The Paper of Record for East and West Villages, Lower East Side, Soho, Noho, Little Italy and Chinatown
November 12, 2015 • FREE Volume 5 • Number 19
Demanding data, pols say that Airbnb keeps flying under the radar BY YANNIC RACK
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n a war of words at City Hall last week, Airbnb once again clashed with its critics, who accused the popular short-term rental company of making the city “ground zero for illegal hotels.” In two separate press conferences and during a hearing on a range of City Council
bills aimed at curbing misuse of the “home sharing” service, Airbnb was variously hailed as the lifeline for tens of thousands of New Yorkers and slammed as a threat to the city’s affordable housing stock. “This is not about regular New Yorkers trying to AIRBNB continued on p. 24
PHOTO BY MILO HESS
City pushing mandatory affordable housing plan BY YANNIC RACK
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he Department of City Planning is moving forward with plans to both launch a new mandatory affordable housing program and modify the regulations in contextually zoned districts. Both initiatives are part of
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ambitious 10-year plan for affordable housing. To lay out the details of the two separate programs — Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and Zoning for Quality and Affordability — City Planning officials recently sat down with the edHOUSING PLAN continued on p. 8
Cooper Union is working on trying to return to a tuition-free model — but is this model, above, the solution? Yes, downsizing to cut costs is always an option — but this much?
Gardens now seen as key part of future storm-defense plan BY SARAH FERGUSON
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wo years ago, Superstorm Sandy swamped the East Village, turning basements into swimming pools and flooding the streets with rivers of water. On Monday morning, New York City Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver and other city, state and federal officials gathered with scores of beaming gardeners at La Plaza Cultural on E. Ninth St. to announce a $2 million state grant to install rainwater-cap-
ture systems and other projects to mitigate storm runoff in the more than 40 community gardens in the East Village and Lower East Side. For New York’s gardening movement, the announcement marks a milestone. For decades, city officials considered community gardens as temporary oases, space savers for future development. Now, they are being recast as “green infrastructure” to make Downtown more resilient against flooding from major storms.
“This is a momentous moment,” declared Aziz Dehkan, executive director of the New York City Community Garden Coalition, which will be administering the grant in partnership with GreenThumb and the grassroots group LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens). “We believe it might be the first time that the state has given money directly to community gardens. We’re finally being recognized as GARDENS continued on p. 6
WWW.EASTVILLAGERNEWS.COM Halloween Parade pics.................page 4 | May 14, 2014
www.EastVillagerNews.com
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BORIMIX BIG-BAND BLOWOUT: The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Education Center a.k.a. The Clemente, at 107 Suffolk St., was definitely the place to be last Friday night. That’s because it was the opening party for the Teatro SEA’s Borimix, a month-long celebration of Puerto Rican art, film, music and performances. Making Friday night truly special was the performance by drummer Bobby Sanabria and his 20-piece big band, who played a sweet mix of Puerto Rican and Cuban songs as the hopping crowd enthusiastically hit the dance floor. The Grammy-nominated Sanabria, who is like a walking encyclopedia of the history of Latin music, hit all the right notes, from Tito Puente and Celia Cruz favorites to classics like “Bésame Mucho” and even managed to mix in some Earth Wind & Fire. The diverse crowd was all ages, though it was really the old-timers who had all the right moves. Among those making the scene was former Councilmember Alan Gerson, who a decade ago helped mediate the bitter feud between the building’s Latino and Anglo artist factions that was threatening to rip the place apart. Reveling in the good vibes, Miguel Trelles, one of the building’s artist leaders, said he’d love to see the place have dance parties like this on a monthly basis. Trelles has also started his own cottage industry in the art center, a framing business, Frames and Stetchers.com, which he said is perfectly legal. He said he researched it, and the former public school building’s zoning allows for 20 percent commercial use. He’d like to see more uses like that in the building. “We don’t want a Starbucks,” he said. Hmm, sounds a lot like what the C-Squat folks were saying
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November 12, 2015
before they found a good, community-oriented tenant for their long-disused Avenue C commercial storefront: the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS).
FEEL THE BERN! (A BIT LESS): This doesn’t quite rise to the level of controversy seen in the Republican presidential debates, but it seems there’s a divergence of opinion on the final numbers in the straw vote for the recent political club-sponsored debate in Chelsea between surrogates for the Democratic presidential candidates. No one disputes that Bernie Sanders was the winner in the Nov. 1 show of hands. The Villager ’s Mary Reinholz reported that Sanders won with 89 votes to Hillary Clinton’s 59 and Martin O’Malley’s 54. However, two members of the Village Independent Democrats, Tony Hoffmann and Marti Speranza, say Clinton actually got 20 more votes than that, with the final tallies, Sanders 89, Clinton 79 and O’Malley 54. “Even though the article was excellent and captured the event accurately, Mary’s numbers were wrong,” Hoffmann told us. And to hear him tell it, Sanders and Clinton both have strong support among local Democratic activists in the community. “V.I.D. has been doing voter registration and taking informal presidential polls in our community over the past couple of months,” Hoffmann said.
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Bobby Sanabria, on the drum set, and his big band wowed the crowd at the Borimix opening party at The Clemente.
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“It’s worth the trip down the street!”
“The results of our very informal polls showed Hillary on one Saturday winning by 10 votes, Bernie winning by 10 votes on another Saturday, and the two candidates being virtually tied on the third Saturday.” In addition, due to an editing error, the article said the presidential forum was sponsored by about a dozen local Democratic clubs — only about that many were actually cited on the event listing on the V.I.D. Web page. In fact, as Reinholz had written, two dozen clubs co-sponsored the forum.
HURL HERO: Little Italy activist Lil Tozzi called us with the uplifting (upchucking?) news that her nephew Brandon Williams, 15, saved a fellow student’s life. Both kids, who are autistic, attend I.S. 24 on Staten Island, where they’re in a special-needs class. The girl was eating something, choked and was turning blue. Williams thought and acted fast, giving her the Heimlich maneuver. “When they asked him where he learned that, he said, ‘SpongeBob,’ ” Tozzi said incredulously. “He’s always watched ‘SpongeBob’ since he was a kid. “It made the front page of the Staten Island Advance,” she noted of her nephew’s heave-inducing heroics. “NBC covered it, WINS. Channel 7 is there right now,” she said, as she was speaking to us last Friday. His family also believes that Brandon learned how to swim by watching ‘Sponge Bob SquarePants,’ the cartoon series created by a marine biologist and set in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. Apparently, watching ‘SpongeBob,’ beyond sheer entertainment value, has some real benefits for students. CORRECTION: As of press time last week, the first meeting of the Community Board 2 Pier 40 Air Rights Transfer Working Group had been set for Mon., Nov. 16, at Greenwich House. C.B. 2 subsequently changed the meeting date and venue because Borough President Gale Brewer is also holding a forum on Nov. 16 on the city’s new plan for mandatory inclusionary zoning, and C.B. 2 did not want its meeting to conflict with that one. The meeting was rescheduled for Thurs., Nov. 12, at 6:30 p.m., in the N.Y.U. building at 194 Mercer St., Room 306. EastVillagerNews.com
Jacob a. Riis Revealing New York’s Other Half Inequality remains a fact of life in America. A century later, this New York master’s photos still explode with outrage.
