Stephen Rex Brown Workers on East Seventh Street today.

East Seventh Street just can’t catch a break. Last week it was sinkholes, and now the block between First and Second Avenues has been closed to traffic due to repairs of a collapsed sewer in the area. A worker on the scene earlier this afternoon confirmed that some electricity on the block was being disconnected so that the repairs could be made.

Tim “Eater X” Janus and Jason “Crazy Legs” Conti

This Wednesday, July 4, Takeru Kobayashi will be downing dogs at the Crif Dog Classic instead of the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest. Meanwhile, among those returning to the eaters’ table at Coney Island are two East Villagers.

Walk into Gruppo pizzeria some afternoon and there’s a good chance you’ll see an extremely normal looking guy in a polo shirt and jeans behind the counter. He might be holding forth on Euro monetary policy, arguing with a coworker over a word in that day’s Times crossword puzzle, or chatting with schoolchildren who know him by name. This is Tim Janus, the Clark Kent alter-ego of Eater X. Mr. Janus, 32, has spent the last eight years working at Gruppo while making a name (or at least, a pseudonym) for himself on the competitive eating circuit. Most recently, he set the world record for longest burp – a monster belch so epic ESPN ran the whole 18 seconds on SportsCenter.

Mr. Janus lives in the East Village with fellow competitive eater Jason “Crazy Legs” Conti, subject of the film “Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating.” On Tuesdays, Mr. Conti hosts Crazy Legs Movie Night at Professor Thom’s, the notorious Boston bar on Second Avenue. The Belmont, Mass. native starts his films at 6 p.m. so he won’t miss the end of Red Sox games.

The Local caught up with the gurgitators during their hectic week before the Nathan’s contest, to be aired on ESPN at noon.  Read more…

Photos: Stephen Robinson

After celebrating its 12th year in the East Village, the Bicycle Film Festival Block Party may be zipping across the bridge to Brooklyn.

On Saturday, the annual block party once again came to East Second Street between First and Second Avenues. But Brendt Barbur, its founding director, said that taking it to the streets of Manhattan had becoming increasingly daunting. “The city doesn’t make it as easy unless you’re a major corporation. It’s hard to do community events,” he said. “It’s kind of a bummer because we’ve been doing this a long time.”

Mr. Barbur said it might prove easier to rent a private warehouse or parking lot in Brooklyn, rather than dealing with the rules and regulations of hosting the event on a city block. “They changed the rules within the six-month permitting process,” he complained, declining to go into specifics.

The festival director hinted at one possible new location: “We like Fort Greene,” he said. Read more…

The Air Sex World Championships, which were started in Austin, Tex. in 2009 as a gag on air guitar competitions and have now become a national phenomenon, rolled into town last night. And because they took place at Drom on Avenue A, we were professionally obligated to attend. Apologies: this video isn’t entirely safe for work (or for human eyeballs, in some cases), but there’s no reason you can’t let it ride you into the weekend.

Sarah Darville Matthew Broderick, in glasses.

The City Council hearing on New York University’s controversial expansion plan got a star cameo today, as Greenwich Village native Matthew Broderick argued that N.Y.U. 2031 would further strip the neighborhood of of its character. He was one of about 250 people who spoke out during the packed nine-hour meeting, with about 60 percent opposing the plan and 40 percent voicing their support.

Six hours before the actor testified, N.Y.U.’s president, John Sexton, started the hearing (which The Local liveblogged earlier today) by vigorously defending the project and the university’s need to expand. “This is not a development project. This is an academic project,” he said, explaining that more space was needed to recruit top-quality faculty and students.

Asked why N.Y.U. couldn’t look to other parts of the city, Mr. Sexton told council member Leroy Comrie that further dissipation of N.Y.U.’s activities across the city would amplify the perception that it doesn’t have a traditional campus “or a big football stadium where we gather,” turning off potential students.

