Driving down Market St. in a neighboring city this afternoon, I came to the realization that a local music club where I had seen a couple of really great bands play, had closed its doors. The windows were boarded up and the sign that used to bear the names of various underground acts that would soon be taking the stage now read only "FOR LEASE." A quick interent search this evening revealed that it had not moved but was gone for good.
In mourning my local underground music venue, I remembered that the mother of all homes for underground music, [url=http://www.cbgb.com/]CBGB's,[/url] is in danger of closing its doors for good too. Over the course of my relatively tame life, I've only ever had the opportunity to see one show at CBGB's. I was 18 and had traveled to NYC from the pacific northwest with my mother and brother. My much older, wiser and far more wordly cousin took me down to CB's for a show that opened my eyes to far more than music. In fact, I don't even remember the name of the band. At the time, I didn't realize what CBGB's really was or what it has meant to the world of independent music.
But I do now.
Tonight, I read [url=http://mrfwood.com/news/0503-...]this article[/url] which clearly outlines the real peril that CBGB's is facing from an unlikely foe. I won't post the entire thing here, but the opening paragraph certainly illustrates the paradox:
[i]For more than 30 years, CBGB, the eternally crumbling downtown nightclub, has with ragged pride withstood every hand the neighborhood and the music scene have dealt it: punk-rock, death metal, crack addicts, city inspectors and bad plumbing. But it may have met its match in one of the city's most respected charity group.
In a scrappy Bowery real-estate battle, CBGB has been in and out of court for much of the last four years with its landlord, the Bowery Residents' Committee, a nonprofit organization that helps the homeless. The dispute concerns enough unpaid rent to finance dozens of punk bands as well as numerous building violations that leave a paper trail as thick as the layers of fliers stapled to the club's walls.[/i]
Ok. That's two paragraphs. Sorry.
Reading [url=http://mrfwood.com/news/0503-...]the article[/url], (which I really think is worth reading and strongly encourage you to do), left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. The truth is, I don't hold out much hope for the lower eastside/Bowery St. institution to pull through this one. I'd like to be wrong, but... like Joey Ramone himself, I think CBGB's will be taking its final bow very, very soon.
posted by: childish (reply)
post date: 03.27.05 (4:36 pm)
i love your blog! It's not everyday you get to read about the cbgb.
keep posting!
posted by: aqualung (reply)
post date: 03.28.05 (6:12 am)
i've been to many shows at cbgb.. and i would hate to see them go. but paying your rent seems like a no brainer to me. i'm with you... they won't recover from this. but the bowery won't be the same w/o them though.
posted by: Craig (reply)
post date: 03.28.05 (11:26 am)
For awhile they were doing a "save CBGB's" campaign, but it seems to have petered out. Apparently, it's really not the money that is the issue. I hate to see it go... but in some ways, it's just a shadow of what it once was.
Yes, I guess paying rent is something we simply must do. Although, not paying your rent does sort of fit with the whole punk/inyourface/fuckyou attitude associated with those folks.
Hmmm. Interesting take. I suppose it will never be like it was when the Ramones and Blondie were kicking about. But.... indie artists need places like CBGB to get their voices heard.
Thanks a bunch for the comment.
j
posted by: lindy (reply)
post date: 03.28.05 (2:04 pm)
The punk/in-your-face attitutude is only one of many facets in this long and colorful history that CBGB holds. Though it goes hand-in-hand with the genre they have been playing host to all these years, I do have to wonder why they haven't stayed current. They have to be making money, surely... I hope CBGB's sticks around, but I do find it hard to muster sympathy for those in charge due to their lack of sight...
posted by: ma543zda (reply)
post date: 04.30.08 (10:13 pm)
