Another Punk Rock May Day

This past Sunday, April 29, was East Village anarchist May Day. For the rest of the world, it's today, May 1!

To celebrate, local celebrity Chris Flash sponsored another of the Tompkins Square Park punk rock extravaganzas he's famous for.

When I got there, this guy was speaking:

This guy.

This year, his speech was given in a single breath, in a format known as "word association".

It went something like this:

"Scott Pruitt religious fascist fracking Oklahoma earthquakes native Americans original inhabitants tens of thousands of years ago broken treaties Leonard Peltier no clemency Trump Obama man of the people Clinton August Spies May Day all political prisoners thank you."

As soon as he finished, the band began to play. The band's name was either Haram, or Headsplitters, or Junta, or Rubber. It was not Olor a Muerte.

This was them:


When they finished, some kid in a face mask got on stage and told us all about how terrible the police are.

"The policeman is not your friend."

Chris Flash got up afterward and told everyone that while other policemen were bad, today's police were fine people. They were from Midtown South — he didn't understand why they were here in the Ninth Precinct, but they were fine people indeed!

Then it was time for more music, and the band Olor a Muerte went on.

This was them:


East Village punks don't care if they stand in a puddle:

Standing in a puddle.

I didn't seen any crusties at this show. It is early for them — they don't arrive en masse until Memorial Day!

#eastvillage #anarchists #chrisflash #mayday #oloramuerte #paulderienzo #police #thisguy #tompkinssquarepark

Crime Scene

Last night, walking home from work, I decided to stop in at the beloved Cupcake Market on East 7th Street, and buy my loved ones a Donald Trump face cookie!

As I approached, however, I saw a police activity outside this mannequinny place:

Police activity.

The yellow tape read: Crime Scene.

Tonight I passed by there again, to discover that it was the beloved Neon by Cheng!

Still closed.

They're still closed — I hope no one was hurt!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #policeactivity #crimescene #police #mannequins #neonbychan

Coffee War Brewing

The last time there was a coffee war in the East Village was when the beloved Cafe Pick Me Up moved from Avenue A and East 9th Street to a space next to the beloved East 9th Street Espresso, on East 10th Street. Fortunately, no one was injured in the fray!

Today, on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place, another coffee war began, between the beloved Mud Coffee (on East 9th Street near Second Avenue) and a prospective Starbucks!

Mud workers were in attendance:

"Am I getting paid to do this?"

…as well as free Mud Coffee:

Mud? It was ground this morning!

Seth MacFarlane showed up to hand out signs:

Handing out signs.

Sensing the possibility of a riot, the police turned out in number:

The police, in number.

The local news station showed up too:

PIX11 News.

They positioned themselves across the street:

"The crowd could be heard chanting: 'Who's coffee? Our coffee!'"

By the time I left, many on-lookers were looking on:

Looking on.

There's no news yet on when the rally in support of Starbuck's will be held. I'll keep you posted!

#eastvillage #avenuea #mudcoffee #pix11news #stmarksplace #starbucks #police #cafepickmeup #9thstreetespresso

Enemy in the Park

Well, either you're closing your eyes
To a situation you do now wish to acknowledge
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of an enemy in Tompkins Square Park!


Good thing there's a Terrahawk Mobile Utility Surveillance Tower in the park now, to protect us from the enemy:

Terrahawk Mobile Utility Surveillance Tower.

East Villagers love enemy protection-from!

#eastvillage #tompkinssquarepark #terrahawkmobileutilitysurveillancetower #police

Skywatch on East 3rd Street

I never expected, when I started documenting all the cool things in the East Village, that I would become a crime photographer. Today it happened twice! The police activity on Second Avenue, and then this, on East 3rd Street just in from Avenue C:

Skywatch tower.

These are called Skywatch towers. According to sources, these are here in response to a shooting that took place on this block November 7. But they only arrived yesterday!

This is on the corner of Avenue C and East 4th Street:

Klieg lights.

It's just like in the Taylor Swift song "Welcome to New York"!

The lights are so bright
But they never blind me

#eastvillage #3rdstreet #4thstreet #avenuec #klieglights #police #skywatchtowers

Breaking News

I was walking down Second Avenue this morning when I was passed by a police car with its lights and siren on. A few minutes later, at East 6th Street, I was passed by another. They pulled over at East 5th Street. Soon after an ambulance arrived:

Police activity on Second Avenue.

More later!

+++

LATER:

While I was standing around, waiting to see if anything would happen, someone drove up beside me and got out of his car holding a camera with a lens the length of my forearm! It was clear to me he was a professional photographer and heard about the incident from a police scanner.

He told me it was a domestic disturbance, some woman was beating someone up, there probably wouldn't be anything to it, but he had to justify his paycheck!

Probably someone left the seat up on the toilet!

#eastvillage #photographers #police #secondavenue