Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Lisa Arbetter
Occupation: Editor, People StyleWatch
Location: Creative Little Garden, 6th Street between Avenues A and B
Time: 11 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 10

I was born in New York. My family lived in Queens at the time and it was the late 1960s, early 1970s. They moved us out fairly quickly. I only lived here for the first oh-so-formative 6 months of my life. My mom was from the Bronx and my dad was from Brooklyn and at the time we lived in Queens.

My grandfather on my father’s side worked in a vegetable market on the Lower East Side. My grandmother lived on Hester Street. Her family came from one of those towns that was Russia, and then was Poland, or the other way around. It’s a little confusing where she came from. It was the diaspora so people don’t know where they came from. The way she told it — and now this could totally be untrue — was that her family was incredibly rich and they had servants and everything. They had to be smuggled out of the country by their servants and then they wound up here and were very poor.

My dad likes to tell the story about why they left New York. One day they were making breakfast and they put the scrambled eggs next to the table by the window, and he turned around to get the coffee. By the time he came back with the coffee, there was soot all over the eggs. He was like, 'That’s it, we’re moving!' But I think it was more because everybody who had a family back then was leaving.

They took us to this small town outside Pittsburgh called Greensburg. My parents had grown up in these majorly Jewish neighborhoods and they had never been to Pennsylvania. They didn’t know where they were going. I think that they were shocked.

My dad was an entrepreneur. I don’t know where he found them, but he hooked up with these guys who were in Pennsylvania and they started this replacement window company. My mom had this funny Bronx accent and the town that I grew up in was incredibly homogeneous — a very Catholic small town. I remember my dad saying all the time, 'Life is not like this. Life is not like this. It’s like New York. You can't get The New York Times and the only bagels are Lender's.’ We were literally brainwashed into thinking life isn’t this, it’s New York. They would take us here once, twice, three times a year. It was never a question that I would live here. My brother moved here, my sister moved to Albany so we all sort of migrated back.

When I went to school, I was bound and determined to be a therapist. That was it, but when I got there I didn’t really like the program. I went to Syracuse and it happened to have a very good journalism school. I had always liked to write and at the time and I had always been this kid who loved magazines. I just didn’t think of it as a career.

So it happened that they had a program at Syracuse called Magazine and I signed up for that and was hooked. It was at the time when Tina Brown was editing Vanity Fair and it was a big deal. She was mixing celebrity with more high culture, articles on art with tabloid crime stories, but it was a sort of revolutionary mix at the time. She was making a lot of news and I thought it was very glamorous. I loved the idea that I could write and it could be about anything.

My first apartment was on 4th Street between A and B. I had moved in with a friend. It was a crooked apartment with the bathtub in the kitchen — that whole story. I couldn’t afford anything and I was living on an air mattress on the floor. My roommate had a very active social life and I wanted to live by myself so I found a place in Brooklyn. I’ve had four apartments in this city, two on 4th Street and two on Amity Street in Brooklyn. I moved back here in 2006 to 4th Street again. I love the neighborhood so much. There is so much diversity in everything. There’s diversity in the restaurants, the people, the ages, the races and the way people talk, the languages, the way people dress.

I got a job at InStyle around 2000. It was fairly new and the whole idea of the celebrity on the cover was a new thing at that moment. People didn’t care about models anymore. It was sort of like the bridge between the model, the supermodel period and the celebrity period. I then worked at Cargo, which was a short-lived men's magazine, during the whole metrosexual moment in time. Then I got hired at People StyleWatch to help launch it, then went back to InStyle, and now I’m at StyleWatch again.

I started this job about five or six months ago. It’s been crazy but it’s been so much fun. We rethought and redesigned the magazine over the last five months. It was more of a celebrity publication and now it’s more of a street-style publication. There are many blogs but it’s never been put into a magazine format. It’s the entire world. It’s every city, and pulling it together into trends, showing how people put outfits together, adding the service element, adding the shopping element, and also being able to show big beautiful pictures in layouts.

And what I love most about it is the diversity. Style is not one thing; it’s not one body type. All of us think many different things are beautiful, but in the media you see one sort of thing. Now we have a chance to show body diversity, racial diversity, and diversity of style. You see people that aren’t necessarily trendy or the newest thing, but they put their clothes together in such unique ways that it’s fascinating to look at.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Shit Week continues: Majestic willow tree butchered on Eighth Street

An EV Grieve reader out walking his dog this morning was shocked to find that the majestic willow on Eighth Street near Avenue C....



... had been hacked down... seemingly overnight...





