CBGB

CBGB was the birthplace of punk rock, a grungy and chaotic laboratory of musical innovation that hosted early performances by The Ramones, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Television, Richard Hell, Blondie, The Police, Dead Boys, Joan Jett, Lou Reed, AC/DC, the B-52s, Alan Jackson, Green Day, Guns ‘n Roses, and Pearl Jam. It was created by Hilly Kristal, born in 1931, a former marine who played violin and guitar, sang at Radio City Music Hall, managed the Village Vanguard, started the Rheingold Central Park Music Festival, and opened Hilly’s on 9th Street. In 1973, he opened CBGB intending to book Country/BlueGrass/Blues, but it shifted into rock, and OMFUG stood for Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers. He sacrificed greatly to sustain his vision, taking odd jobs to make ends meet, rejecting cover music, and nurturing new songs and new bands. After a prolonged legal dispute with his landlord and a high-profile campaign to save the club, CBGB closed on October 15, 2006. Kristal, battling cancer, died in 2007, and Patti Smith remembered him as “the good shepherd of a flock of black sheep.”

New York, New York · United States