A look at 'That Paradise Place,' an erotic puppet musical about the lives of artists with disabilities

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Updated: The performances are sold out. 

Tomorrow and Saturday, the Abrons Arts Center on the Lower East Side is staging one of the more unique shows you'll see. 

"That Paradise Place" is an erotic puppet musical about the love, sex and fantasy lives of artists with disabilities. It was created by a collaborative team of artists with and without disabilities called Pussypaws Puppetry and presented by Summertime, a nonprofit art gallery and studio supporting neurodiverse artists. 

The cast rehearsed at the IATI Theater space on Fourth Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy recently stopped by for a dress rehearsal at Abrons ...

Performances are at 8 p.m. tomorrow and 4 and 8 p.m. on Saturday. Ticket info about this "radical celebration of sex positivity, disability justice, and puppet pleasure" is here. 

The Abrons Art Center is at 466 Grand St. at Pitt Street.

Bands we like: Genre is Death

Photos and interview by Stacie Joy 

It turns out Death becomes them. 

In recent months, we've seen Genre is Death three times, including twice in Tompkins Square Park, and the duo has quickly become one of our local favorites. 

The band, Ty Varesi and Tayler Lee, brings an experimental, no-wave aesthetic to their music. (As concert promoter Show Brain posted about the band: "Using loopers, synths, and distortion, you can expect a loud, angry, and at times melodic sound that continues the no wave tradition.")

Ahead of the release tomorrow of their first LP, Talk, we asked the two a few questions...

What is the band's origin story? 

Tayler: We had been trying to come up with funny sayings to print onto t-shirts. We were spitballing variations of our current name — "Death to Genre," "Genre Death," "Death is Genre," and then Ty said, "Genre is Death," and we just looked at each other and were like, Fuck a t-shirt, that's our new band name!

Ty and I were playing music in Atlanta in a dead-end sludge band. We played music in that project for four years and played maybe two or three shows? It was awful — a true creative death. 

When we moved to New York, we started making whatever came to us. Things started feeling right after that.

How would you describe your sound? 

Ty: I would describe our sound as loose but also tight… Noisy? Hmmm… I'm trying to think of words to describe it. 

You frequently perform in the East Village and Lower East Side. What draws you here? How have audiences responded to your shows?

Ty: Honestly, we don't have much history in the Lower East Side or the East Village, or in New York for that matter. We've only been living here for one year and playing here for even less than that. It really is our friends (Show Brain and Boycott Sleep crews) who have brought us out to the LES, and for that, we are grateful.

Tayler: The reception to our performances has been largely positive. We like to maintain a mindset that goes in without expectation but are happy that people are enjoying the music we are making.  

What can people expect at your LP release party at Boycott Sleep tomorrow night? 

Ty: People can expect a night of great music, DJs, and people. Boycott Sleep’s Julia Pierce knows how to curate a night. From us, they can expect to hear Talk played front to back with a couple of new songs on the setlist. 

What's next for the band? 

Tayler: We are looking forward to playing at the New Colossus Festival in March 2025, likely with a live drummer.

Genre is Death plays the next Boycott Sleep loft party at 99 Canal St. near Eldridge Street (fourth floor) tomorrow (Friday) evening.

 

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Soups on: The East Village Community Cookbook is ready for release next month

Photos by Stacie Joy

Above from left: Will Horowitz and Will Kroeze

The East Village Community Cookbook is ready to be released into the wild. 

As we first reported in August 2023, three East Villagers who bonded during the pandemic — Will Kroeze, pastor at Trinity Lower East Side, Dan Hyatt, a middle school teacher, and Will Horowitz, a chef and author who co-founded Ducks Eatery and Harry & Ida's Meat and Supply Co. — decided to create an old-school neighborhood cookbook. 

The book, created to benefit the Trinity Lower East Side and its longtime food pantry, took longer than expected. Pastor Will told us in May: "What originally was going to be a DIY project is turning into a real design masterpiece and is going through several rounds of edits." 

Now, the authors say the cookbooks have been printed and are ready for release on Nov. 21. We got a sneak peek the other day ... the publication includes illustrations by East Village-based artist Marcellus Hall ...

