Shira Levine

We interrupt this blog for a message from Handsome Dick Manitoba, via the Virtual Assignment Desk:

Sunday, January 20th, marks 14 years in business, for a “mom and pop” run Rock and Roll neighborhood tavern. Manitoba’s, @ 99 Ave. B, between 6th and 7th Streets, would like to say “thank you”, with reduced prices, snacks, football, Rock and Roll, and anything that is permissible, and legal between consenting adults. 1 PM, to 4 AM, a 15 hour celebration, on MLK Sunday. Monday, MLK Day, is a national holiday. So C’mon down and do your part to keep the wonderful culture we all come from,alive THANK YOU, HANDSOME DICK MANITOBA

You heard the man. And congrats on making it!

Daniel Maurer

Here’s your first look at the minimalist exterior of Kura, the diminutive Japanese joint that’s taking the place of Mohamed Falafel Star at 130 St. Marks Place. A peek inside the cubby-like space near Avenue A revealed that the chef’s counter has been built and it should be open soon.

Daniel Maurer

Daniel Maurer

Turns out Spin Hair isn’t the only salon that just opened in the neighborhood.

About a year after opening its first location in Murray Hill, Icon Hair Salon has opened an East Village outpost, Salon Icon, near 14th Street. The owners and general manager are no strangers to the neighborhood: they used to be at Ibiza Salon in Union Square.

Hair cuts are $30 (including a wash), or $55 with a blow-dry. A roots touch-up and blow-dry is $65. Single-process colorings with cut and style are $99. Highlights are $145, and Keratin treatments are $199. The shop carries an array of products by Morrocan Oil.

Icon Hair Salon, 222 First Avenue (between 13th and 14th Streets); (212) 510-7446

Daniel Maurer

Daniel Maurer

The area around 14th Street and First Avenue is about to become a dollar-slice mecca: 2 Bros. Pizza is opening a location in the former BaoBQ space, according to a contractor.

David Zem, one of the workers currently tiling the walls of 229 First Avenue in the style of the original 2 Bros. on St. Marks Place, said this location (the chain’s third in the East Village) would likely open in about two weeks.

The store, between 13th and 14th Streets, is poised right across from one of the two locations of Joey Pepperoni’s that recently opened, and just around the corner from the new Famous 99-Cent Pizza. Not to mention the $1 slice a block away at Papa John’s.

Meanwhile, next door to the incoming slice joint, the Subway that closed in October is up and running again.

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

“The teen charged with murder in the shooting death of 16-year-old Raphael Ward last week said he gave the gun used to kill the young victim to another person who pulled the trigger, according to the criminal complaint.” [DNA Info]

A fire broke out in Heather Graham’s Union Square apartment when candles ignited some clothing near a bathtub. [NY Post]

Whole Foods Bowery was evacuated Sunday. “Fire in Whole Foods,” tweeted one customer. “Not a single customer took the alarms seriously until the sprinklers came on.” [Gothamist]

A 57-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man were struck by a Fung Wah Bus at the intersection of Bowery and Canal Street. [NY1]
Read more…

Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong continue sorting through their archives of punk-era concert footage as it’s digitized for the Downtown Collection at N.Y.U.’s Fales Library.

Armen Kachaturian Poster for CBGB show.

“I could describe her to you in details, but those are just facts. She was unforgettable, and everybody who knew her, loved her.”

That was Scott Kempner of The Dictators and the Del-Lords describing Helen Wheels, a woman who to the mainstream may seem like a punk rock history footnote, but who to CBGB veterans was a beloved icon.

Standing just over five feet tall, Helen embodied the tough, take-no-prisoners front-woman before Heart, Joan Jett or Pat Benatar made it acceptable. With tattoos, muscles and a friendship with the Hells Angels, she broke the mold, even for CBGBs. She claimed the beloved python, Lilith, was the largest privately-owned reptile in New York.

