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:
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?
Once upon a time, when old East Villagers were new East Villagers, there was a restaurant on St. Mark's Place called the beloved Yaffa Cafe.
Today, it is the soon-to-be-beloved Taberna Uma Tanga Portuguesa:
Taberna Uma Tanga Portuguesa, and a photographer.
I'm guessing this is going to be some kind of Greek/Portuguese fusion restaurant, because "Taberna" is Greek (and the color scheme is modern Cycladic-island) while "Uma Tanga Portuguesa" is Portuguese. It means "a Portuguese thong!*"
More evidence of its Greekiness is this array of vessels outside:
Array of vessels.
Finally, where once was the freaky mural, now there is a hearty mural:
Hearty mural.
Until now, I thought Hek Tad only pasted up photocopies of his name!
* * *
* When I look up "tanga" in translate.google.com, it says "moth", but when I look up "uma tanga" it says "a thong". It's obvious which translation I'm going to use — moths are scary!
The phenomenon of localized flooding is one East Villagers are all too familiar with — uneven pavement, poor drainage, and the fact that the East Village was built on a swamp all contribute to this problem!
I was walking down Third Avenue recently, when I happened upon another instance of this flooding. I was going to wait for this fellow to move out of the picture, but then I saw that he was taking a picture of it as well!
Taking a picture.
The only thing better than a picture of localized flooding is a picture of someone taking a picture of localized flooding… in the East Village Today!
One of the eccentricities East Villagers are known for is bird watching. Walk through Tompkins Square Park any time of the day, and you're likely to see scenes like these:
Watching birds.
Watching birds again.
Before I was limited to using my iPhone to take pictures, I might have had a close-up — but I don't!
I was walking across St. Mark's Place yesterday, when I passed by a photographer. There's nothing unusual about that! He was talking on the phone to someone, saying he was working on a project in New York, blah blah blah. Nothing unusual about that either!
Regular readers of this blog know that I have to take pictures of other photographers, so I did!
Behold:
A photographer.
I tried to pretend I hadn't just taken his picture, by fiddling with my phone-camera, but photographers have a sharp eye, and he was not to be fooled! While I was fiddling with the buttons on my phone, he sidled along to my left and took a picture of me!
But photographers have a sharp eye, and I knew what he was doing, so I looked up and grinned just as he snapped his picture!
"Nice phone case!" he said, before we parted.
"Thanks!" I said.
Photographers are very congenial… in the East Village Today!
I was coming out of Tompkins Square Park onto Avenue B this past Sunday, when I saw this new graffiti mural on the East 7th Street wall of the beloved Jillery:
New graffiti mural.
Until recently, this wall was blank — or white, if you prefer!
This wall was a very popular site for photographers and models. It probably still will be, for different photographers and models!
East Villagers are accustomed to seeing art in public, from murals to sculptures to mosaics to performances — art is everywhere!
Usually the materials are low-cost, however — spray paint, found objects, broken bottles…
It's less common for someone to pay a photographer and models and have the works printed larger than life, but that's exactly what happened at the new building going up on Avenue A, called 100 Avenue A.
Here are samples of the photo banners:
There is an Instagram page that shows the people involved:
