CBGB founder Hilly Kristal, RIP

Hilly Kristal, founder of legendary NYC punk nightclub CBGB died yesterday. He was 75. CBGB was the birthplace of such influential artists as Talking Heads, Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith, and a slew of others. From the New York Times (photo from Kristal's Wikipedia entry):

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From its opening in late 1973, when Mr. Kristal, a lover of acoustic music, gave the club its name, an abbreviation of the kinds of music he originally intended to feature there – country, bluegrass and blues – until a dispute with its landlord forced the club to close last October, CBGB presented thousands of bands within its eternally crumbling, flyer-encrusted walls…

"There was no real venue in 1973 for people like us," (Patti) Smith said today. "We didn't fit into the cabarets or the folk clubs. Hilly wanted the people that nobody else wanted. He wanted us."

Link

Previously on BB:
• CBGB closing for good Link
• Patti Smith's NYT op-ed: don't cry for CBGBs, we have the 'net Link