Malai Marke, the Indian restaurant that promised to bring “the ultimate dollop of ethereal joy” to Curry Row, is now open for lunch and dinner.

As mentioned last month, the restaurant comes from the owner of Curry Hill spots Singapura, Chote Nawab, and Dhaba, and it has an interesting connection to its neighbor, Brick Lane Curry House, as well. Roshan Balan, the general manager at Malai Marke, went to school in India with Brick Lane’s owner; they emigrated to the United States around the same time in the early 2000s, and briefly worked at Carnival Cruises together, said Mr. Balan.

Brick Lane’s success didn’t dissuade owner Shiva Natarajan from setting up shop on the same block, in the former Taj Mahal space. “We’ve been targeting this spot since 2008,” Mr. Balan said. “We thought we’d bring in real, authentic Indian cuisine.”

Sure, you can get a chicken tikka masala for cheaper at other joints on the block, but Mr. Balan believes there’s a difference: “It’s the quality.” Which comes from chef Karti Pant, previously at Michelin-starred Junoon. The menu he’s now serving from the open kitchen is below, complete with a selection of Goan specialties and shout-outs to spiritual guru Swami Sivananda Saraswait.
Read more…

Annie Fairman Aida Salgado marked the anniversary of her son’s
death in October.

As the investigation into the shooting death of 16-year-old Raphael Ward continues, a trial date in the alleged killing of another area teen, Keith Salgado, remains elusive.

In court yesterday, the District Attorney and Mr. Smith’s lawyer set late February as the date to determine when the trial will be held.

Hockeem Smith, who is alleged to have shot the 18-year-old a little over a year ago, winked at the gallery as he entered the courtroom.

Sitting in the row behind Mr. Smith’s mother and wearing a pin with her son’s photo, Aida Salgado said she was “a little bit discouraged” that a trial date hadn’t been set.

The grieving mother said Raphael Ward’s killing, so similar to that of her son, “really brought me back to the beginning” of the healing process.

“It completely, completely reopened every wound,” she said.

As with the Salgado slaying, some have speculated that Mr. Ward’s killing might be linked to longstanding antagonisms between public housing complexes above Houston Street, including Campos Plaza and Riis Houses, and those located below, such as the Smith and Baruch Houses.

Illustration: Tim Milk

“My most persistent dream,” he once told Gloria Steinem, “always took place backstage in a theater. I have a very important part to play. The only trouble is that I’m in a panic because I don’t know my lines…”

Truman Capote then elaborates: “Finally, the moment comes. I walk onstage… but I just stumble about, mortified. Have you ever had that dream?”

On the face of it, the horror of stage fright fuels a man’s dreams. That seems straightforward enough; but you wouldn’t need to be Sigmund Freud to find meaning in a writer forgetting his lines. For a writer, such a dream speaks to what one might call the Artist’s Dilemma: the what? why? and how? of the creative act. These are the questions every artist must face. Capote based his career on having the answers to those basic questions.

For his smash hit “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” and the non-fiction blockbuster “In Cold Blood,” Mr. Capote became the brightest of the many stars who formed a seemingly unstoppable literary movement whose epicenter was here, right here, in unstoppable New York. One could say their success was typical of the 20th Century, when Hollywood, and then television, made household names of authors like Tennessee Williams, Harper Lee and Truman Capote, modern masters of the creative act. Furthermore, it didn’t end there.

Throughout the go-go 1960s, Capote continued to dazzle the world from his rounds of the talk-show circuit. That was where Truman and I first met: he was a sensation, and I was a wide-eyed kid addicted to television. Unlike the usual talking heads or dancing-poodle routines, Capote spilled on the nature of art as well as the art of life. These were the things I wanted to know, you see, because I too aspired to live life to the fullest and soar on the wings of art.
Read more…

Bahram Foroughi

Good morning, East Village.

