Benefit for Ray's: "I am thrilled to be part of this moment in our community of the East Village"

As a reminder... Bob Arihood and Slum Goddess have already made mentions of this....

Benefit for Ray's Candy Store
Monday, March 8
7:30 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Theater For The New City, 155 First Ave.
Between 9th and 10th streets.
Suggested donation of $15 — sliding scale from $5 to $15

Here's the official information from Facebook:

It promises to be a wonderful evening of giving love to a neighbor in need. Ray himself will be there with us! and some of our East Village activists. This will be an event from our beloved neighborhood to Ray, a men who has work hard and long and have give back, support, smiles, someone who has protect many of us! today we can give back to him and celebrate the spirit that still lives among us! the spirit that mayor Bloomberg and his politics want to finish, to eradicate ... We will fight against it! Lets get united to celebrate the very beautiful Ray!!! Lets have him for many more years! He'll be our strongest representation... right here in the heart of our little Villlage. please assist, collaborate, The whole East village will be there! So fun...

Show Schedule

7:30 — D.J. DiDi of the Brazilian Girls

7:45 — Ms. Marilyn singing her smash hit "My Man Ray!

8:00 — Rev. Billy and the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir

8:20 — Janine Otis

8:35 — Joff Wilson of the Bowery Boys

8:50 — Marni Rice

9:05 — Blind Boy Paxtion

9:20 set up

9:30 — East River String Band

9:55 set up

10:00 — The Bill Murray Experience

10:30 — D.J. Didi

11pm End of show!!

Francisco Valera is helping organize Monday's benefit... I asked him for his story.

Hello this is Francisco Valera. I am a former member of the Reverend Billy and the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir. I've lived in the East Village for the past 17 years, upstairs from Ray's Candy Store. Ray is a great friend and over the years I have come to love him as family. Ray and I share the same Landlord. I have been aware of his situation for a while now and we talk about it, as myself, up until a week or two ago was very late with my own rent, due to lack of work in the middle of such difficult times... does it sound familiar? I hear it all the time, from some many different kinds of people... Ray just became 77 years old recently, we had a very cute party in there, and he has been working at the little store for almost four decades, since i was a baby!


He is truly a sweet, sincere, funny, workaholic, knowledgeable, humble gentleman, a totally honorable man! He is an Icon, although nowadays that term is use so commonly... when it comes to Ray, it gains all its original meaning...

I am thrilled to be part of this moment in our community of the East Village a legendary one, with such an amazing Human Being Ray Alvarez, It can't get any better!

Meanwhile, Bob Arihood has the latest news on Ray's at Neither More Nor Less.

In case you're home and hungry for Ray's tonight...

The delivery service is working...718-473-9636




Previously on EV Grieve:
Ray's new Saturday evening delivery service starts tomorrow

Will Ray's become a noodle shop? (Plus, another Ray's benefit set for March 8)

Well, all sorts of Ray-related news to pass along. First, a bombshell from Scoopy's column this week in The Villager:

An associate of Barbara Chupa, the property’s managing agent, told him they want to replace his historic candy store with — get this! — a "noodle shop." "They told me they have a Chinese guy who can pay more money, and he will hire me as the night manager and keep me working here," Ray revealed. Asked if he would even consider the "offer," he said he's not falling for it: "No! They would get rid of me right away."

Second, as we wrote last Friday, some volunteers from the neighborhood were starting a Saturday night delivery service. I was one of the homebound Ray's fans eager for a delivery. Unfortunately, there were some snafus with their phone service. They're try again this Saturday. Bob Arihood has more on this story here.

Third, on the Save Ray's page on Facebook, Haley Moss Dillon reported that a single person made a $300 donation on the Save Ray's PayPal account, which is still active: saverayscandystore@gmail.com


[Photo of Ray's by Joann Jovinelly via her Flickr account]

Fourth, Francisco Valera, who has lived upstairs from Ray's for 17 years, is helping organize a benfit for Ray at the Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., on Monday, March 8. As Valera wrote on Facebook:

"Some incredible local artists have volunteered to perform, among them Reverend Billy and the Live After Shopping Gospel Choir, East River String Band, Didi from Brazilian Girls will be our DJ and will play live music ... we are still reaching out to more artists ... Ray himself will be with us ... and some local activists and loyal members of our, in extinction, beloved East Village neighborhood.

