CBGB is closing.

October 13, 2006 8:48 AM

CBGB is closing at the end of the month. Yeah, newsfilter, NYCfilter, say what you will, and the club hasn't "mattered" in decades, but anyone who cares about punk rock will feel the pang. This should probably have been posted by jonmc, but I wanted to do it so I could highlight this excellent piece by Paul Collins; besides the inevitable "I played CBs" anecdote, there's some wonderful history of the site. [Quote inside.]
posted by languagehat (109 comments total)

In the best tradition of old-timey songs, the history of 315 Bowery is mostly about fixin' to die: "Melancholy Suicide In the Bowery" reads one typical headline from 1881. (Mr. David Bell, age 34, with a bottle of poison.) In 1887, a carpet worker named Alexander Dolle left his home there and threw himself in front of an El train: He got hit so hard that his heart popped out and fell onto the sidewalk below, where it was surrounded by "a morbidly curious crowd." One of the Triangle Shirtwaist victims, 16-year-old Jennie Stellino, slept her last night in 315; so did Bill Rogers, who expired in the front doorway in 1926, only to have his pockets posthumously picked. In 1946 a stranger strode into the building's ground-floor bar, fatally shot a Massachusetts tourist with a single bullet, and without a word melted back into the Bowery.

For a while in the 1890s, the building housed the Old Methusalem Whiskey company, so the address's eventual evolution into an boozy SRO hotel was just as fitting as its drumbeat of melancholia was unsurprising. Just about the only happy news to ever emerge from the address is a Bird Fancier's Annual Exhibition held there in 1862: "First prize, yellow cock, Wm. Mason." It was all downhill for the next 113 years, until David Byrne, Patti Smith, Tom Verlaine, and the rest started turning up.

"He got hit so hard that his heart popped out and fell onto the sidewalk below"—now, that's punk rock!
posted by languagehat at 8:49 AM on October 13, 2006

MetaFilter: First prize, yellow cock
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 8:54 AM on October 13, 2006

I know almost nothing about CBGB or punk rock, but the Paul Collins piece is wonderful, nevertheless. It works beautifully as a piece of writing. You gots good tastes, languagehat!
posted by cgc373 at 8:56 AM on October 13, 2006

I don't see how crying over a dead club is in the slightest bit punk rock.
posted by cillit bang at 8:56 AM on October 13, 2006

Punk rockers get to be nostalgic too!
posted by thebigdeadwaltz at 8:58 AM on October 13, 2006

What would be the proper "punk rock" response? Screeching with insane laughter while the locks are put on the doors?
posted by blucevalo at 9:03 AM on October 13, 2006

Locking the doors yourself and doing something interesting instead.
posted by cillit bang at 9:05 AM on October 13, 2006 [1 favorite]

The proper "punk rock" response would be: "All my tears are vomit."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:06 AM on October 13, 2006

.
posted by kaseijin at 9:06 AM on October 13, 2006

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,
posted by hortense at 9:09 AM on October 13, 2006

I don't have time for that now.
posted by hal9k at 9:12 AM on October 13, 2006

Rarely do I indulge myself thus, but

.
posted by freebird at 9:12 AM on October 13, 2006

I was only there once, tagging along on tour with some friends who played a Sunday matinee in 84. I knew it was a crappy little club, but it was even more of a dive than I expected. I loved it.
posted by InfidelZombie at 9:12 AM on October 13, 2006

I tried crying vomit once, but the chunks got caught in my lashes. It was very distracting.
posted by InfidelZombie at 9:14 AM on October 13, 2006

A true punk rock club would have self destructed instead of declining into a homogenized comformist shadow of one's self ... or something like that.
posted by StarForce5 at 9:15 AM on October 13, 2006

I don't see how crying over a dead club is in the slightest bit punk rock.

I like punk music. I hate doctrinaire statements about what is or isn't punk fuck that.

