News that Hilly Kristal's heir's plan to open a new CBGB's was met with some resistannce and count me among the non believers.
From 1979 to 1981 I spent just about every night at CBGB's, getting drunk, picking up girls, playing pinball, and, er… I said getting drunk, right? It was my home away from home. And then hardcore tookover from punk and new wave and I moved on.
I still go to clubs all the time, from Bowery Electric and Bowery Poetry -doors down from the old CBGB's across Houston, to Pianos, Arlene's Grocery, Mercury Lounge, to Bowery Ballroom all the way to Santos Playhouse, and none of these rooms, though they all have their good sides, has the mingling of event destination and familiarity. None of them the add of family and familiar to uniqueness and must see.
It is like a great local bar, say the late lamented Glen Oaks, plus a stupendous nightclub put together and shaken into a fizzy drink. And certainly, and this absolutely IS NOT replicated, it was the place where the musicians and fans of punk could get together.
CBGB'S didn't go bankrupt because Hilly died, Hilly died because CBGB's went bankrupt. It grew old, lost its cachet.
I stopped going at all by the 1990s. The discomfort and grottiness are less exciting when you're in your thirties. It closed in 2006.
So, since it stopped matterring in the 1990s, what is to be gained by re-opening it in a new location: how can it be rebuilt?
If the owners of the name (Hilly's daughter, right?) wanted to do something really, really useful, why don't they start a touring company for smaller punk and rock bands: they could use their name to impress on fans a certain quality of band and set up US Tours. Not only would it be a good use of the CBGB's brand, it would be very, very helpful. They could go into partnership with a Bowery Presents,.
But a new CBGB's?