“I’m a fire dancer,” said Susannah Pryce, who was lurking about the front stairs of the Sixth Street Community Center on Saturday night, dressed as the Goddess of Death. For her role as a macabre guide to the finale of the 13 Portals, she wore glowing face paint, a black cloak, and six-inch fingernails made of curling brown beans. After explaining how she regularly performs at bars with an on-fire instrument that looks like “the bones of a giant geisha fan,” Pryce told us: “Tonight’s portal is about rebirth. And that’s why I’m here. Because everybody has to die to be reborn.”
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Arts + Culture
Smith Brothers On the Apostrophe Bust: ‘The Whole Thing Was Pretty Dramatic’
Ki and Sei Smith during happier times. (Courtesy of Apostrophe)
It was around 2 a.m. on Saturday, September 21, when a dozen officers — including a smattering of cops, fire men, and building department officials — found their way into Apostrophe. The police had come by before, but owner Ki Smith, 21, knew this wasn’t one of their “normal trips.”
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Fuse Gallery Is Dunzo, But Lit’s Back Room Is Ready to Rock & Roll Again
Back in August we broke word that Fuse Gallery, the art space behind Lit Lounge in the East Village, was set to close on September 11. That date has come and gone, and owner Erik Foss has been keeping busy retooling the space for its reopening as a rec room, and also lending his paintings to an upcoming art exhibit featuring a slew of downtown fixtures.
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The So So Glos Promise Their ‘Wrecking Ball’ Video Is Better Than Miley’s
Back in June, the So So Glos invited us into their Bushwick HQ, Shea Stadium, and played “House of Glass” off of their newly released LP, “Blowout.” Now they’re back with a cinematic video for “Wrecking Ball” that they promise is better than Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” video, even if none of the boys got nekkid for it. But is it better than Bruce Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball”? Grab a coffee and a donut and find out.
Jay Stolar Got Beat Up For Liking Stevie Wonder and Can’t Stand Creed
On a recent afternoon, we met Jay Stolar at The Meatball Shop on Bedford Avenue, near his home in Williamsburg, to talk about More Than You Think, his first album since leaving Julius C, the five-man band that piqued the interest of New York’s indie circuit in 2010 with a 30-day, 30-show tour. Stolar’s new album, which lands on October 8, consists of supremely smooth, radio-ready pop songs, and the single “Like You Do” was picked up for an episode of the CW’s 90210 (the video for “Leading Me Down,” released today, is below). In August, Stolar launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the release of the album and ended up raising $50,000, more than three times the initial goal. With CMJ shows coming up at The Delancey on Oct. 16 and Rockwood Music Hall on Oct. 19, Stolar talked about recording the album, being inspired by Amanda Palmer, and covering Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.”
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A Greek Tragedy Unfolded in My Bushwick Backyard
(Photo: Charles Quittner)
Last Friday, after a long day’s work, I stumbled into my apartment building at 190 Jefferson Street only to find the Greek tragedy “Electra” being performed on my back porch.
Our little backyard was packed with a few dozen people. Word of the odd production must’ve reached everyone in Bushwick but me.
I texted my next-door neighbor, William Gaffney, and asked him something along the lines of, “Have you noticed the play going on in our backyard?”
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Art Is in the Air: FAB! Festival Tomorrow, Art in Odd Places Next Month
FAB! Festival, 2012. (Photo: Tim Schreier)
The installation of Chris Burden’s on the facade of the New Museum isn’t the only bit of public art livening up in the neighborhood. Two of the East Village’s beloved culture carnivals are back, starting with the FAB! Festival tomorrow.
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Watch Vensaire Play “See I’m You” in a Bushwick Menagerie
Vensaire has already garnered impressive buzz in the Bushwick scene, though their debut LP, Perdix, has yet to be released. The “cinematic concept album,” which follows last year’s The Vensaire EP, was produced and mixed by Grammy-nominated Scott Colburn (Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Prince Rama) and should be out soon.
James Levy of Reputante on Signing With Julian Casablancas and Playing With Zoë Kravitz
“The Cult Records thing is my fourth record deal, but it’s the coolest one for me,” James Levy told B+B on his band Reputante signing to the Julian Casablancas-owned label. “The label is an interesting community and I wanted to be a part of Julian’s vision. Everybody on it is part of the family to some degree. I was tired of signing record deals and not being excited about it.”
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Yippie!! The Yippie Museum Scored More Time to Fight Foreclosure
David Peel at 9 Bleecker. (Photo: Scott Lynch)
The Yippie! Museum avoided a quick and bitter end yesterday and won more time in its dramatic fight against foreclosure.
The yippies’ legal battle to maintain their three-story building at 9 Bleecker Street, with its unpaid $1.4 million mortgage, has dragged on since 2009 when Centech LLC, their lender, filed a complaint to obtain a judgement for foreclosure and sale on the premises. Yesterday at New York State Supreme Court, Noah Potter, a lawyer for imprisoned yippie leader Dana Beal, won an extension to gather more information. “I have a month and a half to get documents to plead Dana’s case,” Potter told B+B.
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