Filming continues today on East Sixth Street for "Ten Thousand Saints," a straight-edge coming-of-age story set in the 1980s East Village. Crews have fashioned the exterior of 423 E. Sixth St. into "D-Squat" (filling in for C-Squat?)…
There is also a trash fire in a barrel next down in front of the late Walter De Maria's home-studio.
Meanwhile, down toward A, EVG reader Creature pointed out this relic …
There are also some sidewalk sale props in the background…
The items were authentic enough that some people came by and took things from the unattended prop sidewalk sale…
The film is adapted from the Eleanor Henderson novel "Ten Thousand Saints." The husband-wife team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini direct. (They directed the 2003 Harvey Pekar film "American Splendor" with Paul Giamatti.) The cast includes Ethan Hawke as one of the parents.
One reader is enthusiastic about the film adaptation, noting in the comments:
This is a movie about the mid-80s hardcore scene that had shows at CBs and Pyramid and other LES venues. It's not about screwed up people. It is about the straight edge scene (no drugs, drink) and AIDS in 80s. It is based on a fantastic book. It will mark the first time the New York Hardcore scene makes it to Hollywood. Ethan Hawke plays a cool stoner dad who takes care of his son's best friend when the son dies. Win, win, win.
Here's more about the book from NPR.
"It's not about screwed up people. It is about the straight edge scene"
ReplyDeletefor anyone who was there this is a really really funny statement.
I think the value of the robot factory just rose $5 million.
ReplyDeleteThere was a crapload of random violence associated with scene. I remember when the straight edge skins showed up at Washington Square Park on the Fourth of July and beat up Anarchists and Squatters who were disrespecting the American Flag. Also, I remember when two punk kids were stabbed to death on St. Marks by skins. There was some crossover but for the most part LES Squatters and Skins were not allies.
ReplyDelete@ Anon 3:34- Shut up. My check hasn't cleared yet.
ReplyDelete"American Splendor" was fantastic.
ReplyDeletegod what I wouldn't give for that phone booth!
ReplyDeletemaybe Mr. Pants should by the shoot.
ReplyDeleteJohn Penley, you don't know what you're talking about.
ReplyDeletePunks and skins got along fine on the LES.
The skins who beat up the idiots for burning the flag on fourth of july 1988 were not straight edge... and that was not about hating punks.
The skins who attacked the anarchist bookstore the same day did not do it because they hated punks, but because there was a NAMBLA meeting there that day.
And the two punks that got stabbed protecting Ralphie didn't get stabbed because they were punks... that fight was over a work dispute. The stabber had just been fired from where Ralphie worked and blamed him.
Robot Factory-
ReplyDeleteOh God, I feel like I'm 18
How about when the NY skins came up to Boston at the YMCA show and started fights with all the Boston people...
ReplyDeleteHa D-Squat so damn stupid I don't have the words to express my dislike for this crap. Maybe we should sue C-Squat vs. D-Squat defamation of character. Straight Edge my ass. Hand me a beer already!
ReplyDeleteThey even plagiarized your sign Big Pants. That should be some sort of copyright infringement or something. Hurry up and paint a little copyright symbol on it.
ReplyDeleteBrendan you got some serious selective memory going on bro. The Twins were skins who routinely beat up punks. DMS = Doc Marten Stomp/Skinheads. Many of them were skins who routinely beat up punks. Harley and Jimmy G. in their teens and so on and so forth. So WTF are you talking about re: punks and skins in the '80s NYHC scene?
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling us that the skins beat up anyone who didn't think like them or believe what they believed and showing you're cool with it with your pseudo-defense of them. So what if they didn't beat up punks? They certainly beat up people more often for the fun of it than necessity.
Scott Ebanks a member of DMS killed one of those punks and has served over two decades for the murder.
D
will YOT, Insted, COS and more be on the soundtrack?
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot of in fighting in the scene and I can only speak of years 81-87. Skins were fighting normally with weaker groups , punks, gays, etc... But there was also mixed groups that got along. Also I knew a lot of punks that fought as well.
ReplyDeleteThere are way to many people trying to rewrite history and claim to be experts.
After 87 I heard the skins got worse but I can't validate it. I was working security 87-89 at several clubs and never had any real issues with skins.
There were a lot of wanna be tough guys that tried to make a name and doing so they would attacker weaker people.
The scene was full of fake people - wanna be gangsters, wanna be poor or street people , and you knew who they were.
Since I actually grew up in the LES Wald houses on D I was down with a lot of Puerto Ricans and I can tell you that many of these down low skins were not battling with them. In fact on several occasions I had to chill out some homies that wanted to bash some of the weekend warrior skin heads.
History is always being rewritten. Durning the early 80s punks and skins were the same. Most of the skins were punks first. Then some followed Harley and a few others and shaved their heads and wore docs, braces, etc...
