Gate down at Superdive this weekend

In the 13 months that Superdive has been open here on Avenue A, this is the first time that I've ever seen the gate down. I dialed up their phone number too, maybe order a keg or something. And I got a message saying that this "was not a working number" and to check the number again... I did, via their website...

So what's this mean? Nothing, really... probably just decided to close for the slow summer weekend... and they have a new phone number that they haven't made public yet...

Also on Avenue A: Forbidden City remains closed

Thanks to the reader for this shot... Forbidden City has been closed of late... given the number of complaints levied against the bar/restaurant/club, the CB3/SLA denied their liquor license renewal last month...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Forbidden City's renewal denied

Rock

Oh, just noticed that an exterior sign for Billy Hurricane's on Avenue B is up...Far as I know the bar isn't open just yet...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Whatever happened to simple bar names...concepts?

[Updated] Markey Hayden Bena, 1956-2010

We received the sad news this weekend that Markey Hayden Bena has died.


[Markey, (center) here with Slum Goddess and Johnny "Crutch"]

There are many rumors circulating about what may have happened to Markey. Some basic facts: He was found unconscious several days ago on Seventh Street. He never regained consciousness and died later at a hospital. In an e-mail to Bob Arihood, Markey's aunt said that there was only one mark on his head, which resulted from a fall onto the sidewalk grating. According to his aunt, the NYPD investigated the incident and concluded that he simply fell and hit his head. (Markey was prone to falling down, particularly when he had a few too many drinks.)

As for rumors, followers of Bob's Neither More Nor Less will recall several violent incidents in the past in which Markey had been attacked and beaten by a group of young males. (The first post on this topic was dated May 15, 2009.) In Bob's estimation, Markey had been attacked and beaten five times in the past year. Yesterday, on the hottest day of the year, there was talk in Tompkins Square Park that Markey had been pummeled by baseball-bat-wielding thugs and other scenarios that we'll refrain from circulating.

Regardless, while it's possible that something more happened here, the facts presented to Markey's family show that he died as a result from a fall. So until some further evidence is produced...

Markey was a friend to many people... and the neighborhood has lost another fixture.

Friday night, some of Markey's friends scrapped together enough money to drink to him with 17 King Cobras and a PBR. Friends have erected a memorial for Markey at 224E. Seventh St. near Avenue C.



Updated: A reader said detectives were in Tompkins Square Park this morning asking questions about Markey...

Melanie has a nice photo of Markey in the Park from this past March...

There is family memorial planned for:
Saturday, Sept. 11 at 5 p.m.
Andrett Funeral home, 353 2nd Avenue (at 20th Street)

Thanks to Bob Arihood for the two photos and assistance in gathering the facts for this post.

Yesterday in Tompkins Square Park

Thanks to Red Riotdog for letting me post some photos from yesterday's free show in Tompkins Square Park sponsored by The Shadow...

Chelsea is lost

Tonight on 12th Street and Avenue C

It was a dark and stormy night...

I stood on Avenue B at Sixth Street last evening trying to get photos of the brilliant displays of lightning to the north... wasn't successful...





GammaBlog shot this video of the storm looking from Houston looking north...



Meanwhile, love was in the air!

Per Craigslist:

We watched the lightning storm - m4w (East Village)

Alright, I feel absolutely ridiculous posting on here, but if we met watching a lightning storm last night, and you're actually on this site, I figure it'd be worth a shot....

Meanwhile meanwhile...

Today in Tompkins Square Park.....

The SHADOW Presents: The Headless Horsemen, David Peel + The Lower East Side, Sexual Suicide, BANJI and *Star Fucking Hipsters* [Surprise speakers and more bands to be announced]

Verizon is going to blow the budget on brown paint

On Thursday, we noted a Verizon working painting over a few tags on the 13th Street side of the Verison Building at Second Avenue...


[Photo courtesy of evilnyc]

...and just like that, the wall is full again...





Previously on EV Grieve:
First tag reappears on the Verizon building

Brownout: Verizon building graffiti painted over

Ms. Squeegee tags Shepard Fairey

The latest addition to the Shepard Fairey mural on Houston and The Bowery...





Oops. Apologies to Jen Doll... missed that she had noted this yesterday on Runnin' Scared.

