Noted

Smart Smokers has (quickly) opened at 143 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street... another smoke-related shop — one of many that have popped up around this neighborhood and others in recent months. 

The signage also changes colors...

The space was last Flamingos Vintage Pound, which closed for good during the pandemic. 

Thanks to Steven for the photos

Sunday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Moments after the Pinc Louds show ended this afternoon in Tompkins Square Park... and happy trails to longtime drummer Raimundo (right), who's moving on to new "musical and creative adventures."

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a foggy early morning pic on Avenue A) ... 

• A campaign to co-name this block of Avenue C after Casa Adela founder Adela Fargas (Tuesday)

• Tompkins Square Bagels is opening an outpost on Union Square West (Monday) 

• Councilmember Carlina Rivera calls for an immediate end to the city's encampment sweeps (Monday)

• The March Hare returns with new daily hours (Tuesday) 

• Once again, 3's company for Amelia and Christo, the red-tailed hawks of Tompkins Square Park (Wednesday) 

• The Gallery Watch Q&A: Ellen Siebers on 'A Divinity That Shapes Our Ends' (Thursday) 

• New outdoor space shapes on 4th Street (Monday) 

• Work underway on 8-story residential building with affordable housing for 10th Street lot (Wednesday) 

• Films on the Green is bringing literary adaptations to downtown city parks this summer (Tuesday)

• Should we be concerned about the wisteria on Stuyvesant Street? (Wednesday) 

• The 2 store cats at Houston Village Farm need a new home (Saturday) 

• Take a look at the 'Rotten to the Apple' NYC punk photo show at C-Squat (Saturday) 

• Librae Bakery is now open (Thursday) 

• At the Metro Gala 2022 (Friday) 

• Openings: Luz Market + Restaurant on St. Mark's Place (Thursday) ... Bake Culture on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) ... Lil' Frankies Grocery on 1st Avenue (Monday) 

• Checking in on those 'MotherF**king Girl Scouts' at the Wild Project (Tuesday) 

• Gym NYC opens on 3rd Street (Friday) 

• A look at the long-vacant storefront on the NW corner of 3rd Avenue and 12th Street (Thursday) 

• Hell's bells! Taco Bell signage arrives on 3rd Avenue (Monday) 

• Drexler's space yielding to Wiggle Room on Avenue A (Friday) 

... and in posts we didn't get around to posting this week... someone kicked in the front door to the incoming Panda Express on the SW corner of 14th Street and First Avenue Friday night/Saturday morning...

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Pinc Louds headlines afternoon of bands today in Tompkins Square Park

There's a free slate of bands today (Sunday!) in Tompkins Square Park from 2-6. 

Local faves Pinc Louds headline (set time for the band's quirky cheerfulness: 4 more like 4:50 p.m.) ... it also marks the last full-band show with Raimundo, the oringal drummer for Pinc Louds. (He is moving on to "new musical and creative adventures.") 

It's a good bill that features the high-energy rock of InCircles ... the gloom punk of Desert Sharks ... and singer-songwriter Marley.

Saturday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Friends and loved ones gathered this afternoon for the memorial for Al Landess in Tompkins Square Park.

RIP Al! 

The 2 store cats at Houston Village Farm need a new home

Photos by Stacie Joy

Updated 5/15: Via the comments, a reader says someone is adopting the two cats.

As previously reported, Houston Village Farm is closing on the SW corner of First Avenue and Fourth Street. 

And as several readers have shared, the store's two cats need a new home in the days ahead. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by last night... and confirmed the cats are up for adoption. The store closes for good on Wednesday. 

The two cats tend to stay in the basement and are camera-shy ... here's one...

... and the other, as seen in a photo at checkout...

The cats are said to be on the indifferent side (😼). And it sounds as if anyone who adopts them will have naming rights. When asked for their names, store staff said "the cats." 

Interested parties may contact Mr. Patel at (914) 433-5394. Or stop by Houston Village Farm.

Meanwhile, the clearance continues here...

Ownership here blamed slow business and high rent for the closure.

Take a look at the 'Rotten to the Apple' NYC punk photo show at C-Squat

Today (Saturday!) is the opening of "Rotten to the Apple," an NYC punk photo show at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space/C-Squat on Avenue C.

Here's some info via the EVG inbox: "It's an all-NYC punk photo show with 30-plus photographers, many of which are from an up-and-coming generation of talented punx who are taking photos at shows all across the city." 

The hours today: noon to 4 p.m. (They are closing early so people can go to the memorial show for Al Landess in Tompkins Square Park. Photos of Al are included in this exhibit.) 

The exhibit, curated by Destiny Mata and David Siffert, runs through May 28. You can access the free show via MoRUS, 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

Time for some plants and baked good at the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden

The crap weather KO'd the annual plant and bake sale at the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden last weekend ... so garden members are trying again this weekend from noon to 5 p.m. today and tomorrow (Saturday and Sunday!). 

This weekend, you can find the plants and baked goods here on the southwest corner of Avenue B and Sixth Street. Funds help fund the various events — music, workshops, poetry, screenings and more — during the year.

Saturday's opening shot

Good morning from 141 E. Houston St., where a worker is power-washing the graffiti off the new 9-floor boutique office building here between Eldridge and Forsyth.

Big plans

 

Moving through 2022... SoulGlo's Diaspora Problems remains one of the year's critically acclaimed new records. 

The video here is for the first single — "Jump!! (Or Get Jumped!!!)((by the future)). 

Read more about the band from Philadelphia here.

A memorial show in Tompkins Square Park for Al Landess

Today is the birthday of Al "Hammerbrain" Landess. He would have been 55 years old. 

The longtime local resident and veteran of the NYC hardcore scene died on Feb. 15 of cancer. 

There's a memorial show in his honor tomorrow (Saturday, May 14) starting at 2. Here's info via the EVG inbox... 

A veteran of Riot Days in and around Tompkins Square Park from 1988 to 1991, Al energetically played countless punk shows in the park with Hammerbrain and with Damned Kids, his stage presence always coming through. 

Join us as we present a memorial event in Tompkins Square Park to honor him, featuring friends and bands that knew and played with Al over the years. 

There will also be an open mic between acts, during which anyone who would like to say something about Al can share with us. 

Performers include: 

• HAMMERBRAIN 

• COFFIN DAGGERS 

• NOOGIE 

• DIYING BREED 

• SEWAGE NYC 

• SKITZOPOLIS 

There will also be a special appearance by the Lower East Side's own Fighting Radical Irish priest, Father Pat Maloney. 

This memorial is being brought to you by Ned (Hammerbrain + Damn Kids), Johnny Vee (Public Nuisance), the Coffin Daggers, Chris Flash (The SHADOW) and Al's longtime life partner Joannie.

At the Metro Gala 2022

Photos by Stacie Joy

On Monday evening, the annual Metro Gala took place on the south plaza of Union Square. 

Some background: 

Thrown by the Permanent Magical Culture Society and a loose collective of transformative-attire-and street-pageantry-enthusiasts, the guerrilla-style Metro Gala has grown into a public staple. Part tribute, part parody of the infamous Met Gala, it's a public free-form open-participation runway fashion (and performance) show ... 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these images of Metro Gala 2022 attendees in the Metro Gala finest ...