“This is the most enlightened way to do this,” said Mr. Sexton, who also used his presentation to announce that a “huge initiative” for financial aid would be coming soon. Read more…

Courtesy DMT Lt. Dick Craig (Joshua Schwartz) and
Janet Lawton (Lindsey Carter) in “Bride of
the Monster”

This weekend, you’ll want to jump on your last chance to catch Frank Cwiklik’s madcap stage adaptations of the works of Ed Wood, widely hailed as the worst director of all-time.

Using minimal sets in the Red Room theater, Mr. Cwiklik ingeniously deploys music, dance, projections, video screens and many entrances and exits to elaborately block his very skillful actors through Wood’s unintentionally bad dialogue. They seamlessly carry the plots and garner many laughs along the way.

“Downtown Theater is all about motion in small spaces, with limitations and low budgets just like Ed Wood did,” said Mr. Cwiklik, a prolific writer, director, and producer who is drawn to Wood’s works along with those of Shakespeare. “They tackle every genre,” he said of the two auteurs. “They come from the heart and are concerned with entertaining their audiences first.“

Mr. Cwiklik previously wrote and directed a popular S&M version of “Macbeth” called “Bitch Macbeth.” Since 1999, his company, DMTheatrics, has staged more productions than most put out in decades. Which, of course, brings Wood to mind. Read more…

Susan Keyloun

A day after a play based on the life of Coca Crystal and her cable-access show “If I Can’t Dance…” winds down its run at the Metropolitan Playhouse, an entertainer who might just be the Coca’s present-day counterpart will celebrate the second anniversary of her own underground talk show, “ReW & WhO?”

Rew Starr’s quirky two-hour internet show, blending live musical performances and interviews, tapes in the back room of Otto’s Shrunken Head (and occasionally at Branded Saloon in Prospect Heights) most Wednesdays. Next week, to mark two years, there will be special shows at Otto’s on Monday and Bowery Electric on Tuesday.

The Warholian premise of “ReW & WhO?” is that each guest receives 15 minutes of fame (literally). The guests are a broad spectrum of East Village talent ranging from drag queens to lounge acts to published authors to museum curators.

Wide-eyed and with boundless energy, Rew resembles a glam-rock Vargas pin-up. Not one to interview her subjects with measured indifference, she has a knack for getting them to admit their follies, true loves, and addictions. She’s gotten Richie Ramone to talk about his former backstage urinary antics and present love of gardening, and Angie Bowie (former wife of David) to confirm whether Keith Richards did, in fact, write “Angie” for her. Not bad for a 15-minute segment. Read more…

The circus is in full swing over on East 10th Street near University Place, where Alec Baldwin clashed with the paparazzi camped outside of his apartment building. The New York Post has video of a sandal-wearing Mr. Baldwin getting in the face of a photographer for Splash and saying, “You little girl,” before stalking into his building with a pink stuffed animal under his arm. Later he reportedly barreled through the gaggle of shutterbugs on his bicycle. Mr. Baldwin’s wedding to yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas is tomorrow, so expect the conflict to continue.

Melissa Cronin

On Wednesday, the last day of school, dozens of students hung up their Gone Fishin’ signs – literally. Along the East River esplanade, kids of various ages tried out their angling skills at a fishing clinic hosted by the Lower East Side Ecology Center.

“Our goal with fishing clinics is to get people down here to learn about the river,” said Daniel Tainow, the center’s educational director. “We want to teach people that there are things they can do to help protect the quality of the river.”

While kids threw back anything they hooked, a little further up the river, near the Williamsburg Bridge, it was a different story.

“I eat whatever I catch,” said Wilfredo Castro, one of several East Village residents who lounged by their fishing poles. He fishes on the river almost every day. “The ecosystem is healthy. That’s why the fish like it,” he said. Read more…

Sarah DarvilleProtesters on the steps of City Hall this morning.

