Photos tonight by EVG contributor Stacie Joy...
Saturday, October 31, 2015
The Alamo returns to Astor Place this Halloween
[Photo by Vinny & O]
Back apparently for a one-night-only appearance this Halloween... workers removed the Cube last Nov. 25 for (apparent) safekeeping during the never-ending reconstruction of Astor Place.
[Photo by 8E]
... and the Cube moves...
Astor Place cube. Best costume ever! https://t.co/vZloQa8f75 by federico #phhhoto pic.twitter.com/sm5pPtKyQL
— Federico Ulfo (@feulf) October 31, 2015
Report of a fire at 426 E. 14th St. last night
The report came after midnight from the address between Avenue A and First Avenue...
MAN ALL HANDS 426 E 14 ST, MIXED OCCUPANCY FIRE ON 1ST FLR,
— FDNY (@FDNY) October 31, 2015
Per EVG reader LULU, who took these photos and video:
Smokey hallways and smell of burning plastic prompted call to fire department. Upon arrival became clear the cleaners was source. FDNY swiftly contained. But building still smells like burning plastic. This was an apparent electrical fire that was caught just in time.
A chance to toss your pumpkins tomorrow, but go ahead and enjoy today
There's a Pumpkins Smash tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the community garden on East 11th Street — entrance west of 420 E. 11th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.
Per the signage:
Bring Pumpkins, Jack-o-Lanterns, and Gourds for a Smashing Good Time! You smash them — and NYC Compost Project will turn them into compost for City parks and green spaces. Join us for refreshments, raffles, and more!
Seems a little early to have a pumpkin smash — the day after Halloween? It would be like holding the MulchFest on Dec. 26. But we understand if you want to get this Halloween crap out of your apartment to start getting the place ready for Easter.
H/T Steven
Halloween reminders
If you're wearing a mask and want to enter the 7-Eleven on Avenue A and East 11th Street, then you will need to remove it before heading into the store, per the sign.
If you absolutely MUST keep the mask on while shopping at 7-Eleven, then head to the locations on East 14th Street near Second Avenue or the Bowery near East Third Street. Neither of those stores have the mask-off mandate.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Searching for Answers
Savages have announced a 2016 tour that will bring them to the Irving Plaza on March 28 (and the Warsaw on March 29). Tickets for those shows went on sale today.
Meantime, the London quartet has a new record out in January via Matador ... from "Adore Life," here's "The Answer."
EV Grieve Etc.: Community garden flood plans; Fall fundraiser celebration at Bluestockings
[Photo on East 4th Street by Derek Berg]
Fall fundraiser celebration at Bluestockings tonight (Facebook ... BoweryBoogie)
Inside the $5.3 billion Stuy Town deal (The Real Deal)
Flood plan funding for East Village/LES community gardens (DNAinfo)
Some opposition at the CB3 meeting over the proposed new bar the Drift on Avenue C. CB3's SLA committee ultimately gave the OK with some stipulations. (Gothamist)
Details on a fire yesterday in a Stuy Town building at 271 Avenue C (DNAinfo)
The latest Christo and Dora activity, and concern about poison in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)
The band Public Access TV carries on after losing everything in the Second Avenue explosion (HuffPost)
Documentary about Chinatown Fair Arcade Premieres at IFC Center next month (BoweryBoogie)
Orchard Street's Top Hops opening a stall at the Essex Street Market (The Lo-Down)
East Village-based band Mephiskapheles headlining the 4th Annual Devil's Night tonight at Mercury Lounge (Mephiskapheles website, Mercury Lounge)
[Wednesday in the rain via Grant Shaffer]
Walter Schreifels on the latest video from the Dead Heavens (Dangerous Minds)
The Mathieu Amalric retrospective continues (Anthology Film Archives)
Details of a murder that gripped the city in 1897 (Ephemeral New York)
RIP Market Diner (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)
... and on Sunday afternoon, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, fresh off a West Coast stint opening for Neil Young, begins an 8-week holiday residency at Joe's Pub... tickets on Nov. 1 and Nov. 8 are $12; $15 after that. Details here.
[Updated] St. Mark's Place will officially be dead — or not! — on Monday
Ada Calhoun's "St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street" makes its official debut on Monday… and there's a free book release party at the Cooper Union Great Hall from 6-8 that night…
The evening includes a talk from Calhoun, free beer from Brooklyn Brewery and live music from a cover band that includes Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys…
The book — a narrative history of the street — has received a good deal of press of late, including a cover story in The Village Voice and a feature in the Guardian UK.
I spoke with Calhoun, who was born and raised on St. Mark's Place, about the in-progress book in March 2013. (EVG is among the many people quoted in the book.)
Here's an excerpt from that interview from March 2013:
Any common themes emerging so far?
