Point of no return

NYC-born artist Yuno (now in Jacksonville, Fla.), who was recently signed by Sub Pop, released his first music video this past week... and Tompkins Square Park has a starring role... the above video is for "No Going Back."

H/T EVG reader VP!

The Webster Hall marquee

Here's a look at the Webster Hall marquee this morning.

As first reported last Sunday, the marquee became partially dislodged from the front of the landmarked building on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. Crews erected this sidewalk bridge to keep the marquee from landing on the sidewalk.

Anyway, I fixed it...



Updated 2 p.m.

The downside of the repair...

Thanks, little help here! cc: @evgrieve. pic.twitter.com/MO6mLPOank

— pinhead (@evpinhead) February 24, 2018

Please remember to take your rice cooker with you when exiting the train

Thank you for your patience as we investigated a suspicious item at the Delancey/Essex St station- Service is back up and we have determined the item was not threat- Enjoy your night on the Lower East Side pic.twitter.com/jaIIcNpel5

— NYPD Transit (@NYPDTransit) February 24, 2018

A rice cooker that someone left behind on the F train last night at Essex and Delancey led to a bomb scare.

Per the Daily News:

Initial reports from authorities said the device was a pressure cooker with wires sticking out of it, but police later determined the electronic was not an explosive.

Subway trains were stopped while the bomb squad investigated and resumed running moments after cops gave the all clear around 8:45 p.m.

Meanwhile, in other MTA news from last evening, via PIX 11:

According to data released at an MTA meeting this week, New Yorkers took 1.727 billion trips taken last year, compared to 1.756 million taken in 2016, so roughly 30 million fewer trips.

"I'm not surprised. The subways have been pretty bad lately," said subway rider Leslie Spencer.

'Metro' NY

"Street Safari," the second record from Public Access T.V., was released today ... the above video, featuring actor Kevin Corrigan, is for the song "Metrotech."

Not sure where the band calls home these days... in 2015, they were living at 123 Second Ave., which was destroyed during the deadly gas explosion. (The band was on tour out west at the time.)

The decibelists tell New Yorkers' displacement stories in this new music video

Decibelists are an experimental pop band founded by native New Yorkers Emma Alabaster and Leo Ferguson.

They're sharing their new music video for “Galapagos” here (the East Village makes a few cameos).

Here's the band with more about it:

This video features born-and-raised New Yorkers who have experienced loss in some way brought on by gentrification. With powerful visuals, it shows the ways that People of Color, low-income New Yorkers, queer folks and artists experience displacement, loss of community spaces, and heartbreak as more and more neighborhoods gentrify.

The video was created through an interactive process of community engagement in which born-and-raised New Yorkers were invited to tell their “displacement stories” and create short narratives for the video. The song was written and performed by decibelists and uses rising tides and extinction as a metaphor for this displacement.

The video is a mix of dreamy cityscapes and ocean surf, real estate signs, construction sites and yuppie douchebags, set against the stories of real, very pissed-off New Yorkers.

And here it is...



On March 1, the band is hosting a fundraiser for grassroots anti-gentrification organizations featuring local artists and performers at Starr Bar in Bushwick. Find more details here.

Report: Gothamist will return via WNYC thanks to 2 anonymous donors

The amazing news is true—Gothamist is returning! https://t.co/rU1yg8I51m

— Gothamist (@Gothamist) February 23, 2018

Per WNYC:

In a deal largely funded by two anonymous donors, WNYC is acquiring the news site Gothamist, including its archives, domain name and social media assets. The move comes as part of a larger deal involving two other public radio stations and Gothamist's network of local news sites. KPCC in Pasadena, Calif., will take over LAist, while WAMU in Washington will acquire DCist.

"For more than a decade, Gothamist served as a source of trusted local news," New York Public Radio president and CEO Laura Walker said in a press release. "That resonates with us at WNYC, where we are committed to telling stories rooted in New York and that matter to New Yorkers. As we’ve seen a decline in local journalism in even the largest metropolitan areas across the country, even at a time when it’s so vital, we remain committed to strong, independent reporting that fills the void."

Per Wired, the deal was spearheaded by Gothamist founders Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung, who will start publishing again this spring.

DNAinfo, however, will not be returning. Its archives will live on.

Publisher Joe Ricketts abruptly shut down Gothamist and DNAinfo last Nov. 2.

Updated:
Find more details in the post at Splinter titled The Many Questions Surrounding the Revival of Gothamist.


Previously on EV Grieve:
Updated: Joe Ricketts just shut down Gothamist and DNAinfo (46 comments)

Audrey Hepburn print continues curbside tour

[Jan. 29 via Steven]

From Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place... to the Bowery and Great Jones this morning...


[Photo via Lola Sāenz]

I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant

East Village resident Susan Schiffman has been photographing the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant. She will share some of the photos here for this ongoing EVG feature.



Photos and text by Susan Schiffman

Tenant: Joey, since 1995

How did you find your apartment?

I’ve been in this apartment on and off since 1995. A couple of times when I was homeless I lived on a couch right here in this spot. Another time when Babs’ roommate didn’t want to give up his share but he wanted to move in with his boyfriend, I sublet his room. The tower room, I call it, because it’s right next to the steeple on the church next door. Then he moved back in.

