We prefer "consort" to "affiliate," Kriston.

Seriously, though, thanks for the shout-out, but I don't consider myself much of a blogger. Mainly, I've been just trying to put up a few interesting links, marking time in between the more substantial posts by the official guest bloggers, Scott Lemieux, The J Train, and Scott Paeth.

There will be an official band blog soon, but I will try to avoid talking about politics too much over there.

Hey Thad, have you ever played CBGB's? I refuse to believe what's happening to them, absolutely refuse.

Kriston,

Yeah, we played the freestyle jazz series in the downstairs lounge back in May. It was a lot of fun, and obviously the personal connection makes it even harder to contemplate the club's demise.

Bizarrely, the standard blogosphere reaction -- I've seen a number of people advance this view on Amanda's blog, Steve Gilliard's blog, and Majikthise -- seems to be, "Oh, boo hoo, CB's hasn't been relevant in years... if they can't pay their lease, why should I care?"

Leaving aside the question of "relevance," that's not what's happening at all. CB's are being forced out by a landlord who won't do basic maintenance on the property (I know the disrepair is part of the charm, but, you know, it would kinda suck if the ceiling collapsed), who falsely accused them of nonpayment of back rent, and who refuses to negotiate a new lease with them at any price. Hilly Kristal even promised to donate the amount of back rent the BRC falsely claimed he owed -- almost $100,000 -- to the BRC's charitable work, if only they will sit down with him and negotiate a new lease. But the BRC's Rosenblatt hates the club and refuses to let them stay at any price.