A nugget from Scoopy’s notebook in The Villager just caught our eye: The Mosaic Man Jim Power has been kicked out of his basement studio underneath Barbiere. Mr. Power would often crash in the small space with his faithful canine companion, Jesse Jane, where he would craft mosaics for local businesses like Porchetta, Tompkins Square Bagels and The Bean. He preferred the space to his abode at The Lee, which houses formerly homeless and low-income residents. Mr. Power often aired his beef with the administrators of that facility, but according to Scoopy, that’s been smoothed over.

Tim Schreier

Hermann the German isn’t the only pizza-parlor painter in the neighborhood. After doing the wall of The Bean’s forthcoming location (with an assist from Mosaic Man), Walker Fee scored a gig across the street. This past weekend, we spotted the muralist painting the facade of East Village Pizza. The owners, we were told, wanted to bring balance to the block. And apparently, Mr. Fee will bring still another mural to the block after this one.

Meanwhile, a block away on St. Marks Place, there’s a newish mural of “Mister Shoetree” on the side of Foot Gear Plus. The artist, Robert Gardner (a.k.a. Robare), brought it to our attention in the comments of our “Making It” interview with shopkeeper Linda Scifo-Young.

Suzanne Rozdeba

Suzanne Rozdeba

Good morning, East Village.

Take note, pet owners: the flyer above and another at right went up around the neighborhood recently.

The Post reports that Kenneth Moreno, the former police officer who was acquitted of raping a woman on duty but fired after being found guilty of official misconduct, is thinking about suing the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for allegedly planting incriminating evidence.

You’ll recall baggies of heroin were found in Mr. Moreno’s locker, and woes at the stationhouse continue: The Post hears from a source that the last of four 9mm pistols stolen from the locker room was swiped after officers were assigned to patrol the room.

Speaking of guns, The Daily News reports that two teens were arrested at the Union Square station when police officers who stopped them for evading the fare found a pair of guns and two bulletproof vests on them. Read more…

Lauren Evans, Cafe Press The CBGB jersey spotted at REI and the snuggie from Mosaic Man’s Cafe Press line.

While rumors continue to swirl about the return of CBGB, we recently spotted a way to indulge one’s punk nostalgia and comfortably ride a bicycle. A CBGB cycling jersey is on sale at REI.

Here’s the write-up for the jersey: “The retro image CBGB performance bike jersey takes you on a ride down memory lane to the days when punk rock ruled high and mighty at New York’s famous CBGB underground rock club. Polyester mesh fabric wicks away sweat and dissipates it for quick drying-airy mesh weave allows excellent breathability.”

So, what’s more bizarre? This punked-out polyester that’s only $70? Or the warm and cuddly Mosaic Man snuggie?

Stephen Rex Brown Scaffolding went up at Second Avenue and Sixth Street yesterday.

Good morning, East Village.

If you missed our coverage earlier this morning of Community Board 3’s S.L.A. committee meeting last night, well then here it is. The Standard East Village didn’t show up to pitch its dining overhaul, but a couple of iconic bars, Joe’s and Nice Guy Eddie’s, got nods of approval for new ownership.

The Mosaic Man tipped us off to his latest work outside of the Bean on Second Avenue. This one is a tribute to the building’s notorious “crazy landlord.”

While organizers of the Anarchist Book Fair disavowed Satuday’s violence, Salon tackled the question of just how much the mayhem had to do with Occupy Wall Street. Natasha Lennard witnessed the impromptu march: “It was rowdy, energetic and fast. Barricades and trash cans were dragged into the street to stop traffic and impede the police cars that eventually arrived on the scene. At one point, two young women watching the surge of people winding through stalled traffic asked me whether this was an ‘Occupy thing.’ I answered ‘yes.’ But, as I soon appreciated, it’s more complicated than that.” Meanwhile, the Daily News digs in to one suspect’s arrest record.  Read more…

Finally, the perfect t-shirt to go along with your mosaic belt buckle. The Mosaic Man Jim Power just alerted The Local on Twitter to his new shirts, which feature a portrait of the local legend gazing into the distance. The collection on Cafe Press also includes Mosaic Man-endorsed iPhone covers, coffee mugs, notebooks and even t-shirts for a dog.

Stephen Rex Brown The Local now shares a light pole on Second Avenue with other neighborhood blogs.

A phone call from “Mosaic Man” Jim Power brought our favorite news of the week: The Local has been immortalized in tile form on a light pole on Second Avenue at St. Marks Place.

The Local shares the pole with other neighborhood media outlets like Bowery Boogie, EV Grieve, Neighborhoodr, East Villager, Neither More Nor Less, and The Village Voice (our Cooper Square neighbor is next to us on the pole as well).

“If you want information about the neighborhood, that light pole will tell you,” Mr. Power said. Read more…

Matt Rosen Mosaic Man’s latest.

The East Village’s most ubiquitous street artist is in the midst of a particularly prolific period, and he shows no signs of slowing down.

Matt Rosen Jim Power, alongside Porchetta co-owner Matt Lindemulder.

This morning, “Mosaic Man” Jim Power alerted The Local to his new pig mosaic, which he had just delivered to to Porchetta on East Seventh Street.

