Hilly: Not Alive

Two days ago, CBGB's owner and key punk figurehead Hilly Kristal, 74, died of complications from lung cancer. His living legacy, sadly, was shut down the year before but his actual legacy persists in the very existence of punk music. After opening CBGB's as a home for New York country, bluegrass and blues, he became an accidental patron of punk rock through a combination of destiny and financial necessity. The club, for which the word seminal could have been invented, is well-known as the joint that put dangerous music on the map in the 70's. Household names were made out of the Ramones, Patti Smith and Debbie Harry, so that their attitude (punk) was more important than their sound (diverse.) If it hadn't come together at CBGB's, the scene would surely have emerged elsewhere, but bands as different as the Dead Boys and Television latched into a collective and gained infamy under the punk umbrella at Hilly's bar.
I visited CBGB's one time-not for long, but long enough to attest to its reputation as a bar more famous for its history than for its upkeep. Some band with a name like Scabrous Blisters had been scheduled but didn't show and they were closing early. I hopped next door, bought a T-shirt and never got a chance to go back. It really doesn't matter. At some point in the 80's it stopped breaking bands and existed more as a place to see nominally talented kids rock shamelessly. Did anybody even go? Now it's gone and Hilly is too. An attitude, raised, sheltered and fed by Mr. Hilly Kristal, remains.