Twelve years ago, he successfully challenged the constitutionality of the portions of the law that applied to music. Yet musicians say their livelihood can still be quashed as a result of Giuliani's hegemonic rule. For George Tabb, whose punk band Furious George has been playing gigs in the city for 20 years, increased enforcement of the cabaret law is still affecting musicians. He remembers when the cabaret law was used to shut down illegal parties where he was playing, but he never expected it to be used against legitimate clubs. Tabb says the law is limiting the venues where he can play because nightclubs are decreasing the number of nights they devote to live music out of fear that someone might dance.
People like to dance when listening to music.
That's not happening, because people can't move. In the 1920s, lawmakers reasoned that the cabaret law would protect patrons from the immoral influences of nightlife. Repeated phone calls to the mayor's office for comment on the law and its enforcement were not returned. Seventy years later, we still have the same law regulating dancing, even though much of it has been found to be unconstitutional. Now Giuliani has stepped up enforcement of a law that Bookman says resembles a piece of Swiss cheese.