A variety of East Village chefs and restaurants, artists and galleries, writers, residents and activists contributed... including (in no particular order) Katz's, Momofuku, Richard Hell, Veselka, Superiority Burger, Alan Cumming, Café Mogador, Chloe Wise, Ray's Candy Store, Casa Adela, Veniero's, B&H Dairy, Bonnie Slotnick, Marco Canora of Hearth, Mimi Cheng, SOS Chefs, Russ & Daughter's, among many others. 

The initial print run was 5,000 copies. Preorders are still being accepted. Details here.

D.A. Bragg announces indictment in L train stabbing

EVG reader photo from Sept. 20

An East Village resident accused of stabbing a passenger in the back while exiting a Brooklyn-bound L train at the First Avenue stop last month has been indicted. 

Yesterday, Manhattan D.A. Alvin L. Bragg Jr. announced the indictment of Raymond Kwok, 27, for stabbing a 29-year-old man this past Sept. 20. Kwok is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with one count of Assault in the Second Degree and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree. 

"New Yorkers relying on public transportation deserve to be safe, and violence in our transit system, especially with dangerous weapons, will not be tolerated," Bragg said in a statement.

According to court documents and statements made on the record in court, on Sept. 20, at approximately 8:43 p.m., Kwok and the victim argued after bumping into each other while the man was walking downstairs at the First Avenue L train station. A few moments later, as the man continued walking, Kwok stabbed him in the back, according to Bragg's office. Per reports at the time, the two men did not know each other.

The victim was eventually transported to Bellevue, where he received stitches for the cut.

Kwok fled the scene and was picked up three days later. During his arrest, officers found a switchblade in Kwok's right pocket.

Signage alert: Vintage Store on Houston

Photos by Stacie Joy

Signage for Vintage Store recently arrived in the retail spaces (previously Decorazon Gallery) at 250 E. Houston St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

The shop is supposed to be open soon (as early as tomorrow).

We're not sure who's behind this venture. 

There's a cool shop called Vintage Store NYC at 129 Eldridge St. between Delancey and Broome. We reached out to them — it is not this Vintage Store moving to Houston.

A Halloween afternoon concert in Tompkins Square Park

Tomorrow (Halloween) afternoon, Show Brain presents an afternoon of music featuring TDA ... Pinc Louds... and Adult Human Females... and more! From 2:30-6 p.m.

NYC's most Halloween-like sunset

OK, wow! 

Cecil Scheib, who took the photo, told us: "And those weird shadows at the top were in the actual sky. Not reflections from anything." 

Happy Halloween!

Rehabilitation of the former P.S. 64 could take 4 to 6 years, cost over $100 million

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The rehabilitation of the former P.S. 64/Charas/El Bohio Community Center could take four to six years and cost over $100 million. 

Those were two of the big takeaways from a public informational session this past Friday, where local elected officials, community members and building reps connected to the new ownership of the former P.S. 64 came together to discuss the long-vacant property at 605 E. Ninth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

Quamid Francis of Q Impact Solutions led the presentation at the Lower Eastside Girls Club on Eighth Street and Avenue D. Speakers included representatives from Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Denham Wolf Real Estate, speaking on behalf of the property's buyer. 

Here's a quick recap of how we got here these past 20-plus years: According to public records, 605 East 9th Community Holdings LLC bought the property from longtime owner Gregg Singer for $57,267,453 in a transaction filed on Jan. 9. 

The LLC reportedly (per The Real Deal) has ties to Aaron Sosnick, a billionaire hedge fund manager who lives next door in the Christodora House. Denham Wolf Real Estate Services stated that the LLC is "a philanthropic entity with the purpose of returning the property to community use." 

Through the years, Singer, who bought the building from the city during an auction in 1998 for $3.1 million, wanted to turn the one-time P.S. 64 into a dorm, though those plans never materialized, and the building has sat in disrepair. 

The 135,000-square-foot building is zoned for "community facility use." (Any conversion to residential housing would require a zoning variance.) The DOB's Stop Work Order, which dates to August 2015, and is still in effect. The DOB later lifted the Full Vacate Order (from February 2019) to allow inspections by city-licensed engineers.

As previously noted, some residents want to see the space used again as a community center, as it was during its time as Charas/El Bohio Community Center. Singer evicted the group on Dec. 27, 2001. 

