Washing day

On the Bowery this morning.

Speaking of 7-Eleven... there is a "No 7-Eleven" rally tomorrow at 1 on Avenue A and East 11th Street...

Come dancing

The Julie Ruin with "Oh Come On" ... the new record from Kathleen Hanna's latest band came out the other week...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Avenue C & East 6th Street via Michael Sean Edwards]

More about Stik and his new mural on 9th and A (Artlyst)

The Fab! Festival is Sept. 28 (Off the Grid)

Eating at Kura on St. Mark's Place (The New York Times)

Soundtracks from Tom Waits, Nick Cave, John Cale, Neil Young, Sonic Youth and more (Dangerous Minds)

Check out the film scores of John Zorn (Anthology Film Archives)

Madonna in '83 (BoweryBoogie)

PS 64 creates a dance studio out of a former shower room (DNAinfo)

A look inside Davey's Ice Cream on First Avenue (Eater)

Exhuming Dee Dee Ramone's "Funky Man" (Flaming Pablum)

A $60 million penthouse for the Puck Building (Curbed)

A look at Colony Music today (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

... and EVG regular peter radley shared these from 51 Astor the other day ... where he spotted a red-tailed hawk in action...

Gem Spa stunner: Zoltar now has Key Master competition; doomsday predicted

In a sad and shocking power play that has reverberated throughout the neighborhood, Zoltar now has a game-of-chance companion in the form of Key Blaster outside Gem Spa.



Stunned passersby were naturally stunned to see that Zoltar was no longer the only game in town, or at least here on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place.

"This is like really fucked up and stuff," said EVG reader Jim, who asked that his first name not be used in association with this post mostly because he was swearing. "First, they put the Lottery thing [Play Center] next to Zoltar. Then there is the display of like those Kardashian mags Us Weekly and OK! Are they purposefully trying to take away business from Zoltar?"

As for Key Master, a so-called "prize merchandising game," contestants compete to win such prizes as Macy's Gift Cards, iPhones, iPods [Ed note: Do they still make these?] and iPod Minis [Ed note: Do they still make these?].



You may also win presumably real $100 bills [Ed note: Do they still make these?] ... which might be a bad idea to have on display considering what some roughnecks with skateboards have done here in the past...



In case you've never been on a cruise ship, here's how Key Master works: You use a joystick for horizontal movement and a large button for the vertical alignment. Then! You manipulate a "key" so that it lines up perfectly with a "lock" holding a prize. If you successfully guide the key into the lock, then you win the prize. (OK, I just totally lifted that from this fellow's blog.)

A tutorial. (God, whatever you do — turn down the volume!)



Takeaway: Key Master is dumb! Long live Zoltar!

It's peephole season people!

Oh, what a bad headline! Anyway! Since 2005, East Village artist J. Kathleen White has created a set of peephole dioramas that she displays along the fence in the Ninth Street Community Garden at Avenue C.

And the 2013 edition is now on view, as Bobby Williams discovered yesterday...









Be sure to check them out in person... and here are here dioramas from 2012 ... and 2011...

At the unveiling of the new Joe Strummer mural

[Photo by Shawn Chittle]

Last night, Niagara officially unveiled the new Joe Strummer mural on East Seventh Street...


[SC]


[Dave on 7th]

Mick Jones of the Clash was on hand... (as was Strummer friend Jim Jarmusch)...


[Photo by @GreggGreenwood]

Slum Goddess shot this video ... (she has more photos and video here)...



...and Shawn Chittle shot this video...



Welcome back.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Happening now: The Joe Strummer mural is returning! The Joe Strummer mural is returning!

The Joe Strummer mural will return

Joe Strummer gets a splash of Niagara

Joe Strummer gets a new look, skyline

Watch the Joe Strummer mural come back to life in 12-plus minutes

[This morning]

Legendary graffiti artist Dr. Revolt started work on the new Joe Strummer mural outside Niagara on East Seventh Street and Avenue A back on Sunday... he put the finishing touches on it yesterday afternoon for last night's official unveiling ...

And now, through the magic of time-lapse video... here's Revolt (who is not Chico!) creating the whole thing in a mere 12-plus minutes... video by Adam Yellin.



Revolt and Zephyr created the original mural back in 2003... after the Clash frontman's untimely death in December 2002.

[Via TruthIsCoolVideo on YouTube]

Can comedy be funny in an East Village apartment?

In recent months, roommates Dan Hurwitz and Drew Miller have been hosting sorta secret monthly comedy shows in their East Village apartment (East Seventh Street and Second Avenue ... above Standings) with some real, live comedians ... they recently debuted a LIVE @ THE APT YouTube channel with clips from their first few shows.

They're starting Season No. 2 tonight from a location in Williamsburg (the horror!), though the show will return to the East Village, Miller says.

