Saturday, October 2, 2010

Scene from a sidewalk sale

Your chance to see two films on the gentrification in East Harlem and on the Lower East Side

From the EV Grieve inbox...includes an offer for you

Tuesday, October 5, 6:30 PM

In Danger of Extinction: Gentrification in East Harlem and on the Lower East Side

Residents of these two diverse, vibrant neighborhoods have long dealt with the pressures of gentrification and have struggled for affordability. Their story is told in two recent documentaries. Join the filmmakers for a screening and discussion of "The Lower East Side: An Endangered Place" by Robert Weber and "Whose Barrio?" by Ed Morales and Laura Rivera, with opening remarks by The Honorable Melissa Mark-Viverito, New York City Council, District 8.

Co-sponsored by the office of the New York City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito and East Harlem Preservation. This program is presented as part of the ongoing series The Urban Forum: New York Neighborhoods, Preservation and Development

Reservations required: 917-492-3395 or programs@mcny.org

$6 Museum members; $8 seniors and students; $12 non-members

$6 when you mention E.V. Grieve

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street


And a trailer for you.... (we had an item on the film in June 2009)



And the ticket price is double if you yell Woo!

Firefighter subdues cellphone thief on Second Street

I've heard reports of a rash of cellphone thefts of late around the neighborhood... (including Slum Goddess.)

The Post has this story today:

A firefighter leaped into crime-fighter mode in the East Village last night -- helping a damsel in distress whose cellphone was snatched by a sticky-fingered thief, authorities said.

Vinny Brennan, 34, who also is a Marine Corps reservist, heard a cry for help near his Ladder 11 firehouse on East 2nd Street around 7:30 p.m.

"I saw a man running towards us on the sidewalk and my Marine intuition kicked in and I decided this one has got to be stopped," he said.

Brennan, who has served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, tackled the suspect and his fellow firefighters helped hold him until cops arrived.

Steven Varkony, 32, of The Bronx, was booked for robbery, cops said.


Despite hearing about so many cellphone thefts, NO ONE has tried to take mine...

The Blake Lively photos that I could have taken yesterday in the East Village if....

...I had a really BIG lens and hung out with the paparazzi for hours ...or vice versa!




On 10th Street and Avenue A yesterday....

[Photos via Just Jared]

Friday, October 1, 2010

Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Taylor Momsen

Woo! Go Search Engines!

OK, OK... the "Gossip Girl" filming continued at 10th Street and Avenue A this evening...



...a Halloween scene, so everyone wore masks... so you couldn't even tell the difference between, say, Leighton Meester and Penn Badgley, though I think his calves are smoother...




...and even the presence of a "Gossip Girl" truck didn't make Table 12's sidewalk cafe any more appealing...

Waiting for Blake Lively and stuff

The 'Gossip Girl' shoot is under way....



St. Nicholas of Myra on 10th Street and Avenue A....



...is being transformed into a Halloween party scene...




After 10 dull minutes, a PA shooed gawkers along, noting that the cast hasn't even arrived just yet....





...which is true, since they're all in my apartment now frontloading... Gotta go — think that Westwick just clogged the shitter.

Don't get any on you



Live Skull at CBGB circa 1986.

Raw Stock: No Wave Films from Downtown NYC, 1976-1984



Our friend Karate Boogaloo points us to some rare No Wave screenings tonight and next Friday in Brooklyn:

Here's the description:

Selected screenings from New York’s own explosive yet fleeting era of filmmaking known as “No Wave” Cinema. Rising from the ashes of a bankrupt and destitute 1970’s Manhattan, and reacting to the modernist aesthetic of 1960’s avant-garde film, No Wave filmmakers threw out the rules and embraced their own brand of vanguard moviemaking. Inspired by the films of Warhol, Jack Smith, John Waters and The French New Wave many of the films combined elements of documentary and loose narrative structure with stark, at times confrontational imagery. Much like the No Wave music of the period from which the movement garnered its label, these filmmakers freed themselves of the constraints of formal training and pillaged the nascent East Village arts scene for co-conspirators in the likes of Lydia Lunch, James Chance, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Debbie Harry, Richard Hell, Vincent Gallo, Steve Buscemi, Nan Goldin, Cookie Mueller and many others. With wildly varying styles, they shared the common mindset of fast and cheap, and catalyzed by collaboration. Equipment could be begged, borrowed or stolen, your friends could be your actors and the city, abandoned and free to roam, could be your set.


Louis V E.S.P.
140 Jackson St, #4D (Take the L to Graham Avenue)

Terry Galmitz's East Village

This past summer, you likely saw the artist Terry Galmitz sitting near various East Village institutions, sketch pad in hand. Starting tomorrow, SB D Gallery will feature his illustrations in a show titled "My East Village."

According to the show's description: "The places which have been precious parts of his life are revisited and illustrated in Terry's own voice, much with his charming wit. Some places are already in the history, some are about to become, and some will hopefully stand for another few decades."

Galmitz turns 64 on Monday. Aside from some traveling, he has lived in the East Village his entire life.



I caught up with him by phone yesterday afternoon at the gallery for a few quick questions.

How did this show come about?

