'East Fifth Bliss' filming on First Avenue today

"East Fifth Bliss," based on former East Village resident Douglas Light's novel, films today on First Avenue and parts of 12th and 13th Streets... And Slum Goddess will be an extra for scenes being filmed next week...




And Peter Fonda has joined the cast ... playing alongside Michael C. Hall, Lucy Liu and others...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Q-and-A with 'East Fifth Bliss' author Douglas Light

About the building that inspired the novel 'East Fifth Bliss'

Graceland looking empty

Walked in Graceland on Avenue A and Second Street the other night... looking rather barren ... the shelves up top are empty...




Has anyone heard any updates on it closing?


Previously on EV Grieve:
Graceland is closing in the next 10 days

Record Store Day under way

And we're off... noticed a few people waiting in line at Kim's on First Avenue a little bit ago...



Here's the Record Store Day Web site.

Or maybe on the M15

Via Karate Boogaloo at the New York Nobody Sings.

Save the Date: May 8 Kids' Art Bike Parade in Tompkins Square Park

For additional information, visit The East Village Community Coalition Web site.

No anarchists today at Theatre 80

An update on today's fourth annual NYC Anarchist Film Festival via Facebook:

Because of the distractions related to the raid we are curtailing the program to just Judson Church from 5 pm onward till nighttime. We have an amazing program this year of regular and immersive films created by global justice filmakers from all over the world.

For those of you who are concerned about the safety in light of recent police harassment, I would urge you to come out in spite of these threats — we can not allow illegal police state tactics to limit our ability to communicate with one another. The only way to effectively stop this kind of behaviour is not to allow them to sabotage our communication forums.

The Program for this years festival:
5pm - Experimental Videos - Video art engaging the idea of self, creativity and our relationship with the state

6pm - We are Everywhere - Anarchist Projects, Actions and Narratives from around the world. Videos from Mexico, Palestine, Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia

7pm - Squat Me - films about reclaiming private and public space for the common good. Followed by discussion

8pm - Enviromental Justice - Films dealing with enviromental justice issues from Nigeria to Copenhagen to United States.

9pm - The Police State - Films about suppression of resistance movements in United States and elsewhere. Democracy 101 a film about the police tactics during the G20 protests in Pittsburgh last september.

10pm - Insurrection Now - From New York To Greece - Fuck the Police - Includes presentation about current occupy everything projects in california and Immersive Film about the Anarchist Rebellion in Greece

11pm - Surprise Real Time interactive audio perfomance by members of VOID collective from Athens and other guests.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

L.E.S. Jewels will be sentenced on June 1 (The Villager, third item)

Goodbye to the OTB on Delancey? (BoweryBoogie)

Looking at Ray's new ice cream machine (Neither More Nor Less)

Update on the Lora Deli wall (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A lonely wall on St. Mark's Place (The Gog Log)

An amazing photo from Hell's Kitchen circa 1989 (Flickr via NYC Taxi Photo)

Astor Place Mud Truck hit by DOH (Eater)

A random fiber interlude....




Go see the group exhibit Structured (details via Nathan Kensinger Photography)

Pizza bloggers have their say on Pulino's (Grub Street)

The East Village Idiot signs off (East Village Idiot)

And three great posts this week at Blah Blog Blah:

Where Beth Israel is

The history of trolley cars on Avenue A

A post on diarrhea and a real-estate broker

And Eater reported this earlier... and I just saw the sign for myself... my beloved Blarney Stone on Fulton Street is really gone...



Which means these signs must be updated...

What to do with the Vegan Bowery Burger

A friend recently made me aware of the existence of the Vegan Bowery Burger at Whole Foods. (I realize these things aren't new...just new to me.) So, for the sake of investigative journalism, I went over to Whole Foods on Houston and Bowery to check them out. (And are these just specific to this location? Are there, say, Union Square Burgers at the 14th Street location.) To my good fortune, they were in stock at the deli counter. They go for $7.99 a pound. I've never ordered veggie burgers by the pound. So I asked for three. To my amazement, they came to $7.99. (So next time someone asks me how much a pound weighs...)



I'm not much of a foodie. The burgers tasted pretty good (couldn't even detect the mustard powder), though I recommend that you eat them with heaping piles of cheese and bacon.

Now! To more important matters. How to market the Vegan Bowery Burger!

First! We need some 1970s-style Bowery street cred... Gabba gabba yum!



...some hotties in Bowery wear... Let me see that fake beef!



We have your Vegan Bowery Burger bitches!



And a celebrity spokesperson....

Beep, beep! Delivery for Mr. Moby!



Then we'll raise the price to $17.99 a pound. See you at DBGB, suckers!

And when the Bowery is still the Bowery

Nicky's reopens tomorrow

Nicky's owner Quynh Dang left us a note regarding yesterday's post on his restaurant closing for renovations....

We'll be open on Saturday. We did need to renovate and get some equipment repaired. Also, we have 2 more months on the lease...we are trying really hard to negotiate with the landlord since he wants to increase it to three times of what the space is worth. However, we ARE also currently working on our City Hall, NYC location on Nassau St. and we still have our Brooklyn location!

See you soon!

Baggy count

There continues to be a discussion on the noticeable increase of crime and drugs in the neighborhood... Per a reader:

I decided to count the number of little plastic bags I saw on my walk home tonight. From the corner of Ave. A and Houston, to the corner of 8th St. and Ave. B, I counted 39(+, I lost count for a block or two) little bags, roughly three a block. That's on one side of the street, after dark, without bothering to look much beyond my feet.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Are the bad old days here again...again?

Turnover at the former Howdy Do space

Last September, a designer boutique opened at the former location of Howdy Do on Seventh Street.... The store had been keeping erratic hours in recent months... and now a "store for rent" sign hangs over the space...



Jeremiah wrote about Howdy Do's closure here... which replaced an egg shop....

Egg shop...vintage kitsch...designer boutique... What's next for 72 Seventh Street?