East Village resident Ethan Minsker was out walking his dog this morning at 8:30 when he came across a fight in progress on Third Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street.
"The guy in the purple took out a baseball bat and beat the other guy on the street. The guy who got beaten with the baseball bat jumped in the man's car, drove it on the sidewalk and messed it up. Then he got pulled out of his car and retreated to his own car. And the guy broke the side window."
The fight happened very quickly, Minsker said, and the police were not yet on the scene during this video... but several other bystanders were shooting video as well...
It's very possible that you at least heard the "In the Air Tonight" car on East Village streets this holiday season — you know, the 1985 Mazda Rx-7 GSL with an arena-ready sound system that plays the 1981 Phil Collins mega-hit on repeat.
A mutual neighborhood friend led me to meet the car's owner — Don Garcia, a Bushwick-based plumber. We had questions for Garcia after the car was spotted in the East Village on Dec. 14... the subsequent EVG video clip was viewed nearly 120,000 times on Twitter ...
Saturday night is not over until the ‘In the Air Tonight’ mobile makes a dance stop pic.twitter.com/IB89cJRyVd
The two men shown in the video were walking by, and spontaneously felt compelled to start dancing along to the song, featuring that epic drum break, now played at sports arenas around the world. (Gothamist has more on this dance story here.)
This holiday season, Garcia initially used the car — and its sound system — for a toy drive at the St Mary’s Healthcare System for Children. He does the Toys for Tots with the Legendary Muscle Cars Auto Club.
Garcia seemed surprised but appreciative of the attention. He answered some questions before letting me do a ride-along in the East Village as he demonstrated the newly wired sound system and lighting. And of course, playing "In the Air Tonight." (For the record, Garcia did not wear any ear plugs, though I did for this trip)...
How long have you been doing this?
I have had this car for seven years, working on it all that time. But as far as the music and lights part, I started [on Dec. 13] — the day before the videos surfaced.
Why this song?
I was playing this song because it’s such a good song to tune the car stereo and speakers to. It’s a song that makes you want to go out and do something you didn’t think you could. It was me and Lito, the guy who wired my car.
We’d been in Williamsburg earlier testing it out, and we were driving through the East Village when these two guys came out of a bar and requested, well demanded, that we put the song up loud, so we did. They jumped in front of the car and started dancing. We opened the doors at the light, pumped up the sound, and there were about 30 or 40 people standing there watching. When the song ended, we drove off.
Do you play any others?
Yes. I like rap, Spanish music, older stuff with no bad language. I like family-friendly stuff.
Any conversations with the NYPD?
No.
Do you play the same song the entire time over and over?
It's a good song and has a clear sound. People will stop and look, especially at night when you can see the lights.
Garcia also said that he never gets tired of the song.
It was interesting to be in the passenger seat as we rolled through the neighborhood with lights flashing and the song pumping. Lot of bass, and, of course, the famous drum solo. People waved, they pointed, danced, smiled and gave us thumbs up. A lot of people whipped out their phones and started filming. I didn’t see anyone react negatively.
This happened today around noon on Avenue A and Seventh Street, per Salim ...
It's not immediately clear what happened (other than that the two cars drove straight into each other, perhaps in a game of chicken where no one really wins).
EVG reader Chris Rowland shares this photo this afternoon... showing a broken-down car in the middle of Second Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place...
Possibly (or not!) related: The good-sized pothole near the car...
Crews for "The Deuce," HBO's upcoming drama series starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal, continued to film in parts of the neighborhood today (they were shooting a scene at Josie's on Sixth Street earlier)... the above photo via @slicksean shows the altered exterior of the City Cinemas Village East on Second Avenue at 12th Street ... transformed into an adult theater...
Written by "The Wire" creator David Simon and longtime collaborator George Pelecanos and directed by Michelle MacLaren, The Deuce follows the HBO blue logostory of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world that existed there until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic, and the renewed real estate market ended the bawdy turbulence.
EVG contributor Derek Berg spotted some of the vintage cars used for filming "The Deuce," HBO's upcoming drama series starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal, in parts of the neighborhood today (like on Seventh Street)...
Written by "The Wire" creator David Simon and longtime collaborator George Pelecanos and directed by Michelle MacLaren, The Deuce follows the HBO blue logostory of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world that existed there until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic, and the renewed real estate market ended the bawdy turbulence.
And are some props from Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ...
