Remembering Michael Shenker

As you may know, Michael Shenker, a longtime squatter and community activist, passed away last Saturday morning. Colin Moynihan wrote a feature on Shenker's life and death earlier this week for the Times:

Mr. Shenker was perhaps best known in the neighborhood as a tactician who thought up ways to protect appropriated buildings and community gardens that were subject to eviction or bulldozing. Some of the projects he started ended up with narratives as dramatic any of the operas he loved.

Meanwhile, there are several gatherings scheduled to celebrate his life.

Friday
Musical program in honor of Michael
7 p.m.; music starts around 8 p.m.
At 5C Cafe, Fifth Street at Avenue C
Burt Ekoff, Michael's piano teacher, and friends will be performing.

Sunday, October 10
Time's Up Garden Party
3:30 p.m. at El Jardin Del Paraiso
Located on Fourth-Fifth Streets between Avenues C and D
Michael was a co-founder of the More Gardens Coalition and a force behind saving NYC gardens. Reverend Billy and the choir will be at this event.

Saturday, October 16
March Around the Neighborhood
Meet in the middle of Tompkins Square Park at 5 p.m.
Friends will march around the neighborhood and arrive at his funeral.

Funeral for Michael at Mary House (Catholic Worker)
7 p.m. at 55 E. Third St.

Sunday, October 24
Celebration of Michael with Eric Drooker and Eden and John's East River Strong Band.
6-10 p.m. Location TBA



Previously on EV Grieve:
Michael Shenker, 1955-2010

Michael Shenker, 1955-2010

Longtime East Village homesteader Michael Shenker has passed away..... Friends placed a tribute in front of the former squat at 209 Seventh St., which he helped restore starting in 1987.

Here's a passage on the former squats by Lincoln Anderson in The Villager from 2009...

Michael Shenker came to live in the East Village in 1970, a 15-year-old, half-Jewish kid from Long Island. His model mother had been the Ipana toothpaste lady in TV commercials, which sometimes featured cameos by him and his brother. But things at home weren’t going well, and Shenker decided he had to get out.

The bohemian East Village, with its rocking music scene at the Fillmore East, naturally drew Shenker, an aspiring musician. At first, he was homeless, hanging out and crashing at night with members of a tough Puerto Rican gang. Working odd jobs — one saw him cleaning McSorley’s urinals — he eventually managed to get his own place. But the storefront he was living in had a fire, and then his rent quadrupled in the early 1980s, and he found himself again facing homelessness.

One day, he recalled, as he was sitting in Life Café, “This weird girl Natasha I used to play chess with looked over at me and said, ‘Mike, have you ever heard of squatting?’”

[Top photo by Fly; bottom photo by Caroline Debevec — both via The Villager]

He was also featured in New York from 1996. You can read that piece here.



I asked a few of his friends for comments:

Eden Brower:
I've known Michael since I was around 19 years old ... One thing about Michael is that before Ray's was going to be visited by the Board of Health for a few violations...Michael was there and helped with tiling the floor and cleaning. He also helped many of the squats with getting their electricity done. I'm sad that he's gone.

Barbara Robin Lee:
I'm going to remember him joyfully playing the piano with gusto and lots of talent. I loved his love for music and art. He was an amazing electrician. He was a strident political activist. He was a lover, a saucy flirt in the first degree. He knew no fear. That's about all I can say right now. Above all else, he was a good sober FRIEND!

Catch a screening of 'Squatter's Opera' this Sunday

The Sunday afternoon at 3, Theater 80 is showing the first public screening of Michael Shenker's "Squatter's Opera."

Here are details via the EVG inbox...

In 2019, a group of about 25 Lower East Side veteran squatters, artists, musicians and activists came together to resurrect the song "Live Free Or Die" from the late Michael Shenker's collection of songs that came to be known as "The Squatter's Opera." The performance was at Theater For The New City on May 26, 2019.

Simeon Rose created this short film of the event. This piece begins by explaining the hows and whys of Squatting via an informative introduction by graphic artist Seth Tobocman, followed by the musical characterization of scenes pulled from real life squatting and the quest for affordable housing.

Sunday's screening includes a Q&A with the cast and crew. There's a suggested donation between $5 and $20. All proceeds go directly toward the production. Find more info at Facebook. Theater 80 is at 80 St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

A tribute for Michael Shenker tonight

Michael Shenker, a longtime squatter and community activist, passed away on Oct. 2, 2010.

Tonight from 7 to 11, his friends will be celebrating his life at 5C ... the flyer below has the details...

Reminders: Memorial for Michael Shenker today in Tompkins Square Park

Previously.

In memory of Michael Shenker

Yesterday in Tompkins Square Park. Photos courtesy of Bobby Williams.

Previously.

Saturday, Oct. 26

[St. Mark's Place this morning]

Among the free things to do today...

• Local tribute band The Meetles will be performing in Tompkins Square Park from 2 to 6 p.m. In addition to the songs from their usual playlist, which contains classic rock music from the 1950s to 1980s, expect some Halloween-related tracks. More details here.

• Here's your chance to experience the current interpretation of the piece "Live Free or Die" from Michael Shenker's The Squatter's Opera. It starts at 12:30 p.m. in La Plaza Cultural Community Garden on Ninth Street and Avenue C. This link has all the details.

• The latest edition of Paul Tschinkel’s ART/new york series features longtime Bowery resident Curt Hoppe, exploring his work as a photographer and realist painter. Info on the program at this link. The discussion, along with a film, takes place from 7-9 tonight at Howl! Happening, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

Also, this is not free... "Downtown 81" starring Jean-Michel Basquiat is screening today and tomorrow (and next week) down at the Metrograph.

An RIP memorial on Avenue A and 5th Street

Two weeks ago (Oct. 5), someone created this memorial on the empty storefront at Fifth Street and Avenue A. (The illustration in the middle has been there since early September.)

Each person featured has died in recent years ... starting at the top left:
Bob Arihood, David Peel, Emily Mullen, Michael Shenker, Tuli Kupferberg, Cowboy Stanley, Spike, Erin O'Connor, Adam Purple, Bob "Apocalypse" Gurtler and Roger O'Neill. (Updated the list of names. Thank you Eden Bee and Chris Flash.)

Several people have asked me about this. Unfortunately, I don't know who created this. I've asked around, and no one seems to know much about it, including what may have linked the people featured in the memorial.

Meanwhile, someone defaced several of the photos in recent days. It likely won't remain up for too much longer.

Images, 2010

A sampling, in no particular order...

• Too many fires, such as this one on 14th Street and Avenue A (photo by EV Grieve reader Sergey)

• RIP Michael Shenker

• Shepard Fairey



• A BP protest



• Sammy



• The year of the bedbug(s)



• A murder outside Sin Sin



• Smurfs, now and forever



• Saving Ray's



• Random street shot, Second Avenue



• Finding EV Lazarus



• World Cup fever



• The end of the Mars Bar?



• Random street shot, Third Avenue



• Loving and hating the new bike lanes



• Exit the Telephone Bar, enter the 13th Step



• Markey Hayden Bena, 1956-2010 (Photo by Bob Arihood)



• Just another Saturday night in the East Village



• A crash and chaos outside The Bean (Photo by Vautrin)



• A murder on Seventh Street



• Art Around the Park



• EVLambo, now and forever — Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' (Photo by EV Grieve reader Joe)