The Planeta Jazz Series continues at 8th Street and Avenue B

Planeta, the community arts and performance venue that debuted back in January in the basement space at 295 E. Eighth St., continues to host a variety of events.

Tomorrow (Thursday!) night, the Planeta Jazz Series continues with the Ruben Fox Quartet:

Ruben Fox, originally from London, is a student at The Juilliard School and already a very popular musician in New York. He's played with Wynton Marsalis at the Barbican Hall in London and as part of the Young Stars of Jazz Series in Marciac, France in 2016. Playing with Ruben is Ben Wolfe on bass, Evan Sherman on drums, and Gabe Schnider on guitar.

Head over to Facebook for more details on the series.

The suggested donation at the door is $15. The organizers say all the money goes directly to the musicians. The show starts at 8 p.m. No. 295 is on the corner of Avenue B.

Image of a previous show at Planeta via Facebook

Dust bunny

EVG reader Jeanne Krier came across two workers last evening dusting and polishing "Balloon Rabbit (Red)," the 14-foot, 6,600-pound sculpture by Jeff Koons that adorns the lobby of the IBM Watson Building at 51 Astor Place...



The mirror-polished stainless steel (with transparent color coating) wrabbit is reportedly the property of the building's developer, Edward J. Minskoff.

It's probably worth a lot. In November 2013, Koons's "Balloon Dog (Orange)" sold for $58.4 million, the most expensive piece ever by a living artist. The previous red rabbit owner was publishing magnate Peter Brant, who's setting up shop at 421 E. Sixth St.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Meanwhile at the IBM Watson building, the Jeff Koons rabbit sculpture has arrived for the lobby

A break-in at Bali Kitchen

The folks at Bali Kitchen at 128 E. Fourth St. arrived at the restaurant between First Avenue and Second Avenue this morning... only to discover that someone had broken in...



A Bali rep said that the thief took the cash register and $350 in cash as well as the owner's reading glasses. It appeared as if someone also tried, without success, to smash into Tac N Roll next door.

The NYPD is investigating.

"Hope this won’t happen again to other restaurants," the rep said.

Bali opened on Sept. 12.

Out and About in the East Village (part 2)

In this ongoing feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village or Lower East Side.



By James Maher

Name: Nancy Blum
Occupation: Artist
Location: Tompkins Square Park
Time: 4 pm on Sept. 24

Read part 1 with Blum right here. Picking up with the last paragraph from last week's interview.

So I’ve been really lucky, but you have to take risks in life. I was really destitute for many years. You had to live by your wits, but I wasn’t the only one. It’s a very hard life. I paid my rent. You could do it then, you could get it together. You could come up with the $300 for rent. I feel very sorry for young people today – you have to work your fucking ass off.

If you want to be a creative person and live in an expensive city, you have to reduce your existence to the minimum. That’s it, just the minimum, pizza and beer. I spent four years living off of getting cans out of the garbage ... until the Chinese ladies started beating me too it. Those are vicious women. I couldn’t compete with them, but that’s being an artist in New York. That’s just the way it is.

Misery loves company and so my friends were artists. My brother-in-law and I used to go to the Odessa and you’d get free coffee refills. We’d get together $1.50 and we could share a breakfast and sit there for two hours and drink coffee. So that’s what it was like and that’s what the old timers miss about the East Village – it was fucking fabulous. We shared everything. It was so beautifully funky, and we were all in the same boat. It was very street. It was more street, that’s the word I use, but it was also much more dangerous, and there were a lot of junkies.

When I moved into my gangster landlord building, because he was a gangster. He would only take cash. Fred was his name, but I loved him. All the tenants paid cash, and I said, ‘Fred no can do. I’m not moving in here without a lease, and I’m giving you a check,’ and he said OK! First of the month, I could hear him knocking. Everyone knew to be home by six. And he would start at the top and work his way down. I would hear the door open, the cash would stick out, and the door would close. And then of course the IRS got involved.

He was a creative landlord, and I remember when I was very sick, he didn’t raise my rent for five years because he felt sorry for me. He was fabulous. His wife gave me clothes. He let me owe him eight months rent because I couldn’t work. And I was paying a low rent to begin with. So that’s the old East Village.

This is my home, I love the East Village. The older I get, the more I love the East Village. There’s no place like New York. I have nothing bad to say about this neighborhood, except it is getting expensive and that’s a shame. Ninth Street, my block, just gets better and better and better. We have the most beautiful trees – I steward two of the trees, I plant bulbs.

I’m retired now besides my art – an artist never retires. Right now I’m doing collage. It’s sort of hard to explain, and I’ve been doing it for about 17 years. Fortunately, I don’t have to sell my artwork to live, so I like to keep it. I don’t like to sell it, I like to look at it. I make it, fuck, I like to look at it.

I go around mostly at night, because I’m kind of embarrassed, but I pick up trash. I do it about an hour every day. I get exercise and I clean up the neighborhood. There’s too much litter. I’ve always done this. Whenever I’ve had a little money, I’ve volunteered.

