As previously mentioned, we’ve just launched a nifty new tool that allows you to suggest stories you’d like to see on The Local. Using our Virtual Assignment Desk, you can either offer to write or photograph stories yourself or we’ll post your ideas so that fellow readers can volunteer to cover them. Check out our Open Assignments page and you’ll see that Hilarywritesny recently offered to write a story about East Village nonprofits: “Who’s volunteering, which agencies need help, what they do and how to get involved.” And speaking of volunteers, here’s a reader-submitted story that needs one. Want to review one of these upcoming productions at the Connelly Theater?

I’d like to invite you to take a new look at some old favorites David Auburn’s Proof and Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, produced by Sink or Swim Rep. Please note: It was originally announced that Proof would be directed by Jessi D. Hill, it is now being directed by Wendy Merritt.

In both Proof and An Ideal Husband, the characters are living a life of illusion and lies. What they hold as true has been carefully and willfully constructed. But it is a house of cards and when it invariably comes tumbling down, it can’t be rebuilt. Both Catherine in Proof and Gertrude in An Ideal Husband, are forced to look internally, and when they finally do, they realize that the way they view themselves and those around them must change or how can they move forward? Sink or Swim Rep has taken that journey—looked within and are embracing the result. Now it’s the audiences turn: having faced internal truth last season, are they ready to accept the change that comes with it? Read more…

Phillip Kalantzis-Cope

Good morning, East Village.

Bob Holman, owner of the Bowery Poetry Club, tells EV Grieve that rumors that the site has posted about the club are “greatly exaggerated”: “By spending the summer renovating and working out a partnership with a restaurant (rumors of Duane Park as our collaborators are sweet and the two entities surely do share a love for the populist arts of the Bowery, but nothing is signed yet folks), we hope to reopen come fall and be SUSTAINABLE with a neighborhood (Loisaida/Earth) focused poetry schedule, utilizing other neighborhood resources as well as the Club.”

The Post has more details about the shooting of a police officer in the Seward Park Houses.

The Wall Street Journal visits the set of the CBGB movie in Savannah, Ga. And Sound of the City has photos from the shoot. Meanwhile, The Observer recommends five CBGB Festival events not to miss, including a panel discussion about “Tales from the Club,” and ArtsBeat has the lineup for the free show in Times Square. Read more…

Sandy Berger The new machinery.

Can the neighbors of IHOP breathe easy?

Sandy Berger, a watchdog of the chain restaurant that she dubbed The International House of Putrid Odors, just sent over photos of a new piece of equipment that seems to have eliminated the overwhelming odor of bacon that has tormented her and many others for months.

“I can smell something now, but it doesn’t assault you. It would be the same as if you were walking down the hallway and you smelled a neighbor’s cooking,” Ms. Berger said. “That’s livable. It’s nothing like it had been before. Nothing.”

Ms. Berger added that three or four workers installed the machine on Tuesday using blowtorches and jackhammers.
Read more…

On Friday, The Local noted the sale of three buildings on East Third Street whose tenants had protested the non-renewal of their leases. Now Commercial Observer reveals the buyers: according to a statement, brothers Graham and Gregory Jones have purchased the buildings for $23.5 million, with plans to turn them into “the most desirable walk-ups in the East Village” once the remaining leases expire.

Tomorrow, as part of the CBGB Festival, Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong will discuss the Downtown Collection’s recent acquisition of their Nightclubbing archive of punk-era concert footage. In this week’s installment of their column for The Local, they speak with Tish and Snooky Bellomo, who will be playing with the Sic F*cks tonight at Bowery Electric and tomorrow at Fontana’s. That band was hardly the only one the Bellomo sisters had a hand in.

Courtesy Manic PanicTish and Snooky Bellomo

In the beginning, there was the Stillettos: Debbie Harry, Elda Stilletto and Roseanne Ross. As flashy and trashy as glam bands got, they played CBGBs so early in the game that the Ramones opened for them. By 1975, Debbie Harry had gone on to form Blondie. Elda transformed the Stillettos into the Stilletto Fads, with Tish and Snooky Bellomo as back up singers.

The Bellomos were no strangers to the CBGB scene. “We used to come down to the city from Riverdale,” said Tish. “We would hide our ‘subway’ shoes in some hedges outside of Max’s and CBGB and change into our cool stilettos and rock-and-roll wear before we went in, then change back on the train on our way back to the Bronx so we wouldn’t scare the neighbors.” Their fashion sense paid off: realizing how hard it was for New Yorkers to get the cool tight black pants that English kids wore, they used $500 to open Manic Panic on St. Marks Place in 1977. “Sometimes, we only made a $2.50 sale all day,” recalled Snooky, “but everyone would drop by, so you almost didn’t care. It was a while before we started making any money.”

Meanwhile, they sang with the Sic F*cks – at CBGBs, Max’s, Mudd Club theme nights, and wherever fun was to be had – and with the Stilletto Fads. Read more…

Here’s a sketch of the suspect in this morning’s shooting in the Lower East Side that likely would have killed a police officer were it not for his Kevlar vest. The incident happened in the stairwell between the 18th and 19th floors of the Seward Park Houses at around 3:40 a.m. While on a routine patrol, Officer Brian Groves came upon the armed suspect, who shot him in the chest after a brief pursuit, according to a statement from Commissioner Raymond Kelly. The Lo-Down reports a heavy police presence in the neighborhood.

