When the seventh annual Anarchist Book Fair kicks off tomorrow at Celemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, interviewers will ask attendees “What does anarchy mean to you?” so their answers can be compiled into a zine or book.
“The vision is to understand what anarchism means to the individual as well as groups of people. Because there is a lot of misconception out there from the media,” said Elias, a member of the collective that planned the fair. “Anarchism isn’t just about causing mayhem.”
This year, the Ninth Precinct will be keeping an eye on the proceedings, a police source told The Local. While “the book fair itself wasn’t a problem,” the source said, the fair is “something we need to be aware of in case it gets out of hand.”
Members of the Anarchist Book Fair Collective have insisted that the fair does not promote violence and contend that undercover police officers instigated the confrontation last year. In any case, this year, the Anarchist Book Fair has a new “Safe Space Policy” that’s “intended to make this event a supportive, nonthreatening, and safe environment,” according to the fair’s webpage. There will be no violence of any kind tolerated and violators of the Safe Space Policy will be asked to leave.
That’s not all that’s new this year: this time around, the fair will be two days instead of just one, and there will be more than 40 tables featuring zines, radical and New York City publishers. Read more…
Jim Gaffigan, no stranger to the neighborhood, made a surprise appearance at EastVille Comedy Club last night. Among other things, he spieled about Whole Foods: “There should just be a garbage can at the entrance with a $ sign on it.” Todd Barry returns to the club’s stage tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday.
“The very embodiment of the East Village zeitgeist, Deee-Lite led a multi-racial, pan-sexual party on wheels for a few years before their worldwide breakout hit, 1990’s ‘Groove Is In The Heart.'” [Dangerous Minds]
Cat Power’s new video features some East Village scenes. [Twerking Hard in EV]
Is Alder the hottest restaurant in the city right now? [Grub Street]
The State Liquor Authority has denied a full liquor license to an East Villager hoping to open a Latin bistro on the Lower East Side, handing another victory to a group fighting rampant nightlife in the neighborhood.
About 30 people appeared at the liquor authority’s Harlem offices today to support Jose Rodriguez and Robert Payne, whose seven-month struggle to score hard liquor for their establishment at 106 Rivington Street — currently called 106 on the LES — at one point touched off accusations of racism. Their attorney, Donald Bernstein, tried to argue that a Latin establishment serving rum was culturally important for the 40,000 Latinos living around the Lower East Side and that it would change a dilapidated storefront into a commercial space that late-night partiers would be less likely to vandalize.
Residents who live in the popular nightlife neighborhood, loosely organized as L.E.S. Dwellers, have strenuously opposed plans for a full liquor license at every turn since September, showing up at Community Board 3 hearings and publicizing their opposition and concerns through flyers and social media. Read more…
Elderly residents are worried they’ll be left in the lurch when Peter Stuyvesant Station Post Office moves to a smaller location next year.
The branch on 14th Street — located across from Stuyvesant Town and blocks from Jacob Riis Houses and Campos Plaza — will move to an as-yet undetermined location when its lease expires in February of 2014, The Local has learned. “It is right down the street from public housing, so it is ideally located to serve seniors,” said Chris LeBarge, a spokesperson for Councilwoman Rosie Mendez. “If in fact it is relocated, we want to make sure there are no interruptions and it is not harder for seniors to get to the post office and use services.”
In February, the United States Postal Service sent a letter to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer announcing the relocation plan. The current 34,000-square-foot site will be downsized to a 5,000-square-foot retail space, according to Mr. LeBarge. Mail that is currently sorted in the back office will instead be sorted at the post office on East 23rd Street. Read more…
Rosie Mendez and Margaret Chin are calling on the New York City Housing Authority to improve community outreach as it goes forward with a plan to lease land to private developers. At a press conference tomorrow, the City Council members will demand more time before a Request For Proposal is released, so that residents can review a draft of the document. They’ll also ask the housing authority to submit to a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure involving input from community boards as well as the Borough President, City Planning Commission, and City Council. Other demands are outlined in a press release here.
Samantha Balabanconstruction on 130 St. Marks Place
Whole Earth Bakery, the vegan institution that closed amid controversy last December, will be replaced by a pizzeria and ristorante, The Local has learned. Funny enough, two partners in the new endeavor recently opened restaurants on the same corner of St. Marks Place: Riccardo Pieroni co-owns Ton-Up, the motorbike-themed Italian wine bar across the street, and Huey Cheng owns Kura, the Japanese restaurant next-door.
Michele Bruni helped both of them build their restaurants before deciding to go into business with them and open Falanghina in June.
By then, of course, a reborn Nino’s Pizza will be slinging its own pies across the street. “There is going to be some competition, obviously,” Mr. Bruni acknowledged of the face-off. “But competition made this country.” Read more…
A fire was reported at 126 East Fourth Street this morning after a resident smelled smoke on the second floor of the six-story building near First Avenue, the fire department said.
