They played for hours and made sure the whole crowd knew how to dance forró. “ Forró Zabumbeca’s Halloween dance party was pretty epic, too. The place was packed, and enough people knew the words of his songs to sing along,” says Harrer. The John Cushing Big Band put on a fantastic show a few months ago-they actually released a tape of that performance. The events at Magnolia Loft aren’t just set times for artists to go through the motions. Given Harrer cared most about creative growth and discovery for both the artists and audiences, as the informality of the setting fosters connections and ideas, it’s hard not to think of all the audiences who had yet to swing by Magnolia Loft-and how much they could benefit from doing so. It’s hard letting a communal art space close, especially in a city like Boston where never-ending rent raises make relocating nearly impossible. That sounds happier in text than in execution. The venue’s landlord has asked everyone in the 128 Brookside artist spaces to leave, as he aims to sell the property in a vacant state.Ī new Magnolia Loft won’t rise from the ashes, but Harrer, who spent hundreds of hours coordinating events for the local music scene, does plan to bring the venue’s magic into her live set moving forward. Indie band performances, chamber ensemble sets, psychedelic film nights, group improv sessions, Weird Folk fests, and more flooded the loft’s welcoming space. When Slayton accepted Harrer’s proposal to host a studio-warming show there, their JP loft saw the first of what would become dozens of community-focused events. She stumbled into a sun-filled Jamaica Plain studio at 128 Brookside where local artist Elizabeth Slayton, who had painted there for over 20 years, hung floral paintings around the room. Like all of our city’s independent spaces and house venues, Magnolia Loft is experiencing a Boston tradition: choosing between shutting down or getting shut out.īack in January of 2015, local harpist, singer, and composer Audrey Harrer was looking for a new practice space.
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