A Piece of New York City Punk History Just Sold for $30,000 at Auction



One lucky (and, apparently, either very dedicated or ultra rich) punk fan got their hands on a priceless piece of punk New York history after going to Sotheby's "A Rock & Roll Anthology: From Folk to Fury" auction on Saturday.

Any true punk fan knows about the CBGB, a club at 315 Bowery in Manhattan that changed the future of music. Former manager Drew Bushong got himself $30,000 for the awning: a piece of the '70s and '80s New York City music scene with one of the original awnings at the club, emblazoned with CBGB OMFUG ("Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers") and the address of the club. As Sotheby's notes on its blog about the awning:

"[CBGB] quickly became the world's most celebrated venue and "underground" rock scene, welcoming legendary acts such as the New York Dolls, Blondie, the Ramones, Patti Smith, the Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, the Cramps, the Dead Boys, the Misfits, the Voidoids, the Runaways and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts."

The vinyl canopy covered the entrance of the famous club from 1988 to 2003. Another awning was supposedly stolen by punk band JFA, while a third one is currently in the Hall of Fame.

Bushong started working at the club in 2000 and has been caring for the awning. "In the beginning I was a door guy working two or three shifts a week," he told Sotheby's. "I was thinking about quitting, but then I got stabbed in the neck and handled it really well, so they promoted me to manager."

Well, he survived to see the awning in the trash in 2004, and he rescued it. Sounds like something that could only happen in the CBGB.

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