Sunday, June 27, 2021

At the 27th annual Drag March

Photos by Stacie Joy

A larger and more festive Drag March took place this past Friday evening... as participants gathered in Tompkins Square Park before making the nearly hour-long walk to Sheridan Square and then the Stonewall Inn.

Last year's edition was a much smaller, and more organic gathering during the throes of the pandemic.

The 27th annual Drag March was an aptly joyous start to Pride Weekend...
... and as the march got underway along Ninth Street ...
The Drag March got its start during the Stonewall 25th anniversary celebrations in 1994.

Here's a HuffPost piece from 2018 with more history:
Brian Griffin, aka Harmonie Moore Must Die, was a member of the AIDS advocacy group ACT UP and Women’s Health Action and Mobilization (WHAM) in the mid-1990s, an activist who saw the power of drag to confront intolerance and practice civil disobedience in a way that also celebrated queerness. But at planning meetings for the Stonewall 25th anniversary celebrations, Griffin told HuffPost, the committee made it clear that it was only interested in presenting a somewhat sanitized version of LGBTQ activism.

"The committee for Stonewall 25 had actually asked — and it still seems quite unbelievable — that they didn't want anyone to show up in leather or drag. It still, 25 years later, blows my mind," Griffin said. "They wanted to normalize the image of gay America for a mass audience. They wanted to present a palatable image of gay men and women, men and women who were normal."

Week in Grieview

Posts this last week included (with a photo in Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg) ... 

• RIP Art Guerra (Tuesday

• Report: Mount Sinai Beth Israel decides against plans to relocate and downsize (Monday

• A Visit to Brix Wines and Barnyard Cheese Shop on Avenue B (Thursday

• Owners of the Masalawala said to be opening to-go spot for Indian street food on 1st Avenue (Wednesday

• Who is Savannah Guthrie? This Jeopardy! guest host helped raise $105K for the Bowery Mission (Monday

• 6 a.m. on the fire escape (Friday

• A petition to fund Public Land schoolyards for community use (Thursday

• Last few days for Spring Into Pride at 3rd & B’Zaar (Friday

• Avenues is a real-estate office-espresso bar opening on 10th Street (Monday

• Do you have what it takes to Stomp? (Wednesday)

• Sushi next for the former Fresco space on 2nd Avenue (Tuesday

• City pools reopen (Friday

• Reopenings on Avenue A: the Library, Sing Sing (Monday

• A residential conversion for the former storefront at 111 St. Mark's Place (Tuesday

• Al Horno Lean Mexican Kitchen looks to have closed on 1st Avenue (Monday

• Notes for Apt. #2 (Wednesday

• A quick turnover at 328 E. 6th St. (Wednesday

 ... and congratulations to S'MAC owners Sarita and Caesar Ekya, who celebrated 15 years in the East Village on Thursday... (photos by Lola Sáenz)...
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Savannah Guthrie raised $217k for the Bowery Mission while guest host of 'Jeopardy!'

On Monday, we mentioned that Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of the "Today" show on NBC, served as guest host on "Jeopardy!" 

In honor of the late Alex Trebek, the show matches contestant winnings with a donation to the charity of the guest host's choice. 

Guthrie's choice was The Bowery Mission. After her first week, she raised more than $105,000. 

And upon completion of her second week, she totaled $217,985 ...

Young red-tailed hawks are off to a flying start in Tompkins Square Park

The two young red-tailed hawks continue to be quite active in Tompkins Square Park, honing their hunting and flying skills. (Check out Goggla's site for more photos and commentary.) 

These photos by Steven from earlier this past week show one of Amelia and Christo's offspring heading out of the Park and onto a building on Seventh Street...
... and a rare photo of the siblings together...
... and with Papa Christo...
...and some bonus footage via Greg Masters of one of the juveniles with his very first pigeon...

 

Saturday, June 26, 2021

Celebrating the work of Jillian Jonas, who captured 'a golden age of LGBTQ+ nightlife and performance'

Village Preservation has added a new set of photos to its historic image archive: Jillian Jonas Collection — Downtown Drag+Performance in the 1990s. 

