If New York City were to host a similar version of South by Southwest, it would make sense to name it after CBGB, due to the similar four-letter acronym and all. In reality, the title of the CBGB Music and Film Festival makes sense because few venues had as much impact on the history of music, or at least produced as many relevant bands as CBGB. Thanks largely to the music scene popularized at the club, the world now has acts ranging from The Ramones, Blondie, The Talking Heads, Television and Patti Smith. Although the club closed its doors during 2006, the famous name has returned as the title of a four-day arts festival showcasing hundreds of upcoming performers.
During the six days of the festival (October 10 through October 13), more than 700 bands will play at 150 venues around Manhattan and Brooklyn (CBGB was a Manhattan club, but Brooklyn's somewhat taken over the arts vibe). We would copy/paste the entire schedule for you, but it's huge, so feel free to check it out at their website.
If you're the kind of person who prefers to check out the headliners over the up-and-comers, October 12 and Times Square is where you'll want to be. My Morning Jacket and Grizzly Bear will helm the free concert, and they'll be accompanied by the Wallflowers, the Divine Fits and a DJ set from LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy.
And yes, it is a music AND film conference, so there'll be plenty of music-based films as well. The first will be the debut of the new film about CBGB's founding by Hilly Cristal (played by Alan Rickman), but there will also be 120 live performance videos and other documentaries aired between October 10 and 13.
To cap it all off, the "conference" aspect will involve a number of music industry representatives and producers giving talks on the state of the music industry today.