“heart - rending retrospective ” – The New York Times
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November 12, 2015
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Named best weekly newspaper in New York State in 2001, 2004 and 2005 by New York Press Association Editorials, First Place, 2014 Overall Design Excellence, First Place, 2013 Best Column, First Place, 2012 Photographic Excellence, First Place, 2011 Spot News Coverage, First Place, 2010 Coverage of Environment, First Place, 2009
PUBLISHER JENNIFER GOODSTEIN
EDITOR IN CHIEF LINCOLN ANDERSON
ARTS EDITOR
SCOTT STIFFLER
ALBERT AMATEAU IRA BLUTREICH SARAH FERGUSON TEQUILA MINSKY CLAYTON PATTERSON JEFFERSON SIEGEL ZACH WILLIAMS SHARON WOOLUMS
ART DIRECTOR MICHAEL SHIREY
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS RHIANNON HSU CHRIS ORTIZ
PHOTOS BY MILO HESS
CONTRIBUTORS
Pizza Rat, Trump, Hillary, body parts galore! The annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade on Sixth Ave. was ghoulishly good fun for one and all. As expected, there were some Donald Trumps and Hillary Clintons and at least one whiskered Pizza Rat duo toting a big tasty pepperoni slice between them. There was a Ms. Argentina, too, who seemed to have something gnawing at her — namely, herself! And you really had to give a hand to one marcher — who had an extra one on her shoulder. One float honored those lost in the past year, from Omar Sharif to Cecil the lion.
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The Villager (USPS 578930) ISSN 0042-6202 is published every week by NYC Community Media LLC, One Metrotech North, 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 (212) 229-1890. Periodicals Postage paid at New York, N.Y. Annual subscription by mail in Manhattan and Brooklyn $29 ($35 elsewhere). Single copy price at office and newsstands is $1. The entire contents of newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2011 NYC Community Media LLC. PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERROR
The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for others errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue. Published by NYC Community Media, LLC One Metrotech North 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 Phone: (718) 260-2500 • Fax: (212) 229-2790 On-line: www.thevillager.com E-mail: news@thevillager.com © 2012 NYC Community Media, LLC
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November 12, 2015
EastVillagerNews.com
I have
-- raised four children in the Village, all of whom attended Village and Downtown schools -- served 24 years on Community Board 2, chairing the Parks or Waterfront Committee most of that time -- been a tenant, a co-op owner, a condo owner or a townhouse owner in the Village since 1981 -- worked as a civil rights lawyer in Village or Downtown offices since 1979 -- helped shape and plan Hudson River Park, and was a founder of Friends of Hudson River Park -- won the lawsuit which resulted in the construction of ballfields on Pier 40 -- served as District Leader or Democratic State Committee member for the Village and Downtown for 20 years -- founded and led the West Village Community Alliance for Parks and Playgrounds, which brought millions of dollars to Village parks, leading to a playground renaissance -- owned popular small businesses in the Village and Tribeca -- saved the jobs of hundreds of people and won landmark cases about harassment in the workplace, union democracy and protecting whistleblowers -- attended the 2008 Democratic Presidential Convention representing the Lower West side -- served as Zephyr Teachout’s State Treasurer in her 2014 run for NYtS Governor -- sued to force the State to replace St. Vincent’s Hospital -- served as a volunteer guardian for West Village seniors, getting myself arrested fighting for their rights -- successfully sued to maintain Gerry Delakas in his Astor Place newsstand, beating a callous Dept of Consumer Affairs -- successfully sued to keep a Costco off of 14th Street and won a YMCA in its place And much, much, more...
EastVillagerNews.com
November 12, 2015
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Gardens now seen as ‘green infrastructure’ vs. flooding GARDENS continued from p. 1
a vital environmental asset,” Dehkan said. The $2 million grant comes via the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery and is part of the $25 million in community development block grants that Lower Manhattan became eligible for under the post-Sandy reconstruction program dubbed New York Rising. Half a million dollars will fund a feasibility study and master plan called “Gardens Rising” — using engineers and landscape architects to come up with the best means to capture stormwater in the neighborhood’s 47 gardens, located in the area between 14th and Delancey Sts. and east of the Bowery/Fourth Ave. The remaining $1.5 million will be used to implement solutions. Ideas range from installing underground cisterns and rainwater collection systems that funnel water from the roofs of neighboring buildings to bioswales — which utilize plants and stones to divert water and allow it to be absorbed more slowly into the ground. The goal is to help protect the gardens from storm damage, while protecting their surrounding communities from flooding and sewage overflows that currently clog basements and discharge into the East River. The plan will be finalized by October 2016, and all construction must be completed by September 2019. Of course, transforming the gardens into better water sinks could entail uprooting large portions of turf. But the gardeners themselves will be allowed to propose projects and choose whether they want them to be implemented in their spaces. A steering committee of gardeners will be elected to help make the final determinations in the master plan. “This is really being led from the ground up,” noted LUNGS founder Charles Krezell. “I’m really grateful to the state for allowing this to be a grassroots effort.” Krezell said he believed the Gardens Rising plan could help transform the L.E.S. gardens into a “green lab for the entire city,” and bring in further funding for composting and solar installations here and across the five boroughs. Councilmember Rosie Mendez, who represents the neighborhood, is a key backer of the plan. “When we talk about sustainability and resiliency, we’re talking about the Lower East Side,” she said, citing the homesteading and garden movements that rose up in the wake of the 1970s fiscal crisis as prime examples of citizen-led reclamation efforts. Mendez spoke personally about
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November 12, 2015
PHOTOS BY SARAH FERGUSON
Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver, front row center, with Councilmember Rosie Mendez, to the right of him, joined community leaders and gardeners at La Plaza Cultural on Monday to announce the $2 million state grant.