Per the reader: "maybe it was diseased, but it looked perfectly healthy to me."

Melanie just posted a photo of this willow at East Village Corner. In the comments I said that I loved this tree.

UPDATE:
A reader sends along another photo, noting that "it looks worse in the daylight."



Ugh.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The willow trees of Loisaida

11th Street condo owners want to chop down this willow tree

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Alex Shamuelov
Occupation: Barber and student
Location: Ace of Cuts, 518 E. 6th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B
Date: 9 a.m., July 9

I’m from Uzbekistan, but my background goes back to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Because of the Soviet Union, it was really tough there but it was a little bit easier in the southern part, so that’s why my ancestors moved down there. So I was born in Uzbekistan and I came to New York when I was 3 years old.

I never thought I’d be a hairdresser. My dad has been a hairdresser for a long time, but when he was young he was a mechanic. His father’s a hairdresser, his brother’s a hairdresser, his mom used to be a hairdresser, and his sister’s a hairdresser. Everybody in my family from both sides — everybody’s a hairdresser. That’s how it was from the old country. Everybody was a hairdresser.

My father always said, ‘You know, listen — it’s better for you to learn a talent than it is for you to hop from one job to another.’ He said, ‘This is something that you’re going to have and something that you’re never going to lose. You never know what could happen in life. Let’s say one day, God forbid, you lose your job, then you have something to turn to. Hair always grows. Everybody always needs haircuts.’

So I took those words into consideration. I was only 15 years old. Imagine when you’re 15 years old, for six months for almost two summers after school, standing next to a barber and not making anything, whereas I wanted to go become a counselor or something, you know. I wanted to make some money. No, my father kept pushing me toward it and I’m happy for that. This is something that I like to do, and not to brag, but I’m good at it. I’ve won competitions and stuff like that. I like to draw and I’m artistic, so this helps me sculpt a person, sculpt a head. So everything worked out well.

I’m 20 years old now and I just opened my own barber shop with my father. [July 9] is actually a month since we opened. Everybody is shocked about that. It’s not easy trying to succeed in this life right now. I have the support of my family. We’re all together. We live next to each other, in a two-block radius in Queens.

The landlord of this building is my previous customer from Long Island. He currently goes to my uncle, because that was my uncle’s barbershop, so he told my uncle about it. So I came one day with my parents and uncle and I loved the place, and now we’re here. I love the East Village. Everybody’s very neighborhoody; everybody’s very friendly. Say if you go to Midtown, neighbors don’t know each other. Here everybody knows each other and they say hi to each other. It’s the same thing where I live Queens — in Rego Park.

You know how landlords are — they want their rent on the spot, so we had to do it quick. I renovated this whole place in about three weeks. I did it for my father mostly. I don’t want him to work for somebody all his life. I wanted him to become his own boss, so that’s why I’m here now. I’m on break from school. I’m helping him out. I’m in the middle of the street so it’s really hard to advertise. You have to be patient. I went from cutting 35 to 40 people a day to cutting five people a day. Psychologically that hurts you.

In Park Slope I used to cut 40 people a day. We were right next to Mayor de Blasio’s house. I’ve cut his hair. I used to see him every day; every day he walked by. It was shocking because you see somebody, you take care of somebody, and then all of a sudden, boom — he’s an icon of New York. Over there you need speed and you need technique, and you need a sense of style. Imagine in 12 hours cutting 40 people. That means about 100 to 150 people come in every day. They used to call me Ferrari because I used to be very quick.

Obviously I’m not going to be the same here because I don’t have that competition going on. That’s why I made this barbershop like this, you know. I have Jameson. I have vodka. I have beer. I have everything for someone to come in and relax. I have a 65-inch TV. People come in, they watch TV. I charge $15. So yeah, hopefully I’ll make it. I was trying to go for a different image for someone to come and relax.

I am also currently in school at LIU, Long Island University, in downtown Brooklyn. I’m trying to get into the pharmacy program out there. It was a challenge for me to pick my profession that I wanted to go for, that I wanted to succeed in. My dream is now opening a pharmacy and having a barber chair, to build a barber shop in the pharmacy, so while you wait for your medicine you get your hair cut real quick. Cause you know how everybody in New York is trying to get things done quick.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Gallery Watch: Crichoues Indignation at the Hole NYC; Vantage Points at GRIMM Gallery

Text by Clare Gemima

Crichoues Indignation by Caitlin Cherry 

The Hole NYC, 312 Bowery: Showing through Nov. 15

The HOLE NYC honestly takes it up a notch with every artist they showcase.

