Avant-garde music, which once filled downtown alleys with noises strange and sweet, has been all but banished from Manhattan, a victim of rising rents and civic indifference. It is, however, flourishing on certain handsomely decrepit streets in Brooklyn. The photographer and gallerist Suzanne Fiol, who in 2003 founded the music space Issue Project Room, was more responsible than anyone for the transplantation of New York’s experimental tradition. Fiol died of cancer on October 5th, at the age of forty-nine, and news of her passing elicited many mournful tributes on the Internet. She not only supported artists with every means at her disposal but also created a welcoming community, less sullenly clubbish than avant-garde haunts of yore. Cagean conceptualists rubbed shoulders with free-jazz virtuosos, indie-rock sound terrorists, and diehard modernists. Fortunately, Issue Project Room’s future seems secure, with the Borough of Brooklyn helping the venue to renovate a new home in a former Elks Club on Livingston Street. The noise goes on. ♦
