Jamie Larson Bookshop owners Terrence McCoy and Bob
Contant.The constantly-embattled St. Mark’s Bookshop surpassed its goal of $23,000 today, though that doesn’t mean the beloved store’s survival is certain.
“This first big chunk at least guarantees that we will keep fighting because you have shown everyone that there is a reason to,” the owners wrote in a thank you note posted online.
Currently, the store has raised over $24,000 and still has three days of fundraising left.
But in a phone conversation co-owner Terrence McCoy said many hurdles remained. For one, the store’s shelves are disconcertingly empty due to the fact that some publishers have stopped shipping new books due to unpaid bills. The owners are seeking investors who could fund the new storefront, but thus far, any potential backers have favored the existing location, Mr. McCoy said.
“I can’t say that we’re going to instantly move,” he added. Read more…
Add Parkside Lounge to the long list of neighborhood mainstays that are soliciting donations to keep afloat. The East Houston Street bar seeks $10,000 to overhaul its performance space to include a new bar and better sound equipment. “With all the stuff that’s going on in the neighborhood right now, sometimes I get nervous. Some places have just completely changed their identities. I don’t want to do that,” operating partner Christopher Lee says in the video, filmed by the local fundraising company Lucky Ant.
The longstanding bar serves up cheap booze and an eclectic array of musical acts, much like Lakeside Lounge did before it shuttered at the end of April. Read more…
Lucky Ant
Last Thursday, Brad Burgess was able to stop city marshals from evicting The Living Theatre after gathering $10,400 for back rent. But in 12 days the theater, known for its avant garde productions admired by the likes of Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, faces yet another deadline. If The Living Theatre cannot raise $24,000 by May 14 it will have to move out. Its founder, Judith Malina, will likely face eviction from her apartment above the theater shortly thereafter.
To meet the goal, the theater has set up a call for donations that went live yesterday through a local crowd-funding site, Lucky Ant. The $24,000 would go towards arrears, as well as the money to pay a consultant who would formulate a plan to put the theater back in the black.
“We are down to the wire,” said Mr. Burgess, the 27-year-old actor who is caring for Ms. Malina and helping run the theater. Read more…
Scott LynchGood morning, East Village.
In case you missed it, President Obama’s motorcade rolled down East 12th Street last night, to the consternation of many. Above, Scott Lynch got a photo of preparations at University Place. According to City Room, more than 100 Occupy Wall Street demonstrators marched to the president’s next stop, the Sheraton Hotel in midtown, to protest a fundraising event there.
Back when The Local spoke to Clayton Patterson about his in-the-works anthology, “Jews: A People’s History of the Lower East Side” (which ended up being successfully funded on Kickstarter), he showed off a mock-up of the “Legends of the Lower East Side” coloring book that he was working on with artists Troy Harris and Orlando Bonilla. The Villager has more about the project, and Bowery Boogie publishes some sample pages.
The Times reviews “Golem” at the Ellen Stewart Theater and opines that its “visual illusions feel far more magical than anything you’ll see in a Broadway blockbuster.” Read more…
Philip Kalantzis-Cope The Theater for the New City at 155 First Avenue.The Theater For The New City is in the final stages of a 24-year fundraising drive to pay off its debt.
In 1986 the theater’s mortgage was $717,000. Now, it’s down to $90,000, and administrators are orchestrating a big push to ensure its political, avant garde and always-colorful productions continue at the location on First Avenue.
“Our building, our permanent home, is the basis of our ability to produce new art,” said Crystal Field, the theater’s executive director in a press release. “The economic difficulties coming our way, indeed, to the whole of the art world, will best be met by a strong foundation.” Read more…
Mariko Osanai cupped her cell phone away from her mouth and whispered “Just one second, I’m on the phone with my sister in Japan – there’s been another big earthquake, and they’re having a blackout. Can you believe it?” She shook her head, visibly upset, and stepped outside Dlala salon on Avenue A to smoke a cigarette, taking deep drags and pacing as she listened to the news.
Weeks after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, Ms. Osanai, like many other Japanese living in the East Village, continues to spend much of her time on the phone, reaching out to friends and relatives from the hard-hit coastal regions.
But for Ms. Osanai and a handful of Japanese East Villagers, making phone calls is not enough. A group of local Japanese artists have designed a logo – emblazoned with the words “Love Save Japan” in capital letters – to draw attention to the crisis in Japan and which has already helped raise thousands of dollars for the relief effort.
Read more…