 

Upon visiting this gallery, I was shocked to see that The HOLE had transformed entirely, with crisply painted walls, a huge amount of incredible new works and a fresh take on their whole space.

Transforming the gallery for Cherry after Cubed, their previous group show (14 international artists) that utilized the space in an entirely different means, allows viewers to understand just how important looking at art is right now, how passionate The HOLE is and how on board their team is with highlighting the current climate of technology and social media running rampantly hand-in-hand with civil unrest, the election and dismantling (or establishing) social hierarchy in 2020. 

Cherry's oil on canvas works are engulfing in their larger than life scale, confronting the viewer in a familiar digital landscape with Black Femme figures at the foreground, her gazes highlighting the way social media appropriates this community's body image, sexuality and style without highlighting their skill set or expertise. 

An image-run, surface level and vapid Instagram-esque landscape is expressed through Cherry’s undulating use of fluorescent colors, shapes and installation techniques. The artist’s hyper-sexualised characters are based on dancers, bartenders and Instagram models working at cabarets and as online influencers. 

I would recommend seeing this show for an impressive take on its online origin (a misspelt tweet that Kanye West made) that expands into a gooey, delicious and psychedelic series of abstract paintings. 

Cherry also includes a very large paintings vault, housing several canvases that gallery goers can engage with. The vault speaks to the value of archiving digital works (or lack their of) playing with online’s ubiquitous sugar-coating methods and the over-arching authenticity in the art world today. 

PS. The HOLE also has a show on by Anders Oinonen

 ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Vantage Points by Letha Wilson, Sonia Almeida, Heidi Norton and Claudia Peña Salinas

GRIMM Gallery, 202 Bowery: Showing through Nov. 14

Although the gallery is dominated by a vast amount of captivating and rich work by a male painter, Tjebbe Beekman (Symbiosis), if you get to the middle of the gallery and turn to your left, you will see a small door leading to a descending staircase that you can go down for a refreshing take on (finally) an all women's show!

The work deals with the natural world, conceptually and physically, as the artists criss-cross and mingle with the use of plants, grass, fibre, wax, metal and paper presented in a range of autonomous sculptures, paintings and installations in their final form.

The work in this show is presented on the ground, wall, floor and even corners of the building, challenging conventional installation techniques that demonstrate how space can be manipulated by both delicate and less delicate forms. Nature versus structure, hard versus soft, digital versus organic, etc.

Wilson, Almeida, Norton and Salinas' work compliments each other as much as it highlights the differences in each piece. The most compelling work for me was Reverse timeline (2019) by Sonia Almeida, made out of printed fabric, screen print, fabric pen, cotton, polyester and wool hung from the ceiling, and The Museum Archive by Heidi Norton made out of five panels of glass, resin, plants, beam splitter glass, photo gels, photographic prints, film and an aluminum stand.

This is GRIMM Gallery’s final show before they move to Tribeca.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ 

Clare Gemima is a visual artist from New Zealand. New-ish to the East Village, she spends her time as an artist assistant and gallery go-er, hungry to explore what's happening in her local art world. You can find her work here: claregemima.com 

Reader report: Xi’an Famous Foods closed for renovations

[Photo by @charli via Twitter]

Disappointed diners have learned that the popular Xi'an Famous Foods at 81 St. Mark's Place is closed for renovations.

@evgrieve Did you see that Xian Famous is closed for renovations? I went there yesterday and saw another shocked would-be patron. Horrible!

— Adrianne Jeffries (@adrjeffries) March 20, 2014

Their official message via Facebook:

Our East Village store will be CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS starting Monday (3/17)!

We hope to be back up and running in 3-4 weeks, with a few more seats and a more open kitchen!

In the meantime, head to our nearby Chinatown spot, open regular hours.

And this is a legit "closed for renovations," not one of those stop-gap messages to help the proprietor hustle out of town.

Xi’an CEO Jason Wang has ambitious plans to expand his growing noodle empire, with possible locations in Boston and Washington, D.C.

[Updated] Reader report: The city dumps Manny the Peddler's wares on Avenue A

A City sanitation crew stopped by Avenue A between East Second Street and East Third Street around noon today and dumped all of the items Manny the Peddler has been selling along here.

Said one witness:

It appears the manager of the New York Sports Club called the city rather than ask Manny to move his things to another spot along the block, which most other business owners on this block do. Manny is happy to oblige.

Considering the eyesore and highly illegal-looking construction that's been taking up the sidewalk for MONTHS now outside the sports club, it seems like a real douchey move.