Me and my girlfriends, we’re mostly retired. We hate how the world's going — we’re old hippies. They’re from Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Florida — a string of high school friends, and over the years we found that we had so much in common and we were doing a lot of rescues. So I decided to go into rescue. Me and my girlfriend, Kathy Rothschild, we just got together a bunch of people and raised enough money to get a plane to lift 300 animals off of St. Martin since the hurricane.

I’ve been volunteering since 1995. I worked in soup kitchens. I used to volunteer at the Boys' Club, which was really fabulous. I learned more from those boys than they ever learned from me. They had very difficult lives, a lot of them. This was during the AIDS epidemic and some of their parents were incarcerated, some had died from AIDS. We would walk them home. It just tore my heart out. You name it, I’ve done it — anything that can benefit my neighborhood.

I’m passionate about the East Village, and I find that I have neighbors who feel the same way. This is my advice to anybody who lives in New York. I know it sounds trite, I know it sounds cliché, but if you want to feel great, volunteer. Clean up the park, help the Boys' Club, foster pets — do something.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Ai Weiwei installation work underway at Cooper Union, Washington Square Park

[Photo by EVG reader Ronnie]

In recent days Ai Weiwei's two-dimensional banners arrived on parts of Cooper Square and the Bowery... ahead of Weiwei's citywide installations titled "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors" that debuts on Oct. 12 (and on view through Feb. 11, 2018)...


[Photo by EVG reader Ronnie]

Around here, installations (called "site-specific interventions") will be on view at 48 E. Seventh St., 189 Chrystie St., 248 Bowery, Cooper Union and the Essex Street Market. (Read more about all this here.)

According to The New York Times, "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors" is "a reflection on the growing hostility toward immigrants and the rise of nationalism throughout the world."

Work continues on the installation at the Cooper Union Foundation Building ...



The work here is titled "Five Fences," and "will fill the open arched spaces on the north portico façade of the building, simultaneously covering these open spaces but remaining porous," according to the description at the Open Art Fund.



EVG reader Ronnie also sent along a shot of work at the arch in Washington Square Park...



As the Washington Square Park Blog first reported, some members of the Washington Square Association are upset about the placement of the installation in the arch. Community members contend that the installation will compromise the arch’s own artistic integrity and disrupt the annual holiday tree lighting, a tradition since 1924.

In the end, Community Board 2 reportedly voted last month in favor of erecting Weiwei's work under the arch. The Park's holiday tree will be moved closer to the fountain for this year.

The installation was commissioned by the Public Art Fund in celebration of its 40th anniversary.

Former L'Apicio space being gutted to make way for new Indian restaurant

Gut renovations have been underway in recent weeks at 13 E. First St. in the Avalon Bowery Place complex between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

L'Apicio closed here on May 20 after five years of serving high-end Italian.

Back in March, noted chef Sujan Sarkar got the OK for a liquor license here in a sale of assets to bring "upscale modern Indian cuisine" to the space.

RSVP Hospitality was the name of the LLC behind this venture... and one of the names on the front door now...



Anyway, workers look to be stripping the place down ...



There is no word on an opening date (or name) of the new establishment.

Sarkar is the chef partner at Ek Bar, "India's first Artisanal cocktail bar." He is also the chef of Rooh, a similar-sounding restaurant that opened in San Francisco early this year.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Chef Sujan Sarkar bringing 'upscale modern Indian cuisine' to the Bowery

L'Apico ends its 5-year run tomorrow night

The return of Hitchcocktober

Time again for the slate of Alfred Hitchcock films (Hitchcocktober!) on Thursday evenings in October at the Village East Cinema on Second Avenue and 12th Street.

Things begin tomorrow night at 8 with a crop duster of a thriller — "North by Northwest."

Then!

Oct. 12 — "Notorious"

Oct. 19 — "Vertigo"

Oct. 26 — "Rebecca"

And on Oct. 31, Halloween night, there's a screening of "Psycho."

You can buy advance tickets here. All films start at 8.

Art on the street

Joe Grimy working on First Avenue today... photo by Grant Shaffer ...

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Just part of a work in progress this afternoon on St. Mark's Place at First Avenue by Ron English ...

Updated

Turns out to be an ad for New Balance and the New York City Marathon...



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Artist unknown... spotted this morning near Tompkins Square Park by Angela Moore Bovino...

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And these are from last Thursday along Avenue A... courtesy of Abe Lincoln Jr. ...





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And someone shared this collection outside Tompkins Square Park yesterday... photo by Derek Berg...

'Blacklist'ed on 4th Street

Crews for NBC's "The Blacklist" are filming on parts of Fourth Street (and elsewhere...) today. Previous "Blacklist" shoots in the East Village have included a SWAT team in Tompkins Square Park.