Activists traveled to Tarrytown to picket the offices of Whole Earth Bakery’s landlord. [East Villager]

The Juice Press has opened a 1,500-square-foot flagship in the meatpacking district, “the first step in the company’s plans to cover New York with cold-pressed, vegan, organic juice, from the Upper West Side to Williamsburg.” [Grub Street]

Short-rib and bone marrow toast, chicken potpie and duck confit carbonara are some of the items that will be served at Boulton & Watt, in the former Nice Guy Eddie’s space. [NY Times]

At The General, EMM Group’s new restaurant on the Bowery, you’ll find “dim lighting, gold-and-red-brocaded wallpaper, candlelit lamps—all in all, a pretty Asian-y scene.” [UrbanDaddy] On the menu: “sushi rolls (spicy tuna, salsa verde; spicy king crab, mango sauce, wasabi honey) and small plates (roasted duck salad, Philly pepper steak sticky buns).” [Daily Candy] You can see some of the dishes and the complete menu at Grub Street.

At L’Apicio, “crowd-pleasing food isn’t chasing trends or setting them, but with its bold, layered flavors, it has enough personality to match that quirky wine list.” [Timeout]

“The Department of Transportation is shelling out nearly $2 million to turn 12,000 old parking-meter poles into bike racks.” [NY Post]

Ginsberg Recordings

“Christmas, come back,” Allen Ginsberg sang at St. Marks Church in 1971.

Christmas ain’t coming back (heck, even Ukrainian Christmas has come and gone), but next week Ginsberg fans will get a nice little gift: “First Blues” will be reissued by Ginsberg Recordings, a collaboration between the poet’s estate and the Esther Creative Group, which manages Lou Reed and other artists. To celebrate the reissue, fellow poets and musicians like Anne Waldman, CA Conrad, Steven Taylor, Hettie Jones, Ambrose Bye, Ginsberg’s longtime assistant Bob Rosenthal, and yes, maybe even Mr. Reed (he’s “tentatively scheduled” to read, says a rep) will gather for an evening of readings and song at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe on Jan. 16

“First Blues,” a compendium of songs taped from 1971 to the early ’80s, was originally released in 1983 as a two-record set. It included collaborations with Bob Dylan, David Amram, and Ginsberg’s East Village neighbor Arthur Russell, among others. (Arthur’s Landing, a tribute band made up of the late Mr. Russell’s friends and colleagues, will perform at the Housing Works event.) That edition quickly went out of print, as did a CD reissue released in 2006, and now the only thing available is an eight-song version. The latest edition will gather 24 songs: seven will appear on a vinyl record packaged with the newspaper-style insert that accompanied the original; the rest will be available as digital downloads.

A limited number of copies of the new edition will be available at next Wednesday’s event, which is co-sponsored by the Beat-happy eyewear brand Warby Parker. It’s free, and runs from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Frigid Festival, the annual fringe festival that is not to be confused with Fringe Festival, is back. This year’s lineup includes a new “true crime musical comedy” from the team behind the bawdy “Bayside: The Unmusical.” Tastefully titled “JonBenét Ramsey: Murder Mystery Theater,” it promises to “boldly recreate that fateful night of the fateful murder in that fateful town of Boulder, Colorado. With music!” Oh, boy. If that’s just a bit much for you, dozens of other out-there productions will run Feb. 20 to March 3 at the Kraine Theater, The Red Room, and Under St. Marks. See the full lineup and get tickets here.

Javier Beltrán and Robert Pattinson as Lorca and
Dali, in “Little Ashes.”

If you’re a Spanish and Latin American poetry buff, prepare to be lured out of your armchair in the coming months: the life of Federico García Lorca is hitting the stage and a major exhibition is coming to town — and the poems of Pablo Neruda are being set to music.

Ute Lemper, a German actress and musician who has previously put Charles Bukowski’s poems to song, is now doing the same with the love poems that Neruda wrote for his wife upon returning to Chile after his political exile. She’ll perform “Song Cycle of Love Poems” at Joe’s Pub on Feb 1 and 2. (The acclaimed songstress already has some East Village credentials: Philip Glass co-wrote a little number for her star-studded album “Punishing Kiss.”)

