Yahoo! News has a nice (but too-brief) audio slideshow commemorating 30 years of CBGB/OMFUG, which recently closed its doors after 30 years as the club to launch a rock-and-roll band.
Quotable quote: “It kind of vaguely smells like puke… but not in a bad way.”
Pictured: Shrine to Joey Ramone outside the club after his death in 2001.
Music: The Fiery Furnaces :: Mason City
I listened to CBGBs last show (Patti Smith) on Sirius a few weeks ago… I got a little misty in the car..
For the best book on the Ramones read,
“On The Road With The Ramones”
http://www.ontheroadwiththeramones.com
This is a MUST-HAVE book for all Ramones fans. It’s an inside look from the people who were actually there witnessing and experiencing all the extreme highs and lows of one of rock’s greatest bands. The Ramones’ music has influenced nearly every power pop, punk, alternative, and metal band. Monte A. Melnick served as The Ramones tour manager from their early New York club days at CBGB’s in the ’70s to their farewell gigs in 1996. Filled with memorabilia including photographs and interviews collected along the way, this is his view of life on the road with the band as “baby-sitter to psychiatrist, booking agent to travel agent, paymaster to van driver.” It’s such a fascinating read, you’ll have a hard time putting it down. Buy it, read it, and then revisit their albums. You’ll never look at the Ramones in the same light.
This was a shame. My company’s offices were, until last Monday, right near CBGB’s and just down the street from Tower Records, another East Village mainstay that is closing up shop. We moved across town where I now have a nice view of The Empire State Building. I’ll miss the old neighborhood, but it really wouldn’t have been the same anyway.