Venue: The Cooler (night club)
Town: New York, US

The Cooler, a music and performance space, opened on Wednesday, September 22, 1993, at 416 West 14th Street in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan. The club showcased a wide variety of experimental music, Americana music, roots music, and spoken-word performers. Performances at The Cooler also included dance, film and video arts, and club parties. The Cooler blended live music, DJs, turntablists, and electronic dance music (EDM). The Cooler's early period featured many mixed-genre downtown New York City musicians and DJs. The late period incorporated fewer bands and booked more EDM, mixologists and electronic music. The club closed on June 2, 2001, with a performance by Michael Karoli of Can, Botanica, Jim Thirlwell, James Chance and Suicide. In the last three months of 1993 and early 1994, The Cooler shows featured New York City percussionists Milton Cardona, Mino Cinelu, Gato Nego, Patato Valdez, Manolo Badrena, Sammy Figueroa, Juju House as well as performances by Chocolate Armenteros, Gnawan musicians Hassan Hakmoun and Brahim Fribgane. Early DJs and mixologists included DJ Olive, Raz Mesinai, DJ Spooky, Skizz Fernando, Mixmaster Morris, DJ Logic, Soulslinger, Kurtis Mantronik, Swinsett, DJ Wally and UK Apache. Many diverse shows were performed early in 1994, with Medeski Martin & Wood, The Fugees and Autechre playing on three consecutive nights in early March. Gil Scott Heron, Amiri Baraka, Reggie Workman, Arto Lindsay, Patato Valdez, John Lurie, Papa Jube, Dewey Redman, Gunter Hampel, David Tronzo, Rubén Blades and Ronald Shannon Jackson all performed during this period. In June 1994 Marc Ribot curated a month of Mondays with "the Wah's Duo", Shrek and Anthony Coleman's "The Hunger". The Cooler's September Artist register read as follows: Jessamine, Cibo Matto, Cake Like, Silkworm, The August Sons, Thurston Moore & Derek Bailey, Alex Chilton, Circle X, Billy Bang, The Roots, Lunachicks, Guv'ner, Carbon, Ben Neill, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Chrome Cranks, De