Photo by Robin McMillan
A little improv after the Parks Department removed all the ramps, boxes and rails from the TF in Tompkins Square Park.
The multipurpose courts close for renovations for three months on Monday.
Friday, October 13, 2023
This is 'Elvis in the Army'
A. Savage, frontman of NYC's Parquet Courts, just released his second solo album, Several Songs About Fire (Rough Trade Records).
The video here is for "Elvis in the Army."
Local band Q&A: A Penny for your punk thoughts
Photos and text by Stacie Joy
From left above:
Kevin Yankou, Steve Yankou, Liz Jones & Jordan DeVylder
It’s raining when the members of the local punk band Penny and I meet up at the Avenue C location of San Loco for a late lunch to talk about their history, bubble gum and local performance venues.
I’m worried that we won’t be able to get our photo shoot in due to weather constraints. Still, guitarist Jordan DeVylder, drummer Steve Yankou, bassist Kevin Yankou and vocalist Liz Jones are game for rainy shenanigans. We had a great time getting soaked at Green Oasis Garden around the corner on Eighth Street before shopping for snacks at the nearby Associated supermarket.
How did the band form, and when? Where did the name come from?
Liz: Penny started as a different band, Fleaspoon, in 2018. Back then, it was me, Jordan, and two other members, Robin Spoon and Fiona Flea. Fleaspoon slowly became Penny through some dramatic and some not-so-dramatic line-up changes.
First, with Robin still on bass and Steve on drums, then with me on bass and doing vocals simultaneously. It took a long time to find someone new to play bass — because my bass parts can be overwhelmingly annoying to play — so I could just sing again, but it turns out Kevin was in front of our eyes the whole time! [Kevin is Steve’s brother.]
I was sitting on the name Penny for years, but whenever I pitched it to people previously, they would say something like, “That’s my girlfriend’s dog’s name.” I am partial to band names that could just be a woman’s name that ends in the letter Y. I also like that pennies, the coin, are essentially worthless, can be lucky or unlucky depending on how they fall, and are everywhere on the ground all the time. “Take a penny, leave a penny,” etc., etc.
Steve: Liz and Jordan asked me to play drums with them at one practice for fun. I agreed only because I missed them and find it impossible to maintain friendships with anyone I’m not in a band with. But I warned them, “I am a TERRIBLE drummer.” They said they didn’t care. Then they asked me to come again the following week. The rest is history. I’m slowly getting over my imposter syndrome.
Kevin: The band used to practice in the basement of my old spot, so it was just a matter of going down a flight of stairs to get roped into it, and I’m glad I did because it’s been a lot of fun!
Steve and I have been playing in our other band for 22 years, so we already had a decent shorthand when it comes to music stuff, and I was already a fan of Liz and Jordan — as musicians and people — so it was pretty easy to say “yes.”
How do you describe your sound?
Liz: After much internal and external debate, we have arrived at “924 Gilman comp B-side” as the definitive band descriptor. 924 Gilman is a long-running East Bay DIY space, and we definitely feel like our sound is most closely related to Bay Area ’80s and ’90s punk and the subsequent DIY punk scenes in other parts of the country that we all came up in.
Some of our other favorite band descriptions have been: “The Muppet band if they didn’t have to play for the Muppets,” “2006-core,” and “That one song sounds like Rudimentary Peni.” Sometimes people call us a riot grrrl band, but that is just a lazy way to say we sound like angry-girl-screaming, which is not untrue.
Steve: Punk as fuck. Mostly kidding. Mostly not kidding.
Kevin: Fun/fast/noisy-punk.
Your recent cassette tape release — The Bubblegum Tape — comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and a piece of chewed gum by one of the band members. Can you speak briefly about the release and how it came into production?
Liz: I think we started throwing around the name “The Bubblegum Tape” because we recorded a cover of a very twee Heavenly song, and I was thinking of bubblegum pop music. There is, however, nothing twee about the tape itself. We made the tape specifically for a Midwest tour we went on in August, and I corralled the band into chewing 100 pieces of gum and sticking them into each tape as part of the artwork. Some tapes are completely disgusting, and for that, I am sorry. It is also release 001 for my new label, Rizzo.
Steve: The gum-chewing party was harder work than it sounds.
Kevin: We learned that, apparently, I have the dampest mouth; maybe I should smoke weed.
How long have (three-fourths of) you lived in the neighborhood?
Jordan: Off and on since 2001, sometimes moving around the city for more affordable neighborhoods. The three of us in the neighborhood have lived here consecutively since about 2016/2017.
