I often wonder if the legends born out of CBGB ever get tired of talking about CBGB. Certainly, at last night's Tribeca Film screening of Burning Down The House: The Story of CBGB, the "Behind the Screens" panel of Tommy Ramone, ex-Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz, director Mandy Stein, and Jesse Malin fielded the same old questions from moderator Matt Pinfield. (Unbeknownst to us, Pinfield would announce the next morning that he was headed to rehab, and so we got questions like, "What are some of your fondest memories?") Aside from Malin, who recalled going to a CB's tryout when he was 12, there was a slight been there, done that to the discussion of the actual venue. How many times can you say, "Yeah, it was dirty!" and get excited?

John Varvatos Store
315 Bowery
April 8

“It means much more to me than the ringing of the registers that we did the right thing in here."—John Varvatos, mtv.com

“NYC should not be a town just for the wealthy – but who can afford these clothes? Mr. Varvatos caters to a wealthy, male-dominated major-label mainstream rock world that has no claim on the CB’s legacy whatsoever.”—Rebecca Moore, “Varvatos Protest – my comments” (photocopy/bluviolin.com)

Varvatos Protest, my comments:

As a rule, I suspect stores that try to fend off protestors by entreating them to “come see our employees”—the one rocker guy with golden headband, the other guy with the snakeskin NYHC Converse, the not-Kim Gordon-looking woman who told me to stop taking pictures because “we have all these crazy rules”—i.e., there’s still a band playing every night at CB’s, except they’re actually retail clerks, and they “play” by selling clothes. I thought about playing a leather jacket but then I realized spring is almost here.

That said, I noticed some items that I imagined would be there were missing:

Just got a call from someone repping the Varvatos brand, looking for a phone number for Care Bears on Fire. Varvatos himself wants them to play the Bowery/CBGB store opening party next Thursday, April 17 and, in the caller's words, represent a "way into the future." I think that one speaks for itself.