Anyway, all this sounded interesting enough... so we asked Miller a few questions via email about LIVE @ THE APT.

What inspired you to start LIVE @ THE APT?

We both are huge comedy fans and after seeing a show one night where our host, Charles Gould, was performing, we just thought, why can't we put on a show ourselves? We recruited Charles to host and then the only thing missing was a venue. I had one of those kitchens that attach to a living room so we took the couch apart and created a makeshift venue. It was just cheaper and more fun to do in an apartment anyway.

Any challenges of doing something like this from an actual real East Village apartment?

Oh yeah, plenty. For one, the space is entirely way too cramped to the point where we've had people sitting in the sink to watch the show. We did a show in the summer and it was so hot even with two air conditioners going the place was a sweatbox. One of our comedians got locked out during one of the shows cause the front door was broken. Basically everything you'd expect in an East Village apartment, which is what we think makes the show different and fun in a way.



How would you say the first shows have gone?

They have had their challenges definitely, but have improved with each show. The positive feedback we have been getting tell us we must be doing something right (hopefully). This is a pretty new experience for all of us so we learn as we go. We did our last show up on a roof, which went really well — probably cause people weren't sweating in an apartment. We haven't been evicted and our neighbors and landlords haven't complained so I would say that's a good measure of success for putting on comedy shows in an apartment.

Generally speaking, what can people who show up expect?

Some of the best up-and-coming comedians in NYC for one. People may or may not have to sit on up-side down milk-crates or there is standing room in the kitchen. We also like to offer an inclusive environment and open our place to the public but since the apartment is a little small we just ask people to follow us on Twitter @liveapt to get the address/invite. Oh and also free beer.

-----

Charles Gould is the host, and tonight's show features Sarah Tollemache (NBC's "Last Comic Standing"), Kevin Barnett (MTV's "Guy Code") and Josh Rabinowitz (voted Comedy Central's "Comics to Watch" and one of Just for Laughs "New Faces")

Doors open at 9:30 pm, show starts at 10:30 pm. The show is free.

For further reading on EV Grieve:
Watch Steve Buscemi and Mark Boone Junior at the Gusto House on E. 4th St. in 1988

Tomorrow is the Annual 9th Street A-1 Block Association Block Party

From the EVG inbox...

Annual 9th Street A-1 Block Association Block Party!
(9th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A
Saturday, September 21, 11 am – 5 pm (no rain date)

Live Music (from 12 noon - 4pm) featuring
Bluesco
Navivan
Supersilk
Ruckus
and more!

Resident artists, crafts people, and photographers will be showing and selling their work, and residents will be selling a la "stoop sale" — antiques, bric-a-brac, clothing, accessories, music, jewelry, etc.

Raffles for gifts, discounts, or coupons from block businesses

Block businesses include:
Boutiques and Antiques: Bridal Veil Falls, ChiroFit, Cloak & Dagger, Devorado, Delto Meest, Dorian Grey Gallery, Dusty Buttons, Enchantments, Flower Power, Grey Era, Ollie's Place, Pink Olive, Polytima, Pork Pie Hatterie, Puppy Love Kitty Kat, Reason Outpost, The Upper Rust, Wineshop
Restaurants: Cagen, Dirt Candy, Good Beer, Whitman's, Zucker Bakery
Hair Salons/Barbers: Lovemore & Do, Maria Mok Salon, Neighborhood Barber

Also tomorrow: Block for the First Street Children's Park

Don't have any other info at the moment than what's on the flyer...

The former L'asso EV is for lease on First Avenue

L'asso EV closed here back in July on First Avenue between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street... the "for lease" sign is up on the space now, though we haven't spotted the listing online at Tower just yet. It's an ample-sized space — 1,800 square feet (with basement) ... plus two wood-burning stoves... sounds perfect for... ? Another pizzeria?

Memorial tonight for LES Jewels in Tompkins Square Park

[December 2011, by Walter Wlodarczyk Photography]

We don't have a lot of specific information... other than it is happening in the Park tonight at 8 ... and if the Facebook invite is any indication, then a good number of people are going.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP LES Jewels (74 comments)

East Seventh Street, 4:31 p.m., Sept. 19

The new mural makes its debut tonight...

Earlier today under the Hare Krishna Tree in Tompkins Square Park

Photo by Bobby Williams

This morning in East Village docking stations without any Citi Bikes

We've heard from a few people who mentioned that several docking stations around the East Village were without any actual Citi Bikes, like the one on East Seventh Street at Avenue A shown at (gulp) 6:18 a.m. (The bike in the photo was out of commission.)

Others mentioned an unusual lack of bikes for the morning hour, when people may be needing them, at 13th and A, Ninth and C, and Second and B.

