Saturday, July 2, 2022
[Updated] Lord Kitty fell from a window and needs surgery
Updated: Sadly, the fall was too intense and Lord was unable to breathe on her own. She was put to sleep. Per Lindsay: "So thank you all for your kindness, for your help, for raising awareness I cannot tell you how much it meant to me, to us ..."
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Lord survived the fall, “but we had to take her to the emergency vet immediately. Due to the extremity of the fall and the need for the x-rays, overnight stays, medicine, and her having a broken hip, plus some internal organ issues, it’s a lot, and we have her staying overnight a few nights to stabilize.”
Lindsay launched a GoFundMe to help her pay for Lord’s medical expenses.
“I’m not sure I can put into words how much she means to me, but she is my best friend, my baby, the absolute love of my life,” she wrote.
Find the link here.
Police searching for suspect who burglarized a storage room on Avenue B
According to the police, the incident occurred at 4:25 a.m. on June 11 at 23 Avenue B, which is between Second Street and Third Street. As previously reported, workers added two new floors and combined the two four-story structures here.
The police report does not mention the name of the business... the lone one being Gas on Deck, a recreational marijuana dispensary and accessories shop.
There is a $3,500 reward for information about this theft...
WANTED for a Burglary at 23 Avenue B. #Manhattan @NYPD9pct on 6/11/22 @ 4:25 AM an unknown individual forcefully entered the storage room at location and removed approximately $26,000 worth of merchandise. Reward up to $3500 Call 1-800-577-TIPS Calls are CONFIDENTIAL pic.twitter.com/OEzHoVzkj8
— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) July 2, 2022
Now the bus knows what it's like to wait for a lift
The heavy-duty tow-truck was spotted between 10th Street and 11th Street ... and blocking the bus stop outside Tompkins Square Bagels...
The blowout occurred around 4 p.m. yesterday just south of 13th Street. Witnesses said it was loud as hell. There weren't any reports of injuries.
And coincidentally, "Blow Out," Brian De Palma's excellent 1981 thriller with John Travolta, Nancy Allen and a menacing John Lithgow, is playing tonight (July 2 as well as July 4 and July 8) at Metrograph on Ludlow Street.
Friday, July 1, 2022
'American Horror Story' brings the porn and 1980s mobiles to 9th Street
Top photo by DP; the rest by Steven
Film crews for a TV series with the code name "Bandana" (aka "American Horror Story," season 11) are filming on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue (and along Avenue A and elsewhere) this evening.
Blow out on Avenue A
Photos by Steven
The Fourth of July came early this afternoon on Avenue A just south of 13th Street ... when a tire on an M14 bus blew out, causing a roar that several EVG readers described as sounding like an explosion...
There weren't any reports of injuries, just a few frazzled nerves and a line at the next stop on A...
Feel the need, the need for 'Speeding'
Household Name, the third record from Brooklyn's Momma, is out today. (Per Pitchfork: a "cheeky spin on Gen-X slacker rock.")
The video here is for "Speeding 72."
And you can catch Momma live next month in support of Snail Mail.
How to stay cool while being dive-bombed by a blue jay in Tompkins Square Park
Photos by Steven
Featuring Christo, one of the resident red-tailed hawks in Tompkins Square Park... basically, you act like, What blue jay... 
Hoop dreams: A memorial for Jesse Parrilla
Photos by Gebhard
Tuesday was Jesse Day on the basketball courts in Tompkins Square Park... as friends and community members gathered to celebrate the life of Jesse Parrilla, the local hoops star who was said to be an innocent bystander in a gang feud this spring.
Parrilla, who lived with his mother on 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, and his longtime friend Nikki Huang were reportedly kidnapped and killed in May "in a series of retaliatory shootings" involving a stolen purse. (Previously.)
Parrilla, 22, played basketball for a season upstate at Genesee Community College.
In Tompkins Square Park, there were basketball games and remembrances of someone who is gone too soon...Sad to announce the passing of former @GCCCougarsBBall player Jesse Parrilla. Jesse played for Genesee CC during the 2018-2019 season. Prayers out to his family & loved ones. 🕊🕊🕊 pic.twitter.com/aifP1S4W58
— Genesee CC Mens Basketball (@GCCCougarsBBall) May 17, 2022
Films on the Green presents 'Touchez Pas Au Grisbi' tonight in Tompkins Square Park
The 2022 Films on the Green series comes to Tompkins Square Park tonight (July 1).
