Last night two East Village iconoclasts rolled into the Newsroom, and it was major. We paired writer Cat Marnell with photographer Richard Kern for a conversation moderated by novelist Porochista Khakpour, whose third novel, it turns out, includes a character based on Marnell. Watch the hour-long blow-by-blow above, or check out the highlights below.
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About Daniel Maurer
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The East Village’s Shiny New 7-Eleven Has Already Been Defiled
(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
…by someone should probably learn how to spell “prostitution.” Or maybe it was Banksy. Either way, 7-Eleven took swift action after we tweeted this yesterday — below is what the store looked like this morning.
Otto’s Tacos Starts Slinging Carnitas Today
(Photo courtesy Otto’s Tacos)
The East Village got Empire Biscuit last week (at closing time Sunday there was a biscuit bouncer at the door shooing folks off) and today it’ll get yet another stylized specialty spot. As we told you back in August, Otto’s Tacos gets its name from owner Otto Cedeno, a Southern Californian who was frustrated with the city’s Mexican grub. At his takeout joint, he’s preaching simple tacos containing boldly seasoned meats that aren’t massed under a ton of ingredients, with tortillas that are made from a house masa blend and pressed to a crisp. The tortillas are also cut into thick strips and fried to create what Cedeno hopes will be a signature item: doughy-on-the-inside, crispy-on-the-outside masa fries that you can dip into chipotle sauce.
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Sunday: Join Us For an Evening With Cat Marnell and Richard Kern
Before the B+B Newsroom launched, we promised you cats — and on our pop-up’s final night tomorrow, Sunday, we’re giving you Cat. That’s right: Cat Marnell. And because one East Village firebrand deserves another, we’re pairing her with photographer Richard Kern for what’s sure to be a lively discussion about pushing boundaries and pushing buttons.
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Can You Find the Velvet Underground Banana at The Randolph’s New Place?
(Photo courtesy Randolph Brooklyn)
Oh hey, the folks behind Nolita spot The Randolph at Broome opened their new Williamsburg outpost earlier this week. Randolph Brooklyn’s design was “loosely inspired by ’70s punk,” according to the release, and indeed there’s a wall of televisions that reminds us of the Video Lounge that Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong installed at Danceteria. Scour the collage-style wallpaper that recalls a Sex Pistols or Clash album cover and you’ll even find the banana from the cover of The Velvet Underground & Nico. And (fun fact) the mural in the front of the place quotes Adam and the Ants guitarist Marco Pirroni talking about punk rock (“it was anti-drug pro-amphetemine anti-sex shag-fest”).
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Watch Todd P, Peter Shapiro and Other North Brooklyn Club Owners Talk Nightlife and DIY
While you party down this weekend, the club owners of North Brooklyn will be working hard to make that partying possible — and offering up a dizzyingly diverse array of cutting-edge music, to boot. (For starters, did anyone else catch John Carpenter’s soundtrack composer, Alan Howarth, doing the Halloween theme song at 285 Kent last night? Just beyond awesome.) Last week at the Newsroom, we spoke to some of our favorite nightlife impresarios: from left to right in the video above, you’ve got Peter Shapiro of Brooklyn Bowl, Jify Shah of Cameo, Jake Rosenthal of Glasslands, John Barclay of Bossa Nova Civic Club, and Todd Patrick of 285 Kent and Market Hotel.
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Vice Wants to Hire the ‘Vice Is Hip’ Tweeter, Is Doing a ‘Bad Moms Club’ Reality Show
Earlier this week at the B+B Newsroom, we welcomed Rocco Castoro, editor-in-chief of Vice Media, and Jason Mojica, editor-in-chief of Vice News, to talk about the Williamsburg-based brand’s evolution from the fringes of the mainstream media to the front lines. You had a lot to ask, they had a lot to say, and you can watch it all above. Below, read some choice snippets about the company’s plans to produce more reality TV, film, livestreaming, and investigative journalism. Oh, and expect to see more female correspondents on the HBO show. Budding journalists will also find valuable advice about coming up with stories, including Mojica’s method of “making shit up and then hoping that it really does exist and then searching for it.”
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Yup, These People Were ‘Zombie Lou Reed’ For Halloween
Yesterday Dave Horwitz tweeted, “If I see even one Zombie Lou Reed costume tonight I will burn down an Urban Outfitters” — but, yeah, it happened anyway. Did these folks honor the man’s lyrics: “This Halloween is something to be sure / Especially to be here without you”? Check out the costumes and you decide.
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That Vintage Store That’s Been On Bedford Avenue Forever Has Left Williamsburg
(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
If you’re doing some last-minute costume shopping, a) don’t even think about going as zombie Lou Reed, and b) don’t bother going to Vice Versa, the thrift shop that’s been on Bedford Avenue for some ten years. The wall of plaid and flannel has come down and the place was being completely cleared out earlier this evening.
Luis Perez, a manager, said the store was moving to 71 White Street, near McKibbin,and will reopen in larger digs — “the same store but more quality” — sometime between November 15 and 20. “The rent is almost the same but the space is huge — maybe 8,000 square feet,” he said. Plus, the new shop will be conveniently located near Bogart & Moore Vintage. “It’s good when you have competition, because they go to the first and then the second,” said Perez.
Vice Versa’s parent company also owns No Relation Vintage and Village Style in the East Village, Urban Jungle in Bushwick, and Atlantis Attic in Williamsburg — so yeah, pretty much everywhere you’ve ever bought an ironic Member’s Only jacket.
7-Eleven Has Opened On Avenue A, and No 7-Eleven Has Something to Say About It
Pretty spooky. (Photo: Daniel Maurer)
It happened on Halloween: 7-Eleven opened at the corner of Avenue A and East 11th Street, to the, em, horror of many an East Villager. Or at least, to the horror of the folks who’ve been protesting the store’s construction site every Sunday: No 7-Eleven is calling for a 9 p.m. boycott rally tonight.
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Missed Nirvana Last Night? See Two More Bands Cover ‘Em Tonight
If you missed 285 Kent’s Halloween show last night, then you missed Butter the Children doing the Pixies and Dead Stars covering Nirvana — but don’t hate yourself and want to die, tonight some other bands are taking a stab. Cake Shop has just announced its Halloween Partyshow lineup, and it’ll feature Butter the Children as the Pixies (again!) and Low Getting High as Nirvana. Plus, Palehound as Pavement, Flagland as Weezer, and Vulture Shit as Dookie Shit (a Green Day cover band, we’re assuming?). The show starts at 8:30 p.m. and goes till midnight, and there’s a $8 cover.
Update: Silent Barn is also doing a covers show tonight, and yet another band, Whoarfrost, will attempt to channel Kurt, Chris and Dave. In addition, Celestial Shore and Steve Marion of Delicate Steve will do Led Zeppelin and You will do Interpol.
Tags: Arts + Culture, Bushwick, cake shop, interpol, led zeppelin, live music, Lower East Side, nirvana, pavement, pixies, weezer
The East Village Is Getting a Westside Market
(Photo: Danielle Walsh)
First Brooklyn’s Union Market comes to Houston Street and now this: Westside Market — the family-owned supermarket chain known, among other things, for its funny cheese labels, is opening its first eastside store. According to a release, the bi-level store at 84 Third Avenue, on the corner of East 12th Street, will occupy 18,871 square feet in a new 9-story luxury rental building. That would be the Karl Fischer-designed building that caused Nevada Smiths to have to close its original location. Construction should be completed by early summer 2014.
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