Todd P.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Todd P (aka Todd Patrick) is an organizer and promoter of underground DIY and indie rock shows and parties in New York City. Patrick was born in 1975 in Indiana.

Before relocating to the New York City area in 2001, Patrick founded and ran a successful all-ages rock club and art space in Portland, Oregon called Seventeen Nautical Miles [1].

Todd Patrick began organizing concerts in Brooklyn, New York under the name "Todd P" in 2001, first at several lofts, and later in the upstairs lounge of the Cafe Right Bank in Williamsburg. Patrick garnered particular attention for throwing events in the diminutive back room of Tommy's Tavern in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Todd P's shows now provide a respected forum for indie rock acts to perform, primarily in the Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick areas of Brooklyn, New York, and in the Lower East Side of Manhattan - a "bohemian" community with a great concentration of independent music fans. Patrick's shows have hosted bands on most of the more prominent independent labels, including Vice Records, Jagjaguar, Kill Rock Stars, K Records, Ecstatic Peace, Load Records, and others. Past performers at Todd P shows have included Lightning Bolt, Animal Collective, Black Dice, Afrirampo, the Homosexuals, Weird War, Black Lips, Spank Rock, The Slits, The Fall, and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore.

Patrick has received laudatory press coverage in The Village Voice [2], Time Out New York [3], New York Press [4], and The New York Times, among other outlets.

Patrick is widely acknowledged, within the New York indie rock community, for consistently selecting and attracting edgy musical performers for his concerts, as well as for working to organise events for apparently little financial gain. Patrick also has expressed a dedication to punk and D.I.Y. ethics in interviews.

In addition to largely positive profiles in mainstream press, Todd P has also generated some detractors and criticism online. [5]

Patrick continues to organize rock shows and has sought to open his own venue. Towards that goal, Patrick briefly threw shows at a larger, unlicensed space that he rented and operated independently, named the Llano Estacado.

The Llano Estacado was a performance and art space that Patrick operated in the model of several predecessor creative spaces in Brooklyn such as the Rubulad, the Mighty Robot, BPM, the Glasshouse, and the Woodser - with no legal status, but with Patrick's stated goal of eventually taking the space legal if the location proved feasible. The Llano Estacado operated successfully for several months in 2005, quickly attracting huge crowds and garnering favorable coverage from New York City media outlets such as The New York Times, The New York Sun, The New York Post, New York Magazine, and others.

The rapid success of the Llano Estacado raised the notice of the local 94th Precinct NYPD police, who entered the building without a warrant in early March 2005 and issued several summonses to Patrick and other collaborators who used the building for hosting events. Patrick successfully fought these citations, but did not risk using the building for events again. [6]

Thereafter, Todd P resumed organizing shows at various bars, clubs, and other lofts and warehouses around the New York City, with his fan base and access to larger-drawing bands growing over time.

In interviews, Patrick has stated an interest in seeking out compelling bands and acts, coupled with an expressed loyalty to the ethics of D.I.Y punk rock. Traditionally, these ethics reject corporate influence, as well as a resistance to high ticket prices, velvet-rope elitism, v.i.p. policies, and publicity machine hype. Patrick frequently locates his events at all-ages and atypical venues, with the stated goal of fighting age discrimination. [7]

Todd P arguably exerts influence in shaping the NYC and national indie rock scenes, given his role as an independent show organizer and a "tastemaker" in a region boasting both a huge concentration of "in-the-know" music fans, as well as the base offices of many of the press outlets who cover independent music.