New Film Examines Rise, Fall Of Famed Rock Club
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A new documentary about the former rock club CBGB's is making its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival. NY1's Neil Rosen spoke with the filmmaker about the project. "Burning Down The House: The Story Of CBGB" utilizes interviews and vintage performance footage to movie chronicle the history of the famed downtown club, which was founded in 1973 by Hilly Krystal and served as a launching pad for such groups as The Ramones, The Talking Heads and Blondie.
The movie also focuses on the massive efforts by musicians and the public to save the club, which closed its doors in 2006 following a rent dispute.
Filmmaker Mandy Stein spent her formative years in the club as her father was the head of Sire Records and her mother managed The Ramones.
"My goal in making the film was to make people care and follow this journey of trying to save the club," she said. "And without that history and knowledge you don't really care, so I had to kind of educate the view of what happened there, which is a huge responsibility because it's so many years."
Rosen: Why do you think CBGB's was so important to the New York scene?
Stein: Right before CBGB's opened the Mercer Art Center had collapsed, there just weren't a lot of places for people to play. I think that the legacy of CBGB's is seen in music today, definitely from a band like Blondie, you can see an influence in a band like the Yea Yea Yeas, or from the Ramones to Green Day. I mean the influence, the ripple just keeps going and going.
Rosen: Do you have a favorite personal memory of the place, since you grew up in CBGB's?
Stein: My earliest memory of CBGB's was going to sound check with my mom and Johnny Ramone sort of scolding my mother, like, 'Why did you bring your kids here?' My favorite memory of making the film would be the last week was just so beautiful and so overwhelming and so touching from Patty Smith to the Bad Brains, to Blondie to the Dictators, it was the best music I've seen all at once.
I just think it's really sad when we lose the flavor and core of New York, places like CBGB's and Second Avenue Deli, I mean those places belong in New York and mean New York
To find out when you can catch "Burning Down The House: The Story OF CBGB" at the Tribeca Films Festival, go to TribecaFilm.com/Festival for full details.