Good afternoon, East Village.

N.Y.U. Faculty Against the Sexton Plan tells The Local that on June 18 at the York Theater Workshop, Rev. Billy, E.L. Doctorow, David Amram, and others will perform at a fundraiser to fight NYU’s expansion. RSVP to nyu.fasp@gmail.com and pay $200 or whatever you can afford at the door.

Speaking of fundraisers, Neighborhoodr reminds us about a fundraiser for the Neighborhood School at Beauty and Essex that will allow attendees to “feel like a glamorous jet-setter instead of a tired ol’ parent” thanks in part to “FREE CHAMPAGNE IN THE BATHROOM!”, per the invite.

East Village Arts announces some of the raffle items that will be given away at Fourth Arts Block’s fundraiser at The Standard East Village (including tickets to Cirque du Soleil and The Daily Show) and also touts an upcoming performance at Duo: “Confessions of a Cuban Sex Addict” is a theatrical installation involving “actors, video, and smoke” by Michelango Alasa.

DNA Info writes about a new iPhone app that doubles as a theater performance and, according to its creator, is “is part scavenger hunt, part love story, part walking tour” of the Lower East Side.

Gathering of the Tribes announces that “Brain Melt, which opens tomorrow, will be “a rare glimpse into the secret worlds within the heads” of artists from Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Oakland.
Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

The Observer notes that Bret Easton Ellis’s apartment in the American Felt Building on East 12th Street (which has also been known to play host to Katie Holmes) is for rent. If you’ve got five grand a month to spare, there’s an open house Friday and Sunday.

DNA Info reports that Odetta Hartman, the daughter of Two Boots founder Phil Hartman, has recorded songs influenced in part by her time growing up with the pizza parlor, which she describes as “a gathering place where everyone could listen to music and eat funky food.” Ms. Hartman recently filmed a music video outside of her family home in the East Village, but admitted of the neighborhood, “It is not feasible for me to be here financially.”

East Village Arts raves about East Village Dance Project’s annual concert, featuring 10 performances by dancers ranging in age from four to 18. One ocean-inspired dance was set to the Talking Heads’ “Same As It Ever Was.”

Joonbug rounds up some cheap eats around St. Marks Place, including Mamouns and X’ian Famous Foods.

Chekmark Eats likes what it tastes at macrobiotic standby Souen: “You could eat here every night probably get something different with all the different combinations and still love it. Souen is your girl when you want reliable, feel-good ingredients.”

And a couple of religious moments: City by Cell posts a photo of some wooden Jesuses, and East Village Corner snaps a photo of a “Madonna” in Tompkins Square Park.

Melvin Felix

Good morning, East Village.

As you can see above, the construction team at 74-84 Third Avenue has fenced off the sidewalk on the corner of 12th Street and Third Avenue and construction on the nine-story apartment building designed by Karl Fischer is set to begin. Update | 11:25 a.m. We’ve updated our photo: a digger was on the scene this morning. Looks like construction has commenced.

A sign on the window of The Bean’s forthcoming location at 147 First Avenue and East Ninth Street indicates that it opens Thursday, and you can score a free coffee by downloading the Level Up app.

The Daily News endorses Nydia Velazquez for reelection, since “she has represented her district,” which includes part of the East Village, “as a reliable Democratic foot soldier while rising through the ranks in seniority — the most important attribute she now offers the city.” Read more…

Summer is a time for garden parties, rooftop views, and cocktails. If you can enjoy all that while supporting local non-profits, so much the better. Here are a few chances this week to do just that.

“COCKTAILS FOR CAMP”
Who: Lower Eastside Girls Club
What: Cocktails, food, and open wine and beer bar.
When: June 13, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: Veselka Bowery, 9 East First Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery.
Tickets: $25 at the door. More info here.

“GARDEN PARTY”
Who: Good Old Lower East Side
What: Plant summer vegetables and enjoy food and entertainment.
When: Friday, June 15, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: Campos Garden, 628 East 12th Street, between Avenues B and C.
Tickets: Free, but you can make a donation. More info here.