This year's theme is "From Page to Screen," spotlighting 12 literary adaptations. Our screening: "Touchez Pas Au Grisbi," a 1954 French-Italian crime film directed by Jacques Becker and starring Jean Gabin, Jeanne Moreau and Lino Ventura ... and based on a novel by Albert Simonin.
The plot!
After pulling off their "retirement job," 50 million in gold bars, aging criminals Max and Henri think they can give up the game. But when Henri's girlfriend tells the drug dealer Angelo about the loot, violence erupts. Angelo kidnaps the old crook and asks Max for the "grisbi' as ransom...
The trailer!
The film will start (roughly) around 8:30 in the center of the Park (where the bands play).
Films on the Green is produced annually in New York City parks by Villa Albertine, the French Embassy and FACE Foundation.
After a year off in 2020, the series returned with a hybrid event last summer, though there weren't any events in Tompkins.
Thursday, June 30, 2022
Thursday's parting shot
6 posts from June
• The Gem Spa signage shines brightly in this Ohio farmhouse (June 23)
• At the book party for Ada Calhoun's 'Also a Poet' (June 17)
• Proposed plans now call for a 24-story residential building on 14th Street and Avenue C (June 14)
• Come, let's drive along some side streets between Avenue C and Avenue D in 1987 (June 10)
• A look inside Globe Slicers, one of the most unique storefronts on the Bowery (June 9)
• Gaia Italian Café set to debut on 3rd Street (June 6)
The Gallery Watch Q&A: Kevin Sabo on 'Kimberly Pepperoni’s Closet'
Interview by Clare Gemima
Photos courtesy of Kates-Ferri Projects
The current artist-in-residence at Kates-Ferri Projects recently celebrated the opening of their first solo show in New York, “Kimberly Pepperoni’s Closet.” I talked with Kevin Sabo about celebrating gay “yucks,” the artist’s inspirational figures, from Tekken to Janet Jackson, and the concoction of queer and queendom that soaks through their paintings.
Kimberly Pepperoni, the star of the show: Who is she, and how does she influence your multimedia practice?
Kimberly Pepperoni is a drag character I’ve made up. She’s lusty and bodacious but also often annoyed and pissy. I think she’s this extremely exaggerated version of my personality and also just exists completely on her own. She challenges queerness and fabulosity. I’m always thinking about my own perception of self and how I could personify those feelings into a character.
Kevin Sabo, an equally important character in your works, hello! How would you describe your role as a creative within your practice? Are you a storyteller, composer, painter, puzzle piecer-togetherer?
I’m all of the above! I love sprinkling narratives into my work like a writer. Puzzles absolutely resonate with me, too, because, as you can see, my works are sort of like puzzle pieces with the way they take up space. These figures are being contorted inside the canvas to ensure they get their little moment. I also relate the way I paint to music a lot of the time — tracklists of albums are so similar to composing a show or even choosing the number or style of the characters I make. And, I’m sure, like most painters, music is integral to the painting process.
I love the way you’ve embraced the concept of the closet in this show. The sexy, luxury garments that adorn your figures present one side of the queer emblem, although the closet’s significance invites a vast array of contention from the community. What are your thoughts surrounding (coming out of the) closet, especially as an artist that renders queer identity with such an amusing amount of joy and humor?
Well, I see Kimberly Pepperoni as the embodiment of just embracing all your gay “yucks” in life. Like, for me to be perceived as feminine before coming out was to be worthless and small; and now it’s just the truth. To come out is an ongoing process — it doesn’t just happen once. To come out is to slowly peel off every layer of fear and guilt you’ve felt before sharing with others who you are.
Who are your heroes or heroines? I know Britney Spears is an idol of yours, and Kimberly Hart from Power Rangers. Can we know more about some queens, painters, poets, fashion houses or musicians who inspire you?
