I Stand Corrected...

I've made a terrible mistake. In the last few years, I have been one of the few people to say "let them close CBGB's". I mean, why keep it around? No one good plays there, the sound is terrible, the place is falling apart, etc. I couldn't even tell you the last time I was even there for a gig (I'm seriously drawing a blank). Hell, crap like The Hold Steady doesn't even play there. Now, granted, I have great memories of playing there with the aggression, and some significant moments in my young life happened there (introducing myself to the Councilwoman for the fist time comes to mind), but to me, it was "let it die" and I saw no reason to fight. This was much to the consternation of my lady friend, who once travelled significant miles to see yours truly peform there, and who, though newer to NY than I, has a deep appreciation of the culture that I may have been taking for granted. Even a recent SNL sketch that pariodied Lou Reed and Patti Smith wasn't even funny or enough to get me to think.

The other night, while in a taxi, I went by the venue, which now looks tiny next to the NYU dorm and new apartment building the surround it and will probably engulf it in the next month. I began to have a strong realization that I may have been looking at this the wrong way. But what really knocked me on my ass was seeing my beloved Music Palace (the legendary Chinese movie theatre), being torn down after laying dormant for many years. This wasn't about losing a venue or a movie theatre, it was about New York losing just more pieces of it's culture for the sake of Real Estate. It's the same reason almost none of my friends actually live in New York City anymore and have retreated to Harlem and Queens and why I have to take two trains to the studio in Brooklyn every week. It's why all the places I used to eat at, like Bel Vilagio and Say Eng Look are gone. The culture I grew up with is slowly being erased from the map. And I put it in the perspective of my nephew, who claims he will someday live here and visit us for dinner every night. I thought how he won't get to meet someone who could become one of his best friends at CB's or how his band won't drink with some homeless guys across the street at the long forgotten bodega or how a girl won't have the opportunity to explain to him why she and one of his best friends got engaged after knowing each other for a few days (that's a true story kids, ask Nina Link!). And worst of all, he will probably never see a Jackie Chan movie on the big screen. Instead of a music venue for young bands to cut their teeth, there's a fucking dorm for punk asses from ohio to pretend they are New Yorkers for 4 years (which, now of course, irony of ironies, will be where my nephew is assigned to live when he starts NYU in a decade).

I think part of my initial not giving a shit was based on my refusal to be stuck in the past or to appear, as Lurch would say, progressive (he never actually said that). I don't want to be a relic of "Old New York" or some Lou Reed character, but these places and things helped mold me and is why I am in this city for the rest of my life. Yes, I probably never would have gone to CB's ever again, but the thought of it being there was secure enough. It's my mistake and I was very very wrong. I don't understand why CB's has to go when shit holes down the block, like Pheobes, one of the worst bars ever, still remains. And shit like Crash Mansion? Come on.

While I love the fact that I can walk the Bowery with an 8 year old and not be scared as I had been as a 12 year old sneaking down to see Hong Kong movies, I can't shake the fact that everything I consider culture is being slowly erased as time goes on. What can I teach my nephew? What will I teach my own kid years from now? I'm gonna be and already am the "you know what used to be here when I was a kid?" guy. Fuck. Actually, I honestly miss the UNDERWORLD on Bleeker and bway even more (thats for you oldschoolers!)

F