Liz: I moved to the neighborhood in 2017 after living in various other parts of the city. Once I was here, I knew I was home.
Steve: I met my life partner in January 2012 and started staying with her on East Third Street pretty much immediately. I officially moved in a few years later; I always forget exactly when.
Kevin: I crashed with an ex-GF on 12th and A for a few months back in ’06 or ’07. Does that count?
You mentioned booking gigs in Brooklyn, and a successful mini-tour this summer in the Midwest was easier. What are your feelings about the local music scene, and do you feel supported here?
Jordan: Booking shows is always hit or miss, whether in the LES/EV, Brooklyn, or elsewhere. We have all played around here for years in Penny and other bands, but some of our favorite spots to play are community spaces that have not been doing shows recently, like C-Squat and ABC No Rio.
We tend to have less luck with bar shows around here and end up in Brooklyn or Ridgewood a lot because of that, although we have recently had good experiences booking at Berlin and Rockwood Music Hall.
Liz: The punk scene, more generally in NYC, can be challenging to navigate. It has changed a lot in the last few years, and there is a sense of exclusivity that I had successfully avoided in my life of playing music up until this point.
But we feel supported and have a sense of community outside the cool-guy echo chamber. I think the whole social media/everything can be commodified era is bad for community in general, and punk is not immune to it. We all got into punk because anyone could do it, and we hold on strong to those values.
Steve: So me and Kevin —along with many other friends and roommates — booked and ran hundreds of house shows in the Bronx (and later in Brooklyn) from 2010 until lockdown. So I’m here to ask, where are the house shows? I don’t want to have to clean up the next day. Let us play at your house!
Kevin: What Steve said. The only people I wanna clean up after are me and my cat.
The band's new cassettes are available at Limited to One Record Shop on 10th Street and Academy Records on 12th Street.
Penny plays at Rockwood Music Hall, stage 1, on Oct. 18 at 10 p.m. along with Posterboy 2000 and Pig Milk.
You can follow Penny on Instagram here.
HONK alert!
HONK NY!, the activist and community-based street bands, will be roaming around the East Village this evening starting at 7 ... part of a monthlong NYC "invasion."
Expect to see band members in Tompkins Square Park, La Plaza Cultural, and other community gardens... not to mention Two Boots on Avenue A.
More details here.
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Back to the 80s at Village Works
The opening starts at 7 p.m., and the work is expected to be up for a week.
Village Works is at 12 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.
Oct. 11 (Oct. 12 edition)
Skate ramps depart the multipurpose courts in Tompkins ahead of renovations
It's not immediately known who took the skate props — city workers... or perhaps some skaters stashed them for safekeeping or use elsewhere. (Both scenarios seem rather ambitious!)
According to a landscape architect with the Parks Department (from a presentation in February), there's a lot of "asphalt structural damage," and it "needs to be replaced and repaired. And the only way to do that is to take all the asphalt down to the sub base and put new asphalt down."
Posted signage states the work will occur between Oct. 16 and Dec. 1.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The laundromat on 5th and C will remain a laundromat
Photos by Stacie Joy
Renovations continue on the SW corner of Avenue C and Fifth Street, the longtime home of a laundromat.
The Avenue C Laundromat was expected to close whenever the owner sold the property at 69 Avenue C. There was speculation that the two-story building would be demolished for some kind of new residential development. Who buys a laundromat and keeps it a laundromat!?
Well, according to TradedNY this past July, Hildreth Real Estate Advisors bought the property from Gwangil Kim for $3.4 million.
And the business will remain a laundromat — called My Sunny Laundry.
Here's a look at the ongoing renovations from recent days ... including a new Pepsi machine...
The Dolly Llama remains closed for renovations
Photos by Steven
The Dolly Llama has been closed since the late summer at 137 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.
According to the gate signage, the ice cream and waffle shop, which opened in March, is "temporarily closed for remodeling and a refreshed look."
Dolly Llama Watchers (oh, there are some!) wondered why they might need a refreshed look after just six months.
In any event, the EV location is no longer listed on the Dolly Llama website. And based on the mail and leaves inside the front doorway, no one has been inside of late. However, in an Instagram message, management said they didn't have a reopening date yet but hoped to soon.
The Dolly Llama started in Los Angeles in 2017, and there are multiple locations now in the United States.
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Wednesday's parting shot
By Lola Sáenz
A moment on St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue today... a photo opp with a found portrait of Christopher Reeve... amidst a backdrop of a water main issue on the block between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. (Haven't heard the full story yet about what happened here...)
