An annual reunion in East River Park

Yesterday, a group of longtime residents — past and present — from the East Village and Lower East Side gathered at East River Park near 10th Street for an annual reunion ... these friends and family members representing various local schools, clubs and organizations have been holding this celebration at East River Park for years.

It was a last hurrah of sorts on Saturday. As you likely know, the city plans to shut down East River Park in March for three-plus years to build flood protections along the East Side. (The controversial plan isn't sitting well with residents and some local elected officials, who'd like to see the work done in stages without losing access to the entire East River Park at once. And attendees here were busy signing petitions.)

EVG contributor Stacie Joy shares this photo essay of the residents enjoying their park... while highlighting what will be lost in the years ahead ...

About the new mural outside Key Food

If you've been by (or to!) Key Food on Avenue A in the past month then you've likely seen the mural on the Fourth Street wall...



Artolution — "a community-based public art organization that seeks to ignite positive social change through collaborative art making" — is behind this project.

A group of young artists from Central America created the various characters seen on the mural.



The mural was officially unveiled on July 20... and here's what's next for the work...

View this post on Instagram

A sneak peek of today’s big reveal. Each of the individual characters were created by youth who escaped ongoing violence in Central American countries to find refuge in the United States. Their characters and the movements they developed with @kj3t will come to life later in August through Augmented Reality technology. Today the youth will present their mural and performances to the community! The youth are excited, the artists are excited - Let’s get this party started New York City! Join us at Avenue A & 4th Street at 5 PM. With @joelartista @theremustbemorelight @weareroyale @supportkind @styledwithsubstance @rhythmloverevolution #asylumseekers #immigrantart #communityart #youthempowerment #eastvillage #les #joelartista #mascaras #artolution #muralunveiling #performance #youthart #centroamerica

A post shared by Artolution (@artolution) on Jul 19, 2019 at 11:13am PDT

Been waiting to get a photo of the completed work ... though there were always delivery trucks or cars parked on Fourth Street outside the grocery... finally got a shot...

This weekend: Tompkins Square Park Riot Reunion shows

There are free shows Saturday and Sunday afternoon commemorating the 31st anniversary of the Tompkins Square Police Riot of Aug. 6, 1988.

Here are the lineups:

Aug. 3:
• Dryclean (new band by a member of Straight To Hell)
• Drones
• Rapid Deployment Force
• Nihilistics
• Locked in a Vacancy
• Disassociate

Aug. 4:
• Jennifer Blowdryer Soul Band
• Ruckus Interruptus
• Blackout Shoppers
• Hammerbrain
• Young Headlight
• The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black

... and the flyers...







Find more details at the Shows in Tompkins Square Park page on Facebook.

For your ears only

Iggy Pop this week released the first single off of his forthcoming record Free, out Sept. 6. The audio track here is for "James Bond," which NME described as: "something between the trashy horror-rock of The Cramps, the restraint of Talking Heads, the naivety of Modern Lovers and the clattering fun of a bog-standard garage rock band who’d be called something like The Paisley Ghouls and would have released one single before splitting up in 1968."

EVG Etc.: More debate over stormproofing East River Park; coming-of-age series at the Anthology

[Heads up in Tompkins Square Park via Derek Berg]

• Recaps of the City Planning Commission's heated hearing on the East River Park flood protection plan (Curbed ... Patch ... previously on EVG)

• Two programs to help small businesses are coming to the East Village (Patch)

• Good samaritans swarm man who shoved commuter onto the tracks at Broadway-Lafayette (The Post)

• Resident of the Lillian Wald Houses on Avenue D robbed by two men in NYCHA uniforms (ABC 7)

• Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer and professor/author Caroline Weber are the new owners of the 10th Street townhouse once owned by Mary-Kate Olsen and Olivier Sarkozy (The Post ... previously on EVG)

• 72-year-old man mugged for his plastic bottles outside the Associated on 14th Street (Town & Village)

• Judge rules that the towers for the Two Bridges development must go through city land use review process (amNY)

• A showcase of films that present young women entering adulthood (Anthology Film Archives)

• Remembering Jim Carroll on what would have been his 70th birthday yesterday (Off the Grid)

• The history of a fabled farm-like homestead on 14th Street (Ephemeral New York)

• Birds you'll find around NYC (Laura Goggin Photography)

• The next Musical Monday selection at the Village East is... "The Bodyguard" (Official site)

• A look at Essex Crossing’s rooftop farm (B&B)

• You can find Katz's this month at the Met (6sqft)

... and EVG reader Michelle shared this photo from yesterday on 22nd Street at First Avenue...



At first glance we thought this bear migrated north from Fifth Street, though it's likely just a relative...


[Photo by Jonathan Michael Fung from July 3]

[Updated] Police ID suspect in 12th Street home invasion

The NYPD is offering a reward on Tyler Lockett, the suspect they say followed a woman into an East Village apartment building and then pushed his way into her residence early last Friday. (Reported here last Saturday.)

Here's the narrative via the NYPD...

On Friday, July 26 at 1:45 a.m., the individual followed a 21-year-old female victim into her apartment building within the vicinity of Avenue A and East 12 Street and forcefully pushed his way into her apartment. The male individual then grabbed the victim, told her to, "shut up," threw her to the ground and covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming.

The victim's 22-year-old female roommate, who was home at the time, awoke and encountered the individual, who then fled the apartment and was last observed fleeing, on foot, within the vicinity of 11th Street and 1st Avenue. No property was taken and the victim was not seriously injured as a result of the incident.

