With this special edition, The Local presents the first of seven wild, winding, weekend walks through the seven years when this neighborhood was home to The East Village Other. EVO, as the weekly soon became known, began in the imagination of the late Walter Bowart, in his fourth-floor painter’s loft at Avenue B and Second Street. He was the sole creator of Issue No. 1, a broadside, or uncut proof sheet, that was folded into tabloid size. As readers unfolded it again, the pages faced all directions. Anyone with half an eye who happened to pass a Village newsstand that October of 1965, could see that Mr. Bowart was far ahead of others in grasping the real potential of the revolution in printing techniques just getting underway: the move from costly metal plates, professional printers, and “hot type” to paper, scissors and rubber cement. Cold type — offset printing — did more than lower the bar to entry; it provided whole new means of expression in graphics and text.

By Issue No. 2, the East Village Other had a team of publishers and actual papers of incorporation. By Issue No. 3, it had its own storefront office on Avenue A between Ninth and Tenth Streets, just across from Tompkins Square Park. In 1968, Bill Graham bartered concert ads for office space on the third floor of his new Fillmore East, giving EVO daily access to the concert hall’s all-important back stairwell and the stars of rock ‘n’ roll.

By the time the Fillmore closed in 1971, EVO’s end was not far behind. It had moved to new offices on the 11th floor of 20 East 12th Street, and then to a back store room of the Law Commune offices at 640 Broadway. There, as word surfaced that, owing to unpaid bills, city marshals were coming to seize whatever assets might be, the young Charlie Frick, alone in the office with Coca Crystal, scooped up all and sundry, boxed up the files, commandeered his family truck and then hauled it all to his mother’s barn in Passaic County, N.J. There it would remain unmolested for the next few decades.

In anticipation of The Local’s exhibition “Blowing Minds: The East Village Other, the Rise of Underground Comix and the Alternative Press, 1965-72,” we asked Mr. Frick to dive back into the bounty, now variously housed in a storage unit and at his home in Montclair, N.J. Choice selections from the ephemera and artifacts he and others have unearthed will be among items to be featured.

The Local has something from the annals, too. The items in Mr. Frick’s collection included the following undated typescript that must have come into his possession at some point at least a decade after EVO’s demise. It is a xerox of a proposal for a book to be titled “The Best of the East Village Other.” Its cover page attributes it to the late Allen Katzman (most likely the proposal’s author) and the well-known creative consultant and book and magazine designer, J.C. Suares. The late Mr. Katzman, a poet and longtime publisher of EVO, was, along with Mr. Bowart and Dan Rattiner, a signatory to the founding papers. Who better than he to start us out?

Read more…

Ken Collins Ken Urban, the man behind “Fizz Play.”

Even playwrights have to take a breather every once in a while.

Six writers working intensely on full-length plays over the course of 18 weeks will relax on Monday through freewheeling 10-minute productions riffing off of the word “fizz.”

“We find that everyone has a good time taking a break in their full-length play process and quickly conceiving these 10-minute plays. It’s like a writing exercise where you get a prompt and just go with it,” said Jessi Hill, who is directing the aptly titled “Fizz Play” by Ken Urban.

Each year, the terraNova Collective selects one word from a long list of homophones and gives it to their playwrights-in-residence. Last year, the word was “bug.” In 2010, it was “speed.”
Read more…

The embattled art space Gathering of the Tribes gets the “Place of the Month” treatment on Place Matters. The website recounts founder Steve Cannon’s heyday as a professor by day and “professional heckler” at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe by night. “The man is the space is the art is the man,” according to the profile, which also addresses recent landlord troubles. Mr. Cannon and his followers remain optimistic despite the looming legal showdown: “It seems that many, including Cannon, believe that he may have the last word.”

The Times reviews “Fug You,” Ed Sanders’s recently published ’60s memoir about his time as frontman of the Fugs and owner of the Peace Eye Bookstore in the East Village. “His interest in chaos always had a firm limit, for himself and for others,” writes Ben Ratliff. “Probably that’s why he’s alive, and why we can read this funny, instructive, nourishing book.” Mr. Sanders, who spoke with The Local last month, is due to appear at our event, “Blowing Minds: The East Village Other, the Rise of Underground Comix and the Alternative Press, 1965-72.”

From 1965 to 1972, it revolutionized ‘The Good News,’ and shook the foundations of the existing print and visual media. After seven years, it went just as it came – in a hail of livingness. In true American phantasmagoria, it was a legend in its own time.

Initiated by poets, painters, artists, seers, perverts and prophets, it shared its pages with the likes of Buckminster Fuller, Timothy Leary, Robert Crumb, Ishmael Reed, Allen Ginsberg, Lenny Bruce, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Baba Ram Das, Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman  – the conspiracy of the 1960s.