Manny is a sweetheart and favorite of many locals in the neighborhood.

This isn't the first time that the city tossed Manny's sale items.

Manny, aka Emmanuel Howard, has been selling second-hand items on Avenue A and East Second Street for more than 35 years.

Updated 5/27

NYSC General Manager Anthony Testai responded with this comment:

I just wanted to say — as the General Manager of the NYSC on Ave A that I am shocked to see how badly my company is getting dragged thru the mud with this. Manny and I have personally chatted multiple times and I was disappointed to see the city throw away his things again.

Just so most of you are aware this is the third time that I know of that this has happened and as all of you know..(weve only been here for 3 months). I can assure you that NYSC myself and my staff included had NOTHING to do with the fact that he had his things thrown away. The first time this happened before we were even open I immediately ran down to Manny and apologized for his belongings being thrown away.

Manny sells his things in front of the methadone clinic and he's not near our storefront, which is why we have no problem with him doing his business, he knows that because we have spoken and I say hello to him almost everyday.

On behalf of NYSC I apologize for this happening but it did not come from us, I even spoke to the construction team and they had nothing to do with it.

Now for the real issue the SIDEWALK! This is killing everyone's business and is a huge problem with the community and me. Just so everyone is aware the sidewalk has been the city not giving us to remove an oil tank that was abandoned beneath the old sidewalk. And so everyone is updated it will be completed by the end of this month if not sooner.

If anyone has any questions please feel free to stop by, tour the gym and see that we are not some "big business" or call me...

Steve Croman released from prison today

Public records show that landlord Steve Croman was released from prison today, two days before originally scheduled. He ended up serving eight months of a one-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to various fraud charges.



In June 2017, Croman pleaded guilty to three felonies for fraudulently refinancing loans and committing tax fraud. He was expected to serve up to a year in prison and pay a $5 million tax settlement, per the Attorney General's office at the time.

Croman served his jail sentence at the Manhattan Detention Complex, aka the Tombs. Last October, the AG's office announced that Croman was "transferred to Rikers Island for one year jail sentence."

Public records at the time showed that Croman (in the system last October as Steven Crowman) was expected to be released on June 3 ...


[Screengrab from October]

One Croman watcher alleged that he was set free two days earlier than expected to avoid a media throng.

And as The Lo-Down recently reported, residents of a Croman-owned building on Ridge Street claim that he has been "playing the same games with tenants that he did before he was incarcerated." As a resident said, "The only thing that’s changed is that Croman is markedly more aggressive than before. We’re all shocked that nothing’s changed for the better in our case."

Croman's real-estate portfolio via 9300 Realty includes 47 buildings with 617 units in the East Village.

Previously on EV Grieve:
AG's office: Steve Croman agrees to pay $8 million to the tenants he harassed

The scene at BP yesterday afternoon

A reader shares these photos from yesterday afternoon at the BP station on Second Avenue at East First Street... there were blocks-long lines all day...

According to the reader:

Passing the gas station ... I heard a policeman screaming 'shut your door' to a woman driver one car away from tanking up. I guess she didn't cause the next thing I heard was her screaming. When I doubled back to see what the commotion was, she was on the ground getting cuffed! I was shocked to see such a display of force upon a mother in front of her two kids.

The reader didn't see everything that transpired here. So perhaps there was more to the NYPD's actions. Did anyone else witness this?

Report: Arlene's Grocery asks artist to remove his 'Seven Deadly Sins' paintings

Arlene's Grocery told artist Robert Preston to remove his new collection of paintings one day after their debut at the Stanton Street music venue, the Daily News reported today.

The collection included Bloomberg as "wrath" and President Obama in an Egyptian headdress as "pride."

"It just wasn't our style," explained Julia Darling, Arlene's manager. "It sort of insults the viewer; it's really kind of beating us over the head with a message."

"I was pretty shocked. I didn't expect it," Preston told Rheana Murray. The paintings made their debut Monday night. Management asked him to remove the work on Tuesday.

"I lived on Christie and Rivington in the early '80s," he said. "It was a very different neighborhood. I don't think anyone would have had a problem with those paintings back then."

Find the article and photos of the paintings here.

Checking out the Vigilant Hotel: "Perfect for the bored with responsibilities of maintaining a traceable address"

I've long been fascinated by the Vigilant Hotel at 370 Eighth Ave. between 28th Street and 29th Street. An old-fashioned flophouse continues to survive in this era of pricey real estate and swanky hotel developments? Miracle of miracles! 14to42 had this information from a 2003 post:

In 1895 the lodgings empire of Angelino Sartirano consisted of hotels at 116 Gansevoort St., 208 and 352 8th Ave., 1553 Broadway, 2291 3d Ave., and here at 370 8th Ave.

