John Varvatos

VILLAGE PEOPLE

investigate the east 
side’s past and present

The Chrome Cranks: Stinking Up the LES Again

By Brad Cohan Present day LES is a bottomless pit of bombed bridge 'n' tunnel scenester wannabees, ex-Upper East side yuppie scum jogging past the John Varvatos store where punk was birthed at CBGB and trust fund frat kids living off their rich-assed parent's dime, drunkenly soiling the newly sprou ... More >>

Q&A: Violent Bullshit On The Story Behind Their Name, OFF! Not Being Hardcore, And Their Parents Coming To Their Shows

Violent Bullshit is, indeed, the shit. The band's five members—vocalist Jayson Green, dueling guitarists Byron Kalet and Andrew Reuland, bassist Matt Cash and drummer Dan Crowell—profusely bleed hardcore and its ethos on their face-ripping, manically ragin' yet ridiculously meticulous 14 ... More >>

CBGB Reborn, Sort Of: Here Is A Picture Of Its Georgia Stand-In

Next week, the CBGB Festival will take over a bunch of clubs around New York City in an effort to honor the legacy of the onetime Bowery staple, but right now in Savannah, Georgia, a movie about the club's history is being filmed. Starring Alan Rickman as CBGB impresario Hilly Krystal and his Harry ... More >>

BOWERY BABY

A Depression-era walking tour

Live: Don Fleming And The Folding Men "Remember" September 11

Brad Cohan​ Don Fleming and the Folding Men Mercury Lounge Sunday, September 11 Better Than: Watching Terrorist Motherfuckers Destroy The World Trade Center As Don Fleming told the Voice recently, the Velvet Monkeys/Gumball/B.A.L.L./Half Japanese dude and superproducer moved to NYC in 1986 ... More >>

You Better Work: 21 Music-Heavy Fashion's Night Out Events

Nicki Minaj performs at Yves Saint Laurent tonight. ​Let's be honest: Shopping isn't really the main attraction of Fashion's Night Out. Who has time to sift through sales racks when there are so many parties to go to? Some events—Drake's DJ set at Versace, Neon Indian's invite-only gig a ... More >>

BOWERY BABY

A Depression-era walking tour

Iconic Punk Brand CBGB to Be Auctioned to the Highest Bidder

​Everything is for sale, people. Everything is for sale. Including the brand of legendary punk rock club CBGB OMFUG, which, FYI, was converted to a John Varvatos store anyway years ago, so who the hell cares about memories and history and shit. No, but really, wouldn't it be super cool to own ... More >>

Today's Three Signs That The Concept Of "Punk" Has Reached An Awkward Age

These riches could be yours. ​ 1. The CBGB brand is up for auction. Not all that surprising a development given the financial woes suffered by the company that used to hold the trademark had. But still a little sad? Especially because of the high odds that Forever 21 or Urban Outfitters wins o ... More >>

Village Voice Web Awards: The Finalists for Best Photo Blog Are...

​Counting down to Tuesday's glorious Web fest at Santos' Party House (get in touch if you're hankering for an invite), today we have our celebrated finalists for Best Photo Blog. Four worthy contenders, they run the gamut from the austere and abandoned street scene to the wackiest of wild and ... More >>

Meet Extra Place, the Semi-Secret, "Never Open to the Public" Performance Space Underneath the Old CBGB

Extra Place​Well, it's not that secret--both The Fader and the CMJ Music Marathon have already made use of Extra Place (we've been there before, too), the new private, "never open to the public" performance space that is located on, wait for it...Extra Place, the blind alley off 1st Street bet ... More >>

"Lower East Side" Being Co-opted to Sell Cheap Shoes

Something ugly this way comes.​Via Bowery Boogie, we have learned that Payless ShoeSource is now offering a brand encapsulating the style, quirkiness, and wonder of one of our very own downtown Manhattan neighborhoods. The "Lower East Side" line features heart waterfall earrings, flower satin ... More >>

10 NYC Hotels Better Fitted for Charlie Sheen to Do Blow in Than the Plaza

​Home Alone 2. North by Northwest. Crocodile Dundee. Arthur. Eloise and her motherfucking Pet Turtle!* New York City's landmark The Plaza Hotel has been home to many famous scenes over its 103-year history. Yet Charlie Sheen has managed to sully it, as it is now also home to the famous scene that ... More >>

Rating the Ridiculous Musical Performances of Fashion Week 2010 (So Far)

As much of the Boom Boom Room as you're ever likely to see. Twitpic via grekotv​Fashion Week is a biannual rite in New York, and with it comes another biannual rite--awkward, private late night performances from bands that are either at the center of the zeitgeist (Kanye West on the bar at the ... More >>

