On a recent Thursday, Steven Chu and Parker McComb were posted on Bedford Avenue with a white folding chair, scissors, buzzers, and a sign offering “free haircuts for art.” Chu — who learned how to cut hair in 2008, by watching YouTube videos — was offering up his services to promote a new art project, called Hourships. “The premise is hour-long apprenticeships for youth, ages 5-18, interested in the arts,” the 28-year-old explained.
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Divine Inspiration: Jeffrey Schwartz’s New Doc on the ‘Drag Queen Who Ate Dog Shit’
Here’s the typical path from underground hero to mainstream celebrity: Gain cult following of people who are edgier and wilder than most (see: gay crowds, college kids, artists); sweat in small theaters and films for years; get the attention of a powerful tastemaker; take the edge way off your persona and appear publicly as a watered down version of your earlier self, bringing slight thrills without actually pushing any boundaries.
And while you could say this is what happened to 1970s and ’80s drag star Divine — who went from eating dog poo in the John Waters film Pink Flamingoes to playing a Baltimore housewife who’s only compulsion is ironing — the real story, told in the new documentary I Am Divine, is anything but typical.
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Tonight, We’re Screening The Domino Effect and Talking Development
When we reported in August that demolition of part of the Domino Sugar Factory had been approved, Megan Sperry told us that Williamsburgers have “gotten used to losing” to Two Trees and many now feel that the developer’s radical transformation of the waterfront is a “done deal.”
Tonight at the Newsroom, we’ll be screening Sperry’s film on the subject, The Domino Effect. The 7 p.m. screening will be followed by a discussion featuring filmmakers Brian Paul and Daniel Phelps, Colin Miles of Save Domino, and Daniel Campo, author of The Accidental Playground, a new book surveying the wilder days of the East River waterfront. (The event is free — just let us know you’re coming.)
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The Space at Tompkins Is Finally Getting an Actual Space From Which to Help the Homeless
Andrea Stella, center. (Photo: Space at Tompkins)
The Space at Tompkins, despite its name, is a “completely street-based” organization, according to co-founder Andréa Stella. But next month the non-profit — which connects the city’s transient homeless with anything from peanut butter sandwiches to clean needles — will get an actual space of its own. If only for a week.
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A Talk With the Director of The Phantom Tollbooth: Beyond Expectations
We’re watching The Phantom Tollbooth: Beyond Expectations tonight at the Bedford + Bowery Newsroom. Couldn’t make it? Tune in shortly after 8 p.m. as we talk to the documentary’s director, Greenpoint’s own Hannah Jayanti, about the classic children’s story. You can read more about the event here. Update: The event has passed, but you can watch the recording above.
Meowzers! There’s Going to Be a Cat Painting Takedown
Matt Timms, organizer of legendary amateur-chef competitions, is hosting his third Painting Takedown. This time, instead of velvet paintings, talented artists — well, anyone with at least some confidence in their ability to wield a paint brush — are being challenged to smear canvases with their best interpretation of cats. It’s the next best thing to a cat cafe!
Don’t worry, if you “can’t paint cats” — the exact words of one tattoo artist whose unfortunate work will never see the light of day again, thanks to one SUPERB cover-up — you can still mow some spicy chili, alternate with swigs of ice-cold beer, and bid on paintings to support local animal shelters.
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Buy Anything at Essex Street Market and Luca & Bosco Will Put Pumpkin Ice Cream On It
Oddfellows and Davey’s Ice Cream aren’t the only ones that started scooping over the summer. At the Essex Street Market, Catherine Oddenino and Ruthie Vishlitzky of Luca & Bosco have been quietly serving up goat cheese ice cream as well as cocktail-inspired varieties like Gin & Juice. For the fall, they’re doing seasonal flavors like Pumpkin Spice. Watch our audio slideshow to find out more about the cart’s “a la mode” program and then try asking them to top the mac & cheese pancakes you bought at Shopsins with a scoop of their Drunk & Salty Caramel.
Adam Green Thinks Virtual Reality Will Bridge the Manhattan/Brooklyn Divide
As you can probs guess from our name, Bedford + Bowery is all about uniting the neighborhoods on either side of the Williamsburg Bridge and the L line. But East Village musician and artist Adam Green has another idea. Earlier this month, we spoke to him at the Newsroom after a screening of How to Act Bad, a documentary that follows the singer-songwriter over the course of two years of touring Europe, getting cozy with the Shining Twins and dabbling in ketamine and DMT. Green told us, “I tried this virtual reality helmet the other day. Have you ever tried this? Oculus? I feel like it’s going to bridge the divide between these two neighborhoods.” According to Green, we could all be chilling in a French chateau instead of wondering whether life is better on the other side of the bridge. “When they took the helmet off of my head, I didn’t want to go back,” he said.
Watch the rest of the discussion between Green and the documentary’s director, Dima Dubson, above.
There Was a Shooting On Avenue D Last Night
A gunman shot someone in the shoulder at 118 Avenue D, at the Jacob Riis Houses, last night around 8 p.m., the police say.
The victim, who has not been identified, was taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment.
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Here’s What the Corner Of Bedford and North 7th Will Look Like a Year From Now
(Photo: Christopher DiScipio)
The corner of North 7th Street and Bedford Avenue has been an anti-establishment battleground lately. (Stop trying to hide behind your tasteful mahogany exterior, DD, we see you.)
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