardcore shows and DIY spaces that had similar vibes, but nothing quite as edgy and anarchic as this spot, which makes it one of the oldies but goodies. The history of this place is so deep that I’m a little shocked that it’s moving to a new building just as I’m shocked that it’s still standing and not demolished, since it’s been in the red for so long.
I’m looking forward to checking out the new digs but not sure I’ll love it as much as the original.
PS: Oh, and Box Office Poison? I got all the originals from this spot. Eat your hearts out, Gen Y. You can’t beat history.

ABC No Rio = 30×15 sq foot white room with zero acoustics and plywood floors that had the lead singer of a hardcore band sprain his ankle on as it collapsed.
Came up here to see All Else Failed and to be honest, this place looks and is a shit hole but it leads to the most epic hardcore shows. As you walk into the room the hallway has pretty cool art painted directly onto the wall and a very cool tiled sculpture/​collage, but the room where the band performed was nothing. But, due to the size and crowd, I’m sure things would get busted. Anyway, this show was by far, the best show I have ever seen. The size of the room gets everyone involved with the passion and energy the band puts on and you can’t help but leave craving more. If I were able to frequent this venue, I would, I love the idea of having a «Hardcore Matinée» every Saturday for cheap :)

‘After over 15 yrs of staunchly supporting them, when 5*‘s would have been a matter of principles, their solitary ’ * ’ derives from some honest dedication. But after yet ANOTHER episode their, the conclusion has to be that the dis-​gruntled were right instead. They had idealistic purposes, but juvenile motives for keeping this place after Giulani wanted them to leave. And their staying seems to have been a result of their inherent pouty brattiness eventually exasperating their detractors.
They get donations of thousands of $ of used ‘puter eqpt but were so busy distracting themselves on the roof that they couldn’t even do a minor repair and the leaking roof ruined the donated Macs. That was insane. But hearing this from RANDOM individuals unnerves the feeling that they are genuine. The girl mng the darkroom seems to have left a trail of disenchanted former patrons that even include the parents of some of their bratty staffers. And a six-​stringer that recently had a slot at the Van’s concert re-​ificated the fact that they are selecting bands based upon the politicke of the lyrics and presentation. They were not signed on to do Gouvenor’s Island, even though they did Van’s; but they are NOT doing the politicke that the place wants. They had excluded numbers of groups previously; and retrospect seems to be part of their slimey pretense of politics that they trade for status of the QUO sort once they’ve been let to stay there.
Really a cess pool for haters and neophyte fascists that don’t have any place else to go and vent. The girls, chicks,.. well young ladies, if you will there, should go over to the West Village’s GL place. They deliberatley instigate juvenilist episodes with the guys there, because they haven’t matured enough to recognize social reality. They smugly believe that they are ‘Designated Historical’, but every year they get increasingly ‘Designated Hysterical.’ And if you don’t have their sort of habits, they are going to instigate some idiotic, juvenile episode.
This doesn’t seem to be the place to be, though, to talk about insidious, ignorant crass-​ness, incipient racist cloning and fixation with habits that could be interpreted as well, beurgeosie.
They must have had a fairy godmother or a fairy god-​martyr somewhere, ’cause that’s what THE PLACE gets that solitary ’ * ’ from.’

One
Of the
DIY
Spots that survived
Manhattan. Cool art and idea events.

I have seen at least a dozen shows at this shithole, all sorts of madness during the mid to late nineties. The building is complete shit, but there is always some cool people hanging out, and general craziness going on.

ABC No Rio is a 501©(3) organization serving emerging artists as a venue to showcase their talents. Warmly invited by a fellow poet (who unknownly later became my poet husband) «Reading Series Celebrating The Shout Out at Saturdays Otto’s Shrunken Head,» where I laughed and learned of fellow poets personal triumphs and struggles.
I rate this theater four stars as the floor is disrepair and requires major cosmetic structrual work. ABC No Rio is the sister version of a dive theater. Despite of the physical appearance, emerging artists of musicians, poets, actors/​actresses, rising bands perform and feature artists made their debuts.

Saw a punk show here. Its really friendly and nice, despite the random moshing that occured. I made the mistake of bringing leftover chinese food to a mosh pit — and yet somehow it miraculously survived. It sort of looks like my bedroom when i ripped out the wood panel :)
This is some serious underground stuff — even if you’re an oldschool goth/​grunger like me or whatever — bring an open mind and check out the scene.

WOW! I can’t believe I have been in NY this long and just went here for the first time last week! I attended «The Big She-​Bang» event here and had the best time! The people are so friendly and there is such a feeling of community here. It’s cheap to get in, and many of the zines and cds being sold for this event were on a sliding scale which is always cool.
I look forward to checking out thier zine library and learning how to screenprint here. They have so many great resources at afforable prices. Theres always something going on here from performance art to music to small festivals like the one I went to (where there was artwork, 8 bands playing, and boothes with zines, crafts, even baked goods)…If you haven’t been here yet you are really missing out.

I’ve seen the floor plans for the new building. There are solar panels on the roof, an elevator, and something like 8 floors, I can’t remember.
So I’d say, enjoy the nostalgic LES apartment building while it’s still standing. But I don’t think ABC No Rio will abandon it’s «Do it yourself volunteerism, art and activism, without giving-​in or selling-​out to corporate sponsors.» even if it’ll be in a modernized building.
The advanced facilities are suppose to benefit their mission, so don’t think have a working bathroom and new darkroom enlargers (only 4 are working atm) is a bad idea.
It’s a one-​of-​a-​kind place in a changing city, so I definitely recommend you pop in.
** Take note of the drawing on the wooden boards outside

I am writing this review solely on the hardcore matinees on Saturdays.
They rule, carrying on a good tradition in the city. yes sometimes the bands aren’t that great, but you get a few gems here and there, and the space is so small and makeshift that its the perfect place for a hardcore show. For 6 bucks you get 3 or 4 bands that obviously love doing what they do, and abc has a great policy of booking only bands that are not sexist, not racist, not homophobic. Its making a point that you can enjoy yourself thrashing about for an afternoon where everyone really is together in the energy and you’re participating in a show for 6 bucks where you feel like not only you get your money’s worth, but its done for the love of music and with a scrappy charm that you can’t find anywhere else these days.

This place is so inspiring. Part art gallery, screenprinting studio, darkroom, zine library and resource center, with a computer lab with actually good, new computers, printers and programs, with people who can answer your questions. All you do is pay a little bit to use their resources, mostly on the honor system. If you’re screenprinting, bring your own screen. They have ink there, but if you’re particular, get some of your own. I love this place. A resource center all around. The sign has fun instruments on it. They have poetry readings, punk movies, experimental music performances, workshops, benefits and fun fun fun. Check it out.
Oh PS they just bought thier building so no answering to stinky landlords again. Hooray.