{"id":800,"date":"2018-12-01T02:51:47","date_gmt":"2018-12-01T07:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/?p=800"},"modified":"2018-12-10T16:08:38","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T21:08:38","slug":"bleecker_bob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/2018\/12\/01\/bleecker_bob\/","title":{"rendered":"Bleecker Bob Plotnik 1942-2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

The record club gains another member. Word came today that venerable NYC icon and record store owner Bob Plotnik had sadly passed on. Bob’s store, Bleecker Bobs, was known worldwide for many decades for not just having an amazing\u00a0selection but also for its legendary cantankerous owner. And while the tales spun by seasoned record buyers have centered on their\u00a0treatment by Bob, surprisingly there are a small handful who did befriend him and dodged the majority of the wrath he inflicted on others.<\/p>\n

My own experiences in his store were actually very limited as 1) his stuff was usually overpriced and 2) I was very aware of his rep. Still, it was kind of a kick to quickly pop in, scan his garage punk bins, realize I didn’t want to pay that much and scoot out before you got tagged.<\/p>\n

In all honesty, my own interesting Bob moment came many, many years later and had nothing to do with his temperament. On April 15, 2001, Joey Ramone succumbed to lymphoma after a long widely-publicized 7-year battle. Having grown up listening to the Ramones, it was a sad moment for me. One that seriously marked the all-too-real\u00a0passage of time.<\/p>\n

The following evening while wandering downtown, I made a spur of the moment decision to walk by CBGBs. Purely as a gesture of respect. To my surprise,\u00a0I was not the only one with that idea. Turns out a small group of punks had set up a small altar right in front of the club. I watched\u00a0people singing, giving offerings and took a few photos for my own files.<\/p>\n

Shortly after midnight, a private ceremony inside the club let out and guests began leaving the club. Spotting photographer Roberta Bailey, I quickly ran over and asked her if she minded me taking a photo of her in front of the club. Once that was accomplished I looked around to see if there was anyone else I could cajole into\u00a0a shot. That was when I ran into friends Billy Miller and Miriam Linna. Having just left the service, they stopped and chatted with me for a short while.<\/p>\n

All of a sudden Billy goes “Hey Bob!” and goes over to chat to a leather-jacketed\u00a0Bob Plotnik quickly making his way through the throng of people in front of the club. Now, as anyone can tell you, Billy could charm the pants\u00a0off of\u00a0anyone. This moment was no different. Expecting a\u00a0curt\u00a0brush off, I was surprised to see Bob turn around,\u00a0smile, and extend his\u00a0hand. Billy being Billy, just grabbed Bob by the shoulder in a playful embrace.<\/p>\n

Just at that moment someone to the left of me, also with a camera, pointed it at the two of them. Instantly recognizing a golden photo op, Billy swings Bob toward the camera all the while still embracing him. Within a half\u00a0a second I also had my camera up and pointed it at this most unusual scene. Clicked the shutter, and wound up with this shot. A testament to the amazing Billy Miller, a man who could tame a cranky record store owner using just his smile. RIP Bob. RIP Billy. It’s getting to be a crazy party up there.<\/p>\n

\"Billy<\/a>
Norton Records\u2019 Billy Miller and Bleecker Bob Plotnik in front of CBGBs April 16, 2001.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The record club gains another member. Word came today that venerable NYC icon and record store owner Bob Plotnik had sadly passed on. Bob’s store, Bleecker Bobs, was known worldwide for many decades for not just having an amazing\u00a0selection but also for its legendary cantankerous owner. And while the tales spun by seasoned record buyers … Continue reading “Bleecker Bob Plotnik 1942-2018”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[159,88,121,68],"tags":[44,162,161,72,160,89,45],"ppma_author":[281],"class_list":["post-800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bleeker-bobs","category-norton-records","category-personalities","category-the-ramones","tag-billy-miller","tag-bleecker-bobs","tag-bob-plotnik","tag-cbgb","tag-icon","tag-miriam-linna","tag-norton-records"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","authors":[{"term_id":281,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jcuyubamba","display_name":"Jeff","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f7f2689c4c49560eb348832cb73281b822a7fbae40c8e1598e8e3c09b6d4de91?s=96&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":814,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800\/revisions\/814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakesomeaction.nyc\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}