This morning, Pageant Print Shop gets a new look... please welcome помnн to the block here between Second Avenue and the Bowery...



Meanwhile, the craft services table features watermelon-infused water...



Photos by Derek Berg

[Updated] Steve Croman due back in court today to start jail time

Landlord Steve Croman is expected in court this morning to begin his one-year sentence at Rikers Island.

He was originally expected to be sentenced on Sept. 19. However, Judge Jill Konvisor postponed that so Croman could observe the Jewish Holidays with his family.

Per the Post back on Sept. 19:

Steve Croman​ ... ​handed over a $3 million check in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday and a judge agreed to put off his surrender to jail until after the holidays.

The move lets Croman celebrate Rosh Hoshanah and Yom Kippur at home, not behind bars, ​after he copped to charges of ​grand larceny, tax fraud and filing a false instrument​.​

Konvisor​ ​agreed​ to Croman attorney Benjamin Brafman​’s ​request, ​but warned ​his stone-faced client to return to court Oct. 3, when he’ll be sent to jail for a year.

In plea deal announced this past June, Croman pleaded guilty to three felonies for fraudulently refinancing loans and committing tax fraud and will serve up to a year at Rikers and pay a $5 million tax settlement. He was charged in May 2016 with 20 felonies.

According to published reports, Croman avoided facing between three and 11 years in prison when he pleaded guilty back in June.

The Attorney General's office still has a pending civil case against Croman accusing him of forcing tenants from their rent-controlled apartments. His next court date for the civil case is now scheduled for Nov. 13.

Croman's real-estate portfolio includes 47 buildings with 617 units in the East Village.

Members of the the Stop Croman Coalition will be present at the sentencing, set for 9 a.m. at the New York City Criminal Court, 100 Centre St., Room 1333 (13th Floor).

Photo from June

Updated 1:30 p.m.

Here's a report from the courtroom via the Daily News:

"Rikers ain’t the Ritz,” declared Justice Jill Konviser, who last month agreed to delay Croman’s sentencing during the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

“I hope that you spend your days thinking about the religious principles that this case was postponed for.”

From DNAinfo:

Tenants of Croman-owned buildings, who had been angered by the delay two weeks earlier, balked at the meager sentence but admitted it was better than nothing.

"I don't think it's enough time — the public needs to be protected from him," said Cynthia Chaffee, a cofounder of Stop Croman Coalition, who lives at 346 E. 18th St.

Chaffee, who says she now suffers from asthma as a result of dust and debris from illegal construction at her building, said the criminal charges have done little to benefit the tenants still living in his buildings.

"Ever since he was arrested he's been as worse as ever," she said. "We didn't have heat, he's dragging people to court still, he's not giving people their leases. I mean, it's business as usual."

And from The Real Deal:

Croman’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman told TRD that under the Department of Corrections’ policy, all inmates receive one-third credit if the sentence is one year or less. “Accordingly, it is anticipated that Mr. Croman will be released after serving 8 months of his one year sentence,” he said.

Updated 7:30 p.m.

Adding a statement from Sen. Brad Hoylman:

“Steven Croman built a criminal enterprise dedicated to making life miserable for tenants in my district and across Manhattan. After years of Croman’s systematic harassment of tenants, I’m elated to see justice finally served. This sends a clear message to landlords: Respect rent-regulated tenants or face the consequences – including jail time. I heartily congratulate Attorney General Schneiderman on this major victory on behalf of all New Yorkers.”

EVG Etc.: Mark Burger cow status; menu update at Ray's; free pizza on Broadway

Workers are breaking down the now-closed Mark Burger at 33 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Management said that higher rents and a changing St. Mark's Place were behind the closure.

And the Mark Burger cow is going to a new home. Derek Berg spotted it on the moo-ve Sunday... apparently the owner's family will take in the cow (and have it restored by the original artist) ...



The cow was designed by Rumiko Tsuda as part of the CowParade New York in 2000. This work was titled "Diversity of People."

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And over at Ray's Candy Store, 113 Avenue A, there's a new (plastic) dish on the menu...



Chicken wings, as EVG regular Peter Brownscombe passed along...



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And at 740 Broadway near Astor Place, the Washington, D.C.-based &pizza opens today (Oct. 3) ... they're giving stuff away...

ASTOR PLACE - SHOP NO. 23 // it's all happening tomorrow // first 100 people in line get FREE PIZZA // first 23 people to request the & tattoo get FREE INK from @firstclassnyc + FREE PIZZA FOR A YEAR // big thanks to @maspaz x @misschelove for making their mark on the shop #makeyourmark

A post shared by &pizza (@andpizza) on Oct 2, 2017 at 8:27am PDT

The Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade is Oct. 21

[Photo by Steven]

In case you didn't see the banners that went up in Tompkins Square Park on Friday... the 27th annual Halloween Dog Parade is Oct. 21 from noon to 3 p.m. rain or shine in case you want to attend or, perhaps, avoid.