Photo and reporting by Stacie Joy
The rat pack came together this past Friday night to toast the first issue of "Street Leather," a zine dedicated to stories of NYC's most beloved and hated rodents.
As we first reported back in March, two local residents — anonymous at the time — were collecting submissions for this project, an assortment of memorable encounters with rats in NYC.
During Thursday night's unveiling at the Francis Kite Club on Avenue C, the creators revealed themselves as two journalists with a shared interest in the subject matter — Jake Offenhartz and Olivia Bensimon.
The evening was suitably strange for a launch party for a rat zine. Claudi of Pinc Louds performed a rat song and a spoken-word poem while there were readings by contributors, such as Harry Siegel. Meanwhile, guests enjoyed a drink special called the Ratini.
Volume 1, illustrated by Sabrina Bezerra, is filled with stories, poems, photos, and other oddities about rats, dead and alive, and dedicated to "all the rats who died, often violently and in occasionally interesting positions." (We especially like the story about the Top View Hop-On-Hop-Off Double Decker tour bus.)
The zine is available in Brooklyn at Quimby's Bookstore and Spoonbills Books. Closer to home, free copies are available at Bluestockings, 116 Suffolk St., between Rivington and Delancey on the LES. (The editors are working on getting the zine in more places.)
Meanwhile, you can submit your rodent-related comics, poems, true stories, and songs to newyorkrathole (newyorkrathole@gmail.com) for possible publication in volume 2.
You can also follow @streetleathernyc on Instagram for updates.
Previously on EV Grieve:
1 comment:
Great name for a zine. I missed the earlier call for rat stories — maybe I’ll write up a little something about the increase in shrieking on our block of 7th St. in recent years. There seem to be way more encounters between rats and people leaving bars after closing time.
Post a Comment