CBGB Posters

When I was working on a project for CBGB, I had the privilege to dig through all kinds of stuff they've kept around over the years. They had a cache of old posters, and these from the late 70's/early 80's were the ones I liked the best.

It looks like they were all done by the same person. I tried to figure who he/she is but I can't. Their signature looks like it says S. Ray.  I did some digging, and it appears that the designer is Stephen Thomas Ray; he is a portraitist now.

This one is my fave of the bunch. I don't know much about the band The Colors, but here's some information about them.

It surprises me a bit that I don't know any of these bands. That sounds kind of arrogant, right?

Levi and the Rockats were an British/LA rockabilly band.

The Sorrows are another band I'm not familiar with, but here's what I found about them. They were a power-pop group. My boss has a friend who was in the Drongoes, but I don't know much about them beyond that.

The Student Teachers existed between Easter 1978 and Halloween 1980.

The Bloodless Pharaohs became the Stray Cats after moving from New York to London.

This poster had been hanging in Hilly Kristal's office since the show happened. It's glued over the top of an 1950's movie poster (probably Tamango, starring Dorothy Dandridge), and it's in pretty crummy shape. Hilly must have been really into the Police in order to have kept it up for so long.

And by the way...I don't care what anyone thinks: I will always count the Police as one of my top favorite bands of eternity.

Olde New York

I haven't listened to this early 80's, all-girl, no wave band yet, but they have all the ingredients that make me fall in love. Here's an article about them published earlier this year in the Village Voice

New York subway, shot by Erik Calonius, May 1973

CBGB, NYC, 1977; © Bob Gruen. Looks fun!

No Wave all-stars hanging out on the Bowery. Shot by Godlis, summer 1978.
I'm not cool enough to be able to identify all of these people, but I do see Diego Cortez, Anya Phillips, Lydia Lunch, and James Chance.

Skins on Ave A. Looks mid-80's

Miscellaneous

Klaus Nomi, a guy whose name I forgot, and Jim Jarmusch, hanging in front of CBGB. Photo by Godlis, who took photos of all my faves in that scene.

I don't know the source of this, but of course I am finding the gold lame in a kaleidoscopic composition addictive.

Family Leisure Arcade, located at 76 West Street, Brighton; East Sussex. I am wondering if this is a gambling establishment, why do they call it Family Leisure?

Bike stunts at Keith's Union Square Theatre, 1902. The theater was the first in the US to show a movie. It was broken up in 1936 to make room for more offices and stores, but when the building was torn down completely in 1992, remnants of the theater became visible. (Read about it here.) It's now the site of the old Virgin Megastore.