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Thanks for the Memories... Adios CBGB, Au Revoir Continental
Two of our beloved venues – CBGB and Continental – ended their reigns last month.
CB's owner Hilly Kristal is heading to Las Vegas. And while Trigger hasn't closed Continental, the place is no longer hosting live music.
We asked our favorite bands and personalities to reflect on these two outhouses of punk rock.
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Joey Ramone and Bebe Buell in the dressing room of the
Continental, December 2000. Bebe Buell said, "This
was the last photo ever taken of me and Joey
before he fell ill, just a
couple of weeks after this was taken.
He wasn't feeling real good this night, but said to Lindsey, 'Hey Kitty,
get a pic of me and Beeb.' I'm soooo glad Kitty Kowalski (Lindsey
Anderson) of the Kowalskis took this. I treasure it."
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Miss Guy, Toilet Boys
The first time we played CB's, I was feeling like I was catching a cold, so while putting my make-up on, I took about 10,000 mg of vitamin C and had instant diarrhea. It wouldn't stop! Every five minutes I'd have another explosion! On the way to the show I had my friend run into Rite Aid and buy some stool hardener. Luckily, I didn't shit on stage! If I had, I just would've said "Well, we ARE called the Toilet Boys!!!"
Trigger always wanted us to play Continental, but we never did because we felt the stage was too small and the ceilings were too low for our pyro. We eventually played there several times cuz Trigger's such a sweetheart and also because he paid us A LOT of money! It might've been the first time playing there and it was totally packed and hot and July and during our first song the ceiling caught fire and everyone went outside until the smoke cleared and we started playing again!
I'm gonna miss both of these places so much! They were the coolest places to play in New York!
Sarah Greenwood, GSX
CBGB worst memory: Watching some chick sitting on the bathroom floor, hugging the toilet bowl (with arms, legs, and hair) and puking. Almost as bad as that Trainspotting scene. For real.
CBGB best memories: Always enjoying the sound on stage. Opening for Joan Jett.
The Continental worst memory: Getting the shit shocked out of my fucking face with my mic.
The Continental best memory: Texas Terri.
Jayne County
FIRST of all, I played CBGB's FOUR WHOLE MONTHS before Television!!! They had a month residency and brought many people to the bar, but WAYNE COUNTY'S QUEEN ELIZABETH WAS THE FIRST GLAM/PUNK/ROCK BAND TO PLAY THERE!!!!! Anyone saying otherwise is a God Damned fucking lying asshole!!!!!! Well, one night I was at CBGB's and this guy kept trying to pick me up!!! I can't even remember who was on stage! I know I was a fucking mess!!! Anyway, I went back with the guy and he was utterly DISGUSTING! Coked out of his fucking brain, and was dirty! Well, to make a long story short, it was CHRIS SPEADING!!! Or Speedding or however he fucking spells his name! [Editor's note: The correct spelling is Chris Spedding.] Anyway, afterwards, I demanded 100 dollars cab fare from him, and got it. I went back to CBGB and bought everyone drinks after the show! Back in the dressing room – if you can call it a dressing room
– I bought drinks for the entire band!!! Oh, I remember now, who it was.
It was Levi and the Rockats who were being managed by Leee Childers at that time. Before the Straycats came along and ripped off their entire trip!!! Anyway, I think it was Smutty, who said to me, "Jayne, I can't believe you are spending your hard earned money on us!!!" Hee Hee!! I said, "Honey, you don't know the half of it!!!!!!"
My fave at Continental must be the night I was guest spotting with Dee Dee and Marky. I sang "I Just Wanna Make Love To You" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (Girlfriend)." Before going on, I was at the front at the bar, and I asked the guy that runs the joint if I could have some drink tickets and he REFUSED ME!!! I thought to myself, "Boy what a cheapskate!" Not even one beer for Jayne County (MY photo was on HIS wall!!!)
who is singing with the Ramones!! Joey was there and he came up and sang later as well. He loved my version of "Boyfriend/Girlfriend." So, then after I brought the fucking house down, he walked up to me and handed me ONE drink ticket. I took the ticket, ripped it up and threw it on the dirty, sticky, smelly floor!!! I walked over to the bar, ordered a shot of Tequila, threw down a ten-dollar bill, knocked back the shot, slammed the damn glass down on the bar, and walked out.
