Hilly Kristal - RIP
Probably you never heard of Hilly Kristal, even though he changed your life.
Hilly Kristal's death was announced today, less than a year after the final shuttering of the club he opened in lower Manhattan in 1973, CBGB (and OMFUG)*. Even though he was 75, and ill with lung cancer, i can't help but wonder if the inability to keep CBGBs open through the boom years of the aughts didn't contribute to his passing.
I don't recall being in the club but twice, and i couldn't tell you who i saw when i went. No tales of being at a Ramones show or a Blondie show before they were famous, just some no name bands who never went anywhere. It wasn't a comfortable club to hang out in, and though i loved the music, the punk scene wasn't mine. But i can't imagine a world that didn't have the Ramones, or Talking Heads, or Bad Brains, or any of that fertile, raw energy that recreated pop music at a time when music still mattered.
So, umm, thanks, Hilly. I'll drink a PBR for you tonight.
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CBGB (and OMFUG) = Country, bluegrass, and blues (and other music for uplifting gourmandizers.) Which was the original plan for CBGB. Funny how that worked out.
Hilly Kristal's death was announced today, less than a year after the final shuttering of the club he opened in lower Manhattan in 1973, CBGB (and OMFUG)*. Even though he was 75, and ill with lung cancer, i can't help but wonder if the inability to keep CBGBs open through the boom years of the aughts didn't contribute to his passing.
I don't recall being in the club but twice, and i couldn't tell you who i saw when i went. No tales of being at a Ramones show or a Blondie show before they were famous, just some no name bands who never went anywhere. It wasn't a comfortable club to hang out in, and though i loved the music, the punk scene wasn't mine. But i can't imagine a world that didn't have the Ramones, or Talking Heads, or Bad Brains, or any of that fertile, raw energy that recreated pop music at a time when music still mattered.
So, umm, thanks, Hilly. I'll drink a PBR for you tonight.
------------------------------------
CBGB (and OMFUG) = Country, bluegrass, and blues (and other music for uplifting gourmandizers.) Which was the original plan for CBGB. Funny how that worked out.
Labels: obituaries, pop culture
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2 Comments:
I wonder if his death means that plans to re-open CBGB in downtown Vegas will now be scuttled.
By
Anonymous, at 12:16 PM
One can only hope.
By
Barry, at 1:22 PM
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