While I may now have lived in New York longer than I've lived anyplace else, that's still no reason not to use my post-employment free time to act like a tourist and take in the sights of the city. So yesterday, Michael and I headed down to the Bowery to see what designer John Varvatos had done with the space that was so famously occupied by the legendary club CBGB's from 1973 till 2006.
While I like Varvatos' clothes, it's hard not to have a chip on one's shoulder when an upscale designer moves into the dive that brought the world Television, Blondie, Talking Heads and the Ramones. Yet when you walk in the door and are immediately greeted with a rack full of old albums for sale, guitars and amplifers all over the place and a bevy of fascinating old rock posters on the walls, it's hard not to appreciate that the designer went out of his way to maintain the space's rock 'n' roll roots. (The fact that the staff wouldn't even look at us only added to the space's punk legacy.) Since these walls can't talk, I'll talk about these walls:
Makes me sad to think I grew up in a city where we wouldn't have this on a radio-station poster
The Pretenders (with the Alarm) did, however, make it through the desert ...
I have never read that Blondie toured with the Psychedelic Furs, but talk about a dream double-bill
Behind this rack of jackets was the original proof copy of the artwork for "Eat to the Beat" (OMG!)
Next door is the
Morrison Hotel Gallery, where we saw this classic shot of Debbie Harry by
Stephanie Chernikowski
And just around the corner, a blogger pickle on Houston
While I may now have lived in New York longer than I've lived anyplace else, that's still no reason not to use my post-employment free time to act like a tourist and take in the sights of the city. So yesterday, Michael and I headed down to the Bowery to see what designer John Varvatos had done with the space that was so famously occupied by the legendary club CBGB's from 1973 till 2006.
While I like Varvatos' clothes, it's hard not to have a chip on one's shoulder when an upscale designer moves into the dive that brought the world Television, Blondie, Talking Heads and the Ramones. Yet when you walk in the door and are immediately greeted with a rack full of old albums for sale, guitars and amplifers all over the place and a bevy of fascinating old rock posters on the walls, it's hard not to appreciate that the designer went out of his way to maintain the space's rock 'n' roll roots. (The fact that the staff wouldn't even look at us only added to the space's punk legacy.) Since these walls can't talk, I'll talk about these walls:
Makes me sad to think I grew up in a city where we wouldn't have this on a radio-station poster
The Pretenders (with the Alarm) did, however, make it through the desert ...
I have never read that Blondie toured with the Psychedelic Furs, but talk about a dream double-bill
Behind this rack of jackets was the original proof copy of the artwork for "Eat to the Beat" (OMG!)
Next door is the Morrison Hotel Gallery, where we saw this classic shot of Debbie Harry by Stephanie Chernikowski
And just around the corner, a blogger pickle on Houston
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