Noted

Smart Smokers has (quickly) opened at 143 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street... another smoke-related shop — one of many that have popped up around this neighborhood and others in recent months. 

The signage also changes colors...

The space was last Flamingos Vintage Pound, which closed for good during the pandemic. 

Thanks to Steven for the photos

Sunday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Moments after the Pinc Louds show ended this afternoon in Tompkins Square Park... and happy trails to longtime drummer Raimundo (right), who's moving on to new "musical and creative adventures."

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a foggy early morning pic on Avenue A) ... 

• A campaign to co-name this block of Avenue C after Casa Adela founder Adela Fargas (Tuesday)

• Tompkins Square Bagels is opening an outpost on Union Square West (Monday) 

• Councilmember Carlina Rivera calls for an immediate end to the city's encampment sweeps (Monday)

• The March Hare returns with new daily hours (Tuesday) 

• Once again, 3's company for Amelia and Christo, the red-tailed hawks of Tompkins Square Park (Wednesday) 

• The Gallery Watch Q&A: Ellen Siebers on 'A Divinity That Shapes Our Ends' (Thursday) 

• New outdoor space shapes on 4th Street (Monday) 

• Work underway on 8-story residential building with affordable housing for 10th Street lot (Wednesday) 

• Films on the Green is bringing literary adaptations to downtown city parks this summer (Tuesday)

• Should we be concerned about the wisteria on Stuyvesant Street? (Wednesday) 

• The 2 store cats at Houston Village Farm need a new home (Saturday) 

• Take a look at the 'Rotten to the Apple' NYC punk photo show at C-Squat (Saturday) 

• Librae Bakery is now open (Thursday) 

• At the Metro Gala 2022 (Friday) 

• Openings: Luz Market + Restaurant on St. Mark's Place (Thursday) ... Bake Culture on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) ... Lil' Frankies Grocery on 1st Avenue (Monday) 

• Checking in on those 'MotherF**king Girl Scouts' at the Wild Project (Tuesday) 

• Gym NYC opens on 3rd Street (Friday) 

• A look at the long-vacant storefront on the NW corner of 3rd Avenue and 12th Street (Thursday) 

• Hell's bells! Taco Bell signage arrives on 3rd Avenue (Monday) 

• Drexler's space yielding to Wiggle Room on Avenue A (Friday) 

... and in posts we didn't get around to posting this week... someone kicked in the front door to the incoming Panda Express on the SW corner of 14th Street and First Avenue Friday night/Saturday morning...

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Follow EVG on Instagram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

Pinc Louds headlines afternoon of bands today in Tompkins Square Park

There's a free slate of bands today (Sunday!) in Tompkins Square Park from 2-6. 

Local faves Pinc Louds headline (set time for the band's quirky cheerfulness: 4 more like 4:50 p.m.) ... it also marks the last full-band show with Raimundo, the oringal drummer for Pinc Louds. (He is moving on to "new musical and creative adventures.") 

It's a good bill that features the high-energy rock of InCircles ... the gloom punk of Desert Sharks ... and singer-songwriter Marley.

Saturday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Friends and loved ones gathered this afternoon for the memorial for Al Landess in Tompkins Square Park.

RIP Al! 

The 2 store cats at Houston Village Farm need a new home

Photos by Stacie Joy

Updated 5/15: Via the comments, a reader says someone is adopting the two cats.

As previously reported, Houston Village Farm is closing on the SW corner of First Avenue and Fourth Street. 

And as several readers have shared, the store's two cats need a new home in the days ahead. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by last night... and confirmed the cats are up for adoption. The store closes for good on Wednesday. 

The two cats tend to stay in the basement and are camera-shy ... here's one...

... and the other, as seen in a photo at checkout...

The cats are said to be on the indifferent side (😼). And it sounds as if anyone who adopts them will have naming rights. When asked for their names, store staff said "the cats." 

Interested parties may contact Mr. Patel at (914) 433-5394. Or stop by Houston Village Farm.

Meanwhile, the clearance continues here...

Ownership here blamed slow business and high rent for the closure.

