Ray's Candy Store the setting for one of these 'East Side Stories' at the Metropolitan Playhouse

The 14th edition of "East Side Stories," a new collection of one-act plays, premieres tonight at the Metropolitan Playhouse.

The works are "based on the rich history and eclectic character of [the] East Village and Lower East Side."

Here's a quick overview of what you'll find in "East Side Stories, Back Again" ... including one very well-known business on Avenue A...

• "Counting Pedestals" by Carlos Jerome

A community college student, focused on survival after a bid in prison, finds an unlikely bond with his mathematics professor.

• "Iriomote" by Arlene Jaffe

Greed and ego threaten the survival of two irreplaceable communities; one in lower Manhattan, the other more than 7,000 miles away.

• "The Poor Door" by Leonard Goodisman

Two women meet in an apartment building's entrance hall, each affronted by the other, and find they have more in common than they expected.

• "Ray's Candy Store" by Rachael Carnes

An aspiring actress, finding life in the city more difficult than she expected, meets a candy store owner who offers her a new perspective and an egg cream.

The run ends on June 23. You can find ticket info at this link. The Metropolitan Playhouse is at 220 E. Fourth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Updated: Save Ray's Day set: Feb. 6 (and a new three-day ultimatum from the landlord)

The above photo of Ray's was taken by Joann Jovinelly, who kindly let me repost this from her Flickr account.

So! Sidewalk Cafe, 94 Avenue A at Sixth Street, will be hosting a benefit show on Saturday, Feb. 6 for Ray's Candy Store. More details to follow. If you want to play or help out in any way, then please get in touch with Leah at:

boyslikebarbies@gmail.com

Meanwhile, Bob Arihood, who has been reporting on Ray's long before anyone else, noted the brisk business at Ray's on Wednesday night... good news to hear. Meanwhile, as Bob reports, Ray turns 77 on Monday. Will there be any surprise visitors, like dancers?

UPDATE: Somehow I inexplicably missed this in Bob's post: Last night, Ray received another three-day ultimatum from the landlord. As Bob noted in the comments: "It was very troubling for those who heard about it."


And, as a reminder...

There's now a Save Ray's Twitter feed, which will have the latest updates...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page, which ]has more than 1,200 members now...

And tomorrow night:

There's a protest/fundraiser/street party Saturday night at 8 for Ray's Candy Store. It's being organized by Black Ops Bob and the Slacktivists.

Ray turns 80, and makes new friends

Last night, a few friends and neighbors gathered at Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A to celebrate the proprietor's 80th birthday. Per tradition, there was entertainment. Given the milestone birthday, organizers decided to up the ante and hire four entertainers... so last night, Miss Bunny Buxom, Jo “Boobs” Weldon, Miss Little Motown and Gal Friday took to Ray's for... this...

As we've written before, the annual birthday cheer is always a boost to Ray's spirits, a brief break from the 24/7 grind of the store and reminder how much people appreciate him...

-----

Thanks to Shawn Chittle for the photos. Find more photos (and in color!) from last night at Neighborhoodr.

[Neighborhoodr]

Oh, and the cake was from Veniero’s ...

There are more photos on the Ray's Candy Store Facebook page... like this one...

For previous birthday celebration photos, you can visit Bob Arihood's Neither More Nor Less for 2010 ... and 2009...

Benefit for Ray's: "I am thrilled to be part of this moment in our community of the East Village"

As a reminder... Bob Arihood and Slum Goddess have already made mentions of this....

Benefit for Ray's Candy Store
Monday, March 8
7:30 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Theater For The New City, 155 First Ave.
Between 9th and 10th streets.
Suggested donation of $15 — sliding scale from $5 to $15

Here's the official information from Facebook:

It promises to be a wonderful evening of giving love to a neighbor in need. Ray himself will be there with us! and some of our East Village activists. This will be an event from our beloved neighborhood to Ray, a men who has work hard and long and have give back, support, smiles, someone who has protect many of us! today we can give back to him and celebrate the spirit that still lives among us! the spirit that mayor Bloomberg and his politics want to finish, to eradicate ... We will fight against it! Lets get united to celebrate the very beautiful Ray!!! Lets have him for many more years! He'll be our strongest representation... right here in the heart of our little Villlage. please assist, collaborate, The whole East village will be there! So fun...

Show Schedule

7:30 — D.J. DiDi of the Brazilian Girls

7:45 — Ms. Marilyn singing her smash hit "My Man Ray!

8:00 — Rev. Billy and the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir

8:20 — Janine Otis

8:35 — Joff Wilson of the Bowery Boys

8:50 — Marni Rice

9:05 — Blind Boy Paxtion

9:20 set up

9:30 — East River String Band

9:55 set up

10:00 — The Bill Murray Experience

10:30 — D.J. Didi

11pm End of show!!

Francisco Valera is helping organize Monday's benefit... I asked him for his story.

Hello this is Francisco Valera. I am a former member of the Reverend Billy and the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir. I've lived in the East Village for the past 17 years, upstairs from Ray's Candy Store. Ray is a great friend and over the years I have come to love him as family. Ray and I share the same Landlord. I have been aware of his situation for a while now and we talk about it, as myself, up until a week or two ago was very late with my own rent, due to lack of work in the middle of such difficult times... does it sound familiar? I hear it all the time, from some many different kinds of people... Ray just became 77 years old recently, we had a very cute party in there, and he has been working at the little store for almost four decades, since i was a baby!