Mary Reinholz

Chanting slogans and waving flags, including one that read “Don’t Tread on Me,” at least 1,000 demonstrators massed this morning near the headquarters of Consolidated Edison at 4 Irving Place to support some 8,000 unionized employees locked out early Sunday morning.

The utility company and representatives of Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers of America resumed negotiations around noon today, assisted by federal mediators. Allan Drury, a spokesman for Con Edison, declined to give the location. Previous talks had been held in Rye, N.Y.

Meanwhile, demonstrations continued in the sweltering heat. “We’re here to show our support for the union,” said utility worker Damon Romanelli, 49. “I’ve been working for Con Ed only five years but there are guys here who have worked for them for 30 and 40 years and they locked us out. They want to cut back on our pensions and on medical. It’s not fair.” Read more…

Melvin Felix Steve Rose in the garden.

On May 26, less than three weeks after the Creative Little Garden was touted as the best community garden in the city by readers of the Daily News, a message appeared on the garden’s Facebook page: “Without new volunteers our garden may close at the end of this summer.”

For the past five years, Steve Rose, a “semi-retired” 62-year-old resident of the block, has opened the garden’s green gates every morning at 11 a.m and watered its azaleas, hydrangeas and ferns. He closes the park at sundown — to prevent vagrants or late-night partiers from entering — and when it’s used for events: 14 weddings were held at the Creative Little Garden last year, and a “Saturday Night Live” skit was filmed there. But earlier this summer, Mr. Rose decided he would no longer be involved with the garden, citing personal reasons he did not want to discuss on the record.

Most East Village gardens are run in a communal fashion, meaning the loss of one member wouldn’t bring on a closing scare. But Mr. Rose runs the garden if not with an iron fist, then with a very green thumb. “The good thing about our garden is that it’s run by one guy,” he said. “That’s why it looks the way it does. It’s not a whole bunch of people complaining and compromising — which is most gardens, where it gets political. I sort of became the dictator and did everything when no one else did and it just worked out easily that way.”

Mr. Rose did get assistance from Ron Curtis, a friend who built the garden’s 66 birdhouses and has been involved with it since it opened in 1978. But Mr. Curtis wasn’t an ideal replacement, since he travels constantly. (This summer, he’s in Nova Scotia.) Read more…

Alberto Reyes Sugar and Toasty

Meet Toasty and his mutt, Sugar. They sometimes hang out on the corner of Second Avenue and 10th Street at St. Mark’s Church. The church isn’t thrilled about the “crusties” who loiter outside, especially after a recent act of vandalism. But when the weather’s nice, they can be found sitting in a group, drinking, laughing, sleeping, fighting, and hanging out with their dogs.

“Sugar just makes me happy. I don’t know, she just does,” said Toasty as he petted Sugar’s head. He said he rescued her from the home of his ex-girlfriend’s mom in the Bronx six months ago. “She had him in a tiny cage, you can tell by the marks on her tail,” he said, pointing to an area on Sugar’s tail where the hair grew in patches because of scarring. Sugar looked up at Toasty and it seemed she was comfortable with her new owner. Read more…

Scott Lynch East River Park

Good morning, East Village.

And congrats to the neighborhood’s own Tim “Eater X” Janus, who placed second in the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, downing 52.25 dogs in 10 minutes. His roommate Crazy Legs Conti ate 20. Meanwhile at the Crif Dog Classic, Takeru Kobayashi downed 68.5 dogs, which would’ve edged out Joey Chestnut’s 68 had he been competing in the Coney Island contest.

The Daily News and The Lo-Down report that a police officer was shot during a confrontation in the Seward Houses. He was saved by his bulletproof vest and the suspect is at large.

The Daily News spotted Katie Holmes with daughters Suri at Sundaes and Cones on Tuesday. Read more…

Suzanne Rozdeba

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!

Sarah Darville Sue Palchak-Essenpriess in her apartment.

Sue Palchak-Essenpriess caught a break in Housing Court last week.

The resident of 50 East Third Street, who along with her husband organized fellow tenants against the landlord who refused to renew their leases, defiantly stayed two months past the expiration date of her lease. That caused her landlord, Abart Holdings, to file suit for $2,400 on top of the rent she had paid for the two extra months, as well as for legal fees. On Friday, those demands were dropped, Ms. Palchak-Essenpriess said, and the parties settled for the amount of their security deposit and a month’s rent.

Now Ms. Palchak-Essenpriess is packing up and preparing to move to a new apartment in Washington Heights. “If you were to think of the stress arc, I guess this is the peak of it. The uncertainty is over, but now the devastation of the change is settling in,” she said.

Actually, there’s still one bit of uncertainty: Who owns 50-58 East Third Street? Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The unmarked police car and the van in the background.

Stephen Rex Brown Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann speaks with the driver, who eventually decided against going to the hospital.

