While Martin Scorsese’s upcoming project, “Wolf on Wall Street,” makes headlines, one of the director’s early classics, “Mean Streets,” is also back in the public eye, as it was finally released on Blu-ray last month.

The 1973 film was set mostly in the Little Italy (the gang’s seedy clubhouse was at 23 Cleveland Place), but it has its East Village moments, too: in one scene, a squeegee man annoys Charlie (Harvey Keitel) and Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) while they’re stopped at Bowery and Bleecker Street. When the light turns, they glide past 310 Bowery, which was then Bowery Lumber Co. and is now Crime Scene Bar and Lounge.

As it turns out, another scene is tied to the neighborhood, as well. During a 25th anniversary screening at Film Forum in 1998, Scorsese revealed that the pool-hall brawl was based on an actual incident on Sixth Street and Second Avenue.

In this video of that talk – newly edited for The Local to include footage from the film – the director reveals that he and his star, Robert De Niro, first met when they were 16 years old, when Scorsese was growing up a stone’s throw from the East Village. Read more…

With the Republican National Convention underway in Tampa, Fla., photographer Matthew Kraus shares some thoughts and images of a convention that hit closer to home.

The few years following 9/11 were an interesting time in New York City. There seemed to be a closeness among New Yorkers that only such an event could foster. And there was certainly more than a little dissatisfaction in what our government was doing, partially in the name of that day. So when the Republican Party chose New York as the location of its convention during its 2004 bid to reelect Bush, there was a sizable amount of protest in all the usual places (the U.N., City Hall, Wall Street, etc.). Meanwhile in and around the East Village, I started noticing more and more signs, posters and predominantly stickers.

In those days, I would walk my then three-year-old to school from 14th Street and Avenue C to Second Street and Avenue A, and if I took a different route every day, I could photograph no less than 20 unique versions of these “protests.” They went up with shocking volume and speed and ranged from direct confrontation with Bush, to specific 9/11 references; from general rejection of the Republican Party to actual calls for action. Read more…

Soon after 90s post-hardcore band Quicksand took the stage Friday night for its first hometown show in about 15 years, a half-dozen beers had flown into the air. Bowery Ballroom had never felt so full: virtually the entire audience consisted of men in their 30s and 40s, weighing over 200 pounds.

The mix of metalheads and current and former hardcore guys might have looked like a recipe for the sort of beef that erupted between current and former members of the Cro-Mags at the CBGB Festival last month. But the opening bass notes of “Omission” brought on 90 minutes of rapture. From the balcony to the mosh pit, the entire ballroom pulsed and popped as fans yelled and sang along, arms in the air. They were celebrating the return of a band that broke up in its prime in the late 90s, after touring with acts like Helmet and Rage Against the Machine but never achieving similar breakout success.

After a surprise reunion last month in California, Quicksand had announced two shows: one at Bowery Ballroom and another the next night at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Both sold out in minutes. Rumors of a full reunion came after an appearance on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” this week. Read more…

Before it’s time to pack up those summer whites, enjoy the fine arts along with some fine weather this weekend.

Saturday and Sunday: FringeAL FRESCO
East Fourth Street between Bowery and Second Avenue, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The Fringe Fest comes to a close this weekend, but not before two more days of free outdoor entertainment on Fourth Arts Block. At 1 p.m. each day, watch “Jack and the Corporate Beanstalk,” an interactive play by the Occupy Wall Street Puppetry Guild. The free theater goes into the evening, with the block’s restaurants pulling their tables into the street for al fresco dining.

Saturday and Sunday: “Jason and the Argonauts: Tales from the Argonautica”
East River Park Bandshell, between Cherry and Jackson Streets, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
This adaptation of the “Argonautica,” the Greek epic poem in which protagonist Jason searches for the “Golden Fleece” and falls in love with the sorceress Medea, will likely be a trip. The Faux-Real Theater Company promises “bouzoukis (Greek guitars), drummers, platform shoes, and a chariot full of masks and flashy costumes far from the white togas we’ve come to expect from ‘the classics’ of the past.” Read more…

Melvin Felix

Stephen Rex Brown A peak inside Mr. Carmellini’s new restaurant
on Lafayette Street.

Does Mayor Bloomberg have an East Village trip penciled into his schedule?

A spokesperson for Joe’s Pub let slip that the mayor would be attending a ribbon-cutting at the Public Theater on Oct. 4. In a subsequent e-mail she said she couldn’t confirm Mr. Bloomberg’s attendance (mayoral plans are fickle, after all), but it’s clear the re-dedication ceremonies are going to have some star power. The theater broke ground on what was expected to be a $40 million renovation project in March. Earlier this month, ArtsBeat reported that the Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust, founded by the parents of Eliot Spitzer, gave $4 million to the theater.