For people who've actually played in New York: how large is the secene, there, really? Was CBGB a place that the average going-nowhere-but-still-fun band could realistically aspire to play? I mean, I look at it through the lens of Minneapolis, where our warhorse institution has sort of a double significance as the place where you've seen everybody AND the place where you've played (even if it was only the 7th St Entry). I've always heard of CBGB as the place where legends played, but are there also people mourning because they did a great show there at midnight on a tuesday night for twenty people?
posted by COBRA! at 9:15 AM on October 13, 2006

C D N F CBGB.
G!
posted by dhartung at 9:18 AM on October 13, 2006

posted by matteo at 9:19 AM on October 13, 2006

Why is it closing? Did it ge hit by a plane?
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:20 AM on October 13, 2006 [2 favorites]

I went a couple of times early this decade, and the acts weren't what I'd call punk rock...
posted by clevershark at 9:25 AM on October 13, 2006

I like punk music. I hate doctrinaire statements about what is or isn't punk fuck that.

Boring.
posted by cillit bang at 9:25 AM on October 13, 2006

Was CBGB a place that the average going-nowhere-but-still-fun band could realistically aspire to play?

No. By the time I played there in 97, the place had been far outshadowed by the likes of the Knitting Factory, Kenny's Castaways and others of that ilk. I enjoyed far better the gigs next door at the cleaner, quieter CB's Gallery. However, despite the filth and the smell and the plywood "dressing rooms", the glow of nostalgia was still there...to be playing the same stage that Talking Heads, Blondie, etc. played was always a bit of a thrill.

I have partial hearing loss in my right ear from CBGB. Those head-high monitors could get a bit loud. I consider it a fitting souvenir.
posted by drinkcoffee at 9:26 AM on October 13, 2006

"...All good things must come to an end. That's the way things work. All bad things must come to an end also..." (search for CBGB)
posted by BeerFilter at 9:27 AM on October 13, 2006

Astro Zombie, you scamp!
posted by cgc373 at 9:27 AM on October 13, 2006

"are there also people mourning because they did a great show there at midnight on a tuesday night for twenty people?"

Yes, I think so. But this closing also highlights the fact that there are very few clubs left in the city (for this music scene anyway) Continental just renovated and removed thier stage, Coney Island High and Brownies are long gone - there's practically nothing left and its kind of depressing. All in all, I'll miss CBGB's. What I won't miss is getting injured almost everytime I shot a band there - I'm glad I didn't shoot any of the shows this week 'cause it must of been nuts.
posted by blaneyphoto at 9:32 AM on October 13, 2006

They are taking the urinals!
I hope the sentiment wasn't "OMG Joey Ramone pissed here, I'm never going to wash this urinal again!"

*imagines the layers of piss stains*
*vomits through eyelashes*
posted by bobobox at 9:39 AM on October 13, 2006

I love that Kristal thinks it'll succeed in Vegas, which is "crying out for a fresh music venue." Oh, for crying out loud. Take heart, sentimental punkers, you can take your grandkids there.
posted by DenOfSizer at 9:41 AM on October 13, 2006

are there also people mourning because they did a great show there at midnight on a tuesday night for twenty people

Yep, and I'm one of them, although for me it was a Sunday and there were more like 75 people there.
posted by deadmessenger at 9:42 AM on October 13, 2006

I played at CBGB a couple of times back in the late 80's with two different bands. It was fun and the staff was 100% excellent to us. So, for me:

.
posted by zoogleplex at 9:58 AM on October 13, 2006

I killed 24 people at CBGB.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:59 AM on October 13, 2006

Oh hey, by the way, has anyone ever found out what "OMFUG" means?