The East Village Other had a consciousness which was created. The News needing a shoe-up to come alive was new to an unconscious civilization. It was more than Print, it was Imprint. An indelible biologue, the East Village Other made even The New York Times seem to come alive. Headlines, columns, advertisements, propaganda and prosletyzing made the “form of the newspaper an adjunct of reality . . .”

The above was written by the late Allen Katzman, poet and co-founding editor of the East Village Other, one of the pioneering underground newspapers. Over the next six weeks, The Local will journey back to the East Village of the mid-1960s and early 1970s with special weekend editions, culminating in an exhibit and party on Tuesday, Feb. 28. We hope you’ll join us for “Blowing Minds: The East Village Other, the Rise of Underground Comix and the Alternative Press, 1965-72.” Full registration details for this free event are at EastVillageOther.org, where you’ll soon also be able to find archival material, ephemera, photographs, and EVO issues. Read more…

Last month, The Local reported that Mary Help of Christians was on the market, as its congregation had dwindled to about 70 people. Meanwhile, on St. Marks Place, a church that came back from the brink of closing is, if not thriving, at least surviving. Father Krizolog Cimerman, who 19 years ago was charged with closing St. Cyril’s Church but works there to this day, said that 200 worshippers attended Christmas Eve mass last month. Two months prior, 150 people had celebrated the church’s 95th anniversary. But on Christmas Day and New Years, only 20 to 30 people showed – evidence that the Slovenian community that has long frequented the church is in a state of transition.

Slovenia, a small country of just 2 million people, separated from the former Yugoslav in 1991 and adopted the Euro in 2004. The land is coveted by tourists and locals alike, as sea, mountains, and vineyards can all be seen within the same afternoon. Because of its size, Slovenia had been occupied by just about every European country, from the Holy Roman Empire onward. Slovenians who migrated to countries such as Canada, Australia, and the United States starting in the mid 1800s made it a priority to retain their culture and language to pass along to future generations. This can certainly be said of the ones who ended up in New York, many of whom have considered the Church of St. Cyril a home away from home.

The brownstone church is long and narrow, with just enough room to fit one pew on either side of an aisle that can only accommodate two people standing side-by-side. American and Slovenian flags flank a modest altar overlooked by a large stained glass depiction of St. Cyril. There are no altar servers and often no choir. On a recent morning, however, five men descended from a loft for communion. Each donned a pair of slippers like the ones kept in every Slovenian home for guests and residents alike (cold feet is a fate worse than death).

Each Sunday after mass, members of the small parish stay and chat with each other in their native tongue – a tradition stemming not from their homeland, but that developed as Slovenians began moving further away from each other and seeing each other less frequently. A single pot of coffee is enough for everyone to have a small cup or two, as many Slovenians take theirs with mostly milk. Tins of homemade cookies are spread across a table.

“This is not only a church, but a cultural center as well,” said Father Cimerman. Read more…

Taylor Mead with Wesley Eisold

This week, you can admire the many facets of the Warhol superstar whose Ludlow Street apartment of 32 years is the subject of the 2005 documentary “Excavating Taylor Mead.”

The week begins with Mr. Mead showing off his usual poetic erudition at his regular Monday night readings at The Bowery Poetry Club.

On Thursday, Mr. Mead’s painterly skills will be on display at an opening at Churner and Churner Gallery. The show will feature new drawings from his “Fairy Tale Poem” series, which appeared in the 2006 Whitney Biennial, along with paintings including his portraits of Warhol and Garbo. Be on the lookout for the vestiges of Warhol superstars as Mr. Mead adds to the opening festivities with a reading at 7 p.m.

On Saturday, close out your Taylor Mead week by viewing several of the films that earned him a spot in the pantheon of underground film stars. Churner and Churner will screen Andy Warhol films featuring Mr. Mead, including “Lonesome Cowboys” and the rarely seen “Taylor Mead’s Ass,” along with several of the actor’s home movies. The films will be followed by a Q & A.

“The Taylor Mead Show” at Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery; (212) 614-0505; bowerypoetryclub.com. Monday, 6:30 p.m.

“Taylor Mead” at Churner and Churner, 205 Tenth Avenue, (212) 675-2750; churnerandchurner.com. Jan. 12 to Feb. 18.

Gabrielle Lipton A performance at the Moldy Fig.

After opening in May, the Moldy Fig quickly made a mark on the East Village-Lower East Side jazz scene. By booking both highly regarded veterans like Bertha Hope and swashbuckling newcomers like Zachary Lipton, it revived a local tradition of mainstream jazz clubs with an openness to experimentation. But on Nov. 23, a posting on the club’s Facebook page announced that Charles Brown, the owner, was ill and in the hospital, and the club would be closed while he recuperated.