The protesters have arrived in full force at City Hall, and so has Mayor Bloomberg and Matthew Broderick: it’s time to settle in for the City Council hearing on N.Y.U. 2031 – the final one before council members vote on the fate of the school’s expansion plan in Greenwich Village. Follow us on Twitter or stay parked right here as we update in real-time from what is sure to be a marathon meeting. If there’s a lull in the action and you want to brush up on what all this hoopla is about, you can review our Expansion Explainers. Otherwise, without further ado…

Sarah Darville Donna Schaper, Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church, at left.

Local residents and N.Y.U. faculty members gathered this evening in a garden that will be demolished if the university’s expansion plan is approved. During a mock funeral scheduled a day before a critical City Council hearing about N.Y.U. 2031, they lamented the loss of trees and the displacement of wildlife due to construction, and shared memories of a leafy retreat where they had meditated and played with their children.

Tucked between the two towers of the Washington Square Village superblock, Sasaki Garden has a low profile in the neighborhood. That lends itself to peace and quiet, neighbors said — but it also makes their fight to save the park more difficult.

Jan Blustein, professor of health policy and medicine at N.Y.U., was saddened at the prospect of the destruction of what she said had been a “beloved resource” for her and her family. “I had such a great experience living here and being a young faculty member here, and I’d hate for faculty to not have that opportunity in the future,” she said. Read more…

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

People’s Pops just got some competition: An Icy Introduction, a shaved ice stand that popped up on Lafayette Street last month, just started selling SnoPops, packaged snoballs that go for $5 a pair and $20 a dozen.

Kafi Dublin, the stand’s owner, creates her snoballs by pouring handfuls of ice into an ice shaver that shreds it into small bits. Then she pours sweet syrup, made with organic Muscovado sugar, on the ice cup and adds toppings like sweet condensed milk, caramel sauce, and marshmallow cream.

SnoPops are packaged in plastic tubes, much like supermarket ice pops. “They’re a portable version,” she said. “You can put them in the freezer and eat them later.” Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba A new awning over the Fat Sal’s space.

Benny’s Burritos is expanding into its onetime takeout space. Al Landess, a manager at the Mexicali spot on Avenue A said the restaurant let go of the next-door nook several years ago for rent-related reasons, and it became Fat Sal’s Pizza. “When the pizza place left,” he said, “we decided to jump on it again.” Mr. Landess said he hoped to expand into the space and add more tables within a month.

You may have also noticed on Community Board 3’s July agenda that Croxley’s Ales plans to inform the SLA & DCA Licensing committee of an alteration at its July 16 meeting. The agenda notes an “expanding space,” but a manager at the restaurant knew nothing of plans to expand. We’ll let you know if we hear more.

The Villager scored a tour of the five-story mansion that accommodates one lucky family at 47 East Third Street, and boy does it sound like a palace. Where once were 15 rent-regulated apartments, now sits a two-story “airy living room,” a wrestling room, a room for a live-in nanny, a room for the building’s security system, and “an upside-down river” of re-purposed wooden beams that serves as a ceiling sculpture. Even Mosaic Man plans to do one of his signature designs on the exterior of the building. The Economakis family waged a controversial battle to oust tenants in the building beginning in 2003. Eventually, nine holdout tenants took buyouts that averaged $70,000, according to the paper.

Melvin Felix Edgar Villongco

Edgar Villongco dreamed of opening a cafe on East 12th Street, a couple of blocks from his home, where locals could enjoy a traditional Swiss dish, similar to fondue, with a glass of white wine. But this week, he opened a scooter shop, Urban Motion, in the spot where New York Raclette would’ve been.

So what happened? Mr. Villongco had his cafe at 508 East 12th Street, in the former Jubb’s Longevity space, all planned out: a chef de partie at Cafe Boulud would craft the raclette, a dish consisting of melted cheese scraped from the wheel and served with meat and potatoes; a former employee of Danny Meyer’s Tabla would help with the menu and the wine selection. A Website, which The Local linked to in March, promised “a relaxing cafe experience.”

