Dan GlassKirk-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…
It’s been a while since folks lined up for Ben and Jerry’s in the East Village, but lo and behold, there was a queue about 40-people strong in Union Square today, as fro-yo yoyos mobbed the brand’s Greek frozen yogurt truck for what an attendant said was the last day of giveaways this summer. A few yards up Union Square West, a crew from ABC 7 Eyewitness News stood by. “A guy was arrested yesterday for looking up a girl’s skirt with a pen camera,” explained a cameraman. (What is it with the Union Square subway station, anyway?) Watch ABC 7’s report here.
Our contributor Suzanne Rozdeba sent us the above shot of last night’s storm shortly before it rolled over the East Village. Gothamist rounded up some more shots.
The Times reports that concerns about the storm moved Governor Cuomo to meet with Con Ed executives and union higher-ups; the two parties were able to come to a tentative agreement on a four-year contract yesterday.
But protests continued near Union Square: Gothamist spotted members of the Community/Farmworker Alliance and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers demanding that Chipotle sign on to a Fair Food Program that insures a raise for Florida tomato pickers. (Chipotle says that although it hasn’t signed the agreement, it only works with workers who’ve done so.) Read more…
Above, watch Marky Ramone give a tour of his food truck for Fuse TV.
Gallerist brings word that Audio Visual Arts Gallery on East First Street near Second Avenue is planning a 60-hour marathon of German artist Conrad Schnitzler. According to the site, the event is part of Con-Mythology, “a whole slate of Schnitzler activities in New York over the next week.” It starts at 6 p.m. on Friday.
Zagat takes a peek in Extra Place and Heidi. The former will feature a “Mediterranean menu with a focus on döner, a type of German-meets-Turkish Street food,” according to the blog. The latter is a “tiny Swiss eatery that will serve fondue.” EV Grieve reports that both are opening today. Read more…
There was another “cash mob” at the St. Mark’s Bookshop on Saturday; the store’s co-owner Terry McCoy told organizer Jeremiah’s Vanishing NY that the event brought a bump in sales of more than 30 percent. The Local’s cameras were rolling during the spending spree: watch our video to see the books flying off the shelves, and hear co-owner Bob Contant tell the story of Allen Ginsberg playing security guard.
“Who’s here today?” a passerby asked Sunny Hoang, the first person in line outside the Major League Baseball Fan Cave.
Mr. Hoang, 18, told him Young the Giant was playing.
“Oh. For who?” said the man, assuming Young was a baseball player.
“It’s a rock band,” said Mr. Hoang, who came in from Queens and by noontime had been waiting outside the venue at Broadway and East Fourth Street for two hours. After the man walked away, Mr. Hoang said, “We’ve had that all day. No one really knows this band as much as I thought, actually.” Read more…
As you can see here, work continues on Seventh Street between First and Second Avenues, where a new sewer line is being installed following that nutty sinkhole accident. The job is expected to last another four days. A worker said a crack in the previous line created a leak that caused the street to collapse, taking a moving truck with it.
Elsewhere, change has come to one of the traffic-plagued areas that the Department of Transportation targeted for improvement earlier this year.
A new 20-second countdown clock should give pedestrians more time to cross the intersection of Fourth Street and Bowery. Read more…
That’s it: The Local is boarding up the office and heading to the beach. We might just hit tomorrow’s hot-dog eating contest (sorry Crif Dog Classic, we’re talking about the Coney Island one), in which case we’ll make sure to let you know how Crazy Legs and Eater X do (just follow us on Twitter). In the meantime, enjoy your holiday. Unless breaking news keeps us away from those breaking waves, we’ll be back on Thursday. Happy camping, all!
Some morbid models vamped it up on the jungle gym at Tompkins Square Park this afternoon. “This is for Elle Germany,” explained a person on the scene who asked us not to tweet this photo. These folks look seriously bummed about the closing of Vampire Freaks.
Yesterday in Union Square Park, Ecuadorian dancers celebrated Inti Raymi, the “festival of the sun” that has traditionally marked the winter solstice in the Andean region. St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery hosted a similar event featuring dancers and actors from Abya Yala Arte y Cultura. If you saw the festivities and have photos to share, add them to The Local’s Flickr pool. We’ll feature them in our newsletter.
In 1996, I was working on an impromptu film about “post-bohemian” poet and Andy Warhol film star Taylor Mead, titled “Taylor Mead Unleashed.” The film consisted of Taylor reading his poetry as well as encounters, which I often improvised or arranged on short notice, between him and his acquaintances and collaborators.
After having lived for years on the fourth floor of a building on 12th Street, Allen Ginsberg had just moved into his new “digs” on 13th Street just off First Avenue. He had used proceeds of the sale of his library to Stanford University to buy a loft in a building owned by the artist Larry Rivers. It was a welcome move, a new spacious apartment with plenty of light coming in and an elevator, meaning no four-floor hike.
I had met Allen Ginsberg socially on several occasions around the city and at friends’ dinners. Around the time I made this video I had photographed him for a book of artists portraits. I mentioned the film to him and he warmly welcomed the idea of being filmed with Taylor.
In this clip, Taylor is actually the one welcoming Ginsberg into the loft. That’s because when we got there, Ginsberg wasn’t in yet; but his assistants, who were unpacking his belongings (hence the noise in the background during the shoot), kindly let us in. After a brief chat about past adventures, creative accomplishments and some mentions of what gives sexual satisfaction at an old age, Ginsberg offers to give Taylor a tour of his new home. The result is a candid and insightful look at the living quarters of one of America’s best known contemporary poets, and an intellectual version of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”
Curbed spotted a backhoe working at 35 Cooper Square today, though it’s still uncertain what will come to the closely watched lot. Above, a shot of wall art yesterday.
The Local was a journalistic collaboration designed to reflect the richness of the East Village, report on its issues and concerns, give voice to its people and create a space for our neighbors to tell stories about themselves. It was operated by the students and faculty of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, in collaboration with The New York Times, which provides supervision to ensure that the blog remains impartial, reporting-based, thorough and rooted in Times standards. Read more »
Dan Glass Kirk-Jones Quintet at University of the Streets