 Per the description:
Jillian Jonas was the house photographer at the legendary Boy Bar on St. Mark's Place in the early 1990s, where she captured thousands of images of drag performers who mixed gender-bending and illusion with downtown in-your-face attitude. This collection includes images not only from Boy Bar, but the Pyramid Club, Wigstock, the Gay Pride Festival, and dozens of other downtown nightlife and performance venues of the early-to-mid 1990s. 
Her pictures capture a golden age of LGBTQ+ nightlife and performance, as well as an edgy slice of life when drag and blurred boundaries of gender were just beginning to make inroads into the broader public consciousness, largely through this vibrant local scene. 
You can check out the collection here.  

An art collective today at First Street Green Art Park

The organizers behind the Nexus Flea are hosting an art collective today at First Street Green Art Park

The free event includes some (unplugged) musicians: 
Momentum 1 p.m. (Jazz) 
Dave Scott 2 p.m. (solo) 
Aliens 3 p.m. (art duo) 
Lün Badi 4 p.m. (solo) 

The show takes place from noon to 6 p.m. at First Park, 33 E. First St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

[EVERYTHINGISM] on 9th Street this weekend

NYC-based photographer/multidisciplinary artist Avery J. Savage is hosting [EVERYTHINGISM], a solo exhibit of his work today and tomorrow at Chiro-fit, 432 E. Ninth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

You can check out his work today from noon to 7 p.m. and tomorrow from noon to 4 p.m. (You can book a time slot here.)

Friday, June 25, 2021

Friday's parting shot

At the start of the Drag March this evening in Tompkins Square Park... thanks to Greg Masters for the photo... more pics on the way...

Hold the phone

 
The debut full-length record from the Brooklyn-based Pom Pom Squada Friday at 5 favorite of late — is out today. 

The audio clip here is for "Drunk Voicemail." 

You can read an interview with lead singer/lyricist Mia Berrin at NPR.

Free vaccinations tomorrow at Middle Collegiate Church

Various elected officials, community groups and city agencies have organized a free vaccination pop-up event tomorrow at Middle Collegiate Church, outside the office-rectory space at 50 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. The event takes place 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Last few days for Spring Into Pride at 3rd & B’Zaar

This is the last few days for Spring Into Pride over at 3rd & B’Zaar, the mixed-vendor market and event space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

The space, featuring 30 local designers, vintage sellers and artists, ends its two-month run on Monday. Hours: 1-6 p.m. 

The organizers have held a variety of special events here in recent weeks, including a Drag Bingo night, which EVG contributor Stacie Joy documented...
3rd & B’Zaar debuted late last year with a month-long Holiday Market ... followed by Sex, Love & Vintage in February.... with several art shows in between. 

Organizers will soon unveil the next theme for 3rd & B’Zaar this summer.

Make a splash: City pools reopen tomorrow

Dozens of outdoor city pools reopen for the season tomorrow (June 26) ... locally, this means the Hamilton Fish Pool on Pitt and East Houston (above), the Dry Dock Pool on 10th Street and Avenue D and the Tompkins Square Park mini pool...   
Outdoor hours are from 11 a.m. through 7 p.m. daily, with a break for pool cleaning between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Find more info about city pools at this link.

Parks officials say they're still determining whether the Lap Swim program — as seen at Hamilton Fish —is feasible this summer. And still not feasible: breath-holding contests ...
During the pandemic last summer, only 15 city pools opened, and not until Aug. 5

Thanks to Steven for the Tompkins Square Park pool pics. Top pic via EVG.

It's 6 a.m. Do you know where your neighbors are?

In case you haven't seen this viral video that got its start on TikTok (since removed, it seems). However, it has been shared by multiple sites and sources, garnering millions of views in the process. (Thank you to the EVG readers who shared this starting back on Saturday.) 

Not sure when or where this was filmed — an undisclosed East Village building. Anyway, per the clip, it's 6 a.m., and three people are on the fire escape doing whatever they're doing and wooing ... soon, a resident starts yelling "shut the fuck up" and "hey asshole." 

The male fire escapee then tells the neighbor to "relax." (😬) Then some other neighbors join in — "shut the fuck up" ... and you can see the rest in the clip (sound on!) via @Complex ...