Save our community gardens from bulldozers and condos

Also, please note there has been a change in location for the Aug. 10 citywide meeting on the topic:

Attend the public hearing on the proposed rules on Aug. 10 at Chelsea Recreation Center at 430 W. 25th St. at 11 a.m., and speak in favor of protection for community gardens. If you would like to testify, then please notify Associate Counsel, Laura LaVelle, via telephone at 212-360-1335 or e-mail at laura.lavelle@parks.nyc.gov by Aug. 9.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Protect our community gardens

May the Rapid Deployment Force be with you

Rapid Deployment Force circa 1983... one of the bands on the bill for tomorrow's free show in Tompkins Square Park...

The SHADOW Presents: The Headless Horsemen, David Peel + The Lower East Side, Sexual Suicide, BANJI and *Star Fucking Hipsters* [Surprise speakers and more bands to be announced]

Memorable reader comment of the week

There has been a lot of great discussion here this week... from Tompkins Square Bagels coming to Avenue A.... to looking for Sammy... to First Avenue bike lanes... to Crustypunks...

Thank you for the comments, and being part of all this...

Meanwhile, here's an excerpt from a comment that is, well, one that I'll likely never forget...

"My neighbor once threw away her dead cat in a Duane Reade shopping bag." (From World's largest Duane Reade now open on Union Square)

Movie about bicycle messenger currently blocking bike lane

The "Premium Rush" shoot is getting under way on Avenue A this afternoon... thanks to EV Grieve reader Liam for these photos...




Doesn't the crew know what we've been discussing here?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rush Hours

[Updated] Celebrating the 'GoodFellas' anniversary

Wow..."GoodFellas" is 20 years old this year... And there's a special VIP screening of it tomorrow night at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place... and Henry Hill will be there...

Update: Looks as if there is a special discount on the screening ... info here.

Rush hours

Today, "Premium Rush" follows in the fine tradition of "The Smurfs Movie" and "Step Up 3-D" — movies that filmed scenes on Seventh Street and Avenue A of late...



Looks to be a big production....



And the plot:

An action story set in New York City, where a bike messenger picks up a package at Columbia University and subsequently catches the attention of a dirty cop.

Bike messenger?! Why aren't they filming on those new bike lanes on First Avenue and Second Avenue?!

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has the lead... in the movie directed by the guy who wrote the screenplays for the "Jurassic Park" blockbusters.

Kind of makes me want to watch "Quciksilver" again.

7:45 a.m., First Avenue, July 23

Meanwhile, the commenting continues on [Updated] Looking at the First Avenue's new bike lane and "floating lane."

New look, name for 'The Villager'

Per the paper's editorial this week:

You might have noticed something different about the newspaper you are holding in your hands. For starters, it has a different name on the front page — and that name is in “eco green,” not blue.

Starting this week, East Villagers and Lower East Siders who have enjoyed reading The Villager over the years now have a paper they can call their own. It’s called the East Villager and Lower East Sider, and it will offer the best of what The Villager brings — but with an increased focus on Downtown’s vibrant East Side

.

In addition, each week, the paper will feature a page of Clayton Patterson's vast LES archives.

If you don't pick up a hard copy around the neighbor, then you can check out their new website.... and new digital flipbook.

Congrats to Lincoln Anderson and his crew... as always, I look forward to reading the paper each week...

East Village Cathedral stars alongside Angelina Jolie in 'Salt'

Waaaaay back in May 2009, Angelina Jolie, the former semi-crusty of Tompkins Square Park, came to the East Village while filming "Salt," the mineral-turn-CIA thriller....



The crew filmed on Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue inside the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection. In honor of the movie opening today... let's take a look at the role the Cathedral played in the film...



First! Woo! Angelina over here! Here she is on Second Street!



With the ball-in-chain in tow on the Cathedral steps...



Anyway, according to the website, the crew used the Cathedral to replicate the interior of the Makariev Monastery in Russia when it was an orphanage in 1970s Soviet Russia. You see, Angelina plays a spy who may or may not be Russian...so this might be some flashback scene or something...






No idea whether these scenes made it into the movie... Perhaps I'll by a pirated DVD from that guy on the corner for $5 to see.

Also, curious about what kind of location fee the Cathedral received...

Updated: A Scouting Life shares a "Salt" review with us... "It took years, but 'The Last Boy Scout' finally has competition for the most ludicrous action film ever made."

Ouch! That's seriously bad.

And I asked if the Cathedral made the cut. Yes, but!: "They did shoot the orphanage but the scenes there were all pretty soft focus and dreamlike so you didn't see much of it."



Previously on EV Grieve:
Why the paparazzi will be in the East Village tomorrow (OMG! Angelina!)

I hope that "Salt" is a more exciting movie than these photos

About Angelina Jolie's "semi-crusty phase" in Tompkins Square Park