I screwed myself on that one, because I kind of counseled him to not staying with his boyfriend if he wasn’t happy living there with him. I became homeless again. That was all the last millennia. This millennia when Babs started getting really sick, she moved back to St. Louis. I met Babs and her director friend when they cast me in a commercial. I met her at a gay rock-and-roll club down at Don Hill's on Greenwich and Spring. It was called Squeeze Box. It was a gay rock-n-roll night on Friday nights. So there I was on Friday night after drinking at the Wonder Bar on Sixth Street and another place called the Bar, which is by the Boiler Room near Second avenue and Fourth Street. I drank a lot of vodka on that corner.

After that we went to Don Hill’s. On Friday nights it was drag queens playing rock-n-roll. Mistress Formica. It was great. I like beer and rock-n-roll. I shake it too. I’ve been known to go to a disco. I’m more into the rock-n-roll thing. Weed and wine. There she was. Her and her director friend came up to me and said “we would like to use you in our commercial if you’re available.” Babs was an actor, she did voice-over. She had a great voice, great diction, great vocabulary. Unfortunately, she had to leave the apartment. It was still in her name. It was hard for her to keep track of and her health. That was 2002.

Babs and I were practically married, but we weren’t. She was going to marry me but then she married another guy who needed a Green Card. He was going to work at the U.N. and take care of her. But that didn’t work out. I had just started at NYU in 1997 and I wanted to marry her so she could use my benefits. And we were kind of together anyway. I had boyfriends and she had girlfriends but we were still like lovers. We were inclusive. We didn’t discriminate. If there was a vibe, there was a vibe. We never forced each other to change. We would sleep together.

The landlord knew about our friendship. She said, "take your time, go month to month. When you’re ready I’ll let you sign the lease in your name."









What do you love about your apartment?

I don’t take it for granted at all. My whole life is below 14th Street. I live and work within 10 minutes. I work by Washington Square Park and I live by Tompkins Square Park. I do not take that for granted.

It’s almost like a shrine to Babs. She would be pissed if she heard me call it that.

I grew up here with Babs. We had so many great memories. That’s Saint Mark's over there. I see all kinds of parades on Saint Mark's from up here. This is the Chrysler Building chair and this is the Empire State Building chair. The lights just went on the Chrysler Building. It's 5:30.















If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.

Still House relocating to 9th Street

Still House, which sells jewelry and home goods, is moving from 117 Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue ... to 307 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue (next to Mudspot) ...

The signage for the Ninth Street location arrived yesterday...



EVG correspondent Steven, who shared these photos, said that they will be making the move in about three weeks.

The Ninth Street space was previously the women's boutique Pinkyotto.

A look at the former GG's space on 5th Street

GG's ended its three-year run on Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B two months ago to the date — Dec. 23.

The pizzeria's ownership decided to focus on other projects. It had been reported that Emmy Squared, the Williamsburg pizzeria serving Detroit-style pizza, was taking over. (CB3 OK'd their new liquor license back in December.)

A few readers asked what was happening with the space... there hadn't much activity here. In fact, a look inside in late January showed a motorcycle parked in the former dining room...



Since then, the space has been cleared out...



I reached out to the Emmy Squared folks a few weeks back... and they didn't have any updates just yet. They originally expected to open this spring, per Eater.

Emmy Squared is also opening an outpost soon in Nashville.

Sunset at the Sunshine

This Sunset mural went up last evening on the gate of the former Sunshine Cinema on East Houston ... not sure at the moment who the artist is, and if the new owners of the property — who plan on putting in a 9-story boutique office building — commissioned the work.

The Sunshine closed on Jan. 21.

Thanks to @michaelkbusch for the photo earlier today!

Updated 9:30 p.m.

Faust is the artist. (H/T Mike H!)

EV Grieve Etc.: Recognition for composer Julius Eastman; props for Szechuan Mountain House

[C.H.U.D. 3? Photo on 1st Avenue by Derek Berg]

Homeless woman on First Street awaits reunion with her pit bull named Red (Daily News)

28 years after his death, composer Julius Eastman, who lived in the East Village, gets a publishing deal (The New York Times)

A former top city official sues Mayor de Blasio for $5 million-plus over claims he was illegally fired for blowing the whistle on alleged City Hall corruption (The Post)

More about the clay pot cooking at Clay Pot on St. Mark's Place (Eater ... previously)

A visit to Spark Pretty on Ninth Street (Nylon ... previously)

How did the subway delays get so bad? (The New York Times)

A Q-and-A with East Village-based author Arthur Nersesian (Convicts ... previously)

Boubouki closing in the Essex Street Market next week (The Lo-Down)

NYU prez apologizes after dining hall serves Black History Month meal that included red Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water as well as ribs and collard greens (Washington Square News)

Roland, auctioneers of antiques, leaving its home in the St. Denis building at 11th Street and Broadway (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

The films of Iranian documentarian Mehrdad Oskouei (Anthology Film Archives)

Cop Shoot Cop alumni news (Flaming Pablum)

More pics from the Mr. Lower East Side Pageant (Slum Goddess ... previously)

"Way Out West" with Sonny Rollins (The Village Voice)

Three stars for Szechuan Mountain House on St. Mark's Place (Eater)

The Who’s 1968 Live At Fillmore East — the former concert venue on Second Avenue at Sixth Street — has been fully restored and mixed for an April 20 release (Addicted to Noise)

5 Pointz owner plans to appeal $6.7M settlement verdict (Curbed)

The building that used to house Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s Karpas Health Information Center on First Avenue at 18th Street has been sold and will soon be demolished (Town & Village)

Airbnb and the unintended consequences of "disruption" (The Atlantic)

And watch bearded drag queen Levonia Jenkins performs Fergie's recent rendition of the National Anthem at Club Cumming on Sixth Street (via Hornet)