Take a look at the 'Rotten to the Apple' NYC punk photo show at C-Squat

Today (Saturday!) is the opening of "Rotten to the Apple," an NYC punk photo show at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space/C-Squat on Avenue C.

Here's some info via the EVG inbox: "It's an all-NYC punk photo show with 30-plus photographers, many of which are from an up-and-coming generation of talented punx who are taking photos at shows all across the city." 

The hours today: noon to 4 p.m. (They are closing early so people can go to the memorial show for Al Landess in Tompkins Square Park. Photos of Al are included in this exhibit.) 

The exhibit, curated by Destiny Mata and David Siffert, runs through May 28. You can access the free show via MoRUS, 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

Time for some plants and baked good at the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden

The crap weather KO'd the annual plant and bake sale at the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden last weekend ... so garden members are trying again this weekend from noon to 5 p.m. today and tomorrow (Saturday and Sunday!). 

This weekend, you can find the plants and baked goods here on the southwest corner of Avenue B and Sixth Street. Funds help fund the various events — music, workshops, poetry, screenings and more — during the year.

Saturday's opening shot

Good morning from 141 E. Houston St., where a worker is power-washing the graffiti off the new 9-floor boutique office building here between Eldridge and Forsyth.

Big plans

 

Moving through 2022... SoulGlo's Diaspora Problems remains one of the year's critically acclaimed new records. 

The video here is for the first single — "Jump!! (Or Get Jumped!!!)((by the future)). 

Read more about the band from Philadelphia here.

A memorial show in Tompkins Square Park for Al Landess

Today is the birthday of Al "Hammerbrain" Landess. He would have been 55 years old. 

The longtime local resident and veteran of the NYC hardcore scene died on Feb. 15 of cancer. 

There's a memorial show in his honor tomorrow (Saturday, May 14) starting at 2. Here's info via the EVG inbox... 

A veteran of Riot Days in and around Tompkins Square Park from 1988 to 1991, Al energetically played countless punk shows in the park with Hammerbrain and with Damned Kids, his stage presence always coming through. 

Join us as we present a memorial event in Tompkins Square Park to honor him, featuring friends and bands that knew and played with Al over the years. 

There will also be an open mic between acts, during which anyone who would like to say something about Al can share with us. 

Performers include: 

• HAMMERBRAIN 

• COFFIN DAGGERS 

• NOOGIE 

• DIYING BREED 

• SEWAGE NYC 

• SKITZOPOLIS 

There will also be a special appearance by the Lower East Side's own Fighting Radical Irish priest, Father Pat Maloney. 

This memorial is being brought to you by Ned (Hammerbrain + Damn Kids), Johnny Vee (Public Nuisance), the Coffin Daggers, Chris Flash (The SHADOW) and Al's longtime life partner Joannie.

At the Metro Gala 2022

Photos by Stacie Joy

On Monday evening, the annual Metro Gala took place on the south plaza of Union Square. 

Some background: 

Thrown by the Permanent Magical Culture Society and a loose collective of transformative-attire-and street-pageantry-enthusiasts, the guerrilla-style Metro Gala has grown into a public staple. Part tribute, part parody of the infamous Met Gala, it's a public free-form open-participation runway fashion (and performance) show ... 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these images of Metro Gala 2022 attendees in the Metro Gala finest ...

Gym NYC opens on 3rd Street

Photos by Stacie Joy

Gym NYC is now open at 155 E. Third St. just east of Avenue A (in the former Iron & Silk Fitness basement space).

The place is affiliated with Gym NYC. 

The Gym NYC/Third Street website says that members can "be part of an entirely new gym environment with the latest equipment, inspiring aesthetics, upscale amenities and a great community."

EVG contributor Stacie Joy took these photos several days before their official soft opening this past Monday... as workers were still getting the place in shape, so to speak... 

According to a postcard we received in the mail ("current resident"), the gym's official debut is June 23. They will be open 24 hours from Monday at 6 a.m. to Friday at 9 p.m. ... with 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. hours on Saturday and Sunday. (Until then, their hours appear to be 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.)