"The thing that I kept running into [were] people saying that there was this golden moment on the street when St Mark's was really itself and reached its full promise on this date and for these five years there was no better place in the entire world. It was the heart of culture — the center for music, art and poetry," she said. "People would describe passionately how it was so vibrant and they were so alive, then it died this horrible death."
For instance, Jack Kerouac biographer Joyce Johnson said that St. Mark's was all over in 1974 when someone flipped a cigarette into her son's stroller.
Another person Calhoun interviewed said that the scene died in 1974. Someone else said that all started in 1974. She also heard that the block reached its peak in 1978. Not to mention 1980. And so on.
"I'm really curious what's going on now. Basically my theory right now, based on doing this book, is that everyone was wrong. Everyone who thought it was dead was wrong," she said. "So people who think it's dead now are probably wrong too. My theory is that people coming out of karaoke bars or yogurt shops ... this is going to be some new wave of culture that we don't know about and won't even know about until it's over."
Updated 11/3
You can find a recap of the book event at the Observer here ... and the Guardian UK here.
Previously on EV Grieve:
St. Mark's Place is dead! Long live St. Mark's Place!
About the first Pierogi Tasting Day in the East Village
Via the EVG inbox…
The East Village Meat Market is joining forces with Veselka on Oct. 31 to host the first-ever Pierogi Tasting Day.
Time: 9 a.m. — 6 p.m.
Location: East Village Meat Market, 139 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth Street.
• We will be serving pierogies from Veselka, Rosa-Ly Pierogi, Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen and Hunter Cultural Center
• We will be giving out free pierogies ranging from the usual potato-cheese to pumpkin and short ribs.
• All pierogies will also be available for sale
[Updated] A few Halloween-related things to do this weekend
There's a "Ghostbusters"-themed party for kids Saturday from 5-7 p.m. at La Plaza Cultural on Avenue C and East Ninth Street (look for the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man inflatable...)
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The Little Missionary's Day Nursery is having a party at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery on Second Avenue at East 10th Street from noon to 4 p.m.
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Exit9 at 51 Avenue A between East Fourth Street and East Third Street is again hosting a live surgery in the front window by Dr. Frankenchef and his nurse, Ghoulia Childs, from 7 to 9 p.m. ... which will prepare you for the self checkout at Key Food. (Check out Stacie Joy's photos from last year.)
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The School For The Dogs is hosting a Dog Trick-&-Treat Parade... meeting at 2:30 on the northwest corner of Avenue A and Second Street... (Find more details here.)
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There is a Halloween costume party from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at An.mé, 328 E. Ninth St. between FIrst Avenue and Second Avenue… it is also the one-year anniversary for the children's specialty shop…
Via the EVG inbox…
Anyone who comes in can enter their name to win one of 5 raffle prizes…. we will be giving away $10, $20, $30, $40, $50 store gift cards. Winners will be announced following week & notified by email.
Anyone who joins our mailing list that day will receive a 10% off coupon by email to use on their next purchase.
Goody bags for the kids will be given out
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... and on Sunday...
Via the EVG inbox...
Join us for a special Post Halloween performance by THE UNDEAD ! After leaving horrorpunk band The Misfits, Bobby Steele formed the Undead in 1980. They soon became one of the first hardcore punk bands based on the Lower East Side and are still going today! They are releasing a new album "The Morgue the Merrier" next month! Set time: 4 p.m.
Also, for the first time, Seth Tobocman will be showing a slideshow of his radical commix in Tompkins Square Park. The slideshow of political artwork will be projected just after sunset and will be accompanied with live music by Eric Blitz, Zef Noise and Andy Laties.
Find more details on the show here.
Le Petit Parisien opening soon on East 7th Street
Le Petit Parisien is a new French (duh) sandwich shop coming to East Seventh Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square … don't know to much about them at this point. (Oh, they are hiring. The ads says that you must be able to work in the next few days.)
The space was previously home to Pilar Jewelry Repair, which closed in the spring when proprietor Pilar La Rosa's husband Walter passed away.
Photo yesterday by Derek Berg
Wooing the condo crowd with naked women motif on Avenue A
Ben Shaoul's 100 Avenue A has now entered the next phase — sales!
The broker bunting arrived on the sidewalk bridge yesterday here between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street … advertising the teaser site with contact info for broker Ryan Serhant, star of "Million Dollar Listing New York," and his team.
And how would you choose to sell these 33 (or 44!) condominium residences?
With naked women!
The design — naked women lying at rest with 100 Avenue A written all over her body — recalls the title sequences that Maurice Binder created for the first 14 James Bond films…
An homage? Or just some butt shots?
Anyway, we know who the target audience is now for these residences, which as reported, will range in price from $1.3 million to $2.3 million.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Trying to figure out what is going on at 98-100 Avenue A