We already knew traffic on the Bowery was a nightmare, but a van driver found out the hard way this afternoon, after rear-ending an unmarked police car at East Fourth Street. Awkward!

The commanding officer of the Ninth, Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, made a star appearance at the scene of the fender-bender at around 4:30 p.m. He said the officer driving the car, who works at the Police Academy, considered going to the hospital, but then decided against it.

The passengers in the van were fine, and no damage was evident to either vehicle.

Stephen Robinson The victim, on a stretcher, being treated by medics.

A would-be robber cracked a female employee at Snack Dragon in the head with a tip jar he tried to snatch at around 2 a.m.

Stephen Robinson Bloody gauze at the scene.

“Somebody walked in there and tried to take the tip jar,” said Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, who confirmed the incident on East Third Street near Avenue B. “The female tried to stop the perp, and he wound up using it as a weapon.”

The victim required stitches in her head. Bloody gauze was left at the scene, where several stunned witnesses lingered until around 3 a.m.

One of the bystanders, who did not give his name, said he tried to pursue the suspect who fled the scene, but lost him on Avenue C.

Inspector Cappelmann added that investigators from the Ninth Precinct were on the verge of arresting a suspect.

Stephen Robinson The scene at East Third Street and Avenue B.

DNAInfo reports that the Bowery Poetry Club will close for around one month starting in mid-July to make way for full food service. “There will be a better mix of food and art,” club owner Bob Holman tells the site, without going into further detail about how the well known performance space will change. The news comes after much concern over the poetry club’s fate. Last month EV Grieve noted its nearly empty events calendar for August. And a Kickstarter for a restaurant in the club was quickly abandoned in May.

Today at 1 p.m., a former CIA agent will team up with a Yonkers firefighter for a live-painting performance. Allow us to explain: The former Fed is Hank O’Neal, a longtime East Village photographer who goes by the handle XCIA. And the firefighter is Jef Campion, better known as Army of One.

Last week, guerrilla-art aficionados spilled onto East Ninth Street as the Dorian Grey Gallery hosted the opening of “Street Artists Unite!” For the exhibit, artists like Mr. Campion and John “Crash” Matos (whose work showed at TT Underground before The Melvins moved in) tagged the photos of Hank O’Neal, whose snaps of international street art were recently published in “XCIA’s Street Art Project: The First Four Decades.” (Mr. O’Neal’s Website features a gallery of his photos of the East Village from 1986 to 2010.)

Christopher Pusey, director of the Dorian Grey Gallery, spoke to The Local about the exhibit, which also features the work of AV ONE, BTA, COPE2, ENX, Fumero, Kid Lew, Screwtape, SEE One, Chris Stain, TMNK, and Robots Will Kill. It remains on display at 437 East Ninth Street, near Avenue A, through Aug. 5.

Scott Lynch

Good morning, East Village.

According to Crain’s, St. Mark’s Bookshop is looking to move on despite its recent rent break. The embattled bookstore “is hoping to move out of its current home when its rent goes up toward the end of this year.” Co-owner Bob Contant says, “We’d like to stay in the East Village. We understand the print book business has declined, but we’re still doing enough business to keep going, if we had a smaller space with less rent.”

Fear not: even if the Bookshop moves, we’ve still got The Readery! Billy Farrell Agency posts some shots from the party at the Standard East Village for the hotel’s new book nook. Socialites like Tinsley Mortimer, Kristian Laliberte, and others were in attendance.

The Lo-Down takes a nice long look at the issue of chain stores in the Lower East Side, and Meghan Joye, co-chair of the Community Board 3’s economic development committee gives some indication of what the board is thinking as far as the rezoning measures they’ve discussed. She “said most members of the panel are uneasy about using zoning to limit national chain stores. A better solution, she suggested, might be taking some inspiration from those Seward Park residents. A first step would be conducting a large-scale community survey to find out what types of stores people need and want.”

Clayton Patterson tells Animal he regrets the time he drove a gunshot victim to the hospital and failed to photograph his wound. “So I look back at Tony… It’s about the size of my little finger, this burnt hole — like a cigarette burn in a white sweater, white acrylic sweater. I thought, “Ohhhh, I should take a photograph.” And I just never did it.”

Photos: Daniel Maurer

The Melvins are widely considered the godfathers of grunge: Kurt Cobain, who drove them to shows in their Mel-van, was so heavily influenced by their brand of “sludge metal” that he once worried Nirvana would be considered a “Melvins rip-off.” So why did their latest show draw just under 150 people?

Rest assured, the band’s fan base isn’t dwindling as it enters its third decade. The half-filled basement of Lit was part of (what else?) a “Post Moral Neanderthal Retardist Pornography” art show.

Tom Hazelmyer, who produced the show (his Amphetamine Reptile record company put out a couple of the band’s 18 studio albums) said tickets sold out in about 20 minutes. The $50 cost of entry got attendees one of 300 handmade records as well as a wristband. Those who couldn’t get into Lit’s cave-like basement were able to watch a simulcast of the show next-door at TT Underground underneath Toy Tokyo, where Melvins-related artwork by Mr. Hazelmyer (a.k.a. HAZE XXL) and others graced the walls. Read more…