#Hilly Kristal

[punkrockhistory]

In memory of Hilly Kristal, American club owner, manager and musician who owned the legendary New York club CBGB, which became the cradle of New York punk and art rock in the 1970s

Hilly died on August 28, 2007 from complications of lung cancer, aged 75

[theunderestimator-2]

Lux Interior performing in a striped suit during a Cramps gig on April 1st, 1978, for the re-opening of the short-lived CBGB 2nd Avenue Theatre, an event which obviously called for a formal attire, as captured by Pat Hefley (there’s another iconic shot from that gig by Stephanie Chernikowski on the back cover of ‘Gravest Hits’, with Lux climbing over the chairs mid-audience).

CBGB Theatre, aka CBGB Second Avenue Theatre and originally known as Public Theatre, Antillas Theatre & later as Anderson Theatre, was Hilly Kristal’s brilliant, yet poorly executed plan to expand operations with an additional show venue of a near-2,000-capacity venue which could host the crowds that were getting out of hand by late-’77 at CBGB OMFUG. Unfortunately the building he bought but never really checked out was in a shabby state of repair and cost a lot of money to meet the standards of safety and modernization.

According to various anecdotes from Roman Kozak's ‘This Ain't No Disco: The Story of CBGB’ (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1988):

“...It opened on a Tuesday night, Dec. 27, 1977, with Talking Heads headlining, supported by the Shirts and the Tuff Darts. The next night it was the Dictators, the Dead Boys, and the Luna Band (formerly Orchestra Luna). Then Patti Smith headlined December 29, 30, and New Year's Eve. There were problems right from the beginning...

...[says] Bill Shumaker. "It was in December, it was bitter cold, but the heating system never really worked. I never went down into the basement, but you could look down and it honestly looked like one of the rings in Dante's Inferno. And down there was the boiler. Everybody got serious colds...

....[Sound engineer] Norman Dunn: "It was an exercise in how many things could go wrong. In twenty-seven degree temperature you don't spray soundproofing under the balcony. It doesn't dry. At the first note it started falling down. The boiler room was under eleven feet of water because the water mains broke. The generator outside was running the electricity for everything and it was driving the neighbors crazy...There were threats, the police were there; but it would have cost $15,000 and Con Edison would have had to rip up the street to make things right. And this thing was opened on a shoestring. So every time the lights would go full blast, the sound would die to a whisper...

...Joel Webber is even more graphic, though he does exaggerate for effect: "The place was disgusting. It made the CBGB club look like the Rainbow Room. We were talking about eighty years' worth of dirt. I mean there was popcorn left over from the last performance of the Yiddish theater in 1925...”

/streetsyoucrossed.blogspot.com/

After the Patti Smith dates, the Theater closed and was briefly used as a rock'n’roll flea market, re-opening for shows with the Jam and the Tuff Darts on March 31st & the Cramps, the Erasers and the Sic F*cks on April 1st 1978. It is believed that by mid-’78 the new enterprise had come to an end, costing Kristal a loss of about $160,000.

(via, via & via)

[xabiramone]

2005, atop its normally paid monthly rent of $19,000, CBGB was sued for some $90,000 in rent allegedly owed to its landlord, Bowery Residents' Committee (BRC). Refusing to pay until a judge ruled the debt legitimate, Kristal claimed that he had never been notified of scaled rent increases, accruing over a number of years, asserted by BRC's executive director Muzzy Rosenblatt. Ruling the debt false—that BRC had never properly billed the rent increases—the judge indicated that CBGB ought to be declared a landmark, but noted that Rosenblatt did not need to renew the lease, soon expiring. Rosenblatt vowed to appeal.

Expecting Rosenblatt's resistance to lease negotiation, Kristal agreed that the rent ought to rise, but not to the $55,000 monthly that Kristal believed the BRC to want. A nonprofit corporation housing homeless above CBGB mostly through donations and government funding, the BRC had only one commercial tenant and raised its monthly rent to $35,000. Kristal and the BRC reached an agreement whereby CBGB would leave by September 30, 2006. Planning to move CBGB to Las Vegas, Kristal explained, "We're going to take the urinals. I'll take whatever I can. The movers said, 'You ought to take everything, and auction off what you don't want on eBay.' Why not? Somebody will."

[nice-jewish-dyke]

Time to play How Many Jews Can You Spot In This Photo Of A Christmas Party At CBGBs

📸 by Bob Gruen

[fard-rock-blog]

CBGB

Il 10 dicembre del 1973 apriva i battenti al 315 di Bowery St., nella Lower East Side di Manhattan a New York, il CBGB, uno dei locali fondamentali per la diffusione della musica giovanile americana. Il suo nome completo, CBGB – OMFUG, era l’acronimo di Country, Blue Grass, Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers (in soldoni Country, bluegrass, blues e altra musica per buongustai) ma…

[famousdeaths]

Hillel Kristal was an American club owner, manager and musician who was the owner of the iconic New York City club CBGB, which opened in 1973 and closed in 2006...

