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CBGB's, CUL8R
by Julie Keller

With the help of some celebrity friends, the curtain closed Sunday night on CBGB's, New York City’s foremost punk playground.

Patti Smith topped the musical bill, while Chloë Sevigny, Elijah Wood and Ed Burns were among the stars on hand to bid adieu to the legendary club that rocked the East Village for 33 years and was shuttered after a rent dispute with the building’s owner.

"New York City and rock 'n' roll in general will never recover from losing this place,” E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt told CNN.

Smith, who played her first show at the club in February 1975 and made several appearances over the years, took to the stage with longtime band members Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty and Tony Shanahan for a two-and-a-half-hour set.

She received a standing ovation after belting out some of her most famous tunes, along with songs by other artists whose careers were launched on the CBGB stage, including the Ramones, Blondie, the Talking Heads and Television, as well as Who and Rolling Stones covers. She ended her appearance by reading a list of names of late rockers who played a prominent role in the club's history, including Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Thunders and her former band mate Richard Sohl.

Among the artists preceding Smith onstage were Television guitarist Richard Lloyd and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea.

Opened in December 1973 by Hilly Kristal, CBGB (short for Country Bluegrass Blues) and its famed mantra OMFUG (Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers) was headquareted in what was then an unsafe, drug-ridden neighborhood. It became a mecca of the punk music era, launching careers of hundreds of bands and becoming a home to music aficionados from around the globe. All the while, it maintained it grungy, graffiti-filled appeal. Since then, however, the area has undergone mass gentrification, sending property values and rents skyrocketing.

The closing comes after a bitter dispute between Kristal and the nonprofit Bowery Residents' Committee, who opted not to renew his lease for the 315 Bowery address. Van Zandt helped to recruit such A-lister musicians as Audioslave, Good Charlotte, Blink-182, Public Enemy, the Flaming Lips and Elvis Costello for a series of “Save CBGB” benefits, but to no avail. BRC refused to let the club keep its space, and Kristal has to be moved out by Halloween.

Kristal, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment for lung cancer, says fans don’t need to completely say goodbye to the beloved hipster haven. Plans are in the works to move a version of the club to Las Vegas.