You’ll have to take notes while you listen, but the Times wants to clue you in to where there’s free music to be had. It’s worth a listen, your SAK correspondent supposes, but they neglected to mention the cafe/bar portion of Williamsburg’s Sound Fix, and East Village classic jazz destination Detour, both of which never have covers and pretty seldom have sub-par performers.

In the short time your SAK correspondent has spent interviewing New York City bands, he has come to understand just how important finding a decent and affordable practice space is to local musical talent, and how New Yorkers have to go that extra mile to rock (bands in Portland have houses with basements that they can practice, after all).

Beat The Devil recorded an interview with me in their tiny, triangular Greenpoint rehearsal space, which was a bit smaller than the average Manhattan bedroom, and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart used to practice at their employer’s Chinatown offices after hours.

Hence the New York Times story on the subject, with an economic breakdown (some groups, who one assumes have never heard of Bushwick, pay $40 an hour for a place to practice). One more reason to pay the $7 cover Tuesday night at Glasslands (instead of having your bassist friend put you on the guestlist).