Pages tagged “cbgb”

[Above: an artist's rendering of the new storefront]

313 Bowery in New York City's East Village, once home to the famous CBGB's Gallery, will once again make way for music. Or pictures of it, rather. Fine art music photography powerhouse, Morrison Hotel, will be taking over the cavernous (3000 sq. ft.) area once occupied by CBGB's. The Morrison Hotel Gallery currently has spaces located in Soho, Los Angeles and La Jolla, but this will be by far their largest gallery space. They'll present shows in conjunction with the Max's Kansas City Project, which dedicates itself to providing emergency funding to creative individuals.

The inside of the area will change for each exhibition, the first of which is to come from British photographer and mixed media artist Steve Joester, famous for his work with British punk's first wave and with the London riots of 1976. That exhibition begins March 27.

After the opening, work from New York photographer Bob Gruen will move in, featuring his photographs of John Lennon, The Clash and many others, as well as an architectural centerpiece of a 1970s punk-obsessed teenager's bedroom designed by Tito Ficarelli.

CBGB's Gallery and CBGB's itself closed in 2006, but the Morrison says it plans to preserve much of the iconography associated with the old performance spaces. Still present will be "the bathroom graffiti, an original wall logo stencil and a panel of show posters and hand-bills from CBGB's 10th anniversary that were buried in an inner wall."

Related links:
MorrisonHotelGallery.com
MaxsKansasCity.org
CBGB.com

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In a move emblematic of the complete cooptation and dissolution of the original punk movement, former punk mecca CBGB is becoming a men's clothing store. Yeah, on a certain level it's upsetting, but it probably could have been much worse. Fashion mogul John Varvatos will add the location to his national chain of boutiques.

"This store is going to be totally unique, different from our other boutiques," Varvatos told Billboard.com. "We're going to make it a great way to look back at this remarkable history but also forward to what's happening in music today."

Yes... wouldn't authentic replica Ramones jackets be the perfect compliment to an autumn ensemble? Still, this Varvatos guy isn't a total poser: he's got Alice Cooper on his homepage (for what it's worth), and has also done work with VH1's Save the Music Foundation in the past. According to Billboard.com's report on this story, Varvatos plans to keep the old CBGB stage (where greats like Television, Talking Heads and Patti Smith performed) as an integral part of the store's design. There should also be some in-store performances in the future. Still, is this what club founder Hilly Kristal would have wanted?

Related links:
CBGB.com
Paste: Hilly Kristal, CBGB founder, dies at 75
Paste: Patti Smith sings CBGB's requiem

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