CBGB stands for Country, Blue Grass, Blues, which is I guess what was offered there when it opened, but I never figured out the other one, apart from my own rather off-color joke version.
posted by zoogleplex at 10:03 AM on October 13, 2006

I've been to CB's maybe twenty times over the past 18 years, but my first was especially memorable for iconic, if unpunk, reasons. It was the late '80s and I had just arrived in New York from England. My only friend in the city, who did some writing for punk zines, invited me to a secret show by the B52's, who were reuniting after breaking up following the death of their guitarist Ricky Wilson a few years earlier. (I think this may have been the first time they played 'Love Shack' live and the first time The Gang of Four's Sara Lee joined them on bass.) I squeezed up to the front corner of the stage. A little later I realised the guy standing next to me was David Byrne. It somehow made the city seem surprisingly accessible.
posted by liam at 10:04 AM on October 13, 2006

"OTHER MUSIC FOR UPLIFTING
GORMANDIZERS"

From here.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:05 AM on October 13, 2006

*vomits through eyelashes*

Now that shit is punk as all get out.
posted by freebird at 10:06 AM on October 13, 2006

OMFUG: OTHER MUSIC FOR UPLIFTING
GORMANDIZERS
posted by liam at 10:06 AM on October 13, 2006

By the way, the NY Real Estate powers that be have taken to calling it "BoHo." (Bowery Below Houston St.) Imaginative, hunh? I don't think it'll stick - there are already too many "Ho"s in NYC, and the Bowery is just too cool a word.
posted by DenOfSizer at 10:15 AM on October 13, 2006

good thing thousands of dollars were raised and donated to keep the venue open.


ill believe it when i see the doors actually closed for good.
posted by trishthedish at 10:28 AM on October 13, 2006

CBGB is closing at the end of the month.....This should probably have been posted by jonmc

I'm actually going to CBGB tonight to see my beloved Dictators, along with the Sic F*cks and The Bullys.

*cries single tear*

I'm gonna miss that place.

there are already too many "Ho"s in NYC

Really? I thought Guliani's clean-up of Times Square got rid of most of them.

(Back to CB's: me and a friend were talking about this earlier, about how people are probably grabbing pieces of the place as mementos, maybe peeling stickers off the walls. I told him that there were probably sedimentary layers of them like shale. By the time you got to Blondie, Dictators and Patti Smith, you were about to hit wood.)
posted by jonmc at 10:32 AM on October 13, 2006

Personally I still think Punk sucks every bit as much as Disco.
posted by davy at 10:33 AM on October 13, 2006

(davy, 'punk' covers a lot of territory, and judging from what I know of you here, there's several punk acts that you'd dig the shit out of: the Dictators, DOA, the Ramones, and Television would be up your alley, methinks, but that's just a guess)
posted by jonmc at 10:35 AM on October 13, 2006

the Dickies and Tuff Darts, too.
posted by jonmc at 10:37 AM on October 13, 2006

You're so punk, you prob'ly think this song about you is boring. Don't you? Don't you?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:37 AM on October 13, 2006

I heard davy digs disco.
(overheard in 20 years at CBGB in Vegas: "Help! I lost my walker in the mosh pit!")
posted by Floydd at 10:41 AM on October 13, 2006

Floydd: The average age of the members of the Dictators is over 50. I imagine a lot of their fans are in the same age range. Hell, I'm 35, with lower back pain and scars from kidney stone surgery. I wonder if we'll be slamming in slo-mo.
posted by jonmc at 10:43 AM on October 13, 2006

I wouldn't call Television "punk," but yeah, I suspect davy would like them. I don't know about those others, though. If you say "punk sucks," you're probably not going to like the Ramones, since they pretty much define (U.S.) punk.
posted by languagehat at 10:56 AM on October 13, 2006

This was a punk rock club, now its all covered with daisies?
posted by ernie at 10:58 AM on October 13, 2006

If you say "punk sucks,"

A lot of people confuse 'punk' with the 'new wave' synth-pop tripe that was marketed as such in the early 80's. And I'd call Television punk, in attitude at least.
posted by jonmc at 10:59 AM on October 13, 2006

My old band had their record release there. It was a pretty good show but someone broke the kickdrum mic (detached diaphram)and the promoter got it taken out of their pay. The sound guys were talking amongst themselves (as were the band) and I overheard them saying how many big acts wanted to be recorded at CBs and how important it was that they have good mics.