Yeah! It’s kind of all over the place and admittedly unsophisticated for the most part, but most of my QUEENS are the women that were always my guilty pleasure before being out. For instance, Nina Williams from the Tekken series was a video game character that I think constructed a lot of the shapes and style of my work.
Gwen Stefani was one of my first OBSESSIONS with fashion and music — and I had to hide my love for her growing up. And then, as I got older, music became more of an obsession, and I started discovering the careers, discographies and videographies of all the icons. It started with Gwen, and then I moved on to Britney. In school, I discovered the amazingness of Janet Jackson and Madonna.
And, now that I’ve run almost completely out of the classics, I’ve graduated to studying the tedious careers of artists like Bjork or even Joni Mitchell. Women in music are truly a force of nature. I almost exclusively listen to ladies. Any genre, I don’t care. Drag itself has really influenced my work, too — if Valentina and Jimbo the Clown had a baby, you’d get Kimberly Pepperoni.
Your character’s limbs, breasts, shoes, lips, eyes and hairdos fill the edges of your canvases and evoke questions about identity and fluidity. Are your figures gendered, or do they possess a sexuality? Are they all in drag?
I wouldn’t say they’re gendered at all! If they had pronouns, I’m sure they’d be She/Her, but it’s more so intended to celebrate my own fluidity and invite people who feel connected to that notion to also find a bit of excitement in being much more complicated than just man or woman, masc or femme.
Are there any other characters hiding in Kimberly Pepperoni’s closet? Anyone else that viewers should be made aware of? If so, what’s their story?
There are certainly a few subgenres of Kim Pepp that make their way onto canvas every now and then. I love turning them into lizard monsters sometimes, and much more recently, I’ve been playing with the idea of time and fashion — like some of them will be dressed as Victorian-era hussies and then also wondering what Kim Pepp would be wearing in the far, far A.I. controlled future.
Throughout your residency at Kates-Ferri Projects, what have been the biggest challenges, lessons and/or breakthroughs that you have experienced?
Working on the spot for a show that would be hung just days later was a fun challenge. I work with speed in my paintings, and as you can see, the linework is very quick and gestural.
The idea that I wouldn’t be able to live with these works for a while before showing them to an audience was kind of intimidating because while I’m a quick painter, I’ve learned that I love to sit with works for a while before I decide whether or not they have that special sauce.
How are you celebrating Pride this year?
Cooking, eating, painting, redecorating, dancing and minding my business.
What are your plans for the upcoming future art-show wise? What are Kimberly’s?
I have a solo show in Paris this fall with Bim Bam Gallery. I LOVE France, and I think my work can be read as very French. I speak a bit of the language. I’ve got family and roots over there. It feels very serendipitous and also coincides with my 30th birthday.
Kimberly will definitely be joining. I haven’t made all of the work yet, bI’mI’m imagining Kimberly in just one colorI’mI’m thinking it could be green. When I was just a wee-lad my AIM screen name was @Greenguy2224. It could be fun to pay homage to such a powerful color. Bit’st’s honestly too early to say ... Kim might have a full-body plastic surgery modification by then; who knows.
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Clare Gemima is a visual artist and arts writer from New Zealand, now based in the East Village of New York. You can find her work here: claregemima.com.
RIP Lisa Martin
Last November, she was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Here's more about her via a GoFundMe that friends set up on her behalf:
A brilliant writer, filmmaker, fiercely loving friend, and devoted cat mama, Lisa has inspired, and vicariously thrilled, those of us lucky enough to have known her over the years. Whether you met her at a film festival, freelance job, squeezed into a corner at our little Tile Bar in the East Village, over a Bloody Mary at Harry's after a move to Paris ... Lisa has endeared all of us with her determination, wit and joie de vivre.
Photo of Lisa on May 7, her 59th birthday, via Instagram
Openings: Sacco on 11th Street
Sacco offers fresh, house-made sandwiches ... a list that includes a chicken cutlet, speck-fresh mozzarella, eggplant and tomato, smoked salmon and kimchi and avocado. There's also a frittata of the day, fresh bread, and other grocery staples for sale.
"The place is named after my grandfather who had a butcher shop back in 1900 on the same block, and we opened up under the same name to bring back old-school New World," proprietor Vincent Caprio told us.
Summer hours are Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Sacco website is currently under construction.
