If your mental image of Holocaust education is purely solemn museum silence and your mental image of punk is purely someone shouting in a leather jacket while alarming a parent, St. Pete has an event this weekend that would like to aggressively challenge both assumptions. The Heebie Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk lands Sunday, March 22 at 4 p.m. at Bayboro Brewing (2390 5th Ave. S), bringing together author Steven Lee Beeber, live music, and a conversation that sounds equal parts fascinating, unsettling, and very much not your average Sunday beer plan.
The program is presented by The Florida Holocaust Museum and is inspired by Beeber’s book which has the same name as the event. The evening includes a 60-minute lecture, live music channeling the raw early sound of acts like the Ramones, Richard Hell, and Blondie, plus a moderated conversation and audience Q&A. Tickets are priced at $12 for museum members and students, and $22 for not-yet members.
This sounds weird but stay with me
And yes, on paper, “Holocaust memory” and “punk history” may sound like two topics thrown together by a very sleep-deprived college professor. But Beeber’s central argument is that themes tied to Jewish identity, displacement, alienation, satire, survival, and speaking truth from the outside helped shape the spirit of American punk. The museum’s event description explicitly frames the night around that cultural intersection, tracing how those forces found a voice in punk’s abrasive, rebellious energy.
That is what makes this more than just a niche music lecture for people who own too many records and enjoy correcting others about CBGB. Beeber’s work connects figures like Joey Ramone, Lou Reed, and other downtown-era punk architects to a broader historical and cultural inheritance, asking audiences to look at the genre not just as noise, attitude, or fashion, but as a response to trauma, outsiderhood, and inherited memory. Which, frankly, is a lot more interesting than the usual “punk was angry because guitars were loud” summary.
Big ideas with a side of beer
There is also something wonderfully St. Pete about this happening at Bayboro Brewing instead of in a more buttoned-up setting. A talk this layered, paired with live music and conversation, feels built for people who want substance without the stiffness, and who appreciate a smart event that trusts them to sit with complicated ideas while holding a drink.
It also brings together some of St. Pete’s most treasured institutions, with local icons like Daddy Kool Records, WUSF, and WECX all joining together with the museum and the brewery.
So if you are looking for something genuinely different to do this weekend, this is a strong candidate. It has history, music, big ideas, and the kind of premise that makes you say, “Wait, what?” right before learning something memorable. Which, honestly, is one of the best reasons to leave the house.