I NEVER SET FOOT BACK INTO THE CONTINENTAL AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!
FUCK YOU, I AM GLAD IT CLOSED DOWN YOU CHEAP BASTARD!!!
Otto Luck, founding father of NY Rock and about a dozen bands
What I remember most about the first time I went to CBGB was the pure excitement of the place. It was in the hey day of punk and the place was hot, crowded and oh so vile. In fact, my best friend's girlfriend passed out within minutes (she was truly a suburban gal). The Tuff Darts were the headliners and I suppose they were fairly "tuff." However, they were no match for Helen Wheels whose stage performance was as much about charming snakes and licking foot-long daggers as it was about blowing out your eardrums.
I've since played what seems like four or five billion times in the room, including a night the club shot a widely distributed taping called TVGB. It was truly a gas to be part of, even if the cameraman kept the lens on the bass player during my entire solo (and I had just sacrificed a whole tin of pomade for the occasion). The only act I remember on the bill that night (aside from my band, the Roustabouts) was the Sick F**ks. Upon seeing them, I immediately fell in love with both Tish and Snooky. I still have a considerable crush on both of them to this day.
Another good time to be had was back in 2001 at the Johnny Thunders tribute. I remember watching the proceedings when Lenny Kaye
asked me if he could borrow my guitar. I've always been a big fan of Lenny's and told him he could have it (as in take it home and keep it). He said as long as it was a Strat, I had a deal. Fortunately for me, it was a Les Paul. Also, fortunately for me, I do far less drugs these days.
The CB's memories are endless. (I almost forgot the NY Rock show at which Nina Hagen paid a surprise visit, making this old punk rock journalist smile from ear to ear). The closing of the place is sad but, alas, all good things must come to end. It was great to be part of it and I'll miss that old stinky room till my final days. Hopefully, the Starbucks that will soon take its place, will roast up many a super five-dollar cup of frappuccino in its stead (and then rot in hell). Amen.
Jeanne Fury, NY Rock worker bee
I honestly thought CB's was always gonna be there and it's really hard to envision us without it. I likened the narrow path from the bar to the stage at CBGB's to a birth canal: dank, dark, cramped, sweaty... you get the idea. But in many ways, CB's legacy was one giant pregnancy after another; and anyone who spent enough time gestating within knows how those experiences affected them. The stage was the uterus, where music and ideas and attitude stewed and grew into new lives. We'd tumble out of those doors and onto the Bowery, babies slicked with the sweat (and often blood) we earned within those crusty, crumbling walls. In the winter, the cold air would hit your skin like a fleet of piranhas and you'd give anything to go back in... until you went back in and realized how disgusting and oxygen-less it was so you'd run back out. Well, now we're out for good. Onward.
As for Continental, my favorite memory has to be Betty Blowtorch setting off fireworks (literally and rock-ingly) and hugging Bianca Butthole (R.I.P.) after the set.
Karen Curious, New Professionals
I have graced the stages of both CBGB and Continental and I am honored that I got to do so and be asked back to boot! One of my greatest memories of the Continental will be when my friends Betty Blowtorch blew into town and smoked out the room!!! The band I was in at the time just kicked major ass, then Betty Blowtorch blew everyone's minds!!! I actually have it on video! I also played at the Continental with the legendary stoner rock band FIRE GODS with Allegra, Sean Pierce and Pete... Not to mention my band New Professionals. I blew up the bass head there once and that's how Noel (the sound guy) and I became friends. I am going to miss that place even though I personally never made it on the wall. The Continental was always good to me and Trigger really was kind to me in not so kind rock-n-roll times. I won't ever forget that. Walt really made getting a show there an honor and a privilege. Thanks guys!!!!