Helen got her start in the music scene early. While a student at Stony Brook in 1968, she met Blue Oyster Cult, then known as Soft White Underbelly. She moved into a house with them on Long Island and was soon designing their leather clothing and writing lyrics for their songs. Read more…

Daniel Maurer A lonely half mannequin.

Hope you got your Michelle Obama sneakers while you could: Hip-Hop USA has closed at 343 Lafayette Street.

Last night, a sign on the door said everything in the mostly empty store was for sale for “20 dollas.” A message on the pop-up’s Facebook page reads, “Hip Hop USA will be reopening in the Spring. Special thanks to our friends at Pinche Taqueria for making the best happy hour frozen margaritas in New York City.”

And a couple of other closings to note: a “for rent” sign just went up at 23 Third Avenue, where Little Italy Pizza is a goner after less than five months. And Rawvolution has also been closed in recent weeks. The raw-food shop’s number is disconnected and its Website says, “At this time we are not delivering locally to New York City, this is only temporary and will keep you updated when we do start again.”

Daniel Maurer Eddie Williams

Daniel Maurer

After sitting vacant for about a year, the former home of Furryland Pet Supply has a new tenant. Eddie J. Williams has moved his Lower East Side salon, Spin Hair, to the space at 195 Avenue A.

There’s no signage up yet (in fact, there’s still a “for lease” sign plastered across the awning) and the interior still needs work (among other things, a disco ball is on the way), but a chalkboard advertising a $29 blow-dry (normally $35) welcomed walk-ins today.

Mr. Williams, a 45-year-old Bronx native, received his training in the Vidal Sassoon style and has been cutting hair since 1984; when a rent hike forced him out of his location of three years, at 53 Stanton Street, he began looking elsewhere downtown. “People here are a little more laid-back than in midtown; they’re more open,” he said, describing his clientele as “guys who want to look a little hip but don’t want to pay $100, and don’t want to pay $10 either” (men’s cuts are $35) and “women that just want a damn good haircut” (women’s cuts are $60).

Spin specializes in keratin treatments (normally $350 but often discounted) and curling ($95). Coloring treatments range from $75 to $200. The salon is open from noon to 7 p.m. daily.

Spin Hair, 195 Avenue A (near East 12th Street), (212) 358-7746

Poorly chosen superimposed fonts, the flick of tracking being adjusted, and a hazy analog fuzz.

These are the hallmarks of VHS, and the absurd instructional videos, home movies, and public service announcements that Joe Pickett, Nick Prueher and Geoff Haas often screened for their friends in high school.

In 2004 the trio created the Found Footage Festival and toured with it to fund their first documentary, “Dirty Country.” This weekend, the sixth installment of the festival hits Anthology Film Archives.

If you’re among the many who frequent sites like Everything Is Terrible!, you’re well aware of the forgotten, personal, and downright bizarre things that have been committed to VHS tape. But while that site often relies on creative editing and splicing to solicit laughs, the videos in the Found Footage Festival are mostly untouched.

“Our philosophy is that the videos are weird enough on their own,” said Mr. Prueher. “We don’t need to weird them up at all. In fact, the more straightforward we are in presenting the videos as we found them, the funnier they are.” Read more…

Daniel Maurer

Those changes at The Stone aren’t the only thing that will shake up the East Village music scene come April: a new venue is slated to open in a former black-box theater underneath the Culture Project at 45 Bleecker Street.

SubCulture, a 180-seat performing arts and events space, will be a “really wonderful listening room,” according to co-founder Marc Kaplan.

The 34-year-old music educator (also a conductor of musical theater and choirs) is opening the venue with his brother Steven, 31, an amateur trumpet player and pianist who makes his living as a financial consultant. They’re currently remodeling the subterranean space into what they hope will be an ideal environment for intimate performances.