The blaze was called in at 7:18 a.m. and under control at 7:37 a.m.; no injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
This Sunday, Jenifer Rajkumar is slated to announce her campaign for a seat on the City Council against District 1 Councilwoman Margaret Chin. [The Lo-down]
N.Y.U.’s admissions office recently got bombarded with calls from rejected applicants and their parents, most of which could not be answered to the callers’ satisfaction. [NY Daily News]
Ken Rockwood of Rockwood Music Hall in the Lower East Side is starting a record label. [New York Times] Read more…
The rooftop tents at the Thompson LES may soon be coming down — but not because of warmer weather.
A judge has smacked a $300 fine on the hotel for working without a permit. Now it must remove three outdoor tents or apply for a proper permit to keep them.
In January, neighbors of the hotel complained to the Department of Buildings that tents erected as a storage area were being used as an outdoor nightclub. A building inspector ruled the tents on the hotel’s second-story roof were illegal, and the matter went before a judge who, on March 20, sided with the inspector.
The hotel’s rooftop lounge, Above Allen, has been a source of controversy since 2009, when a dozen or so neighbors flooded a Community 3 board meeting to voice concerns about late-night noise as well as added traffic and pedestrian congestion around the hotel. At the time, a hotel manager vowed to take the neighbors’ concerns into account.
Since then, neighborhood group LES Dwellers has taken a stake in the case, and various residents from Orchard Street, Houston Street and Stanton Street have asked the organization for help and guidance. Diem Boyd, founder of LES Dwellers, said that though the hotel has taken measures to cut down on the noise coming from the club in the past, it has continued to be a problem during weekends and summer nights, with noisy parties often continuing until 4 a.m. Read more…
Manny’s Barber Shop isn’t the only newcomer offering facials; just around the corner, Tips & Toes has opened at 91 First Avenue, offering manicures, pedicures, waxing, facials, threading and massages.
The space above Dual Specialty Store was briefly vacant, but if you thought yet more Christmas lights were coming to this festive corner, you thought wrong: the nail salon opened last week and is offering 15 percent discounts.
Tips & Toes, 91 First Avenue (between East Fifth and East Sixth Streets); (212) 460-5940
Eight new members have been appointed to Community Board 3. [The Lo-Down]
“Coming up this weekend at the Sunshine Cinema, there will be a screening of the “NIMBY Experience,” in which the Lower East Side’s Luis Guzman goes homeless on the streets of New York City to “shed light” on a cause he’s passionate about.” [The Lo-Down]
The owner of Bella Tile is upset that taxis visiting the Madina mosque continue to block his driveway. [The Villager] Read more…
Another esthetician is grooming solo. Just like Beyonce’s manicurist, Manny Irbragimov has left his former employer to start his own shop.
Imanuel Ibragimov will open Manny’s Barber Shop next Sunday at 125 East Fourth Street, in the space that formerly held SB Design. A barber since he graduated high school over 10 years ago, the 27-year-old Russian immigrant had been at Igor’s Clean Cuts for the past two-plus years. “This will be an old-school-style shop,” he said of his new place. “Cuts will be $14, which is reasonable compared to other places around here.”
So why did he leave Igor’s and start Manny’s? “I would not badmouth anybody,” said Mr. Ibragimov. “It was time for me to leave, and I just wanted to open my own shop, but why does anyone leave their jobs? Now I have my own barbershop on Fourth. That’s what I want everyone to know.” Read more…
After enduring two years of pain, Red Sox Nation’s diaspora returned to their East Village sanctuary, Professor Thom’s on Second Avenue, today. Opening Day was versus the hated Yankees, but Sox fans aren’t expecting the season to end in a rematch of the epic ALCS series of last decade. On Saturday The Times noted that due to spate of injuries, the team could end last in its division as easily as it could finish first.
In case you hate Boston and/or don’t pay attention to baseball, in September 2011 the Sox had one of the worst collapses in Major League history, losing 20 games in a month. Last year, after retooling and signing manager Bobby Valentine, they were predicted to win the American League. Instead they came in last place. “I just hope I don’t waste another year rooting for this team and then they lose at the end of the season like chumps,” said a beer-drinking, hooky-playing banker, who didn’t want his job to know he was not in fact out sick with the flu.
So far, so good: the Sox won in an 8-2 victory that saw much of Yankee Stadium leaving early.
It was also Opening Day at the MLB Fan Cave, over on Broadway and East Fourth Street. Here’s a shot of this year’s lucky “cave dwellers.”
If you’ve noticed the herds of white trailers hogging parking spaces around the East Village, that’s NBC filming the pilot of “Ironside,” a remake of the 1970s show about a snappy, wheelchair-bound detective, played by Blair Underwood of “L.A. Law.” Co-stars include Spencer Grammer of long-running sorority show “Greek” and Neal Bledsoe, who recently featured in the musical series “Smash.”
At noon, assistants in headsets were grumpily swishing people away from the north side of Bleecker Street, between Bowery and Lafayette, as what appeared to be a mugging was filmed. As a crowd of lunch-breakers watched, an actor came sprinting out of a basement and down the street, trampling two other characters.
