Rolling Stone:
… The two-minute clip gives viewers a look at all the film’s major players, starting with Alan Rickman as the club’s owner Hilly Kristal, who ran CBGB from 1973 to 2006, when the space closed over a rent dispute. “Why would you save for your dreams?” asks Rickman’s Kristal. “Why not live your dreams?”
Stalwarts from the legendary venue pop up in the trailer, too, like Talking Heads, the Dead Boys, the Ramones, Blondie, the Police, Iggy Pop, the Patti Smith Group and others – who are portrayed by Rupert Grint, Malin Akerman, Ryan Hurst, Justin Bartha, Johnny Galecki, Ashley Greene and the Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins…
Why do I suspect the discerning music mavens of the Balloon Juice commentariat will not be impressed?
At least the mid-October release is nicely timed to inspire ten million really terrible “Punk” costumes at every suburban Halloween party…
Yatsuno
Shall alert wifey anon!
The prophet Nostradumbass
Because you’re not very bright?
PurpleGirl
@Yatsuno: Right, she loves Alan Rickman. I was trying to remember who was the Rickman fan…. (I like him too; he was the best thing about that Robin Hood movie by an actor I will not name.)
I do think the soundtrack will be good.
NotMax
The italicized words are redundant.
seaboogie
Alan Rickman looks so much like my late husband it’s scary. Will watch him in anything that he is in though just because he is such a good actor. Hubby was in the music biz too as a sound tech – worked for Frank Zappa. Also on the Canadian Rock Train with Janis Joplin and The Grateful Dead.
NotMax
As celebrated as the roster of acts that played there has been, that’s how much of a dive CBGB’s was.
Even the grime had grime.
wasabi gasp
I played there once in the late 90s. It was pretty fucking great to be on that stage after years of standing next to it.
This movie is just aching to plop some mickey mouse ears atop my romantic notions of that place.
Villago Delenda Est
But…it’s got Alan Rickman in it! The man is genetically disposed to be unable to give a bad performance…in anything!
Spaghetti Lee
As the resident Hater of Punk, I’ll just pop in to say ‘Feh.’ And Rickman wouldn’t even consider doing the Geddy Lee biopic I mailed to him.
Pope Bandar bin Turtle
@PurpleGirl:
Good, it’s not just me!
MikeJ
It really was a shithole, but it was a meaningful shithole.
I don’t expect the movie to be very good because even a cheap movie costs millions to make, and nobody hands out millions of dollars to make something out of a feeling of love.
The soundtrack looks interesting though. As a plus, they’ve got the Flamin’ Groovies. How they managed to not include The Cramps is beyond me.
wasabi gasp
Kat Edmonson on Austin City Limits “Lucky”
wasabi gasp
The Books – All Our Base Are Belong To Them
Steeplejack
@MikeJ:
It’s the well-known “Your favorite band sucks” phenomenon. They couldn’t put everyone in, and, incredible as it seems, their taste doesn’t align completely with yours.
Or it could be a music rights issue. Someone’s lawyer holding out for unreasonable bucks.
Note: This is not a value judgment either for or against the Cramps or any group that wrongfully displaced them in this film.
geg6
@NotMax:
Word. Having been there several times, I can attest that the place was disgusting. And the “bathroom” taught you that holding it for hours while you drink and dance and get crazy can be done without major damage.
I am dreading this movie. I loved that place and some of the greatest hazy memories of my youth were created there.
PurpleGirl
@Steeplejack:
Or it could be a music rights issue. Someone’s lawyer holding out for unreasonable bucks.
When it came to making tapes and DVDs of Northern Exposure, they changed much of the music used on the show. CBS (or which ever company made them) didn’t want to pay the royalties or for the rights to use the originally used music and so they substituted stuff. I haven’t bought the show because of this. I do, however, have so-so homemade VHS tapes of the show, copied during reruns.
raven
@PurpleGirl: They ruined the end of “Heroes “ with Henry Winkler, Harrison Ford and Sally Fields on tape by taking out “Carry on My Wayward Son” at the end and replacing it with some bullshit. Still pisses me off.
