At the 'Let Them Eat Cake/Eat the Rich/ No Comfort Zone street party'

First stop tonight for John Penley and company — the Economakis Dream Mansion on East Third Street...

...then it was on to the BMW Guggenheim Lab ... where the group busted inside as the gates were closing... and LES Jewels read a poem...

Then!

The Mars Bar...

We'll have more tomorrow... all photos by Bobby Williams.

Previously.

BMW Guggenheim Lab provided with 'contemporary urban life' case study during opening night party

[Photo by Bob Arihood]

Bob Arihood was outside the gates for last night's opening night party here for the BMW Guggenheim Lab. He has a whole photo sequence here.

Anyway, the photo above is something for the think tankers to discuss while finding "forward-thinking solutions for urban life."

Tonight at the BMW Guggenheim Lab: free screening of 'Blank City'

As you might know, the documentary provides an oral history of the No Wave Cinema and Cinema of Transgression movements in the Lower East Side in the late 1970s into the mid-1980s via interviews with Jim Jarmusch, Nick Zedd, John Waters, Deborah Harry, Fab 5 Freddy, Richard Kern, among many others.

And the film is playing this evening for free. Seating at 6; screening starts at 6:15. All this is followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Bette Gordon and James Nares.

"Blank City" director Céline Danhier answered some questions for me back in April when the film played at the IFC Center.

Bonus excerpt:

Do you think a creative movement such as No Wave Cinema is possible again in the East Village?

Of course the East Village is a very different place now and there is a lot more money here, but still I would have to say yes. I think art movements are very cyclical and I do think that a lot of that same raw energy and creative frequency is here. It is still what brought me to New York in the first place. Perhaps now that same youthful creative explosion is happening more in Brooklyn than the East Village, but the City is always in flux. As Jim Jarmusch notes in "Blank City," New York was initially a trading post and then a city grew around it and it is always constantly changing. There are new people coming in and out of the city and the East Village daily from all over the world and I think you can’t help but find inspiration from that sort of environment. All the ingredients are there for something new to happen in the future.

Read the whole interview here.

[1978 on the Bowery © GODLIS Used with permission.]

First look at the opening night party for the BMW Guggenheim Lab thing

So, here we are at the Opening Night Party ... I wasn't invited... but jdx was there, and he shared these photos...

It opens tomorrow to the public. At 1 p.m.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Guggenheim wants our rat-infested First Street lot

Residents pitching in to help refurbish First Street garden

Designs for urban life apparently don't include trees

Finding the right 'street-smart attire' for tonight's BMW Guggenheim Lab opening party

As we pointed out last month, The BMW Guggenheim Lab Team is hosting an opening reception of the BMW Guggenheim Lab tonight. Including! An evening of music curated by Thurston Moore, long-lost footage from TV Party (1978–1982) presented by Glenn O'Brien, and summer fare by the Brooklyn-based Roberta’s.

Fine. All fine! However! This part of the invite is quite perplexing:

Street-smart attire

What is street-smart attire? Given the context of the BMW Guggenheim Lab, it means Urban Think Tank meets The Barney's Warehouse Sale ÷ Vincent Spano in "Alphabet City" + the Coreys. We've consulted with several in-the-know people, who recommend a combination of these looks:

Let us know how it goes over!

Looking at the BMW Guggenheim Lab

So the BMW Guggenheim Lab had its first sneak preview for residents last evening leading up to its Grand Opening on Wednesday... We didn't go. But! You now have a good idea of what the place will look like...

Can't quite tell all that the Brooklyn-based Roberta's has on the menu... roasted eggplant sandwich... tomato cucumber salad ... and best cheese something ever ...

[Updated] Thanks to @thePeterHa for a better shot of the menu...

The gala opening-night party is Tuesday.

The BMW Guggenheim Lab is ready for its close-up tonight

There's a sneak preview tonight at the BMW Guggenheim Lab project ... which officially opens on Wednesday on Houston Street at Second Avenue or so. (I was invited, for the record.) It's only for residents of First Street and, rather vaguely, "community members." So don't get any funny ideas!

The BMW Guggenheim Lab looking to kill off a few more rats before next week's gala opening?

EV Grieve reader Steve Carter notes the new rat traps along First Avenue Houston leading up to The BMW Guggenheim Lab, which opens to the public on Wednesday. There are seven traps in the above photo... Anyway, what kind of a "mobile urban laboratory" doesn't have rats?

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Guggenheim wants our rat-infested First Street lot

Residents pitching in to help refurbish First Street garden

Designs for urban life apparently don't include trees

Continuing to question the BMW Guggenheim Lab's benefits to the local community

Thurston Moore curating music for BMW Guggenheim Lab's opening-night party

Work continues over at the BMW Guggenheim Lab on First Street ...

Meanwhile, the Guggenheimers are gearing up for the opening-night reception on Aug. 2, which you're invited to only if you received an invitation. (Yeah, we didn't get one either.)

Here's part of the invite someone who was invited shared with us...

Peter Lawson-Johnston, Honorary Chairman, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
William L. Mack, Chairman, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Jennifer Blei Stockman, President, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation

Harald Krüger, Member of the Board of Management, BMW AG

The BMW Guggenheim Lab Team

request the pleasure of your company for an opening reception of the BMW Guggenheim Lab.

An evening of music curated by Thurston Moore, long-lost footage from TV Party (1978–1982) presented by Glenn O'Brien, and summer fare by Roberta’s.

Street-smart attire.

Space is limited. RSVP essential by XXXXXXX

The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a mobile urban laboratory that will launch in New York City on August 3, 2011, before traveling to Berlin and Asia in a six-year initiative that will explore innovative ideas and designs for city life.

We're not sure if Thurston Moore will actually be there, or if he's just sending along some mix tapes or MP3s or what not for the bash...

Oh, and it opens to the rest of you schlubs on Aug. 3.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Guggenheim wants our rat-infested First Street lot

Residents pitching in to help refurbish First Street garden

Designs for urban life apparently don't include trees

Continuing to question the BMW Guggenheim Lab's benefits to the local community

Mobile crane alert! BMW Guggenheim Lab construction closes East First Street today

East First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue is closed today, as you might expect after seeing the crane photo.

Workers are on the scene to install the urban think tank, which we're told is the yellow thing on the back of the truck.*

Previously.

* Yes, that was a terrible joke.