In October 2006, Hilly Kristal lost a major battle to save his beloved CBGB's from drowning in the urban wasteland that is called Manhattan. After much litigation and failed negotiations with Mayor Bloomberg to secure a new location for the club, the future of live music in New York City was put down like a invalid racehorse named Barbaro. For 18 months, the site laid dormant. Passerbys would mark the legendary birthplace of American punk with graffiti as a shell of its famous storefront remained. Meanwhile, the Bowery Rescue Mission next door, the same that leased CBGB's, continues to house the homeless of the Lower East Side; a poignant reminder that homelessness in New York is prevalent in all walks of life, including struggling musicians. Unfortunately, there is no alloted shelter for the underground rock movement.
It wasn't just the physical landmark that was CBGB's displaced by gentrification. The very soul of underground rock was, in my opinion, wrenched from the Bowery into utter oblivion. The infrastructure has fallen. The New World Order under the Fashion Industrial Complex has taken shape in the form of a old enemy, ROCK AND ROLL FASHION DESIGNERS. A cunning and crafty serpent by the name of John Varvatos has cleverly wormed his way into the scene by capitalizing on the CBGB's site, creating a boutique for famous rock stars. Could this be the prophesied Rock and Roll Antichrist?! Let's look into the Bible: SECOND THESSALONIANS 2:3 states, "Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first(gentrification on the Lower East Side), and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God(or Rock)or that is worshipped, so that he as God (of Rock)sitteth in the temple of God (CBGB's)showing himself that he is God(being a designer demigod for Rock stars)."==John Varvatos clearly fits the profile of the Rock and Roll Antichrist as somebody who has usurped the holy ground of CBGB's to fuel his sick greed.
Like any candidate for an Antichrist, John Varvatos has chosen his Rock Star minions, among whom are Iggy Pop and Chris Cornell. Both have a specific task and mission. While Iggy is the quintessential model for Heroin Chic ('nuff said), Chris Cornell is your regular sell-out. As frontman for Audioslave, his role as part of Rock COINTELPRO was to seek out, and disrupt the political works of Rage Against The Machine, by replacing frontman and ardent communist Zach de la Rocha. HENCE, rendering the group's radical philosophy useless. The name AUDIOSLAVE in itself ought to suggest one thing: rather than "rage against the machine", people (or sheeple) would be more comfortable with their iPods, being a SLAVE to the FIC. That is all for now. TAH TAH!