Reminders tonight: Ray's delivery service starts

Here's that number: 718-473-9636

Previously:
Ray's new Saturday evening delivery service starts tomorrow

Practice Run for Ray's Delivery Project and Other Things Ray (Neither More Nor Less)

Ray's new Saturday evening delivery service starts tomorrow

You may have seen the menu earlier this week at Bob Arihood's Neither More Nor Less... Starting tomorrow, a group of Ray's devotees/volunteers are starting a new delivery service every Saturday from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. So now you can get all of Ray's faves brought right to your door... Two of the organizers — Kyla Raskin and Arianna Gil — answered a few questions for me:

Why did you decide to start this?

An idea about a delivery project had been circulating for a while. Emily Allan had proposed this informally to a bunch of neighborhood kids when she worked at Ray's, and when all the news about his back rent came out we decided it would be a good time to make it really happen. We all really care about our neighborhood, each of us grew up in the East Village and remember Ray's from our childhood. We continue to pay the place frequent late night visits. The idea of Ave. A without Ray's was too scary for any of us to sit by and watch it close. Hopefully this project will attract more customers to Ray's, and help pick up the slow winter nights.

How many delivery people are involved?

There are 10 delivery people signed up for shifts so far: Emily Allan, Kyla Raskin, Arianna Gil, Max Brown, Bobby Yankou, Max Aserlind, Nate Hohouser, Zamber Diekman, Robin Giordani, and Becca Sturcken. These are all volunteer shifts that happen every Saturday from 7 pm-5 am, in two, five-hour shifts with two people per shift. We have had several meetings to organize it and the turn out has been really positive. What's cool about the project is that it has attracted a pretty eclectic group of kids from the East Village.

What does Ray's mean to you?

Ari: Ray's is a place I love for several reasons. First being that it is one of the few things that I can clearly remember existing when I was growing up. I really grew to love it though when I started going there with my friends there late nights after shows and such. Fries and Milkshakes at 2 in the morning was beyond amazing. Most importantly though it is an East Village business that has a tight relationship with the community. I have seen so many businesses move into my neighborhood, even my block, that I never seen people from the community utilizing. The only thing they really contribute to is higher rent. Ray is a true old school New Yorker, he is so warm and positive and that really translates in his business.

Kyla: Ray's started as a place my friends and I would go to after our activity for the night (be it a concert, etc.) was over, but we weren't ready to head home yet. We'd stay for hours and hang out with all the East Village folks that have spearheaded hanging out around the neighborhood. Ray is always inviting, and always such a positive way to end a night — eventually he was teaching me how to make milkshakes (I wanted to impress a boy who loved his milkshakes), and later, my friend and I started spending time on the other side of the counter, helping Ray out in the after-hours shifts, making fries as the sun came close to rising.


Ray and Arianna testing out the phone system [Via Bob Arihood]


What was Ray's reaction to your idea?

When we brought Ray our proposal he received it really well. His main concern was if people were really going to show up for their shifts. We printed out an old school facebook of all the people involved to show him how many people had committed. We told him how they were all kids who grew up in the neighborhood, he said "oh beautiful" with a smile. The only thing he seemed reluctant about was that he'll get calls when he doesn't have a delivery person handy, but we set up the Internet phone so that that was impossible. Saturday nights, we'll always have one person sitting by the computer and one out making the deliveries. Our biggest fear is that it won't generate enough profit to be a substantial project, so CALL US! (1-718-473-9636).

For further reading:
Bob has updates on Ray receiving help with obtaining his Social Security...and other ongoing challenges at the store...

Day of Ray recap

Bob Arihood reports that the Day of Ray benefit yesterday raised $1,300. And this is Bob's photo of Haley Moss Dillon (left) and Lilly O'Donnell, the East Village natives who helped organize the Day of Ray.

