Anyone in 1976 reading The Village Voice or John Rockwell's reviews in the New York Times knew that there was something interesting going on in New York City's rock music scene, and the epicenter was a little bar named CBGB on Bleecker and the Bowery. While the rest of the pop music industry was degenerating into arena rock, gimmicks (KISS comes to mind), and the sterility of the studio (e.g., disco), the stripped-down bands at CBGB focused strictly on the music, and very raw music it was. When CBGB first entered my consciousness in 1976, I had been working for the past year as an Actuarial Student at New York Life Insurance Company. Some of my fellow Actuarial Students (particularly my friend Eli, but also Clark and Bruce) were interested in checking out CBGB to hear some of this stuff first hand. It was Eli who had the brilliant idea to call for reservations. I don't know how he figured this out, but here's the story: CBGB was long and narrow. As you entered from the street, the bar was Read More...