On August 16, 1974, a young, four-man rock group took the stage at a dingy East Village bar. Unbeknownst to those attending, this event would become legendary in the punk and music scenes, so much so that momentous occassion would be celebrated decades later. This is, of course, The Ramone’s first performance at the legendary […]
The Ramones and CBGB were so integral to the development of the punk rock music genre in the mid-1970s that you can’t think of one without the other. The two first came together on August 16, 1974 the Ramones played their first gig at CBGB, arguably launching the punk era. While this wasn’t the Ramones’ […]
Hillel (Hilly) Kristal, founder of legendary rock club CBGB, was born on September 23, 1931 in New York City. His early life, well into adulthood, might not have given any hint of the legendary status he would earn in the Pantheon of rock and roll, and particularly as one of the prime forces behind the […]
Talking Heads frontman David Byrne was 23 years old when he and his band took the stage for the first time at the legendary CBGB. It was June 20, 1975, and the Talking Heads – just one year old as a band – were opening for the Ramones. History tells us that there were about […]
This is part of a series of curated tours to help the public explore the buildings and history shared on our recently-launched East Village Building Blocks site — see it here. From 19th-century concert halls to punk palaces of the 1970s, many influential music scenes got their start or found a home among the East Village’s legendary music venues. […]
On April 23, 1976, the Ramones self-titled debut album was released, changing the face of music forever. Clocking in at just 29 minutes, ‘The Ramones’ was the absolute antithesis of the bloated, album-oriented, arena rock of the era. It was quick, it was simple, and anyone could play it in their basement or local bar […]
On March 30, 1974, the Ramones played their very first public performance. The Ramones are of course considered the inventors of punk rock, as well as the ultimate downtown band and the embodiment of the CBGB’s scene. The Ramones’ lightning-fast performances rarely lasted more than a few minutes.
On Saturday, December 10, 2016, the extraordinary Patti Smith accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature on behalf of Bob Dylan in Stockholm, Sweden. In a transcendent performance, Smith was overwhelmed with emotion when she stopped mid-performance only to begin again and drive home her powerful rendition of Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” to a […]
On this day in 1979, The Talking Heads released their single ‘Life During Wartime‘ from the album Fear of Music. The song not only went on the be a classic of the band’s, the era, and the genre, but perhaps no song better captured the anarchic, chaotic, and ultimately creative feeling of the East Village/Lower […]
It’s no secret that the Village has changed. However, due to rising demand for real estate, hyper-gentrification threatens the unique and special fabric of our neighborhoods. It’s not just small and independent businesses and cultural institutions that are being lost, but the livelihoods of many Village residents. These were the places they worked, places they shopped, […]
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s life and work are synonymous with the East Village/NoHo art scene of the 1980’s. From his early years as a burgeoning young artist while studying at City-as-School, a progressive high school Village Preservation proposed for historic district designation which operates on the principles of John Dewey’s theory that students learn by doing, Basquiat was […]
The writer we know as Truman Capote was born Truman Streckfus Persons on September 30, 1924 in New Orleans. Although he grew up in the South, he and his family moved to New York in 1933, where he lived until moving to Connecticut in 1939. In 1942 the family returned to New York, and soon […]
We have two great birthdays in the world of punk to mark. The two celebrants straddle the East and West Village, and both sides of the Atlantic.
The Ramones sprung onto the scene in mid-1974, revolutionizing rock music and performance by reinjecting energy, simplicity, and humor into a genre which had become increasingly serious, self-important, and bloated. In the midst of presidential scandals and resignations, urban decay, and disintegrating social fabric, the Ramones called for a new order based upon three chords, […]
A recent post by Rock Cellar Magazine entitled “Rock Meccas of NYC: What Are They Now?” had us here at Off the Grid lamenting the loss of such wonderful music venues as the recently closed Kenny’s Castaways and Bleecker Bob’s Record Store. The article’s then and now photographs are a must see. But the music […]
You can’t watch a music video, open a fashion magazine or even walk down the street without seeing the latest fashion craze, Technicolor hair. Like so many fashion trends (mohawks on toddlers, anyone?) wearing brightly colored hair started as a rejection of mainstream culture, primarily among the youth of the punk scene. The brand that has […]
CBGB, the legendary rock club on the Bowery and Bleecker closed its doors on October 15, 2006, due to lease issues, 33 years after it opened. The last evening at CBGB’s featured a headline set by Patti Smith, an unforgettable evening outlined by one fan in a recent blog post.
On September 6, 1981, the infectious and other-worldly sound of Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love” was unleashed upon the world. The song became a club hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and in the decades since its synthetic riffs have become among the most recognizable, and the most sampled, in pop music history. […]
Bob Holman works with words—spoken and written—and for over many years has shared that work with the community around him. This evening, GVSHP will recognize his continuing efforts with one of our 2011 Village Awards. In his many years of engagement with the community, Holman has headed up the St. Mark’s Poetry Project, helped in […]