He is truly a sweet, sincere, funny, workaholic, knowledgeable, humble gentleman, a totally honorable man! He is an Icon, although nowadays that term is use so commonly... when it comes to Ray, it gains all its original meaning...

I am thrilled to be part of this moment in our community of the East Village a legendary one, with such an amazing Human Being Ray Alvarez, It can't get any better!

Meanwhile, Bob Arihood has the latest news on Ray's at Neither More Nor Less.

Back to the 80s: Celebrating Ray's 85th birthday at Ray's Candy Store

Ray Alvarez, the hard-working proprietor of Ray's Candy Store, turned 85 on Jan. 25.

And, as is recent tradition, some of Ray's friends/regulars threw him a party inside the shop at 113 Avenue A.

Last night's celebration had an 1980s-theme, and featured burlesque dancers Cheeky Lane, Pearls Daily, Lil Miss Lixx, Nasty Canasta and Gal Friday, who took turns to era-friendly classics such as "I Want Candy" and "Material Girl." (The Ray's birthday party celebration with dancers goes back to 2007. Check out Bob Arihood's photos from Ray's 74th birthday bash here.)

EVG correspondent Stacie Joy shared a few photos from last night...




[Cheeky Lane]


[Pearls Daily]


[Gal Friday]



Throughout the evening, friends and longtime regulars stopped by to wish Ray a happy birthday. There was a cake from Veniero's...



Jimmy Webb delivered a gift from his Orchard Street boutique I Need More (there was also a gift from the folks behind the
East Village Vintage Collective on 12th Street) ...







Updated:

Slum Goddess has photos and videos here.

At Ray's 84th birthday celebration at Ray's Candy Store last night

[Photo last night by Peter Brownscombe]

Ray Alvarez, the proprietor of Ray's Candy Store at 113 Avenue A, turns 84 this month.

And once again several of Ray's friends/regulars celebrated his birthday inside the shop between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

In a break from the more burlesque tradition, there was a Persian-themed event last night paying tribute to Ray's Middle-Eastern roots ... the evening included a reading from the "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám," a variety of Middle-Eastern food and a belly dancer named Amanda.

EVG correspondent Stacie Joy shared a few photos...



















This is the 10th anniversary for a birthday extravaganza at Ray's. Check out Bob Arihood's photos from Ray's 74th birthday bash here.

Updated 11:30 a.m.

Here's a shot via EVG regular jdx ...

Neighborhood gears up for Day of Ray tomorrow

So many people are coming together to help with saving Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A near Seventh Street... last night, we saw a lot of chalk signs on the sidewalk for tomorrow afternoon's big event...





As Chris Flash said in a comment on the Day of Ray, "This is an example of community organizing at its finest."

Indeed. Lilly O'Donnell and Haley Moss Dillon, who both grew up in the East Village, have helped put this benefit together. I asked Haley about her earliest Ray's memory. "Kindergarden -- on my way from the neighborhood school on 3rd street to the playground in Tompkins, my mother bought me and my friend a giant milkshake."

And what does Ray's mean to her and the neighborhood? "Ray is old school New York. He's open all the time. It's a weird little place that everyone feels connected to, that's what New York used to be about, that's what New York felt like when i was growing up, the anonymity of the neighborhood now is destroying what used to be a thriving community."

Get the Day of Ray lineup at Sidewalk Cafe here.

For further reading:
Ray pays rent, faces fries fight; Benefit on tap (The Villager)

And, if you're new to this, go to Neither More Nore Less and type in Ray's Candy Store in the search up top... Bob Arihood has been been taking photos and reporting on Ray from Day 1...

And, you know, there's a Save Ray's Twitter feed, which will have the latest updates...

www.twitter.com/saverays

And there's the Save Ray's Facebook page...

A birthday celebration for Ray at Ray's Candy Store

Ray Alvarez, the hard-working proprietor of Ray's Candy Store, turns 86 on Jan. 25.

And as is tradition in recent years (dating to 2007), a group of Ray's friends/regulars hosted a birthday extravaganza, complete with a cake from Veniero's, inside the shop at 113 Avenue A last night.

Lilin Lace, Pearls Daily, Gal Friday, Nasty Canasta, Tansy and Cheeky Lane were there to help Ray celebrate.

This year, Ray's team paid tribute to their favorite fallen rock stars. After an intro of "The Candy Man" by Sammy Davis Jr., each of the six burlesque dancers took the stage/counter to accompany tracks by the Archies ("Sugar, Sugar"), Amy Winehouse ("Valerie"), Roy Orbison ("Oh, Pretty Woman"), the Jimi Hendrix Experience ("Foxy Lady"), the Doors ("Touch Me") and David Bowie ("The Jean Genie").



EVG correspondent Stacie Joy shared these photos from last night...






[Pearls Daily]




[Lilin Lace]




[Cheeky Lane]




[Gal Friday]


[Tansy]




[Nasty Canasta]




[Lilin Lace, Pearls Daily, Gal Friday, Ray, Nasty Canasta, Tansy & Cheeky Lane]