Instant karma: A tribute show for John Lennon atop Glinda the Good Bus

In celebration of John Lennon's 80th birthday this past Friday, Michelle Joni and her Expand-a-Band took Glinda the Good Bus out on the streets for a rooftop tribute show.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy boarded the bus as they set up on First Avenue near Second Street... 

 

She joined the band again as they stopped for a song on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place...

[Updated] 26-year-old man shot and killed last night on Avenue A at 13th Street

 

Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street is closed this morning as police continue to investigate a fatal shooting late last night. 

According to the Daily News, a 26-year-old man was shot and killed during an argument on Avenue A at 13th Street around 1:20 a.m. 

Police say the victim was shot once in the chest. No other details are available at the moment. Will update this post when more information becomes available. 

William Klayer shared this photo from the scene...

Updated 1:54 p.m.

According to the Daily Mail, "two groups of men were embroiled in a dispute on the corner of E. 13th St. and Avenue A" ... and an "unidentified suspect reportedly pulled out a gun and opened fire into the crowd of men." 

Police identified the victim as Tyrell Williams.

Updated 7:32 p.m.

The Daily News has an update with a few more details, including quotes from the victim's mother. Williams was also a father of two.

Fly by night

EVG contributor Stacie Joy caught up with East Village-based artist Scooter LaForge last night... he was creating a new work on the Fourth Street side of the former B Bar & Grill on the Bowery...

... a now-famous political fly...

And a daytime view...

Pinc Louds on Astor Place

Local favorites Pinc Louds got booted again from Tompkins Square Park this afternoon (this after being regulars all summer long) ... and so the band ended up performing on Astor Place to a grateful audience...  This is at least the third time that Pinc Louds has been told to leave Tompkins of late... and more and more residents have (we've heard from at least six people about the culprit) are pointing the finger at another local band who regularly plays in the Park ... a band who is jealous of the attention that Pinc Louds are receiving (more proof you never really leave high school)... 

Top photo by Lola Sáenz; other photo by Steven 

And...

— Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) October 10, 2020

A community effort to clean up Tompkins Square Park today

A group of local volunteers — estimated to be as many as 50 people at one time — met in Tompkins Square Park this morning to pick up trash and weed and rake parts of the gardens.

Given the city's budget cuts, Johnny Young, the head gardener in Tompkins Square Park, has often been assigned to work in other areas... "leaving Tompkins vulnerable to trash and weeds," as he put it in the invite. 

Young and longtime EV resident Penny Rand organized today's event. They were joined by Sam Biederman, an assistant Parks commissioner, and Alan Good, who donated the ping-pong tables in the Park several years ago.
 

EVG contributor Steven, who was among the volunteers, shared these photos...

Deborah Hulse, better known as Debi the Gardener, came out of retirement to help... And Sheena won the battle against the large weed... ... and a shout-out to Tompkins Square Bagels for donating bagels...

This is a test (really)

Please pay no mind to this post. I'll probably delete it later.

As I reported last month, there's a new Blogger tool for uploading photos and it's awful.

I need to continue playing around with the new templates, and it's best to do so with live posts. Quite strange — talking to myself — why this Halloween-time photo at Beauty Bar on 14th Street is so small and centered on the post ... and there's so much space between the headline and photo.

Anyway, let's play the Cramps! (The embed via YouTube also needs some tweaking.)

A grand finale at Modern Love Club this weekend

As we mentioned yesterday, the Modern Love Club will close at the end of the month here at 156 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. But! Not before one last show. 

Today and tomorrow from 2-8 you can immerse yourself in "Frantic Romantic!" ... "a photographic study of the romantic subconscious" by koko_bode.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by the gallery-matchmaking service last night to see what was happening in the space... she talked with proprietor Amy Van Doran (top photo!) and below with photographer Koko Bode...

The art installation team was hard at work... (from left) Brendan Burke, Madame Vivien, Van Doran, Bode and Glenn Vasaturo  ...

And last one out...

[Updated] 3 nights in, the new East Village Community Fridge gets KO'd

EVG reader Jackie Silvestri stopped by early this morning to drop off donations for the new East Village Community Fridge outside S'MAC on the northwest corner of First Avenue and 12th Street. 

As the above photo shows, someone — with help? — decided to knock the fridge over. We're told that three officers from the 9th Precinct put it back upright.

This was just the third night for the fridge out in the wild... 

And as we reported on Thursday, this is a project between S'MAC owners Sarita and Caesar Ekya along with East Village Neighbors, a local volunteer group, and Change Food, a social marketing nonprofit. Residents can drop off unopened food for anyone in need to take.

