2U (or U2) Karaoke is now open on St. Mark's Place; Hanover Cafe coming soon

All sorts of things happening at the former Mondo Kim's on St. Mark's between Third Avenue and Second Avenue...



The karaoke portion of this new B&T empire opened over the weekend...




The folks behind Hanover Cafe are also part of the World's Fare Market at Citi Field.





Previously hereabouts.

Bluebird Coffee Shop now open

The Bluebird Coffee Shop opened Saturday on East First Street just west of First Avenue. (Simon Sips was in this spot until earlier this fall.) Pretty simple: coffee and espresso drinks, with a few things like coffee cake and Irish soda bread. I always give a new place a whirl. And, for what this is worth, the coffee at the Bluebird is better than at any of the other new cafes that have opened in recent months...

Subway painfully reminds us that they're coming to the Bowery

At the former Downtown Music...



...so it wasn't really a bad dream. (Fork in the Road broke the story.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
And this pretty much sums it up: City's 45,679th Subway taking over former Downtown Music space on the Bowery

A Daydream doesn't come true, and a new hair salon debuts

With the help of a Grub Street reader who named the joint, Daydream opened last December to plenty of fanfare...(it was originally going to be called Double Fraiche)...The reader's prize: winner of free fro-yo for life at Daydream.






But the Daydream was shortlived. It closed in late October. And now, a new hair salon has opened in the space.

Oh, Christmas trees!

The trees have arrived on Second Avenue in front of the St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery...




I have my eye on the one on the left.



Previously on EV Grieve:
First sign of Christmas trees

Zines, which never really went away, are making a comeback

There's a trends piece in the Post today on zines making a comeback. (I never thought that they went away, but, you know, with stupid blogs and stuff....)

Anyway! To the story!

Jenna Freedman, the zine librarian at Barnard, thinks that part of the allure is a reaction to our digital age. "People are overwhelmed by the online world, and retreating to something more manageable and tangible like print feels soothing."

Ayun Halliday started her zine, "The East Village Inky," in 1998 and resisted the pressure to switch to a blog. "I'm a paper fetishist," says the 44-year-old mom of two who lives in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. "I like to think of someone discovering an issue in an attic or a dusty bookstore 20, 50 or 100 years from now." Her latest project is a Zinester’s Guide to NYC.

New York's zine scene is a mix of Gen X veterans, like Halliday, who never stopped publishing, and younger enthusiasts. Freedman has had prospective students who have no memory of life before blogs request tours of the zine library during campus visits.

First, I was always a Generation X fan.



(Try embedding a video in a zine, suckers!)

But seriously, I love zines. And I've kicked around the idea of creating a zine. Jeremiah has had similar thoughts. In fact, I may have stolen the idea from him!

For further reading:
Zine fest (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Archiving a collection of LES protest fliers

Missed this piece in the Times yesterday about Time's Up! founder Bill DiPaola. His collection of fliers and artwork from nearly two decade's worth of Lower East Side protests is becoming part of an archive at NYU.

[Photo: Kirsten Luce for The New York Times]

Bloomberg spent nearly $183 per vote

From the City Room:

To eke out a narrow re-election victory over the city’s understated comptroller, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spent $102 million of his own money, or about $183 per vote, according to data released on Friday, making his bid for a third term the most expensive campaign in municipal history.

And the $102 million tab is likely to rise: the mayor has not yet doled out his storied bonuses to campaign workers, which can top $100,000 a person. That spending will not be reported until after his inauguration.

Books that we found on a bench in Tompkins Square Park yesterday

Say, who's the school reporter there interviewing Betty. Is that Big Ethel Muggs?

Me too

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

Excellent new exhibit at Bullet Space (Blah Blog Blah) Jill also published an East Third Street photo essay.

Pizza at Ray's? (Neither More Nor Less)

An idea for your leftovers (With Leftovers)

Why it should be Black Sabbath Day today (Flaming Pablum)

One reason to go to the Time Warner Center (Stupefaction)

Legendary New York Yankees PA announcer Bob Sheppard officially retires (The Sporting News)

Thanksgiving at HoJo's (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

How those lights get up on the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree (Lost City)

East River String Band's new CD "Drunken Barrel House Blues" is now available (Slum Goddess)

Fliers around Tompkins Square Park offer a $3,000 reward for puppy lost in Flushing