Long Island City's musical parking lot provides welcome respite from COVID crisis

Concertgoers at the Plaxall Gallery parking lot on an warm night in November. Eagle photos by Olivia Bensimon

By Olivia Bensimon 

The city lights pierced the clouds in Long Island City, creating an almost otherworldly atmosphere as audience members settled into their seats on a Friday in late October. 

They gathered around a stage fashioned from a rusty pickup truck in a parking lot, waiting for one of Culture Lab LIC’s final concerts of the season to begin.

“It's magic,” said Cultural Lab LIC Executive Director Edjo Wheeler, 49. His non-profit organization runs the programming at the Plaxall Gallery in Long Island City.

“People keep saying how we saved their lives, how we saved the summer, how nothing like this really exists anywhere else.”

Now Wheeler, the performers and a crew of devoted attendees hope to preserve the energy and community, despite the cold weather coming.

“Our little corner of this situation is arts and culture, which also needs to survive COVID,” Wheeler said. “It becomes really important when you see the look on people's faces when they're out here, and they're listening to an amazing jazz band outside, properly socially distanced.” 

A change of plans

In late May, as New York City’s pandemic restrictions for cultural institutions gradually eased, Culture Lab began hosting live performances a couple of nights a week from its parking lot. Soon, it had a roster of regular local bands eager to play after months without gigs and a reliable crowd of neighborhood residents who were delighted to be listening to music outdoors. It was some semblance of normalcy in an abnormal time. 

The bands play from the back of a pickup truck. Joey Johnson — with the saxophone — and his band ‘Little Gorgeous’ performed in October.

But as the summer drew to a close and the weather grew more unpredictable, staff and volunteers at Culture Lab were forced to think of ways to keep the show going in the face of an unyielding pandemic that continues to restrict indoor gatherings.

“I don't think we've seen the worst of it yet,” Wheeler said. “It's our responsibility to continue the programming, but what that looks like is what we're trying to figure out.”

While they were originally set to end the live parking lot shows on Nov. 1 because of the cold, a number of residents who had been showing up all summer pleaded with Culture Lab to stay open a little longer. 

“They were like ‘We’ll be there! We’ll be there! We’ll be there!” Wheeler said. “And I want to say that we did as much as we could while we still could.” 

Culture Lab had barely launched when the pandemic struck. 

“Everything was planned for the 2020 season, and it all had to come to a very abrupt stop,” Wheeler said. 

Staff shut down the galleries and turned the space into a community center, through which they helped a variety of food pantries reach hard-hit Queens residents. They also distributed food containers and personal protective equipment donated by their main benefactor, Plaxall Incorporated.

Since 2016, Plaxall, a family-owned and Long Island City-based plastics packaging company,  has donated the 12,000-square-foot converted warehouse space free of cost to the artists. “We don't even pay for utilities,” Wheeler said. 

“Over the past four years, we've made it work. And now we're even making it work during COVID,” he said. 

Plaxall’s support was key to running the programs, he said. Not paying for studio or gallery space is a luxury that affords them the opportunity to host artists without having to worry about selling a certain number of tickets to break even, he added.  

When Culture Lab began hosting shows over the summer, the goal was to offer relief and space to bands who had not played live since all the clubs shut down in March. 

“I don’t get to play at full volume at my house all the time,” said Joey Johnson, a 39-year-old saxophone player with the band Little Gorgeous. 

Johnson and Little Gorgeous performed at the outdoor venue Oct. 23. 

“The thing about playing outside during the pandemic is that the audience seems to be a little more receptive than normal,” he said. “I feel like everyone, including us, is so happy to be outside doing something that the vibe is a little different – and it’s a really nice thing.”

A needed meeting place

Wheeler said he feels incredibly lucky to have contributed to a space that brings relief to both artists and attendees.

“This is probably one of the most rewarding things I've ever done in my life,” he said.

A warm autumn night performance.

He hopes the energy can last through the winter. 

“They feel safe, the music is amazing, they're outside with their family, it's a lifesaver,” he continued.

One of the weekly concertgoers, Long Island City resident Zoë Morsette, said the performances were a needed respite from COVID isolation.

Morsette, 69, has built props and costumes for Broadway productions for over 45 years, but remained cooped up in her home for months. She began attending the shows as a way to safely see her friends. 

“I haven’t hugged anyone in eight months,” she said. “So, when I found out this was happening, just to be able to be outside and to listen to live music, it’s really saved my sanity.” 

Another local, Carla Zucher, said she’d still show up despite the cold weather because she is grateful just to have a safe place to meet up with her neighbors.

“As long as you know it’s going to be cold. You can dress appropriately, with hats and gloves, and you’ll be okay,”  Zucher said.

Volunteers at Culture Lab worked to make the parking lot look inviting. 

They painted social distancing circles on the asphalt, procured a variety of patio chairs, built a bar from shipping pellets and sold beer and burritos from a canopy tent. String lights and old stage spotlights illuminate the space. 

“We have to be outside because of COVID, but people still want to be together, musicians still want to play,” said Asa Peller, 33, a volunteer and artist who also works as a robotics engineer. “I think that this kind of thing had to happen.”

The show must go on, for now

But even an ample number of heat lamps may not be enough to keep the outside shows going. 

For now, they’ll continue outdoor performances until Thanksgiving, when they will shift to live recorded shows.  

Johnson, the saxophonist, said he’s resigned to being home again for the foreseeable future once he can’t play outside anymore. 

“I’ve been trying to think of other projects, maybe live streaming stuff, but I’m not a big fan of live streaming,” he said. “I’m trying to think of a compelling way to do a video-audio thing that’s not just people looking at me playing, but I have no idea.”

Wheeler said they’re thinking of creating a multi-camera live-editing space in one of their galleries for local artists to perform their albums, which they can then package and share with the community.  

“There's a lot of unknowns, but we will do our part by trying to make sure arts and culture in our little neck of the woods are still thriving.”