Band defiance against club owners could be provoked by outright threats

Evidence

Undeterred by the reaction at Summit High (and the fact that he thought one of the Velvets had swiped his Wollensak tape recorder), Aronowitz secured them a residency at MacDougal Street’s most venerable tourist trap, the goth-themed basement cave Café Bizarre, in late December—six nights a week, continuous forty-minute sets, with twenty-minute breaks. Drums were not allowed; Mo Tucker had to make do with a tambourine. Although the band mainly played covers of Chuck Berry and Jimmy Reed, one night they performed “The Black Angel’s Death Song.” … According to Morrison, the owner warned them they would be fired if they ever played the song again, “so we started the next set with it” and avoided having to work New Year’s Eve. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 798

Categorization

• XREF: Tangible detail supporting the thesis that avant-garde conditions are material — low-stakes gigs, cheap clubs, no career risk — rather than genius.