MikeJ
@Steeplejack:
The absolute worst instance of that was the WKRP video release.
Michael Bersin
Yesterday afternoon I spent an hour of my life listening to a dozen Faux News Channel addled constituents at a congressional “listening post” held by a district staffer [Zack Brown] of Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r-MO4):
Epistemic closure, still here, alive, kicking, though not quite screaming
“….Voice 1: If he’s Kenyan born he’s not eligible at all to be president so the oath wouldn’t be valid.
Voice 5: See [crosstalk]…
Zack Brown: You’re going down a very dangerous path right now.
[crosstalk]
Voice 5: That’s not a danger, it’s, it’s a legitimate path because there is so much of his information that is not available. Everybody else has to make their information available, but not him. Now, the whole thing, and in reality, he should let this information out and be made public. And have it scrutinized because if it’s absolutely correct, as he attests that it is, then it’s done. You know, there is no question. But when he doesn’t therein lies the problem. And if he is not to the letter of the law and the Constitution, if he is not eligible, then Obamacare is gone. Whatever he signed is gone. It’s just not even in question…”
That’s not all:
“…Voice 7: I don’t know anybody that wants it [Obamacare] [crosstalk], except that woman on the phone [crosstalk], except that woman in Detroit that had a free cell phone. [laughter] She wants it. [crosstalk]…”
“…Voice 7: They call it, they call it an Obamaphone. [laughter]…”
I’m driving to Powell Gardens with my cameras this morning for “tripod day” at their annual butterfly festival. I’m hoping that the mental whiplash won’t be too severe.
p.a.
@Spaghetti Lee: lol! Well done.
Rickman could read the phone book and make it interesting.
PurpleGirl
@Michael Bersin: I hope you get a lot of good butterfly pictures and have a quiet and relaxing day. It’s the least you deserve after putting up with the meeting (and not killing anybody). They just can’t accept the president, can they? {face palm}
debbie
@Yatsuno: I remember trying to get her to share him with me, but she would not budge.
NotMax
In an odd happenstance, cow trumps lion.
Omnes Omnibus
WTF? Do you even read this blog? Although, Rupert Grint as Debbie Harry is a rather risky call.
ETA: What’s with the passive-aggressive schtick?
MikeJ
@NotMax:
On most flights these days you don’t get a meal.
The Red Pen
@Steeplejack:
The anti-Cramps bias in the MSM is well-known. Notice that when Larry King left CNN he was not replaced by Lux Interior. That wasn’t a casual oversight.
NotMax
@MikeJ
Bee-yoo-tee-ful.
That deserves a Ron Stoppable”Boo-yah!”
Omnes Omnibus
@The Red Pen: That’s not fair. Mr. Interior was offered the job, but is in negotiations for a position as a judge on the Voice.*
*I might even watch that.
The Red Pen
@Michael Bersin:
I’ve also seen some video of batshit crazy birthers/defunders at town halls. I hope these motherfuckers are enjoying their loser constituents.
My congressman is the decent Lacy Clay from MO-1, but I’m a few hundred meters away from being in the Ann Wagner (former Todd Akin) district. Ewwwwww.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Or holding out for a cabinet appointment?
“Ladies and gentleman, Secretary of the Interior Interior.”
raven
Wonder if REM played there? The must have.
mai naem
@Michael Bersin: Back in ’08, I was talking to a former coworker. Former coworker because she had been in a combo auto accident and hurt her foot in a fall. She wasn’t doing well financially and so had given up cable teevee and was listening to conservative talk radio. She was pretty good at her job. College educated. A little bit of a airhead but not stupid. Anyhow, we got to talking about the election and I find out she really did believe not only the birther stuff but that the president was a muslim. Did I mention she had massive medical bills and preexisting conditions that Obamacare would help her with? . You just can’t fix stupid.
cleek
there was a big chunks of Cramps in that Big Star bio.
The Red Pen
@Omnes Omnibus:
Might?!