Melanie has some photos of the day too. As she wrote, "the community efforts that went into Ray Day combined the best of Old New York with The New."

Your Day of Ray flier

Anyway, here's the Day of Ray Flier designed by Jennifer Schindelar... You should be able to print one out.... And as Leah Milstein, who helped put all this together, noted: "PLEASE DON'T POST ON CITY PROPERTY BECAUSE WE GET FINED!! (this includes lamp posts, parking meters, your neighbors dog)."

Yes. I know this from experience. Like $300.





As always...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page...

Neighborhood gears up for Day of Ray tomorrow

So many people are coming together to help with saving Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A near Seventh Street... last night, we saw a lot of chalk signs on the sidewalk for tomorrow afternoon's big event...





As Chris Flash said in a comment on the Day of Ray, "This is an example of community organizing at its finest."

Indeed. Lilly O'Donnell and Haley Moss Dillon, who both grew up in the East Village, have helped put this benefit together. I asked Haley about her earliest Ray's memory. "Kindergarden -- on my way from the neighborhood school on 3rd street to the playground in Tompkins, my mother bought me and my friend a giant milkshake."

And what does Ray's mean to her and the neighborhood? "Ray is old school New York. He's open all the time. It's a weird little place that everyone feels connected to, that's what New York used to be about, that's what New York felt like when i was growing up, the anonymity of the neighborhood now is destroying what used to be a thriving community."

Get the Day of Ray lineup at Sidewalk Cafe here.

For further reading:
Ray pays rent, faces fries fight; Benefit on tap (The Villager)

And, if you're new to this, go to Neither More Nore Less and type in Ray's Candy Store in the search up top... Bob Arihood has been been taking photos and reporting on Ray from Day 1...

And, you know, there's a Save Ray's Twitter feed, which will have the latest updates...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page...

Day of Ray lineup set

We'll have more later this week on the Day of Ray, coming this Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. at Sidewalk on Avenue A and Sixth Street...check out the flyer designed by Jennifer Schindelar....



And here's the lineup...

NOON - Luigi Babe

12:15 - Reww

12:25 - Marilyn Kirby

12:40 - 5 minute video by Pam Kray

12:50 - Bowery Boys (Joff solo set)

1:05 - (comedian) Andrew Lisa

1:15 - Shaker Pegs

1:35 - Elastic No-No Band (Justin solo set)

1:50 - (comedian) Steve Bossous

2:00 - Mike Winkler

2:15 - A Brief View of the Hudson

2:30 - Jordan Levinson

2:50 - East River String Band

3:10 - Bill Murray Experience

3:30 - (comedian) Johnny Lanzilloto

3:40 - Nobody Can Dance

4:00 - Joe Yoga

4:15 - Master Lee

4:35 - The Fools

4:50 - Daniella, Our Lady of Perpetual PMS

5:00 - Jessica Delfino

5:15 - Toby Goodshank

And, you know, there's a Save Ray's Twitter feed, which will have the latest updates...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page...

And thanks to Lilly, Haley, Leah, the folks at Sidewalk and everyone else responsible for helping put this benefit together...

The “East Village version of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’”

From Lincoln Anderson's cover story in this week's issue of The Villager:

In what some are calling the “East Village version of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’” customers and friends of Ray Alvarez — the two are really one and the same — have pitched in to help him start paying off his back rent, giving him and his store another lease on life.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More Details on Day of Ray

More details on Day of Ray

The Save Ray's organizers have announced a few more details about the benefit for Ray's Candy Store:

Day of RAY! Saturday February 6th from noon - 6pm
Benefit show at Sidewalk Cafe! Come see every musician, comedian, poet and performer this neighborhood has to offer.
$5 donation entrance fee at the door, no drink minimums.
15% of sales made from the show going toward the cause.

More details to follow. If you want to help out in any way, then please get in touch with Leah at:

boyslikebarbies@gmail.com

And, you know, there's a Save Ray's Twitter feed, which will have the latest updates...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page...

Meanwhile, John Penley has posted photos to his site from Saturday's Save Ray's rally, including this one of Biker Bill...



See more photos here.