Neruda and Pablo Picasso were noted collaborators, and — as made clear by the Robert Pattinson flick “Little Ashes” and by a book edited by, well, my dad — the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca and Salvador Dalí had a “passionate, tragic relationship,” or so the painter said. Read more…

Here’s the latest pitch to come in through the Virtual Assignment Desk, a nifty tool that allows you to suggest stories for fellow readers to cover.

“The Barplay Quintet” Takes Place at Jimmy’s No. 43!

The Barplay Quintet is a vinette of five, individual and intense plays tackling issues of racism, personal/dating relationships, and class, set during different time periods but always at watering hole. The play is written by award-winning playwright and founding member of The DQT Theatre Allen Davis III.

You can find more about the production, which runs Jan. 17 to 25, here. If it’s your cup of tea (or mug of beer, rather — it does occur at a bar) and you want to cover it, sign up to do so via our Open Assignments page.

And if you’re looking for a less heady (and more stomachy) reason to visit Jimmy’s No. 43, Sunday is the Fifth Annual Cassoulet Cookoff, during which you can sample the traditional French dish as rendered by numerous amateur and professional chefs. Tickets benefit the NYC Greenmarket programs we do so know and love. More here.

Ray Lemoine

Good morning, East Village.

The police have released surveillance camera footage of four “persons of interest” who were in the deli where Raphael Ward died Friday. [NY Times] The Post says three are being questioned. [NY Post] A tribute video to the fallen teen is being circulated. [The Lo-Down]

Here’s a look at a couple of the “portals” that Nicolina Johnson has created. [Gamma Blog]

MulchFest is this Saturday and Sunday at Tompkins Square Park. [Gamma Blog]

Grand Harmonie, an ensemble specializing in Classical and Romanic wind music on period instruments, will perform 19th century parlor music at the Merchant’s House Museum on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20. [Merchant’s House Museum]

And a tipster sends the above photo indicating that the new location of Gruppo, at 98 Avenue B, now has signage.

Courtesy Judi Rosen

What’s Judi Rosen been doing since she closed her East Village boutique, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, about five years ago?

Clown porn.

Okay, not quite. The 42-year-old impresario of Judi Rosen New York is still designing her signature brand of high-waisted jeans for curvaceous women (she has outfitted the likes of Britney Spears, Tyra Banks, Mary J. Blige, and Chloe Sevigny). But she found a second calling after Kid Rock happened to spot her artwork at a group show at Max Fish.

“He called me at 2:30 a.m. and I always like to say that he was like, ‘I’m not really into art but this thing really spoke to me and I want to own it,’” she recalled over the phone today.

The depiction of two clowns in a ménage à trois was a precursor to the works that she created for her first solo show, opening at Fuse Gallery on Wednesday: Ms. Rosen draws images of clowns, manipulates them via computer, prints them onto fabric, and then stuffs them and sews onto them. The result, she said, has an air of “’70s weird clown porn.”  Read more…

Courtesy Garis & Hahn “March Sun, Addison Gallery” by Matthew Monteith, showing at “After the Fall.”

The Bowery lost an art gallery last summer, but it’s about to gain one back.

Mary Garis worked on the financial side of the Mary Boone Gallery, among others, but she didn’t even consider Chelsea when she and her fellow 28-year-old Christie’s Education graduate, Sophie Hahn, decided to partner in a gallery of their own. On Friday they’ll open Garis & Hahn at 263 Bowery, a condo building designed by Karl Fischer that also houses Takamichi Hair.

“We’re drawn to the experimental, fresh nature of the Lower East Side,” Ms. Garis said over the phone today, while doing some pre-opening shopping at Ikea.

Ms. Garis, who makes her home a half-block from the gallery at Bowery and Houston Streets (her partner lives in Battery Park), is well aware of the art scene blossoming around her. “I feel like this is a good time to start a gallery here,” she said. “There are lots of different kinds of galleries – you have the established Sperone Westwater and the thriving, hip The Hole and then there are smaller galleries sprinkled all over the area.
Read more…

Daniel Maurer

If your New Year’s resolution is to keep up on neighborhood news, we’re here to make it easy like Sunday morning. Though we’d like you to read us every morning — and afternoon! and evening! Hence these easy ways to stay posted:

Our newsletter. Enter your e-mail address here to get our top stories delivered to your inbox daily. Clicking from the newsletter won’t count toward your monthly limit of free NYTimes.com views, so you’ll be reading for free.