The discussion on Friday started with a slideshow presentation and, later, a few questions from the audience.

Francis spoke about objectives, such as shaping the vision and working with elected officials and philanthropists to see what might be possible for and in the building, floor by floor. 

Some ideas that have already been floated:

• The basement space, which holds around 200 people, could be a podcast studio, a space to screen films, and an audio studio. 

• The first floor: A dynamic community space. Elements could include a kitchen, classrooms, and perhaps a catering station. Walls could hold art/exhibition space with a place to hold parties and events. Maybe it could also include a coffee shop. 

• The second floor could have a pottery studio, a bike repair shop and a STEM lab. There could also be a place for young men to fill the void after the Boys Club closed in 2022.

• Third floor: A community organization space, possibly a yoga studio. 

• Fourth floor: A space for visual artists and creators, a dance studio, and a space to store the neighborhood's history and archival materials. 

• Fifth floor: Music practice and acoustic space. 

• Courtyard: An open green space. Ideas included moving the Charlie Parker Festival to the courtyard. 

The architects discussed securing the building, the significant capital investments needed, and testing the façade (tapping the terra cotta, which has been taking place recently). They concluded: "The façade is in good shape — it's a robust building."

The reps from Denham Wolf talked about removing the dead pigeons from the interior and addressing the rodent problem. Other pressing tasks included getting Con Ed to restore power to the building and providing daily security on site. 

Denham Wolf reps also stated the building needs to be further stabilized inside and out in hopes that the Department of Buildings would lift the violations that have been in place for eight years.

After the 75-minute meeting, organizers directed attendees to the lobby and asked them to share their ideas on vision boards, which they could add using Post-It notes.

The presentation leaders said the next steps included establishing and sharing "regular project updates via a website." An urgent need: "Help with securing immediate planning funding to support emergency repairs and overall building development."

Many people told me they were notified privately about this meeting, that it hadn't been publicized. (An item about the meeting was mentioned in an e-newsletter from the Cooper Square Committee last week.) Hopefully, more residents will be notified before the next session, which has not yet been scheduled.

About 'Empty Beds,' a photo memorial that honors Ukrainian children abducted during the war

Photos by Steven 

Saturday saw the arrival on the NE corner of Second Avenue and Second Street of "Empty Beds," a 100-foot-long, 8-foot-tall memorial "to the over 19,546 children abducted by Russian forces" from Ukraine since the invasion in 2022.

Brooklyn-based photographer Phil Buehler recently returned from Ukraine, where he was capturing the war's impact on civilians. 

Here's more about the subject matter: 

These children were taken to Russia or Russian-occupied areas without consent, leaving their beds empty or destroyed by bombs. 

Buehler, though not Ukrainian, felt compelled to return and bring these stories to the U.S. through this powerful public artwork.

When the photographer is present, the exhibit includes discarded toys alongside the photographs... 

From a piece on the memorial via The New York Times:

"I think every parent can imagine there's some loved child there," Buehler said, referring to the bedroom photos. He hopes the mural, spanning an entire block, creates space for viewers to reflect on loss and waiting. 

"I wanted it out on the street, where anyone passing by could stop and engage with the work," he said.

The work will be on display through November. 

Last November, Buehler shared an exhibit on Second and Second titled "Irpin Ukraine: Please Don't Forget Us," a 60-foot-long photograph of the cemetery of civilian cars destroyed by Russian forces at the beginning of the war.

Overthrow is closing next week on Bleecker Street; the onetime countercounter HQ is for sale

After 10 years at 9 Bleecker St. just west of the Bowery, Overthrow announced that it was closing the doors to its boxing gym next week. 

Here's the message via Instagram: 

It is with heavy hearts that we announce Overthrow will be ceasing operations with our last day of business being Thursday, November 7th, 2024. This decision is heartbreaking for us. Unfortunately, we took on immense debt during and post-Covid, which kept the doors open, but we can no longer afford our current lease, and the building has been listed for sale by the owner, making staying open unsustainable.

We hope that Overthrow has given you something special, and made a lasting impact on the community that we’ve built together over the years. It’s been an honor to share this journey with all of you.