The Sartirano (sometimes spelled Sartirana) hotel business is even older, going back to 1888 with his first hotel at 116 Gansevoort St. in the West Village.

The name Vigilant Hotel, however, is not quite so old, and seems to date no earlier than 1916. The hotel is still here (as of August 2003) but to all appearances no longer operates as a hotel in the usual sense...

14to42 also also has links to two photos by Percy Loomis Sperr in the New York Public Library's Digital Collections. The first dated 1932 shows a side wall with "Rooms 25¢." The second dated 1938 shows a small sign over the sidewalk reading "Vigilant Hotel."

14th42 also published this shot from 2003 of the hotel's faded sign:



So, can I get a room here? Sure! It's for men only. And it will cost you $140. A week.

The reviews are mixed on Yahoo! Travel. Someone who has never stayed there gave it five stars while someone who did gave it one star. What was so wrong with it that it deserved that?

Don't ever step foot in this place
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 10/08/08
The place is so downtrodden, neglected and downright decreped. The hotel guests are homeless people who arementally ill. Even the police wouldn't stay in this hotel! If I were homeless I wouldn't stay in this disgusting hotel. Im shocked they are still open!

OK, Felix Ungar...we'll getcha a suite at The Carlyle!

Anyway, here's what the place looks like on the inside:







(These three photos via here.)

Finally, here's review of the hotel at Not for Tourists by Dave Crish:

A scar, even upon the pissed on pave of Chelsea's north edge. I relate, here, of history's Vigilant. Built some hundred years ago of resilient brick, at present resembling ash. Not the sort of amenitied lodge one peruses on vacation. Piped of, but, three befouled showers, a pair of sinks, and toilettes of excreta. Succinctly, an inn of cells petit rented to gents of varied feather—all poor for whatever reason, breathing the airs of next step below homelessness. $125 per seven days. No credit, no checks, no euros, cartons maybe—of Marlboros. Never gleeful, rarely tended proud asylum sans musique. Fine abode for a bit of drifting or a brief disappearance. In sum, perfect for the bored with responsibilities of maintaining a traceable address. Foam pad, gray, oft cavorted 'pon by bloodsucking mites. Not a lash of social space but narrow hallways. Sphere of little social grace a tincture schizo of few heads cracked—a few murderers, few blooming, and even fewer handsome. Maybe a master once and then. Never a fellow un-weathered. Indeed, the Vigilant Hotel. For the times when desires discordant means and the bench not an option.

Related on EV Grieve:
Elk in the City

Life with those Yelpers: 'This is one store I wouldn't mind if it ever closed and was replaced with a Starbucks'

I recently looked up the number to David's Shoe Repair on Seventh Street. His hours can be a little irregular, so...

Anyway, I get the Yelp listing... and I spotted the two reviews...

The one-star review!

Renee C.
New York, NY
10/27/2008
seriously, what the hell is wrong with this old guy? since this is the closest shoe repair place to my apartment, i head over eagerly with my favorite pair of black boots in tow. i arrive in the store and innocently show him the boots and ask him if they are repairable. the old guy takes one look at my boots (which are admittedly on their last leg, no pun intended) and begins wagging his finger and shouting at me "NO! I SELL BOOTS HERE. $175 DOLLARS. YOU BRING ME JUNK. NOTHING BUT JUNK! GOODBYE!! GET OUT OF HERE!!" completely shocked at this outburst, i reply back "these are expensive boots! i like them," to which he responds "GOODBYE!! GET OUT!! DON'T WASTE MY TIME!" i walked out of the store defeated and teary eyed. really there is no need to yell!

oh and against my advice, my roommate went to this place to see if she could get her shoes repaired and the old guy yelled at her too!!

seriously, i really REALLY hate new yorkers sometimes.

And a two-star review...

margs k.
New York, NY
3/13/2008
I don't like patronizing businesses that treat me poorly or do sloppy work and in this case, both reasons apply for why I won't be returning here with my shoes and bags. I dropped off a purse here with a broken zipper on a Saturday. The guy sort of grunts at me gutterally and tells me to come pick it up on Tuesday. Also, they make you leave a deposit, which isn't typical for this kind of work. I show up on Tuesday and the guy looks confused when I ask him for my bag. He finds it under a pair of boots, obviously not worked on, and tells me to come back the next day. NOT COOL. I don't appreciate having my time wasted. I come back the next day to pick up my bag and not only did I pay $25 for a cheap gold zipper (when the metalwork in my bag was SILVER) but I had to listen to him complain how long it took to do.

