From: The Cassette Mythos, Autonomedia 1990
The idea for Generator first came to me in the spring of 1989. I had just returned home to New York City from Europe, where I had spent a lot of time travelling and working. I had often visited Staaltape in Amsterdam and Gelbe Musik in Berlin, and I wondered why there were no places like these in New York. Most of the music I enjoyed, and most of my friends (many of whom I had first made contact with by exchanging cassettes with them), came from other places; I knew only a few people in New York involved in what is today called "cassette culture." It seemed to me that New York City was large enough to hold some kind of center where people could learn about this network and meet other people with similar interests. I opened Generator as an experiment to see if it was possible to get new audiences interested in the worldwide cassette underground.
I collected and displayed self-produced experimental and electronic music that I received directly from artists and very small labels around the world. I organized free concerts on Saturday nights, presented exhibitions of visual art by audio artists, and even set up audio art installations in the basement. The walls quickly became filled with cassettes from all over the world. I had several sound systems running simultaneously, with speakers sending sounds from every corner of the space (including separate speakers in the toilet). There were cassette players attached to the walls for people to record on, or to listen to tapes privately. I was open every day for at least six hours. I supported the project by working in a photography lab five days a week, because I was unsure whether I would be able to earn enough money to pay the rent just from selling music. I sent out as much information as I could afford to, and soon attracted a small circle of friends who were interested in the project. When people passed through New York, they stopped by to visit Generator, and I met many people that I had previously only corresponded with by post.
"I was particularly excited when people who knew nothing of this cassette world would come in off the street and begin showing interest by listening to tapes, asking questions, and reading through the collection of literature I kept. I referred to Generator as a gallery" because I wanted to differentiate it from regular record stores. I hung notices on the wall telling people not to expect to find artists they were familiar with, and tried to encourage the discovery of new artists.
As time went on I became convinced that New York needed a place like Generator, yet it seemed that few people here knew about it. People everywhere were familiar with the music, but most of them were not from New York--like the music itself, which came from all over the world, from small villages as often as big cities. This confirmed my suspicion that there are no more centers for new ideas; they are now coming from individuals everywhere, wherever they happen to be, thanks to modern communications technologies. I think the greatest achievement of Generator was exposing newcomers to this audio revolution, planting the seeds to help the network grow. Many people met at Generator who never would have met if the space hadn't existed.
On the practical side, Generator failed. I was never able to even pay the rent from music sold. First, most of the people attracted to Generator were producing their own music and weren't interested in buying. Second, even when I sold music, it usually took several hours of searching and conversation for people to decide on a tape. Third, Generator was located in a neighborhood where most people were too poor or busy to spend time or money on anything besides their rent and other basic living expenses. Most of the sales came from people traveling through New York who heard about Generator from fanzines, from flyers I sent out, or from local radio stations that supported the space.
As time went on, the workload at Generator increased dramatically, and I was continually under time and money pressure to keep it going. I was afraid that I would burn out completely. I decided to close Generator after one year, because I didn't want to continue if I didn't enjoy what I was doing. I now hope to have time to reflect on the project, to release tapes and videos produced during the year, and to continue some selling by mail or by appointment. I also plan to look for another home for this incredible collection of music, which for the moment remains in storage boxes. After I work to pay off debts, I hope to again organize concerts, produce a Generator Top Ten LP, and...well, I'm not sure, but I always like new ideas!
Gen Ken also wrote about the cassette concerts of Conrad Schnitzler.
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