DeleteThere were always fights but mostly everyone was cool with each other. In the mid 80s you had new kids coming on to the scene as skins and the skinhead thing took off. Then came the cliques. Straight edge, later white power skins, sharp,etc... All were pretty soft and targeted weaker groups.
I'm Puerto rican from Jacob Riis and I can't tell you how many times my homies would beat up on skins. Quite a few times I had to squash it if I knew them.
No one from the hood respected many of them and to be honest the punk and skins tried to avoid the " locals@ what they would call the local Puerto Ricans or Puerto Rican Gangs.
Later in 87 newbies came in the scene and it became more of a down low thing. Fake hardness, wannabe hoods, by 87 I went up
State and whe. I came back I no longer hung out so I don't know anything about Dms or there new jack kids and I never saw them on the D.
Hey, Anonymous Who posted shit about Scot Ebanks back in February 2014 --
ReplyDelete1. At the trial, two of the people who testified were the best friends of the victim, Lee Wells. These people, Michael McManus and Steven Kovlan, BOTH testified to NOT seeing Scot stab ANYONE. They said ALL they saw was Scot fighting Ralph Lopez. Lee Wells's BEST FRIENDS TESTIFIED FOR SCOT EBANKS!
2. Scot did not accept the plea bargain offered him because he wasn't guilty.
3. Anonymous -- you need the read the trial transcripts and learn something.
4. Scot Ebanks's trial records are in the public domain. He pled NOT GUILTY.
5. People who make negative comments about Scot should VISIT him.
6. Check the Geraldo Rivera show with the white supremicists on the panel? DMS were in the audience and on the panel. And they were OPPOSED to violence. One, Rico, protected a woman from getting hit by a chair.
7. Scot Ebanks personally protected me on more than one occasion.
Sad. Unfortunately someone died because of a fight. It doesn't matter who stabbed who. The person responsible for starting the fight has to take responsibility for the death. Sad for everyone.
ReplyDeleteYes sir it certainly is. And yes he took the responsibility now it's time to bring him home. Please check out his Facebook. FreeScottEbanks.
DeleteFAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE MITIGATING FACTORS/CULPABILITY
ReplyDeleteAt the age of 15, Ebanks left his home after being shuffled between his parents and experiencing abuse at the hands of his mom’s spouse. He was a young man who became a victim of the streets. He was homeless. He did what he had to survive. He slept in an abandoned building with 10 other kids who became his family. He stopped attending school .
The instant offense occurred during a group fight and an individual was stabbed to death. These were young men, acting in a group being influenced by peer pressure. Scott takes responsibility for starting the fight. He was accused of this crime by a co-defendant who was offered a plea deal. Scott did not enter a plea and went to trial. He was offered a plea of (8 1/3-25) but turned it down to have his day in court in hope the truth would come out that he started the fight but didn’t stab any one. Scott was 19 years-old when the instant offense occurred. He is imprisoned 24 years when he returns to the Parole Board in January 2016.
The criminal justice system in NYS is set to get convictions by any means necessary. The system is slighted against poor defendants who are forced to accept sub-standard legal representation. Prosecutors get cooperation from whoever rolls first and then builds a case against whoever is left. Criminal Justice should be based on the truth not on who the DA can get a guilty conviction on first. Reforming the plea-bargain system and providing adequate defense will make the scales of justice equal. Prosecutors rely on the plea bargain system to move their calendars along. The truth is this is not justice this is securing a conviction by any means necessary and in Scott Ebanks case, this means someone who did NOT perform the deadly act being convicted of such. This is a travesty of justice!
SECRETIVE PROCESS REGARDING OPPOSITION TO RELEASE
Under the auspices of providing safety and security, the NYS Board of Parole operates under a secretive process wherein victims, DA’s, judges and anyone else who wishes to write letters to the Board of Parole opposing someone’s release are allowed to do so in confidential files. This serves as a problem because the information cannot be verified for accuracy. There is no review of the material and it may even provide false material to the Parole Board. In the case of Scott Ebanks, it is believed there are secretive materials which were filed by advocacy groups/victim groups against his release but it is believed they are mistaking him for another offender.
SOLUTION PROPSED
We as the action committee to “Free Scott Ebanks” seek to gain Mr. Ebanks release from prison at the next Parole Board in 2016. We seek criminal justice reforms so that others are protected from falling victim to this corrupt system which rewards people who cooperate and punishes those who do not. We seek to make fairer criminal justice policies which take into account an individual’s culpability in a crime and examine their rehabilitative efforts when evaluating their suitability for release.
Late to the party but thought it worth mention.... we didnt put that sign on C-Squat till 91' or 92'
ReplyDeleteMr. Ebanks has made parole!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know anything about the family of Lee Wells? Where he was from and stuff like that?
ReplyDeleteLee Wells was from Twinsburg, Ohio and I was a very close friend of his but we lost touch about 2 years before the incident when he went off to NYC. I have always wondered what the details of the incident were and would like to learn more of the details of what actually happened.
ReplyDelete