Drexler's space yielding to Wiggle Room on Avenue A

Top photo from March 2022

We've fielded a few queries on the status of Drexler's, the two-level cocktail lounge at 9 Avenue A between Houston and Second Street. 

The space has been shuttered since the PAUSE of March 2020. 

Workers were spotted gutting the interior earlier this year (pic by Stacie Joy) ...

Anyway, we hear that the ownership will be reopening under a new name — Wiggle Room (neon signage above the doorway)...

Drexler's debuted here in 2015.

The Gallery Watch Q&A: Ellen Siebers on 'A Divinity That Shapes Our Ends'

Interview by Clare Gemima 

Photos courtesy of March gallery; interior shots by Cary Whittier

"A Divinity That Shapes Our Ends" showcases work that has culminated from the experiential and research-rich studio practice of Ellen Siebers, a painter based in Hudson, N.Y. 

In response to a curator-led discussion at March gallery, I reached out to Siebers to understand more about her process, art-historic influences and thoughts on the gallery’s simultaneous show, "I See This Echoing" by John Brooks. 

Both exhibits run until May 28 at March gallery, 62-64 Avenue A between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.

In a quote of yours, you claim the mind's eye is a powerful presence in the digestion of daily experience. What is your understanding of the term "mind's eye," and can you describe how the oil paintings in "A Divinity That Shapes Our Ends" encompass or visualize this concept? 

I understand the mind's eye as an ever-changing recollection of every kind of perception, which comes together to serve as the foundation of subjective experience. If I ask someone to imagine an apple, most of us are able to do so, but the actual form of that image in the mind is really wild when you focus on it. 

Since one can imagine what it looks like doesn't mean it is something so clear that they could make a drawing from it — it is a kind of conglomeration of equal parts: past, experience and sensation. That, for me, is often what I am trying to record in paint — the sensation of an experience that is a mixture of specifics and abstraction. 

What conversations do you believe "A Divinity That Shapes Our Ends" and John Brooks’ show, "I See This Echoing," are engaging in? In your opinion, what similarities or differences are fluid or more jarring between the two?

I think we are both really interested in the humanity and vulnerability of our figurative subjects and approach the intimacy of a nude figure in a similarly sensitive way. I know we are both engaging in some similar discussions of beauty and think of the concept of beauty as intellectual work. 

I personally love the experience of walking into his exhibition after being in mine since I feel immersed and embraced by the scale and the larger collections of marks. It feels so buoyant.

During a conversation in the gallery, the idea that certain paintings were hanging in groups of three or four were said to be assimilations of what you are currently doing in your studio. Can you explain this in more detail? 

In the studio, I am always thinking about things in small groups. I think the pacing of a group of paintings relates to poetry, and I love how paintings can work as any kind of punctuation. Grouping the work ultimately helps me see each more clearly as an individual. The groupings point out each of the particularities of the work while at the same time creating a larger environment for the viewer to live. 

Throughout the show, compositions most commonly portray a cropped figurative foreground, shown caught or captured in the surrounds of landscape, abstracted flora, and sometimes mono-tonal washes. What considerations do you take to foster the relationship between your painted backgrounds and female characters? 

The relationships between the figures and surrounding forms are made from a pretty emotional and intuitive place. It has to do with articulating the feelings that I imagine the figure would feel in the landscape through the language of abstraction — trying to capture what the sunlight might feel like on one’s face or what the cool water would feel like on one’s feet…things like that. 

Both atmospheric color and painterly gesture are bodily experiences as well. And that’s what I fell in love with first about painting — the ability to record the nonverbal sensory experiences of beauty. 

Your work’s titles pay homage to Hilma af Klint, Arthur Bowen Davies and Felix Vallotton. What sources of inspiration do these artists offer you in your creative process? 

The particular mysticism present in both Hilma af Klint and Arthur Bowen Davies' work gives me so much energy and excitement. I am not a religious person but feel so much magic and beauty every day that I cannot begin to understand, and surrendering to the raw emotion of that is something I draw out of both of their work in different ways. It is all so full of life. Vallotton, for me, is all about sensuality. His "Étude de fesses" cannot be beat. 