Ross Martin with a bioswale that is already installed at La Plaza Cultural.
the physical impact to the community caused by the toppling of giant willows and other mature trees in the East Village gardens during Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy. She said the Gardens Rising plan was vital for “taking our beautiful gardens and making them permanent and available, beyond any other storm that may come our way.” It will also mean more green jobs Downtown. For starters, the NYCCGC has posted offerings for several positions on its Web site, including a new communications director and full-time community organizer. The deadline to apply is Nov. 6. Some gardens aren’t waiting for the master plan to get started. At La Plaza Cultural, landscape architect Ross Martin designed a bioswale that diverts rainwater that formerly used to wash out into the street. Martin and other volunteers dug up the asphalt along the E. Ninth St. fence and filled a 2-foot trench with rubble and rocks to filter rainwater back into the ground. Instead of ending up in the gutter, the rainwater now nourishes the dwarf fruit trees and vegetables planted along the fence in raised “Hugel” beds created from old tree branches and soil. As the wood in the Hugel beds decomposes, it forms a natural compost that feeds the plants. “The Hugel beds act like a sponge to soak up water,” Martin said. EastVillagerNews.com
Halle-sue-ya! Rev. Billy taking M.T.A. to court BY COLIN MIXSON
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aw have mercy! Reverend Billy, the activist and performance artist, is suing the Metropolitan Transit Authority, claiming its officers ran roughshod over his God-given rights as an American by arresting him for a peaceful, legal protest at Grand Central Station earlier this year. “My First Amendment rights to freedom of expression were completely violated,” said Billy Talen, who takes on the persona of a Southern preacher to sermonize against the many-horned demon of consumerism and other social ills. Talen, who currently lives in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, got his start in the East Village and is a wellknown figure on the Downtown activist scene. He filed a federal suit last Friday, claiming the transit authority not only violated his constitutional freedom by silencing his protest, but also falsely arrested him and then defamed him by publicly suggesting he had assaulted authorities first. The hellfire-and-brimstone dissident said he was two minutes into a sermon at an anti-police-brutality rally inside the concourse of Grand Central on Jan. 6, when transit cops
Reverend Billy is perplexed over his arrest by the M.T.A. in Grand Central earlier this year.
— alongside officers from the New as a high-profile rabble-rouser. York Police Department and HomeIn fact, Talen’s sermon came near land Security — descended on the the end of a 24-hour vigil commemogathering and took him away in cuffs rating black people killed by police ofto spend a night behind bars. ficers that kicked off at 5 p.m. on Jan. As a political activist who often en- 5, and it wasn’t until the following day gages in civil disobedience, Talen ac- at 1 p.m. that cops swooped in to sicepts spending time in the slammer lence the firebrand, his attorney said. as part of his job description. But this “[Grand Central Station] is a modwas not an act of civil disobedience, ern-day public square. He was ensaid his lawyer — Talen was mere-B:8.75” gaging commuters, engaging citily exercising free speech in a publicT:8.75” zens, and not blocking anybody,” place, and authorities targeted him said lawyer Wylie Stecklow. “This is
a very well-protected First Amendment activity and for no other reason than it was Reverend Billy they decided to take him away in cuffs.” After the incident, a transit authority spokesman told the media that protesters at the event had “got physical” with police — which Talen believes falsely implied he had acted violently. “There was nothing violent from me, no bad words, no tension in my arms or my hands,” said Talen, who ran for mayor in 2009 but garnered less than 1 percent of the city’s vote. Footage of the arrest appears to show the performance-artist preacher complying peacefully as police handcuff him. The incident occurred shortly after a crazed gunman killed two police officers in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which was a particularly bad time to have a reputation as someone who violently attacks authorities, said Stecklow. “To claim he is a threat, when the police are on edge and he deals with police all the time, you are putting that figurative target on his back, and that is just not O.K.,” he said. “The M.T.A. needs to be more responsible.” The transit authority declined to comment.
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City pushing mandatory affordable housing plan HOUSING PLAN continued from p. 1
itorial staff of NYC Community Media, including The Villager and East Villager and its sister newspapers. The new mandatory inclusionary housing program would build on the city’s current voluntary program and help achieve the mayor’s goal of creating or preserving 200,000 units of affordable housing in the city. “This program would be, at this point, the most rigorous proposed program of any city in the U.S. It’s a big deal,” said Frank Ruchala, City Planning’s deputy director for zoning, who presented the plans together with Erik Botsford, the deputy director of the department’s Manhattan office. Under the plans, any future zoning actions — from sweeping rezonings, like the one planned in East New York, to small changes of use, as long as they add new floor area — would require that a site provide a fixed amount of affordable housing. Today there is already a voluntary program — which will stay intact — that, in certain designated areas, awards developers with a higher floor area ratio, or F.A.R., if they set aside a percentage of the building for affordable housing. Developers would have three different options under the initiative. The first would be to set aside 25 percent of residential floor area for residents earning, on average, 60 percent of the area median income (A.M.I.). The second would require allocating 30 percent of the space for residents averaging 80 percent of A.M.I. “The options are meant to try and reflect various economic conditions that exist in the city, and also give a little bit of optionality for communities as they’re looking at their neighborhoods,” Ruchala said.
PHOTO BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
Frank Ruchala, left, and Erik Botsford, from the Department of City Planning, laid out the details of two sweeping new initiatives.
A third option targeting moderateor middle-income families would require 30 percent of the floor area to be set aside for residents making 120 percent of A.M.I. on average. This socalled “workforce option,” however, is not available in Manhattan Community Boards 1 through 8, which includes all of Manhattan from the Battery to the Upper West and East Sides. The unavailability of option three has not gone unnoticed at the community board level. According to Ruchala, this option is not planned for Boards 1 to 8 because those areas recently received changes to the 421-a tax program, which make most newly constructed housing eligible for a 10-to-15-year exemption from property taxes by providing affordable housing. However, whereas the affordable housing under the new mandatory program would be permanent, the 421-a units are not affordable in perpetuity. “I think it’s important to empha-
size that the first and second options do allow for the provision of moderate-income housing at higher-income levels,” Botsford said. “There is a clear recognition that this program is far more robust than the current voluntary program,” Ruchala said. “It’s far more robust than anywhere else in the country.” The second new initiative, Zoning for Quality and Affordability, has been tweaked slightly since it set off a firestorm of protest when it was first introduced last spring. According to the planners, the rezoning would make it easier for builders in contextually zoned areas to fit affordable senior housing and care facilities into new construction projects. “The zoning for these hasn’t changed in 30 or 40 years and they really don’t match how providers or seniors are looking to live today,” Ruchala said. Basically, whereas ceiling heights were typically 8 feet in the 1980s, developers today want 10
feet, he said. Under the current zoning, groundfloor ceiling heights are also too low for retailers’ tastes, plus ground-floor windows are located at eye level with passing pedestrians, they said. “We see people who don’t use the voluntary program, simply because they don’t have the space to fit that floor area,” Ruchala said. “Or they try to fit it and kind of cram it into that building envelope that they have, and the building is basically a box. “If they get a higher F.A.R. for affordable housing, they should also get a building envelope to fit that F.A.R.,” he said. Regarding the proposal to allow for an additional 5 feet in building height to accommodate ground-floor retail, Ruchala emphasized that this could not be used to build “a penthouse up in the sky.” “The idea is that if you don’t use it on the ground floor, you don’t get the additional height,” he said. This specific modification is a change to the original plan introduced last spring. As part of the public review process, both programs are currently being presented to community boards around the city. Then, at November’s end, the proposals will move to the planning commission and then on to the City Council, which will likely vote on them by early spring. Community board members, preservationists and residents worry that the rezoning will lead to higher buildings in their neighborhoods. C.B. 2, for one, has said, while the “one size fits all” rezoning may be welcomed in other neighborhoods, it’s a bad fit for the historic, low-scale Greenwich Village-based district. Nevertheless, Ruchala is positive that the Council will approve both proposals.