It’s uncertain when the Fig will reopen, but its closure puts venues like Mona’s, The Stone, and Nublu at the center of the jazz scene in the East Village – a neighborhood that has often been overlooked in the conventional histories of New York City jazz, but has played a vital role. Read more…

Daniel Maurer East Village Meat Market

At the East Village Meat Market on Second Avenue, tiny firs, pots of poinsettias and ringing bells greet customers gearing up to celebrate the birth of Christ on Jan. 7 (which corresponds with Dec. 25 in the Julian calendar) – evidence that in the neighborhood once known as Little Ukraine, Christmas is coming.

Andrew Ilnicki, the store’s 50-year-old manager, spoke as customers shopped for smoked meats, breads, borscht mixes, pierogi, and jellied pigs’ feet. “On Christmas Eve,” he said, meaning Jan. 6, “people serve non-meat food, which can be dairy; a lot of fish; and kutya, which is a pearled wheat with poppy seeds.”

“You can make kutya richer with honey and walnuts and raisins,” he said, describing one of 12 dishes that make up a traditional Ukrainian Christmas Eve supper. “On Christmas, there will be hams. They’re very popular with people. We cure them, smoke them, bake them and sell them.” Read more…

“Smash,” the NBC show starring Anjelica Huston that filmed at Cafe Orlin in September and on the Bowery in November, is back in the neighborhood. Flyers indicate that vehicles parked on the following streets must skedaddle by 10 p.m. tonight (okay, the word “skedaddle” wasn’t used): East 12th between Third and Fourth Avenues, plus part of the block between Second and Third Avenues; Third Avenue between East 12th and East 10th Streets; and East 11th Street between Second and Third Avenues, plus the north side of the block between Third and Fourth Avenues. Expect to see lights, cameras, and action tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Patti Smith completes a trio of local performances tonight with a reading from her recently released book, “Woolgathering,” at the St Mark’s Bookshop.

On Saturday, the writer and musician, who had turned 65 the previous day, helped rock in the New Year at her fourteenth annual series of concerts at the Bowery Ballroom, where it was announced that she was ending what had become a tradition. “It’s just time to move on,” said Lenny Kaye, her longtime lead guitarist and collaborator.

The next day, she joined a lengthy roster of poets at the 38th annual St. Mark’s Poetry Project New Years Day Marathon Reading. Last February, she marked the fortieth anniversary of her first reading at the venue by returning for a rousing event.

Tonight at the St Mark’s Bookshop, she’ll read from “Woolgathering,” her phantasmagorical record of episodes from her distant past. Much of this new edition was originally published in 1992, as part of Hanuman Press’ influential series of miniature books. The event starts at 7 p.m.; if you’re hoping to get in and snag a signed copy, you better get there early.

Stephen Rex Brown

After abruptly shuttering during the summer and moving its parties to the basement of Lucky Cheng’s, Nublu will reopen at its original Avenue C location, serving beer and wine rather than hard liquor.

E-mailing from Sweden, Nublu’s owner, Ilhan Ersahin, said that the club would reopen tonight at 62 Avenue C and will once again operate from 8 p.m. till 4 a.m. nightly, but will now host earlier shows at lower volumes. He described the new operation as “less clubby style,” with “more wine/lounge/art/talky kinda vibes,” and said that finger food would be served. He added that there would be “more acoustic-friendly nights, neighborhood-style, with an international touch” in keeping with his record label. Read more…

As Mars Bar disappears, an artist who lived across the street from the dive and was regularly featured on its walls is honoring its memory by selling t-shirts. Last year, Sergey Aniskov marked Christmas at Mars Bar by painting a mural of a booze-swilling anarchist Santa Claus (see it below). This year, he has printed the image on limited-edition t-shirts that are going for $22.99 on eBay and will also be sold, said the artist, at Reason Clothing at 436 East Ninth Street.

“I was a regular at Mars Bar for ten years,” said Mr. Aniskov, 41, who came to New York from Moscow in the 1990s and now works at Animation Collective. “It was the place where you went when you were really having problems. You knew you’d find good company and get good feedback from the real people and the real East Village. I felt like I had to do this as a memory.” Read more…

G.V.S.H.P. The Gathering of the Tribes building.

The landlord of Gathering of the Tribes says she will now make good on her longstanding threat to send the freewheeling artistic space into exile.

The relationship between Steve Cannon, the blind poet who founded Tribes, and his landlord, Lorraine Zhang, seems to have been contentious virtually from the moment he sold the building at 285 East Third Street to her in 2005 for $1.2 million.

The space regularly hosts gallery openings and music shows; a magazine is put together there, as well. But all the foot traffic, artistic exploration and revelry comes at a price Ms. Zhang says she can’t afford.

