There aren't too many things in the East Village you would want to scratch and sniff, especially when they're stuck to the door of an abandoned store front, like this one on Avenue B:
Stuck to the door.
When it's bananas and hearts though, it's hard not to!
Scratch and sniff.
These scents were brought to you by Visitor Ralph — Call Ralph, for all your scratch-and-sniff needs!
I was walking down Avenue C recently, when I saw the strangest thing: someone left half a container of pineapple chunks on the running board of a Jeep parked outside the beloved M & W Nail:
Speaking of outdoor art galleries, here is an exhibit on the corner of First Avenue and East 7th Street:
Walk / Don't Walk.
I call it "Walk / Don't Walk".
It's like one of those dreams where you're waiting to cross the street, and you don't know when you should go because the signs are facing away from you, and to make matters worse, you're only wearing one shoe, and the other is dangling from the Walk / Don't Walk signs!
You might think that being directly across from Tompkins Square Park would make that section of Avenue A desirable to people wanting to open a business worthy of beloving.
Two recently-empty storefronts, side-by-side, tell a different story!
I was walking through Tompkins Square Park Saturday afternoon, when I saw what could only described as some kind of Memorial Day punk rock show or another.
These shows are how East Village punks honor the soldiers who died to keep these shows free!
As usual, I saw no signs announcing this show, and the crowd was pretty small:
Small crowd.
I think these guys are called The Omega Men — correct me if I'm wrong!
The Omega Men (maybe).
The guy on the left looks like a basketball player!
These guys are definitely called Sewage, I'm pretty sure of that.
Most likely Sewage.
The chances that these guys are Coach And Commando are pretty high:
p < .05 Coach and Commando.
Do you know what was really strange about this year's punk rock show? There were no uniformed police officers present — they've always been there in the past to join in the festivities!
This year, they were replaced by undercover cops, taking pictures no less!
Undercover.
These guys are either undercover cops or Australian tourists!
Here is a close-up:
Close-up.
Hey look, it's beret guy!
East Village celebrity and concert organizer Chris Flash was at The Shadow's swag table with his girlfriend (they're inseparable!):
The Shadow swag table.
Here is a close-up of Shadow swag. Tips please!
Close-up.
The Undead's swag table, with John-Boy Walton photo-bombing:
Undead swag.
I left the park at Avenue A and St. Mark's Place, where almost immediately, I saw this sign, announcing the show:
Sign announcing show.
This is where I got the names of the bands — you didn't think I knew these things?!
Finally, no story about a punk rock show in the East Village would be complete without a video of dancing crusties:
East Villagers who live seriously east are rejoicing at the recent return of the 4th Street bus stop on the M-14D line. This stop was removed while construction of the beloved Educational Alliance's new Center for Recovery and Wellness building was underway.
Here is a picture of one of the city's new electric busses stopped at the newly-reopened spot:
Stopped at newly-reopened stop.
And here it is, the sign making it all official:
It's official.
No longer will M-14D riders be forced to get off at East 6th Street stop and walk down!
East Villagers hope the increased activity the return of this stop brings will help drive away the drug dealers who infest this location!
I was walking across East 3rd Street — lo, these seventeen days ago — when I saw this metal bench, chained to these air-conditioner-accommodating anti-theft bars:
Bench, chained.
That's one way to stop people from walking away with your bench!
However, the very next day, the bench was upended!
Behold:
Bench, upended.
It's hard to know if it was a frustrated thief, or a satisfied vandal, behind this chicanery!
A long, long time ago, before most of you were even born, there was a singer named Nick Lowe, and he sang a song that East Villagers at that time snapped their finger and sang along to, called "I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass"!
This was back in the bad old days, when East Villagers did love the sound of breaking glass!
Fast forward to the present…
I was walking down St. Mark's Place yesterday afternoon, when I saw this group of buskers outside the formerly-beloved Friterie Belgian Fries — they call themselves Breaking Glass:
Breaking Glass.
They drew quite a crowd — it extended all the way into the street:
Sometimes people ask me, they say: "Hey East Village Today, you write all the time about what a cool, fun place the East Village is, why do we never see any pictures of people having fun?"
So for all of you, here is a picture of a group of people having fun, on Second Avenue:
Having fun.
The woman wearing mostly-black (dwarfed by the guy in the white shirt), is taking a picture of her friends while I take a picture of them!
I wonder if someone took a picture of me while I did this?
Well, they're not street lights, but they're lightbulbs!
I was walking up Avenue A a couple of weeks ago, when I saw these cords wrapped around this tree:
Cords wrapped around tree.
The church lady was carrying on inside Tompkins Square Park about the devil or something; I thought these might be hers, for no reason other than I saw them and heard her at the same time!