Weekend at Ray's

On Friday night, Lilly O'Donnell and Haley Moss Dillon, who helped organize a Save Ray's fundraiser via PayPal, presented Ray with a check for $1,000, the total collected to date. I asked Lilly how Ray responded to the check. "He was a little taken aback, but very sweet and thankful, as always! He smiled more than he has in the last week or so."

On Saturday night, Black Ops Bob and the Slacktivists held a protest/fundraiser/street party in front of Ray's...




As Slum Goddess wrote:

People stood across from Ray's with signs and candles and chanted at people to buy stuff to help Ray. I wasn't sure if this would scare people away and hinder business, but business was really good for Ray and Ray was very happy about all the support and love shown.

For more photos from the evening:

Neither More Nor Less

East Village Corner -- Musings by Melanie

Then, Sunday by the Pee Phone on Seventh Street and Avenue A...



Other Ray's-related activities:

Sidewalk Cafe, 94 Avenue A at Sixth Street, will be hosting a benefit show on Saturday, Feb. 6 for Ray's Candy Store. More details to follow. If you want to play or help out in any way, then please get in touch with Leah at:

boyslikebarbies@gmail.com

There's a Save Ray's Twitter feed, which will have the latest updates...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page...

Haitian relief efforts in the neighborhood

Many neighborhood bars/restaurants/schools are holding fund raising events to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti... For instance:

Bespoke Chocolates on Extra Place is donating 100 percent of their profits today toward Americares’s Haiti relief fund. (Via The Feed)

Drink specials tonight at Professor Thom's on Second Avenue...



At St. Brigid Catholic School on Seventh Street and Avenue B...



From Hearth on First Avenue at 12th Street... "The events have particularly hit home for us as one of our own staff members was born in Haiti and has many friends and family there at the moment. In support of him and all those immediately affected by the tragedy, on Tuesday, January 19th, Hearth will be donating 50% of our gross revenues received that evening to help fund the relief effort." (Via Eater)

And I don't exactly know what this is at Zum Schneider on Avenue C and Seventh Street...



On Wednesday, Knife + Fork on East Fourth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue is giving 20 percent of every customer's bill, including tip, to Haitian relief efforts. (Via Eater)

If you know of any other neighborhood relief efforts, then please let me know, via e-mail or in the comments...

The Tompkins Square holiday tree...is on

Hmm, the official tree lighting ceremony isn't until Sunday afternoon, though...Just practicing?

Tompkins Square Park holiday tree lighting rescheduled for Sunday

Stupid rainstorm last Sunday led to the the postponement of the 18th annual holiday tree lighting...

Anyway, per the news release...

Tompkins Square Park Neighborhood Coalition
East Village Parks Conservancy & Third Street Music School Settlement present the 18th annual Tree Lighting at Tompkins Square

The 18th annual Holiday Tree Lighting at Tompkins Square, rescheduled due to rain, now takes place Sunday, December 20 from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Tompkins Square Park, near the southeast corner of the central lawn.

Over 30 caring people volunteer their efforts to make each year’s Tree Lighting our biggest and happiest celebration yet. The musicians of the Mandel & Lydon Trio, sponsored by Third Street Music School Settlement, join carolers from Theater for the New City, donating their time and talent to help lead everyone in songs of the season.

The carolers are outfitted in Victorian costumes provided by the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Public Theater. Notable East Village eateries, Veselka Restaurant and Life Cafe, provide hot chocolate, cider and other refreshments, free for all who attend.

A joyful crowd of neighborhood residents joins us as our audience, growing in size each year. The Tree Lighting has become a bright East Village tradition, touching more and more people every season.

18th annual Tompkins Square Park holiday tree lighting is today

The lights have been placed on the tree....




And from 4-5 p.m. today...(via Greenwala)

The 18th annual Holiday Tree Lighting at Tompkins Square takes place Sunday, December 13 from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Tompkins Square Park, near the southeast corner of the central lawn.