“SKYLINE: A COCKTAIL PARTY”
Who: Fourth Arts Block
What: Cocktail party with live music, DJ, drinks, and raffle.
When: Tuesday, June 19, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Where: The Standard East Village, 25 Cooper Square, between East Fifth and Sixth Streets.
Tickets: $45, $85, $150. More info here.

Photos: Lauren Carol Smith.

The old CBGB is ready for its close-up, and The Local was on hand as a section of the bar, the phone booth, a urinal, pieces of wall and founder Hilly Kristal’s desk hit the road yesterday for Savannah, Georgia, where they will be used in the upcoming CBGB movie.

The assorted items still have hints of the glory days at 315 Bowery. The beat-up old desk has a list taped to it of phone numbers for old staffers at the club that closed in 2006. The toilets are still filthy and showed no signs of scrubbing (a latrine and a urinal from the women’s room are shown in our slideshow). Most surfaces are covered in band stickers, and the cash register still has a cut-out image of Mr. Kristal alongside a photo of Shakira.

Yesterday it had all been packaged with care in storage near the Brooklyn Navy Yard and loaded into a moving van bound for south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

Brad Hoylman has announced that he’ll run for Tom Duane’s state senate seat. His announcement, reprinted on Politicker, touts his record as chair of Community Board 2 and a Democratic District Leader: “I have helped secure two new public schools; won concessions from developers to scale back and mitigate inappropriate proposals; advanced landmarking and rezoning efforts that preserved historic buildings and neighborhoods; created an innovative legal defense fund for rent stabilized tenants; and brokered a deal that allowed for the long-stalled renovation of Washington Square Park.”

The Lo-Down reports that the LES Business Improvement District is planning a spin-off group called the Lower East Side Development Corp, a non-profit entity that would focus on “initiatives that involve capital expenditures.” A small business incubator is one idea and the East Village may be included in its coverage area.

Fourth Arts Block tells The Local it’s holding a fundraiser raffle at The Standard East Village on June 19. $45 gets you entry into the penthouse party, $85 gets you four drink tickets and a chance to win a Pennsylvania farmhouse stay, and $150 gets you perks like an open bar and more. You can purchase tickets here. Read more…

Melvin Felix Corey Capers’s nephew Freezy at the memorial earlier today.

Earlier today, friends and family gathered to remember Corey Capers, a 31-year-old resident of Baruch Houses who was fatally stabbed early Saturday morning. They stood, some weeping, at a memorial full of loving messages set up paces away from where his body was found with a knife wound in the chest, under scaffolding on East Fifth Street, between Avenues C and D.

“I remember him always being a strong person, a laughing person,” said Jonathan Winston, the victim’s brother. “I’m really hurt, but at the end of the day, my little brother, he was a soldier. He went out like a soldier. He went out like a man, and I’m proud of him and I will always be proud of him.”

“I am too,” said Denise Alexander, the victim’s older sister. “You’re my hero, Corey Capers.” Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The Cabrini Center.

This week, dozens of residents and employees of the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation will receive bottles of holy water with which to bless their new homes or offices.

The bottles are a parting gift to the 85 remaining residents of the nursing home at Fifth Street and Avenue B who will have to vacate by July 1 so that the building’s new owner, Benjamin Shaoul’s Magnum Realty Group, can go ahead with redevelopment plans.

Last month, Cabrini closed the adult daycare center that it operated on the Lower East Side, which gave nearly 40 seniors and some adults with developmental disabilities a place to eat, socialize and receive medical attention as needed during the day. Lorraine Horgan, a spokesperson for Cabrini, said that those people had been easily transferred to other programs; but a group of board members and employees is still working to ensure that English lessons, weekly food allotments, and legal services remain available to the 16,000 people who use yet another program, Cabrini Immigrant Services, each week. Read more…

N.Y.P.D. Carl Knox.

The police have named a suspect in a stabbing that occurred early Saturday morning.

Carl “Abdul Hakim” Knox, 47, is wanted for stabbing Corey Capers, a 31-year-old resident of the Baruch Houses. Around 3 a.m. Saturday, Mr. Capers was found with a knife wound to the chest outside of Mr. Knox’s residence at 737 East Fifth Street, between Avenues C and D, the police said. He was declared dead on arrival at Beth Israel hospital.

