Saturday, July 5, 2008
Getting to the bottom of that noise last night from somewhere over the East River
Anyway, I'll continue to investigate this. Here is 30 seconds of the action.
Tasting the difference
A view that I used to enjoy
The most accurate depiction of life as a runaway in New York City that I have ever seen
Friday, July 4, 2008
Sonic Youth at Central Park, July 4, 1992
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On July 4, 1992, I saw Sonic Youth at SummerStage in Central Park. Sun Ra and his Arkestra opened. I remember SY being as frenzied as I'd ever seen them as they played a Dirty-heavy set. (The record was just about to be released.) I don't remember much else, except that I loved every minute of the afternoon. (No need for all the details!)
There is a bootleg release of the show with:
Teen Age Riot
Eric's Trip
Dirty Boots
Drunken Butterfly
Theresa's Sound-world
Youth Against Facism
Swimsuit Issue
Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit
100%
Kool Thing
Sugar Kane
I couldn't find any video from this 1992 Central Park show. But I did come across Sonic Youth playing "Kool Thing" in Hultsfeld, Sweden, on June 14, 1992 (Close enough!):
By the way, as you may know, Sonic Youth plays later today with the Feelies at Battery Park.
Updated: This week's issue of Time Out New York featured the following line prominently displayed on its cover:
Yes, Sonic Youth was a free event. But you needed to get your tickets in advance. Inside the same issue, you'll see in two places that, although it was free, you weren't getting into the show. SOLD OUT.
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Thursday, July 3, 2008
Can't stop the laughing, er, music
You've seen it, right? (It's OK if you have -- I actually own the damn thing. Think I paid $2 for it. Or so I'm claiming.)
The rather grainy-looking intro gives you all you need to know. Enjoy!
From the EV Grieve Oversight Department
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In case you're wondering why some SATC fans are now into Richard Hell
Wow. This film fell off my radar. I like the director, Susan Seidelman. So I took a look at the movie online. Look at the new box for the film, which stars, among others, Richard Hell. From the director of Sex and the City! She directed three episodes of the show in 1998. (There were 94 episodes in all.) A bit of a stretch for the marketing folks to try to make that connection. Still, however cheesy, the thought of some SATC fans tuning into Smithereens -- thinking the two may possibly be related -- puts a smile on my face.
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Here's what KultKlassics had to say about the film.
Good news on Canal and Eldridge; remembering the Witty Brothers
By the way, walking north on Eldridge, I noticed this name on the building below:
I wasn't familiar with the Witty Brothers. Didn't realize the hand they played in NYC fashion history. Found this in the Times, from 2006:
Spencer B. Witty, the last of four brothers whose company, Witty Brothers, fashioned and sold elegant men's clothing through a small, prestigious chain of stores in New York, died May 29 at his home in Manhattan. He was 92.
The cause was complications of pancreatic cancer, said his grandson Eric Gould.
In 1939 Mr. Witty — along with his brothers Frederic, Ephraim and Arthur, and a cousin, Irving — took over a company founded by their grandfather David Witty in 1888. It started as one shop on Eldridge Street in Lower Manhattan. By the time it was taken over by the Eagle Clothes company in 1962, there were six stores, one in Brooklyn and five in Manhattan, including two on Fifth Avenue.
"They used luxurious fabrics, cashmere, Scottish tweeds," said Mr. Witty's daughter, Jane Gould, "and this was coming out of the Great Depression." An article in The New York Times about the "Witty boys" in 1952 said it was their insistence on retaining the high quality of their forebears that kept the company afloat through the Depression.
Writing with spray paint is much more difficult than it seems
PDA of the day
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Along the romantic corrider of Park Row, where buttocks cupping is in full bloom this summer among young lovers.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
At the Firemen's Garden
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There's a reason I'm writing about this today. On July 2, 1977, at 3:10 p.m., a four-alarm fire broke out on the fifth floor of an abandoned six-floor tenement building that stood at 364 E. 8th St. After Celic and his fellow firefighters entered the burning building, the teenager who started the blaze reportedly went back in and set another fire, trapping the men inside.
According to news accounts at the time, Celic and seven other firefighters were injured trying to escape. A fire department cherry picker was raised to rescue the men. They needed to jump from the fire escape on the fifth floor onto the bucket. Celic fell 70 feet to the street. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he died on July 10. He was 25. He was set to be married that October.
The sign on the garden talks more about Celic, and his "love of practical jokes, his joyous irreverence, and his friendliness." You can read more about how the garden came to be here.
Duane Reade wants to make you feel like dancing
Admiring the trash at 2 Gold Street
...and late afternoon.
Impressive! (Looks more impressive in person, of course!) With so much trash, this must be 24k living!