RIP CBGB OMFUG?
Even Gavin Rossdale can't save us?
Landlord says the club's lease won't be renewed.
Check flickr.com's cbgb tags and Brooklyn Vegan's extensive coverage.
Posted at 11:02 PM
August 31, 2005
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first post?
sucks for cbgb's
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gavin rosdale always fucking things up. rip cbgb
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it's sad, but it's mostly been a venue for modern rock and gutter punk bands for the past 10 years or so.
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joey ramone is rolling over in his grave as we speak.
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Indeed, I beieve it was Sid Vicious who said, "There's nothing more punk rock than sentimentality."
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It was pretty sad at the Washington Sq. rally when Chuck D said, "I say CB, you say GB!" and then nobody went along.
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I think it would be funny if it reopened as Punk Rock Hard Core (PRHC) and only played country, blue grass, and blues music.
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"joey ramone is rolling over in his grave as we speak."
GOOD. let him keep rolling.
good riddance, cbgb's. now guys who go to "clubs" and wear your black shirt with their true religion jeans and "rocker" bracelets will have something to complain about.
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there's a generation of kids who won't know what, at the very least, cbgb's represents. it's sad.
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Here's a thought: why doesn't a whole new generation of kids come up with their own damn ideas.
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doesn't anyone give a damn that there is a whole city whiped out right now??? bunch of self-centered punks. put your effort into bigger things.
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CBs has been living of its reputation for too many years. If it had evolved with the times, raised its drink prices to what others charge, booked bands that mattered and cleaned up its restrooms every four or five months, would it be in this position? I wonder.
Really, what does it matter if the club is gone? Is the landlord supposed to bend over backwards for the sake of aging punks' nostalgia trips? Until the recent pledge drive it was off most radars. The people who are "supposed" to care about it appreciate the music that came out of its early years but don't give a shit about the sub-average punk bands that clog most of its nightly bills. The entire surrounding neighborhood isn't what it used to be. Time to move on. Time to write wistful op-eds and make documentary films about the club's heyday in the mid '70s and compile playlists filled with Television, Blondie and Ramones songs. Time for other clubs to adhere to their lease payments, hire a janitor and do what they can to stay competitive.
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Well said, Glenn.
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I'm curious as to where the CBGBs shirts will fit in now.
Also I'd like something anti-CBGBs to put on a t-shirt and I'm willing to bet Topher has a great zing just waiting for me :)
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Jane we save the caring for when we're NOT on stereogum (unless we're talking about the benefit concerts galore)
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Now that CBGB t-shirt I bought at Urban Outfitters will skyrocket in value!!!
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I don't get all the hubbub. Isn't there like 100 Hard Rock Cafe's all over the world?
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Zings? Is that all I'm good for? Oh wait, yeah.
How about "CBGBs - Providing an environment for rich kids from Westchester to rebel against their dads for not starting them at first base in 5th grade" Too long?
Howabout:
"CBGBs - Museum Hours: 12 p.m. to 3 a.m."
Or, to be more New York:
"CBGBs - Enough already"
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"It doesn't look hopeful," said Lucky Pierre, 26, a New York University student.
Lucky Pierre
in which a man has vaginal sex with a woman, whilst himself being anally penetrated by another man—term can also be used for similar all male activities.
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First the Wetlands..now CBGB's. At the the Wetlands was still a relevant club when it closed.
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hah, those are great Topher
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cb's is for old people. stop being so old, old people. just die already.
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I think once CBCG's began pulling more $$ as a fashion brand than a venue it was already time to stop floggin' this dead horse. CBGB's was always half-empty in the past, what, 10 years?
Lived through this when LA's own version of CBGB's—Al's Bar—closed down four years or so ago. like CB's in the good ol' days, it looked like a bombed-out bunker, with rats, spit and debris sprinkled randomly all over the place. It was a pit of despair and beyond ugly, and bums would literally lunge at you with knives as you tried to make your way to the entrance. A great punkrock haunt, in other words. OK, it's been gone for a while and somehow punkrock has survived it. Whatevers.
