Save the date/reminder...And the Archdiocese now has half of the money to restore St. Brigid's

Meanwhile, Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid’s Church, had the following news to report:

This year will bring a lot of change to St. Brigid’s Church. We would like inform you that work is progressing. There is currently on site testing going on. We will continue to monitor the situation.

The Archdiocese has informed us on Dec 16, 2008 the second installment (5 million) was received, a total of 10 million has been received and is earmarked for the restoration of the church. The Archdiocese will also be filing a motion to to render our case moot. We will inform everyone of the outcome through the website. The case is scheduled to be heard in The Court of Appeals on February 11, 2009.

Ugh: Etherea Records is closing

Karate Boogaloo brings us the awful news this afternoon at Stupefaction: After 13 years, Etherea Records is closing shop on Avenue A next month. Expect nice savings on everything there until then.

As KB notes: "I'm sad, as this is yet another record store biting the dust. One less place to drop by. One less place to discuss music face to face with actual other human beings."

Meanwhile, could someone please hit me over the head really hard with a shovel? Thank you.

Snow job: The Penistrator fails to rear his ugly head

Given the international attention the Penistrator has received, we figured this snow fiend would strike again at the first sign of the white stuff. Like last night. As our profiler noted, "all the attention is going to his head." With that, we set out once again to catch the so-called snowffiti "artist" in action...(and by we, I mean me....)



We walked for what seemed like days, finishing the blackberry brandy that we brought to keep us warm some five hours before we actually left. And we walked....



And walked...



And walked...



Twenty minutes later, still nothing. Oh, he resisted the urge! This Penistrator is a crafty one...



Until another day, one that brings snow, football and a drink-and-drown happy hour. (Trust us, we're not doing this every snowfall.)

And if you woke up this morning to a street full of snow penii, please let us know. As our new motto goes, If you see something, like a snow penis, say something.

Previous Penistrator coverage on EV Grieve is here.

The East Village Penistrator finally gaining attention of the international community

Thanks to the good people at the River blog for reporting on this news that deserves global coverage, especially overseas. Anyway, my Italian isn't so good. So I have no idea what this post says.

Our intern ran the post through The Yahoo! Babelfish translator...and it goes something like this:
-----
To Rome on the dirty cars there is who writes "washes to me", or more varying others veraci. To New York, from some time, there was a joker who went designing make them and an other series of "obscenity" on the parked cars. After a big wave of collective curiosity, of the case the net has been taken care also pettegolezza of Tmz, that it has sguinzagliato for Manhattan its photographers. At the end the graffitaro-penologo has been pecked: it would be such Haley Joel Osment, university student and protagonist of "The Sixth Sense".

This week's sign of the apocalypse

Daniel Boulud's new beer and burger joint opening on the Bowery is tentatively titled DBGB. (New York Post, via Grub Street)

Updated: For further reading:

Boulud on Bowery #03: DBGB Shall Be the New CBGB (Eater)
It's Official: Nothing is Sacred! (Flaming Pablum)

[CBGB photo via UrbanImage]

New York's disappearing storefronts

A friend recently turned me on to the work of James and Karla Murray, photographers who split time between NYC and Miami. Last month, they released their latest book, "Store Front -- The Disappearing Face of New York." According to their site: "'Store Front' provides an irreplaceable window to the rich cultural experience of New York City as seen through its neighborhood shops. These stores have the city’s history etched in their facades. They tirelessly serve their community, sustaining a neighborhood’s diverse nature and ethnic background, in a city with an unmercifully fast pace and seemingly insatiable need for change.

Through March 29, you can see their work at the Brooklyn Historical Society's exhibition, "The Disappearing Face of Brooklyn’s Storefronts." (Via Gowanus Lounge)

Meanwhile, here's a video they did on Emily's Pork Store in Williamsburg.



Since seeing their "Store Front" work, I've started paying even more attention to the great old shops that remain in the neighborhood...and elsewhere in the city...

A good storefront

On 14th Street near Third Avenue.

Two storefronts on West 36th Street

After checking out the Holland Bar the other day, I walked a bit on West 36th Street between Ninth Avenue and Eighth Avenue. Always glad to see some good, old-fashioned businesses, storefronts that haven't been turned into a Marc Jacobs or something. Here are two examples. Neither of these stores really need to have any kind of compelling window displays. (Not sure how much of their business comes from people who just happen to be walking by..."Say, I should stop and get my sewing machine repaired!") Yet I'm glad they give it a try.

A WTF storefront

Good old Rite Aid...both the location on 14th Street near the Blarney Cove and on First Avenue at Fifth Street have the same storefront...some sort of wellness theme...where we get a good view of some yuppie's armpit at sunrise...



and some yunnie honey's butt-revealing running shorts...



It's like American Apparel as reimagined by David Zinczenko.

Two places temporarily closed for renovation/construction

First, as of last night, the Australian Homemade candy shop on St. Mark's Place near Avenue A was closed...seems as if they'd want to be open leading up to Valentine's Day...




(Hasn't been a good week for Australian places on St. Mark's Place, by the way...)

Meanwhile, over on Seventh Street between Second Avenue and First Avenue, Klimat, the Eastern European beer joint, remains closed. Haven't been here myself (a little clean and suburbany for my tastes), but a friend of EV Grieve's is bummed this place has been closed for several weeks...



At least it looks as if they'll be back in time for your Valentine's Day.

An East Ninth Street vintage shop is closing

M Sonii, the vintage-y, knicknack-y store at 220 E. Ninth St. near Third Avenue that featured local designers...


is closing...



In 2000, The Village Voice named M Sonii the best accessory store.

Life on Laura Mars

Ah, the Bowery Boys do justice today to a long-lost (unintentionally hilarious!) NYC classic...The Eyes of Laura Mars from 1978. With Faye Dunaway fresh from winning an Oscar for Network. As the Bowery Boys put it:

As such, it seems a thin but playful satire of downtown New York decadence. Manhattan looks unusually great for such a commonplace horror flick. The best set is easily Mars' studio, in one of the Chelsea warehouses piers overlooking the Hudson River, just steps from the West Side elevated highway. The most notable -- and campy scene -- erupts at Columbus Circle, at a ridiculous fashion shoot involving burning cars and models in lingerie and fur coats. Oh Columbus Circle! Were you ever so fun?

You get a taste of Hell's Kitchen in a brisk chase scene involving Tommy Lee Jones' cop character, his feathered hair flapping in the wind. But seeing Soho was more striking to me, devoid of shopfronts, mysterious flat warehouses during the day that open to become large, disco-thumping galleries at night. There are still galleries in Soho, of course, but the one in 'Laura Mars' is a big, hokey circus. (The director even condescendingly throws in a dwarf, to get the point across.)

Here's a trailer/infomercial for the film....



And those memorable, uh, lines...