This is one store I wouldn't mind if it ever closed and was replaced with a Starbucks.

[Photo via Jeremiah's Vanishing NY]

Q-and-A with John Holmstrom, founding editor of Punk Magazine

John Holmstrom was a 21-year-old SVA student during the summer of 1975 ... a time that saw him buy "The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!" (which he said "totally rewired" his mind) and experience the Ramones at CBGB.

"The Ramones and Dictators represented a sea change in rock 'n' roll, and I was burning to become a part of it before it took off and became part of the mainstream," he writes in the prologue of the recently released "Best of Punk Magazine."

Soon after, Holmstrom did become part of the scene when he, Ged Dunn Jr. and Eddie "Legs" McNeil launched Punk Magazine in late 1975. For 17 issues, Holmstrom and an array of photographers, writers, illustrators and the musicians themselves chronicled the punk scene... featuring colorful (and, often, off-color) interviews with everyone, really — Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith and Richard Hell, who starred in "The Legend of Nick Detroit" for issue No. 6's cover. The magazine ceased publication in 1979. (There were various special issues in subsequent years.)

Holmstrom continued his career as a writer, editor and cartoonist, spending time at High Times and Screwed, among others. He still lives in the East Village today. The "Best of" compilation (co-edited with Bridget Hurd) puts all the issues together with plentiful behind-the-scenes details. It was released in December. I waited until Holmstrom's schedule eased up a bit to ask him some questions about the start of Punk and other various topics... (Part 1 or 2.)


[Holmstrom from December at the New Museum, via Facebook]

You had a lot of balls to launch a publication at the time called Punk. Not really a question. What were you thinking?

"Punk rock" was a well-known term to readers of CREEM magazine, so when I asked Legs and Ged what they would call a magazine about comix, fashion, news, and punk rock and Legs suggested, "Why not just call it Punk"?

I liked the four-letter word as a magazine title! However, as it turns out — we weren't even the first Punk magazine. Billy Altman called his college newspaper in Buffalo the same name. But I saw all the graphic elements in my mind as soon as we chose that name: 1950s juvenile delinquent comic books, EC Horror comic books, Marvel comics, Will Eisner's The Spirit, film noir, stark use of black and white, etc. So liked the name — at first. Sometimes I think it caused so many
headaches I would have been better off calling it "Teenage News" or "Electronic Comic."


[Holmstrom's first editor's note, via 98Bowery.com]

Are people surprised to hear that this was a serious business endeavor?

No one has asked me about that yet. But, like I said in the book, Ged, Eddie and I were all very serious about being successful and "Creating The 1970s" and all that. I think my connection to a real lawyer helped us incorporate as a business, and my connection to a professional printer got our product looking like a real magazine instead of a fanzine. When Thom Holaday came on board he got us into writing a business plan and all.

Anyhow, my point is that we were not a bunch of goofy kids putting out a 'zine for free drinks, as has been portrayed.


[Holmstrom during the Punk days. Photo by by Marcia Resnick via Facebook]

How did you view yourself at the time during Punk's run? An insider? Outsider? Just someone who loved music?

I was a total outsider who unfortunately was forced into becoming an insider very quickly and without any preparation nor guidance. I didn't know anyone from "the scene" and then as soon as the magazine came out I had to deal with everyone from everywhere. And usually as adversaries!

How do you choose 10th Avenue at West 30th Street to be your first office? Seemed a little — far-removed.

It was all we could afford, and the only place I could find. The usual asking price for an office, $300 a month back then, was a lot of money! And we needed a lot of space.

A worst-case scenario for that office would have meant that we would have to kick in $65 per person to keep the lease. If we brought in another person, it could be just $50!

Also, my roommate in Brooklyn was on my ass! He was all like: "Hello! Earth to John! You have to move in a few days! Nice knowing you but get the fuck out of here, dude!"

Yes, it took us a long time to get to CBGB but on the other hand we weren't far from the Port Authority Bus Terminal nor Penn Station — and all the subways by those places.

Was was your reaction to seeing the Ramones for the first time, Aug. 24, 1975?

I wasn't all that shocked by the noise and thunder and fast pace of the music, to be honest. Unlike Ged and Legs, I had seen a lot, and I mean a lot, of heavy rock 'n' roll bands before then. Just to name a few of the more loud and fast rock 'n' roll bands: The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper, The New York Dolls, The Magic Tramps, Lou Reed (Rock 'N' Roll Animal tour), Blue Öyster Cult, etc.