I think these talent shows need to replace Simon Cowell with John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon. Every time it was his turn to judge he’d say something, “That was fucking boring. I think you’d be a perfect addition to the world of shite entertainment. Then, if you’re really good, you can get dragged out of retirement with a couple of other washed up tossers to judge other talentless wankers. Blah blah blah. Can I have my judging check now?”
bemused
The Minnesota Majority, nonprofit group that led the failed voter ID constitutional amendment in MN last year is pleading for money saying they have less than one week to operate. Boohoo.
MM’s head McGrath said there is malaise among conservative donors who are sitting on their money. In recent years MM operated with an annual budget between $200,000 and $250,000. Last year the group ramped way up doing business as ProtectMyVote and it raised $1.5 million from a single donor Joan Cummins married to businessman Bob Cummins who gave $1.3 million.
For now, it appears the bank of million dollar plus single dollars is closed. It remains to be seen if the Cummins couple will throw a few bucks their way to keep them open unless some other 0.1 percenters take pity on MM.
BillinGlendaleCA
I seem to have guys working on the apartment next door, it’s 4:30am. Either that or very large rats.
fka AWS
@NotMax: Since the cow is dead and nobody was injured, I’m not sure “trumps” is the right word there.
NotMax
@
fka AWS
As the plane is decidedly defeated, pictured the other two cows standing there, whooping it up in victory.
Botsplainer
@Omnes Omnibus:
Passive-Aggressive is her oeuvre right now. She’s become the blog equivalent of an ex-wife 5 years post-decree, utterly positive that everything she did, thought, does, thinks and has experienced is superior in every way.
raven
@Botsplainer: Now now, there there.
NotMax
@raven
Hey, raven.
Popped wide awake after 75 minutes’ sleep, darn the luck.
raven
@NotMax: The trades wake you?
Michael Bersin
@mai naem:
The only sem-sane person at the MO4 “listening post” was a teenager (early twenty-something?) who pushed back against the birthers. He asserted that he was born in a foreign country, both his parents were American citizens, and he could run for President if he wanted to. The birther answer? Obama’s father wasn’t an American citizen.
I’ve been to a lot of these events over the years. I was at Hillsboro, Missouri for the infamous Rosa Parks poster tear down at the Claire McCaskill health care town hall in 2009. The people are the same, though maybe not as vein popping apoplectic. They are crazy. They are selfish. They have no empathy. They ooze cognitive dissonance. And they are, for the most part, astonishingly ignorant. If they have any self awareness, they’re proud of that ignorance. They are not a majority, even in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District. Unfortunately, they are a voting majority.
Citizen_X
@NotMax: Um, you guys know that the late Mr. Interior is, unfortunately, late, right?
Here’s some Garbage Man in tribute. Stick out your can!
The Red Pen
@Citizen_X:
1. I forgot.
2. That wouldn’t stop him from hosting a show on CNN.
3. He died shortly after Obama took office. #thanksobama
NotMax
@Citizen_X
I sure do now.
Never even heard the name before, and the tenor of the comments had suggested otherwise.
Johnnybuck
@raven: Waylon Jennings played there.
MomSense
I was such a punk girl. BITD. My kid has been mocking it musically by just playing the guitar parts without anything else but I don’t care. He will not inherit my button/pin collection.
The thing is that by the time punk music started–the crap that bands were playing was beyond self indulgent. Those endless guitar solos or as I called them masturbatory displays with strings were just godawful. I am not optimistic about CBGB the movie but Alan Rickman is divine so at least it has that going for it.
cleek
@MomSense:
i get what you’re saying, but it would take a lot of work to convince me that punk wasn’t utterly self-indulgent, too. instead of the “you may now gaze upon my technical prowess” thing that mainstream rock had settled into, punk’s MO was often “i don’t care what you think, i’m going to play it as ugly as i can, because!” which maybe shows even more contempt for the audience than rock.
