EV Grieve

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Tis the season for finding random body parts

You know, Halloween... Bobby Williams made these discoveries at Ninth Street near Avenue C...

...and then Avenue A at Seventh Street...

Any comments about things costing an arm and a head around here? (You don't really have to answer that...)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Today's sign of the apocalypse: IHOP is opening in the Limelight

The Real Deal has the scoop. IHOP will open in the Limelight Marketplace, the former church, club and current shopping center. The Real Deal reports that the IHOPPERS will take over parts of two floors.

Anyway, here's Johnny Thunders playing at the Limelight circa 1988 via a Nelson Sullivan video...

Reminders: SPURA review hearings today

A last-minute reminder in the EV Grieve inbox ... edited a bit...

[via The Lo-Down]

The City of New York is continuing its discussions and decisions regarding the SPURA site on and near Delancey and Essex Streets. There will be two sessions today at which people can again speak out on behalf of preserving (or not) the historic Essex Street Market, which remains an option for CB3's recommendation to the city (see David McWater's draft testimony here).

Today's public scoping — specifically to hear comments from the public — is divided into two timeframes: 3 to 5:30 pm and again at 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. You may come and speak at either session for up to 3 minutes and/or you can submit written comments about the Draft Scope of Work for an Environmental Impact Study of the SPURA project (now known as "The Seward Park Mixed-Use Development Project"), or specifically about keeping the current Essex Street Market intact, in its historic location.

More information here.

University Settlement's Speyer Hall
184 Eldridge Street, Second Floor

Read more on this issue at The Lo-Down .... and BoweryBoogie ... who have following the story...

Occupy Tompkins Square Park this weekend

Demonstrators from Occupy Wall Street will be headed to the East Village on Saturday. John Penley is organizing this event set to start Saturday at noon and end Sunday at noon. Via Facebook:

Picnic starts at noon. General Assemblies at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Bring food, sleeping gear, drums, guitars, banners, signs and your friends. In memory of Monica aka Catherine Shay, Bob Arihood and Terry Taylor [the homeless Tompkins Square activist who died in 1994].

"I talked to about 100 people from the neighborhood at Zucotti Park [Sunday] and they were all thinking about the same thing and immediately said, 'Hell yes let's do it,'" Penley told me via Facebook.

Also, Penley said, the presence of the protestors will draw attention to the Park's legacy of activism.

“One of the reasons that we want to do this is to educate the new people living in the neighborhood about what went on in Tompkins Square Park in the '80s and the '90s, and the police response to it,” he told Patrick Hedlund at DNAinfo.

Planning meetings for Occupy Wall Street were held in Tompkins Square Park in August.

More details later this week...

Facing eviction, Village Scandal holding sale to pay for legal fees

[DigitalMan@mac.com - ©2011]

Village Scandal, the vintage hat shop, is in its 16th year at 19 Seventh St. However, owner Wendy Barrett (above, right) says that she has been battling eviction ever since A.J. Clarke became the property management in 2004. After an ongoing series of legal fights, a court issued a Warrant of Eviction to the marshal on June 10.

Barrett recently shared four shopping bags of legal documents with us during a store visit. "I've become a bag lady," she says rather grimly.

It's a complicated story that involves more than $60,000 in back rent and real estate taxes that have been accruing since 2004. She claims that A.J. Clarke has been "deliberately manipulating" her to keep the store in eviction status. And she has every document related to the case. Barrett lays out the details of the ongoing legal battle in the following video filmed during the summer... (Too much to detail in a blog post, to be honest.)

An appellate court just turned down Barrett for a 60-day extension to perfect her appeal. Today, her attorney, Andrew Molbert, is refilling the request to reargue her case. Meanwhile, Barrett is trying to raise money so the issues of the case can be heard in State Supreme Court. She says that she was never able to present her side of the case in any court.

So that means the store is selling items at 50 percent off to raise money for legal fees. They'll also be a fundraiser soon at Cafe Mocha on Second Avenue. (She's also asking for people to sign a petition of support at the store to send to A.J. Clarke.)

"This is the most egregious abuse," she says of the ongoing eviction drama. "I've been tortured by this."

7-Eleven's feeble attempt at an anti-blogger shield on the Bowery

We've heard that there is at least one local "blogger" head-scratchingly interested in the daily mundane updates at the incoming 7-Eleven on the Bowery.

To ward off attempts to document the installation of the Buffalo Chicken Roller machine and Quarter Pound Big Bite® heater, workers have placed brown paper over the front windows.

Below, we point out the weaknesses in the 7-Eleven defense plan.

Uh, hey — will someone please give me a boost?

On second thought, Avenue A Mini Market not reopening

At the end of August, Avenue A Mini Market near 10th Street abruptly closed ... a few days later, someone there put up a sign saying that they'd reopen after some "reconstruction."

In any event, the business is for sale now...

Retail space for lease on Avenue A — 'no restaurants or bars'

A little further north on Avenue A near 13th Street... "for rent" signs have appeared at the showroom belonging to designer Harry Allen, which opened in the summer of 2006 ...

No bars or restaurants...

Allen reps told us that the Allen studio will remain here... "we're just renting out the front space."

The New York Dolls on TV... and DVD

From the EV Grieve inbox...

NEW YORK DOLLS "Lookin' Fine On Television" to be released on DVD on November 22, 2011

In the early 70's, Rock photographer Bob Gruen and his wife Nadya purchased a portable video recorder. In a period of three years, they shot over 40 hours of New York Dolls footage. This footage became the critically acclaimed documentary "All Dolled Up". For "Lookin' Fine On Television" more footage has been edited to create fifteen live music video-style clips.

These fifteen clips include footage from the Dolls' early shows in NYC at clubs such as Kenny's Castaways, and Max's Kansas City as well as their West Coast tour: Whisky-A-Go-Go, the Real Don Steele Show, Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, and more.

Tracklist: Jet Boy, Personality Crisis, Bad Girl, Human Being, Bad Detective, Subway Train, Trash, Vietnamese Baby, Lookin For a Kiss, Who Are The Mystery Girls, Private World, Babylon, Frankenstein, Chatterbox, Jet Boy

Bonus: Ultra rare 1976 Lisa Robinson interview with David Johansen and Johnny Thunders