Cab needs a Lyft on 6th Street

Well, that sucks... Goggla shares these photos from this afternoon's downpour... when a cab got stuck in a deceiving, rain-filled hole in a construction zone on Sixth Street between First Avenue and Avenue A...

[Updated] David Choe's Bowery mural site of anti-rape protest tomorrow

[Photo from Thursday]

Updated 6/18: The mural has been painted over.

David Choe's mural on East Houston and the Bowery has been tagged multiple times in the past week, as Hyperallergic has been documenting.

There is mounting criticism over Choe's residency on the Bowery Mural Wall. As Caroline Caldwell detailed at Hyperallergic, Choe "has bragged about his predatory sexual behavior."

There is a protest planned here late tomorrow afternoon. Here's artnet News with details:

The Bowery Mural, currently home to a controversial work by street artist David Choe, will be the site of an anti-rape protest and performance art piece titled “NO MEANS NO” on June 18. The high-profile street art location has come under fire for offering a platform to Choe, after he bragged about a sexual encounter that sounded anything but consensual.

The protest is organized by curator Jasmine Wahi, co-owner and director of the Gateway Project Spaces, and founder and director of Project For Empty Space, both in Newark. "This piece is intended to examine examples of violent and predatory misogyny," reads the Facebook invite to the event. "Our aim is to provoke widespread rejection of the continued normalization of rape culture by bringing visibility to the topic."

The performance will take place simultaneously at Union Square South and in front of the Bowery mural on Houston Street, from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

In 2014, on an episode of his podcast "DVDASA," Choe admitted to co-host Asa Akira that he had engaged in what he called "rapey behavior" with a masseuse at her spa. He later claimed that his confession was simply "bad storytelling in the style of douche."

Buzzfeed and XOJane were among the media outlets that called him out on his actions. His alleged rape fixation is outlined here with multiple citations from his quotes.

Here's a comment via EVG reader East Village Community Member on a previous Choe post:

Public art is supposed to be a benefit to the communities in which is it is shown. Supporting David Choe and normalizing his public boasts of sexual assault against women is irresponsible and harmful to our society as it perpetuates rape culture. Choe may get big art commissions, he may be rich, he may be a celebrity.

However, he is an inappropriate choice for public art in our community. The Bowery Mural Wall is a project of the corporate Goldman Properties. They have been irresponsible in presenting a public art project by Choe in our neighborhood. Choe's offensive actions and comments should not be supported or normalized but should be condemned. I'm not advocating censorship of his art, but in my opinion he is an inappropriate choice for a public art project in our community. Wouldn't we rather see projects by artists who have something constructive and positive to contribute?

Swoon, who had the Hurricane Sandy-themed work on the Bowery Mural Wall in 2013, spoke out against Choe on Instagram:

I just read the transcript of your rape story and I thought to myself wowwww, this guy honestly thinks he's being edgy while he celebrates within the safety of the same metaphorical locker room that has long protected Donald Trump, Bill Cosby, and countless entitled date raping predators of whom there are too many to name.

Why reinforce the most disgusting aspects of the already dominant mainstream culture while playing it off like it's some fun taboo or wild boundary crossing adventure? The day Trump got elected is the day you must have had to admit to yourself that there's nothing transgressive about your rape stories. Rape culture is all around us, and you choose to "entertain" by being just another drop in the bucket of violence.

Art gives us so many more ways to express sexuality and confusion than just normalizing rapist shop talk. To be honest I have a hard time believing there is not a major element of truth to the tale. As someone who comes from a family of survivors of sexual violence I can tell you first hand that the ripple effects of the actions and attitudes that you put forth as cool destroy more lives than you may even have the capacity to imagine. I hope you wake up soon.

Several people have spray painted rapist on the wall... this one remains...



Goldman Global Arts, the wall's landlord, has yet to address the growing controversy. The mural was slated to remain up through October.

We can't stop thinking about how inspiring and exciting it was to have @davidchoe at the #BoweryWall! Here is a teaser of his process. Stay tuned for more!

A post shared by Goldman Global Arts (@goldmanglobalarts) on Jun 6, 2017 at 12:11pm PDT

Updated 6/18

Here's a clip from the Sunday evening protest/performance...

An incredibly powerful performance and protest entitled "No Means No" curated by Jasmine Wahi @browngirlcurator at the site of David Choe's Bowery Mural. Feeling honored to have witnessed these amazing artists fighting to dismantle rape culture, and fucking proud of the voices and fists raised today in the fierce NYC heat. #nomeansno #resist #nycart #artasresistance #dismantlerapeculture #jasminewahi #bowerywall

A post shared by Bella Hall (@whiskersonkitten) on Jun 18, 2017 at 3:28pm PDT

Updated 6/19

Here's video via The Dusty Rebel...

Flatbush puts on an early-evening show in Tompkins Square Park

The new red-tailed fledgling provided some early Friday evening entertainment in Tompkins Square Park.

On Wednesday, Ranger Rob (aka Rob Mastrianni, a Manhattan Ranger supervisor) released a juvenile red-tailed hawk into the Park that had been injured earlier in the month in Brooklyn.

Nicknamed Flatbush (he fell from a nest on Flatbush Avenue), the hawklet started practicing to fly... EVG hawk-watching correspondent Steven shared these photos...







He eventually made it as high as the fence...







... and a contemplative moment captured by EVG reader Alberto Means...



Eventually, Ranger Rob, an East Village resident, safely put Flatbush back into a tree for the night... (these two photos are by Bobby Williams)...



