CBGBs is finally shutting down. Waaaah! It’s the end of an era. Well, besides the part where said “era” died about 20 years ago and CBGBs has been nothing but a living advertisement for the infamous CBGB t-shirts ever since.
As we made clear here when they had their ridiculous fake benefit, CBGBs is a sham. The whole premise of the “bankruptcy” comes from the fact that the landlord wants to raise the rent from $19,000 to $40,000. Two totally irrelevant figures for a club that loses thousands a month but promotes a t-shirt that makes hundreds of thousands a month.
So they have a benefit where they spend about $40,000 booking bands to raise, what, $80? What? That’s like Ben & Jerry’s having a star studded benefit becuase Cherry Garcia isn’t turning a profit.

CBGBs doesn’t need a benefit. They just got to the point where their accountants probably said, “Why do we have this albatross of a club around our neck? Do we really need it to give the t-shirts credibility?” and the answer finally became a resounding “no.” They can pretend it’s the year New York punk went broke but we all know it’s bullshit.
If any of you are still crying crocodile tears you can still go to CBGBs and buy a t-shirt. He’s reopening the place in the mini fake New York in Las Vegas. How fitting.