Hank Penza, owner of old-school dive Mars Bar OBITUARY
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ank Penza, owner of the Mars Bar, Hank’s Crystal Palace and other Bowery haunts since the 1950s, died on Oct. 29. He was believed to be 81 or 82. “He was the most legit bad a-New Yorker ever,” said artist Anthony Zitto. “His stories were the greatest. Whatever may have remained of the New York he knew left this earthly plane with him. Always the greatest character New York has ever known — there will never be another.”
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PHOTO BY CLAYTON PATTERSON
Hank Penza.
“He was one of the last real oldschool warriors left in the ’hood,” said L.E.S. documentarian Clayton Patterson. Other bars that Penza reportedly owned at one time included Willie’s, the Penthouse and Bowery East. Mars bar, at Second Ave. and E. First St., opened in the early 1980s and lasted until July 2011, when it was forced to close to make way for a redevelopment project. Penza’s father immigrated to New York from Italy. When he was younger, Penza made a living using his muscle to “clean up” bars of undesirables, before eventually moving into owning bars himself. EastVillagerNews.com
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Old St. Pat’s Cathedral is celebrating 200 years BY ALBERT AMATEAU
S
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November 12, 2015
PHOTO BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
t. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, at the corner of Mott and Prince Sts., is becoming new again as a major renovation project draws to completion in time for the celebration of its 200th anniversary. Because it took six years to build the cathedral, the bicentennial is a six-year event that started on June 7, 2009, commemorating the laying of the church cornerstone in 1809. The climax of the celebration, “Embracing the Future as We Celebrate Our Past,” will be at a vespers service on Sun., Nov. 22. Monsignor Donald Sakano, appointed pastor of Old St. Patrick’s in 2007, has been in charge of planning the bicentennial and of overseeing the $16 million renovation of the venerable church, which was awarded basilica status in 2010. “It’s been a huge restoration project and we’re not quite finished yet. From where I sit, I can see workers installing a stained-glass window,” Sakano told The Villager in a telephone interview at the end of October. “We’ll have the celebration on time even if there might be a few things left to do,” he assured. The old cathedral, more than 120 feet long, 80 feet wide and 75 feet tall, was designed by Joseph Mangin, a French-born architect who was also co-designer of City Hall. At the time, it was the city’s largest church building and second Catholic church. Situated between Mott and Mulberry Sts., St. Patrick’s occupied land on the city’s outskirts that served as the cemetery of the city’s first Catholic church, St. Peter’s on Barclay St. in Lower Manhattan. In 1808, the year before the cornerstone was laid, Pope Pius VII had established the Diocese of New York, which included the entire state and part of northern New Jersey. Because of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, the first bishop of New York, Irish-born Richard Concanen, never reached his diocese. He died in Italy in 1810. So the building of the cathedral was supervised by Father Antony Kohlmann, an Alsatian-born Jesuit. The cathedral opened on Ascension Day, May 4, 1815, with a crowd of 4,000 worshipers and guests, including Mayor DeWitt Clinton. But it wasn’t until November that the second bishop of New York, John Connolly, an Irish Dominican theologian, arrived to officially dedicate the new cathedral. “We’re the oldest Catholic church building in New York,” said Sakano of the newly restored church. “St. Joseph’s Church in the Village makes the claim because we are now a basilica, and they’re a simple parish church,” he added. The original St. Peter’s Church on Barclay St., built in 1786, was destroyed in the great fire of 1835, which burned for days and was visible at night from as far away as Philadelphia, according to some sources at the time. St. Peter’s was replaced with a granite church in 1840. Fire nearly destroyed the original cathedral in October 1866 when sparks from a packing crate blaze in a Crosby St. building set fire to the roof of the church. The five-alarm fire left only the outer four walls standing. The then-archbishop, John McClosky, born in Brooklyn to Irish immigrant parents, resolved to reconstruct the cathedral quickly. It reopened with an elaborate new interior designed by Henry Engelbert on St. Patrick’s Day, 1868.
Stained-glass windows are being repaired at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral as part of the historic house of worship’s 200th anniversary.
A monument to Archbishop John Joseph Hughes — who defended Old St. Pat’s from nativist mobs — will be installed in front of the cathedral on Sun., Nov. 22.
The rebuilt roof was derived from a design by James Renwick, architect of the new St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 51st St. and Fifth Ave., which was under construction by then on a property acquired in 1810 for a Jesuit school.
The cornerstone of the new uptown cathedral (scoffers dubbed it “Hughes’s Folly”) was laid in 1858 by Archbishop John Joseph Hughes, who emigrated from Ireland to the U.S. in 1817. He entered the priesthood in 1826, served in Philadelphia and arrived in New York in 1838. He served as an administrator of the diocese and was consecrated bishop in the old cathedral in 1842 on the death of Bishop John Dubois. “The real hero of the story is John Hughes,” said Sakano. “He was known as ‘Dagger John’ because bishops signed their names with a cross, which took the shape of a dagger in newspapers. He was a pugnacious orator who defied nativist anti-Catholic mobs.” A brick wall had been built around the cathedral as protection from nativist attacks. Over the next several years, mobs had descended on St. Patrick’s but turned back after learning that armed defenders were posted by Bishop Hughes along Prince St. and behind the brick wall. In 1844 after the anti-immigrant James Harper was elected mayor of New York and a mob threatened to march on the cathedral, Hughes organized a small army of Irish immigrants to defend the church. He then sent a letter to Harper warning that if any harm came to a single Catholic or to a Catholic church, the city would turn into “a second Moscow,” referring to the burning of that city in response to Napoleon’s 1812 invasion. Hughes’s actions are credited with turning back violence. During the Civil War, Hughes served as an envoy of President Lincoln to dissuade European nations from supporting the Confederacy. In gratitude, Lincoln petitioned Pope Pius IX to name Hughes as the nation’s first cardinal. But Hughes died in 1864 before a nomination could take place. “We’ll be dedicating a monument to Bishop Hughes in front of the church on Nov. 22,” Sakano said. The 12-foot-tall bronze column topped by a bust of Hughes, designed by Rowan Gillespie, an Irish sculptor, will be unveiled at the 3:30 p.m. ceremony. Visitors will then be invited to tour the 200-year-old restored church. EastVillagerNews.com
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OPEN CALL TRYOUTS FOR REFLECTIONS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE Creative individuals of all ages are encouraged to audition for the chance to illuminate the life and legacy of Edgar Allan Poe through mediums such as dance, drama, music, painting, sculpture, readings, performances, or other forms of expression. Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis until Friday, November 13. Contact Nichole Huff at the Office of Government and Community Affairs at nichole.huff@nyu.edu or 212-9982325. And save the date for “Reflections of Edgar Allan Poe,” on Friday, December 4, 2015 at 6:00 pm at the NYU School of Law, Furman Hall, 245 Sullivan Street, Room 216 (between West 3rd and Washington Square South). RSVP today at www.nyu.edu/nyu-in-nyc or 212-998-2400. Community members and NYU come together and partner on the Poe Room event each fall and spring.
