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A few photos via EVG reader Riad today....
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Per Riad: "Still no word on where in time they were headed, but the flux capacitor appeared to be functional."
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Indeed.
It sounds impossible: a fully-appointed luxury building has sprouted in the beating heart of the East Village. A 24-hour doorman greets you before work in the morning, after returning from a cafe in the evening and when heading out to Tompkins Square Park on the weekends. You'll have every modern convenience, from a gym to a roof deck to in-unit laundry, on the same streets where names like The Ramones, Warhol and Hendrix and [sic] paved the history of this neighborhood for years to come.
Bike Share will launch May 27. Issues that must be dealt with immediately, such as a blocked driveway or loading zone, should be emailed to the community board office (info@cb3manhattan.org) and we will work with DOT to have these sites inspected immediately.
There are other concerns regarding placement of installations or size of installations, or the number of installations in close proximity to each other. We are asking people to wait until bike share is in operation for a month to see what works and what doesn’t. What installations are not being used to capacity? What installations do not accommodate the number of bikes needed?
The Community Board 3 Transportation Committee will meet on Tuesday, July 16 to hear concerns. DOT will attend the meeting to note these concerns and address or inspect and follow up. Please check the CB 3 website for the meeting location or sign up to receive monthly agendas (join cb 3’s mail list on website).
The church was formerly the site of the cemetery of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where thousands of people were buried starting in the early 19th century. This was only the third and at the time the largest Catholic Cemetery in New York. While the graveyard was moved to Calvary Cemetery in Queens in 1909, it is not known if all remains were removed and cleared from the site or if some still lie in burial underneath.
The preservation organizations have written to developer Douglas Steiner and the city’s Department of Buildings and Landmarks Preservation Commission to notify them that a very large cemetery was formerly found on this site, and calling for a complete archaeological evaluation of the site as required by law in such cases before any work proceeds, to prevent disturbance of any burial site or human remains which may remain here.
Cafaro listed recent accidents in the East Village involving distracted cyclists talking on phones and running red lights, along with one biker who slipped on a wet roadway and wound up putting his hand through a car windshield.
"Bikers don't realize you can't do that," Cafaro said, describing behaviors that could endanger cyclists. "You have to stay off the phone, you have to stay in the bike lane and you have to stop at red lights."
The East Village recently saw a spike in reported bicycle crashes, with eight in the 28-day period ending May 19, compared to just four in the same period the previous year, Cafaro said.
The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space will host a pop-up exhibit in support of the movement to Save Our CHARAS Community Center (SOCCC).
Come celebrate and learn about the vibrant history of CHARAS/El Bohio and demand the return of this historic cultural institution. The exhibit will open tonight when community leaders, local activists and concerned neighbors will gather for a show of unity.
With guest speakers: Chino Garcia, Rosie Mendez, Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh, Senator Brad Hoylman. More guests, performers and announcements TBA.
May 23 - 31, 2013
Opening Night:
Thursday, May 23, 2013
6-9 pm
For four decades, the name CBGB has been synonymous with all musical genres emerging from the indie and punk underground. This year, CBGB will be breaking more new ground with the expansion of the CBGB MUSIC & FILM FESTIVAL, a five-day festival/conference.
This will take place Wednesday, October 9 to Sunday, October 13, 2013 within NYC's rich and varied music venues throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. The Landmark Sunshine Theater on E. Houston St. will serve as the conference and film festival hub.
Name: Edward “Eak the Geek” Arrocha.
Occupation: Coney Island Circus Performer
Location: East River Promenade, East River Park.
Time: 3:30 on Friday, May 17.
I’m a suburban kid. I was born in downtown Mexico City but I grew up in a neighborhood called Lomas Verdes, which was known to be the most ‘Fresa,’ which would be the equivalent of the word square, suburban neighborhood in Mexico City. My dad’s a lawyer from Mexico and my mom’s a professor from the East Coast. I didn’t want to be a professor or a lawyer but you don’t really aspire to be a circus performer. I actually think I was the kid who had the balls to do what I wanted to do.
It was my lifelong dream to live here. I remember going to Times Square and thinking I wanted to be there. It was perverted and cool and weird. I moved to the East Village in the early 1990s and I’ve lived in the same apartment for 20 years. There used to be dealers in the building where I live. The prostitutes would sometimes be plying their trade in the halls at 4 in the morning. I always had a soft spot for the working girls. I kind of feel that in a lot of ways they’re somebody’s sister or somebody’s mother. I used to kick them out of the building but they always were nice to me. The dealers and the junkies and the working girls, I was always nice to them and they were always nice to me for whatever reason. The ones who were really nasty were the Johns. They had paid for it and would be like, “Mind your own business,” and I would go into my apartment and walk out with a baseball bat and that was it.
My first job here was as a street vendor, selling jewelry. I moved here to make it as an artist. I really was not into being a sideshow performer. I played in bands as a vocalist. I was into weird bands, anywhere from somewhat punk and hardcore to weird art bands. I was more of a screamer than anything else. I also wrote a lot of poetry and did a lot of poetry readings. I still write poetry — it’s kind of what I do. I write everyday. I’ve never really had a straight job. I didn’t want to become the hamster in the wheel going around and around in a circle. That, to me, was perhaps the most terrifying place to end up in.
I lost my street vending job and I needed a job badly, so this woman said they needed a ticket guy in Coney Island. It was incredible. There was so much energy and so much weirdness. There was such an intense vibe. It really was a war zone, although once you got to know people it was not a bad place.
The people I worked with were interesting but the people who really intrigued me were the people who hung out there. You’d have the kite flyers, the beach walkers, the beach combers, you had the people who would sit there and watch the sun all day, you’d have some old Italians who had been there for many years, you had the people from the projects who were really nice and coming to enjoy the beach. You had a wide variety of people that made up New York. No matter that they had all these gangs, it still had this nice and laid back vibe.
There was a big difference when I tattooed my face. A lot of people get really obsessed with the tattoos and then they start talking to me and realize I’m more than just the tattoos. When I tattooed my face I had to go work inside and there was a bed of nails and I said, ‘Oh, let me go do that.’ Little did I know that I would be Eak the Geek. I was the guy who got squeezed by the bed of nails. I was the pain proof man. It was one of the classical sideshow acts.
It was always really hard, hard, gritty work. There was a time when you would do 12, 45-minute shows a day. People would get very tired and beat up from doing the shows. It was not ideal working conditions. You spent a lot of your year with the five people in the backstage, that you’d see everyday, everyday, everyday. You were kind of a dysfunctional family. There was a lot of fighting and arguing.
After 15 years, when it stopped becoming a place for me to write about, that’s when it became time to leave. It had an interesting shelf life and then it became a job. I always liked fishing but I began to fish seriously in 2007 after I left the sideshow. The sideshow took so much of my time and life that I needed something to fill in the void.
What an amazing day to go fishing.