The Ides of October 2006: last live show at CBGB's in its present Manhattan location. This "Epicenter" of American Punk has showcased any number of Punk and "New Wave" bands for thirty-three odd years, including The Dictators, The Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith, and Talking Heads. Due to rising rent and so on, it's time to move.
Tonight's final performances will include Patti Smith, which you can see and hear via live stream camera, thanks to CBGB's colorful interactive website.
Last night, I caught The Dictators performing The Ramones' "Chinese Rock" and The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time," followed by Debbie Harry (at sixty-one) singing beautifully with Chris Stein, Paul Parker, and Lee Fox sans drums. Soulful, beautiful, heavenly semi-acoustic versions of "Hangin' On the Telephone," "Call Me," "The Tide is High," "The Dream's Lost on Me," The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," a Gun Club song ("Mother of Faith"?), and The Ramones' "Poison Heart" -- "Well, I just want to walk right out of this world / 'Cause everybody has a poison heart." They also did "Rip Her to Shreds" and a sweet encore with "Heart of Glass," very touching as an unplugged song.
The whole performance was touching, in fact -- loved every minute of it. Having been to CBGB's once in the early 80s, I have a fondness for the place and many of its most famous bands. I wonder where they'll go next? Some say Vegas, others say somewhere else in NYC.
Today's Rune: Harvest.
Viva CBGB's!
3 comments:
I waited on Patti Smith when she was a soccer mom in Saint Clair Shores. She's a morph queen. Put's Maddona to shame.
Wow! It's one of those places one would have loved to have visited. Like The Hacienda or the 100 Club in England. Harry did "Rip Her To Shreds"? Phew! I'm envious, but happy for you. I rememeber a B-side called "Detroit" which I loved and pushed this then big Adam Ant fan away from Queen and more towards Iggy Pop and Dave Bowie.
Did you record it? Oh hell - another song comes to mind: "Poet's Problem"? My - discovering Blondie as a 7 year old blew my mind! I remember going to school with an enormous Debbie Harry badge and everyone laughed, but I didn't care! Long live Blondie!
I'll never forget the time I saw the Ramones at Traxx in Detroit. One of the best times I've had.
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