CBGB: The original punk rock club closing ... dammit!
Yes, it's true ... CBGB, the hole-in-the-wall bar that became the cradle of American punk rock, is closing following an unresolvable tenant-landlord dispute.
It's a shame that this couldn't have been worked out. With a tenant like this, you'd think their landlord would use their freakin' head and not want to destroy such a historic cultural landmark.
I guess some people will just, no matter what, have crap for brains.
CBGB will be missed, and we'll not likely see another place like this for a long time to come ... no one place has had so much influence on American rock and roll.
Legs McNeil remembers the night back in 1975 when he walked into the dingy storefront club perched in the even dingier Bowery neighborhood. The band onstage, four guys in leather jackets and torn jeans, was the Ramones. McNeil sat at a nearby table, watching their set with Lou Reed.
It was unforgettable. But as McNeil would soon discover, it was just a typical night at CBGB's, the club that spawned punk rock while launching the careers of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Blondie, the Talking Heads and the Ramones."Every night was memorable, except I don't remember 'em," said a laughing McNeil, co-author of the punk rock history "Please Kill Me."
After Sunday, memories are all that will remain when the cramped club with its capacity of barely 300 people goes out of business after 33 years. Although its boom years are long gone, CBGB's remained a Manhattan music scene fixture: part museum, part barroom, home to more than a few rock and roll ghosts.
Check their website out, while you can ... and see if you can name the artists pictured without having to look at the website.
