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Too Old To Rock & Roll?

I just finished reading an article in The NY Times about Rock-and-Roll Hotels – you know, hotels Tvwind where rock bands stay and throw TVs out the windows and such.  I didn’t even think they were going to mention the Chelsea – and of course I was outraged – and then when they finally did it was only to imply that the building where the Dead and the Airplane partied was no longer a rock-and-roll hotel!

Apparently, a band called “Metric” chose the Hotel Rivington – a glass and steel monstrosity that sticks out like a sore thumb on the Lower East Side – over our proudly anarchic establishment.  Rock stars are people with aspirations, you see, no longer tolerant of grunge or disorder.  They want high speed internet and a workout room. 

Well, who the hell ever heard of “Metric” anyway! Suddenly the Hotel that was home to Jimi & Janis is no longer good enough. Wimp rockers!  Who comes to your concerts?  Nine-year-old girls? Your band is barred from the hotel now anyway!  No hotel rocks more than the Chelsea.  (Ed Hamilton)

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4 responses to “Too Old To Rock & Roll?”

  1. Don Sellner Avatar
    Don Sellner

    Damn right Ed! For better or worse, who was more rock and roll than Dee Dee? Did he stay at the Rivington? Patti Smith? I could make a list, but I don’t have that kind of time!

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  2. bluehour Avatar
    bluehour

    Those other hotels are for posers. The Chelsea has the real rock/punk legacy. Let’s not forget Dee Dee, and Leonard Cohen, and what about Patti Smith? One day, maybe I’ll write about the very nice rock star who peeled me off a sidewlk and helped me get back to my room after, um, too much drinking. Of course, if the “investors” who are changing the place have their way, the Chelsea may lose its tarnish and become another shiny overpriced place for posers.

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  3. funkydollarbill Avatar
    funkydollarbill

    we’ve shot around 20 music videos in the chelsea and every time we do we trash a room. either through partying or shooting the place is trashed. maybe no tv’s out windows cause thats just stoopid (why hurt innocent people down below) but definitely trashed halls and rooms w. bed sheets tied in knots, flooded bathrooms, burnt carpets, angry neighbors, furniture used as firewood, broken bottles, broken condoms, broken mirrors, broken windows, broken souls, and very hungover musicians and directors. Actually a few jobs ago (a video for Devendra Banhardt) where we shot in the room, upon check out Stanley told me the room was “the worst he’d ever seen in his lifetime”. I told him I could not believe that considering the freaks of the past that had stayed here and he said, no “this was definitely the worst”. I looked at my friend, the director who had been staying there and we smiled proudly and high fived much to Mr. Bard’s dismay. I did throw the maid a twenty for her troubles though.
    Other Bands who trashed the Chelsea: The Utah Saints, Feeder, Lorraine, Eye to Eye, Mortis, Bob Sinclar, and more…

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  4. fioricet Avatar
    fioricet

    fioricet

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