It’s uncertain whether Andrew Carmellini’s hotly anticipated mezzanine lounge, The Library, will be in full swing for the celebrations, which come exactly a year after an upgraded Joe’s Pub reopened; the chef didn’t respond to an e-mail inquiry. This week, Eater reported The Library would open in the second week of October.

Just one block south on Lafayette Street, work continues on Mr. Carmellini’s somewhat mysterious French restaurant in the former Chinatown Brassiere space, as you can see in a photo we snapped earlier this week.

YouTube

Police officers were mobilized to Webster Hall shortly before 8:30 p.m. last night when a large crowd lined up for “Summer Madness 2,” a series of rap battles that drew hip-hop stars Lloyd Banks, Busta Rhymes, and Q-Tip as spectators. “I’m on line,” tweeted one attendee. “East 12th st…the venue is on east 11th…do the math on how many ppl are here.”

According to XXL and a flurry of Twitter reports, none other than Sean “Diddy” Combs took the stage to offer $10,000 in cash to the winner of one of the battles.

If you missed that special appearance, know that the anti-Diddy, singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt, will be involved in the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop’s first-anniversary festivities on Sept. 3. A tweet promises, “Preparation for shop’s 1 yr anniversary party are going great! Fun at shop, webcasts by @MrDaveHill, Stephin of @TheMagFields, more. Sept 3!”

The luckiest guy on the Lower East Side previously dropped by the ice cream shop’s Festivus celebration and has been known to rock a Big Gay Ice Cream t-shirt on stage with the Magnetic Fields.

If you enjoyed the trailer for Dirt Candy’s new book, you might also dig this one. In it, longtime East Village bartender Ethan H. Minsker reads from his memoir, “Barstool Prophets,” while paper cutouts reenact his move as a naive college graduate to a sketchy apartment at 47 Avenue B. (“There used to be an illegal gambling joint below us,” Mr. Minsker writes on the book’s Facebook page. “I once saw a guy stumble out who had just been stabbed in the gut. Blood was everywhere.”) The video brings fresh life to the old “crack vials were always underfoot” cliché, but be warned: the scene depicting bums on every corner is about as gross as paper cutouts get outside of South Park.

You’ve probably seen stickers advertising “Barstool Prophets” around the neighborhood (the video is new, but the book was published last year); if they’ve piqued your curiosity, here‘s an excerpt in which the author recalls pouring drinks in the days following 9/11.

Back Forty is going to the beach, and the surf and sand is coming to the East Village, as well.

John Sullivan, a composer and sound designer for the Temporary Distortion theater company, is trying his hand at projection bombing, under the name John Sully. On Aug. 16, 19, 25, and 26, from about 9 p.m. to midnight, he’ll project sand and waves onto the sidewalk outside of the iconic wall at Ideal Glass.

Mr. Sullivan captured the beach footage (that’s a still of it in the flyer) while vacationing on an island off of Vancouver. “I shot the scene and I came home and was like, ‘Wow this is vivid. It’s so good. I wonder if I can do it on the street.'” And that he will, with a sound installation to match. And unlike the swimming pool in Union Square, you can jump right in – by walking atop the virtual beach on Second Street, between Bowery and Second Avenue. “Your shadow adds to it,” said Mr. Sullivan.

Between this and the forthcoming Patagonia Surf store, the East Village just gets beachier by the day.

Blackbird, the bar that was set to fill the former Lakeside Lounge space next week, will be opening a little earlier than expected, according to Maria Devitt, the longtime CBGBs bartender who’s a managing partner. The one and only Jonathan Toubin, of the popular “New York Night Train” parties, will spin sounds from the 60s on Sunday.

As previously mentioned, the new bar won’t have live music. If that’s got you bummed, check out footage that hit Vimeo yesterday, of Jim Keller – best known for scoring a hit, “867-5309/Jenny,” with the band Tommy Tutone – performing his own song, “Soul Candy,” during Lakeside’s final days.

In light of this week’s news that Big City Records will close, it seems especially important to appreciate the East Village’s record stores. In the latest installment of What’s That You’re Playing?, Michael Stasiak tells us what’s on the system at Other Music.

Dan Glass Kirk-Jones Quintet at University of the Streets

The boycott of University of the Streets is over, a group of musicians announced in a statement posted by Brooklyn Vegan today. But it’s not necessarily back to business as usual for the jazz venue: its director, Saadia Salahuddeen, said it would likely head in a new musical direction in the coming months to help pay the bills.

“I’ve always supported the musicians that can’t get paying gigs, who are more improvisational, experimental, and given them a place to play,” Ms. Salahuddeen told The Local. Moving forward, she said, “We will service another community of musicians, change our focus to another group that needs attention.”