AliceBlue
I was at a New Year’s eve party in Atlanta (’77? ’78?) when I heard the Ramones for the first time. Someone put on one of their albums and I was absolutely blown away. They weren’t just a breath of fresh air; they were a damn hurricane. Rock had just become so hidebound (as Momsense so eloquently put it). I think they had two albums out, and the next day I bought both of them.
The Red Pen
@cleek: There was/is certainly a lot of “contrarian for the sake of contrarianess” in the punk scene. It’s why I cringe any time someone says, “That’s soooo punk rock.” Breaking rules doesn’t make you a rebel if you were too inept to follow them in the first place.
I can’t find a reference, but I really like Brian Eno’s comment on New Wave:
(from my memory, so exact wording is iffy)
raven
@Johnnybuck: GED!
MomSense
@cleek:
I love that! Yeah it probably was self indulgent, as all creative expression is self indulgent to a point. I find this sound/movement/brush stroke pleasing and want you to as well. Some of it was not played ugly and I think some of the ugly play was just inexperience and lack of training. I guess it always seemed to me that we were a bunch of kids who deep down had a lot of goodness and sensitivity and masked it with some ugly fun music.
stahvinahtist
I liked this movie the first time when it was 24 Hour Party People.
gbear
@MikeJ:
I don’t know. A movie about CBGBs seems to my like it would cry out for a low budget and dated technologies. If it had one music performance scene with a swooping camera, it would destroy the atmosphere for me. I really hate modern music videos.
Jamey
@The Red Pen: I saw the screen tests. It was close, but Lux just didn’t have the same rapport with guests as Piers.
cleek
@MomSense:
yep.
kindness
My brother lives around the corner from CBGB. I walk by it every time I visit him. Funny thing, it’s been empty for all these years. I don’t know about now as I haven’t been there in over a year but one would think a business paying rent generates more income than no one paying anything.
Another ‘Go Figure’ item.
FlipYrWhig
In those Death Wish movies, punks are always part of the rampaging street gangs. Where does that come from, the idea that punks will beat and probably kill you if you’re not careful? Were American punks ever known as violent?
Knight of Nothing
The movie looks surprisingly lame, given the topic and the actors in it. In spite of its veneer of “dirty punk,” it actually looks polished and colorful; it completely lacks grit. I want some sweat and vomit, dammat! “Roxanne” is the only song they could put in the trailer?! If that’s the best they could do with music rights, why make the movie? And so quiet in general! I cranked it up, expecting a ferocious wall of sound, not some incidental backbeat with a bunch of expository catch-phrases. I just don’t see Iggy Pop smearing himself with peanut butter and writhing in broken glass in this film.
/rant
Misterpuff
@MikeJ:I was gonna trash the soundtrack if it didn’t reflect true CBGBness, but I’ll be goddamned, it has a Tuff Darts track and two (count’em) two Dead Boy tracks! Those bands and The Shirts were CBGB house bands all through the mid and late 70s. I’d like a Shirts track but two out of three ain’t bad and they have no critical cred but damn, I love me some Annie Golden…
The Pale Scot
” Funny thing, it’s been empty for all these years. I don’t know about now as I haven’t been there in over a year but one would think a business paying rent generates more income than no one paying anything.”
It’s NYC, land of the rules of acquisition. From memory, the owner was planning on selling to a huge gentrification project for cash and a piece of ownership, every slumlord wants to be The Donald. Think of those blocks of brownstones sitting empty for a decade the city sat on instead of letting families move in, fix them up and stop the decay of alphabet city. Some of the squatters were “alternate” lifestyle types. But other people put in new drywall and wiring.
kindness
@The Pale Scot: My sister was able to buy her apartment in that debacle. She, her husband & daughter lived in a dilapidated one bedroom brownstone that the landlord had done absolutely nothing to for over a decade. The City started their tenant ownership program and they were able to buy their place and fix the building up with low cost loans from the City. It was only a few blocks away from my brothers. When they both moved to the East Village back in the mid 80’s, I would walk over used syringes on the sidewalks everywhere there. It was pretty disgusting. Affordable for those just starting out & the poor, but ugly. Now those neighborhoods have become gentrified. If it wasn’t for rent control, no doubt my brother would have had to have moved by now.
