[Updated] Reader reports: Stabbing shuts down Webster Hall

[Via ‏@drunk8gods]

Word is coming in that the NYPD shut down Webster Hall tonight following a fatal stabbing... still working on details. Lots of rumors at the moment. Sick of it All and the Cro-Mags were on the bill as part of the CBGB Festival...

It's still early, but here is what people are putting out on Twitter...

Webster Hall closed down apparently someone got killed in the balcony...

— chuego (@chuego) July 7, 2012

Stabbing at Webster hall cro-mags and sick of it all shut down. #cops

— Mike Marinelli (@mikemarinelli) July 7, 2012

Updated 8:59 p.m.:

Here's more via Horns Up Rocks... who reports that a concertgoer was stabbed in the eye...

Updated 9:01 p.m.:

OK, BoweryBoogie is there... His report:

Harley Flannegan, founding member of the Cro-Mags stumbled into the VIP lounge with a knife. Security mobilized in a hot minute and beat the shit out of him.

Cops quickly appeared and took him away in cuffs. Not before stabbing some dude in the chest (said victim left the scene with a bandage over the wound).

Updated 9:35 p.m.

WABC is reporting that two people were stabbed; wounds not fatal.

Updated 10:41 p.m.

Horns Up Rock reports that Flannegan allegedly stabbed his bassist, Mike “The Gook” Couls ...

Updated 11:40 p.m.

The Post reports that two people were also bitten ... and the paper is referring to it as a "melee."

Developing: Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church has been sold

It looks as if the end is finally here for Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church on East 12th Street near Avenue A.

Rumors of development here have been swirling since 2008, when The Real Deal reported that two-thirds of the playground space along Avenue A had been sold in an all-cash deal for $10.4 million. That deal never materialized.

Some four years later, the Church and adjacent school are still standing. In the past 24 hours, we've heard from multiple people that the church has been sold.

According to one parishioner:

Sadly, this does not seem to be a false alarm. Hearing consistent reports that the church and school property have been sold, but absolutely no info on developer's identity or plans.

The parishioners are still praying for a miracle as they say the rosary every evening at the church. I'm sure they would appreciate community support.

There is still a Spanish-language mass at the church every Sunday morning at 11:30. And there's always still hope...

Meanwhile, this is roughly the area of development that we're talking about... the church, adjacent school and rectory, and playground where vendors set up for the weekend flea markets... (the three buildings on the southwest corner of 12th Street and Avenue A aren't owned by the Archdiocese...)

[Via Off the Grid]

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and other community groups submitted a request to the Landmarks Preservation Commission asking them to landmark the church. The LPC denied the request. (Read about that here.)

The church opened in 1917.

We'll post more information this weekend as it becomes available.

Soundtrack for your Ratstravaganza

The Specials with "Rat Racer" circa 1980.

People are pretty much just mocking Verizon's brown wall now

Well, as EVG Verizon Brown Wall Correspondent evilnyc notes... the freshly planted Verizon Brown Wall along East 13th Street at Second Avenue lasted just about a week... and now, there's even an arrow pointing to the seemingly useless security cameras...

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

Brownout: Verizon building graffiti painted over

Verizon is going to blow the budget on brown paint

The Houston/Bowery Mural Wall is ready for Aiko's art

Workers started painting over the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall last night... As we understand it, Aiko will work on her creation tomorrow... Looking forward, actually, to seeing her creation...

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Can Shooting a Movie in this Heat Make an Actor Sweat?

Oh, just a few photos from the "Can a Song Save Your Life?" shoot going on now outside Vazac's on Seventh Street and Avenue B...

As mentioned earlier, the film is about "a dejected music business executive forms a bond with a young singer-songwriter new to Manhattan." It stars Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo and Catherine Keener.

Knightley is currently cooling off inside Vazac's with a 24-ounce can of Natty Light. Well, not really.

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Because it has been a few days since we posted anything about the CBGB movie

The Wall Street Journal checks in with a piece on the CBGB biopic, appropriately headlined "The Bowery Went Down to Georgia." (Heh — very bloggy!)

There's a recap of the movie news to date... the reporters also speak with some locals on the Bowery, like the fellow who books musical acts at the John Varvatos boutique. He hadn't heard about the movie. Across the street, a worker at Think Coffee said, "The fact that they're shooting in Georgia is indicative of how this neighborhood is changing. I don't even know where they'd have to shoot the film here to get the same feel."

[Image via Facebook]

Closing sale continues at Magic Fingers, Old Good Things

A few weeks ago, we reported that longtime East Village resident Susan Leelike is closing her shop, Magic Fingers, Old Good Things, at 220 E. 10th St. (Between First Avenue and Second Avenue.)

Susan let us know that she has more inventory than she originally realized in her 20-plus year-old shop, and she will likely stay open through July with the sales on her vintage jewelry and collectibles.

Hours: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays 3-7 p.m.

See more here.

Nicoletta will start delivering pizzas if you live just a few blocks away

Eater notes this morning that Nicoletta, the new pizza place some people like on Second Avenue at East 10th Street, is starting delivery service tonight.

And the delivery zone is: First Avenue to Third Avenue, and Ninth Street to 11th Street.

Can't seem to recall a smaller delivery zone than that one ...

