Puke Island returns to Tompkins Square Park

The ninth annual Puke Island takes place this afternoon (Sunday, June 9) in Tompkins Square Park.

Per the invite:

As many of you know, the first Punk Island was complete and utter chaos, and 100% free expression. A badly organized bolt from the blue. Without going into detail, it's gotten way TOO organized for a lot of people.

PUKE ISLAND carries in its original spirit, allowing us to bask in what it used to be. PUKE ISLAND is not affiliated with Make Music New York, ABC No Rio, or Anyone else.
In cahoots with the SHADOW underground newspaper.

The bands will be:

2 — Room Full of Killers
2:40 — Necrotic Society
3:30 — Patterns of Decay
4:20 — False Gods
5 — Eye of the Destroyer

Astor Piano

Thanks to Jefferson Siegel for this action shot of the Sing for Hope piano in use today on Astor Place... the piano, titled "Community of Dreams" and created by Joan Dilieto, will be here through June 23.

H Mart is open! H Mart is open!

[Photo from 8 a.m.]

The H Mart on Third Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street opened its doors today around noon (H/T Steven!)...

And there's an unconfirmed report that @sukebornloose was first in line...


[Photo by Steven]

This location of the Asian-American grocery will also carry BBQ chicken...



And the hours of operation...



More, much more, later... and previously.

Updated 1:15 p.m.

A few interior shots via Steven...











We first spotted the branding for the Asian-American supermarket here last August. This is the third H Mart in Manhattan (the others are on West 32nd Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side). Overall, H Mart, based in Lyndhurst, N.J., has more than 70 outposts in the United States and Canada.

Workers combined four retail spaces on this block in the base of NYU's Alumni Hall to fit this H Mart — the former Birdbath and Citi Habitats office (both of those businesses left in the summer of 2014 ... as well as a Subway (sandwich shop) and Saint's Alp Teahouse.

The Tompkins Square Middle School Music and Food Festival is today

The Tompkins Square Middle School Music and Food Festival happens today from noon to 4 p.m. ... taking place in the playground behind the school (enter on Fourth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C).

The invite promises food, live music (via students and teachers), "pie-in-the-face," tie-day t-shirts and tote bags, and a rummage sale.

There's a also a raffle — $2 per chance or $5 for three. The prizes include a $50 Big Gay Ice Cream gift card and four tickets to the One World Trade Observatory.

Friday's parting shots

The East Village sunset view tonight courtesy of @cecilscheib...

And another view on Second Avenue by Mary Jane Glaser...

Primal 'Scream'

Midnight, the new record (produced by Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest) from Detroit-based musician Stef Chura is out today. The video here is for the track "Scream."

Look for her out at Rough Trade on July 12.

About the 'Pay It No Mind' mural honoring LGBTQ+ advocate Marsha P. Johnson outside the F train stop on 2nd Avenue

This new mural titled "Pay It No Mind" arrived this past weekend outside the F stop on Second Avenue at East Houston...



The work is a collaboration between Suriani, a visual artist based in Montréal, and Homo Riot.

It's part of an in-progress Queer Street Art documentary by photographer and filmmaker Daniel Albanese aka @dustyrebel for Pride Month. This piece honors LGBTQ advocate Marsha P. Johnson, a leader in the Stonewall uprising.

(Suriani’s imagine of Marsha P. Johnson is based on Richard Shupper’s studio portrait of Johnson from 1991, the year before her death.)



Albanese talked more about the mural in an interview published yesterday at Brooklyn Street Art:

This wall is actually the kick off to a series of Queer Street Art that will be coming to NYC for Pride Month. I have partnered with Art In Ad Places, Keep Fighting NYC, and other community based projects to create a queer alternative to the overwhelming flood of corporate pride events.

While not part of Reclaim Pride Coalition’s inaugural Queer Liberation March on June 30, I was inspired by the activists who have organized to bring the “Spirit of Stonewall” directly to the street, and who are keeping the focus on the continuing needs of the LGBTQ+ community.

The mural was also defaced short after its arrival on Second Avenue:

I know street art is ephemeral, and I also know that work that is unapologetically queer is especially targeted. So I knew it was coming, I just didn’t expect something that big and that fast in less than 30 hours. We made this piece as a community, for our community. We really wanted to start conversation about the issues that LGBTQ+ people face, and to honor the memory of Marsha P. Johnson and the Stonewall Riot. To have that important conversation cut short felt like a punch in the gut.

View this post on Instagram

In less than 30 hours from completion, New York’s only non-corporate sponsored, fully and unapologetically queer pride mural was destroyed. . But like Marsha, we PAY IT NO MIND . And rise again . . @homoriot @surianiart #homoriot #surianiart #marshapjohnson #payitnomind #suriani #queerliberation #stonewallwasariot #PassThatBrick #dustyrebelproduction #worldpride #queerstreetart #gaystreetart #nycstreetart #instagay #lgbtq #queerart #gayart

A post shared by TheDustyRebel (@dustyrebel) on Jun 3, 2019 at 9:14am PDT

Late last month, the de Blasio administration announced that it will create a permanent Greenwich Village monument to honor Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, founders of the Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries.

Report: Man attacks M15 with a knife on 2nd Avenue

[Montage via @Pix11]

A knife-wielding man attacked an M15 last around 8 on Second Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street, according to witnesses and multiple published reports.

Here's WABC-TV with some narrative:

The seemingly emotionally disturbed man stopped traffic and climbed onto the MTA bus, then began stabbing the front of the bus with some kind of object.

Eventually he was stopped and taken down by the bus driver and some Good Samaritans until police arrived.

"I opened up the doors and told him listen, you've got to get off the bus or get off the bumper," said the driver, Louis Huertas. "Sure enough he pulls a knife out on me and starts coming after me. After he broke the windshield wiper somebody yelled, 'yo he put the knife away'. When I asked were they sure, they said yeah he put the knife in his front left pocket. That's when I went ahead and grabbed him and swung him and threw him on the floor."

And via Twitter...

Another crazy day in NYC #unionsquare #mtaselectbus #nyc pic.twitter.com/LElZU3A4fJ

— katelyn (@vxkatelyn) June 7, 2019

Charges are pending against the bus assailant, per WABC.

You can find other reports at CBS 2 and PIX 11.

Day starter

Here's the sunrise view this morning around 5:15 from Fourth Avenue and 12th Street ... thanks to EVG reader Jeanne Krier for the photo.

Last weekend for Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen before the summer break

This is the last weekend until mid-August for the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen before their customary summer break.

Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen, 33 E. Seventh St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square, is the basement cafe that helps generate income for the St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church up the block.

The photos here are from EVG contributor Stacie Joy's visit to the space last September...





Anyway, three more days to hit them up for some inexpensive and hearty fare. The cafe is open today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a 9 a.m. start time on Saturday and Sunday. Visit Streecha's Instagram account for the daily specials and reopening updates.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to the Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen on 7th Street