I was one of the thousands who played in his now-legendary club, and he sort of grunted at me and mumbled a few words in my direction on more than one occasion. He was crusty and indefatigable. A good soul, I believe.
I too was "one of the thousands". It was always a trip to go to CBGB in the daytime (this was the early 90s) to say hello to Louise P. (the booker) and see about a show and find Joey Ramone hanging about with Hilly cracking wise. My head would nearly asplode from the presence of not one, but TWO, punk rock gods. Joey was a very sweet man. Hilly was quiet and a bit gruff, but always a gentleman w/o a pretentious bone in his body. Now both gone to that great CBGBs in the sky. I hope the men's room is a bit cleaner, but the music is just as good.
Last night I had a dream that Matt introduced a new section on Mefi called Burgerfilter as a home for all of these dot threads. I never got a satisfactory answer from myself wheter was so named because when you're dead you're burger or if, um, the . is shaped like a hamburger. The color scheme was totally sweet, cast in the same shades as a bubblegum hamburger.
So Matt, how about it? I think "Burger" would fit quite nicely right between "Jobs" and "Podcast" on the navbar. Make this dream ludicrously prophetic.
A huge drippy . doused in A1 sauce. posted by bunnytricks at 8:09 AM on August 29, 2007
I was just going to say at least he never had to clean the bathroom. The first show I ever saw was the Toasters at CB's when I was 13, I had rice and beans from a paper cup from the bodega across the street, I drank half a 40 and was shit scared of all the skinheads, it was awesome, I still remember every minute of it. Godspeed Hilly, thanks for all the good times. posted by Divine_Wino at 8:12 AM on August 29, 2007
Never played there, but near-weekly trips to the tiny sweaty mess that was CBGB's in my teen years, getting bonked about by skinheads in the mosh pit during Murphy's Law shows and the like, shaped much of my taste in music. Damn shame. posted by Aversion Therapy at 8:49 AM on August 29, 2007
Now HE'S a guy that deserves a NYC street named after him.
Godspeed, Hilly. posted by SPUTNIK at 9:10 AM on August 29, 2007
New York City is pretty much over for me, between this, CBGB, Shopsins, 2nd Ave. Deli and that Polish butcher market on 2nd between 8th & 9th closing down, the Village is almost gone. The egg creams at Gem Spa would be just about the only thing to make me want to visit that part of the city now (well, that and the Strand), and once Wo Hop (on Mott Street) closes, that would just about wrap it up. It is nothing less than the passing of the guard, and the hipsters taking the baton are just not made of the same stuff, IMO.
Safe voyage, Hilly, you will be missed. posted by dbiedny at 9:29 AM on August 29, 2007
.
even though the two times I played at that club, they treated us unforgiveably badly (the last time, they put us on *three* hours late -- 2AM on a Tuesday night, after all these acts that weren't on the bill -- and then wouldn't invite us back because "none of our crowd were there" when we played...)
That said, the place did a lot for the music biz. It's really sad that he had to see his child die right before he did. posted by lupus_yonderboy at 9:41 AM on August 29, 2007
I've got mixed feelings about the guy from past personal experience. Trust me, he was no saint. If you had the misfortune of working for him, you would understand.
R.I.P. you cheap lying bastard. posted by cazoo at 9:45 AM on August 29, 2007
Yeah, I heard a lot of horror stories from his employees.
I can however, say, that he treated the people who played there on a regular basis a hell of a lot better than anybody in town. He bought me a beer a couple times just for playing amateur security.
Plus, he kept that place going long after reason and sense would have told him to pack it in.
So, saint, no. But we could still use a few more like him in this world. posted by lumpenprole at 10:29 AM on August 29, 2007
Well okay no saint, but if you worked really hard they were fair. True your slot might be canceled with no notice whatsoever and you would have the very unpleasant surprise of not seeing your band's name in the newspaper ad CBGB ran every week (that happened twice and sucked bigtime as you basically had to let everyone know who you'd invited to the show), but on the other hand, once we got the thumbs up from the booker and the sound man, my band got a lot of good weekend shows and were treated really well. posted by Skygazer at 10:59 AM on August 29, 2007
I hear the canopy has been taken down and replaced with a "For Rent" sign.
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I KNOW 70's US punk rock would have not been the same without him.
posted by ShawnString at 7:02 AM on August 29, 2007