Anyway, it was a good show.
posted by Brainy at 11:22 AM on October 13, 2006

I went there lots of times growing up (always liked Max's much much better) and played there a number of times as well. I have to say I kind of hated the place. The snotty staff; the mysterious bumps in the floor one would always trip over, the weak overpriced drinks and the grotesque bathrooms really held no charm for me. We played there one time during an ice storm when the drinking age had just changed, (hence a dismal crowd) and the staff put up a stink about letting two of my band members in as they had become underage overnight. (Finally they did, though.) They always had a great sound board, so it was a cool place to do a live recording. But once I asked for another gig, and they said that their "reviewer" had not liked us. Who was the reviewer? One of the cocktail waitresses. On the other hand, I was glad to have been there, to have seen and known some of the local luminaries, and I did like seeing graffiti I'd put up remaining there 20 years later. I don't remember the last time I was there - it's been a long time since I rocked and rolled, but yeah, in a punk kinda way, I'll miss it.
posted by Wylie Kyoto at 11:26 AM on October 13, 2006

A pal's band plays there sometimes and the last time I went, a stream of fresh faced tourists was coming in off the street. They ignored the music, walked past the bar and went straight to the T shirt girl, bought shirts and left. It was amazingly depressing.
posted by CunningLinguist at 11:29 AM on October 13, 2006

(overheard in 20 years at CBGB in Vegas: "Help! I lost my walker in the mosh pit!")

20 years? That happens here now.



I know it will be a strange simulacra of the original, but I'm kind of excited the place is coming to Vegas and I can only say that my band will be happy to play CBGB 2.0.
posted by krix at 11:30 AM on October 13, 2006

If you say "punk sucks," you're probably not going to like the Ramones, since they pretty much define (U.S.) punk.

Inspired, yes, but I don't think I can agree with "define".

The Germs or DK's may have a linear relationship to the Ramones, but I consider the Ramones more in the vein of '60's garage-y proto-punk. Hugely important to the birth of the scene here and in England, but, my Mom would happily listen to the Ramones. I think that quite a few people who can't stand punk listen to the Ramones. There's nothing overtly political or dissonant about their music, and those seem to be the characteristics of punk that make people despise it.

CBGB's: sad to see the demise of independent music venues anywhere. That being said, you can't coast along on being the Birthplace of Punk Rock forever. Sid is dead.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:30 AM on October 13, 2006

By the time you got to Blondie, Dictators and Patti Smith, you were about to hit wood.)
posted by jonmc

Debra Harry? Soitainly. Patti Smith? Not so much.
posted by hal9k at 11:45 AM on October 13, 2006

The proper punk response to CBGBs closing would be to throw a three day non-stop drug fueled bender culminating in burning that fucking building right to the ground while everyone stands around outside and continues drinking copiously.

Then Patti Smith would show up and things would get really weird.
posted by quin at 11:46 AM on October 13, 2006

Patti Smith? Not so much.

Pshaw. I bet Patti screws like a demon.
posted by jonmc at 11:52 AM on October 13, 2006

She gives sulphurous philipshead.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:55 AM on October 13, 2006

Good riddance! And I'll also believe it when I see it.

Now maybe I can see some bands I like that only play there without having to pay $12 to $15 to get into that shithole, simply because the bands think it's simply amazing to play on the same coordinates as Debbie Harry, et. al.
posted by Captaintripps at 12:01 PM on October 13, 2006

ROFL
posted by zoogleplex at 12:03 PM on October 13, 2006

ROFL

That's the comedy club CBGB, right?
posted by jonmc at 12:05 PM on October 13, 2006

Pshaw. I bet Patti screws like a demon.