The individual is identified as Tyler Lockett, 22-year-old male, 5'5" tall, weighing 130 lbs., with brown eyes and black hair; he was last seen wearing a black sweatshirt and grey sweatpants. Tyler Lockett is known to frequent areas within the confines of the 90 Precinct.

In January, Lockett was arrested for a similar robbery-home invasion in the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg. In that incident, police say he forced his way into a 23-year-old woman's apartment, locked the door, grabbed her purse and fought with the victim.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. There's a $2,500 reward for information that leads to Lockett's arrest.

Updated 8/5

The NYPD made an arrest...

Thanks to the work of @NYPDDetectives in @NYPDSVU and sharp-eyed officers of the @NYPD90Pct, TYLER LOCKETT was apprehended! Thanks too to the community for its help sharing this! #NYPDConnecting #NYPDProtecting pic.twitter.com/M6xByGGT7y

— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) August 4, 2019

RIP Tim Schellenbaum

Tim Schellenbaum, an award-winning sound designer at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, died on July 25 at the Mary Manning Walsh Home. He was 60.

LaMama posted a tribute to him on their website:

He was a musician, composer, sound engineer, and sound designer. He has been described as a quiet ambassador of Americana in its purest sense.

While attending The University of New Mexico he became known for his experimental work on WKNM radio and recording and promoting punk music. He stayed true to his roots and wrote music that honored his craft and his Hispanic heritage with his bands Zozobra, Me Wee Beastie and EIEIO.

He helped place his beloved Lower East Side on the world's cultural map. As an avant-garde musician, he worked with Arthur Russell, Robert Ashley, Rhys Chatham, Glenn Branca, Karole Armitage and The Nedd Sublette Band.

He worked at numerous downtown venues including The Kitchen, The New Federal Theatre, Theatre for The New City, and PS 122, and was the sound engineer for the Brookfield/Winter Garden space at the World Financial Center.

Proudly he served as the resident sound designer at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club for 25 years. As a resident artist at La MaMa, Tim generously shared his skills as a composer, sound designer and musician with hundreds of artists. His imprint on the downtown theatre scene is immeasurable.

Tim was the recipient of 1998 and 2000 Obie Awards and a 2007 IT Award for collaborative design.

Schellenbaum lived in the East Village with his wife, EiLeen Doster, and three children.

LaMama will be hosting a celebration of his life and work at a future date.

Celebrating 32 years of Two Boots Pizza

On Tuesday night, Two Boots Pizza celebrated its 32nd anniversary at its outpost at 42 Avenue A and Third Street.

Phil Hartman (a former owner of the Great Jones Cafe), Doris Kornish and John Touhey opened the first Two Boots on June 24, 1987 at 37 Avenue A between Second Street and Third Street.

And an estimated 50 million slices later ... friends and neighbors came out on Tuesday night to honor Hartman and Two Boots on this 32nd birthday. (Two Boots also introduced two new pizzas: My Brilliant Friend and My Brilliant Vegan Friend, both spicy with broccoli rabe, garlic, peppers and meat or mock meat.)

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the festivities...


[My Brilliant Friend]




[Christy and Charles from Exit 9 with Joseph from Cava Glass]






[John Touhey, left, and Phil Hartman]

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood.

If you give a damn about Joan Jett's 'Bad Reputation' documentary

The Joan Jett documentary "Bad Reputation" has a one-night screening tomorrow (Aug. 2) at Theatre 80 on St. Mark's Place.

The synopsis!

The life and career of rock ‘n’ roll icon Joan Jett from her early years ripping it up onstage as the founder and backbone of hard-rock legends The Runaways, to her long time collaboration with Kenny Laguna as Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, and her enduring presence in pop culture as a rock pioneer and mentor. With her inimitable singles “I Love Rock N’ Roll,” and “Bad Reputation” Joan Jett inspired a generation of young women to rock.

"Bad Reputation" premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival... and the reviews have been mostly positive for its archival footage and commentary of assorted talking heads including Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, Pete Townshend and Billie Joe Armstrong.

The trailer!



The film starts tomorrow night at 8 at Theatre 80, 80 St. Mark's Place west of First Avenue. Ticket info is at this link.

Summer Streets returns to the streets this summer

The 12th annual Summer Streets celebration returns on the first three Saturdays of the month (August!) in which nearly seven miles of NYC roadways are closed to vehicles for people to run, walk, bike, etc.

The festivities begin tomorrow night when the city tows anyone parking along the Summer Streets.

As in previous years, this car-free zone includes Lafayette, Astor Place and Fourth Avenue.



You can find more details about Summer Streets at this link, including what kind of activities to expect at Astor Place.

6 posts from July

[Surfbort at Bowery Ballroom Sunday night]

A mini month in review...

A visit to Metropolis Vintage on Broadway (July 18)

"Wealthy, anonymous individual" buys Boys' Club building; will remain in use for a nonprofit (July 17)

Book Club — an independent bookstore with cafe — coming to 3rd Street (July 15)

Local elected officials urge the DOT to explore bike lane options on Avenues A, B, C and D (July 15)

Reader reports: The NYPD forcibly stops a Citi Biker on Avenue A for his own safety (July 5)

At long last a taxi relief stand for East Houston and 1st Street outside Punjabi Grocery & Deli (July 1)