Link: Hilly Kristal

[metalcultbrigade]

In Memoriam HILLY KRISTAL!

(September 23, 1931 - August 28, 2007)

American club owner, manager and musician who owned the legendary New York club CBGB, which became the cradle of New York punk and art rock in the 1970s. Gone, but not forgotten!

[industrial-horror]

51 years ago Country, Bluegrass and Blues opens 🎸 In December 1973, Hilly Kristal opened the CBGB bar, which later became a springboard for countless punk and rock bands #punk #punks #punkrock #cbgb #omfug #bowery #newyorkcity #history #punkrockhistory

[smilingformoney]

A Clash of Alans: Round 2 closes & Round 3 opens

Guys, I can only apologise for the terrible choices we had to make in Round 2. If it's any comfort, the pairings were completely randomised and I had no say, otherwise I would never have pitted Snape against Turpin. That choice HURT.

We lost some strong Alans this round. Round 3 won't be much easier. Voting is open HERE until 10pm UK time, 14th July.

Round 2 results below the cut!

Battle Nine: Franz Anton Mesmer (41.5%) v Alex Hughes (58.5%)

Battle Ten: David (69%) (giggidy) v Harry (31%)

Battle Eleven: Hilly Kristal (7.3%) v Metatron (92.7%)

Battle Twelve: Jamie (95.1%) v Tybalt (4.9%)

Battle Thirteen: Elliott Marston (53.7%) v P.L. O'Hara (46.3%)

Battle Fourteen: John Gissing (50%) v Phil Allen (50%) since this is a draw, I decided to rescind my own vote which puts Phil in the lead

Battle Fifteen: Severus Snape (90.5%) v Judge Turpin (9.5%)

Battle Sixteen: Alexander Dane (47.6%) v Eli Michaelson (52.4%)

Battle Seventeen: Colonel Brandon (61.9%) v Hans Gruber (38.1%)

Battle Eighteen: Sheriff of Nottingham (76.2%) v Ed the Painter (23.8%)

Battle Nineteen: David Friedman (75.6%) v Eamon de Valera (24.4%)

Battle Twenty: Marvin (43.9%) v Absolem (56.1%)

Battle Twenty-One: Dwight Billings (31.7%) v Karl Hoffmeister (68.3%)

Battle Twenty-Two: Interrogator (21.4%) v Sinclair Bryant (78.6%)

Battle Twenty-Three: Todd (32.5%) v Obadiah Slope (67.5%)

Battle Twenty-Four: Steven Spurrier (9.8%) v Lionel Shabandar (90.2%)

[punkrockhistory]

51 years ago

Country, Bluegrass and Blues opens 🎸

In December 1973, Hilly Kristal opened the CBGB bar, which later became a springboard for countless punk and rock bands

[muiitoloko]

do you have something you would like to read but not write and you don’t dare to ask someone else to do for you?

That’s a great question, and yes, I absolutely do! 😅 I recently came across something featuring Hilly Kristal, played by Alan Rickman, and now I can’t get the idea of a one-shot about him out of my head. But here’s the catch—there aren’t any out there! So I’m just sitting here, hoping someone will pick up the idea and run with it because I’d love to read it but not quite brave enough to ask someone to write it for me. Guess I’ll just keep dreaming! 😄

Now I ask you the same question @smilingformoney

[xabiramone]

Dear Hilly......

[kvetchlandia]

Roberta Bayley     CBGB Founder and Owner Hilly Kristal and His Infamous, Non-Housebroken Dog, Jonathan Taking a Snooze at the Club, East Village, New York City     c.1976

Joey Ramone said of the Ramones first gig at CBGB, “We played for 5 people, but that’s only if you include the owner’s dog.”

[1standb3f1ant]

Hilly Kristal

[wausaupilot]

Today in History: Today is Tuesday, Dec. 10, the 345th day of 2024.

On this date: Hilly Kristal opened the doors of legendary club and music venue CBGB in the East Village of Manhattan. Although the letters in the name stand for country, bluegrass, and blues, CBGB became a hot spot for ushering in American punk bands.

By The Associated Press Today in history: On Dec. 10, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to win a Nobel Prize, winning the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to negotiate peace in the Russo-Japanese War. Also on this date: In 1861, the Confederacy admitted Kentucky as it recognized a pro-Southern shadow state government that was acting without the authority of the…

[metalcultbrigade]

Founded in New York City in 1973 by Hilly Kristal, Its full name of CBGB & OMFUG stands for "Country, Bluegrass, Blues, and Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers". Although a gourmandizer is usually a ravenous eater of food, what Kristal meant was "a voracious eater of (…) music". It was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but soon emerged as a famed and iconic venue for punk rock and new wave bands, including the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith Group, Blondie, The Cramps, and more.

📸 Drew Carolan