That shift is a result of ongoing financial pressures on the nonprofit performance space and a result of the negotiations between University and a coalition of musicians represented by the Local 802 union. As part of the agreement that brought the boycott to a close, the venue will end its “pay-to-play” policy, which required bands to pay a fee if too few paying customers came to see their show. Read more…

Time for the latest installment of What’s That You’re Playing?, where we ask a clerk at one of the neighborhood’s record stores to tell us what’s spinning. This week: Cory Feierman of Academy Records.

Congrats to M. Henry Jones: after launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund his trippy brand of 3D portraiture, the artist and animator reached his $11,000 goal yesterday. Among those who backed the project were East Village art-scene fixtures like Ann Magnuson and Amos Poe, plus (full disclosure) the author of this post. Meanwhile, over at Lucky Ant, the St. Mark’s Bookshop has secured a little over $5,000 of the $23,000 it hopes to raise for its relocation. (Full disclosure: The Local’s Stephen Rex Brown supported the store the old-fashioned way today, by going in and buying a book. “The Art of Fielding,” if you’re wondering.)

Alan Yuch

Two weeks after members of the Cro-Mags were allegedly stabbed by the band’s former bassist, hardcore returned to Webster Hall as Give Up the Ghost performed a pair of sold-out shows.

The Boston band (still known to many as American Nightmare or A.N., though a copyright suit forced them to change the name in 2002) kept Webster Hall’s bouncers on their toes Friday and Saturday. “Things were a little tighter security-wise,” said guitarist Brian Masek. “Hardcore isn’t always violent, but it’s dark, aggressive music, so it brings out a certain element.”

Indeed, the mosh pit was hundreds strong as vocalist Wes Eisold, who also leads synth-goth act Cold Cave, belted out the honest, poetic lyrics that have inspired a generation of tattooed hardcore kids. Read more…

Courtesy Leigh Stein

At 7:30 tonight, Leigh Stein, a novelist and former editorial staffer at the New Yorker, will read from her new book of poetry, “Dispatch from the Future,” at Bar on A. We spoke to the Brooklynite about bad dates in the East Village and an awkward shopping trip to the St. Mark’s Bookshop.

The trailer for your new poetry collection begins, “I can’t go to the East Village anymore…” How do you feel about coming back to the neighborhood for your book reading?

I love the neighborhood but I avoided it for years because it brought back weird, painful memories. Now I’ve grown up a bit, and can enjoy life again. Bar on A is actually one of my favorite bars in the area. I had a “Where the Wild Things Are”-themed birthday party there a few years ago. I wore a faux fur stole. Read more…

The blog of the Museum Of The City Of New York has a nice examination of the Bowery since the days when it was known as “Bowerij Road” and thought of as “an idyllic countryside.” Photos from the late 1800s through 1946 capture the thoroughfare’s oft-romanticized days as skid row, when a bar nicknamed Paresis Hall referenced the symptoms of late-stage Syphilis. The blog notes that the Bowery of today bears little resemblance to the 20th century version, but that’s shouldn’t come as a shock: “Even as early as 1905, the New York Times was lamenting the death of the Bowery.” The one thing missing from the post? A soundtrack provided by Poor Baby Bree.

Time for the latest installment of What’s That You’re Playing?, where we ask a clerk at one of the neighborhood’s record stores to tell us what’s spinning. This week, Mike Cobbs of A-1 Records helps a DJ pick out tunes for a five-hour set.

A tag photographed by one of our eagle-eyed community contributors, Scott Lynch, reveals plans for Tompkins Square Park riot reunions on July 29, and August 4 and 5. The former and latter dates correspond to Tompkins Square Park Live! events, which feature music, spoken word and other types of performance. Meanwhile, The Lo-Down brings word that the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars will headline a concern in the East River Park amphitheater on August 23.

Courtesy B. Dolan B. Dolan in full regalia.

This Sunday, the Church of Love and Ruin Tour returns to the East Village, bringing with it a kaleidoscopic array of acts ranging from independent rap sensation Sage Francis to a marching band to the gender-bending practitioners of sissy bounce. The tour’s headliner and mastermind, B. Dolan (Bernard Dolan), hopes to get the New York audience – “which can stereotypically be very stoic and non-responsive,” he said – wiling out with the help of a new host, a drag queen by the name of Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova. “I predict that she is about to become a hip-hop legend,” he told The Local, adding that “what she’s going to do to these audiences will be remembered by their children’s children.”

You heard it here first. Mr. Dolan recently sat down with us to discuss his East Village origins as well as the significance of bringing the tour back to where he got his start.

What inspired you to make a name for yourself in the East Village?

I grew up in an old mill town outside Providence, R.I., and hip-hop culture was nowhere near me really. I discovered rap via an older cousin, and then scavenged for what I could find. I knew shortly after that I wanted to be a writer-rapper and that my favorite hip-hop came from New York City. So that’s where I headed in 1999, as soon as I finished high school. I discovered the scene in the East Village and started performing there. Read more…