HOWL: Temporarily returning the East Village to its "humble beginnings"

New York Press on the HOWL! festival, which starts Friday and runs through Sept. 11:

Saving the iconic neighborhood from what one performer describes as “yuppie scum,” the HOWL! Festival’s organizers vow to temporarily return the East Village to its humble beginnings: Before streets became “crowded with people drinking,” as [artist Riki] Colon says, and before the upper middle class invested in housing while anxiously awaiting graffiti-free streets. HOWL! seeks to revive the beat poetry shouted from street corners and the days when artists were viewed as visionaries. This year’s festival has an additional endeavor: to make HOWL! relevant to a new generation, thereby passing along the East Village’s explosive, controversial and irreplaceable legacy.