Meanwhile, on St. Mark's Place...
Photo by Cecil Scheib
Everyone, let's please give a warm EV Grieve welcome to ... the ... Con Ed Dance Squad!
As seen today on St. Mark's Place east of First Avenue...
Noted
Photo by Steven
From this morning on Astor Place... when the Baby Trump balloon made a pitstop on Astor Place... the 19-foot-tall diaper-clad baby first appeared in the U.K. in July 2018, and made its NYC debut later that year... there are reportedly six replicas in circulation in the U.S. for various protests.
RIP Richard 'Pete' Peterson
His nephew said that Pete died during a brief stay in the hospital due to heart problems.
He loved plants and shared his gardening skills with adjacent buildings between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
Here's a look at the renovated interior of the long-vacant 6 Avenue B
Photos by Stacie Joy
Last week, EVG's Stacie Joy pointed out that workers had removed the scaffolding and construction netting from 6 Avenue B, the long-empty and currently under-renovation building on the NW corner of Avenue B.
Given this high-profile corner, there has been a lot of curiosity about the address and its fate (there were ultimately unfounded concerns at one point that this might be demolished for either a new building or part of a more extensive development).
The top photo shows you how the exterior is shaping up. Let's take a look inside the 6-floor building.
So far, the hallways and stairwells have retained some of their original charms — albeit buffed up — with the exposed brick, tiled floors, and classical staircase ironworks ...
The residential units are a different story... the pre-war details (take a look here) have been stripped away... in favor of designer-y desert-sand floors and cabinetry... 
... the oversized bedrooms have been chopped up into several small units...
Amenities look to include in-unit laundry and mini split air conditioners...
Some units include a view of Houston and Clinton (good for checking the weekend lines at Clinton St. Baking Company)...
... and a view of the foundation work for the 11-story building coming to 280 Houston St. ...
To recap some recent history here... an LLC linked to Penn Capital South, whose portfolio includes multiple EV properties, bought the building in February... but they didn't keep it long — it's back on the market. (The retail space is for lease, too... here's the listing.)
We have yet to see any listings for the refurbished units.
This was one of the abandoned buildings owned by the estate of the mysterious team of Arthur and Abraham Blasof, both long deceased. However, No. 6 has been generating some income with the cell-phone towers on the roof.
The liquor store in the retail space closed when the owner passed away in the fall of 2009 at age 89. (Chico created the tribute to her on the gate in February 2010. Will it stay?)
As we've pointed out (here and here), the building was in dismal shape and needed significant work to bring it up to code. Before the renovations, the DOB had cited No. 6 for emergency repairs several times in recent years.
Openings: Hello, Yam! on 9th Street and Avenue A
Photos by Stacie Joy
Hello, Yam! made its soft-opening debut on Friday at 443 E. Ninth St. at Avenue A...
The small shop with a few outdoor tables offers dessert options with Japanese sweet potatoes ... as well as parfaits and coffee drinks...
Hours: 1-9 p.m. during the week, until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Closed on Tuesdays.
You can follow Hello, Yam! on Instagram here.
A New signage era for Big Arc Chicken
Signage aside, we're not sure what else, if anything, has changed... might mean time for another visit ...
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Openings: Downtown Threads on Avenue A
Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
Downtown Threads is now in soft-open mode at 66 Avenue A between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.
The shop is selling vintage/thrift clothes and used records.
Operator Angel Ramirez, who's also behind Cafe Social 68 and the Halloween pop-up shop in the spaces next door, says Downtown Threads will have items for most budgets.
... here's manager Shaune Crawford...
Hours are Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 8 p.m.
They just launched an Instagram account ... a website is in the works.
This space served as a pop-up this past summer for Whim Golf. Before Whim, the storefront had been vacant since Lancelotti Housewares left in the fall of 2021 after 25 years in business.
What's going on at Connelly Theater Upstairs, the former home of the Metropolitan Playhouse
That 51-seat black box space is now part of the adjacent Connelly Theater and going as Connelly Theater Upstairs.
Gabe Mollica's "Solo: A Show About Friendship" opens there tonight.
About the production:
Gabe dives deep into what it means to have friends in your 30s, his special relationship with Stephen Sondheim, working at a summer camp for children with chronic illnesses, and what happens when you break up with your best friend.
Find tickets here.
Meanwhile, also starting tonight, "Salesman之æ»" at the Connelly Theater ...
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