Punk’s past and future share stage

Inaugural CBGB Festival celebrates the legacy of the iconic New York music club.

- By Jim RULAND

For the first time in nearly two decades, CBGB, the beloved Lower East Side punk venue, was back in the New York groove, but in a different form and in anew setting.

Late last month, nearly 10,000 fans trekked out to Under the K Bridge Park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, for the CBGB Festival.

For nearly 33 years, CBGB was a symbol of punk’s passion and persistence. It all started in 1973 when proprietor Hilly Kristal transformed his dive bar into avenue for Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers— CBGB-OMFUG for short. Or, to the millions of punks who staggered under the entrance’s iconic awning: “CBGBs.”

When Kristal’s vision for the club as a country music mecca didn’t materialize, he pivoted to the loud, abrasive sounds emerging from Bowery — even though the former Marine personally didn’t care for it.

For the three decades Kristal ran CBGB, he never stopped experimenting and wasn't afraid to try something new: from serving 50-cent bowls of chili to staging all-ages matinee hardcore shows. Today, CBGB isbest-remembered as the incubator for punk’s first wave, launching the legacies of Television, Talking Heads, Blondie, Patti Smith and the Ramones.

But it was seldom pretty. Marky Ramone, who played with Richard Hell and the Voidoids before joining the Ramones, recalled what it was like back when Kristal slept in a cot in the back of the bar. “There were no doors on the bathroom.

There was a dog that Hilly owned that used to s— all over the place and everybody would slide on it as they walked in.”

When CBGB closed its doors in 2006, it became an unlikely symbol of gentrification after a clothing boutique took over the storied space. Kristal died the following year and ownership of the CBGB brand changed hands. Since then, CBGB has struggled to find the proper platform to showcase its history — until last month.