The Community Fridge will be available outside S'MAC 24/7... though if vandalism remains an issue, there may need to be amended hours to when S'MAC is open.

Updated 10/11

Caesar reports that the fridge is now out of commission after it was tipped over... they'll work on getting a replacement. So no more donations for now.

Fear factor

There's a new mural on the Bowery at East Houston... Pure Genius quoting a recent tweet by President Trump that undermined messages by public health officials and outraged relatives who lost loved ones to COVID-19...

'Ceiling' fans

 

 The new METZ record is out today ... and the video is for the track "No Ceiling."

The Modern Love Club giving up its 1st Avenue space; last show on tap this weekend

The Modern Love Club will close at the end of the month here at 156 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. Proprietor Amy Van Doran recently made the announcement on Instagram.

Van Doren and Emily Lesser operate a longtime matchmaking service and also use this space as a gallery. 

More on the closing in a moment. Tomorrow and Sunday will mark their very last show here — "Frantic Romantic!" ... "a photographic study of the romantic subconscious" by koko_bode.

Viewing is from 2 to 8 p.m. Per the invite: "We will be letting in masked sanitized viewers up to two at a time every 15-20 minutes. Please come healthy and safe!"

As for the closing, here's part of the announcement via Van Doran:

Don't panic. It is okay for things to change. November 1st the Modern Love Gallery will be giving up it's beautiful home. We are going deeper into our matchmaking efforts energetically because love is what we have to offer, and the matchmaking side of Modern Love is busier than ever. 

It has been a pleasure being your local store that sold nothing. Come the spring, if democracy is intact, AND we can host gatherings inside, we will be in the market for a new love clubhouse. 

Stay tuned for our last couple of programs coming up over the next month. I love you, I thank you, it has been such a wild and wonderful time sharing this magical little box in the strangest corner of the world with you.

The space opened in the fall of October 2016. 

Photo from the first show in 2016. 

Reminders: Tomorrow is a community clean-up day in Tompkins Square Park

 

As a reminder... reposting from Sept. 24...

 

Johnathan Young, the head gardener in Tompkins Square Park, along with longtime EV resident Penny Rand, are organizing a cleanup day on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Here are more details via an email from Young:

As many of you know, the city and the Parks Dept. have had massive budget cuts. Recently I have been assigned to work many other locations, leaving Tompkins vulnerable to trash and weeds.

So with that being said, we are hoping to gather as many folks as we can for Saturday, Oct. 10. We will meet at the main office in Tompkins at 11 a.m., have some coffee and donuts, and then concentrate on areas of the park together. Bring a mask and gloves. Feel free to bring any gardening supplies you prefer — otherwise we will have tools and such.

 And this is the main office...

About the Avenue B flea tomorrow

Local residents and business owners alike are coming together tomorrow (Saturday) for a neighborhood stoop sale... happening from noon to 6 p.m. along Avenue B, which you know is (supposed to be) closed to through traffic, from 10th Street to 14th Street.

As the above flyer shows, you can expect to find some handmade jewelry, books, records, vintage clothing, etc. 

Here's most info via the Facebook Event page...

Avenue B Flea is a neighborhood stoop sale to support the neighborhood, independent vendors and local artists.

Featured Vendors:

VINTAGE
Citizen Suzie
East Village Vintage Collective

HANDCRAFTED JEWELRY
Kelly Virginia Vinson

ART
Delphine le Goff's East Village Calendars, prints, postcards and originals
Mad Cool NYC (Framed Pieces)

CLOTHING DESIGNERS
BURNeternal
The Baroness
Frankie Z's Selected Tees
I ❤️ ANARCHIST JURISDICTION NYC

VINYL
The Savage! Beat Records

SPECIALTY MASKS
Pinky’sWear

MAKEUP
Eye Hunger by Luna
multi chrome, color shifting eyeshadow

LIVE MUSIC
3 — Gass Wild (Acoustic)
4 — The Carvels NYC (Unplugged)
5 — SoulCake (Unplugged)

Many other East Village locals will be selling interesting items too. Find everything from $1 bargain bins to unique craft gifts.

This is an all day, outdoor event. Sellers will be social distancing 😷 Masks are required to stop and shop. And please visit the businesses along Avenue B for food and drink during your day!

Thursday's parting shot

 

On Cooper Square today via Derek Berg..