More burgers for the former Black Iron Burger on 5th Street
New owners are taking over the space... and they will appear before CB3's SLA committee on July 13 for a new beer-wine license for the address (Black Iron also served beer and wine)...
We don't know who the applicants are just yet (the questionnaires haven't been posted online). However, we're told they will have a menu similar to Black Iron Burger — milkshakes, fries and burgers.
Workers have cleared out the inside of the space, which had been used for storage in recent years (photo below by Stacie Joy)...
The East Village location of BIB was the first for the brand, opening in 2008 (with new ownership taking over in 2013). The three other outposts remain open.
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Let the wheatpaste battle BEGIN!
Noted
Photos by Derek Berg
Crews are setting up for a production with the code name "Yogurt" here on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.
It's a TV series with a retro vibe, given the assembled 1990s-era props here ... and NOT TRASH!
Anyway, the crews will be filming around here ... we saw notices on Avenue A... the Bowery... among other places.
And we'll see if we can uncover what "Yogurt" really is (ASIDE from a popular food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk).
Updated 12:36 p.m.
Thanks to Emily, via the comments. The series is called "Up Here."
Here's more via Deadline:
Former Good Girls star Mae Whitman has been tapped as the female lead in Up Here, Hulu's musical romantic comedy series from Tick, Tick… Boom! and Dear Evan Hansen writer Steven Levenson, The Carmichael Show's Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, Hamilton director Thomas Kail, and the Frozen and WandaVision songwriting duo of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez.
Parking removed on sections of Avenues A and D; curbside bus lanes set for M14 service
In their place: No Standing signs. Parking is no longer allowed between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. seven days a week in these select corridors ... 
This is one of the transit improvements the city announced as part of the "Better Buses Restart" campaign in May 2021. Per then-Mayor de Blasio's announcement during "Streets Week!" at the time:
Both new and improved bus lanes will serve bus riders citywide, with changes including new red paint and markings, signals improvements, pedestrian safety and clearer signage.
The city identified the M14A and M14D as a "bus priority" in 2019... when the 14th Street Busway went into effect between Third Avenue and Ninth Avenue. (According to the city, the Busway improved bus travel times by 36%, among other improvements.)
Still, according to the city, speeds on the 14A and 14D are consistently slow throughout the day and early evening. (DOT presentation from June 2021 here.)
Moving forward, the southbound side of Avenue A (from Fifth to Houston) will receive a curbside bus lane; ditto for Avenue D between Second and Seventh going south... and from Houston to Ninth on the north.
There will also be enhancements for the bus lines below Houston, including new left-turn bays.
No word on when the DOT will mark these bus lanes. (They were originally slated for last summer/fall.)
The "Better Buses Restart" campaign drew praise from transit advocates last year.
"Prioritizing bus riders on the street is a must for New York City's recovery," Ben Fried, comms director for the TransitCenter, said in a statement. "DOT's slate of bus projects will be especially helpful to essential workers and Black and brown New Yorkers, who make most of the bus trips in the city. As traffic returns to city streets, it's extremely important to complete these projects, carve out space for transit to bypass congestion, and ensure millions of New Yorkers can rely on the bus."
Fox 5 last week found an annoyed LES resident who received a $115 ticket on his vehicle after the parking change went into effect along Avenue D. The resident disputed the claim that the DOT left flyers about the changes for residents.
Thanks to Steven for the photos.
A new Korean concept for the Oiji space on 1st Avenue
Updated July 1. The CB3 questionnaires are now online. The new restaurant is NOT affiliated with the previous tenant, Oiji — despite the fact that the person collecting signatures for the new concept told us so. Kihyun Lee, the founder of the successful Hand Hospitality, and Hand Hospitality partner Jinan Choi, are behind this venture.
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Since then, Oiji at 119 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place has remained closed. It was unclear what the owners, Brian Kim and Max Soh, would do with the space.
The other day, a rep was outside No. 119 collecting signatures supporting a liquor license for a new Korean restaurant here...
The applicants will appear before CB3's SLA committee this July 13. The questionnaires for this meeting aren't online just yet.
Oiji opened here in the spring of 2015 and drew praise from Pete Wells and others.
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