R.I.P. Hilly

I saw him on closing night, and I knew he wouldn't make it to Vegas. God bless him.

Great great man and terrible loss to the NY Music Community.
Always had a big smile on his face when I'd see him at cb's

It's amazing to think of the turns in music that occured through simple chance, such as when Brian Epstein first saw the Beatles perform live. Tom Verlaine and the rest of the guys in Television requesting and receiving a residence at CBGB's created a homebase for the flashpoint that would change music forever. Hilly Kristal is a part of creating that homebase so his passing is the close of a piece of musical history.

Always copying The Ramones, this guy.

it's a sad day for the punk seen. you always hate to see a true legend go. you have to give hilly credit. he just about saved the nyc music scene in the 70s. he brought many of the absolute greatest bands of all-time onto the scene (television, the ramones, blondie, patti smith, richard hell and the voidoids, the talking heads, etc ...). truly great man and nyc music legend.

RIP

first anon: i dont think he showed up on closing night.

He was a great guy - - I wrote an essay about him: http://www.freeindie.com/2007/08/hilly_kristal_has_died_1.html

"first anon: i dont think he showed up on closing night."

Yes he did, where do you think that picture comes from? Patti Smith performed earlier in the day to reporters. Then again, I went to CBGB three times that week (Bad Brains, Dictators, Patti Smith) so I could be confused, but I doubt it. Hilly rarely came to the club, if at all, during the past decade.

yes, I took the top picture of him entering the building before Patti Smith's performance on closing night.

He's off to the hardcore matinee in the sky. rip.

R.I.P. Hilly. What a loss.

I wonder if he'd last longer if CBGB's didn't get kicked out of its space.

A man who wasn't afraid to take a chance on a few loud kids...look at the result. If only more people could follow his example. RIP.

Was he a smoker? Or was it all the smoky club fumes that got him? so sad ....

There are types of lung cancer with no correlation to smoking.

RIP Hilly.

Rest in peace, and thanks for what you did. I think it's fair to say my record collection what have been very, very different without him.

Ed

Lot of thanks comes from me and from hundreds of thousands of fans for You Hilly. It was always a big honour to meet You and I was also honoured to do with You interview for my first book Heaven Needed A Lead Singer: Fans Remember Joey Ramone. You was so widely loved and appreciated Hilly. RIP.

No!!!

R.I.P. You'll be remembered always.

so it turns out he wasn't broke but was worth 3.7 million. doesn't that mean that he was complicit with the closing of cb's since he definitely could've saved it?
http://gothamist.com/2007/09/19/hilly.php

Fuck you Hilly - go to hell and BURN!!!!!!!!!!!

Funny how dumbshits who know absolutely nothing post usless info. So the man had 3 million. Don't you think after 30 years of living in a shithole tenament, wearing the same clothes, and giving totally usless, no-talent bands ( I'm talking the last 15 years) a place to play, because nobody else would, he deserves a little payback? You think 3 million is a lot of money after 30+ years? Get yer info and facts straight...learn how real-estate works in the city. No matter how much cash he had...they wanted him OUT. They did NOT RENEW HIS LEASE.PERIOD.
If a landlord wants you out, he does not renew, and you have no recourse...
Christ you people are D.U.M.B.

R.I.P. Hilly

also...
except for the years that gave birth to the bands that would eventually get to big to play there, do you really think he made a lot of money on bands that could barely draw flies, during a typical week? He had 5-6 bands a nite, with each band bringing maybe 20 people (and thats a high number), a third of them being on the "guest list." Out of this, he had to pay a lighting guy, one or two sound guys, a door person, a couple of bar-keeps, and so on.
You think he made a mint during "hardcore Sundays" whith a bunch of dopey skinheads who could barely afford a coke?
Who do you think payed for the ads in Village Voice, and so on.....the bands?

Was he supposed to work for free?

Do YOU work for free?

I don't fucking think so.

The guy lived and breathed his club...and when they took it away...he died.I really don't think he wanted that That...and that's the end of the fucking story.

duke- forgive them for they know not what the hell they are talking about, kids who either dont know shit or moved here out of college 2 years ago. Hilly was the best.

ny#1 & ny1979-
you're right, most of the kids on this blog don't know anything about what it takes to run a live music venue and will whine like babies 'til their trustfunds runout.
BUT you guys are equally as clueless.
it's NOT admirable to book shit bands for 15 yrs under the guise of it all being "punk rock". they did it because louise and the rest at cb's got to be lazy and existed off the name alone. (literally-most of the revenue they brought in was from cb's merchandise sales).
they could've booked good bands or at least better bands once in a while but they didn't because that would require actually working and listeneing to music.
it was a shit band factory churning out shit shows on a daily basis and if hilly loved and "lived" the club so much they could have easily moved to a different location (which the city was willing to help out with) and kept it all going. instead they guilted all the old great bands into playing for free while this guy sat on millions that he never spent on his own business. the t-shirts and $6 budweisers paid for the nightly losses, if there were losses, not hilly opening his wallet every night because he believed in this great cause so much. and how about the trademark/venue deal in vegas? are there no spaces available in NYC? no , that was the easy, lazy way out that was in the works while patti smith ,bad brains etc thought they were helping out the "working man" by playing the 8000 yrs of benefit shows. what a fucking joke!
so i'm glad it's gone and the only thing that's sad about it all is that those people squandereed something that could have been great for yrs to come.

amen Dorado. great comment.

>>they did it because louise and the rest at cb's got to be lazy and existed off the name alone>...are there no spaces available in NYC...
they could have easily moved to a different location...>they could've booked good bands or at least better bands>instead they guilted all the old great bands into playing for free while this guy sat on millions that he never spent on his own business.<<

Nobody in this buisness get "guilted" into playing for free these day's (HR from Bad Brains guilted?...I don't think so), and I've already addressed the "millions" he supposedly "sat on"

Seems to me you may have had some kind of personal issue going on here...sounds a little like "sour grapes" to me.

that last post was not complete

>>they did it because louise and the rest at cb's got to be lazy and existed off the name alone>...are there no spaces available in NYC...
they could have easily moved to a different location...>they could've booked good bands or at least better bands<<

There were a number of "good" and "better" bands that were approached to play over the years, or who approached the club, and their MONETARY DEMANDS could not be met by the club, so their response was....."see ya"

As far as the merch...that shit didn't start happening for him till the 90's, and if bands can make money off of a T shirt, or a belt buckle, or "onesie"...why not him.
Nobody in this buisness get "guilted" into playing for free these day's (HR from Bad Brains guilted?...I don't think so), and I've already addressed the "millions" he supposedly "sat on"

Seems to me you may have had some kind of personal issue going on here...sounds a little like "sour grapes" to me.

>>they did it because louise and the rest at cb's got to be lazy and existed off the name alone>...are there no spaces available in NYC...
they could have easily moved to a different location...>they could've booked good bands or at least better bands<<

There were a number of "good" and "better" bands that were approached to play over the years, or who approached the club, and their MONETARY DEMANDS could not be met by the club, so their response was....."see ya"

As far as the merch...that shit didn't start happening for him till the 90's, and if bands can make money off of a T shirt, or a belt buckle, or "onesie"...why not him.
Nobody in this buisness get "guilted" into playing for free these day's (HR from Bad Brains guilted?...I don't think so), and I've already addressed the "millions" he supposedly "sat on"

Seems to me you may have had some kind of personal issue going on here...sounds a little like "sour grapes" to me.