In the late 1980s, Brooklyn wasn’t cool yet. Most hipsters did not live in Brooklyn — their center was the Lower East Side. Coney Island and Downtown Brooklyn were considered dangerous.
Then, a cultural oasis sprung up on Prospect Avenue in South Park Slope — a rock club called Lauterbach’s. It became home to a group of bands who played original material in a wide variety of different styles.
None became household names, but the “Brooklyn Beat” groups, as they were known, got a lot of airplay on college stations, produced seven compilation albums and formed a real community. The groups got to know each other, went to each other’s performances, partied together and helped each other out. It was an explosion of creativity in what was then an out-of-the-way, working-class neighborhood.
It was this sense of community that inspired Michael West, a veteran of the Brooklyn Beat group The Original Rays, to create the film “Before It Was Cool —The Brooklyn Beat From Lauterbach’s.” He is in talks with the Nitehawk Cinema in Park Slope, which will hopefully show the film in 2025. And some of the original bands and artists will perform at a fundraising concert on Sept. 14 at Young Ethel’s, 506 Fifth Ave., Park Slope, at 5 p.m.
Originally, West says, Lauterbach’s was just a neighborhood bar were locals could get a cheap beer. Bob Racioppo, a Brooklyn resident who had been a member of the 1970s CBGB band the Shirts, was behind the transition. One day, Racioppo, who now had a new band, Chemical Wedding, went inside, looked around and decided it would be a good place to present music.
“It had incredible acoustics,” Racioppo recalls in the film. And throughout all its years of its fame, the bar never lost its homey feel: co-owner Alice Lauterbach often sold items behind the bar, such as toys at Christmas — and on one occasion, a stove.
West talks about his own band, the Original Rays. This was the era when there were multiple Ray’s Pizzas in New York — Ray’s, Famous Ray’s, Famous Original Ray’s — and they were suing each other. “We went to each of these pizza joints every once in a while and left our postcards, hoping someone would sue us” and thus, generate publicity. “We would have nothing to hide.” The Original Rays was one of the more prosaic group names in the Lauterbach’s scene — some others included Bite the Wax Godhead, Formaldehyde Blues Train, Beatniks from Mars, and When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water.
By all accounts, the scene declined after the bar embarked on a renovation in the mid-1990s. “George (Lauterbach) said it would take one month, but it took nine months,” West says. “And he put in a tile floor (replacing the original wooden floor) that didn’t do the acoustics any good.” By then, the scene had spread out as the bands played other clubs. “We played Downtown Beirut and the Ludlow Street Café as often as we played Lauterbach’s.” Lauterbach’s closed about 15 years ago. As George Lauterbach says in the film, “When the bands came in, the customers came in. When the bands left, the place became empty.”
“Before It Was Cool” had its genesis during the COVID pandemic. West, now a solo performer, released a single under the name M. West. To honor him, Robert Moe, the former frontman for the Brooklyn Beat band The Moe, who had shot countless videos of Lauterbach’s during its heyday, put up some original footage of the Original Rays on YouTube. “He did it by holding a phone next to the video, “ said West. “I called and said, `Let me digitize these videos.’ Some of them were good enough to show.”
West felt his film should be like the Brooklyn Beat scene itself: “grass-roots.” “I didn’t start with a million-dollar budget,” he says. He assembled a production team: Jeannie Fry did a lot of the camera work and filmed the interviews; Rachel Cleary, music director at Radio Free Brooklyn, interviewed the musicians on camera; and video editor, Lika Komakhidze ,who came to the U.S. from Georgia only 10 months ago. All in all, says West, “We did 20 or 30 interviews in my house or backyard, interspersed with performance footage with narration from Rachel.”
Jeannie Fry, who originally comes from Connecticut, met the aforementioned Robert Moe about 10 years ago. She shot a video for Moe’s song, “Romance is Risky,” and when the actress who was supposed to play Moe’s date didn’t show up, Fry herself played the role. Moe introduced her to Bob Racioppo, and she eventually met West. “The scene I grew up with in Connecticut was very similar to Lauterbach’s — all the musicians helped each other, were friends, and were hanging out at parties,” she says.
Rachel Cleary grew up in Bay Ridge and first became acquainted with Lauterbach’s in its latter days, when her boyfriend was a drummer in a band that played there. This was after the renovations, she remembers, and the place was half-empty. Still, she was struck by the variety of acts — “you had an alt-rock band, a death-metal band and a dream-pop band on the same bill. And they were still selling things at the bar.”
What interviews in the film stand out for her? One was Frank Ruscitti of Frank’s Museum. “He was also rehearsing for a play in which he played FDR, and before my eyes he took on the identify of FDR.” Another was Bob Racioppo, who started reflecting on his life, some decisions he made back in the old days and how he’s dealing with them today.
Video editor Lika Komakhidze may be fairly new to the U.S., but she did video editing and videography – including music videos — in her native Georgia for 15 years. “I love interesting stories about musicians and artists,” she says, adding that seeing the old videos of Lauterbach’s “was like traveling through time. That energy, that vibe isn’t easy to find today.”
In addition to the fundraiser at Young Ethel’s, supporters can also contribute at the film’s GoFundMe account: https://gofund.me/4a41760a
