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R.I.P. Hilly Kristal

THURSDAY AUGUST 30 2007 5:07 PM

Submitted by Hunter. Edited By erin_broadley.

TAGS: punk, obituary

This is turning out to be a pretty sad month for rock music fans. First Tony Wilson, and now this: Hilly Kristal, founder of the legendary rock venue CBGB, passed away this past Tuesday due to complications of lung cancer. He was 75-years-old.

Kristal opened CBGB in 1973 in the then-low-rent, rough-and-tumble Bowery neighborhood. He originally intended to showcase "country, bluegrass, and blues," as the acronym CBGB suggests, but, as he wrote in his website's "history" section:

Unfortunately- or perhaps FORTUNATELY- things didn't work out quite the way I 'd expected.

How it did work out, as you already know, was that Kristal provided a venue for the burgeoning punk and art rock scene, playing host to performances by kickass, groundbreaking artists like Television, Patti Smith, Bad Brains, the Talking Heads, and the Ramones. Though he was skeptical at first, he took a chance on these new groups and gave them a place to play.

On the Ramones (via NPR):

They were yelling at each other on stage, and fighting, and their amps would go on and off...it was a fiasco. But they all wanted to play and convinced me again. And of course, they did get better, didn't they?

Though the quality and "relevance" of CBGB's shows arguably declined somewhat in the 90's and 00's, Kristal persisted in booking unknown acts in addition to larger ones. The club's Monday night audition gigs were a chance for fledgling bands to play on that famous stage and get a listen from one of the club's bookers.

When rising rent and gentrification forced Kristal to close the club in fall 2006, the place went out with a bang, with performances from surviving rock heroes like Bad Brains, Patti Smith, Marky Ramone, and Blondie. He talked about moving the club to Vegas, and it will be interesting to see what happens to it now. Hopefully it will remain a shrine to the greats of punk... though this seems unlikely, as pieces of the rock history are already being auctioned off on ebay, according to the CBGB website.

In any case, music history and New York City culture just wouldn't be the same if it weren't for Hilly Kristal's openness to new forms of expression. R.I.P., man...have fun hanging out with Joey Ramone and Sid Vicious in that dirty punk rock castle in the sky.

CBGB Tribute

Blondie

The Ramones

26 Comments

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Gerry_D

Los Angeles, CA

May 2003

AUG 30, 2007 05:13 PM

holy shit - I was born in NY, raised in Jersey was in and out of that place and had no idea that CBGB was an acronym. if it weren't for Hilly, who knows what music would have been like for the last 30 years

Saraphine

SUICIDEGIRL

Pennsylvania, USA

AUG 30, 2007 05:34 PM

All I can say is that the years 1992 and '93 for me, were spent at CBs watching a band called Works On Blue like every week. And Hilly was ALWAYS doing the New York Times Crossword, which is insanely hard. I was so in awe of him, myself being a crossword puzzle person....I mean he and Rodney Bingenheimer share the credit for bringing unsigned punk bands of the late 70s to the surface and that's really really important, but for me personally, in my lifetime, I loved those nights spent at CBs, the "crappy pizza joint next door to CBs" as we called it, and the 1313 Gallery on the other side of it where we could sip tea and listen to singer songwriters play and work on crossword puzzles, acting like we were NOT Bridge and Tunnel people. Thanks Hilly

xazapdmytinu

Fort Collins, CO

July 2007

AUG 30, 2007 05:35 PM

I remember reading, in a CBGB art book, an article written by someone who I cannot remember that they thought that CBGB would be around for ages...this was sadly right after it closed...I thought about buying the book but wasn't able to part with the 60 or 70 bucks at the time. It's really a fascinating place for me, having been big into that era of punk long after most of it was overtaken by Blink 182 and their analogs. I see kids wearing CBGB t-shirts from hot topic and they are so young the probably weren't even reading when Joey Ramone died...it freaks me out.

wtk10025

New York, NY

November 2006

AUG 30, 2007 05:41 PM

It will be some time before we see his like, or the like of CBGB again.

PlasticAfterlife

Brooklyn, NY

July 2005

AUG 30, 2007 06:35 PM

CBGB Before It Died

I had the opportunity to meet with the man and even work with him on this project momentarily, and it's odd to see this now. Strange year indeed... RIP. It's better that the club live on in memory, than in Vegas/Tokyo or other cities that had interest in "reviving" it. Toward the end, he only wanted to stay in NYC, but couldn't. I wish he lived to see the club still living...

timirevolting

Astoria, NY

December 2004

AUG 30, 2007 06:51 PM

Bad News Indeed. I wonder if he would have stuck around longer if CB's still existed. They will both be missed. R.I.P.

Hunter

SUICIDEGIRL

New York, USA

AUG 30, 2007 07:01 PM

I got to play CBGB's gallery once and it was pretty thrilling, despite the fact it wasn't the main stage and my voice was all scratchy at the time.

Gillionaire

Manchester, NH

February 2007

AUG 30, 2007 07:40 PM

RIP. You helped make music awesome.

(PS: I read the title too quickly and accidently thought Billy Crystal died for second)

obd

Venice, CA

June 2003

AUG 30, 2007 07:41 PM

he left us with a lot.

jonnytrrrash7

Liechtenstein

February 2004

AUG 30, 2007 08:14 PM

RIP. This really has been a sad month for music history.

aaronthere

San Francisco, CA

September 2003

AUG 30, 2007 08:32 PM

I played on the audition night back in 91 i think. We played with a metal band from Jersey called Toxic Shock, who took 40 minutes to set up and got to play two shitty songs.
I also got punched in the face at an Alice Donut show there around the same time. Ahh...memories.

aaronthere

San Francisco, CA

September 2003

AUG 30, 2007 08:33 PM

oh shit also, does anyone remember what the omfug stands for, I forgot.

Saraphine

SUICIDEGIRL

Pennsylvania, USA

AUG 30, 2007 08:53 PM

The full name is CBGB & OMFUG which stands for "Country Bluegrass Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers". Gormandizer usually means a ravenous eater of food, but according to Kristal here it means "a voracious eater of ... music".[2] The club was also affectionately known by many as simply, "CB's".