You're all my heroes

CBGBs, the ROXY, 100 Club, 924 Gilman ... and every other famous club where punk rock heroes and heroines got their start .. in the end, they're mostly just rooms that sell alcohol, had a sound system (or rented it) and had a bathroom to shoot up/shag in. And the people who've had countless books written about them, the forefathers of punk, while I dip my hat to them, and am guitly of reading most of those books, are just people.
Dee Dee ramone was a junkie, maybe a funny guy, his friends were his friends. They're people who made amazing music yes, but really.. REALLY how much does "Hey Ho, Lets Go" speak to you or I?
I made my way through highschool listening to punk bands from the states and England telling me how it is, and loving every second of it .. all the while not paying nearly enough attention to what was going on right in my back yard: people who were telling me how it is, and they were telling it straight to me.

Why I'm talking about the "big" clubs, I guess, is because when I finally made my way to New York City, I was somewhat.. not let down, just surprised really. What I guess I assumed would be some punk rock mecca, was just a scene like any other scene we have, just with some different people, different bands, and different booze/drugs (if they exist), but it still feels the same.

As far as I'm concerned, what we have going on in the 519 is just as cool as what was going on in 1977 in New York and England, and probably cooler than NYC 2007.

It's not that I don't want to give them credit, they pioneered everything. But I just don't feel nearly as strong a connection anymore to that music.. rather, let me listen to bands who are touring right now. Bands I can look in the face and shake hands with, so that if I'm wearing their t-shirt, I don't feel like a clod.

This is what the first part of my band's song "Fuck New Jersey" is about. Its about me finding more interest in the people behind the scene that I can be a part of, rather than one built up by years of worship.