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November 12, 2015
11
E.V. marathoner helps make strides vs. cancer SPORTS BY ROBERT ELKIN
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ast Sunday, a record number of more than 50,000 competitors from all over the world and all walks of life stepped onto the starting line for the New York City Marathon in Staten Island on a cloudy, cool day. For some of the runners, their goal was merely to finish. For others, especially for the better athletes, the goal was to set a personal best time, while for the professional runners, it was to win the whole thing. Wes Turner, an East Villager, fell into the second category: His aim was to achieve a goal of around 3 hours 45 minutes. It was the first time he competed in the New York City Marathon. “If I do it, that would be a great time,” Turner, 34, said during an interview at his apartment a few days before the race. “If I don’t make that time, I would like to do a 3:47, a personal best for a marathon. If I don’t, a third goal would be just to finish. “My strategy was to go out at an 8:45 to 8:50 pace for the first two miles, then move to an 8:15 to 8:20 for the first half,
Wes Turner after finishing the 2015 TCS New York Marathon.
and then go fast during the second half. I didn’t want to be tired doing two hills [in Manhattan]. There’s a big hill along First Ave. and then again along Fifth Ave.” Alas, his strategy didn’t materialize! Instead, he covered the 26.2-mile course that ended up in Central Park in 4:04.33. Of course, Turner was disappointed with his outcome. “My performance was terrible,” he said afterward. “I went out too fast. The crowd in New York was great. I was impressed by the crowd, cheering us on in the streets and park. To finish in Central Park was a perfect setting.” Some marathoners race for exercise, fun and competition, while others do it for a challenge or to break a record. Still others run to raise funds for a
charity or in honor of loved ones. Turner competed for Fred’s Team after he overcame cancer. The money the team raised goes toward cancer research, led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “I wanted to do the New York City Marathon for two reasons,” he said, “number one to raise money for cancer, and second, because it’s the greatest marathon in the world.” About six years ago, Turner’s mother died from cancer. It was his father, Gary, a runner himself, who introduced his son running. During his high school days in North Carolina, Wes ran cross country and indoor and outdoor track. At Appalachian State University, also in North Carolina, he concentrated on academics more than sports. After he graduating in 2004, he got back into running. “My first road race was in Winston-Salem and I ran a 10K,” he recalled. “My time was slow but I really liked to run. After running the race, I was just happy to get a T-shirt.” Turner can run almost any distance, from 10K or less and up. His favorite distance was the half marathon. Then tragedy struck him while down South, when doctors diagnosed him with thyroid cancer and he had
to quit road running for a while. He underwent two surgeries, then had to recuperate. His doctors eventually gave him the O.K. and he resumed his running. He had hoped to be in last year’s New York Marathon but couldn’t and dropped out. He resumed training last May for this year’s race, and as part of Fred’s Team, wound up raising nearly $7,000 for cancer research. Turner has been running for 20 years and hopes that he has a lot more left in him. He’ll take a break, then return to running competitively next year. And he anticipates to do a half marathon, his favorite event. When he’s not literally running, he’s busy running his own company, Boomerang Transport, a nonemergency medical transportation company that partners drivers with injured workers that need to get to doctors’ appointments. “Think Uber, just a lot smaller,” he said. His company donates 1 percent of its revenue to charities, the chief one being cancer services. As for his ’hood, Turner said, “I love the East Village! It’s the only place I have lived in New York City and I have a hard time imagining living anywhere else.”
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November 12, 2015
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November 12, 2015
13
The Futura is now on the Bowery graffiti wall
Futura during the creation of his new “Concrete Jungle mural.” He drew a big crowd of photographers, below left, and also graciously did a smaller piece for a fan, below right.
PHOTOS BY CLAYTON PATTERSON
Lower East Side documentarian Clayton Patterson captured famed graffiti artist Futura when he was recently creating his new mural, “Concrete Jungle,” on the graffiti wall at E. Houston St. and the Bowery. Futura, formerly known as Futura 2000, is the latest in a line of top street artists to have a turn on the wall, following the likes of Kenny Scharf, Shepard Fairey, Os Gemeos, JR, CRASH, REVOK/POSE, Maya Hayak and Ron English. Before them all, Keith Haring did a mural on the wall, which was part of property owned by Tony Goldman, who died three years ago at age 68. Futura, who started doing his art on subway trains in the 1970s and toured with The Clash, has always been known for his abstract style. In a statement, he said, “It is an absolute honor to join the list of creative individuals who have previously worked on this wall and moved through such historic time and space. My mural is inspired by and in loving memory of Mr. Tony Goldman, a true friend and supporter for many years.” “Concrete Jungle” features images of metal girders, along with abstract shapes and swooshes, in black, gray and white.
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November 12, 2015
EastVillagerNews.com
PHOTO BY CODY BROOKS
Dr. Dave Ores, left, presents chef Chris Santos with the first Healthy Skillet Award.
