Shows at the Merc and other things on a rainy Monday....

My friend Johnny Lloyd Rollins comes rollin' into town tonight from Texas. And he's playing the Mercury Lounge tomorrow night 4/29 at 9pm along with South and the Silver State. Johnny Lloyd Rollins' music is a combo of Brit Pop (think Oasis and the Beatles with a smidgen of TRex thrown in) and old school country rock (think Roy Orbison and a little bit of Johnny Cash), he's so worth checking out for sure!!
Tickets are $15 and still available and the Mercury Lounge is located at 217 East Houston Street right in the heart of the good Old Lower East Side in New York City!


http://www.myspace.com/johnnylloydrollins



One thing that has been on my mind as of late and that is the CBGB's turning into the John Varvatos store. Much to do in the New York music and arts scene has been made about the CBGB's space being turned into a high end men's boutique. For all of you who aren't familiar with John Varvatos and his designs, he is very inspired by music and uses rock legends in his advertisements i.e. Alice Cooper and Slash and he also dresses rockers such as Jesse Malin and Scott Weiland.

After hearing and reading about all the hubbub, my friend and I went into the store the store at 315 Bowery to check it out and they have kept the whole CBGB's rock aesthetic and vibe in the store and it's very cool. I just recently read an interview with John Varvatos where he said that he has kids that come in that have never been to CB's and they want to come in just to sink it all in and when they leave they still get that CBGB's rock vibe. That's the reaction and feeling that what he wanted by keeping the whole aesthetic and vibe of the space.

The argument on the other side is that this is just one more sign that Manhattan is becoming the playground of the rich and the spirit of CB's isn't about $800 pants. And while I agree with that, I'm glad that John Varvatos has the space because he really does seem like someone who is genuine music person, who wants to keep the spirit of CB's and the spirit of rock and roll alive in New York City, whether you can afford his clothes or not! The way you have to look at is it could have been worse, the space could have been occupied by a bank, a Pinkberry, Starbucks or even worse then a Pinkberry! The space could have been a Chanel, a new restaurant co owned by Bruce Willis or some trendy Meat Packing district type club were only the beautiful people got in i.e. Tenjune! Had it become Tenjune East then it would have defeated the spirit of CBGB's and rock all together!!