“I had a good team but obviously it didn’t work out that way,” Mr. Villongco said. “Some people spoke out against having another liquor license on this street and I heard them loud and clear.” Read more…

Sarah Darville

Sarah Darville

Iconic Hand Rolls isn’t the only takeout joint that’s new to the neighborhood: an empanadas spot will host its grand opening tonight, days after quietly soft-opening on East Ninth Street.

Empanadas Bar makes a bold claim on its menu, as you can see below: “We only use organic or local farmer market products.”

“The idea was that New York doesn’t have good empanadas,” said owner Juan Tourn. “Here, everything’s fresh.”

He and another cook, Efrain Sosa, left Novecento, an Argentinian restaurant in SoHo, after Mr. Tourn spent a year dreaming of opening his own small place. Deciding what to serve at Empanada Bar was easy, he said, since he’d been making empanadas for decades, first in Argentina (where he got his dough recipe) and then in Spain.

Will this newcomer fill the void that Ruben’s Empanadas left when it closed on First Avenue? Find out for yourself: tonight’s grand opening starts at 6 p.m. Read more…

Cyn Darling Scenes like this at Sutra Lounge may soon be a thing of the past.

Community Board 3’s agenda for July just landed in The Local’s inbox, and the most striking item is a possible new operator in Sutra Lounge.

Reached by telephone, club owner and Community Board 3 member Ariel Palitz said that negotiations are ongoing with the company that may take over, Golden C Hospitality Inc, and that she’d added her business to the agenda so as not to miss a deadline for this month’s meeting.

“If they don’t accept the offer it’s probably going to be withdrawn,” said Ms. Palitz, who expected that negotiations with the company would be concluded by early next week. For now, she would not go into further details.

A few other highlights include an appearance by the new operators in the Lakeside Lounge space, as well as a request for approval of a full liquor license at the new location of Nevada Smiths. (The soccer bar has appeared on the agenda for several months, only to be withdrawn.)

Stephen Rex Brown Blueprints for the CBGB in Times Square.

Some punk rock purists might roll their eyes at Tuesday’s announcement that the CBGB Festival will hold a “multi-stage” concert in hyper-commercialized Times Square. But before you go cracking a Disney-meets-Dead-Boys joke, consider this: a few years before the legendary club on the Bowery closed, founder Hilly Kristal was on the verge of reopening it in Times Square.

The new location wouldn’t have been a mere recreation of the club that fostered the likes of The Talking Heads, Television, Blondie and many others, either. Mr. Kristal planned to drastically expand it. Blueprints drawn up of 1540 Broadway, which are pictured above, hint at the scale of his ambition.

He aimed to demolish a four-screen movie theater next-door to the now-closed Virgin Megastore and make it a club. Given that the theaters could seat 1,626 people total, it is clear that Mr. Kristal was fine with CBGB — which by then had developed into the merchandising bonanza it is today — moving on from the dirty bathrooms, dingy bar and sorry speakers of the original location. Read more…

Mary Reinholz The Strand’s window.

Almost all of Nora Ephron’s books were sold out yesterday morning at The Strand, where a photo in the window depicted the literary dynamo posing with the bookshop’s owners, Fred Bass and Nancy Bass Wyden, during the filming of “Julie & Julia” there in 2008.

Today, a portrait of Ms. Ephron – a “writer and filmmaker with a genius for humor,” per The Times’s obituary – pops up on the The Strand’s Website when you search for her books, just two copies of which are said to be in stock (both are of her 2002 play, “Imaginary Friends”).

A clerk said the run on her novels (“Heartburn”), essay collections (“I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Reflections on Being a Woman,” “I Remember Nothing”) and screenplays (“When Harry Met Sally…”, “Julie & Julia”) started yesterday morning, after it was announced that she had died the previous night from pneumonia brought on by leukemia at 71. Classic collected essays from the 1970s like “Wallflower at an Orgy” and “Crazy Salad” were unavailable, but the store has put in orders for more. Employees at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square reported a similar shortage. Read more…