Twitter. Follow us at @nytlev, where we post breaking news, retweet our neighbors, and share random nuggets of wit and whimsy.

Facebook. Like us on Facebook. We won’t feel truly loved until we reach 2,500 likes. We’re almost there!

The Virtual Assignment Desk. Have a story you’d like us to cover, or that you’d like to write yourself? Suggest it at the Virtual Assignment Desk. Want to volunteer to cover other readers’ suggestions? See our Open Assignments.

Daniel Maurer A tragically Darwinian scene.

This has to be the saddest thing we’ve seen since ol’ Free Willie Nelson caught fire and we were forced to comb the neighborhood for its next coolest set of wheels.

This beauty of a microbus, often seen parked off of Tompkins Square Park, just up and stopped running — resulting in the somber scene that transpired just minutes ago.

Of course, there are still a couple of newer-model VW Vanagons bouncing around the neighborhood (not to mention the beast below — which is for sale!), but this is so harshing our mellow.

Anyone know who the owner is? We’d like to send our condolences. Read more…

C Ceres Merry

Good morning, East Village.

Neighbors and acquaintances gathered at a vigil for Raphael Ward, the 16-year-old who was gunned down near his home in the Baruch Houses Friday night. [Fox 5 News] His funeral is Wednesday. [The Lo-Down]

Friends describe the teenager as a “good kid.” [Wall Street Journal] He posted a mysterious Facebook update reading “I’m dead” hours before the shooting, which may have been over his winter parka. [NY Post]

Others in the neighborhood believe the shooting “could have stemmed from a simmering feud between youths living in the Baruch project and the nearby Riis Houses.” [NY Times]

A friend of the victim reiterates that “these projects and Baruch, we’re targets to all these other projects. They don’t like us.” [WABC]

Responding to criticism from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, the public housing authority says it’s on track to install security cameras at 85 developments by the end of the year. [WABC]
Read more…

A 16-year-old was shot and killed on the Lower East Side last night.

Raphael Ward was found shot in the chest at the intersection of Rivington and Columbia Streets at around 9:10 p.m., the police said. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Beth Israel Hospital.

State Senator Daniel Squadron, who in October called for increased gun control after a shooting in Campos Plaza, tweeted that he was “heartbroken” by this latest incident and issued a statement reiterating the need to curb the “scourge of gun violence.”

“From stronger gun laws to improved safety at NYCHA developments,” he said, “we are reminded far too often that the time to act is now.”

The victim of last night’s shooting was a resident of the Baruch Houses, one of the public housing complexes that Mr. Squadron and other politicians say are in need of security improvements.

Sources tell the Post that, before collapsing, the teenager ran into a deli and said that a group had demanded his coat. There have been no arrests in the homicide case.

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.

Photo courtesy Chan Poling Chan Poling

New York and London were the first cities to feel the heartbeat of punk, then bands started springing up in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Like a contagion, the new music spread and mutated from basement to garage, from Athens, Ga., to Santa Cruz.

It was thrilling for New Yorkers to hear about these regional bands and by 1980, we were finally seeing these alternative bands tour. The Suburbs arrived in New York from Minneapolis that summer. They brought the heartland to us with an urgent bounce, playing a brand of danceable new wave that was as funky and melodious as it was infectious. This video clip of their song, “Music For Boys,” captures them at Danceteria when they were at their muscular, modern rock best.

Chan Poling and Beej Chaney were the two front men, on keyboards and lead vocals, respectively. Friends since high school, they went out to Los Angeles in 1974 to attend Cal Arts. Chan played in a local punk band, The Technocats. The exposure to so many musicians and artists inspired him, and he began writing music — he just wasn’t sure for whom or what.

Returning home to Minneapolis in 1977, he found himself listening to a band, Suicide Commandos, formed by his childhood friend, Chris Osgood. “They were the only band in town that played the kind of music that was in my head,” Poling recalls, “I needed people to play with like that.”