Oh she does! But then its like chain smoking and on and on with the poetry and I'm like shut the f*ck up and turn off the light and she's like Bukowski this and Bukowski that and I thought she said bukkake and thats when the trouble started.

That's why I say Deborah Harry.
posted by hal9k at 12:09 PM on October 13, 2006

That's why I say Deborah Harry.

That's only because she didn't have the nerve to say no.
posted by jonmc at 12:10 PM on October 13, 2006

They are taking the urinals!
I hope the sentiment wasn't "OMG Joey Ramone pissed here, I'm never going to wash this urinal again!"


Are you implying that anything in CB's bathroom has ever been cleaned at any point in the club's history? Those were amongst the foulest bathrooms I've ever seen - notably horrible even by the low standards of this filthy city.
posted by nowonmai at 12:12 PM on October 13, 2006

Are you implying that anything in CB's bathroom has ever been cleaned at any point in the club's history?

Certainly not.
I was only referring to celebrity worshippers who refuse to wash x because [insert idol] touched it.
posted by bobobox at 12:27 PM on October 13, 2006

I refuse to insert idol.
posted by Captaintripps at 12:30 PM on October 13, 2006

Dictators, DOA,

Okay, I never heard those to my knowledge.

the Ramones,

Goofy lyrics, jangling and repetitive rhythms, and they're incompetent musicians.

and Television

Not punk. Sorta punkified New Wave, like Elvis Presley was "'N-word'-ized country" (except for a la Bing Crosby ballads like "In The Ghetto").

I mean PUNK: Sex Pistols, the aforementioned Ramones, etc. Forgive me if I can't rattle off a buttload of examples, but I already said I don't like that kind of music. It gets on my damn nerves.

And by the way, I liked Patti Smith's "Kimberly" -- not punk, psychedelic. Neither is Debbi Harry and/or Blondie punk: that's disco.

In my late 20s (ca. '88-'92), breaking out of the "AOR" (now "Classic Rock") groove I grew up in, I came to dig "Nuevo Funk" bands like All Mighty Senators (though now I wonder who in the original lineup is still alive, much less still a Senator). And now I lean toward, oh, late 1950s -early '60s soul jazz a la Art Blakey et al.

[But before y'all think having both jonmc and languagehat out-fogeyed is all I'm about, I also like Porcupine Tree; and I think I'd've dug CBGBs for the what I've heard and read of its decor and atmosphere, which sounds very much like my own domestic tastes.]
posted by davy at 12:31 PM on October 13, 2006

Dictators...

Okay, I never heard those to my knowledge.

Imagine the goofball humor, sardonic worldview, and pop culture fetishism of the Ramones, but with much better instrumental chops and a bellower instead of a mumbler for vocals. Considered the missing link between 70's butt-rock and punk. (full diclosure: huge fan of both the Dictators and the Ramones)(and like I said, punk is an attitude more than a sound).
posted by jonmc at 12:37 PM on October 13, 2006

Neither is Debbi Harry and/or Blondie punk: that's disco.

Listen to something other than 'Heart Of Glass,' or 'Rapture,' my man. 'Rip Her To Shreds,' and their version of 'Hanging On The Telephone,' are pure rock and roll.
posted by jonmc at 12:40 PM on October 13, 2006

A lot of people confuse 'punk' with the 'new wave' synth-pop tripe that was marketed as such in the early 80's.

