Burning Down the House: The Story of CBGB (2009) on Netflix
NR20091h 30mDocumentary
At 315 Bowery, Hilly Kristal opens CBGB, which becomes a home for punk and new wave bands. Decades later, his landlord moves to raise the rent and end the lease.
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Plot summary
Hilly Kristal opens CBGB at 315 Bowery in Manhattan's East Village in December 1973, naming it for the country, bluegrass and blues he intends to book there. Instead the club becomes a stage for punk and new wave: Television and the Ramones play early shows in the room, and Blondie, Patti Smith Group, Talking Heads and the Dead Boys follow. In April 1977 the Damned become the first British punk band to play in America. Two rules hold: a band hauls its own gear and plays mostly songs it wrote. The building's landlord, the Bowery Residents' Committee, which houses homeless New Yorkers above the club, later claims years of unpaid rent increases. Kristal disputes the debt, and the two sides fight over the lease.
