You're right, about 80 million bands played there, so in one sense it's not such an amazing feat.
OTOH, it's just fucking cool. :)
I played there a few times; not sure how many bands got asked back. Getting that first gig was easy. Walked into the club, ran into Hilly Kristal, said I had a band. "Can you bring in 300 people?", "Oh, sure", I lied.
I found out we were playing when I was looking through the Village Voice to see what bands were around and saw Chinese Forehead[0] listed for the next week. :) Apparently some big name act canceled and they tossed together some showcase thing, and neglected to actually tell us. Pre-cell phone days, I guess.
It was a rush, and it was real accomplishment for me. It also cemented my desire to not be a spectator, of trying to get off my ass and get on stage, whatever that stage may happen to be.
It's not the same as becoming a dot-com millionaire or climbing K2, but all the same it I'm quite proud of having written and performed my songs at a world-famous dive. :)
So, for people looking at the list of amazing accomplishments listed in this thread, do not be discouraged.
You're right, about 80 million bands played there, so in one sense it's not such an amazing feat.
OTOH, it's just fucking cool. :)
I played there a few times; not sure how many bands got asked back. Getting that first gig was easy. Walked into the club, ran into Hilly Kristal, said I had a band. "Can you bring in 300 people?", "Oh, sure", I lied.
I found out we were playing when I was looking through the Village Voice to see what bands were around and saw Chinese Forehead[0] listed for the next week. :) Apparently some big name act canceled and they tossed together some showcase thing, and neglected to actually tell us. Pre-cell phone days, I guess.
It was a rush, and it was real accomplishment for me. It also cemented my desire to not be a spectator, of trying to get off my ass and get on stage, whatever that stage may happen to be.
It's not the same as becoming a dot-com millionaire or climbing K2, but all the same it I'm quite proud of having written and performed my songs at a world-famous dive. :)
So, for people looking at the list of amazing accomplishments listed in this thread, do not be discouraged.
Pick a goal; work until you reach it; repeat.
[0] For the curious: http://www.jamesbritt.com/chinese-forehead/