“While we could feature an artist with a 10-piece band, it might also be a great opportunity to have that artist in an ensemble set-up,” said Mr. Kaplan. Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba

“I used to hate stepping on crack vials, and now I miss those vials,” says Marty Rosen. The onetime street peddler has seen plenty of changes on St. Marks Place: he opened The Sock Man there three decades ago. “I asked myself, ‘What are the things that everyone needs?’ Well, they need socks. So I got a vending license and all that stuff. Then I saved up enough money to open a store,” he told The Local. Joey Ramone and Eric Clapton many not stop in anymore, but The Sock Man still gets its share of rockers: David Johansen of the New York Dolls recently snagged a $3 pair, and Courtney Love took home four tutus. But is the occasional visit from Chloe Sevigny (who called Mr. Rosen the “grumpiest man on earth”) enough to keep the institution alive and kicking should it get socked with a rent hike? We asked.

Has The Sock Man always been on St. Marks Place?

I’ve been here since 1983, but this is my third location on St. Marks. I was first somewhere for eight months. Now I’ve been in this spot since 1992. Before that I was across the street at 18 St. Marks. I left because I was under harassment by the landlord there and it was very stressful. I was caught in the middle of paying one guy the rent who wasn’t giving his partner any of the money. Read more…

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

Timothy Montalvo, the 16-year-old who was charged with murder and weapons possession in the killing of Raphael Ward was “arrested for having the weapon, carrying the weapon and giving it to the shooter,” Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said. The alleged shooter has now been identified as Walter Rodriguez, 20, and the shooting was due to “a dispute, possible retaliation, over jackets being stolen earlier that evening,” according to Kelly. “The victim may have been involved in a theft of a jacket.” [NY Times] Hundreds of mourners turned out Thursday to mourn the slain teen. [DNA Info] A basketball tournament will be held in his honor tonight at 6 p.m., at Grand Street Settlement. [The Lo-Down]

Here’s more on why a judge ruled against the city’s bid to install a restaurant in the northern pavilion of Union Square Park: “The pavilion restaurant’s proposed prices would make broad swaths of the public think twice before entering,” wrote the judge in his decision. [NY Times]

Reciprocal Skateboards is one of the city’s pinball domains: “The owner, Jon Ehrlich, added an annex to the skate shop that has let him install 9 machines from his collection of nearly 50. On Saturday the shop will play host to Pinferno, the seventh edition of a tournament that originated in Mr. Ehrlich’s apartment and now attracts top players from all over the United States.” [NY Times]

210 Bowery, which served as the Monroe Hotel in the 1930s and now houses a restaurant supply company, has been sold for $7.5 million. [National Real Estate Investor]

“86 year old Judith Malina and the Living Theatre will be moving out of their home on Clinton Street next month, but not before putting on one last show for us.  Their latest production, Here We Are opens tonight and will run through February.” [The Lo-Down]

The Momofuku restaurants held a mustache contest among employees. [Momofuku Long Play]

Daniel Maurer

Can you tell us what’s missing from the corner of East Fourth Street and Cooper Square?

No?

We’ll give you a hint: Skullphone.

Still nothing?

Okay: there was a giant boom box here last month, and now it’s gone. As expected, the construction containers that were here for about three years have been removed by the city now that water-main work is done on Cooper Square. We’re sorry to see the outdoor canvases go, but hey, we’ve still got Centre-Fuge, and now this guy has a few more parking spaces at its disposal.

Daniel Maurer

Daniel Maurer

The Panda Diplomacy pop-up isn’t the only newcomer on East Sixth Street: last week, the tiny space that briefly housed Cooper Square Convenience got a new tenant.

As you can guess from its name, Mosaic Lamps is stuffed wall-to-ceiling with lamps made of handblown glass, adorned with colorful mosaics.

Move over, Mosaic Man?

Actually, the goods aren’t made in the East Village: they’re imported from a factory in Turkey by Melissa Benovic, 35, a fine-dining waitress, and her boyfriend Ilker Arslan, 36, who grew up working at the grand bazaar in Istanbul. A typical hanging lamp is $80; the most impressive piece, a giant globe that hangs in the window, is $1,500. Other lamps are outfitted with copper stands.

