Friday, June 01, 2007
The Fifth Generation ...
Little Scarlett Anikewich came into this world a couple of months ago and now lives on St Marks Place with her mom Christy Lee and her dad Stefan . Scarlett is the 5th generation of her family to be born and live on Saint Marks Place ; a rare and special distinction in this ever-changing village inhabitated increasingly by out-of-towners.
Tree Hugger Saves Part of a Tree ....for a While .
In the middle of the day on Friday members of the Forestry Dept. were trimming away with chainsaws at a damaged plane tree at 85 avenue A with the intent to completely remove the tree piece by piece ,that is , until a tree hugger arrived on the scene and brought the dismembering to a halt .
As a forestry Dept sawyer prepared to bring down the remaining standing portion of tree trunk the hugger wrapped her arms ever more securely around the the trunk while placing herself immediately between the tree and the sawyer's chainsaw . A stalemate was achieved between the sawyer and the hugger that seemed might continure for some time before L.E.S. Jewels arrived on the scene .
Jewels upon arriving undertook the task of arbitrating the situation causing the sawyer and his crew to finally decide that the best action that they could take would be to leave the scene picking up their tools and the parts of the tree that had already been brought down and then sometime later return and finish the job.
Richie
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Clown
Steve
Fearing the unsubstantial sidewalk that was rending all about him would open a maw and swallow him whole or that indeed he might just slip to oblivion between the molecules of concrete themselves which lay beneath his feet , Steve walked bravely , yelping and moaning as flying vampires swarmed him to rip his flesh and drink his blood .
Monday, May 28, 2007
Memorial Day 1991 Riot in Tompkins Square Park ...
This was Memorial Day 1991 : the spirit of the time was somewhat more rebelious than it is today .This night ... disorder ruled .
This is your avenue A without the boutiques ,bars and restaurants . There were no doggy pastry shops on avenue A : none in the entire nieghborhood for that matter .
Rents were still affordable and there were far fewer people living in the neighborhood . Very few had a condo yet but most had a place to live out of the weather and some even had a squat which later the city would give to them for a buck .
Money wasn't everything and there was still room for the unique and different true individual .
The designers , haircutters and nail salons hadn't arrived yet but innovation in painting ,poetry and music was still happening because there was still sufficient personal free time and affordable space to allow it to happen .
Of course there was crime but if you had a head on your shoulders and were respectful no one ever messed with you and you never got hurt.
This riot was the last big Tompkins Square Park riot and it was the riot that was immediately responsible for TSP being closed for more than a year .Judging from all the beer bottles seen to be available for throwing ,the concert in the park earlier in the day must have been something of a drunken revel with a little music .
Many , if not most involved in the riot were not from the neighborhood but were from other places and were in TSP at the concert to drink , hear music and riot .
At one point these out of towners tried to loot and set fire to a health and beauty aids store . Though they could successfully loot , the the intellectual and manual dexterity challenges involved in burning a building were to prove to be too much for them as they failed in the caustic part of their performance .
The police , late in the event , lined up to challenge the rioting masses and as they marched forth , with the local folks lining the street cheering , to drive the horde of miscreants from the field a sudden heavy rain-fall not only put out the fires in the street but also denied the police their chance to claim a victory by driving the apparently rain-sensitive rioters out of the street to drier places out of the rain .
Some Moments at Ray's Candystore on Memorial Day Eve 2007
More of the Same From L.E.S. Jewels Friday Night on Avenue A
Wrestling a female on the hood of an RMP...
...stopping cars and blocking traffic...
...jumped in front of a city a bus traveling at full speed which with full braking was able to stop just a couple of feet from Jewels . The passengers were tossed forward by the extreme deceleration experienced in stopping the bus . One does truly have to be a drunken fool to do this sort of thing .
...smart-mouthing passing cops ...
...a sight to highlight a memorable shore-leave in the East Village...
...kissing her boyfriend ...
....stretching out on the hood of an RMP and smart-mouthing some cops ...
...Cops that don't like being smart-mouthed and messed with put Jewels up against the gate...
... then toss him to the sidewalk ...
...spending the rest of the evening with friends at Ray's until it's time to pass-out .
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Some Things Just Never Go Away ...
It's spring with many new people in the neighborhood and the new extra sweet spring dope is clearly on the street and available for anyone that choses to partake of it . If the past is any guide there will now be more overdoses on the street and in Tompkins Square Park for all to see .The dope historically is sweeter at this time of year because there are more new young people in the park to turn into regular customers : give them sweet deals in the spring , get them hooked and then string them out on a leaner product in the late summer and fall to make the real profits . This is the way it has been for as long as we can remeber .
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