CBGB's rocked. The sound was great on stage. Did some amazing shows there and saw some amazing shows there... I won't miss the bathrooms... Vibe has been missing for a while there so maybe it will come alive in Las Vegas some day! Rest In Peace Continental and CBGB's!!!
Theo, Lunachicks and Theo & the Skyscrapers
CBGB's: Lunachicks were once filmed for a straight-to-video movie in the early '90s which I can't even remember the name of. But we didn't really set up equipment and I sang into a rubber chicken or something. Gina had a sparkling sort of a helmet/hood type thing on with a spinning multicolored "nerd" hat and possibly goggles? Just looking at her made me double over. On top of it Becky was banging the (maybe two or three) drums that were set up with plastic bones. Sindi and Squid had bad wigs on and we seriously couldn't stop laughing. There weren't even amps set up to make it look real at all. When the movie came out it wasn't our music but some weird Asian-sounding high howling-sounding female singer that had nothing to do with us at all and you can see us laughing and you can hear Becky pounding the drums with the plastic bones over the other music. Hilarious.
I saw Soundgarden and White Zombie there while I was on mushrooms. That was amazing. And there is still graffiti in the girls' bathroom I did when I was a wee 14-year-old!!
Continental: Saw Johnny Thunders play there and fall off the stage... and the infamous Iggy show which they are selling the posters from at fucking Virgin Records now. And lots of great bands such as Da Willys who don't exist anymore...
I feel bad for all the touring bands that won't get to play at either of these venues. And both closing feels like the big end of a big era... Or a few eras really. It feels like two time capsules – especially CBGB's getting thrown into a volcano. To quote David Lee Roth: "Unchained! Nothing stays the same."
Jack Terricloth, World/Inferno Friendship Society
I know a lot of people cried when Coney Island High closed but I could never stand the place. The owners were way too full of themselves, always preening and scamming on each other's girlfriends. CB's and the Continental, on the other hand, did mean a lot to me though for very different reasons. I went to my first show at CB's – 1985 maybe? It was Suicidal Tendencies oddly enough. Already that second lineup that Lived To Skate And Skated To Live, but I still stage dived four times a song. When I missed the last train back to Jersey one of the opening bands, Bodies In Panic, offered to give me a lift in the back of their pickup truck. Bounced down RT 1/9 with bass amps, cold wind fighting my spiked hair, and way-too-thin leather jacket. After that I was there almost every Sunday afternoon, baptismal record in hand to prove I was over 16, didn't even matter who was playing. Sure the Dunderheads eventually took over and
I transferred my allegiance to ABCNORIO (which by the way is not closing and in fact doing better than ever) but Bowery and Bleecker will always have a dear place in my heart.
The Continental I used to work at I should admit. First the door, then bartending. The bands were almost always uniformly awful. Christ, if I have to hear one more goddamn cover of Iggy Pop's "TV Eye." Why always that song? And the musicians would (1) never go home and (2) expect free drinks for weeks after they had played. The staff was very tight though and always took care of each other. Everybody knows Noel is a saint (though he was more fun when he still drank but I know he is happier now). Steve Triggadov. You hear people talk a lot shit about Trigger, the Continental's owner, but I have to say while being a hard person to work for ("Jack, why are you playing this depressing music over the PA? Nobody wants to hear this." "Jack the lights are too bright, now too dark, now too bright again." "Jack, buy backs are after 5 drinks, not 3." "Jack, I know you didn't check this kid's ID, look at him." "JACK, DON'T LET PEOPLE COME IN JUST TO USE THE BATHROOMS!"
Oh, and then there was the time I locked up for the night not noticing the guy passed out under the benches who then proceeded to drink most of the top-shelf stock (man, I got hell for that). BUT Trigger made his money honestly. He always stood up for the staff, against the rock stars, the police. And one memorable night when I got my snout busted for taking away some idiot's Zima off the bar (we didn't sell Zima), he threw the guy through the front window. He also always made a point of taking people back if they were down on their luck or just needed a shift or two. In fact, now that the bands will be gone maybe I'll give him a call.
