EV Grieve

Saturday, April 23, 2022

It's Record Store Day (and record store appreciation day always)

Today is Record Store Day nationwide (details on new/special releases here) ... here's a shout-out to the EV record shops making it work day in/out... a few of the shops will have some RSD titles in stock...

• A-1 Record Shop

439 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue

• Academy Records

415 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue

• Ergot Records

32 E. Second St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery

• Limited to One Records

221 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue

• Manhattan45

220 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue

• Stranded Records

218 E. Fifth St. between Second Avenue and Cooper Square

Sunday and the street meat will be sizzlin': 1st street fair since 2019 slated for 2nd Avenue

Photo by Steven

After a two-year pandemic hiatus, a street fair is returning to our local, um, streets ... Sunday (tomorrow!) sees the Second Avenue "EV" Festival between Fourth Street and 14th Street... and it's an opportunity to make up for lost time by buying a lot of tube socks, ~~fake~~ pashminas, NY ❤️ me tank tops, funnel cakes, turkey drumsticks, corn dogs, Italian sausage and ...

Friday, April 22, 2022

Friday's parting shots

Earth Day scenes from the former amphitheater at East River Park (above) ... and the former cherry tree grove in Corlears Hook Park...

Activists at the scene today said that workers yelled "Happy Earth Day" to them between cutting down more trees.

The trees are coming down as part of the ongoing $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency project.

'Eye' contact

Surfbort released a new video today for "Open Your Eyes," from the band's Keep on Truckin' release ... and recruited skate legend Tony Hawk to take part... see what goes down. Or up.

City honors Saifee Hardware manager Francisco Puebla for role in nabbing alleged subway shooter

Francisco "Frank" Puebla, the longtime manager at Saifee Hardware & Garden on First Avenue and Seventh Street, was one of five people honored by the city on Wednesday for their role in helping catch the alleged Sunset Park subway shooter.

As Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said during the ceremony at the Police Department HQ: "Each of these individuals exemplifies the determination and courage that makes us all proud to be New Yorkers. Their actions remind us every day, in every corner of our city, we are surrounded by heroes."

The five will split a $50,000 reward. (This piece from the Times has more on this ceremony.)

As previously reported, Frank James reportedly shot 10 people on a subway train in Sunset Park on April 12. In total, 29 people were wounded in the aftermath on the train and platform. U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said James was charged with one count of violating a law prohibiting terrorist and other violent attacks against mass transit systems. James could face up to life in prison if convicted.

Police arrested James on April 13 on the NE corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place... aided by the actions of Puebla and the other tipsters, Mohamad Cheikh, Zack Tahhan and Jack Griffin. (The fifth tipster asked to remain anonymous.)

You can read our previous posts for more background.

• Suspect in Sunset Park subway shooting arrested in the East Village (April 13)

• Videos: Witnesses describe spotting alleged subway shooter Frank James before his arrest in the East Village (April 13)

• 5 people are splitting the $50,000 Crime Stoppers reward for Frank James tip (April 16)

Image via @saifeehardware

The cowboy way at Key Food

A video of surveillance footage had been making the rounds on Reddit titled "Trying to shoplift when the owner is there get's you instant karma." (Update: The video has been removed. And thanks to the EVG readers who shared the link in recent weeks.)

In the 25-second clip dated from March 24 at 7:26 a.m., a man wearing a cowboy hat and a hoodie reading "Players only love you when they're playing" is seen grabbing a man trying to leave Key Food on Avenue A and Fourth Street without (presumably) paying for several 6-packs of White Claw.

The cowboy grabs the would-be thief and slams him against the exit wall... the man drops the White Claw in the process... and the cowboy chases him away ... and the cowboy impressively never loses his hat in the process...

Key sources tell us that the man regularly (and allegedly) shoplifts White Claw and other items and is well-known to employees. (Earlier this year EVG contributor Stacie Joy witnessed a man walk out of the store with the hard seltzer ... and employees didn't attempt to stop him. It's not clear if the person in the video is the same person Stacie saw.)

There was speculation about the identity of the White Claw Vigilante. Web sleuths are curious about who uploaded the video to Reddit — and why. To send a message to any future Key Food shoplifters? A Reddit user named "scottonaharley" is listed as the uploader.

A Key source said the video surveillance system is in a manager's office, which is locked downstairs; few people have access to this space.

We're told the man in the hat is Scott Schubert, who has a management role within the Key Food family. He happened to be at the supermarket on this day. Schubert saw the White Claw thief shoving longtime employee Utpola as he headed for the exit.

Stacie reached out to Schubert as well as Ben Mandel at Key Food parent company MAN-Dell Food Stores, Inc. for comment.

A chance to see the 1956 film classic 'On the Bowery' on a big screen

If you haven't seen it... or want to watch it again... Lionel Rogosin's 1956 documentary "On the Bowery" is screening over the next few days at Metrograph.

Here's what Criterion has to say about the 65-minute film:

Lionel Rogosin's landmark of American neorealism chronicles three days in the drinking life of Ray Salyer, a part-time railroad worker adrift on New York's skid row, the Bowery. When the film first opened in 1956, it exploded onto the screen, burning away years of Hollywood artifice, jump-starting America’s postwar independent-film scene ...

Developed in close collaboration with the men Rogosin met while spending months hanging out in neighborhood bars, "On the Bowery" is both an indispensable document of a bygone Manhattan and a vivid and devastating portrait of addiction.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1957.

Check out the trailer here...

Metrograph is at 7 Ludlow St. just north of Canal. Find the movie times here.

And this screening is part of a larger Rogosin retrospective at the theater.

Big Ash brings the vintage gems to Delancey

Big Ash debuted on Delancey Street late last week ... here's more about the shop via NYC Vintage Map:

Carefully curated vintage gems by the owner Ash Williams, from '70s crochet tops to early 2000s sexy slip dresses. Very cool!

Big Ash is open daily from noon to 7 p.m. at 47 Delancey St. between Forsythe and Eldridge. Find updates on what's in stock (and who's in the store) @bigashnyc.