Talk:CBGB/Archives/2013

Did The Velvet Underground play at the CBGB ?

According to the page, the CBGB was founded in 1973, but Lou Reed left The Velvet Underground in 1970, and that is usually considered the real end of band. Did The Velvets without Reed play at the CBGB? Doug Yule officially disbanded The Velvets shortly after Squeeze was released, and that is 1972/1973. I think that the "band" (or what remained of it) was not playing live anymore by that time. --SugarKane 11:06, 15 July 2005 (UTC)

i didn't do any direct research on this, but maybe by "the Velvet Underground", the author of that section meant "The Velvet Underground and Nico."

"The Velvet Underground" and "The Velvet Underground and Nico" are the same band. The first poster here is correct - the band broke up before CBGB opened. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.83.205.233 (talk) 01:55, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Is the club closing?

For anyone who cares but hasnt heard: According to mickey leigh (Joey Ramone's brother, RIP Joey, Dee Dee, Johnny), there is a possibility that CB's could hav a 10 year contract, but that there are a few spanners in the works, let's keep our fingers crossed

so i've been hearing on the radio that even after the rally on August 31, 2005 in Washington Square Park, CB's is still closing. does anyone know when exactly it will be closing its doors for good? -- anonymous

According to this Pitchfork news clip, it will be closing October 31, 2006. 71.65.54.92 19:06, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Famous Acts

I think there has been some subtle vandalism to the Famous Acts section. It includes, among others, bands such as "Pink Floyd", "Peter, Paul and Mary" and "The Yardbirds". I'm going to remove the bands I consider vandalism until someone can put forth some proof that they played there. Timothyreal 21:39, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Those three bands never played there. Some acts you would be surprised by did play there... Peter Tork of the Monkees, The Cars and even Frank Stallone (though only because his brother Sylvester Stallone used the club as a location for one of his films.) Timothy Horrigan (talk) 14:34, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Television vs. Wayne County

The section about Wayne County is of substandard quality. It may be true that Wayne County played CBGB first, but the tone of the text is standoffish and in conflict with the rest of the article. Someone armed with facts and some writing style should edit this section.

--I have nothing to do with the article, but the whole issue of who played CBGB "first" gets complicated because Hilly Crystal had another establishment at the same address called Hilly's On The Bowery which I believe closed in 1972. Some bands associated with the Mercer Arts Center scene played gigs at Hilly's On The Bowery in 1972, including The Magic Tramps, Suicide and Wayne County, apparently The Fast. According to the book All Hopped Up and Ready To Go, The Magic Tramps were the first Mercer act to play there and may have built CBGB's first stage. Apparently Chris Stein (later of the Stillettos/Blondie), who was a roommate of Eric Emerson, the Magic Tramp's lead singer, attended the Magic Tramps gig. (I never understood the emphasis on Patti Smith attending an early TV gig, but it's a fun game to play). On their website the Magic Tramps have a copy of an advertisement for the gig. Hilly's then closed down, only to reopen as CBGB. You can then argue that TV became the first punk/new wave band to play "CBGB", but the reality is that bands in the NYC scene looking for a place to play would likely have already known that the location, no matter what it was called, was a place where they could perform. The story of TV happening onto CBGB is likely a myth; they probably knew about it already. The importance of TV starting to play there is that it created what was an incestuous scene: someone from the Stillettos was dating someone from TV, so they started playing there; Chris Stein and Debbie Harry knew Tommy Ramone from the Mercer scene and Club 82, so the Ramones started playing there; TV brought Patti Smith in, etc., and the scene was established.Alexhaniha (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:24, 15 July 2011 (UTC).

Table in "Famous Acts" section was messing up the External links section

I was able to fix it by adding |} after the last entry. I first tried it without the newline and it didn't work. I figured I will leave this here as an aid and reminder for people like me who are not familiar with the pipe syntax for tables. Spalding 13:26, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

Famous Acts as distinct article?

It seems like most of the editing on this page is done on the "famous acts" portion of the article - which is getting unwieldy. I think it should be spun off into its own article, named something like "Acts that have played CBGBs", which would then be prominently linked to from CBGB page. A similar move was made on the Glam rock page, to create a new page for a list of acts. - AKeen 21:45, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

• I think it's a good idea. The list is pure tedium anyway. IMHO. - Corporal Tunnel 22:53, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Done. See List of famous acts that have played CBGB - AKeen 05:13, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

OMFUG

Today, the next-to-last day the CBGB is open, brings the following addition to the Founding section:

There is also a more dark humored and precise alternate meaning for OMFUG, according to the original Sound Engineers and Security Crew of the club; OMFUG meant for them: "Only Musicians F*** (as in have sex with) Ugly Girls".

I've removed this because it is a little too bizarre and silly to stay on the page without a cite. The reference to original staff and security is not verifiable, and even if they did claim that lo these 35 years ago, so what? IBM stands for International Business Machines; I'm sure employees over the years have come up with many alternate resolutions to the acronym, but they are not relevant and have no place in a reference work.

Even if true, this strikes me more as the sort of fond reminiscence that is better placed in a memoir or CBGB-as-we-knew it page, not the Wiki. Comments? Sources? - Corporal Tunnel 15:55, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

• I agree, it seems that sort of thing would be nearly unverifiable, and is not very encyclopedaic - AKeen 16:01, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

The alternate meaning was told to me by Mr. Dennis Dunn, who worked security there, and also brother of the late Norman Dunn, original sound system designer and sound engineer. Both brothers are mentioned at CBGB's website. This is the first time I have added something to wikipedia, so I apologize for spewing this out without reading the guidelines. People have been trying to figure the meaning of OMFUG for years, but Hilly and his close friends know the meaning... leaving people to figure it out.

"What does CBGB stand for?"

"It stands for the kind of music intended to have, but not the kind that we became famous for: COUNTRY BLUEGRASS BLUES."

"but what does OMFUG stand for?" 

"That's more of what we do, It means OTHER MUSIC FOR UPLIFTING GORMANDIZERS." And what is a gormandizer? It's a voracious eater of, in this case, MUSIC. thats wat hilly says !!!!!!

I don't know what Hilly would say if he were kicking today, but when CB's first opened he told me that omfug was "other music from the underground." It was 6 months to a year later that he switched it up, probably because he was bored with the question and devised a more amusing answer. I doubt very much that there is any documentation to back up my version, but there ya go. Bustter (talk) 04:23, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

• OH*, please!!! (Rolling eyes and laughing at you guys hysterically...)  ;) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.127.200.152 (talk) 01:54, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Gallery

CB's Gallery should be mentioned. Badagnani 04:54, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Didn't The Libertines play there?

Surely,if they did they should be mentioned,the pioneers of the current british indie rock scene? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.109.110.240 (talk • contribs)

They're mentioned at List of famous musical acts that have played at CBGB - AKeen 15:48, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

More CBGB's pop culture references should be included?

like gilmore girls punk like me (book) uh, i don't know anymore —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.63.46.37 (talk) 11:31, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Stopped hosting punk shows in 1990?

1. The reference for this is silly, a rant which mentions it as an aside.

2. How does one define "punk?" Clearly, they did not stop hosting shows in 1990.

3. I definitely saw a "punk" show there in late 1994. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.234.97 (talk) 06:50, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Metropolis Video

A link to that new article was just added. For those who missed it, consider checking out that article to see if there's something you can add that isn't already there. Many thanks. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 00:19, 7 March 2013 (UTC)