This Must Be the Place: Music, Community and Vanished Spaces in New York City

Music historian Rifkin presents themed chapters focusing on the musicians and performance venues in lower Manhattan from the 1950s to the present. As that area transitioned from folk and avant-garde music to jazz, punk, and beyond, Rifkin, who owns and operates Walk on the Wild Side Tours NYC, deftly introduces major players (Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, David Bowie), famous places (Washington Square Park, Village Vanguard, Max’s Kansas City) and a host of supporting characters in the background, including club owners, concert promoters, the city’s notorious zoning boards, and more. Some readers might find the tone to be a persistent undercurrent of simmering anger at gentrification’s effects, with way too much emphasis on attendant finances, but interview excerpts with seminal figures of the various movements, contemporary photographs of the locales, and suggested listening ideas are special highlights. This nostalgia-filled, informative traversal of the eclectic scenes encapsulates the city’s meaning to and mutual benefits for the musicians and associated artists.