Stanton chef makes sure workers’ health is on menu BY CODY BROOKS
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he Restaurant Worker Referral Program hosted its inaugural R.W.R.P. award luncheon on Oct. 28 at Amali restaurant, on E. 60th St., presenting celebrity chef Chris Santos the fi rst ever Healthy Skillet Award for his early and ongoing support in providing free healthcare to his uninsured restaurant workers. Santos, the owner/chef of The Stanton Social, at 99 Stanton St. and Beauty and Essex, at 146 Essex St., has appeared as a judge on Food Network’s “Chopped.” He provides free healthcare for his uninsured employees with the help of R.W.R.P., a nonprofi t founded in 2007 by Lower East Side doctor David Ores. R.W.R.P., which is currently active in New York City and Philadelphia, is a grassroots initiative that works because Ores — a.k.a. Dr. Dave — keeps the whole process lean. R.W.R.P. does not use medical insurance and is not a substitute. Instead, restaurants themselves put money into a healthcare pot, and when workers need it, they simply go to Ores at no cost to them. This allows Ores to forego hunting down insurance claims and the additional cost of hiring employees to keep the subsequent paperwork orderly. The cost is very low. The minimum base fee is $75 per month for restaurants with under fi ve workers. For eateries with from fi ve to 14 workers, another $75 is added on, and for every 10 additional workers beyond that, another $75 is added. (R.W.R.P.’s Web site notes that this pricing is approximate, depending on the needs EastVillagerNews.com
of the restaurant). Ores collects about 20 percent from this monthly fee to help keep himself afl oat and, for example, cover group vaccines for the restaurant workers. An important facet of R.W.R.P. is that it is nonprofi t, meaning it is tax exempt. “If we weren’t, it would be onethird of the money,” making the plan unviable, Ores noted. Ores explained that he created R.W.R.P., in part, because he saw patients that held off seeing him until their medical issues were severe. “For a decade I was seeing workers that came in too late,” he said. “They were coughing for two months, or their hand got infected up to their elbow. I started getting annoyed.” He spoke to the restaurant owners and developed what became R.W.R.P. to encourage workers to see him earlier for “a fi rst look.” It is all the more important because these patients work at restaurants. “Coughing over food, bacterial infections,” Ores said, noting that this model of healthcare helps everyone, including restaurant customers. According to the group’s Web site, 98 percent of the time, the issue is handled by the R.W.R.P. doctor. Beyond R.W.R.P., Ores provides healthcare to the poor and uninsured in the East Village and Lower East Side at his offi ce on E. Second St. between Avenues A and B. Ores cannot provide all services — he is a general practitioner who refers patients to hospitals if they need it. But he noted at the award luncheon that he tries to end his patients’ problems during their visit to him, as opposed to at that hospital, so that he does not defeat the purpose of R.W.R.P.
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15
Keeping up on health food trends sure beets me RHYMES WITH CRAZY BY LENORE SKENAZY
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here’s the milk?” I asked my best-friend-from-highschool, Gigi, as I peered into her fridge. “It’s right there!” “Where?” “There!” But, as Gertrude Stein would have said — if she needed something to pour in her coffee and was still alive — “There’s no ‘there’ there, only almond milk.” Gigi shrugged. “That’s what we drink.” And therein lies a tale. There was no cow milk in Gigi’s fridge, no white bread in her breadbox, and no peanut butter in her cabinets — only almond butter. Without even realizing it, Gigi had become what we used to call a health nut, but is now apparently a health mainstreamer, leaving good ol’ milk-drinking, Wonder-loving,
candy-gobblers like me behind. Folks who still eat hot dogs, if you can believe that, despite WNYC reporting for 36 hours straight last week: “The World Health Organization says processed meat is bad for you. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad! Donate now, before you drop dead.” Simply by standing in place, I’d become abnormal, like a gal still wild about Earth Shoes. Or Pet Rocks. Or Jeb. Everyone else today is eating or juicing something they never thought they’d even consider food. A guy I know (who was briefly a pro football player!) just mentioned he is into hemp hearts. Hemp has a heart? It’s legal to eat? He says he mixes the hearts into cheesy eggs, which sounds somewhere between revolting and felonious. But hemp is just one of those things that people say, “I’m into now.” Like Kombucha — the stuff in bottles that looks like pond water. And chia! If chia can go from pet to food, what hope is there for puppies? Another high-school friend of mine (they’re all turning!) now “cheats” by eating chia pudding! Cheats on what? Gently sauteed pine needles? Liver smoothies? How
is it cheating to eat something so healthy that it still grosses out at least a portion of the population? “Marcy!” I typed at her. “You were the one who introduced me to the food that is totally worth cheating with: Hostess fruit pies. What happened?” She typed back (where would we be, friend-wise, without Facebook?): “Chia pudding is made with chia seeds, almond milk, cacao (or, for those that still speak English, cocoa), maple syrup and vanilla extract. As the seeds soak, they become tapioca-like. Makes a yummy pudding. Hostess fruit pies?! I forgot about those.” Forgot? I know, I know — people’s tastes change, and change is good. My friend Sue is eating beets now. She used to spit them out back when beets were on everyone’s shelf — sometimes for years — in a can. Then recently someone convinced her to eat them for good luck and she gave them an open-minded nibble. Now Sue’s a a beet-nik, and I worry that the vegetable is a gateway to hemp hearts! And others are opening up to celery root. All those ancient grains are taking over, too. Not for nothing do they call it Farro. The problem is not that people’s
tastes are shifting. They always do. It is that they seem to be lurching. “I got all into trying to go vegan, then I got into paleo — huge shift, I know,” I read a mom confess online. The soy milk folks are getting into butter. The pescatarians are trying pork. The NutraSweet crowd is swearing by Stevia. And I wasn’t going to mention kale, but it is the elephant in the kitchen. “It’s an aspirational vegetable,” explained Nancy McDermott, an independent researcher and adviser to Park Slope Parents. “It’s also very pretty. I saw a nice kale tattoo on Facebook the other day. But eating it, preparing it, is difficult. I hate having to cut out the stalks, and rolling the leaves and cutting them. And as for bruising it, I think you’d have to sleep with it under the mattress to make it tender enough to eat.” By the time we are sleeping with our kale, all bets are off. It’s driving me to drink. But not kombucha with almond milk. Skenazy is host of the reality show “World’s Worst Mom” on the Discovery Life Channel. She is also a public speaker and author and founder of the book and blog “Free-Range Kids”
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Voter registration made easy To The Editor: On a hot and humid Saturday in September, I stood under the Washington Square Arch, wondering if it was going to rain. Above my head floated a large poster cutout of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president. Next to me was my friend and fellow Village Independent Democrat Joe Gallagher, waving a Bernie Sander’s head. We were waving these faces back and forth and attracting the
usual jeers and cheers. Over the summer, we at the Village Independent Democrats club started a new campaign to register young people in our neighborhoods to vote. We have set up booths at Washington Square Park, Union Square and at local street fairs. We wave signs, and work with people to fill out voter registration forms. We’ve signed up hundreds of new voters. However, elected officials in New York State have proposed legislation to do this automatically. Automatic voter registration, through
IRA BLUTREICH
the Voter Empowerment Act, has been supported by state Senator Michael Gianaris and Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh. Under this legislation, every eligible citizen would automatically be registered to vote, while only those who opt out would be excluded. This would register more than 2 million new voters in the state. The Voter Empowerment Act would also benefit current voters, plus allow preregistration of 16- and 17-year-olds. Please sign our petition by going to Change. org and typing in “Support Automatic Voter Registration in New York.” Erik Coler E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-2292790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 1 Metrotech North, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY, NY 11201. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel. Anonymous letters will not be published.