Over 30 caring people volunteer their efforts to make each year's Tree Lighting our biggest and happiest celebration yet. The musicians of the Mandel & Lydon Trio, sponsored by Third Street Music School Settlement, join carolers from Theater for the New City, donating their time and talent to help lead everyone in songs of the season.

A joyful crowd of neighborhood residents joins us as our audience, growing in size each year. The Tree Lighting has become a bright East Village tradition, touching more and more people every season.

Flashback to last year's tree lighting...

Reminder: Benefit for the Lower Eastside Girls Club tomorrow

A very worthwhile missive from our inbox...

On Saturday November 21st from Noon to 3:30 PM, join host and MC Cemi Guzman at The Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery at 1st Street, F Train to 2nd Avenue), for a celebration of the work of The Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York.

Following in the footsteps of his father, actor and activist Luis Guzman, Cemi is producing this fundraising event as his high school senior year Capstone Project. “This is a way for me to honor my family’s Lower East Side roots and support a really exciting youth organization, one that is creating the next generation of leaders,” Cemi told his faculty advisor.

As organizer and MC of this event, Cemi has put together an exciting line-up of talented performers and local artists. Teens (and their adult friends and supporters) will be entertained by:
· Speakers: Luis Guzman, Liz Murray and author Ivan Sanchez
· Performances by: Cuculand from Yerba Buena, La Bruja, Kess (from the L.E.S), Krazy Race (From L.A), Mike Imperiale (From L.E.S) & Leon Heartman
· Comedy: Ruperto Vanderpool
· And dropping by to talk about art: Local fashion designer Victoria Keen, the one and only Lee Quinones, one of the originators of graffiti and New York Street Art

Admission to this event will be sliding scale for adults (tix sold at the door for $20 and up). Youth are being asked to bring a donation of canned or packaged food, which will be donated to the Middle Collegiate Church Food Pantry.

For more information about the Girls Club visit www.girlsclub.org.

Saving what remains of the neighborhood

Community activist Susan Howard has a column in this week's issue of The Villager. It begins:

What is a neighborhood? A place where you feel a sense of belonging as you walk down the streets? Where you know your neighbors and local shopkeepers? Where your children go to school? Where you play, garden or just shoot the breeze? Where you can sit on the stoop, in the park or in a neighborhood hangout and listen to music, gossip and lore?

That’s the way I remember the Lower East Side, before all our vacant land was sold for the development of luxury housing in an 80/20 scheme. Before it was marketed to the white upwardly mobile as a cool place to live. Before the speculators arrived to scoop up the existing buildings to turn them into luxury rentals and condos, and before many of our squats and gardens were bulldozed for more of the same. Before the largest tract of land, once promised for artists, low-income housing and community facilities, was sold in another 80/20 scheme for the development of a luxury community, Avalon Christie, before the high-rises, hotels, high-end eateries and boutiques.

Fundraiser for Calvin Gibson

Read The Villager's profile on Gibson here.

Benefit yesterday for the children of Eric "Taz" Pagan

Last night, nine bars in the neighborhood donated half of their register to establish a college fund for the two children of slain Forbidden City bouncer Eric "Taz" Pagan.

I stopped by a few of the participating bars early in the evening to check on the turnout. And have a few drinks.

Drop Off Service was, quite frankly, packed. Friday night packed, perhaps. (Not that I've ever been there on a Friday night. Heard someone else say that it was like a Friday night to the bartender. And there were two bartenders working.) Next door, Destination was pleasantly full. Across the street, Forbidden City was crowded. Several people stopped in just to make a donation to the college fund.



The next block to the south, Common Ground was also full. At 9 p.m., a quick check of Superdive found four people inside. Habibi Lounge wasn't open when I first walked by...then, around 9, I saw two people at the bar.

One aside: a couple was moving into an apartment on Avenue A between 13th Street and 14th Street. Despite several open spaces along the east side of Avenue A, they decided to park directly in front of Forbidden City. Which is fine, but I was curious if they knew what had happened...or what was happening this evening...



In any event, I have no idea what the final tally will be from the bars. But from what I saw, a lot of people came out to provide support...

Previously on EV Grieve:
EV bars come together to create college fund for Eric "Taz" Pagan's children