This is something that I've wanted to do for a long time. So this year, I decided to do it. My wife gave me a little folding chair. I took that big pad and sat across the street from some places; some places a little closer. I just sat there. I tried to do two or three places a day. I spent the whole summer sitting somewhere in the East Village. It was just a personal thing that I really wanted to do. I didn't have any deep philosophical thing behind it. I love architecture, especially the old places. I did two places that are long gone. CBGB and the Fillmore East from photos. They were so much part of the Village when they were here.

You've lived here for nearly 64 years. What has stayed the same about the East Village through the generations?

The people who live here have stayed the same, kind of. It's still an artists' neighborhood. Artists, musicians, writers. I had a lot of artist friends who lived in Soho back in the 1970s. I wanted to get a loft there myself. It was cheap. They've all been thrown out. I guess they went to Brooklyn. I'm glad that didn't happen to me. I love being in the city.




Was there one place that closed through the years that was particularly upsetting to you?

Back in 1971, when the Fillmore East closed. I was a young rock-n-roll-going person. I went, 'Oh my God, the Fillmore is leaving.'

A few people I know say the Second Avenue Deli....

Oh, yeah — the Second Avenue Deli. And Ratner's.



What do you think about some of the new buildings in the neighborhood?

Oh, I wonder about it. I don't really like it. I have yet to see a new building that I like. But what do I know? Seems to be a lot of it going up. Some of it is really horrible, actually.


Portrait of the artist.

The SB D Gallery is located at 125 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. His work will be up through Dec. 29. Details here.

Protest set for new CB3-backed limit on concerts in Tompkins Square Park



Longtime East Village activist/photojournalist John Penley passes along word of a protest against the new CB3-backed proposal to limit the number of concerts in Tompkins Square Park:

Halloween gathering at 7 p.m. in Tompkins Square Park to talk and protest this new Yuppie Scum CB3 Resolution.

Also, The East Villager checks in this week with a piece on the concert issue. Read that here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Movement afoot to limit the number of concerts in Tompkins Square Park

On Avenue C, get a Tetsu Ohara-designed home with 'potential terrace'



Hmm. Here at 149 Avenue C, there's a one-bedroom co-op new to the market for $525,000. Here's a listing:

Quality, Perfection (and perhaps a terrace!) This gorgeous renovated home exudes style and is perfectly located in the hippest part of the East Village only 1 1/2 blocks from Tompkins Square Park. Meticulously designed by Tetsu O'Hara, this home boasts subtle carefully placed angles that invoke intrigue as you examine the space more closely. The sleek hand crafted wall cabinet provides a clear focal point and is backlight for evening ambience. The exposed brick adds warmth and the three exposures add natural light. The beautiful kitchen features maple cabinets, Corian counters, a Miele cooktop and a showpiece Grohe faucet. The windowed bathroom is classic white with a green glass tile border and there is a walk in closet in the master bedroom. This is an exceptional opportunity to possibly acquire rights to build a private deck on an adjacent 10x12 ft outdoor space (subject to board approval).


So you'd build this terrace on someone else's outdoor space? Oh, and it's Tetsu Ohara, not O'Hara. He's Japanese, not Irish. Anyway, pretty nice looking space...





See for yourself during the first open house on Sunday from noon to 1:30 p.m. You'll be out before the boozehounds show up for the free booze at the Sunburnt Cow.

Why you'll have a cow this Sunday afternoon on Avenue C

The Sunburnt Cow, a favorite weekend afternoon binge drinking spot of people I don't know, celebrates its seventh birthday on Sunday from 3 to 8 p.m. Free food and booze "for Friends of the Sunburnt Cow." Plus, there's the annual cow spit roast. Moo-ve it!


[Via The Sunburnt Cow website]


Speaking of the Sunburnt Cow....

Previously on EV Grieve:
Speaking of the Sunburnt Cow, have you seen my collection of Moo Mobile photos?

Sub-creatures! The Traveller has come! Choose and perish!




Something about about these cloudy, rainy days of late have made the new Beekman Tower downtown seem all the more... I don't know, scary? Maybe it's the service elevator going up into the otherworld...

[Headline via 'Ghostbusters']

Babeland's Pink October


From the EV Grieve inbox

Babeland is partnering with the Young Survival Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to helping breast cancer survivors, to raise money for their programs throughout the month of October. Over a quarter of a million women under the age of 40 have breast cancer and they face higher mortality rates, fertility issues and the possibility of early menopause.

During Pink October, Babeland is dedicating 10% of the sales of a select group of products to the Young Survival Coalition. Among the toys featured are the popular Form 2 and Rabbit Pearl vibrators, the Rose G-spotter, and a Candy G-string. The makers of our most popular personal lubricant, Sliquid, created a new flavored lube, Pink Lemonade just for this fundraiser. As an added incentive, customers receive a FREE Babeland Buzz mini-vibe with the purchase of any of these toys. A full list of the toys can be seen here.

Babeland’s Come for a Cause program is our way of giving back and letting our customers help support organizations with missions that are compatible with Babeland’s mission and values. So far in 2010, Babeland raised more than $10,000 for grist.org, a “beacon in the smog” environmental news website, and more than $17,000 for SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, among other things.