The rumor earlier this year that CBGB, the storied Bowery punk club shuttered a few years back in order to make room for a store hawking overpriced menswear and vinyl, would be returning to the city in some form has apparently come closer to actually becoming true. Bryan Kuntz over at This Ain't The Summer Of Love (found via EV Grieve) visited the bygone venue's still-kicking official site and found an announcement for a festival—with "music, food, conference, [and] drink"—branded with the CBGB logo and scheduled for July 4-8. Other details—lineups, venues, cost, number of conference panels that will look wistfully back on The Good Old Days—are scant, but there is a link to CBGB Facebook page and another where interested bands can apply for consideration via the talent broker Sonicbids. That link elaborates a bit more on the festival's aims:

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Billy V/Flickr

So the big punks-not-dead news, that is actually a rumor, of the past 24 hours comes from a post on Gothamist claiming that the people who have access to a bunch of CBGB's old things (although not the awning) are planning to reopen the iconic punk club "somewhere in Manhattan," though not at the club's old space on 315 Bowery because it's currently being used to hawk expensive menswear and way-marked-up vinyl. So serious are these unnamed folks' apparent intentions, in fact, that they have set up a Twitter account. Yesterday its timeline was studded with missives asking Courtney Love and Duff McKagan if they'd play a big festival happening this summer; there was also a Shepard Fairey-ish rejected poster for the fest. Those tweets have been deleted, but the image of the poster—as well as musings about Guns N' Roses and Sid Vicious—remain.

Also remaining: Questions about this whole enterprise. Namely, is breathing new life into the dessicated husk of CBGB really a necessary thing at this point? And is the club that results from this revival going to be any good—by which I mean "fun to go to, with decent bookings and not too many tourist trappings"—at all?

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These riches could be yours.

1. The CBGB brand is up for auction.
Not all that surprising a development given the financial woes suffered by the company that used to hold the trademark had. But still a little sad? Especially because of the high odds that Forever 21 or Urban Outfitters wins out?

2. Nouvelle Vague's loungey cover of the Dead Kennedys' "Too Drunk To Fuck" used in an alcohol-awareness campaign has been yanked from an ad campaign because of concerns that it actually encourages people to binge drink.
"Heineken's aim was to link the idea of 'relaxed consumption' of beer with music that had been 'uncharacteristically slowed down' from the original track." Maybe someone should re-record the track as "Too Drunk To Figure Out A Coherent Advertising Campaign"? Jeez.

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Most people, of course, have long since made up their minds about former Black Flag frontman, spoken word poet, and Bad Boys II actor Henry Rollins. Those who haven't would be advised to watch the below clip (which looks to have been shot a while ago), in which Rollins wanders into the Lower East Side indie-rock den that is the Cake Shop, and confronts the natives. If you've ever wanted to see the weird plight of the aging punk dramatized, this is pretty much it. "Oh, I see," he says to some cowering girl who has just heckled him by yelling "Get in van, man," and giggling. "Is this where the young elitist hipsters take on the ancient, dodgy, in-the-way types?" You almost feel bad for him, until he marches out of the venue, gets in the back of a black livery car, and explains to his dumbfounded companion that "When she yelled out 'Get in the van,' that's the title of a very famous book I wrote." Not self-aggrandizing enough for you? He then adds. "The audiobook won a Grammy." Fuck you, Rollins:

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Finally, the take-a-cruise-with-a-rock-band phenomenon trickles down to the Jelly Pool Party set: Mark your calendars for February 25-28, 2011, whereupon a "Bruise Cruise" sets sail from Florida to the Bahamas with the Black Lips, Thee Oh Sees, and, yes, the Vivian Girls aboard for your listening pleasure. This is a real thing, that exists, and we've got the snazzy promo video to prove it:

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In the "top secret" filming location of Ted Leo's music video for "Bottled in Cork," I am waiting to choke a punk-rocking goon with my polka-dot ascot. Director Tom Scharpling sent a casting call two days prior, instructing fans to attend the shoot wearing nothing but their "finest theater-going or punk-rocking attire." Beside me, this chick wearing a tutu and platinum Gene Simmons combat boots looks ready to stomp my Fela!-loving ass. But all speculation is put to rest when a member of Scharpling's crew saunters into the middle of the Bell House's bar area. "So, what you're waiting for today," she explains, "is a rock musical starring Ted Leo & the Pharmacists."

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Right before the first seating. Lovely in there!

It's finally here! The opening date went from March to April to May, the menu went from "new American cuisine" to "European- and Mediterranean-influenced cooking," and every dissolute former punk in Park Slope went from denial to bargaining to full-on, mouth-watering acceptance, but Fat Mike's Park Slope bastion of local cuisine (file under phrases we never expected to write) is finally here. There's already a Yelp review and everything, touting the space's "great personality," the "friendly and professional" service, and most importantly, the menu: duck confit with almonds and dates; Maine diver scallops with bacon and the ever ubiquitous ramps; beet salad, cookie plates, pannacotta, and even house-made burger rolls, apparently. An aging sell-out's dream, in other words. So far, this particular aging sell-out has only walked by the 7th Avenue and 16th Street spot, pausing to take furtive photographs of all the happy people eating their delicious dinners, but we plan to remedy that ASAP:

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Why? Because, explains the t-shirt's creator, "Both groups have caused riots, both embrace DIY." Just ask Australia about the former. Also, not to brag, but let the record show we called for a Bad Brains/Bieber mash-up all the way back in November of 2009. We're prescient like that. [Etsy]

New signage up at Thistle Hill, the much anticipated bar and restaurant from NOFX's Fat Mike and a consortium of others, including 'inoteca's David Massoni and Niagara Bar's John Bush. When last we checked in, the spot, which is located in the former Olive Vine location at 15th Street and 7th Avenue, promised "new American cuisine in a comfortable, laidback setting"; now we look to be getting "European- and Mediterranean-influenced cooking," plus single-malt whiskey bottled right here in New York State. Best is how they describe the most famous member of their ownership group to the parents and innocent children of the surrounding neighborhood: "Mike 'Fat Mike' Burkett, a member of the seminal punk band NOFX." Urban Dictionary, it turns out, sort of agrees. Cash or credit; early April is the new opening date, moved back from March. Who's coming with?

Take that, CBGB! Were you booking shows with Axl Rose and his rental band back before John Varvatos graced you with some leather jackets and used audio equipment? No you were not. Fashion week would come and go and you'd just book 17 more Subhumans shows. Not like the new regime over at 315 Bowery, who will pack everyone from Sebastian Bach to Kevin Bacon in to see Alberta Cross and then surprise what remains of the audience four hours later when Guns N' Fucking Roses takes the stage and plays 17, count 'em, 17 songs, including an encore. It is 2010 and we are experiencing things we could only dream about the grubby grasp of the last three decades. Look at this setlist:

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