Audi 2008 Annual Report Download - page 90

ost New Yorkers, like myself, pass cultural
landmarks every day and seldom stop to con-
sider them. Occasionally there’s a bronze
plaque out front that catches the eye, forcing you to
slow down and acknowledge who slept, worked or died
inside. Like the one at the Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd
Street in the trendy Chelsea district. The Chelsea has
become a legend unto itself: This is where the voices of
the countercultural and antiwar movements of the
1960s descended – the hotel has been home to artists,
bohemians and musicians ever since.
We Americans are especially unsentimental about our
rock ’n’ roll and pop landmarks, which it can be argued is
appropriate. After all, isn’t rock ’n’ roll all about moving
forward? And yet, each time a rock club like CBGB –
where the careers of musicians like Blondie first began –
turns into a shoe store, I wonder whether or not more
should be done to keep the memories alive. On this road
trip from New York to Los Angeles, I am going to try and
cover as much rock ’n’ roll hallowed ground as I can.
The journey begins in my town: New York City. First, I
drive up the Joe DiMaggio Highway towards the Bronx.
Today, there are DJs, breakdancers and rappers in Aus-
tralia, Iceland, China, probably Antarctica too. But there
wouldn’t be any anywhere if it weren’t for what hap-
pened up here at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue: On August 11,
1973, somewhere between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., Jamaican
immigrants didn’t just play records at one of the many
block parties in the South Bronx, for the first time they
livened them up by using rhythmic mixing and scratch-
ing. Thus, hip hop was born.
36 years after that historic night, rumors are circulating
that real estate developers are going to gut this place
Copy Marc Spitz
Illustrations Matthew Cook
M
and turn it into more expensive condos. The neighbor-
hood and some politicians have tried to intervene.
I leave New York and head for Washington, D.C., where
one of the most gifted soul musicians ever known was
born in 1939. As a young boy, this singer was at his
happiest spending the afternoon on wasteland near his
family’s home, where he would sing on the bank of the
Watts Branch. Today, that very same area is now named
after him: Marvin Gaye Park.
An icon of the New
Wave era: Debbie
Harry of Blondie.