“My attorney is going to send him a notice that he must remove all the events from the building or remove himself,” she said. Read more…

A former D.J. is working on a documentary that she hopes will give voice to the “trailblazers and self-proclaimed misfits” that made up 1980s nightlife culture.

Sheba Lane came of age between her mother’s apartment in the South Bronx and her father’s place on East Third Street. She left the East Village in 2009 after her family had been in the neighborhood for 70 years, but she’s now producing a film that she hopes will harken back to an era when Tompkins Square Park “looked like war-torn Beirut” and when at Pyramid Club nearby “every square inch was packed with power.”

In a video promoting the “Fifteen Minutes Project” on fundraising site Indie GoGo, Walter Cessna, a writer, stylist, and photographer, recalls how “in 1981 you couldn’t walk past First Avenue without being in a posse of ten people.” Belinda Becker, an activist and dancer, remembers a time when “the East Village was filled with all these strange, crazy characters that were completely inspiring.” Read more…

Video games aren’t just sold in the East Village, they’re also set in it! The Lo-Down reprints a piece that originally appeared on Review Fix, about video game designer Dave Gilbert. The East Village native has created games like “The Shivah” (it’s set mostly in coffeehouses in Tribeca and the East Village and “follows a grieving Rabbi around the Lower East Side in an effort to save his struggling synagogue”) and “The Blackwell Saga,” which “follows a psychic detective and her spirit guide all over the East Village solving mysteries.”

Photos: Noah Fecks.

On the northern fringes of Avenue A, an intriguing storefront stands out amidst the taverns, slice joints, and coffee shops. Its façade is blank except for a built-in 1950s-style television that for years has played loops of video art, and its front door is usually open into the wee hours of the morning, offering a view into a cluttered wonderland of doll’s heads, figurines, dioramas, paint tubes, disco balls, 3-D artwork – even a tank of mice.

“What is this place?”, many a bar-crawler has asked.

For twenty years, 202 Avenue A has been the workplace of M. Henry Jones, an artist and animator who, among other things, is on a quest to advance and computerize a form of 3-D photography that was pioneered in the late 1950s but has now fallen mostly out of favor. Next month, he’ll have to vacate the studio, as new tenant has offered to pay nearly four times his rent. Read more…

At an opening at The Hole this evening, Lola Montes Schnabel (daughter of artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel) will present what’s described as her first solo painting exhibition in the United States, “Love Before Intimacy.” Earlier this month, Danny Gold, a contributor to The Local, followed The Hole’s charismatic founder, Kathy Grayson, as she showed off Ms. Schnabel’s paintings at the N.A.D.A Art Fair in Miami Beach.

Lauryn Brooke Kathy Grayson.

While the big-money crowd flocked to Art Basel in Miami Beach earlier this month, a crew of downtown New York upstarts gravitated toward a younger alternative. At the N.A.D.A. Art Fair, the names on the gallery walls weren’t as well known, but the faces were familiar to anyone who had spent a good amount of time at Max Fish. (The art bar on Ludlow Street is just a handful of blocks from The New Art Dealers Alliance’s offices on Chrystie Street.)

Kathy Grayson, 31, owner of the Hole, was one such familiar face. Her gallery at 312 Bowery leads the pack of D.I.Y. art spaces that have recently opened up downtown. Raised in Washington, D.C., the Dartmouth graduate got her start as a receptionist at Deitch Projects, a duo of SoHo spaces that were among the most influential galleries of the last decade.

After Jeffrey Deitch left Manhattan to run the M.O.C.A. in Los Angeles, Ms. Grayson set off on her own. Her new gallery has hosted an impressive array of up-and-coming artists as well as its share of debaucherous opening parties.

N.A.D.A. was no different: Ms. Grayson produced four big events during the long weekend, and sold art out of two identical booths staffed by Dee and Ricky Jackson, the wunderkind designers for Marc Jacobs who happen to be twins. The name of the stands? “Déjà-Booth.” Read more…

Noah Fecks East 10th Street. Ben Shaoul’s building is one over from right.

The developer that spurred the Landmarks Preservation Commission to expedite a public hearing for a proposed historic district on East 10th Street said today that the designation would not affect his plans for a building on the block along Tompkins Square Park.

“It doesn’t make a difference if it’s landmarked or not — we’re going to comply with whatever is set forth by the governing parties,” said Ben Shaoul, who recently bought the building at 315 East 10th Street. “We intend to fully restore the façade to its original state, anyway.”

It was Mr. Shaoul’s application with the Department of Buildings to build a rooftop addition to the property that garnered the attention of the Commission, which is considering protecting the exteriors of the 26 buildings on the north side of Tompkins Square Park. By law, the Commission can fast-track the landmarks process if proposed renovations to a property would affect the historic aesthetic of a district up for consideration. Read more…