On a night in the East Village last month, the near-empty burger joint Black Iron was gearing up for the dinner rush. “You know,” a bearded bartender remarked to his fellow servers, “I need to start the night properly.”
He cut the music and cued up a new album: “Huey Lewis & The News: Greatest Hits.” Excitement rippled through the room. There was even some whooping. For the next half hour, all conversation revolved around Huey’s guitar prowess. Apparently, it’s very hip to be square right now.
In fact, this spring, the cheesy ’80s are back in full force, with power ballads, film remakes and pink lipstick leading the way.
St Mark's Bookshop is my favorite bookstore. They've been a gathering place for authors and readers on the cutting edge of literature, politics, art, and cultural theory for over 32 years now. And they're facing a daunting retail economy at the moment. I'm challenging my friends to SUPPORT ST MARK'S BOOKSHOP *TODAY* by buying a book (or 2, or 5) Today, if you are so moved.
Stop by the store on 3rd Avenue, call them up at 212-260-7853, or check out St Mark's Web site:
A FEW BOOK SUGGESTIONS:
JUST KIDS, by Patti Smith, a memoir about her young days with Robert Mapplethorpe, *SIGNED*, $27 (they're actually now out of signed copies...)
LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN, a novel of New York in the 1970s by Colum McCann, $15
"STORE FRONT: The Disappearing Face of New York" A beautiful and heartbreaking book of photography by James T. Murray, Karla L. Murray, $65
A new book of poetry, BORIS BY THE SEA, by Ugly Duckling Presse editor, Matvei Yankelevich, SIGNED, $14
THE OTHER SIDE OF PARADISE, a memoir of a journey from surviving a heartbreaking Jamaican childhood to discovering her voice, by Brooklyn performance artist and Def Jam poet, Staceyann Chin.
THIS IS BERLIN NOT NEW YORK, a DVD about 10 underground New York artists traveling to Berlin to make art and friends. $16
On Thursday March 18th there will be a protest against Regulation A-812, limiting the sales of home-baked goods at public school bake sales. It’s from 4-6pm at City Hall. Activist parents will have two tables: one with home-baked goods, and another with the “approved” items: Doritos, Fritos, Pop-Tarts, and Snapple.
“Every now and again I like to go downtown and like hang out with poor guys.”
“For a couple of uptown girls it is like sort of slumming going downtown. We like to toy with guys. Like, a girl who walks into a bar with heels there, it’s like unheard of.”
“It’s fun to go hang out with blue collar people at a scummy bar. They do fratty things like play beer pong.”
“The best thing about going to like a downtown bar like that is that it really doesn’t matter at the end of the day; we can just like leave after sort of screwing with them.”
Outside, her friend Cleo asked a passerby for a cigarette, Jules quickly scolded her, saying: “People like don’t have jobs and stuff down here!”
