Cookie Gates at Lit Lounge (Photo by Erik Foss)
When Lit Lounge’s co-owner Erik Foss announced a month ago that the East Village institution would close after 13 years, we thought the place would have at least a few more wild nights in store if not the goodbye party of the decade. But after a particularly unseemly incident (even for Lit) a couple of weeks ago, the bar unceremoniously shuttered without so much as a nod and a “later, guys.”
Lit, the onetime “place where the Strokes hang out” and the only place that was Lit before a hundred places were “the new Lit,” is turning 16. In New York City nightlife years, that’s about 95, so who can blame the East Village bar for entering its teenage/golden years with a killer b-day party. Sure, the den of depravity atop a cavern of chaos has seen some changes over the years, but as you can see from the Friday the 13th-themed flyer, it can still draw a virtual dream team of downtown scenesters, including Ben Cho (Dima Dubson’s right-hand man during Morrissey night at Sway), Eric Duncan of Rub N Tug, Lit owner Erik Foss, and many more. It all happens Monday, Feb. 23, from 10pm to 4am — if nothing else, go chat up Paul Sevigny so you have a chance in hell of getting into his new place.
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.
This week at the Bedford + Bowery Newsroom: bang your head on the punk rock! These two screenings pair some of our favorite documentarians with the outré — and outrageous — musicians they’ve filmed over the years. As always, the events are free — just let us know you’re coming via the Facebook event links below.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 2, 7 P.M.
How to Act Bad + a q&a with Dima Dubson and Adam Green

Last time we saw Adam Green, the singer-songwriter who co-founded of The Moldy Peaches, he was installing a giant cat sarcophagus in an East Village window and plotting a papier-mâché remake of “Aladdin” starring Macauly Culkin. If that made you wonder what makes the man tick, then you’ll definitely want to catch Wednesday’s screening of “How to Act Bad,” a documentary that follows Green over the course of two years, offering a candid and often comical look into his paintings and sculptures, drug experimentations, filmmaking and romantic dysfunctions. After the screening Green himself, along with filmmaker Dima Dubson, will be on hand to teach you how to act bad.
FRIDAY, OCT. 4, 7 P.M.
Nightclubbing + a discussion with the filmmakers and musicians
Consider this a killer warm-up to next week’s CBGB Festival. Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong spent the late ‘70s filming performances at places like CBs, Mudd Club and Danceteria, and amassing an archive that’s currently being digitized for the NYU Fales Library’s Downtown Collection. Readers of Bedford + Bowery have seen clips from Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the NYC debut of the Dead Kennedys, and even Iggy Pop covering Sinatra. On Friday, you’ll see rare gems from the Nightclubbing archive like you’ve never seen ’em before — on the big screen, with the sound turned up. After the screening, Ivers and Armstrong will chat with Richard Boch, an artist and writer currently working on a memoir about his nearly two years working the door at Mudd Club, and Pat Irwin, a founding member of The Raybeats and Eight Eyed Spy who later joined The B-52s and currently scores TV shows and movies for Showtime, HBO, and others.
All events at the Bedford + Bowery Newsroom, 155 Grand, off of Bedford Ave.