During this collective time of crisis in the wake of Covid-19, Le Poisson Rouge, a good friend of Downtown Magazine, is currenly working on streaming live performances, unveiling archived concert footage, and engaging the independent music community in unprecedented ways. At the moment, however, it is asking the public for support on their Patreon and through payment apps to keep this jewel of the West Village open for the foreseeable future.

We love LPR and all the beautiful opportunities they have given us, and hope that they can continue their mission to bring amazing live music to New York City. Please support their hardworking staff, as they are all out of work. So many incredible acts have come through, including Peter Murphy, Clan of Xymox, The Bellwether Syndicate, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and White Denim.

Official Statement From Le Poisson Rouge:

Hello everyone,

Sunday evening, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio announced an executive order to close all music venues across the city. The decision on how to deal with the Coronavirus outbreak has been taken out of our hands and we intend to comply with the mayor’s order. As much as this hurts our hearts and our business, we believe this is the right thing to do and understand the need for mass closures at this time.

Though we may be temporarily shutting our doors to the public, we cannot quarantine our love for music. We refuse to give up. We are working on streaming live performances and programming, unveiling archived concert footage, and engaging the independent music community like never before. If you are a musician or have a musical story to tell – let us know! We want to enable you to get the support you need. Now more than ever, we need the healing power of music and art.

If you have a ticket to an upcoming show, please be patient. There are a lot of logistics involved with figuring out refunds and exchanges and we are doing our best to sort it out. Refunds are taking longer than usual to process so please be patient. If you can hold onto your ticket for a rescheduled show, please do so.

We applaud the communal effort towards social distancing, but are faced with the harsh reality that these decisions also obliterate income for half a million New Yorkers who work in the Leisure and Hospitality industry. LPR’s bartenders, servers, bussers, porters, technicians, kitchen staff, security guards, etc. face this struggle head on. Many of them rely on hourly wages and tips to provide for their families and suddenly face the prospect of weeks without work.

Many of you have reached out to us about what you can do to support LPR and its employees in these uncertain times – we are so grateful for this response. Here’s how you can donate to our employees and ongoing operational expenses:

Sign up for an LPR Membership via Patreon

Donate via Paypal: donate@lprnyc.com

Donate via Venmo: @LPRNYC

Buy your future self a drink ticket via GoFundMe

The independent bars, restaurants, and venues of New York are making extreme sacrifices to flatten the curve. We need our government and financial institutions to recognize that and lend us a hand. We call on Mayor De Blasio, Governor Cuomo, President Trump, and all of our elected officials at the local, state, and national level to assemble a relief package for the events industry.

Follow our site, social media, and mailing list for more.

Stay tuned and stay safe,

The LPR Family

All photos by Alice Teeple

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