CBGB Wins Round One

A Manhattan Civil Court judge ruled yesterday that CBGB does not have to pay back rent to its landlord, the Bowery Residents' Committee, and denied a request to evict the club on that basis. Judge Joan M. Kenney ruled that the Committee failed to properly bill the landmark New York nightclub -- where the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Television, Patti Smith and others built the foundation of punk rock in the 1970s -- for the rent increase. Kenney questioned whether the Committee "with suspect accounting, intentionally orchestrated a scenario that precluded CBGB" from paying the accurate amount on time over the past four years. She went on to dub the club "a major cultural institution that provides a venue and a voice for a unique and original genre of music."

Despite this victory, CBGB's future is still uncertain, as its lease expires August 31st, and the club is still at the mercy of the BRC, a nonprofit homeless organization that assists about 8,000 people a year, for a renewal. And with September's rent at approximately $40,000 a month -- more than double the current amount -- the club will still have to rely on benefit concerts and a third-party guarantor to pay its bills, in addition to settling all building code violations.

"They're playing hardball," CBGB owner Hilly Kristal said of the BRC before the ruling. "I don't feel they want to negotiate."

Kristal, who opened the club in 1973, and the BRC's executive director, Muzzy Rosenblatt, have been in dispute over just about everything involving the club's lease. The BRC sued for $307,000 in back rent in 2001, and while Kristal has paid off that debt, Rosenblatt said that the club still owed for monthly rent increases. Kristal countered that he never received invoices for the increases and that they are out of line with neighborhood averages. Both sides went to Manhattan Civil Court in February.

The club's high-profile supporters include Talking Heads singer David Byrne, filmmaker Jonathan Demme and Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band. Van Zandt said he proposed a deal offering a "reasonable" rent increase, volunteering to be a third-party guarantor and planning an annual benefit concert for the homeless. Rosenblatt, who said the CBGB conflict has cost $200,000 in legal fees and back rent that would have gone directly to the homeless, hasn't responded to Van Zandt's plan. "It's not just about paying past debts," he said. "It's about a system for paying new debts. We spelled that out to Hilly and Steven."

CBGB -- one of the last long-standing rock clubs in the city, after the Bottom Line closed last year because of debts to New York University and rent increases -- retains both its famously gritty aura as well as its policy of taking chances on up-and-coming bands. The place holds 300 people, and the cover is rarely more than ten dollars. Kristal, 73, personally maintains the club, and though he makes little money on the bands, he grosses about $2 million a year on T-shirts and other merchandise.

"It wasn't just musicians who hung out there -- it was also writers and fashion designers and painters and architects and filmmakers," said Talking Heads drummer Chris Franz. "That was where we met Andy Warhol and Lou Reed. And it did have an extraordinary smell. It was kind of a cross between beer and Chanel No. 5 and dog shit. And, of course, cigarette smoke."

If CBGB closes, it will be in keeping with Bowery trends; once a run-down district full of artists' lofts and dive bars, the neighborhood has in recent years reinvented itself. A Whole Foods Market is set to open this summer, and multimillion-dollar apartments are popping up along with upscale restaurants and lounges. In court, Judge Kenney stated that CBGB should be "credited with being the anchor of what has become the renaissance of the Bowery and has proven itself worthy of being recognized as a landmark."

Van Zandt, who is planning an August 31st "Save CBGB" rally in Washington Square Park with acts to be named later, refused to give odds on the club's closing. "My statement to Muzzy was 'Listen, this is a distraction from what we both do,'" he said. "'Let us go back to making rock & roll, and you go back to helping the homeless.' We're wasting our fucking time doing whatever this is -- and I don't even know how to define what this is."

Kristal said he's been approached about reopening in Tokyo or Las Vegas if CBGB is forced to close but that it's too early to plan for that. "I really feel very strongly that CBGB stays here," he said. "I love the history of New York and the meaning of New York, and I'm really happy it has become an important part of the community. People e-mail me from around the world, and they want me to stay right here. That makes me want to stay even more."