Two Punks Lament Lack Of Spending Money, Lack Of Bile

When it was announced that “pricey clothier” John Varvatos would be taking over the site of what was once CBGB, the Washington Post decided to take “a couple of punk rockers to another Varvatos store, in SoHo, where they were asked to muse aloud about the club and Manhattan and punk, all the while pawing through the merchandise and dealing with sticker shock.” As two members of the Krays wander through the store grousing about the stupid-expensive clothes the Post is rubbing in their nostalgic faces, they finally alight on what “the city is gaining and losing” with the seedy NYC institution changing hands with a shiny boutique.

“A lot of vomiting,” Rosado says, grinning at the memory. “I found a kid sprawled on the bathroom floor once, and I was like ‘What are you doing?’ because that floor was the most disgusting thing you’d ever seen.”

Kray offers up a CBGB memory involving a band called the Adolescents and a gastrointestinal mishap that is too revolting to recount here.

“Not going to be a lot of puking when this place opens,” he says, gesturing to a rack of pants.

Why not? If these guys are having a midlife crisis over the “Olive Garden-ization” of the city, wouldn’t the most “punk” thing be to stroll into the Varvatos store when it opens and vomit all over a pair of $300 slacks? They might get arrested, but that’s a small price to pay for keeping the scene alive.

A Punk Temple Reborn [Washington Post]