Places come and go, small theatres and clubs open and close. Things move or vanish. Whatever, it happens.

It's when the ATTITUDE that went with a certain time and place and space going away vanishes that the problems happen. We all get old (we hope), and don't necessarily want to go out slamdancing anymore. But is the alternative to fall into Bobo tastefulness?

From an article in the Times on the closing of the great alternative music club, The Knitting Factory (which, yes, will be reopening soon in Williamsburg, but I'm not too sure how that will work out . . .):

No club seems to close without another sprouting up in its place, and Wednesday night was also the opening of City Winery, an elegant but cozy new performance space opened by Michael Dorf, who founded the Knitting Factory. (He left the company in 2003.)

City Winery, on Varick Street in the South Village, is the Knitting Factory’s opposite. Instead of a warren of cramped, dank rooms, it is a spacious 21,000 square feet with table seating for 350 and walls of wood and exposed brick. The opening-night entertainment was Joan Osborne, who sang bluesy soft-rock and wore a crimson gown. Upcoming shows include Boz Scaggs, Steve Earle and Philip Glass.

Mr. Dorf says the space is intended for music fans who have outgrown the dive-bar phase and want an elegant night out. Grapes are brought in, crushed and fermented on premises, and a membership program gives customers their own barrel in the basement. Clients include Lou Reed.

Kerianne Flynn, 41, who lives nearby in TriBeCa, said she signed up her husband, James, for a barrel for his birthday.

“There’s really nothing this sophisticated in the city,” Ms. Flynn said, “where you can see live music and have great wine, great food and be with grown-ups.”

Joan Osborne. Bluesy soft-rock. Crimson gown. Boz Scaggs. Steve Earle. Philip Glass. Elegant night out. Membership program. Crushed and fermented on premises. Barrel in the basement. Lou Reed. TriBeCa.

I like many, maybe even most, of these things, and I don't mean or want to fetishize "cramped, dank rooms," but the sheer fucking TASTEFULNESS of this "City Winery" thing makes Tonstant Wistener wanna fwow up.

Or at least somehow rig things so that sometime -- preferably maybe with Lou and Laurie enjoying the fine fine superfine fermented product of their personal barrel -- and a talented, sensitive-with-an-edge singer/songwriter at the piano onstage (accompanied on acoustic bass) -- through the I'm-sure top-of-the-line acoustically perfect and dynamically balanced sound system, the live music is suddenly replaced by the sound of Metal Machine Music. At top volume.

Of course, that work has achieved it's own form of Tasteful Respect. And almost sounds quaint today. Maybe "Surfin' Bird," instead? Nah, too "ironic." Beastie Boys? Le Tigre? Song-Poem music? The Spice Girls doing "Wannabe?" Rickrolling is over now - what could be the "rickroll" for this kinda crowd?

And a happy new year to you and yours . . .