Punk rock chocolate. I'm loving it. Go to www. chocolatebarnyc.com, give them $25 and they will post you the CBGB's Punk Rock Chocolate Box. Inside you'll find 16 pieces of punktastic truffle chocolate, a steel logo keychain, some CBGB stickers and a postage-paid petition, writes Brian Boyd

If you're one of those freaks who don't want to give your credit card details to an internet site because the CIA/David Icke/International Jewish-Vatican-World Bank Conspiracy might steal your soul (or whatever), you could send them one of those old-skool cheques to the address on the website. And if you're just plain mean, but still have a bit of a punk conscience, you can avail of the special $3 option which will get you a single bar of retro chocolate in a limited- edition CBGB keepsake package, as well as also the postage-paid petition.

My sources in the punk chocolate world tell me the packages are due up on the website any day now, so if they're not there now, keep going back.

The petition is the important thing here. The landmark New York club faces imminent closure over a rent payment dispute. It's all quite complicated, but basically the club owes the homeless charity which owns the building a lot of back rent money - $300,000, to be precise. The charity also wants to double the club's existing rent to $40,000 a month.

All of this comes on top of a change in US law following a fire during a show at a nightclub in Rhode Island two years ago. Similar to what happened to Irish venues after the Stardust tragedy, every US club now has to considerably improve its safety features to comply with the new legislation.

CBGB - the letters stand for "Country, Bluegrass and Blues", as any pub music quizzer will tell you - was opened by Hilly Kristal in 1973 on a site that had previously been a hangout for the local Hell's Angels chapter. It was during the punk/no wave era that the club became as famous a musical site as the Cavern was/is to Liverpool. Kristal was a big fan of that arty, boho scene and put on some of the first ever gigs by Patti Smith, Television, Blondie and The Ramones.

To anyone who has had the pleasure to stand inside this local sacred space, the big letdown is that it's an awful kip. But that isn't the point. It isn't just about the building, it's what the name CBGB stands for and how and why it has become a globally famous land- mark. So famous, The Strokes even slum it there to this day.

A lot of the problem here is that this isn't a straight fight between a legendary punk club and The Man. This is CBGB versus a charity.

"The real thing here is they don't want me back," Kristal has said about how the owners keep upping his rent. "We really did establish something here and the club is a symbol now for helping young musicians and new artists. I think we do a nice thing for a lot of people. Maybe it's not quite as wonderful as the work the charity does, but it has its benefits."

In Dublin - even though you would be pushed to call them "heritage sites" - the Dando, TV Club, etc were all just shrugged out of existence. This, though, is something different. Over the next few months expect all those big-name acts to revisit the club to play special benefit gigs and to whip up a bit of public support for the club's plight.

But the real campaign is the punk rock chocolate one, simply because it has a worldwide reach. It's just so funny and so imaginative that you have to row in behind it. And anyway, that steel logo CBGB keychain is a bit of a must have. So go on, do your bit, go to www.chocolatebarnyc. com and place your order. Eat Chocolate for Victory.