CBGB's closing opinions

[mindspell]

Anybody got an opinion because I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand this was THE place where everything happened at the end of the seventies/ beginning of the eighties. I mean, how many musicians you respect have you seen with a CBGB's shirt? I have seen tons. On the other hand, nothing has been going on there for a long time, the shows that they put on now are pretty insignificant it seems. It is a pretty crappy place, always has been, but the history of the building is important for a geek like me. I wish I'd seen the Ramones there. Does it really matter now and shouldn't everybody just move on?

 

[goatschool]

i wonder if some new form of futurist or other school of thought would embrace the transient nature of post 20th C life - shedding the weight of emotional bond to brick/mortar structures, due to a floating (unpredictable) economy, as a sort of stepping stone toward a more flexible and non-material system of values?

i'd imagine they would request you step over the corpse and drop a few palm fronds on it @ as you do so.

 

[lizard]

I went by on my UNH field trip to the UN...you're right, it was a real dive, and TINY compared to it's legend...I saw several bands that night but only remember the one where the guitarist was attempting to play slide with a dildo...

I wish I had been able to see Television when they used to play there.

 

[avi]

it's a shame to see it go. always a bummer to lose a smallish venue where nobody bands can get started.

 

[goatschool]

you cavemen!

 

[deadair]

but with the increase of DIY spaces EVERYwhere, it's bound to happen.

 

[xfer]

How many people who totally suck have YOU seen with a CBGB's shirt?

 

[mindspell]

How many people who totally suck have YOU seen with a CBGB's shirt?

That too. Hence the mixed feelings.

 

[xfer]

i never saw a show there but i've been by it plenty of times. i'm not sure if the closing is a bad thing. you can't keep a legend alive forever and it even kind of spoils the legend when it gets crappy and causes the new found glorys of the world to start thinking of themselves as ramones or television equivalents because "we played CBGBs! (um, in, like, 2002)"

new places will appear. one day perhaps a crack house in north philadephia will be the spot of pilgrimage, and bands can think of themselves as maudlin of the well equivalents because they played there.

 

[rachmiel]

There are no lack of venues in NYC and since I never actually went there sad to say it but I dont really care.

 

[minxnim]

i never really um bothered with the place?

 

[NAD]

On my NYC trip last year I walked into CBGB's, stood there for 5 seconds noticing the $10 (or whatever) cover charge, then walked out and went somewhere else. I should buy a CBGB's shirt and say "I was THERE, man" to everyone I meet.

 

[azal]

I've seen a couple shows there and I really like those hole-in-the-wall type of places, so I'd be sad to see it go.

But it's not like I'd lose sleep over it.