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Week in Grieview

Posta this past week included (with the Tribute in Light as seen from University Place by Deborah Kadetsky)...

• East River Park north of Houston Street now closed until the end of 2026 (Monday, Sept. 8) … A last look at East River Park from the 6th Street Overpass (Tuesday, Sept. 9) 

• Chris French Cleaners is closing after 65 years; 1-level building slated for demolition (Wednesday, Sept. 10)

• Rhaenyra the Dragon Kitty was stolen from Avenue A shop (Tuesday, Sept. 9) … The search continues for Rhaenyra the Dragon Kitty (Thursday, Sept. 11)

• Sephora is taking the retail space at the all-new 1 St. Mark's Place building (Monday, Sept. 8) 

• Grace Bergere in Tompkins Square Park (Thursday, Sept. 11) 

• Outside the Calvin Klein NYFW show on 6th Street for a few minutes (Friday, Sept. 12)

• iGirl has moved (Tuesday, Sept. 9) 

• About the 13th annual MoRUS Film Festival, 'The Gates of Tompkins' (Wednesday, Sept. 10)

• At the opening day of the Feast of San Gennaro (Friday, Sept. 12) 

• On Sunday, 'Guided Meditation' at El Sol Brillante on 12th Street (Wednesday, Sept. 10) 

• A 'Dear New York' moment at Mary's O's Soda Bread Shop (Sunday, Sept. 7) 

• Why you'll find art in the aisles at H&W Hardware on 1st Avenue (Saturday, Sept. 13)

• Still time to catch 'Caught Stealing' (Saturday, Sept. 13) 

• An improvised view of the Blood Moon in Aquarius (Monday, Sept. 8)

More about the new comedy club in the works for 44 Avenue A (Monday, Sept. 8) 

• Cookie alert: Gooey On the Inside to open on 1st Avenue (Wednesday, Sept. 10) 

• Closings: Buffalo Wild Wings on 1st Avenue (Tuesday, Sept. 9) 

• Signage alert: Suntrust Candy on Houston (Monday, Sept. 8)

And thank you to whoever started the EVG subreddit on Reddit (find it here). To answer a question posed, the most-view EVG post these past 18 years is this one from May 2012: There is a woman who has been walking around the East Village topless. No other post has come close to the pageviews nearing half a million. 

Bands we like: Puzzled Panther (plus Crazy & the Brains and Nabihah Iqbal)

Photos by Stacie Joy 

We finally got to see Puzzled Panther live last Sunday ... after hearing about them for the past 18 months or so. 

The NYC band was part of the latest Show Brain show in Tompkins Square Park. 

Victoria Espinoza and Kay Bontempo started PP as a duo. They continued to add firepower to their punky dance-floor tapestry with the addition of drummer Brian Chase, moonlighting from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs... and Eugene Hütz of Gogol Bordello, who signed PP to his Casa Gogol label. 

Hütz described last Sunday's set as a "psychosleaze spectacle," which is pretty accurate. 

Also with the band now: Ty from Genre Is Death and bassist Rob Mellinger, doing double duty this day from another band on the bill, Crazy & the Brains. 

Here are a few scenes from the inspired set featuring songs from their two EPs as well as a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs" and Sonic Youth's "Dirty Boots."

Puzzled Panther is off to Europe now for a tour. You can keep tabs on them via Instagram. 

It was an inspired afternoon of music with Bubbles, 95 Bulls, and Grace Begere. 

Crazy & the Brains, who got their start in the East Village, tore it up...

And there was headliner Nabihah Iqbal, who also played a sold-out show this past Monday at Night Club 101 on Avenue A, and delivered an atmospheric, genre-blurring set...

Faces in the crowd included Ty and Taylor from Genre Is Death, currently working on a new record...

... and East Village resident Alli Walls, lead singer of Skorts...

We're not sure if there's one last Show Brain show this year in Tompkins. Regardless, thanks to SB founder Ozzie for bringing so much music to the park this spring and summer.

Saturday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy

Spotted today at the Stuy Town Flea Market — Moxie, the subject of a favorite EVG story (see below).

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• A visit with Moxie, a nearly 8-year-old East Village photographer with an eye for nature

Screws, nails … and enamels: Why you'll find art in the aisles at H&W Hardware on 1st Avenue

Desnivel Gallery opens its latest show this afternoon: HARDWARE, a presentation of new enamels by Carmelle Safdie. 

The exhibit takes place at H&W Hardware, 220 First Ave. at 13th Street, part of Desnivel's ongoing, nomadic series of shows in everyday neighborhood spaces. (The first show in June was staged at Village Gourmet Grocery on Second Avenue and Sixth Street.) 

The opening is today (Saturday, Sept. 13) from 4-6 p.m., with the work on view through Oct. 4. 

Desnivel Gallery, founded by Maria De Victoria, moved from the basement of her home to East Village storefronts as a way to highlight the financial challenges of running an art space while also making art more accessible to the public. 

By placing art in places like a hardware store or corner market, De Victoria says the gallery aims to integrate art into daily life, much like the neighborhood's experimental art scene of the 1980s. 

Read more about HARDWARE here.

Still time to catch 'Caught Stealing'

"Caught Stealing" is now in its third weekend in theaters. 

