the press conference @ CBGB's final night | pics

October 16, 2006

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There was a huge mob of press waiting to get inside CBGB by the time I got there at 6:30 pm Sunday night (October 15, 2006).

I managed to get inside for the press conference that was held during soundcheck. Most, if not all, of the video footage you saw on the news came from then. Patti Smith and band played a few songs and answered a bunch of questions, some mockingly. Then she told the press to get out. Those waiting on line were let in shortly thereafter for the show that ran until just after 1 a.m.

“Hundreds of music fans packed the small downtown club Sunday, while reporters hovered outside. The mood was both somber and raucous at CBGB, hailed by many as the birthplace of punk.” [Washington Post]

“CBGB hosted its final concert Sunday night after a 33-year residence in downtown New York as the iconic, grungy bastion of punk.” [ABC News]

“A memorial service for punk rock was held at the weekend at New York’s CBGB club, birthplace of the movement in America, which closed its spit-spattered doors after 33 loud years, a victim of gentrification.” [Guardian]

“Kids, they’ll find some other club,” Ms. Smith insisted during her set. “You just got a place, just some crappy place, that nobody wants, and you got one guy who believes in you, and you just do your thing. And anybody can do that, anywhere in the world, any time.” [NY Times]

“The club, which has a capacity of 350 people, was easily packed with at least 500 faithful fans.” [CNN]

“Everything will be moved into storage, as Kristal hopes to open a club and museum in Las Vegas in 2008 that will be an homage to CBGB, as well as other punk-era New York institutions, such as the Mudd Club and Max’s Kansas City.” [NY Post]