Recently, Mr. Power unveiled signage for Tompkins Square Bagels and the new location of The Bean.

The Local will probably get a firsthand look at the porcine mosaic any day now. We just finished off a punch-card for a free sandwich, and those burnt ends are irresistible.

Stephen Rex Brown Mosaic Man’s “fellow conspirator,” Al Bonsignore, sports the signage.

Stephen Rex Brown Jim Power supervises the installation of the new sign.

The Mosaic Man Jim Power is currently presiding over the installation of the new signage for The Bean cafe at Second Avenue and Third Street.

The letters, along with an abstract tiling, look to be one of the larger works Mr. Power has done recently.

“Man, we’ve been working round the clock for days,” said Mr. Power, who showed no signs of exhaustion, as usual. “We had tiles coming in from Texas!”

A sign on the window of the cafe says it is opening on Monday. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The future location of The Bean, in the former “crazy landlord” building.

Add The Bean to the list of East Village businesses that will feature Jim Power’s signature artwork. The Mosaic Man told The Local last night that he had just signed on to do his colorful tile work at the upcoming location of the cafe at Second Avenue and East Third Street. The Bean is the latest addition to the Mosaic Man’s portfolio, which also includes — in addition to numerous light-poles — Porchetta, Tompkins Square Bagels, and Exit 9. Mr. Power said that the management of The Bean had been very generous to him and his dog through the years, and he was happy to be working for them alongside several other collaborators. After a quick chat, the Mosaic Man had to get back to work. “Not bad, huh? I was homeless six months ago,” he said.

A vigil in honor of Bob Arihood, the East Village photographer who died on Sept. 30, included notable neighborhood characters like Ray Alvarez of Ray’s Candy Store, Jim “Mosaic Man” Power, graffiti artist Chico, L.E.S. Jewels, activist and photojournalist John Penley, and documentarian Clayton Patterson.

Friends first packed into Lucy’s bar on Avenue A at 7 p.m., where Mike Falsetta, Mr. Arihood’s close friend, raised a glass. “To Bob,” he said, to which people cheered, “salud!” and “rest in peace,” and “you will be missed.” Friends and acquaintances of Mr. Arihood shared stories and expressed shock over his death. An hour later, the crowd moved down to Ray’s Candy Store, where about 60 people surrounded the candles and photos of Mr. Arihood placed at the storefront. Read more…

Steven Hirsch Bob Arihood.

Bob Arihood, friend and photographer of the East Villlage’s misfits, free spirits and longtime locals died yesterday in his Fourth Street apartment. He was 65.

A spokesman for the fire department said that the cause was cardiac arrest at around 7:45 p.m.

Many of Mr. Arihood’s photographs on his blog, Neither More Nor Less, had an unmistakable air of grit and nostalgia. But others, many of them snapped in the wee hours of the morning, carried legitimate neighborhood news overlooked by other outlets. His blog began as a way to document the plight of the Mosaic Man Jim Power, who was evicted from an apartment on St. Marks Place. Later, Mr. Arihood would expand his blog to cover the ups and downs of Ray’s Candy Store, as well as the constant goings-on in Tompkins Square Park.
Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Jim Power’s planter honoring the 9/11 first responders at its new home on Seventh Avenue.

A 9/11 memorial in the West Village got a surprise addition to its collection on Saturday. In a frenzied mix of patriotism and general disgust with the state of Astor Place, “Mosaic Man” Jim Power decided to move his planter dedicated to first responders from its original spot.

Mr. Power said the decision came to him after learning that the Walk of Remembrance honoring Rev. Mychal Judge, a firefighter who died while giving last rites to a comrade at the World Trade Center, would pass by the Tiles For America memorial at Seventh Avenue and 11th Street.
Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Matt Rosen manages the web presence of two of the neighborhood’s most revered characters.

Ray Alvarez may not remember Matt Rosen’s name or understand his social networking wizardry, but there is little doubt that the 30-year-old’s efforts have been a boon for the iconic and oft-embattled Ray’s Candy Store.

Since 2009, Mr. Rosen, has managed Mr. Alvarez’s @RaysCandyStore Twitter account, which boasts 1,064 followers, as well as the eatery’s pages on Yelp, Urbanspoon, Foursquare, and Café Press. Last month, Mr. Rosen added Jim Power, the Mosaic Man, to his stable of online accounts.

Not that Mr. Alvarez knows much about all that stuff.

“He does advertising for me — it’s really high-tech. I still don’t have a television — I don’t know what Twitter is,” said Mr. Alvarez, 78, when asked about Mr. Rosen. “I didn’t know his name is Matt.” Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Jim Power works on a new mosaic for the soon-to-open Tompkins Square Bagels.

The Local spent some quality time with Jim Power yesterday, and the  Mosaic Man let us in on a few of his upcoming projects. Mr. Power is in the process of designing mosaics for Porchetta, the new Tompkins Square Bagels coming to Avenue A, and the soon-to-reopen Exit 9.

The neighborhood’s beloved public artist was as humble as ever.

“I’m doing the city a favor with all this stuff,” Mr. Power said while taking a break from work in his basement studio. “I’m making this neighborhood one of the biggest landmarks in the world.”

That might sound arrogant, if it wasn’t for the fact that many people agree with him — including his customers. Read more…