If you're interested in seeing Darren Aronofsky's crime thriller, consider checking it out at the Village East by Angelika on 12th Street and Second Avenue. It's playing most of the time (check the listings!) in the large Jaffe Art Theatre, which is one of our favorite places to watch movies. 

The film, set in the East Village/NYC of 1998, has pretty solid reviews — 84% on Rotten Tomatoes from both critics and audiences. 

Many scenes were filmed in the neighborhood, too, as you'll see in the first 10-15 minutes. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• EVG Q&A: Darren Aronofsky on 'Caught Stealing' and revisiting the East Village of 1998 (link)

• IDLES pack into Night Club 101 for a surprise East Village set (link) 

• 'Caught' celebrating: Why Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz and Darren Aronofsky were at the Double Down Saloon last night (link)

Saturday's opening shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

The fall edition of the biennial Village View tag sale is tomorrow (Sunday!) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

The rain date is Sept. 28, but the forecast looks good all weekend long. 

As always, resident vendors will be selling various items, including clothes, books, housewares, jewelry, bric-a-brac, and more ... on the Fifth Street basketball court between Avenue A and First Avenue.

A few minutes outside the Brant Foundation

Just before noon today, we were passing First Avenue and Sixth Street, near the former Dunkin', when we heard screaming. Not the someone-in-trouble kind — more like boy-band-fans screaming. Or someone watching "Weapons." (OK, the movie wasn't that scary.)

A parade of black SUVs and town cars rolled by, trailed by a random underwear-brand truck. The commotion turned out to be for Calvin Klein's NYFW show at the Brant Foundation between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Later reports confirmed BTS member Jung Kook was inside — hence the decibel level from the sidewalk. Fans also shouted for "The Summer I Turned Pretty" star Chris Briney and, of course, Anna Wintour ... while we stood there for a few minutes...

And thanks to EVG reader Tanaka, here’s the scene from above...

Shake the disease

 

The London-based High Vis are on tour this fall, with a stop at Warsaw in Brooklyn on Oct. 9.

The video here is for 2019's "Walking Wires," a fave HV song.

At the opening day of the Feast of San Gennaro

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Mulberry Street came (more) alive yesterday with the start of the 99th Feast of San Gennaro. 

The annual event honors San Gennaro of Naples, martyred in 305 AD as Bishop of Benevento. 

Actor and entertainer Joe Piscopo is serving as this year's Grand Marshal. The Feast runs daily through Sept. 21. 

Here's a look early yesterday before any crowds arrived...

Being 9/11, there were many groups of FDNY firefighters here after the day's ceremonies.

I spoke with several firefighters and fire marshals, many of whom gathered to remember colleagues lost on 9/11, including Ronald Bucca. 

And it wouldn't be a Feast without Lucy Spata (on the right) of the world-famous Lucy's Sausage... (also Queen of the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights...)

The tradition continues...

About the NYC Anarchist Bookfair, taking place tomorrow in La Plaza Cultural

The annual Anarchist Bookfair takes place tomorrow (Sept. 13) from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.at La Plaza Cultural on the southwest corner of Ninth Street and Avenue C.

The day includes events held at other East Village community gardens. More info at this link. 

Tomorrow evening, there's the Emma Goldman Film Festival in Tompkins Square Park with several features plus a live slide concert by local artist-illustrator Eric Drooker... find more details here. 

In addition, there's a companion show titled "Reading from Left to Left: Radical Bookstores in NYC, from 1930s to 2000s" at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space/C-Squat on Avenue C.

Viewing hours include:

• Saturday - 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

• Sunday - 2-6 p.m. 

• Sept. 20 — 2:30-4 p.m. 

• Sept. 21 - 2:30-4 p.m. 

• Sept. 28 - 2-6 p.m. 

You can access the free show via MoRUS, 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

P.S. The MoRUS Film Festival also continues. Details.

Friday's opening shot

An 8 a.m. view from Tompkins Square Park...

Thursday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Outside the 9/11 mass for the FDNY today at St. Brigid on Avenue B ...

Grace Bergere in Tompkins Square Park

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Local singer-songwriter Grace Bergere was part of a stellar Show Brain concert in Tompkins Square Park this past Sunday. 

She continues to make a name for herself, opening for acts this past summer such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Beacon Theater, Gogol Bordello on a California tour, and Jim Jarmusch and Jozef Van Wissem at Le Poisson Rouge. 

Bergere was one of Casa Gogol's first two signees (along with Puzzled Panther). Label head Eugene Hütz (Gogol Bordello) said of the two bands: "To me they are the new New York, which has a lot more in common with that magical old New York we know, and none of that bullshit in the middle." (To that end, she recorded a cover of "All Tomorrow's Parties" with Thurston Moore for Casa Gogol's NYContinuity Vol. 1 release.) 

Below is Bergere with her band on Sunday (from left): Bloody Rich Hutchins, Vern Woodhead, Eugene Hütz (not in the band!), and Robin Pahlman...

Check out Bergere's brand of hard-edged indie folk on her debut record, A Little Blood, here.

The search continues for Rhaenyra the Dragon Kitty, who was stolen from an Avenue A shop

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Missing/Stolen Cat signs are up around the neighborhood for Rhaenyra the Dragon Kitty.

As we previously reported, the 4-month-old kitten was taken by a man on Saturday afternoon from MJay Convenience at 44 Avenue A, between Third and Fourth Streets. 

Leads? Call (929) 584-1084. There is a $500 reward for her return.