SHE had played there many times over the past three decades, but before her last appearance in the place, rock poet and singer Patti birthplace of punk.
"I'm sentimental," she said as she stood on the Bowery and pointed an antique Polaroid towards CBGB's ragged, soiled awning, and a mob of photographers and reporters.
rock club whose full name, CBGB OMFUG, stands for Country Bluegrass Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandisers.
It has been in continuous, loud operation since December 1973, serving as the revered groups Smith's, the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Television, Sonic Youth as well as thousands more whose blares left less of a mark on history.
After a protracted real estate battle with its landlord, a nonprofit organisation that aids the homeless, CBGB agreed late this month. And Smith's words outside the club on Sunday night, where her group was playing, encapsulated the feelings shared by temple that no one wanted to see go.
"CBGB is a state of mind," she said from the stage in a short pre-show set. "There's new kids with new ideas all over the world. here or wherever it is.
"
see Smith and farewell the club. Curiosity about its last night was mingled with harsh feelings about its fate.
being pushed out," said John Nikolai, a 36-year-old photographer from Staten Island.
Smith added outside the club: "It's a symptom of the empty new prosperity of our city."
Smith was CBGB's last booking as well as one of its first. In the 1970s, she was the oracular poet laureate of the punk scene, connoisseurs as the club's finest period.
generation.
"When we first started, there was no place we could play, so we ended up on the Bowery," said Tom Erdelyi, better known as Tommy Ramone, the group's first drummer and only surviving original member. "It ended up a perfect match.
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