Ranger Rob also let Flatbush use the radio to prank some other rangers (JK!) ...



In a very encouraging sign, Steven spotted Christo, one of the adult red-tailed hawks in the Park, bringing the rescued hawklet some food (????) yesterday morning...

Eco-Fest & Block Party today on 6th Street

Between Avenue B and Avenue C between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. — rain or shine...

Here's what you can expect via the Block Party website:

All ages / Free / Open to the Public

Solar Power / Music / Community Gardens / Bicycling / Composting / Urban Agriculture / Yoga / Public Spaces / Permaculture / Theater / Green Roofs / Dance / Community Supported Agriculture / Maps / Cantestorias / Science / Hemp / Seed Bombs / Beekeeping / Puppets / Geothermal Energy / Plastic Free / Diversity / Art / Wind Power / Food

Alone together again

Seattle's Chastity Belt recently released their third record, the excellent "I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone."

And they are playing the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday. The above video for "Dull" was taped during a visit to WFUV in 2015.

EV Grieve Etc.: Monkey business at the Anthology; pigeon problems on Bond Street

[Photo on 2nd Avenue by Derek Berg]

A deep dive on Essex Crossing (The New York Times)

The Mayor is taking questions during a Town Hall on the LES next week (The Lo-Down)

Meanwhile, de Blasio seemingly getting more proactive about subway woes (Curbed)

Rundown of Pride Week events (Official site) ... and LGBT history in the East Village (Off the Grid)

Cinematic primates have their moment in the Simian Vérité film series (Anthology Film Archives)

A look at the East Village Hare Krishna movement via "Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement and the Swami Who Started It" opening at the Village East Cinema (B+B)

There's an interactive new play that will recreate "Panic in Needle Park" on the LES (Gothamist)

Landlord sues Bond Street tenant for feeding pigeons, creating poop-filled sidewalk (New York Post)

Billionaires chase after Basquiats (Bloomberg)

Last weekend for group show "Wrong Side of History" (Bullet Space, Third Street between C and D)

Podcaster Taxstone pleads guilty to Irving Plaza gun charges (DNAinfo)

How Citi Bike started a transportation — and advertising — revolution (Fast Company)

Ranking NYC ice cream (Eater)

A posthumous album coming next month from Suicide's Alan Vega (Dangerous Minds)

On the street

EVG Facebook friend Roy Lee, a former East Village resident, was back in the neighborhood earlier this month... he shared a few photos that he took...

















Previously on EV Grieve:
Found photos in the East Village from the early 1990s

Gastropub — 'Your new playground' — slated for former Guayoyo space on 1st Avenue

An EVG tipster let us know that renovations are underway at 67 First Ave., the former Guayoyo space on the northwest corner of Fourth Street ...



Signs on the door point to a venture called Mabi (or Space Mabi?), a gastropub...



Their motto is "Your new playground" ...



Guayoyo, the low-key, family-owned Venezuelan restaurant, never reopened after an early-morning basement fire on Jan. 13, 2015. In a follow-up inspection, Con Ed discovered a gas leak at the address.

In April 2015, an employee said they hoped to have the restaurant reopened soon. That never happened as repairs and red tape ensued with the landlord, Icon Realty, and Con Ed. (Read more about the situation here.) Guayoyo vacated the lease in August 2016, 20 months after the fire. A message posted on Guayoyo's Facebook page read in part: "Unfortunately we are forced to close the doors despite the efforts made to ensure its reopening during this year and a half of forced closure due to circumstances beyond our control."

The husband-wife team who owned Guayoyo previously ran Kura Sushi at the address, which dates to 1988.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Guayoyo has been closed now for 1 year

Plywood arrives for the incoming Starbucks on St. Mark's Place and Avenue A

Workers started putting up the plywood on the corner of St. Mark's Place and Avenue A yesterday.

As we first reported on Monday, the paperwork is on file at the Department of Buildings for a Starbucks in this now-combined corner space that previously housed Nino's and Hop Devil Grill.

No word on a tentative opening date just yet for the Starbucks. There are other questions too, as posed by @EdenBrower, who took the above photo...

@evgrieve how big is the @Starbucks going to be?? pic.twitter.com/eiURc9Bf8B

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) June 15, 2017

Previously on EV Grieve:
Starbucks confirmed for Avenue A
Updated 6/17

The final plywood product...

Rally in support the Public Theater this evening at Astor Place

[Photos by Steven]

There was a rally this evening at 6 on Astor Place to support the Public Theater and "condemn corporate censorship" ...



As you may have read, criticism in right-leaning media outlets prompted Delta and Bank of America to pull support of the Public Theater's production of "Julius Caesar" in Central Park ... which portrays Caesar as a Donald Trump-like character (and you likely know what eventually happens to Caesar...)

Per the Times:

A clash between Trump supporters and an iconic Manhattan arts institution over what kind of art is appropriate was perhaps inevitable in this hyperpartisan age. The proudly iconoclastic Public Theater is the birthplace of “Hair” (the Vietnam-era antiwar musical) and “Hamilton” (the hip-hop musical celebrating immigrants). And [Oskar] Eustis, the Public’s artistic director, is an unabashedly left-leaning theatermaker who believes in the value of provocative art.

Defenders of the production, including some theater critics, describe the Public’s “Julius Caesar” as nuanced, complex and loyal to Shakespeare’s text — a cautionary tale about the costs of political violence.

The Public, located nearby on Lafayette, released this statement on Monday...

#WeAreOnePublic. pic.twitter.com/HkOKxFIKsT

— The Public Theater (@PublicTheaterNY) June 12, 2017