Staving off the dogs

Thankfully a judge has ruled in favor of CBGB's in the latest attempt to shut the club down. The Bowery Residents' Committee has been attempting to evict CB's on grounds that the club hasn't been paying full rent for a couple of years now. According to CBGB's, this was due to bookkeeping errors. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that the venue is completely in the clear. The rent there is a whopping $19K a month. I've no idea how much they clear a month, but that's a hell of a lot of money.

I don't think the Bowery Residents' Committee realizes exactly how much CB's has done for that neighborhood. Above and beyond that, closing the club down would be like closing Preservation Hall in New Orleans or The Grand Olde Opry in Nashville. These clubs are historic landmarks for those who enjoy the types of music these venues feature. There are still people who make pilgrimages to New York just to go to CBGB's. Letting it close would be tantamount to erasing a national monument.

The Ramones at CBGB's, 1977

This is the kind of history we are talking about here.

I've been gormandizing the following today:

Lionrock - An Instinct For Detection
(downtempo, uptempo, and the mids)

Lightnin' Hopkins - The Complete Aladdin Recordings
(just one man and one guitar, y'all)

Ed Rush & Optical - The Creeps
(bottomless bass drops, squiggley synth lines; oh, the yummy)

Milieu - Brother
(delicate, detailed ambient)

Peter Gabriel - Up
(dark, foreboding and intentionally difficult; "Sledgehammer" this ain't)

>3 days offa da sauce