Once the couple gets approval from the Food and Drug Administration, they’ll sell hand-painted ceramic plates and bowls. Candle holders are also on offer, for $4 each.

Mosaic Lamps, 208 East Sixth Street (between Cooper Square and Second Avenue); (212) 228-1964

Daniel Maurer, Suzanne Rozdeba Before and after.

Fares Deli-Grocery, which had been closed since it was seized by the state for nonpayment of taxes in July, is being replaced by Sahara Deli-Grocery.

Today, The Local ran into the new owner, who identified himself only as Ali, overseeing two workers as they erased the “Fares” name off the awning and replaced it with “Sahara.” He declined an interview, but confirmed he was taking over the store at 123 Avenue A, near St. Marks Place, and said it would be reopening soon.

Fares is the latest deli to get a facelift: last month, just a block away, the former 2020 Tobacco & Grocery was reborn as the Classic Gourmet Deli.

Daniel Maurer

Some news to note in the world of East Village jazz: first, the NYC Winter Jazz Fest rolls into the neighborhood this weekend, bringing 70 groups to six venues in the East, West, and Greenwich Villages. The ninth installment of the festival aims to bring jazz back to Bleecker Street and the Village — and the Bowery will jump, too: among the artists taking the stage at Bowery Electric on Friday and Saturday are Bobby Previte, Erik Deutsch, Frank Lacy, Mario Pavone, and Red Baraat. Other venues include Sullivan Hall, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Zinc Bar, The Bitter End, and Culture Project Theater. Peruse the full schedule here.

Several of the artists performing at the festival — including Previte, Deutsch, and Pavone — have also played John Zorn’s non-profit The Stone, a homespun haven of avant-garde and experimental music. As you know from reading these pages, the club gives each month’s schedule over to a guest curator (next month’s is Vernon Reid, best known as the virtuoso axeman from Living Colour). But that will change in April.

A notice on The Stone’s Website reads: “Since April of 2005 The Stone has presented over 5,000 concerts and workshops booked by over 130 different curators from the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Asia, the Caribbean and beyond! March 2013 marks the last of our curatorial series. In April and for the next several years we are proud to present a variety of distinguished cutting-edge artists in week-long Stone Residencies, performing their own work 6 nights a week, two sets a night.” Read more…

Steven Matthews

Good morning, East Village.

A teenager has been charged with weapons possession and murder in Friday night’s shooting on the Lower East Side. “Timothy Montalvo, 16, was busted yesterday for allegedly taking part in the fatal shooting of Raphael Ward in front of a church on Rivington Street after Ward resisted demands to relinquish the parka.” [NY Post] Yesterday a series of scuffles broke out among mourners outside of the Provenzano Lanza Funeral Home. [DNA Info]

A judge has upheld an injunction preventing a restaurant that would have served $34 entrees from opening in Union Square Park. [NY Post]

“New York City put out a call Wednesday for builders interested in its long-delayed Seward Park project, which would transform the largest parcel of underdeveloped publicly owned land in Manhattan below 96th Street.” [Wall Street Journal]

The crowd at The Library at The Public is “a lively mix of sleek show folk and chic downtowners in their 30s and 40s. On a recent evening, actors from current Public productions and theater staff members were clustered in groups around the bar, mixing freely with well-dressed theater patrons.” [NY Times]

Check out a handful of cocktails at Edi and the Wolf’s new bar, The Third Man. The Spirit of ’49 is “on a Gold Rush, this juicy, fruit-forward sipper combines Four Roses Yellow Label Bourbon and honey with vibrant Tremontis Mirto, a myrtle berry liqueur from Sardinia.” [Serious Eats]

Paul Gerard, chef at Exchange Alley, loves the sesame-seed sandwich at Vanessa’s Dumpling House. “You can get duck, pork, or beef, but the duck is fantastic. They’re all fantastic.” [Eater]