What other, more contemporary practitioners do you gravitate towards or appreciate at the moment? I am personally reminded of Ambera Wellmann and Clare Grill's work when I look at your paintings. 

They are both great painters! I am always inspired by my friend Peter Shear's paintings; they are so joyful to me. There’s an abundance of spectacular paintings going on right now. Just to name a few of my favorites working now: Ted Gahl, Ashley Garrett, Aubrey Levinthal, Maja Ruznic, Danielle McKinney, Aaron Michael Skolnick… I could go on forever. And never forget the queen, Lois Dodd. 

How does operating out of a studio in Hudson influence your painting practice? 

It has a lot of influence which comes down to the abundance of natural beauty and the gift of time. I have so much more time to dedicate to the studio since moving to Hudson, especially with having my studio space on the same property as my home. I love to garden, so having a yard and the ability to spend so much time with that influences me a lot. Observing all of the gentle changes between seasons never gets old. 

As a person who constantly quotes the surrounding environment, the Hudson Valley just has so much magic to give. It is also home to such a supportive group of fellow artists.

March gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. 

~~~~~~

Clare Gemima is a visual artist and arts writer from New Zealand, now based in the East Village of New York. You can find her work here: claregemima.com. 

May 12

As seen this morning on 11th Street at Second Avenue by Lola Sáenz. 

This Christmas tree (complete with lights) looks extremely (and suspiciously?) healthy. Who's up for a tree rescue and another binge of "A Christmas Story"?

Librae Bakery to debut on Sunday

As we first reported (here and here), Librae Bakery is coming to 35 Cooper Square at Sixth Street. 

And they've just announced an opening date: Sunday, May 15 at 8 a.m. 

Moving forward, they'll be serving pastries, bread and beverages (coffee and tea) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Real-life couple Dona Murad and Andre Gerschel are behind this operation. The two posted this on the bakery's Instagram account yesterday: 

We wanted to thank everyone for the incredible support we've been shown by the neighborhood and larger community these past few weeks. Librae is truly a labor of love and we have been working endlessly to bring it to life. 

From every corner to every croissant layer, we have obsessed over the details. Librae has to be a reflection of who we are as people, our background, and our experiences. 

We both come from a multitude of mixed heritages including Bahraini, Persian, Indian, Moroccan, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and have lived in Dubai, New York, and Manama. All of these experiences have accumulated into creating what we call a "Third Culture Bakery." After opening concepts in the Arabian Gulf and the UK, we wanted to create something of our own and bring it home. 

Bahraini hospitality brought us together, Danish technique inspired us, and New York energy feeds us. This fun chaos intertwined is a reflection of us at our core. It's a privilege to be able to open our doors and welcome you into Librae Bakery. 

And you can check out a few pics of their offerings on Instagram...

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A look at the long-vacant storefront on the NW corner of 3rd Avenue and 12th Street

A moment to take a look at the NW corner of Third Avenue at 12th Street (88 Third Ave. officially). 

As far as we can recall, the space has been vacant since Gotham Pizza closed in the summer of 2018. 

One short year later, we spotted workers gutting the space, one of them saying a Chinese restaurant was in the works here. 

And that was that. 

Today, the storefront remains empty. 

A 14-day rent demand dated April 7 (2022) remains on the front door. The tenant, doing business as Flying Pig, owes some back rent — $281,134.68 to be exact (the monthly rent being $21,855) ...

The landlord is likely in possession of the establishment now. So we'll see what might be next someday. 

But can anything bring back the joy here of the one, the only, the Funkiberry...

Openings: Luz Market + Restaurant on St. Mark's Place

Luz Market + Restaurant has debuted at 97 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue.

The plant-based restaurant is serving flatbreads, salads and "house favorites," including zucchini noodles lasagna. Check out the menu here. 

The hours for now: Wednesday-Saturday from 4-11 p.m. 

The folks behind Luz also ran the previous restaurant here — Taberna 97, which was modeled after a traditional Portuguese taverna.