![]() ![]() We got people dancing and a bunch of our friends came up with us. Once we played at Max’s, somehow word got around. CBGB’s rejected it so we played our first gig at Max’s. We took a tape up there and played it for CBGB and Max’s. Our friends said you should go to New York City. We started in Athens (Georgia), and we didn’t have a place to play there. “It had a reputation of being the epitome of the place you’d want to play in New York City. Kate Pierson is a founding member and lead vocalist of the B-52s. Once The Ramones came to CBGB’s, there was a solidifying of the whole scene because they were focussed.” And The Ramones’ I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement. Television had this song called Venus that we used to cover with Blondie. He looks so uncomfortable and out of place at the same time he looks tough and imposing. There’s a picture in the new book I’m really fond of: Lester Bangs on the beach in Coney Island and he’s with one of the girls in a band called The Slander Band. He had an apartment in the neighborhood, but he also used to crash at the club, too. In front, there was a bookshelf with books so you could sit around. Hilly moved a lot of his personal stuff there like overstuffed armchairs and couches. The atmosphere was pretty much unchanged: funky and bohemian. There were paintings and murals on the walls – horse racing – that must have gone back to the 20s. So it was configured a bit differently early on. ![]() Nobody had access or dealt with downstairs. And when it got enlarged, it was later on the right. I recently saw that Eric claimed to have helped build the first stage at CBGB. I was in CBGB before I was working with the band. In his new photography book, Point of View: Me, New York City, and the Punk Scene, he captured the city in the 70s and 80s. Chris SteinĬhris Stein is a writer, photographer and founding member of Blondie. Another Man spoke to the people who were there and experienced CBGB’s story: the musicians, the journalists, a photographer, and a former bartender whose memories – onstage, offstage and on the sidewalk outside – have kept it alive. To stand in that space was being immersed in music history.īut don’t take our word for it. Audiences have never forgotten its past nor its distinct sound system. ![]() ![]() In the lead up to that time, CBGB still functioned as a place for local bands to play. Mired in rent controversy, Kristal closed CBGB in 2006 with a final concert by Patti Smith. Later in its lifetime, crowds would also come to see The Police, Bad Brains, Sonic Youth, The Beastie Boys, Green Day and Moby. Instead, it became “the undisputed birthplace of punk rock” and new wave bands like Television, Talking Heads, The Patti Smith group, The Ramones, Blondie, The B-52s, The Misfits, and The Dead Boys. Hilly Kristal, its owner and father figure, envisioned a club for Country, Bluegrass and Blues (hence the acronym). After all, it was born on Decemin a derelict part of the East Village at 315 Bowery between First and Second Streets. How would it be remotely possible to encapsulate the scene of legendary New York City concert venue, CBGB, in a single article? This downtown institution would have turned 45 years old today and one thing is certain: there could never possibly be another club like it again.ĭuring its heyday in the 70s, nobody saw its future being culturally significant. ![]()
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