Kanye West Performed While Standing on the Bar at the Boom Boom Room at 3AM Last Night

Fashion Week tends to bring out musicians--consider Guns N' Roses's secret performance at the John Varvatos store in the spring, or the formidable line-up that Ralph Lauren, Balenciaga, et al have put together for the next week or so. And Kanye West has a penchant for performing unannounced shows ... More >>

The New Museum Celebrates the Demise of CBGB, Rise of John Varvatos

​The conversion of CBGB into a fancy boot emporium is ancient news at this point, and as evil or wrongheaded as John Varvatos has often seemed on the Bowery--a sliver of the old wall, behind glass! Guns N' Roses!--putting CBGB out of its misery in 2006 was a mercy killing. It hadn't been good ... More >>

NY Artist Justin Lowe Recreates the Infamous CBGB Bathroom in. . . Connecticut

A work of art Artist Justin Lowe is recreating CBGB's storied--and legendarily foul--bathroom as a full-scale installation at the Wadsworth Atheneum. If you've never heard of this particular venue, it's probably because it is located in our bad-ass neighbor to the Northeast, the punk-rock hotbed of ... More >>

WASTED YOUTH

Green Day does showtunes

Here's To Axl Rose and the Bunch of Random Dudes Calling Themselves Guns N' Roses Getting the Hell Out of Town

So Sebastian Bach saved Axl Rose from being attacked by a maniac with a blade the other night at the Gramercy Hotel's Rose Bar. "Nobody is getting anywhere near my man Axl Rose with a knife," said the one-time Skid Row frontman, and from his position atop a banquet, he summoned security to cast wh ... More >>

OK, So Guns N' Roses Played the John Varvatos Store on the Bowery Last Night

Take that, CBGB! Were you booking shows with Axl Rose and his rental band back before John Varvatos graced you with some leather jackets and used audio equipment? No you were not. Fashion week would come and go and you'd just book 17 more Subhumans shows. Not like the new regime over at 315 Bowery ... More >>

FIRESTOPPERS

We can still be cynical if it’s for a good cause, right?

'Road Recovery'

What Gossip Girl's Dan Humphrey Buys at Other Music

​Ha, note to celebrities: request someone other than Dave Itzkoff, should your publicist force you to go on a night out with the New York Times. 22-year-olds as pretty as Penn Badgley do not belong in Mars Bar. They do probably belong at former CBGB retail outlet John Varvatos, where Itzkoff a ... More >>

CBGB Celebrates Its Third Year of Helping John Varvatos Sell Clothing

​Three years ago yesterday CBGB hosted its final performance. The memory of its terrifying bathroom and indifferent bookings lives on, as does some ersatz version of its stage, upon which are now heaped piles and piles of John Varvatos shoes. Even the garbage-strewn alley behind the venue has ... More >>

"Musto's Door Dispute"

The Vaporous Ghost of CBGB: Now Offering Some Retail Space You May Be Interested In

​Did you know that the Bowery is "resurgent"? EV Grieve tracks down the real estate listing for the now vacant Morrison Hotel gallery--in turn, the former site of the CBGB Gallery, back when CBGB still existed--which is now for lease. Evidently the flickering memory of the decrepit old punk cl ... More >>

Fashion Week: SuChin Pak Texts at Richard Chai; ThreeASFOUR's E.T. Chic

Credit: Stacey Anderson Voice editors Stacey Anderson and Araceli Cruz are reporting all weekend from fashion week, that bizarre New York spectacle of pre-recession bonkers insanity. Richard Chai Cedar Lake February 14 AC: As the line of pubescent men march down the runway at Richard Chai's Fall ... More >>

Soup and Homicidal Nuts: Recalling a Cheaper, Scarier Village

Scenes from the 'Die Yuppie Scum' Rally at the Bowery Wine Club

There Goes the Bowery. . . Again

Where did everything go? They're messin' with my frockin' town.

MONDAY | 5.19

TOO TOUGH TO DIE

Joey Ramone lives

The East Village Goes South, Again

Pissed-off community activists face off against sterilization, Bruce Willis

No Context: John Varvatos Store Opens to Protesters at 315 Bowery

John Varvatos Wants Care Bears On Fire Mom's Phone Number

Bowery Watch: The Three Dollar ATM

It's Official: CBGB To Be John Varvatos. But Wait, There's More.

RIP, CBGB. Welcome, John Varvatos...

Yes! The Soul of Rock Music Will Live on the Bowery

All Sold Out at CBGB

How much is that mosh pit in the boutique window?

Prize Patrol—Deconstructing the CFDA Awards

Prize Patrol

American Fashion Awards Itself