SOUND OFF! Write a letter to the editor! Will Sheldon Silver’s defense have wings? 16
November 12, 2015
news@thevillager.com EastVillagerNews.com
Talking politics, polls and pubs with Steve Kornacki PROFILE
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BY LINCOLN ANDERSON teve Kornacki lives and breathes politics. But he drinks Narragansetts. At least, that is, when he’s outside of the MSNBC studio and enjoying the bustling bar scene in the neighborhood he calls home, the East Village. In a quick interview with The Villager in between TV segments on a recent Friday afternoon, Kornacki, 36, laid out the landscape of both the presidential race and his favorite local watering holes. Kornacki, who grew up in Massachusetts, has become one of cable news’s top up-and-coming anchors. He currently hosts MSNBC’s “MTP Daily” on Monday afternoons, and is the station’s political reporter and fi ll-in host, subbing for Rachel Maddow, as well as Chris Matthews on “Hardball,” as needed. Until last month, he hosted “Up With Steve Kornacki,” an early-morning show on the weekends, which, he admits, put a crimp into his barhopping. He cut his teeth in journalism in New Jersey, where he wrote for a political news site, then went on to cover Congress for Roll Call, before joining the staff at Salon in 2010. In a 2011 Salon article, he came out as gay — at the age of 32. His ongoing assignment now is the 2016 presidential election. It’s a dream beat for this political junkie, who is known for his fact-laden, deep-dive-style reporting. He also recently covered the “House chaos,” as he put it, that saw Paul Ryan elected speaker. He’ll currently break into the newscast at any given moment to report on the latest developments in the presidential race. And in this wacky election, there has been more than ample opportunity. “I just think, to cover this one...this is the most interesting campaign I have ever watched or covered,” he said, speaking after just having wrapped his “The Top of the Two” segment. “The Republican race, it’s just so volatile…the possibility of Trump being the nominee. We were thinking it could be a two-week fl ash in the pan — and it’s November and he’s the front-runner. “When you break down where his numbers come from, people who call themselves moderate and liberal Republicans, he is cleaning up with them,” he noted of Trump. “And when you see how Mitt Romney won the nomination, he won the moderates. Those are the same voters who are with Trump right now. You’d think they should be with Bush for Chrissake.” O.K., so assuming Trump really does win the G.O.P. nomination, The Villager asked Kornacki, could the Donald actually beat, say, the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, in the general election? Or is that just too ridiculous a thought to even contemplate? “I know the conventional wisdom is this is Hillary Clinton’s dream opponent,” Kornacki offered, though adding, “I look at the breadth of his support on the Republican side. He is such a unique character. There’s such an unpredictability.” That said, Kornacki noted, “I tend to think Rubio is the best bet” to snag the Republican nomEastVillagerNews.com
ination. As for Clinton, he feels, as others pundits do, that she’s starting to look more confi dent. “I really think that debate performance and the Benghazi thing just reassured Democrats,” he said, referring to last month’s debate and Clinton’s comportment in the Benghazi hearing. Does progressive favorite Bernie Sanders have a chance of upsetting her in the primary? The Vermont senator recently won a straw poll of 300 Manhattan Democratic political club members in Chelsea held after they watched a debate between surrogates for the three candidates. Yet, Kornacki explained, while Sanders is polling strongly in Iowa and New Hampshire, two heavily white states — “these would be Bernie Sanders’s dream states,” he pointed out — the South Carolina primary could bring him crashing back to earth. South Carolina is 55 percent black, and Clinton is leading Sanders among black voters by a whopping 70 points. “He has basically no support among black voters,” Kornacki stated. “He’s been trying to hit
‘Mitt Romney won the nomination with the Republican moderates. Those are the same voters who are with Trump right now.’
the right issues and getting no traction.” In other words, even if Clinton tanks in Iowa and New Hampshire, she still has the numbers in the long run. Flashing back to previous presidential elections, Kornacki, the student of politics, noted, “I am pretty sure Bill Clinton got 80 percent of the black vote on Super Tuesday in 1992. Walter Mondale crushed Hart with black voters in the South in 1984.” In short, he said, “Sanders has half of what Obama had in ’08,” namely because Clinton seemingly has a fi rm hold on the lion’s share of black support. In ’08, Obama had support from white college-educated liberals, just as Sanders does now. But black voters, initially skeptical of Obama, fl ocked to him once he proved he could win by upsetting Clinton in the Iowa caucuses. Kornacki simply does not foresee a similar scenario where black voters rally behind the socialist senator. Asked what he thinks of the Ben Carson phenomenon — another nonpolitician riding surprisingly high in the polls — Kornacki said, “It’s coming from evangelical voters — it’s the source of his strength. Maybe it’s his humility, his humble bearing. It’s a symbol of how topsy-turvy this election has been.” PROFILE continued on p. 26 November 12, 2015
17
Sanders is changing U.S. politics — but must think bigger TALKING POINT
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BY JOE ALLEN any writers on the radical left have been deeply pessimistic and alienating in considering Bernie Sanders’s campaign for president. Bruce Dixon, editor of the Black Agenda Report, dismissed the Sanders campaign as “sheepdogging for Hillary.” Something tells me that calling people “sheep” isn’t the best way to engage anyone in a positive political conversation. Equally patronizing has been William Kaufman, who dismissed the historic opposition of many on the radical left to supporting a Democrat as “a mindless ideological reflex.” Calling someone “mindless” isn’t a good way to start a conversation, either. Personally, I’m neither a Bernie pessimist nor a “Sandernista” who’s all-in for the Vermont senator. I think that the Sanders campaign is refreshing and he has made socialism positive for a younger generation. I wholeheartedly support his call for a “political revolution against the billionaires” and have watched with great interest as his political program has shaken up the presidential race. Yet big business and its allies dominate the highly undemocratic political party that Bernie is running under the auspices of. This raises a bigger question: What is Bernie’s deeper strategy for transforming the Democratic Party? So far, Bernie has said very little about this. When he speaks about challenging the status quo, he always seems to be talking about the intransigent Republican majority in Congress — not the party whose name he is running under. And while the G.O.P. has certainly gone off the right-wing deep end in recent years, the Democrats have also drifted farther and farther in the same direction. Sanders has taken mostly strong progressive positions in his campaign that are well to the left of others in the party, but he has yet to put forward a longer-term plan about dealing with that drift. So the Sanders campaign presents the broad left in the United States with a great political opportunity, but also with something of a conundrum: How to sort out the many positive aspects of Bernie’s campaign while forthrightly dealing with the substantive political problems of running as a Democrat? With this in mind, I read Marc Daalder’s recent article on Sanders’s impact on Hillary Clinton’s use of attack ads and found it a bit thin.