Meanwhile, a little after 10, a truck toting a stash of Citi Bikes pulled up to Seventh and A ... where there were two immediate takers for bikes...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

The disappearing illegal penthouse of 514-516 E. 6th St.

[June 11]

On June 11, scaffolding and a sidewalk bridge arrived outside 514-516 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B... In 2010, the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) told landlord Ben Shaoul that he needed to remove the recently added (and illegal) seventh-floor penthouse. (The BSA said that the sixth-floor addition could stay.)

There was the usual legal wrangling for a few years before the crew arrived... which made some residents suspicious back in June... but as these photos from a tipster show, workers have been removing the penthouse (by hand) in recent months ... As The Villager reported in June, the rooftop addition here was never actually fully completed because the DOB hit Shaoul with a stop-work order.


[June 27]


[July 21]


[Tuesday]


[Tuesday]

Meanwhile, the nearly five-year-old battle over the one-story addition to the Ben Shaoul-owned 515 E. Fifth St. carries on... we hope to have an update on that one shortly...

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] 5 years later, another BSA hearing on illegal rooftop addition at 515 E. Fifth St.

Is Ben Shaoul finally removing the illegal penthouse addition on East 6th Street?

A WHOOSHING AC unit update: 'We are roundly being ignored by 7-Eleven and Westminster NYC'

On Sept. 9, we reported that workers installed three AC units adjacent to the incoming 7-Eleven at 500 E. 11th St. ... placed inches away from the bedroom windows of tenants.

One neighbor told the No 7-Eleven blog:

The units make a loud “WHOOSHING” noise every 15 minutes and since all the bedrooms are located off the alley, there has not been much sleeping going on in either building.

The city investigated complaints from neighbors and issued a Partial Stop Work Order.

Any progress to note since then?

"We are roundly being ignored by 7-Eleven and Westminster NYC [the management company]," said resident Brian Katz. "Westminster is unapproachable — guarded, cold, borderline obnoxious. The [construction] workers are diligently going about their jobs... still, both inside and outside. So, the order doesn't mean much — surprise, surprise!"

As for those three AC units, Katz says they are too loud, too close to the windows, structurally unsound (due to vibrations), and they are obstructing escape routes. See for yourself.



Previously on EV Grieve:
3 new AC units at incoming 7-Eleven prompts Partial Stop Work Order

There is a now a mural of LES Jewels in Venice Beach, Calif.

Jules Muck, a longtime friend of the late LES Jewels, created this mural on Main Street in Venice Beach, Calif., this week.

"I could tell stories bout him for days," she said via Facebook.

Nearly 10 years earlier, she did this mural on St. Mark's Place in his honor ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP LES Jewels (74 comments)

Photos via Facebook courtesy of Jules Muck.

Have you seen the plans for SPURA?

In case you didn't see all the hoopla announcements yesterday about "Essex Crossing," the $1.1 billion plan for that decades-long vacant lot along Essex and Delancey (The Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, aka SPURA).

And if it all happens, the area might look like this one day ...



According to the news release from the Mayor's Office:

[T]he project ... includes a 15,000-square-foot open space, a new and expanded Essex Street Market, a dual-generation school operated by the Educational Alliance, a community center run by Grand Street Settlement, a rooftop urban farm, the Andy Warhol Museum, 250,000 square feet of office space and a diverse mix of retail space. Seward Park will also become a hub of small-business incubation, with micro-retail spaces and creative and tech co-working and incubator space.

Not to mention a bowling alley.



As for the housing, of the 1,000 apartments, half will be permanently affordable to low- and middle-income families and individuals.

There are many outlets that have been covering this. Such as!

• BoweryBoogie

• The Lo-Down

• Curbed

• Gothamist

• The New York Times

And the timelines for all this? From Gothamist:

Groundbreaking on the project is expected to begin in the spring of 2015, with five buildings slated to come up by the summer of 2018, the remaining housing units finished by 2021. The entire project will be finished by 2024 — that is, unless a different mayor steps in.

Put 5 pounds and 125 years of Katz's on your coffee table

As you might know, there's a new coffee-table book out now titled "Katz's: Autobiography of a Delicatessen," released to coincide with the deli's 125th anniversary.

There was a big book launch (it is a big book — weighing 5 pounds with 384 pages) last night at Katz's (we were invited but declined)... Here's a little more about the book via the official news release:

This special edition features over 600 striking color photographs by Baldomero Fernandez, which provide indelible images of the storied pastrami stations, distinctive signage, well-loved dining room, and kitchen, as well as the people on both sides of the counter — cutters, servers, kitchen workers, and customers — while part-owner Jake Dell’s text reveals the deli’s rich and compelling 125-year history, including the characteristics of the traditional Jewish foods that are at the core of Katz’s culinary legend, such as the difference between pastrami and corned beef, the deli’s own unique pickling process, and more.