'Still doing it:' A visit to Howl! Happening on East 1st Street

[Photo from January by Stacie Joy]

Today at The New York Times, Michael Musto writes a piece on Howl! Happening: An Arturo Vega Project, the gallery and performance space that opened last March at 6 E. First St. between the Bowery and Second Avenue.

Per the article:

“I want to remind people how great the neighborhood can be and reinvigorate it,” said Ted Riederer, the director of the gallery, which opened last year at a medium-size storefront at 6 East First Street, not far from the former CBGB, Sounds record shop and other departed East Village landmarks.

Exhibits rotate about once every three weeks, with openings that sometimes bring together the area’s cantankerous stalwarts.

An opening last October celebrated the Pyramid, the Avenue A club that was a hub of the downtown drag, music and art scene for much of the 1980s. At one point that night, the crowd cheered as the burlesque performer Paula Now flung her wig, which got stuck on the chandelier.

“Old-timers will say, ‘The East Village is nothing like it used to be,’ and I say: ‘Oh, really? Well, tonight we have performances with drag queens on the bar,’” Mr. Riederer said. “We’re still doing it.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the opening-night celebration for Punk Magazine