In fact, BÖC was probably the heaviest band I had seen before the Ramones. Their appearance on July 16, 1973 at the Schaefer Music Festival was one of the craziest shows I ever saw. The audience became so crazed that by the end of the show the first rows of metal chairs had become a twisted mass of scrap metal — their time on this Earth as useful objects had come to an end.

I remember that the drummer threw a bunch of drumsticks out to the crowd and I fought several people to grab it, but then it ended up being a showdown with one twisted heavy metal fan who snarled at me: "IF YOU DON'T LET GO OF THIS I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!" and everything about him convinced me that he was telling the truth. So I let go. I never saw a band drive the audience into a frenzy like that before or since.

I went to see every band I could, so I ended up sitting through a lot of bands I didn't like: The Eagles, Black Oak Arkansas, Rush, The Allman Brothers, Grand Funk Railroad, etc.

So by the time I saw the Ramones I was so sick of long guitar solos and drum solos and endless encores and the band playing to the audience and bands that spent a lot of time tuning up on stage. These were all the things that the Ramones studiously avoided, so I loved it. Best of all, they dressed like me: blue jeans, sneakers, t-shirts — I just couldn't afford a leather jacket like they wore. I had also lived across the street from the Hell's Angels for a short time and certainly didn't want to compete with them on any level. And I knew that CBGB was their hangout in 1975.

The whole experience of seeing them at CBGBs was, to me, what it must have been like to see The Beatles at The Cavern Club or The Rolling Stones at the Crawdaddy Club. I felt like I was seeing "The Future of Rock 'N' Roll."

Tomorrow: Thoughts on the East Village of 2013 and CBGB the Movie.


[Richard Hell as "Nick Detroit" via "The Best of Punk Magazine"]

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Find John Holmstrom's blog here.

Find the Punk Magazine site here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Revisiting Punk Art

Breaking the internet (and Instagram) with cumgirl8

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

I’m L-training it to Brooklyn to catch hypnotic neon punk band cumgirl8’s EP release show at the Knitting Factory. 

Also on the bill this October night, close collaborators GirlDick...

East Village performer and godmother of modern-day shock art Kembra Pfahler ...

... and dancer Bobbie Hondo (on the right) ...

I arrive in time to catch some of the load-in and soundcheck, with Veronica Vilim on guitar and percussive drill, Lida Fox on bass and synth, Chase Noelle with the powerhouse drumming, and featuring Avishag Cohen Rodrigues for additional firepower on guitar. 

There is some last-minute crafting of signage/decor backstage, scribbling out of setlists, adjusting clothing — lots of I.AM.GIA and cumgirl8 fashion designs and accessories styled by Jordane Stawecki — and a quickie trip to nab some preshow food at Caracas Arepa Bar, a former East Village favorite still up and running in Williamsburg.

The show itself is chaotic, loud, pleasurable — cusping off the pandemic, people are eager to celebrate, and the venue is filled with dancing and fans singing along...

After the show, I chat with the three core members about the band’s history, creativity during a pandemic, censorship, and normalizing female sexuality.

What were the common interests that led you to initially form a band beyond just jamming with friends?

Lida Fox: It really began as an outlet to express frustrations we faced in our lives and work and to vent toxicity from relationships. It was basically a healing/empowerment mechanism. We all have backgrounds in dance, art, and performing, so when we get together, it’s basically freeform pent-up energy, sometimes verging on insanity. 

Before we started this, I faced so many blocks in the way I thought I could express myself, but now I feel almost anything is possible. We all have pretty varying tastes in music, art, film, etc., but they complement each other in amazing ways. 

 

Some of the band members live/work in the Lower East Side or East Village. How do local events and shows — such as your fashion week show at Cafe Forgot and performances at the Flower Shop — differ from audiences in Brooklyn like at Baby’s All Right or tonight’s Knitting Factory show?

Veronika Vilim: I haven’t noticed too much difference in audiences, but I would say there is more of a younger crowd at shows in Brooklyn [Williamsburg/Bushwick] than shows in Manhattan. Having the fashion show during the day and it being a fashion show event, more people were interested in fashion. People like my mom and dad, for example, come to the daytime shows (fashion shows and music shows) in Manhattan rather than the show at the Knitting Factory, because it was not only at night but also because it was in Brooklyn.

How have you seen/heard your sound evolve from the early days of the band? 

