If you haven’t been to the local scene at Positively Fourth Street on Tuesday nights, you are probably one of the people who says there is nothing to do in Troy. Every Tuesday night people flock to this dark basement bar to feed a music revolution with the most innovative audiovisual entertainment this side of Manhattan, and everyone who attends—from RPI students and faculty to local DJs and video artists—is playing a part.
Tuesdays at P4 began last fall, when a group of students put two and two together, realizing that RPI had some of the most innovative musical talent anywhere, and that spaces in Troy could allow this talent to move from the classroom into the community. “Tuesdays at P4 give everyone a chance to get involved,” said Kevin Luddy ’02, a student who helped the scene get off the ground.
Michael Rabinovich ’03, a P4 performer and EMAC major, said, “We know it’s important to have a venue outside of school for students to develop a meaningful social community. Typically a hangout for middle-aged Trojans, P4 becomes a happening spot on Tuesdays as college kids and a slew of the area’s own homegrown musicians, DJs, and video artists bust onto the scene.”
One such group is Evidence, headed by Scott Smallwood, an electronic music innovator and a clinical professor of music at RPI. Smallwood noted that this event not only gives people an outlet to have fun off-campus but also “exposes them to a variety of musical ideas while helping them develop their own creative voices. The P4 phenomenon that Kevin and friends initiated is one of the most important social and cultural events to happen in Troy.”
But more than just a laboratory for art practice, P4 is a cultural phenomenon. Igor Vamos, a local video artist and colleague of Smallwood’s in the RPI arts department, commented that, “when it first started this fall, Tuesday nights at P4 became an instant staple in the cultural diet of downtown Troy. It is the most important new thing to happen in the arts and cultural scene in Troy since I joined the RPI faculty four years ago.”
This new scene owes its existence to the wide variety of available talent and equipment. Every Tuesday at P4, students and faculty put their education into practice, and every major—from art to architecture to engineering—is represented. On the surface, it would seem that only electronic musicians matter here. But without student designers, sound engineers, and managers, P4 would be just another bar in Troy. The students make the scene.
With 2 for 1 drinks and all of the ambiance of the Lascaux cave, P4 offers not only a promising social setting, but also an intimate space where all kinds of people can channel their collective creativity into ground-shaking electronic art. Many people come to P4 expecting only to be in the audience. Everyone leaves feeling part of something much greater—a new music scene in downtown Troy.
P4 is located at 87 Fourth St. in historic downtown Troy. Tuesdays at P4 usually begin around 10:30 pm and run until they stop. To find out more, visit the website at http://www.goodship.net/tuesdays.
