Here’s a weird one. I stumbled upon this odd video of old hardcore flyers (`cos I love that sorta stuff) based around Tim Sommer’s old `zine and NYU radio show from the very early `80s, “Noise the Show.” In watching same, I spied a quick flyer for a show featuring the Misguided (who I recently wrote about here) at a venue that didn’t ring a bell with me, that being the provocatively named Plugg Club on West 24th Street. My curiosity piqued, I did a bit of digging.While less celebrated than certain other hardcore-friendly venues of the era like A7, Great Gildersleeves and, of course, CBGB, I found that the Plugg Club actually has a considerably more storied reputation than I’d initially expected. Prior to its early `80s incarnation as the Plugg Club (which, along with the afore-cited Misguided, also played host to bands like Sonic Youth), that space at 140 West 24th Street was actually the loft of very-recently-deceased New York rock impresario Giorgio Gomelsky. To do justice to Gomelsky’s contributions to music and art in New York City is massive task, so let me forward you on to this great obituary for him posted on the excellent Dangerous Minds. You’d also do well to check out this earlier tribute to the man penned by Fur frontwoman and GreendoorNYC co-founder Holly Ramos (whose early parties Gomelsky hosted in that loft, otherwise known as The Red Door).
Suffice it today, I never made it to the Plugg Club or any other incarnation of Giorgio Gomelsky’s fabled space in Chelsea (although I did attend a few installments of GreendoorNYC when it held court in the space on St. Marks Place that later turned into Coney Island High. That’s gone now, too, of course).
Back at 140 West 24th Street, despite a Kickstarter campaign to save Gomelsky’s fabled space, the tentacles of real estate development took their toll. I haven’t been able to take a stroll down that street, but a Google Maps search painted a grim picture. Here’s the most recent depiction of that address...
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