Xecky Gilchrist
I’m curious to see this, like I was curious to see Woodstock documentaries. CBGB is to late boomers what Woodstock was to the earlier ones, pretty much, inspiring all manner of “I was there” stories.
Also curious to see all the fighting over whether it’s accurate or not from the “I was there”ers.
handsmile
@kindness:
This should maybe be filed under “punk pedantry” or “local knowledge,” but in fact the site of CBGB’s (315 Bowery) is not an empty store front and hasn’t been for at least a few years. (It’s a neighborhood I’m in each week, most recently, two days ago.)
Mens’ fashion designer John Varvatos now has a boutique at that address. (Disgusted shudders are appropriate here.)
A photography gallery, the Morrison Hotel, operated for several years in the CBGB Gallery next door, but that has now closed (its awning remains and the space is used for art/fashion parties/receptions.)
ETA: CBGB’s was never a favorite haunt of mine in younger days, but many’s the night…Walking by now, it’s either curses or tears.
geg6
@cleek:
Late to see this, but that’s a bunch of shit.
Punk was many things. Punk was Television, punk was X, punk was the Ramones, punk was Talking Heads, punk was the New York Dolls, punk was Patty Smith, punk was…well, as you can see, punk was about an attitude but not one, necessarily, that meant musicality means nothing. You say you don’t like punk (and I doubt you really don’t like punk, it’s just that you don’t know what punk really is) but I think it’s more that you are not knowledgeable about the genre at all.
geg6
@The Red Pen:
You do realize that New Wave is not punk, right?
Jebediah
@NotMax:
The bathroom was astounding.
handsmile
@geg6:
You may be right that “Punk was many things,” but punk was never, ever, Talking Heads. That immortal band, at its inception, was pretty definitively New Wave.
No disagreement with the other bands you cite, save perhaps for Television whose punk credentials were in evidence in its original line-up with Richard Hell but not so much thereafter.
One of my least humble music brags is that I first saw Talking Heads at the Mudd Club circa 1978. Television opened for them.
Omnes Omnibus
@handsmile: I would say that punk was an ethos as much as a genre. The Talking Heads fit the ethos. They were art nerds doing what they wanted to do. Trying something to see if it worked. To that’s what punk was. Two or three chords, guitar, bass and drums was a staple because of technical capabilities as much as aesthetic statement.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: Also, I would hesitate to draw sharp lines between punk and new wave until well into the 80s.
PG
@MikeJ:” I don’t expect the movie to be very good because even a cheap movie costs millions to make, and nobody hands out millions of dollars to make something out of a feeling of love.”
Have to disagree. The key players involved in the movie were either directly involved with the original CBGB’s or fans of the “scene.” You can still spend that modest (in the movie universe) amount of money and still have “love” for what you’re doing.
Now whether people actually find the movie to be GOOD in the most basic way – well written, funny when it’s supposed to be, etc. – is another kettle of fish.
(Full disclosure- I worked on the movie).
Jenny
@handsmile:
Which song is that lyric from?
What do you do that take you to the Bowery every week? just curious.
handsmile
@Jenny:
[as I compulsively check back…]
You flatter me. That phrase is no song lyric, merely my own reactions to the sweeping socio-economic transformation of the Lower East Side in the past decade or more. I’ve been a habitue of the neighborhood for many years, and it’s filled with beloved “ghosts” for me.
I’m an art historian and consultant. There are quite a number of galleries and arts institutions (very few artists’ studios anymore) in the area with whom I work, worked, or keep in contact with. And that’s just the professional reason for being there. Thanks. Cheers!
Jenny
I see.
I read an article 2 years ago describing how the LES has been turned into New Orleans’ Bourbon Street, with 20 something trust funders and c-list celebs making so much noise every night at local bars that residents can’t get a normal night sleep.
I know what a historian does, but does an art consultant do?