As for the three-level building, Corcoran has the listing: 

Discover a rare gem in the heart of NoHo, one of Manhattan's most exclusive neighborhoods. This historic 3-floor townhouse, featuring a usable lower level with sidewalk vault, offers a unique blend of rich history and limitless potential. Occupied by one commercial tenant since 2014, the property will be delivered vacant and is primed for transformation into a single-family residence, multi-family with retail, or retained as a prime commercial investment.

The asking price for this one-time home of the Yippies, named and created by Abbie Hoffman and Paul Krassner, is $6.6 million.

After a protracted legal battle, the Yippies had to vacate their home of 41 years on Jan. 17, 2014. It served as the Yippie Museum Café since 2007. (Read this archived story in the Times for all the legal wrangling and history.) 

Overthrow was named after one of the countercultural newspapers that the Yippies published here.

Tuesday's parting shot

Back to Seventh Street (between B and C) for Halloween... Only Murders in the Building.

Hello Mary headlines Bowery Ballroom

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

This past Thursday, local trio Hello Mary headlined the Bowery Ballroom for the first time in support of their recently released second full-length album, Emita Ox. 

We've enjoyed watching the band's evolution, from almost-shows in Tompkins Square Park to Nublu ... and Webster Hall and now Bowery Ballroom. Following openers Bleary Eyed and Starcleaner Reunion, the hour-long set spotlighted Hello Mary's take on '90s alt-rock, blending raw energy with emotional intensity.

We caught up with the band before the show backstage — (from left) drummer/vocalist Stella Wave, Guitarist/vocalist Helena Straight and bassist Mikaela Oppenheimer ...

Backstage is calm and relaxed, with an air of happiness and playfulness. The trio, energized by the presence of friends, family, and even a few parents in the audience, laugh and joke together. Before stepping on stage, they run through a warm-up song and vocal exercises, finishing with a lively dance to stretch, loosen up, and keep the mood light.

Hello Mary has been on a U.S. tour, their first time as a headliner.

Said Wave, "We've never headlined a full U.S. tour before, so it feels very exciting — especially to play in our hometown and headline a venue like Bowery Ballroom, where we've attended so many shows."

Keep tabs on the band via Instagram.

Kenny Scharf up next at the Brant Foundation

Art via The Brant Foundation

Kenny Scharf, a pioneer of the street art movement in the 1980s East Village, will be the subject of a major survey at the Brant Foundation next month. 

The Foundation announced details yesterday: 

Opening Nov. 13, the exhibition brings together over 70 paintings, sculptures, and objects created throughout the artist's expansive career, beginning with works from the late seventies. The survey is compiled from the Brant collections as well as major loans from institutions and private collections, including The Whitney Museum of American Art (New York) and The Broad (Los Angeles). 

Kenny Scharf is co-curated by Peter M. Brant & Tony Shafrazi in close collaboration with the artist. 

Tickets (here) for Nov. 13 – Dec. 22 are currently available, and the remaining tickets (Dec. 23 – Feb. 28) will be released in the upcoming weeks. The exhibition will be open Wednesday through Sunday. 

Tickets are $20, $15 for students, and $15 for East Village residents. Admission is 50% off every Wednesday from 2-6 p.m. 

The Brant Foundation's first show at 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue in the spring of 2019 featured work by Basquiat — some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion. Other exhibits include a career-spanning Warhol collection in the spring of 2023.

Coming attractions: Upperz Cafe and Bar on 14th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

A brother-sister team is opening a new cafe-bar concept at 319 E. 14th St., between First Avenue and Second Avenue, next month. 

Marilyn Velazquez and Ramon Velazquez (pictured above) are behind Upperz Cafe and Bar. With a CB6-approved liquor license, the establishment will feature breakfast and pastries in the morning with coffee drinks and "artisanal bar food," like pizza bites in the evening. They will also offer mocktails and organic energy drinks. Plans include hosting special events in the evening, such as a Dungeons & Dragons and movie night. 

How did they end up in this location, the former 787 Coffee, which closed in June 2023 after multiple break-ins and deteriorating quality-of-life issues along the corridor? It turns out their third business partner, Fern Gelin, plays soccer with the building's owner. 

"We'd like to offer healing for the community," said Ramon, who also does all the woodworking in the space.

If you're on Instagram, you can keep tabs on the opening here.