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I agree - WHO CARES.
Max's Kansas City is now a Petco. Kinda funny, and admittedly kinda disillusioning for the romantic among us. But you know what? Max's didn't have to suffer the indignity of becoming a place where third rate high school bands from upstate NY could get a gig, unike this current cause.
Life goes on.
The loss of smoking in bars and clubs has had far more of an effect on NY culture and life than the closing of a place full of old ghosts will.
I'm not heartless and all, but still. . .
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To be honest, I'm surprised that they've kept the lease this long. Let CBGB's die. Studio 54 did, and I enjoyed the commentaries.
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maybe i should carry a can of white or grey spray paint with me and scrawl "SAVE" on all those cbgb tee's that are following me around lately.
it just always seems a little sad when anything "legendary" might be closing, regardless of opinion.
yes, i agree...good quotes topher!
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Here's a CBGB shirt I'd like to sell (click on the url).
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I can't wait to eat the cbgb burger at hardrock cafe.
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Yeti Don't Dance -
that shirt is hillarious....
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Haha, like the shirt Yeti. And I agree with most everyone in here, why's everyone so upset over a club that hasn't been relevant in years?
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no joke, topher you are my new hero
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Our countrymen are dying in the goddamn streets of New Orleans and you fools are talking garbage on the Internet.
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is life supposed to come to a complete halt because of the horrific hurricane tragedy DEATH?
should all of us descend upon the Delta region to help? i live close to a military base with lots of airplanes and helicopters available. maybe my kids and my job and teaching commitments won't mind at all if i pack up and leave on a bush-sponsored trip?
i think everyone here and across the world has the free will to make decisions to donate, pray, chant and assist. they have the choice not to connect to the internet, read email, blogs or blog themselves. they also have the free will to drive a car and use "gasoline", etc. etc.
thank you, stereogum, for continuing to post in light of the devastation. if everyone reaches a consensus to have a day of silence in the blogging world for the hurricane survivors, well, so be it.
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yes thank you to everyone who keeps us distracted from reality.
let's talk about music!
screw the dead and dying!
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"Death", the lack of proper intervention to save the survivors, and the inherent problems with having a city with so much of it below water levels never being dealt with by any authorities . . . those things have already done all the screwing over of the dead and dying. We certainly don't have to do much here . . .
I echo the sentiments of others: life goes on, and this place is for talk of other natures. We're all going about helping and remembering in other places. In fact, wouldn't your time be better spent actually helping out somehow, instead of being ironically distracted by people "distracted from reality"?
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Your last point is a cogent one, Phil. Death, your anger should be saved for the president you so proudly elected last November, and for the emergency response programs he so ineptly "commands".
Ggnaaah! Politics in Stereogum! Make it stop!
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I agree with you, "Death", that we should talk about music, but "screw the dead and the dying"? Now that's where you and I disagree.
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Jesus, Death et al, how about some perspective. I come to Stereogum for a break from the horrors of the world. That doesn't mean Scott, I or the rest of his readers have our heads in the sand about what's going on -- only an ass would assume as much.
By the way, what have you done for the victims of the Hurricane?
Oh, and pure comedy gold above concerning CBGBs.
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"screw the dead and the dying"??? if someone said that when new york was devastated on sept. 11 they would have been shot. i think your compassion is geographically selective. if the same thing that just happened in new orleans, happened in new york, the world would have seemingly stopped and everyone would be offended by people who didnt stop everything. just my opinion.
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Jane, I think you misread my comment. I was merely "playing dumb" so to criticize "Death's" flip comment.
And besides, I think people (e.g. "Death") that get offended by the fact that others grieve differently than themselves are self-infatuated.
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What the...the fucking grim reaper doesn't have a computer. Shut up you phony.
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CBGB's is less of a "place" than a concept. Free expression via music and art (and the touristy t-shirt) can be preserved if Hilly will simply re-attach those God-awful awnings to another run-down dump of a building and announce the new address on his website. Offer loud music, alcohol, people will come. Hell, remember that the national capital is a landmark too... and they moved that three times in less than 100 years.
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