The Day | Tax Troubles for Ai Weiwei, Sahara East

After SchoolBrendan Bernhard

Good morning, East Village.

In case you missed it, The Local reported late last night that the police announced the arrest of a man suspected of attacking a woman in her First Avenue apartment building Sunday morning. 35-year-old Imre Meszesan of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn has been charged with burglary and attempted rape.

Middle Collegiate Church on East Seventh Street is among the churchs that DNA info says have offered to take in Occupy Wall Street protesters. NBC New York adds that the church served a pizza dinner last night.

The Daily News reports that Ai Weiwei, the artist known partly for his photographs of the East Village in the 1980s, has deposited $1.3 million into a Chinese government account while he contests charges that his design firm (which he says does not own) owes $2.4 million in back taxes.

From one photographer to another: Interview and Acquire note that 120 of Sol LeWitt’s photos of his Lower East Side neighborhood circa 1979 are being displayed on a wall of the Mondrian Soho.

According to papers spotted by EV Grieve, the state has seized Sahara East for nonpayment of taxes. The hookah cafe has long been a destination, thanks mainly to its spacious back garden.

The Times reviews Filipino restaurant Maharlika, calling it a “gateway restaurant — an exotic excursion with a soft landing, a chance to discover an unsung cuisine without getting too down-and-dirty.”

According to Grub Street, Esperanto is selling certain entrees for just $9.95 on Tuesdays, and wine bottles are half-off on Mondays.

The Jewish Week writes about “Deathscape,” a new play at the Theater for the New City about one man’s quest to find “a narcotic that brings the user in touch with everything that he is in denial of.” Here’s just a taste of the production: “Osama bin Laden, who is represented simply by a speaking beard, sings the Hebrew hymn ‘Oseh Shalom’; Marilyn Monroe, who is symbolized by a glimmering, floating red dress, quotes from the Hell-obsessed priest in James Joyce’s ‘Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.'”

According to the Times and DNA Info, 26 bars from the West Village to the East Village will participate in a “beerathon” that will in part benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.