Art Boutiki's closing is bad news for all Bay Area music lovers

"In a recent column on his Substack The Honest Broker he highlighted a countervailing force girding humanity against the torrent of formulaic pablum. When people hear music in a group setting their brainwaves start to synchronize, he writes. The body also releases the hormone oxytocin, which makes them more trusting and willing to bond together. That's why so many couples, over the course of centuries, have discovered their romantic attraction at a dance or nightclub."

"It struck me that the sad corollary to Gioia's celebration of the singular power of music to bring people together is the fact that musicians need amenable spaces to work their alchemy. Music's future looks a whole lot less glorious in the South Bay with the Art Boutiki's last gig on New Year's Eve marking the loss of irreplaceable venue where jazz acts, rock bands and singer/songwriters have communed with listeners while audiences connected with each other."

"In a conversation that occasionally turned emotional, Vado described the difficult decision to shutter the Art Boutiki, which moved to its current location in 2013. He singled out the double whammy of thin post-pandemic audiences and inflation for forcing his hand. Attendance at shows is down 20 percent this past year, he said. Expenses have been up even more, most dramatically the utilities."

Group music listening synchronizes brainwaves and triggers oxytocin release, increasing trust and social bonding. Music has long facilitated romantic attraction at dances and nightclubs. Musicians require amenable venues to perform and connect with audiences. The closure of the Art Boutiki in San Jose removed an irreplaceable space for jazz, rock and singer-songwriters, with its final gig on New Year's Eve. The venue relocated to its current site in 2013 before closing. The shutdown resulted from thin post-pandemic audiences, inflation, and rising expenses; attendance fell about 20 percent while utility costs, notably air conditioning, surged.

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