Book Reviews : IKUYA SATO, Kamikaze Biker: Parody and Anomy in Affluent Japan. London and Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1991
| Author | Steve Redhead |
| Published date | 01 June 1993 |
| Date | 01 June 1993 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/096466399300200214 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
252
PAUL
CHEVIGNY,
Gigs:
Jazz
and
the
Cabaret
Laws
in
New
York
City
.
London
and
New
York:
Routledge,
1991.
It
is
rare -
to
say
the
least -
for
a
law
book
to
be
adorned
with
a
cover
which
boasts
a
woodcut
of
a
jazz
great
like
Charlie
Mingus.
This
one,
by
New
York
civil
liberties
lawyer
and
Professor
of
Law
at
New
York
University,
Paul
Chevigny,
is
as
riveting
as
any
of
Mingus’
playing.
In
a
series
enticingly
labelled
’After
the
Law’,
about
which
sadly
there
is
no
other
information
from
Routledge
in
this
book,
Chevigny
narrates
the
story
of
the
end
of
the
’cabaret
laws’
in
New
York
City,
a
story,
moreover,
in
which
he
played
no
small
part
himself.
Chevigny,
along
with
other
lawyers,
worked
as
a
volunteer
on
a
case
in
the
late
1980s,
supporting
the
musicians
union,
which
attacked
the
local
regulations
(’the
cabaret
laws’)
that
restricted
the
playing
of
live
music
in
bars
and
restaurants
in
New
York
City
from
1926
until
1990.
Much
of the
book
relates
how
the
laws
imposed
a
complex
system
of
licensing
combined
with
zoning
restrictions
on
neighbourhoods
where
live
music
could
be
played
and
how,
despite
periodic
pressure
group
activity
from
the -
mainly
jazz -
musicians
involved,
the
discriminatory
system
remained
in
place
for
most
of
the
twentieth
century.
Equally,
the
book
tries
to
answer
the
pertinent
question
for
the
politics
of
law:
why
did
this
case,
which
Chevigny
supported,
succeed
and
provoke
the
court
into
declaring
the
regulations
of
New
York
City
unconstitutional,
leading
to
their
virtually
complete
overhaul?
I
agree
with
the
jacket
’blurb’
that
’Gigs
is
a
must
read’
for
a
number
of
reasons.
I
read
the
book
when
beginning
a
funded
research
project
on
the
changes
in
licensing
laws
in
a
northwestern
English
city
where
the
night-time
economy
has
become
a
vital
component
of
cultural
and
economic
life.
Here,
house
music
rather
than
jazz
was
the
cultural
form
which
provided
the
terrain
for
’law
and
order’
and
regulatory
debates,
but
many
of
the
issues
raised
in
Chevigny’s
account
will
inevitably
recur
when
we,
as
a
research
team,
eventually
write
our
own
narrative
of
changes
to
licensing
and
policing
and
the
problems
and
pleasures
of
being
’down
at
the
club’ -
especially
in
the
mid-late
1980s,
the
very
time
when
pressures
from
musicians,
their
union
and
lawyers
brought
the
cabaret
laws
tumbling
down
in
New
York.
I
am
sure
that
for
us,
and
future
sociolegal
researchers,
Gtgs
will
become
a
valuable
handbook.
But
it
is
more
than
that,
too.
It
ranges
across
the
history
of
jazz -
a
part
of
popular
culture
which
has
a
special
attraction
for
Chevigny
who
is
a
genuine
fan -
as
well
as
the
debates
about
planning,
arts
and
culture,
regeneration
and
the
(post)modern
city.
There
is
a
very
useful
appendix
showing
a
chart
of
the
New
York
City
Cabaret
Licensing
and
Zoning
from
1916
to
1990
and
a
note
on
book
sources
as
diverse
as
Walter
Benjamin,
Samuel
Charters
and
Richard
Sennett.
It
is
most
of
all,
though,
a
book
which
helps
to
contribute
to
a
research
and
policy
culture
which
takes
a
category
such
as
nightlife
seriously
as
a
social
phenomenon.
As
Gusfield’s
classic
book
on
Prohibition -
which
Chevigny
refers
to -
told
us
a
great
deal
about
social
prejudice
and
legal
change,
Chevigny’s
account
of
licensing
will
be
remembered
for
its
own
interpretation
of
the
history
of
attitudes
to
popular
culture
and
law’s
place
in
both
creating
the
prejudice
in
the
first
place
and,
sometimes,
eradicating
it.
STEVE
REDHEAD
Manchester
Institute
for
Popular
Culture
,
Manchester
Metropolitan
University
,
UK
IKUYA
SATO,
Kamikaze
Biker:
Parody
and
Anomy
in
Affluent
Japan
.
London
and
Chicago,
IL:
University
of
Chicago
Press,
1991.
Japan
is
the
focus
of
attention
for
a
whole
gamut
of
’disciplines’
these
days.
’Post-Fordist’
economists
seek
the
secrets
of
its
manufacturing
successes,
postmodernist
architecture
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