Bayard Michael The Suburbs

Chris Osgood introduced him to Michael Halliday and Bruce Allen, who along with Beej and drummer Hugo Klaers, became The Suburbs. They never looked back. The band lived and rehearsed in a warehouse basement that fortuitously had an abandoned bar attached to it.

They couldn’t get gigs because there were no clubs that booked bands with original music. So they began throwing their own parties with a keg or two and a few bucks admission at the door. The Suburbs performed, along with other locals like The Replacements, until the success of their parties caught the eye of a local promoter, who ran a place called Jay’s Longhorn bar. One visit to their basement, and he changed his booking policy from jazz to punk, hiring The Suburbs for the next night. The Longhorn became the CBGBs of Minneapolis. Read more…

For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: First Flight Music.

Shira GoldbergDaniel Wollock of First Flight Music, with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons.

While the East Village is a Rock ‘n’ Roll Mecca, there aren’t many places where you can tuck away and play the hell out of a some bongos, or scratch out some high chords on an electric guitar, without really annoying the neighbors. There are no such auditory conundrums to battle when within the 1,500 square-feet of First Flight Music on 174 First Ave. “We insulated the space as best as we could, and we don’t teach after 8pm, so the landlord accepts it.” says owner Daniel Wollock about being on of the few places in the city that is able to teach drum lessons, and that also provides rehearsal space for bands that need some practice time.

While it’s nice to keep the neighbors happy, Mr. Wollock’s creative kindness also extends to all levels of musicians, including the unskilled. A sound room was built so people can try out instruments in private without having to showcase their skills (or non-skills) for all to hear. “Music stores are a great atmosphere to show off in, but the sound room is for people who don’t want to have to deal with the social stigma of not having skills yet. They can sit there all day and play until it feels right. I just keep handing them guitars until they are happy.”

We spoke to Mr. Wollock about how he’s managed to keep rocking and rolling since 1995.

How long have you been in the neighborhood?

Seventeen and a half years. At that time, the East Village was under-served, but also a place where most musicians were living. Before me, this space was Pete’s Spice Shop. When I found it, it was a dark, dirty, hole in the wall. My father and I built it into a store.

What was your plan when opening a musical instrument shop?

I spent most of my adult life building motion picture and television scenery. Guitars and music was always a sideline. When I developed a problem with my feet and had to have surgery on both of them, I was in wheelchair for several years. It was then that I kind of reinvented myself as a musical instrument dealer. I had always bought and sold guitars as a hobby and I started studying them more when I was laid up.

What’s a work day like for you?

It is multi-faceted. I’m buying new products from distributors, buying used products from customers who walk-in, I’m searching the Internet and Craigslist, wherever and however I can, for stuff. 40% of our business is sales and that includes rental space. Another 40% has comes from teaching and the rest is [revenue from] repairs.

There are a lot of guitar shops in the East Village now, how do you stand out?

More recent types of musical instrument stores are guitar only or vintage only. We decided along the way to be more of a universal musical store that handles a little bit of everything. We have maracas and hand drums, percussions, drum sticks, drum heads, woodwind reeds and mouthpieces. We carry a lot of the things that most stores don’t carry unless you’re a store like Sam Ash. We’re also for the little kid in need of a small inexpensive guitar, or mouthpieces for a clarinet, saxophone or trumpet. We have the stuff the typical rock n roll store won’t have, but then we have that stuff too. We’re not the trendy boutique store, but we’re for sure not corporate. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

First Subway closed on Second Avenue (its replacement, Good Guys, is now open) and now a sign on the papered-over door of the three-in-one joint that houses Pudgie’s, Nathan’s Famous, and Arthur Treacher’s is asking customers to “pardon our appearance during renovation.”

Though it only opened this summer, there’s reason to believe the threesome at 57 First Avenue might’ve dunked its last bird: back in November, we noticed a listing indicating the business was for sale because the “owner is relocating.” The Local was unable to reach the owner or agent back then and the agent didn’t respond to another request for comment yesterday.

We’ll let you know if we find out more.