Thurs. Nov.2

We were in New York City when the famous punk rock club CBGB went down for the final weekend with the Dictators, Blondie and the Patti Smith Group. Lotsa old punks showed - Jeff Magnum from the Dead Boys, Tommy Ramone - but the guy in the spotlight was owner, Hilly Kristal. And Hilly got to musing about a lot of things - cancer (he's fighting it with chemo), false promises (he thinks Mayor Bloomberg was all talk, no action) and gigs (Patti Smith playing 7 shows in a row, the Ramones early 17-minute wall of noise.) He also got to talking about Steven Lee Beeber's new book, "Heebie Jeebies at CBGBs," which is about the heavy Jewish presence on the scene back in the day (mid-late '70s). Kristal, who is Jewish, had this to say: A shrug. So what, coulda been any ethnicity, didn't matter to him. One Jewish musician who didn't want to be named was thoroughly pissed off. Some writers saw it just as an easy peg for a book and others went, "Huh? Didn't know Joey Ramone, the Dictators, Lou Reed and Chris Stein were Jewish?" Beeber read from his book at the CBGB Gallery on the final Friday, but we can't say we heard much. All the old punks had their own catching up to do and it just about drowned him out. So see what this Bostonian has to say for himself and his book at Brookline Booksmith Thursday Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. Free.

279 Harvard St., Brookline 617-566-6660 brooklinebooksmith.com