CBGB's is now a John Varvatos menswear boutique
On Monday, CBGB's died one last time and was reborn as a pricey John Varvatos menswear boutique.
Hmmm. I'm thinking $130 tshirts are totally not punk. On the other hand, Varvatos has pretty good rock and roll connections, and 315 Bowery had to get bought by someone, right?The list of hotties who wear Varvatos include Jack White of the White Stripes, Joe Perry of Aerosmith and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave. All three have plenty of hard living, rock and roll street cred.
Varvatos worked with Converse refreshing the All Star and Chuck Taylor line. The studded hightops would have fit right in at a Ramones show. Granted, the $125 pricetag, over at DJPremium.com, would have been a bit steep in 1974, but these are different days.
Finally, there are his ad campaigns, which have featured Velvet Revolver, Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper. Again, all grungy, troubled, rock and roll dudes. I mean, at least one of them probably overdosed in the bathroom of CBGB's.
So all things considered, a Varvatos boutique isn't the worst thing that could have happened to CBGB's. I mean, it's better than a J. Jill or St. John's Knitwear store showing up in the Bowery.