New Wave was, and remains, excellent.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:40 PM on October 13, 2006

You can buy a CBGB t-shirt at Nordstrom. I think we can all agree that Nordstrom is not punk rock.
posted by mzanatta at 12:43 PM on October 13, 2006

Astro Zombie: if you're referring to stuff like Nick Lowe, Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, the Vibrators, then I agree. But in the early 80's it was used to market stuff like Duran Duran and Flock Of Seagulls, shit that drove me to metal fandom in those days, which led me to classic rock and punk. But that's why I put it in quotes.
posted by jonmc at 12:43 PM on October 13, 2006

Labels in those days were mostly useful for sorting the originals from the posers. If someone was labeled "punk" or "new wave" and didn't object, they were probably posers, because the real punks and new wavers preceded the term, and either died or outgrew the limits of the genre by the time it was cool. Or that's how I remember looking at it through the haze of the days.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:52 PM on October 13, 2006

"Butt-rock"?
posted by nebulawindphone at 12:59 PM on October 13, 2006

"Butt-rock"?

a affectionately teasing term often applied to mid-70's hard rock warhorses like Blue Oyster Cult, Grand Funk Railroad, Thin Lizzy, etc
posted by jonmc at 1:02 PM on October 13, 2006

"Blue Oyster Cult, Grand Funk Railroad, Thin Lizzy, etc"

As in "Crank it, and give me a hit off that butt!"
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:06 PM on October 13, 2006

A lot of my friends here in LA refer to 80's hair metal as "butt rock." I'd never heard it applied that way until recently.
posted by zoogleplex at 1:10 PM on October 13, 2006

I was only referring to celebrity worshippers who refuse to wash x because [insert idol] touched it.

Hey, leave Xene out of this. And besides, she's west coast punk.
posted by hal9k at 1:18 PM on October 13, 2006

davy writes "I mean PUNK: Sex Pistols"

I think too few people realize that the Sex Pistols were actually Malcolm McLaren's satire of punk.

A handful of wigged-out junkies do not a punk band make, but then that was the message.
posted by clevershark at 1:23 PM on October 13, 2006

CBGB died when the first kid said, "CGBG's not dead."



*ducks*
posted by thecaddy at 1:28 PM on October 13, 2006

But then its like chain smoking and on and on with the poetry and I'm like shut the f*ck up and turn off the light and she's like Bukowski this and Bukowski that

I knew a woman like this, except it was DH Lawrence this and DH Lawrence that.

jonmc: I called it! (I'm assuming davy's saying Television isn't punk means he likes it.)
posted by languagehat at 1:45 PM on October 13, 2006

Well, yeah, Duran Duran was ass, but I remain fond of Yaz, the Eurythmics, Gary Numan, Aztec Camera, Japan, The Vapors, et al.

And, yes, of course, Nick Lowe, Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, and the Talking Heads, the B-52s, Blondie, and other bands and musicians that the word "New Wave" was originally attached to.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:55 PM on October 13, 2006

It's moments like this that remind me why I hate genre names. I know someone who's iTunes has genres micromanaged down to "alt country" and "twee pop." Problem is, once you categorize something narrowly you run into issues with artists who can't easily be categorized. Television is a good example of this. It's all pop/rock to me.

And, to contradict the above, Nick Lowe, Graham Parker, The Vibrators, and (early) Elvis Costello were neither punk nor new wave, they were pub rock.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 2:09 PM on October 13, 2006

I haven't been there in years'n'years, but I remember my first time there. I was 14. I snuck in. The Ramones were playing. My first exposure to that entire scene. It took a week before my head recovered from it.

It had a pretty good run, but yeah, that bathroom was a horror.
posted by mephron at 2:15 PM on October 13, 2006

What about Human League?
posted by zoogleplex at 2:16 PM on October 13, 2006

Synthpop.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 2:18 PM on October 13, 2006

God. I worked in a record store for far too long.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 2:19 PM on October 13, 2006

I was there once in the early '80's for Kinky Friedman when the Alman Brothers and the Blues Brothers made an unscheduled appearance, and the clientle included a rowdy group of NY Yankees. Belushi was damn good.
posted by mono blanco at 2:26 PM on October 13, 2006

I would say they were Angry Young Man rockers.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:33 PM on October 13, 2006

Elvis and such, that is.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:35 PM on October 13, 2006