Regal love

On a day when Regal Cinemas were temporarily closing again across the country due to the lack of new films to screen, someone left a love letter signed from the East Village and flowers at the still-shuttered location at Union Square.

EVG reader Jason shared this photo...

The note ends with, "When you reopen, let's 'Regal and chill.'" And! "Miss you boo."

Regal Cinemas — the second-largest chain in the United States with 536 theaters — will shut all its doors today. According to Variety, the last straw for Cineworld, the parent company of Regal, came when the new (and already delayed) James Bond film's release was pushed from November to April 2021.

Meanwhile, Gov. Cuomo has refused to let theaters reopen in New York. Something which this Regal location on 13th Street and Broadway has noted... per the marquee: "Theaters open safely in 48 states, why not New York?"

Bottom photo by Lola Sáenz

Grant Shaffer's NY See

Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood... as well as observations on current events...

Owner's retirement will bring a close to EV children's treasure Dinosaur Hill next month

Text and photos by Linda Dyett

The jam-packed children's toy, game and book shop Dinosaur Hill, a neighborhood institution since 1983, will be closing at the end of November. Pamela Pier, the shop's tireless owner, has decided to retire.

This little-shop-that-could — many of its items under $5 — set the pace for the many of the visionary, iconoclastic stores that have opened on the East Village's side streets in the decades that followed. 

A final storewide sale is already under way — 25 percent off through the end of October, 40 percent off in November. 

Veselka, Dinosaur Hill's equally well-known next-door neighbor, will be taking over its lease, and expanding into the space here at 306 E. Ninth St. just east of Second Avenue.

Pier, who trained as an artist and early-childhood educator, had a specific goal with all the old-fashioned wooden wheel-y vehicles, dexterity-improving games, science kits, pick-up sticks, xylophones, art supplies, soap bubbles, erector sets, hobby horses, books, stuffed orangutans, puppets, marionettes, a multiethnic range of dolls, and, as an afterthought, wearables, in her inventory. 

She wanted "to keep kids out of cyber space and engaged in 3D activities." Some items are produced by local artists and artisans. Other goods come from small-scale companies around the United States. The hand-carved cherry wood teething rings and rattles? They're from a supplier in Texas while the bass wood alphabet blocks, available in a variety of languages, are handcrafted in Grand Rapids, Mich. And still others come from around the world: marionettes from the Czech Republic … clothing items from India and a women's craft co-op in Ghana.

When Pier finally decided it was time to retire, she contacted Veselka to see if there might be interest in its expanding into the space that Dinosaur Hill occupies. The answer was yes! (This is not the first such negotiation Pier has had with Veselka. Some years back, she moved from another storefront in the same building to accommodate an earlier expansion the restaurant made.)

Meanwhile, her employee Karen McDermott and McDermott's husband, Jason McGroarty, plan to maintain Dinosaur Hill's legacy by opening their own East Village children's shop — with Pier on board as consultant. If the right storefront opens up, they’re interested.

But there's no doubt Pamela Pier and her truly unique Dinosaur Hill will be sorely missed.

--------

Linda Dyett is an East Village-based freelance writer and editor who’s been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Monocle, New York magazine and — back when glossy magazines were still magazines — Allure, Glamour, etc.

East Village Community Fridge providing free food outside S'MAC on 1st Avenue; donations welcome

Updated 10/12: Someone vandalized the fridge, and it is now out of commission.

The East Village Community Fridge debuted yesterday outside S'MAC on the northwest corner of First Avenue and 12th Street. 

Here's how it works via East Village Neighbors: "Free food for anyone in need. Neighbors put food in; neighbors in need take food out." (The donated food needs to be unopened. Fruits and vegetables are welcome too.)

This is a project between S'MAC owners Sarita and Caesar Ekya along with East Village Neighbors, a local volunteer group, and Change Food, a social marketing nonprofit. 

The Community Fridge will be available outside S'MAC 24/7.

Image via Instagram

Here's an updated interactive map with what's open in the East Village

The volunteer effort to update an interactive map of what's open in the East Village during the pandemic continues. 

The East Village Community Coalition and resident Paul Gale are maintaining the site that launched back in the spring. (And they could use some volunteers! Email director@evccnyc.org if you're interested.) 

They've been busy keeping tabs on openings and reopenings in recent weeks, adding in opticians, salons, tattoo parlors and cultural institutions, among other businesses. They're also updating the free meals section.

There's also now an indoor dining filter for places with confirmed inside seating to go with the outdoor dining listings.  

You can find the map at this link (and below, but the link is better).