Quiet Life
Quiet Life was a short-lived nightclub in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, run by Matthew Hill, Nick Hill and Brian Dewan. It was located in the basement of 18 Havemeyer Street, the apartment building they shared with John Linnell. The club operated from October 1989 until March 1990.
History[edit]
The venue's space was leased by Matthew Hill, who also worked the door. The club operated exclusively on Saturdays and charged a five-dollar admission fee. Its interior was arranged with rows of old wooden school chairs facing a small stage, and the walls were decorated with Dewan's clock shrines and glow-in-the-dark taxidermy sculptures. The building had previously housed a funeral parlor before it was converted into apartments. It was reportedly the favored funeral parlor of the Brooklyn mafia in the early 20th century. Some rooms retained floor drains from when the site was used for embalming.
The club was not heavily advertised and most performances remain undocumented, though it seems likely that They Might Be Giants performed there a few times. The band's only confirmed appearance was a New Year's Eve celebration on December 31, 1989, where they played an acoustic set under the name Count Drinkalot. John Linnell also played a played a short solo set of State Songs material at the club in late 1989, opening for the Maudlins.[1] Linnell described the venue in 2003: "There was highly unlicensed alcohol selling going on down there... Nice place."[2]
Quiet Life ceased operations immediately after the Happy Land fire on March 25, 1990. The incident, which killed 87 people, prompted a citywide crackdown on unlicensed clubs. A full-page article about Quiet Life appeared in the March 27, 1990 issue of The Village Voice, the same week the club closed. Written by Richard Gehr, the article featured a detailed description of the venue:
- On most (and only) Saturday nights since last October, dozens — heck, scores — of locals have meandered into Quiet Life after discreetly making their presence known by tapping the door of this appropriately renamed former funeral chapel. In the dark, from the street, it lacks even the suggestion of activity. Pale light gleams through the stained-glass windows; apartment-house mailboxes greet the customer.
- Pay the man five dollars and mosey into a minimal sitting-and-drinking room. Where the bereaved once grieved, folks now gather in subdued conviviality. It's a permanent wake, Jake. Pals and strangers, just hanging out and talking about stuff. Work stuff. Music stuff. You know — stuff. No fights, some light necking.
- I prefer to hang in the inner sanctum, back in the chapel itself, the better to enjoy Brian Dewan's clock shrines and dinosaur taxidermy, Hill's wailing jukebox (imagine "Love Rollercoaster" playing in the background), and a blood-red paint job that looks a lot like home. Twin hospital beds and medicine bottles containing dubious substances provide a measure of... security. A band's set up at the end of the room, right where you'd expect to find the funeral coffin. Several rows of neatly arrayed school chairs anticipate peculiar entertainment. Behind the equipment, an inverted bottle threatens to drip a strange green liquid all over the mahogany mantelpiece.
The former Quiet Life space later appeared in They Might Be Giants' 1992 music video for "The Guitar". On June 13, 1993, Nick Hill broadcast a special edition of his WFMU radio program The Music Faucet live from the building, featuring performances by They Might Be Giants, Brian Dewan, Laura Cantrell and Amy Rigby, among others.
Gallery[edit]
1990 flyer designed by Brian Dewan. None of the shows after March 24 took place.
The Village Voice article, March 27, 1990.