Chase Noelle: In the early days, we were learning how to communicate with each other. Our first EP is fucking insane, impulsive, id-driven. We got a lot of comparisons to punk bands like the Desperate Bicycles and Flipper. 

We’re influenced by ballet and opera and club music, truly all over the place, and that’s why we sound so weird. Now our sound is more focused — it’s still shameless, but our musicality is showcased now and more directed. We really want to make people dance without feeling self-conscious. Our single “BUGS” is inside of that. We still sound fucking insane, especially live, but there’s a laser focus that cuts through it all. 

And how about your live performances? Do you feel more confident with each show?

Vilim: Yes! I feel like every show we play, we evolve together and become more of a team. We understand how to perform more and really embrace this character/world we have been developing! Watching videos from our live shows from the beginning until now, you can really see a difference in our performance. Also, now with the audience knowing our music more, there’s really a vibe with the crowd and that makes such a difference as well ’cause everyone really vibes together.

What’s your take on NYC right now as being a welcoming environment for a creative spirit? 

Fox:  I think there’s a welcoming creative environment now more than ever. [At least] in the last 12 years I’ve been here. The pandemic sucked, but it made everyone realize what a privilege it is to perform or be in the same room with a group of people dancing/jumping/going crazy together, watching a movie, appreciating art, etc. There’s so much more appreciative energy now, and people don’t hold back; they aren’t as jaded. 

Also, I feel that the creative community has gotten closer, I mean literally smaller, but also tighter and more support amongst the people who are still here. It’s still insanely expensive to try to survive and make art in NYC, though.

You just released your second EP, RIPcumgirl8. That’s an ominous title. Do you have plans to continue with cumgirl8? What else is on the horizon — perhaps another clothing collection? 

Noelle: RIPcumgirl8 is two-fold, but on the surface, it’s an homage to our Instagram that was deleted. We’ve been heavily censored, our YouTube got taken down and — believe it —  even our website started garnishing our sales because they’re...fascists? 

Don’t get me started. But yeah, that’s the first layer. Our identity is entrenched in internet culture, especially chatroom vibes from when we were coming of age. “Cumgirl8” is a screen name. It was really fitting when, after all of this feminist, sex-positive, youth outreach work we did, we ultimately got censored and then deleted. 

The whole point is to push and push and move the needle, so people eventually stop feeling shocked when they see the words “cum” and “girl” together. So it’s par for the course, perhaps. They deleted us right before we hit 10,000 followers, right after we released our first EP. 

Thankfully, we got our old handle back, but we had to start over. There’s a second, dissociative meaning to “RIPcumgirl8” that’s a lot more personal to us, but you can uncover that in the lyrics.   

You can keep up with the band via Instagram. 

And check out the video for the new single “BUGS” right here ...

  

Report: Trader Joe's closed the Union Square wine shop after learning of plans to unionize

According to published reports from this past week, workers at the Trader Joe's Wine Shop, which abruptly closed on June 11, were making plans to unionize. 

Per The Huffington Post: 

Workers at the Trader Joe’s Wine Shop ... spent the last four months laying the groundwork to unionize their store. A small organizing committee met regularly to discuss strategy around building support to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union, and they planned to go public with their effort the week of Aug. 15. 

But in the early morning hours of Aug. 11, Trader Joe’s abruptly informed them it was closing the popular wine shop, its only one in New York City. 

In a statement to Gothamist, a company spokesperson said that its decision to close the store had nothing to do with the unionizing efforts.

A spokesperson called the 15-year-old outpost on 14th Street at Irving Place an "underperforming wine shop." 

Meanwhile, the workers, whom Trader Joe's said they would pay through Aug. 28, have launched a petition demanding that the store reopen as it heads into the busy back-to-school season.

The petition reads in part: 

Like our customers, we were shocked and saddened by the abrupt closure of the Trader Joe’s Wine Shop in Union Square. Most of the staff has been with the company for over 5 years, some since the store opened 15 years ago, and we have loved being part of the neighborhood and our customers’ lives for so long. 

Trader Joe's is not being transparent about its motives for closing the shop. This sudden closure comes just days after our coworkers in Minneapolis, MN, and Hadley, MA, successfully voted to unionize. 

Management in our store knew we were having organizing conversations and were planning on signing union support cards. Closing our store is textbook union busting. This kind of retaliation is exactly why we want a union at the Wine Shop — to guarantee we have real job security, consistent schedules, and wages we can live on. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Here's the midnight email that employees of the Trader Joe's Wine Shop received about the closing on Union Square (Aug. 12)