For Those About To Rock
Legendary Musicians Kick Off Campaign To Save CBGB's
Christopher Twarowski 08/04/2005 11:18 am

United To Save CBGB\'s:
(L to R) CBGB\'s owner Hilly Kristal,
Steven Van Zandt, Tommy Ramone,
Punk Attitude producer Dan Snyder,
Jean Beauvoir, Handsome
Dick Manitoba, Lenny Kaye
and Legs McNeil
The clock is ticking, but hope is still very much alive.

CBGB's, the historic rock club located in lower Manhattan's Bowery district that is recognized worldwide as ground zero for punk and an incubator for undiscovered bands, is in danger of being shut down. That is, unless a new lease is signed with the club's landlord, the nonprofit Bowery Residents Committee (BRC), by Aug. 31.

"A year ago, [BRC] came to me and said, 'If we give you a lease, we're going to double your rent, at least," says CBGB's owner Hilly Kristal. "I can't pay them $40, $50 thousand a month rent.

"My feeling is that they do want me out and they had this planned," adds Kristal. "We want to stay here."

And there are many who are determined to ensure they do.

On Aug. 1, a coalition of legendary musicians and artists held a news conference at the club to dispel rumors regarding the situation and make a special announcement. Organized by Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and The Sopranos, the event was the formal kickoff of a month-long musical campaign to save the venue: CBGB's will be holding "Save CBGB's" benefit shows almost every day throughout the month of August to raise support, money and awareness for the cause—culminating in a gathering and rally in Washington Square Park on Aug. 31 that will either be a final plea or a victory celebration.

"CBGB's is very simply the last rock 'n' roll club left," said Van Zandt. "There's nothing like it left in the world, where people once had come not being famous and left being found by record companies and that's still Hilly's policy today."

"Hopefully we can keep it going," founding Ramones drummer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tommy Ramone told the Press. "It's an institution. It's been here so long, it's really helped New York itself, because it brought all the people to New York and they stayed.... It's one of the last pieces of New York."

"It's like the Yankee Stadium of rock 'n' roll," said John Holmstrom, co-founder of PUNK magazine. "It's where you come to in New York if you're interested in rock 'n' roll music."

Holmstrom views CBGB's as yet another potential casualty of New York City's ever-booming real estate market. Attendees were urged to write letters of support to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"This seems to be the direction the city's taking," said Holmstrom. "Watching it get wiped out like it's a bad disease is very disheartening. It's not just the club scene, it's also the arts scene that's being squeezed out by this rampant, merciless rent situation."

"You can't walk up 52nd Street and see the Three Deuces or the Onyx Club and see where Bee Bop was born," lamented Lenny Kaye, famed guitarist of the Patti Smith Group. "You can't go to Max's Kansas City and listen where the Velvet Underground were. You can't go pretty much anywhere on Bleecker and McDougal and see the clubs that fomented folk music. But you can come to CBGB's on any random night and see six wacky bands from anywhere."

The evening featured a private, four-song acoustic set with Debbie Harry of Blondie, followed by a concert that included: Jesse Malin, the Star Spangles, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Waldos. Among the highlights were Mickey Leigh (Joey Ramone's brother) ripping through Ramones songs with Jean Beauvoir of the Plasmatics and Ivan Julain of the Voidoids, and Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre berating the audience.

"There's not many rock clubs that don't have a red rope outside that charge $15 a drink that are about music and original songs," said former D Generation frontman Malin backstage moments after performing. "[CBGB's] always represented freedom and a place to be yourself."

"There should be some places that are fun and not so sterile," said renowned rock photographer and CB's supporter Bob Gruen. "People should be allowed to be free and to express themselves. And every other place seems to have too many rules. The only rule they ever had here at CB's was that you had to write your own music."

Others summed up the possible demise of CBGB's bluntly:

"What does CBGB's closing down mean for punk rock?" asked Legs McNeil, co-founder of PUNK, as well as co-author of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, seated at the bar. "It means that punk rock will be bigger than ever. It's all 16-year-old kids in the suburbs of Denver and San Antonio...if the Ramones had to die in order for them to become the Doors, CBGB's has to die in order for it to become immortalized. As long as we're still around, people have to deal with us, and they don't want to deal with us. So the sooner we're dead, the more they'll turn it into Vegas casinos and all that stuff."

"We don't need another place in New York City to rob New York City of its identity and sell a cup of coffee for $6," spouted Handsome Dick Manitoba of The Dictators and owner of Manitoba's bar on Avenue B. "That's why CBGB's is important."

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