Elvis, Graham, and Joe - definitely. Nick Lowe never came across as being particularly angry to me.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 2:44 PM on October 13, 2006

"Only Musicians Fuck Ugly Girls"
posted by bardic at 3:13 PM on October 13, 2006

And, previously (Richard Hell playing CBGB's, with crowd interviews).
posted by bardic at 3:15 PM on October 13, 2006

C'mon! Insert the idol! I won't tell....
posted by wavespy at 3:23 PM on October 13, 2006

"Only Musicians Fuck Ugly Girls"
Isn't it the other way around. I mean Rock & Roll was invented to get ugly guys laid.
posted by wavespy at 3:27 PM on October 13, 2006

"C'mon! Insert the idol! I won't tell...."

Here ya go.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:29 PM on October 13, 2006

Anyone could play there. I did on two occasions. They would treat you very very badly. For example, once we were scheduled to go on at 10. They didn't put us on till almost 2 AM: they put in not one but two other acts scheduled to go AFTER us on BEFORE us.

No one was there by then (it was a Tuesday). They wouldn't have us back because "no one was there" -- but many people had in fact showed up at 10 and paid their $5 and left.

As an audience member, I'd note that they'd deliberately hold the curtain in order to get people to order more drinks.

As you can see, I don't have particularly good memories of it. There is a killer Butthole Surfers bootleg from there though...
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 3:32 PM on October 13, 2006

Thanks Florence...I needed that.
posted by wavespy at 3:42 PM on October 13, 2006

"Only Musicians Fuck Ugly Girls"

That is in fact my own off-color rendition of OMFUG, alternating "only musicians" with "old men."

I'm glad to see I'm not the only warped mind, bardic. :)
posted by zoogleplex at 4:16 PM on October 13, 2006

A fellow musician told me that's what it stood for in high school. It was a while before I realized that he might have made it up himself.
posted by bardic at 4:25 PM on October 13, 2006

Why stay in college? Why go to nightschool? It'll all be different this time.

RIP CBGB, even if it was a dive by the time it closed ...
posted by Len at 4:39 PM on October 13, 2006

So what? It wasn't the Batcave!

/High Horse
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:00 PM on October 13, 2006

Good riddance. That intersection is desperately lacking a Starbucks anyway.
posted by Liquidwolf at 5:37 PM on October 13, 2006

So what? It wasn't the Batcave!

Pffft! Erics, or STFU!
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:19 PM on October 13, 2006

First they end Cats, now this. Blasphemy!
posted by bardic at 9:29 PM on October 13, 2006

"I don't see how crying over a dead club is in the slightest bit punk rock."

Crying over a soon to be defunct club is a hell of a lot more "punk" than seeing Avril Lavigne or Good Charlotte being catagorized as punk.
posted by drstein at 10:52 PM on October 13, 2006

I'm ignoring this thread because that's how completely fucking punk rock I am.
posted by psmealey at 5:46 AM on October 14, 2006

.
posted by moonbird at 8:25 AM on October 14, 2006

Well, yeah, Duran Duran was ass, but I remain fond of Yaz, the Eurythmics, Gary Numan, Aztec Camera, Japan, The Vapors, et al.

The Vapors were more guitary so I liked them, the girl in Yaz had a great set of pipes but the rest weren't really my cup of tea.

(oh, and the Dictators and the Bullys rocked the house last night. The Sic F*cks were fun, too. Call me corny, but hearing Manitoba sing "Who Will Save Rock and Roll?" under those circumstances gave me a moment's pang.)
posted by jonmc at 8:53 AM on October 14, 2006

(the Eurythmics had their moments as well, too. 'Would I Lie To You" and 'I Need A Man' showed they could rock out (or get funky) when the mood stuck them.
posted by jonmc at 8:54 AM on October 14, 2006

Richard Hell had an op-ed in the NYT today.
posted by mediareport at 4:02 PM on October 14, 2006