Police sources told The Daily News that Mr. Capers was killed as he tried to prevent Mr. Knox from beating his girlfriend (the victim’s aunt, according to The Post). Mr. Capers had been at a barbecue nearby, per CBS New York.

As Alphabet City copes with its second stabbing in a week, many are still talking about a chaotic incident last weekend that is said to have increased tension between residents and the police.

A fight involving a father, his son, and a police officer last Saturday grew into a melee that took over Avenue D and spilled into a police station house, said residents of the neighborhood. Videos obtained by The Local offer a glimpse into the clamorous street scene.

The Local spoke with several people living in the Jacob Riis Houses or nearby who said they had heard that a 14-year-old boy and his father were stuck in the head by a police officer. Ashley Serrano, another 14-year-old who was involved in the tussle, said that the father’s face was bruised and cut. “They made his whole face bleed,” she said.

“It was a hot night out there,” said Lieutenant Steve Nusser, one of the officers of Police Service Area 4 who responded to the incident. “There was a fight between a couple people, a crowd of people came over, and the cops I’m sure did something to halt that action, and it escalated from there,” he said. “When the crowd surged, some people came to the PSA [station house] and we had to control the crowd. Some were out of order.” Read more…

A man was stabbed to death on East Fifth Street early this morning, the police said.

The police said that at 3 a.m., they responded to a report of a 30-year-old man stabbed in the chest in front of 737 East Fifth Street, between Avenues C and D.

The victim, who could not be identified as his family had not yet been notified, was found unconscious and was pronounced dead on arrival at Beth Israel hospital; there have been no arrests in the ongoing homicide investigation, the police said.

Update | 6:30 p.m. The victim has now been identified as Corey Capers, a 31-year-old resident of the Baruch Houses, the police said.

Melvin Felix Paul Yanchyshyn and Diana Carulli give new color to a painted labyrinth in East River Park.

After five weekends of weeding, mulching and painting, the women of the New York Junior League will unveil upgrades at East River Park tomorrow. The Playground Improvement Project, a committee of the league, volunteered its time throughout the spring to beautify 57 acres of riverfront between East 12th Street and Montgomery Street.

Visitors will now find new benches, fresh coats of paint on playground equipment and fences, as well as a brand new flower garden near the tennis courts at Houston Street.

The improvements are likely to be folded into the Blueway project, a proposal to make the shore along the East River, from the Brooklyn Bridge north to East 38th Street, as accessible and pleasant as Hudson River Park to the west.

Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh, one of the promoters of the Blueway, said the improvements to the park were welcome during the project’s early planning stages. “I saw first hand how they’ve been working hard getting the park ready for the summer for residents to enjoy,” said Mr. Kavanagh. Read more…

Courtesy Thomas K. Duane Tom Duane with voters, Nov. 29, 2011 at City Hall.

Thomas K. Duane announced this week that he won’t be seeking re-election, but the state senate’s first openly gay member is still railing against “malevolent” landlords. In an interview with The Local, the Democrat discussed his 14 years of representing the East Village as state senator, including his battles with landlords like Benjamin Shaoul, his preservation efforts for the proposed historic district and the now-demolished 35 Cooper Square, and his attempts at curbing an explosion of nightlife in the neighborhood.

You’ve been fighting for tenants’ rights during the 14 years you’ve served as Senator. How did that spill over into the East Village?

I really fought just a terrible landlord, Ben Shaoul. He wants to expand at 514-516 East Sixth Street and 329-335 East Ninth Street. We’ve been reaching out to both of the city housing agencies, the Department of Buildings and H.P.D. [Department of Housing Preservation and Development], and working with the tenants and the neighborhood activists to force him to comply with the law. Read more…

Trips towards Williamsburg will soon be a little less cramped. In two days the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will add seven round-trip trains on Sundays, 16 peak and off-peak round-trip trains on weekdays, and 11 round-trip trains on Saturdays, according to State Senator Daniel Squadron. It was Mr. Squadron who pressed for the increased service last year following the release of a study that found a “meteoric” increase in ridership along the L. He’ll officially commemorate the new L trains on Monday at the Bedford Avenue stop.