There will always be new clubs. There already are down below Houston, in basements over in Jersey, and guerrilla shows everywhere (last month Inferno played on a pedestrian walkway over the Colorado River in Austin at 3 in the morning ON A MONDAY!) But I will miss the stench of crumbling wood and cinder blocks on Third Avenue – guess I will go see The Avengers this weekend.
Bebe Buell
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Bebe Buell and her husband Jim
Wallerstein (aka Jimmy Walls) in the
dressing room of CBGB's, where they fell
in love back in 1999.
Photo © 2006 Kevin Kushel.
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I met my husband Jim Wallerstein at the Continental during the Christmas party show in 1999 which both of our bands played. Fell in love with him a couple of weeks later at CBGB's and finally invited him home with me after he played another show at Continental. I've seen many romances bloom in the dressing room of the Continental – must be the lighting!
I have so many memories of both clubs it would be impossible to list them all. But perhaps my most bittersweet memory is being with Joey Ramone once again in the dressing room of the Continental and having such a great time laughing and telling stories. Kitty Kowalski took a gorgeous photo of us that night that I keep in a frame in my house. He fell ill shortly after that. I'm just so glad I got to be with him in the place he loved so much one last time. He would call me and say he was walking across the street and did I want to meet him – I too lived only a short walk from the Continental at the time.
I thank all the angels in heaven that I went that night in December 2000. I introduced him to my beloved Jim that night too and he approved. Like a father, he was always very interested in whom I was dating. He hated my first husband and I regret that he didn't get to see me marry Jim in 2002. He already loved Jim.
I was just at the Continental on September 8, 2006 for Jim's band's (Twin Engines) show with Arckid (my son-in-law's band). We cried a little standing in the dressing room for one of the last times and were very happy to hear that Trigger is NOT going to take down all the stickers. He is turning that room into a place for the pool table.
I will go through yet another painful goodbye later this month as we say farewell to CBGB's. That is gonna suck! There are no words to describe that loss. Not only personally but for the music community in NYC.
Joy Ryder
They closed Continental on the same night as we were at the CB Gallery. As they used to say in the day, "Heavy Vibes." I'm gonna create the NYRocknRoll Museum before the entire cultural movement gets washed away.
Avis Davis and I tried for a year to get a booking at CB's, but nothing. It was only after we started packing the YIPPEE's clubhouse around the corner, every Saturday night, that we finally made it to the "Big Time" – a booking at CBGBs. All that effort just to play in a Bowery dive with lousy bathrooms and worse pay... and I loved every minute there.
Drag Citizen
It's safe to say that most rock and punk bands in NYC, at least partially, formed as a result of the history and legacy that both of these clubs share, just so they could be part of that legacy themselves. The number of musicians who actually moved or traveled to New York from their small towns in America, the U.K., Australia, Japan, and the rest of the world, just to play those two clubs, is seemingly infinite. Both clubs inspired thousands upon thousands to go for their dreams, and then returned the favor by letting those thousands upon thousands live them.
Donna She Wolf, She Wolves
My favorite CBGB memory was onstage with She Wolves a few years ago. At the end of the set, much to the audience's surprise, we were joined by Sylvain Sylvain and Jayne County. The place went crazy.
My fave Continental memory was seeing Iggy Pop play there. Everyone was packed like sardines but still I managed to get right up front. It was incredible right up until FDNY showed up.
Steve Conte, New York Dolls
I've only played CB's proper a handful of times in the 20 years I've lived in NYC. The first few times were with my band, Mercury recording artists Company of Wolves back in the late 80s/early 90s. After that I played CB's Gallery quite a bit with my band CROWN JEWELS but I didn't play CBGB's again until early 2006 when I played with New York Dolls as a foreign press gig for the release of our new record. It looked, felt and smelled exactly the same as it did back 15+ years ago... especially the toilet where the Dolls took a photo for Maxim magazine. The Dolls had never played CB's back in the '70s so it was kind of a historical moment for all. I'll be sad to see it go... to Vegas!
November 2006
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