Once upon a time on the Bowery

http://www.salon.com/2014/09/20/once_upon_a_time_on_the_bowery/



Photos from the earliest days of CBGB take you up close to Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Blondie and a loud new scene

Once upon a time on the Bowery
David Godlis
Saturday, Sep 20, 2014 11:00 AM EST

When I moved to New York in 1976 to work as a photographer’s assistant, I quickly began looking for a place to hang out in and hear live music. I’d seen the ads in the back of the Village Voice — where the bands had odd interesting names like Blondie, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, and Suicide — and headed down to the Bowery to see what was going on at this place CBGB’s (nobody called it CBGB). I remember standing out on the Bowery — this club in the middle of nowhere — then walking under the awning and paying my $2 to the cute girl at the front desk. The first band I saw was Television. and I could tell from their sound that they must be Velvet Underground fans — interesting. Then after they went off, I heard the juke box, saw the pinball machine, got a cheap beer and stuck around for 3 years.

When I initially went to CBGB’s, it wasn’t with the intention of taking photographs. I was just looking to hear some good music. But after hanging out there for a few days, I started to think that this would be a very cool place to try something I’d already been thinking about — photographing by available light at night. So I took my Leica camera, and pushed the Tri-X film like crazy, until I could take pictures of people lit up by the street lights on the Bowery. Not just the people in bands, but everyone – artists, filmmakers, waitresses, bartenders, managers, friends.

I was going to document this scene like Brassai documented Paris in the 1930s.




Talking Heads, 1977
This was their first weekend as a foursome at CBGB’s, after adding Jerry Harrison, before they started recording the LP “Talking Heads: 77.”




Patti Smith, Bowery 1976
Patti lit up by the Bowery streetlights. I tapped her on the shoulder, asked if I could do a picture, took two shots and everyone went back to what they were doing. 1/4 second at f/5.6 no tripod.




Blondie, 1977
This was taken at the Punk Magazine Benefit show. According to Chris Stein (seated, on slide guitar), they were playing “Little Red Rooster.”




Dictators, Bowery 1976
Handsome Dick Manitoba of the Dictators with his girlfriend Jody. I took this shot as a thank you for him returning the wallet I’d lost the night before at CBGB’s. He doesn’t like that I tell people he returned it with everything in it.