Photos: Philip Ross.

The Lower Eastside Girls Club will field two new softball teams with the help of a $5,000 check, but the check itself disappeared before it could be presented at East River Park yesterday afternoon.

SportsNet New York planned to turn over an oversized $5,000 check to the Girls Club, to go toward uniforms and equipment for its new Avenue D Sluggers. But before that could happen, the car containing the giant check was towed away, all but kiboshing the presentation ceremony. But there’s no crying in baseball, or softball, either – so the folks at SNY gave the Girls Club 100 tickets to a Mets game on July 24 and promised to present the check then.

The donation is being made in honor of the 40th anniversary of Title IX, which bans gender discrimination in educational programs receiving federal assistance, and will allow two teams of girls aged six to 12 to play at East River Park every Saturday. It’s the first sports team that the Girls Club has fielded in a few years. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

A woman was attacked with a hammer outside of the Catholic Worker’s Maryhouse at 55 East Third Street this morning, a resident of the facility said.

Amy Nee, who has lived and worked at the Maryhouse for three months, said she didn’t witness the attack, which occurred shortly after 7 a.m., but detectives told her about it as the victim waited in an ambulance. She said the woman, whose first name was Katie and whose last name she did not know, often came to the Maryhouse for lunches and showers. A police representative was unable to confirm the incident for The Local, but DNA Info reported that the victim, 39, was struck in the head and taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.

Maryhouse, which houses mostly women and is run in a communal fashion by volunteers committed to poverty, was opened in the 1970s by Catholic anarchist Dorothy Day. As The Local has reported, it has served as a refuge for members of the Occupy Wall Street movement, among others in need of food and shelter. Read more…

Philip Ross Alfa Diallo at the Dias Y Flores Community Garden

A vendor at the flea market at Avenue A and 11th Street is suing a former N.Y.U. Tisch School of the Arts student who disappeared after filming a short documentary about him. The t-shirt designer, Alfa Diallo, is demanding $5,000 in small claims court.

Mr. Diallo said that he agreed to show Matthew Swenson his t-shirt making process after Craig Atkinson, who is also named in the suit, approached his booth last summer and asked if he would participate in his friend’s graduate thesis project.

Mr. Diallo, a relaxed and amicable 60-year-old who was born in Senegal and educated in France, handcrafts the t-shirt designs using a French curve, a tool that creates curly, looped, and elliptical patterns. Mr. Swenson filmed him for two days, said Mr. Diallo – one day at the flea market and another at his apartment on 13th Street and Avenue A.

“They did all this shooting without me being able to see anything,” he said. “Matt said to me, ‘I’ll send you things by e-mail, you should be able to open it and see.’ But I was not able to see it.” Read more…

Sarah Darville The City Planning Commission.

New York University reined in its expansion plans further today by eliminating a controversial hotel and accommodations for retail, paving the way for an easy approval from the City Planning Commission.

“The N.Y.U. proposal for the superblocks will provide important new and needed space to one of the city’s most important institutions of higher learning,” said commission chair Amanda Burden, referring to the two blocks south of Washington Square Park that will be the sites of construction.

The green light from the commission did not come as a surprise — Ms. Burden had praised the plan just last week. Only one of the 13 members of the commission voted against the proposal. Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba

Good morning, East Village. As you can see above, plywood just went up at 37 Avenue A. Angelina Cafe is moving there from across the street.

The CBGB festival got some new additions yesterday and now the Hollywood Reporter announces that the CBGB movie got some new cast members as well: Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins will play Iggy Pop, Evan Alex Coe will play Richard Hell, and Steven Schub will play Dee Dee Ramone.

Flaming Pablum is disturbed by the site of Trash & Vaudeville, the CBGB-era boutique, devoid of its longtime coat of flyers, stickers, and graffiti.

But worry not, there’s still the occasional punk on the Bowery: a mohawked man wandered into a photoshoot with Shalom Harlow at the Bowery Hotel and got flashed by the supermodel. Fashionista has the photos to prove it. Read more…