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CBGB owner Hilly Kristal lost his battle with cancer yesterday and is being remembered for his role in fostering the American punk rock scene. Located on the Bowery (a neighborhood filled with homeless people and tranisents in the ’70s), CBGB gave birth to seminal bands like the Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, Television, and countless other acts during the venue’s 33 year history.
Kristal opened his venue in 1973 and continuously operated the Lower East Side club until he was forced to shutter it in 2006 due to a dispute over $300,000 in unpaid rent. Kristal had hoped to open a version of the club in Las Vegas. Hilly Kristal was 75. “He created a club that started on a small, out-of-the-way skid row, and saw it go around the world,” said Lenny Kaye, a longtime member of the Patti Smith Group. “Everywhere you travel around the world, you saw somebody wearing a CBGB T-shirt.” Marky Ramone issued the following statement: “Hilly was an integral part of the punk scene from 1974 until his death. He was always supportive of the genre and of bands like the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, and Richard Hell and Voidoids and will hold a prominent place in music history. In an era when disco was the mainstream, Hilly took a chance and gambled. The gamble paid off for both him and for us. We are all grateful to him and will miss him.” |
US news
Moby Asks $7.5 Million for Penthouse
Who says producing dance music, DJing, touring and licensing your songs like a mofo for 20 years doesn’t pay off? This week, Moby comes out of the closet and reveals on The Deal’s weekly webcast that he’s quite the mini real estate mogul. On the program, Moby hawks his breathtaking four-story, five terrace penthouse apartment at the El Dorado on Central Park West. All of the chaos in the sub-prime mortgage market doesn’t seem to be affecting him one bit. As lifelong New Yorkers who’ve seen lots of swank abodes, we think his crib is one of the nicest apartments we’ve ever laid eyes on. Are you listening, Donald Trump?
Moby leads a cameraman around his sprawling, well-decorated digs (love those framed pictures with Bill and Hillary!), which he’s selling because he misses his Downtown friends way too much. Moby also reports he’s invested in Landmark 17, another luxury property in Gramercy Park, and gives us a tour of the new development.
“If you’re interested in living in a four-level art deco sky castle, contact either Corcoran or Elliman; they’ll tell you how much it costs,” says our favorite vegan. Being an uptight WASP from Connecticut, I’m uncomfortable talking about money.”
Disco D Commits Suicide
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DJ/producer/entrepreneur Dave Shayman (aka Disco D) committed suicide yesterday. He was 26. Born in St. Louis, MO and reared in Ann Arbor, MI, Shayman was a pioneer in ghetto-tech, a raw fusion of electronic booty music that emanted from Detroit in the late ‘90s.A byproduct of Detroit’s rave scene, Shayman began producing in 1996. He signed his first single to Bad Boy Bill’s Contaminated Muzik/Mix Connection at age 17, and started his first record label, GTI Recordings, at 19. Shayman later earned a degree from University of Michigan Ross School of Business and moved to New York City.
Shayman released several albums (including 1999’s notable Incomprehensible Representation of Self) and 2003’s A Night At The Booty Bar. As he directed his career toward hip-hop, he worked on a multitude of projects, including co-writing, co-producing and mixing five songs on Nina Sky’s debut album (including their airplay hit “Turnin’ Me On”). He also collaborated with Cipha on a number of hit dancehall remixes including Christina Milian’s “Whatever U Want” (peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart) and Pharrell’s #1 single “Frontin” (co-remixed with Federation Sound’s Max Glazer and featured on the Grammy-nominated Def Jamaica album). Soon thereafter, D sought to establish himself as an independent production entity. In 2005, he unleashed his biggest record to date—the hood smash “Ski Mask Way” on 50 Cent’s multi-platinum, Grammy nominated album, The Massacre. Shayman’s recent work included records with Trick Daddy (“I Pop”) and Lil’ Scrappy (“Right Away”), and remixes for Shiny Toy Guns (“Le Disko”) and Crime Mob (“Rock Yo Hips”). He just launched his brand-new Brazilian urban label Gringo Louco with BRAZA—a bilingual supergroup composed of three of the biggest rappers from Brazil, with their first Disco D-produced single, “Son Do BRAZA.” Shayman oversaw US marketing and distribution of aLeda—a brand of transparent rolling paper—and served as music marketing campaign for Cabana, the first double distilled Brazilian Cachaça. “I want to be the person to bridge the gap between urban and electronic music,” Shayman told Big Shot in 2003. More ominously, he told the Montreal Mirror in March 2006, “I ran around Detroit since I was 15, I ran around Kingston. I mean, dude, I’m bipolar, I tried to commit suicide twice, like, I’m not scared of anything, know what I’m sayin’? I don’t give a fuck, dude—to me, life’s a big video game.” Numerous fans and friends have expressed grief over Shayman’s death on his MySpace page. |