Claim: Building that houses Odessa Cafe and Bar on Avenue A has been sold

[Michael Sean Edwards]

Shawn Chittle reports that a source at Odessa claims the building housing the "old" Odessa at 117 Avenue A has been sold for $3.7 million. There are two years left on the Odessa lease, but the hammer may fall sooner than that. Odessa owners are retired and a buyout is possible.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Odessa Cafe and Bar for sale on Avenue A

Bob Holman on the future of the Bowery Poetry Club

[Archival image via CBS]

Bob Holman, founder of the Bowery Poetry Club, sent us this email last evening about the future of the space....:

The rumors of the death of the Bowery Poetry Club are greatly exaggerated! It is true that ten years into Project Utopia, the hamster-tail chase of booking 30-35 gigs a week to allow the Poetry we know and love to live has produced a fatigued staff, a ragged Board (of Bowery Arts + Science, the nonprofit that books the Club), and a space that's crying out for a dose TLC. But toss in the Po' Towel? No Way, Joe!

By spending the summer renovating and working out a partnership with a restaurant (rumors of Duane Park as our collaborators are sweet and the two entities surely do share a love for the populist arts of the Bowery, but nothing is signed yet folks), we hope to reopen come fall and be SUSTAINABLE with a neighborhood (Loisaida/Earth) focused poetry schedule, utilizing other neighborhood resources as well as the Club. Look for a fuller deployment of the POEMobile around town, state, country, solar system, and a commitment to a global poetics rooted in the Endangered Language Movement.

To the communit-y/-ies who have supported us, and to our staff, deepest thanks! Stay tuned — we love you. Come party with Sean T and Ann and all on Tues July 17. Everything is Subject to Change! — and for our Tenth Anniversary next year, the BPC will look different. To survive and sustain. All the better to serve the world poetry.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is Duane Park in the Bowery Poetry Club's future?

What is happening with the Bowery Poetry Club?

The Villager tours the Economakis mansion on East Third Street

In an article last week at The Villager, Lincoln Anderson wrote about his recent tour of 47 E. Third St., the former tenement that Alistair Economakis renovated for his family. (This after clearing the five-story rental of its residents.)

We meant to link to it ... this week, the post also appears at The East Villager. So here's another chance to revisit the article in case you missed it... no photos, though. (The family thought "this would be an invasion of their privacy.")

Anderson offers highlights from the home, which includes a wrestling room ... he also tracks down a few of the building's former tenants who took buyouts ... as well as gets comments from City Councilmember Rosie Mendez.

One other tidbit: Alistair Economakis commissioned the Mosaic Man to create a border above the basement's basement-level storefront ... which Economakis hopes to rent out to a medical facility.

Read the whole article here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
And Economakis gets the whole building for his dream mansion

At the 47 E. 3rd St. protest

More coverage here.

2 potential sinkholes to watch this summer

You never know when a sinkhole might come along and try to, say, swallow a moving truck.

So. With that in mind.

Two potential sinkholes to keep an eye on...

First Avenue near St. Mark's Place...

... and at the St. Mark's entrance of Tompkins Square Park... a problem in the past...

Remember: If you see something swallowed by a sinkhole, say something.

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Hot Wax

A favorite pastime during any season... shopping for vinyl at A-1 Records on East Sixth Street...

2 East Village street scenes involving the Joe Strummer Mural

[Via ‏@NYbillbell]

[Bobby Williams]

This is what a beauty salon on First Avenue looked like on June 30, 2012

This year, we'll post photos like this of various buildings, streetscenes, etc., to capture them as they looked at this time and place... The photos may not be the most telling now, but they likely will be one day...

Can a Movie Set Ruin Your Weekend?

KIDDING WITH THAT HEADLINE.

Crews for the feature motion picture presentation "Can a Song Save Your Life?" have been been spotted around the Lower East Side this week. (BoweryBoogie has photos here.)

IMDB describes the plot this way: "A dejected music business executive forms a bond with a young singer-songwriter new to Manhattan."

Today, and this weekend, crews will be on parts of East Sixth Street, Avenue B, Seventh Street and elsewhere... we wholly expect them to film inside Vazac's at some point too...

Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo and Catherine Keener star in the film that John ("Once") Carney is directing from his own screenplay.

Painting over the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall

On Tuesday, we noted that Japanese artist Aiko was up next to create art on the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall... and tonight, workers were on the scene painting over the current piece from Retna...

[Thanks to @IrisBlas for the photo]

This afternoon in Tompkins Square Park

By Bobby Williams.

Selling price for 50-58 E. Third St. — $23.5 million

We've been reporting on the saga of 50-58 E. Third St. since early spring. Via Curbed's inbox, we now know more about the sale of the buildings — 50, 54 and 58 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

According to a release announcing the sale today, the new owners are GRJ, a fund co-founded and co-managed by brothers Graham and Gregory Jones. (Pictured.) They closed the 78-unit, three-building package for $23.5 million. Abe Haruvi of Abart Holdings LLC was the previous owner. According to the Observer, Haruvi refinanced the buildings for $9.9 million in April 2011 — "a deal that valued the units at $213,889 apiece according to data from Real Capital Analytics."

Per Gregory Jones in the news release: "We see a real opportunity to reposition the buildings. We'll invest significant capital and we look forward to creating the most desirable walk-ups in the East Village."

A press rep for GRJ told the Observer that "he wasn't sure when the last lease in the buildings would expire, but guessed 'probably within a year.'"

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Three apartment buildings sold on East Third Street

Advocate for East Third Street buildings moving to Washington Heights

More about the lease renewals at 50, 54 and 58 E. Third St.

Tenants at 50, 54 and 58 E. Third St. banding to together in face of building sale