EV Grieve

Thursday, March 19, 2009

An excellent body of work

Last August, I did a post on artist Dan Witz. He uses some of the uglier new buildings in Brooklyn and the LES as the backdrops for the photo-based, heavily re-painted stickers that he mounts on plastic and glues to the walls. Anyway! His work came to mind after reading about an upcoming exhibit of his work in Amsterdam April 9-20.

This is one of his newer works that I wasn't familiar with... from somewhere in Brooklyn.

You can find more on his Flickr page.

Noted

"George W. Bush is getting $7 million for his memoir, tentatively titled "Decision Points," scheduled for a 2010 release by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group." (Page Six)

Reverend Billy investigates how the downturn is having an impact on local businesses ("Stay out of the national chains!")

Thanks to the tipster who passed along this link...

Mayoral candidate Reverend Billy talks with business owners on East Ninth Street on how they're coping with the recession. This was filmed as part of the Uncommon Economic Indicator project with the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC.

More love for Britney on Avenue B...

At Sixth Street...Previously.

More on Mr. Zero

[Update: The link to This Ain't the Summer of Love's Mr. Zero post/photo archives is currently down...we'll let you know when it's back up...]

In case you missed his comments yesterday on my Urbain Ledoux/The Tub post, NYCDreamin at Ain't the Summer of Love dug around for some more information on Urbain Ledoux, the man behind the former diner/greasy spoon The Tub on St. Mark's in the 1930s:

According to what NYCD found:

Urbain J. Ledoux -- better known as "Mr. Zero" -- introduced a novelty in the form of a 5-cent turkey dinner. He fed turkey dinners at "The Tub" in the basement of 33 St. Marks Place, on the basis of "All you can eat for a nickel," and said that he was able to break even financially. Dealers furnished the turkey and trimmings at cost, the cooks volunteered, the diners waited on themselves, there was no overhead and and at the end of the day the ledger showed no red ink marks, according to Zero, who claims credit for the world's greatest achievement with the 5-cent piece.

NYCD also found further Ledoux-related archival photos...as well as this video..."Near the end of this clip, you can see some of the men from the Bowery taking a meal at one of Mr. Zero's charity relief soup kitchens," NYCD wrote...

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Signs of the coming Depression?

Two times in two different locations in the East Village...I saw someone walking down the street blowing on a harmonica. One more sighting and this is enough for a trends/lifestyles piece in the Times.

At the Tub, Christmas 1933

From an archival photo from Corbis dated 1933. Here's the original caption:

Homeless and Unemployed Men Eating at Relief Center
Mr. Zero A Real Santa To Them. Nearly 5,000 homeless and unemployed men were the guest of Urbain Ledoux (Mr. Zero), at a Christmas Day dinner served by him in his haven for the needy, called the Tub at 33 St. Mark's Place, New York City. The principal item was Mulligan stew, made of turkey, chicken, goose and squabs, and how they enjoyed it. Here are some of the needy "digging in" at the savory meal prepared for them.

33 St. Mark's Place is now home to, among other things, Rockit Science Records.

(Hat tip, Mick)

[Image: via Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS]

Don't mess with Mr. G

Been a little slack. On my to-do list since, uh, last summer...join Jeremiah's Urban Etiquette Signs pool at Flickr. Anyway, here are a few candidates from making the rounds in recent months...

Jaws

A few weeks back our pal BoweryBoogie mentioned the Western Union ads on the vacant groundfloor storefront along the Ludlow...

Anyway, this damn thing continues to terrify me...