Friday at the B+B Newsroom Rayya Elias, author of Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post-Punk from the Middle East to the Lower East Side, and Brendan Jay Sullivan, author of Rivington Was Ours: Lady Gaga, The Lower East Side and the Prime of our Lives read from their recently published memoirs and talked about the changes they’d seen in the East Village and Lower East Side over the years. Play the video to watch the readings and conversation. And here’s what happened when an audience member asked the authors to compare the eras during which they moved to the city (the late ’80s and mid-aughts, respectively).
More →
Catch the NY Surf Film Festival or Turn 20 All Over Again With Pearl Jam
What’s more appropriate than a surf film festival in October? We’re not sure, but we’re all going to be California dreaming after this Thursday’s annual New York Surf Film Festival at Nitehawk Cinema.
More →
Hang On to Yourself, We’ve Got 30 Images From BowieBall
Last week Glenn Branca recalled meeting David Bowie: “He was a trip. He really felt like he needed to be the person you imagined him to be.” Saturday at Le Poisson Rouge, everyone felt they needed to be the Thin White Duke, or Ziggy Stardust, or any of Bowie’s countless other personas, because it was the annual BowieBall. Click through to see Amy Lombard’s shots of the action and get a glimpse of life on Mars.
Harsh! Yippie Museum’s Building Manager Wants Pot Activist Kicked to the Curb
(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
Wenig represents David F. Segal, the receiver, who claims that “not one cent” of the $20,000-per-month rent he demanded via a notice in September has been paid since May, when the court authorized him to manage the building. As a result, Wenig asked a judge last Monday to fine the building’s owners $250 per day for each alleged civil violation, evict its occupants and permit the auctioning of any possessions that aren’t removed by October 15. The judge will set a court date on October 18.
More →
It Happened: A Pop-Up Popped Up in a Pop-Up
Shortly after we opened our pop-up Newsroom last month, we discovered that Made in the Lower East Side — no stranger to setting up pop-ups in underused spaces — had a new project: a Storefront Transformer that instantly turns any vacant corner into a shop, classroom, or office. A lightbulb popped up over our head: could we create a pop-up within a pop-up?
More →
Monday at the Newsroom: Three Generations of Williamsburg Writers
On Monday, join us at the B+B Newsroom as we talk to authors whose work spans three decades in Williamsburg. After the 5:30 p.m. discussion we’ll head over to Pete’s Candy Store, where, at 7 p.m., they’ll read from their books. It’s all free; just let us know you’re coming.
Jacob Tomsky, is in his early 30s and just hit his ten-year Williamsburg anniversary. His memoir about the hotel industry, Heads in Beds, is a New York Times bestseller. The New York Times Book Review said “the prose is brisk and smart,” and Janet Maslin (also in The Times) calls Tomsky “an effervescent writer.” Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, calls him “a star.” Jake is also the founder of Short Story Thursdays, a weekly, email-based short story club, which has been sanctioned by the Paris Review. Heads in Beds was released in paperback in August.
Bradley Spinelli, a former stagehand in his early 40s, has lived in Williamsburg since 1999. His debut novel, Killing Williamsburg, imagines a suicide epidemic in New York City, as told by a proto-hipster lighting technician in 1999 Williamsburg. Publishers Weekly says “Spinelli offers sharp and stylish prose.” The book’s launch party featured a three-hour “Suicide Set” by DJ Questlove.
Mike DeCapite, a former taxi driver and the elder of the group in his early ’50s, lived in Williamsburg in the late ‘80s (and then moved back there in the mid-aughts), when his work first appeared in three issues of Richard Hell’s CUZ magazine. In 1999, his cult-classic novel about his taxi-driving days, Through the Windshield, drew a rave from the San Francisco Chronicle. Harvey Pekar, writing in the Austin Chronicle, called it “one of the better American novels of the past several years,” and Jocko Weyland, in Rain Taxi, called it “a down-at-the-heels masterpiece.” DeCapite has recently published the chapbook Creamsicle Blue and the prose collection Radiant Fog.
5:30 p.m. discussion at the B+B Newsroom, 155 Grand St., nr. Bedford Ave., Williamsburg
7 p.m. readings at Pete’s Candy Store, 709 Lorimer St., nr. Richardson St., Williamsburg
Check Out Park Luncheonette, Reopened by Team Matchless and No Name
Last weekend, as promised, the owners of Manhattan Avenue bars Matchless and No Name reopened the Park Luncheonette off of McCarren Park. You can now stop by in the morning for espresso drinks and maybe some banana bread, or in the evening for beer, wine or cocktails at the candlelit bar (there’s also root beer on tap). The pizza menu didn’t debut this past week as hoped, but we’re told slices should be flying out of the takeout window by next week. We spoke to Nicholas Schneider, who’s heading the pizza operation, and his partner Ted Nugent of No Name and Matchless. Play the audio slideshow to check out the luncheonette’s new look and hear more about what to expect from the kitchen.
Park Luncheonette, 334 Driggs Ave., at Lorimer St., Williamsburg
‘Rent Is Too Damn High’ Guy Has Released a Funky Little Housing Court Jam
Now that Jimmy McMillan, founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High party, has achieved even more fame as a music video star, why wouldn’t he put his eviction fight to music? The East Village resident’s new tune, “Order in the Court,” is basically a primer (Jimmy McMillan style) on landlord-tenant law, and contains theories like “the judges that sit on the bench have been appointed by the landlord’s attorney who represent the landlord.” This may be the only time a scathing indictment of Article 31, Section 3120 has been put to funk music (unless George Clinton did it?).
Hit This Open Bar and Check Out Lit Lounge’s New Back Room
After Fuse Gallery closed behind Lit Lounge, owner Erik Foss gave us a preview glimpse into the new back room, which will now hold a pool table, games, seating, and rotating installations on the wall (unlike when the space was a gallery, the artwork won’t be for sale and will be covered over by each new artist). Now the space has a name (Fuse Room) and an opening date (Wednesday, Oct. 16). The launch party for “Rollers” (the debut installation from Ivory Serra, BÄST, and Lance De Los Reyes) looks like a blast (a BLÄST?): there’s an open vodka bar from 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and DJs include Steve Lewis, Jonathan Toubin, and Prince Terrence.
For the serious part, we go over to Foss: “We at Fuse and Lit felt that making a change was the best way to ensure our place in downtown culture and keep our vision of exposing the masses to things they would probably not normally get to see in person,” he writes in the invite, “and also to continue to help artists.”
Would You Get One of These Memorial CBGB Tattoos?
Okay, so Glenn Branca thinks CBGB was “just a shithole where bands got up on stage and played,” but others think the place was pretty special. And many of those folks are likely to converge on Greenpoint today, because Three Kings Tattoo is giving away one of these memorial tattoos between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. It’s first come, first serve, but don’t expect quite the kind of line those $13 tats got: these are going for $100 to $300.
When you’re done getting inked, head over the the B+B Newsroom to hear Rayya Elias, who played at CBGB back in the day, read from Harley Loco, her memoir about her rough-and-tumble life in the ’80s East Village, followed by Brendan Jay Sullivan reading from Rivington Was Ours and sharing his memories of running with Lady Gaga on the Lower East Side. The free reading and discussion starts at 7 p.m., at 155 Grand Street, off of Bedford Ave., in Williamsburg.