By Stephen Stirling
10/19/2006
One by one, former Ramones tour manager Monte Melnick has watched the clubs that made him a part of rock-n-roll history shut their doors.
Years ago it was Performance Studios, the short-lived East Village recording studio where he first saw a scrappy band called the Ramones trying to get their act together. Last month, it was the Continental, where he introduced childhood friend Tommy Ramone at the Manhattan venue’s last live performance. And Friday, Melnick stood on the stage at the legendary CBGBs, a venue the band he managed helped cement as an icon of the New York City music community, and bid adieu to the graffiti-ridden room just two days before the lights would go black for the last time.
“It’s always kind of strange being in a place that you’ve had a lot of memories in, knowing that it’s not going to be there anymore,” Melnick said. “It was a bittersweet moment, but times change.”
Melnick grew up in Forest Hills, along with the four original members of the Ramones and managed the band for 22 years until their last show in Los Angeles in 1996. His recently released book, “On the Road with the Ramones,” chronicles the entire journey, from childhood friendships to ground-breaking performances at CBGBs and the more than 2,000 gigs that made up the rest of their career.
A musician himself, Melnick was once signed to a record deal with Reprise Records and admits in his book that when he first heard the Ramones rehearsing at Performance Studios in 1974, he thought they were a joke. According to Melnick, longtime friend and Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone saw something in the band, something Melnick said he didn’t get until he saw them performing their first live shows at CBGBs.
“The music was very raw. It was like getting hit in the head with a bat,” he said. “They had their ideas, but they were still developing. It was rough and raw, but he saw something there. Tommy was right.”
Melnick, who now lives in Linden Hill, was intimately involved with the band as they rose to prominence over the next several years, doing everything from booking shows to lighting and sound to making sure the band had at least two six-packs of Yoo-Hoo before every show. The Ramones’ adrenaline-charged performances at CBGBs, however, turned out to be what the band would become best known for.
Melnick said during the early shows at the club in the 1970s, he never could have imagined he’d be looking back 30 years later at 2,263 live performances and induction into the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame.
“Time takes its toll and makes things bigger than they were. Who knew back then being in dumpy old CBGBs that it would turn into what it was,” he said. “It turned out to be rock history.”
At 315 Bowery in the East Village Sunday night, the sidewalk was packed. Young fans pleaded with bouncers to get through the front door and be a part of the final page in a chapter of music history, a chapter that began long before many of them were born. Many older fans, like 48-year-old Astoria resident Jennifer Fenster, were content to watch from the background and quietly stare up at the red-and-white awning one last time before heading home to their children.
“I had to come by to see it one last time,” Fenster said. “It was a big part of my life back then.”
Patti Smith, who along with the Ramones helped define the image of the CBGBs in the 1970s, played the venue’s final live performance Sunday night, ending a 33-year run for the club. CBGBs will close its doors for good Oct. 31, when its lease agreement expires.
Melnick said he expects the club’s closure will be less of an ending than it is a continuation of history.
“It’s a natural evolution. The history of New York is that it’s constantly moving and changing,” he said, pointing out that several music venues have popped up in Brooklyn, where the rent is cheaper. “It’s too bad they couldn’t stay, but it’s New York City, there’s always something going on.”
Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300 ext. 162.