The neighborhood will have a reprieve tomorrow when the crew films under the Manhattan Bridge. But Sam Bruton, a parking PA for NBC studios, said that the fleet of campers would probably be back in the East Village on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
On Friday Patti Smith, a Village Hall of Famer if ever there was one, played the Dome. No, not the Superdome, silly — the VW Dome, a temporary events space that MoMA PS1 just opened in Rockaway Beach. Check out footage of her reciting “People Have the Power” and playing “My Blakean Year” and “Beneath the Southern Cross.”
Daniel MaurerNo place like Dome.
If you missed the commotion by the ocean, you’ll have another chance to catch the legendary songstress when she plays Bowery Ballroom on June 5, in honor of Federico Garcia Lorca’s birthday. Apparently, she’s a big fan of the Spanish poet and playwright: “I have always enjoyed reading him and I’ve learnt a lot about improvisation and on-scene presence, thanks to him,” she once said during a similar tribute show in Granada.
The “words and music” concert featuring Ms. Smith and friends is part of a city-wide “Lorca in NY” festival opening this Friday at the New York Public Library, with an exhibit of “Poet in New York”-era manuscripts and artifacts (full disclosure: the exhibit was co-curated by a scholar known to me as Papa, Christopher Maurer). Other events in the neighborhood include a performance of Lorca’s puppet play, “The Billy-Club Puppets,” at Clemente Soto Velez Center (every Saturday in April) and a flamenco-tinged “extravaganza” of music, theater, and spoken word at Bowery Poetry Club (April 7).
And on June 10, Paul Auster, John Giorno, Wayne Koestenbaum and other literary lions will convene at St. Mark’s Church to recite their favorite passages from “Poet in New York.” For the full lineup of events, check out the Website.
“NoHo now boasts some of the priciest residential real estate in the city and has become destination for its retail and restaurant offerings.” [Wall Street Journal]
The city Department of Consumer Affairs is investigating EMM Group, the operators of Bow and Finale, for tacking on mandatory “operation charge” to bills. [NY Post]
Straight outta Lod, Israel: a trio that’s often hailed as the first Palestinian hip-hop group will kick off a U.S. tour promoting its new album, “Dabke on the Moon,” at Drom this Sunday.
DAM was formed in 1998 by Mahmoud Jreri and brothers Suhell and Tamer Nafar. Suhell grew up loving the “fast lyrics and the beat” of hip-hop; his older brother Tamer at first hated the music but changed his mind when he heard Tupac Shakur’s “Holler If Ya Hear Me.” After they cut an album, “Stop Selling Drugs,” as The Untouchables, a classmate told them her brother wanted to meet them. They didn’t know anyone else who liked hip-hop, so they agreed. Mahmoud Jreri joined the band and DAM was born. (The name means “immortal” in Arabic and “blood” in Hebrew; Suhell takes it to signify the idea that “our blood will be eternal.”)
The project started as fun, but later Suhell realized that “the lyrics we were writing were actually protests,” he said. “We were actually fighting racism, fighting problematic circumstances without knowing that we’re fighting it.”
Take, for example, the 2001 single, “Min Irhabi” (“Who’s the terrorist?”). When Israel raided Jenin and the world stayed silent, he said, some Palestinians bombed a club in Israel in retaliation. “Then the whole world jumped and said, ‘You’re the terrorist. Why’d you do that?’ We just said, ‘Let’s just tell the world who’s the real terrorist.'”
“While we were writing to teach people, we were teaching our own selves,” Suhell said. “It was all a kind of boomerang thing. We loved that feeling and we wanted to keep fighting. And then we were so mad about what’s happening, so mad, for example, about me being beaten up from a cop, me being locked inside a police station having three cops stepping on my face. I was just so mad. That kept us moving.” Read more…
Here’s the latest pitch to hit the Virtual Assignment Desk. A celebration of post-Soviet cinema is returning to the Ukrainian Museum and Anthology Film Archives:
The fourth annual Kinofest NYC, featuring independent film from Ukraine and the broader post-Soviet region, will take place April 4–7, 2013. This year’s festival includes ten screening sessions presenting more than thirty feature and short films by independent filmmakers from Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Russia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 12 guest filmmakers are flying in from Ukraine and Estonia to present their films.
We told you a bit about the festival last year. If you’d like to be our point person this year, volunteer to cover it via the Open Assignments page. Have a story of your own? Pitch it to us via the Virtual Assignment Desk.
The seventh Intermix store in Manhattan will open in the old Steve’s on the Bowery space at the end of April. [Racked NY]
After complications related to Hurricane Sandy, the city’s new bike share program is expected to launch in May. Here’s an interactive map of the locations in the Lower East Side. [The Lo-Down]
Adele Atelier, a “no-frills beauty parlor for men and women,” will move into the upstairs-north storefront at 96 Orchard Street. [Bowery Boogie] Read more…
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 »