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November 12, 2015
Bernie Sanders has strong support in Downtown Manhattan, judging by a recent straw vote held by multiple Democratic political clubs.
way that the long-established broad left in the United States hasn’t accomplished in many decades of hard work. Something has changed in U.S. politics, and the left seems woefully behind the times. For me, this means we should be putting forward a discussion about political strategy to Bernie supporters and critics, revisiting older debates about the left and the Democratic Party, while also recognizing the importance of newer political campaigns, such as Black Lives Matter, and the struggle against eco-catastrophe — struggles that could fundamentally reshape American politics. Let’s put it this way: Is Bernie’s campaign in form and substance a fairly traditional liberal Democratic campaign with an anachronistic socialist label attached to it, or could it help birth a new socialist movement? If it is to be about the latter, what political strategy is being put forward to bring it about? How can the Sanders campaign go beyond relatively minor, short-term victories concern-
The tens of thousands of Bernie supporters that have come out to rallies across the nation want a different politics in this country.
Not because Sanders has not had an impact on Clinton’s use of such ads — Hillary has, indeed, pledged to refrain from attacking Bernie during this campaign cycle, which seems like a pretty good thing — but because Daalder and other writers are highlighting such small-fries victories rather than these issues of power and politics inside the Democratic Party. This is a mistake. Bernie at a recent meeting before 2,000 people at the University of Chicago exhorted his audience to “think big!” He’s right: We should be thinking big. Bernie made socialism attractive and relevant in a
ing attack ads to accomplish a major political transformation? For several decades, many socialists, trade unionists and liberals put forward a strategy of “realignment.” In a nutshell, the argument went like this: Liberals and the left should build up the political forces of trade unions and the civil rights movement (and later, other progressive social movements, such as the Vietnam anti-war movement, women’s and other social movements) in the Democratic Party to force out the old “Dixiecrat” wing of the party. This realignment of political forces inside the party, it was hoped, would transform it into a political party more akin to a European-style labor or social democratic party or, at the very least, something like the old Canadian New Democrats. This newly transformed party could potentially implement the type of pro-working class political agenda that could make the United States into a more European-style social democratic country. Some aspects of realignment did come about: The Dixiecrats, for the most part, did leave the Democratic Party, while the reforms sponsored by Senator George McGovern did open up the party to more diverse convention delegates and opened up primaries to more challengers. One result of this was a large number of black delegates and party leaders. But the Democrats also, at the same time, became a more conservative party, and abandoned much of the liberalism that defined it since the New Deal. Whatever you may think about realignment as a strategy, it was, indeed, a big-picture strategy that was debated and fought over for by the broad liberal-left. I happen to think it was the wrong strategy, and have believed for many years that we need to campaign for the creation of a labor party or, at the very least, independent or socialist campaigns with the support of the labor movement. The tens of thousands of Sanders supporters that have come out to rallies across the country want a different politics in this country. What are we saying to them about building a bigger, more relevant socialist left today? Whether you support Bernie’s campaign or not, what do you have to say to that question? Focusing on the minor victories Bernie Sanders is able to notch misses the point of what’s so important about his campaign. The energy he has tapped into has the power to radically transform our country’s politics. As we watch and participate in and critique that campaign, let’s keep those big-picture goals in mind. After all, we’re capable of winning much more than minor skirmishes over attack ads. EastVillagerNews.com
Give ’Em That Earth Time Religion
Reverend Billy and Choir appeal to our better nature BY SCOTT STIFFLER
T
he charismatic scourge of consumerism has an idea he wants to sell you on. “Earth justice and human justice are, and need, to be the same thing,” asserts the man on the other end of the phone, who announces himself in the guise of a Bible salesman offering Old Testament brimstone and New Covenant wisdom that you can’t afford to ignore. Empowered by righteous anger, prankster activism and a young daughter set to inherit this profit-before-people world, Reverend Billy brings his ministry — without invitation and sometimes resulting in jail time — to chain stores, bank lobbies, and corporate offices. You’ll also find him on picket lines, in protest marches, and at sites of environmental despoliation. His message varies (workers are suffering, species are disappearing, toxins are polluting, consumers are overspending), but his method is the same: aggressive satire and strength in numbers. Beginning on November 15, Reverend Billy brings his deadly serious, laugh-out-loud brand of street theatre to the great indoors. That the six-week run takes place during the height of gift-giving season is no mere coincidence. Although its mission continues to evolve, The Church of Stop Shopping is still firmly rooted in the notion that most folly visited upon this planet stems from mankind’s unchecked appetite for disposable pleasures. With a 30-member choir and a guitar/drum/keyboard combo filling the Joe’s Pub stage up to its brim, Reverend Billy’s 70-minute Sunday service (seen by this publiEastVillagerNews.com
PHOTO BY ERIK MCGREGOR
When Rev. Billy, the 30-member Stop Shopping Choir and a three-piece band set up shop, Joe’s Pub overflows with earthy activism.
cation in previews) effectively distills the essence of his many causes. “Our hot experiment,” says Reverend Billy, “puts out the idea that the issues we embrace integrate and become a simple human value in our fabulous worship. I have this incredible wave of punk gospel blowing through me. To be on stage with activists who sing, and singers who risk arrest, is a revelation.” That risk is real, every time the Church takes their crusade against avarice and injustice into the public sphere. Stop Shopping Choir members — who recently retired their trademark robes in favor of extinction-themed honeybee chic — have been arrested “many times over the past fifteen years,” according to Church spokesperson Marnie Glickman, and have been subject to
bodily harm more times than they care to count. A member of the Choir met the business end of a Doorbuster stampede back in 2008 during a group pilgrimage to the Valley Stream, NJ Walmart, where they attempted to reason with the mob. Bargain-hunters didn’t get the joke, which is tough to do when you’re laser-focused on a mission. Happily, the Church doesn’t have a problem finding humor amidst chaos (which is downright infectious if you’re the right audience). In 2014, over two dozen Church members found themselves in Ferguson, MO Walmart and Target stores — without incident, this time, but joined by “young African Americans,” recalls Reverend Billy, who were “shouting ‘Hands Up,
Don’t Shop.’ So we affirmed our decades-long fetish not only against consumerism, but what we call ‘Consumerracism.’ ” From the minimum wage, to the revolving door between business and government, to the toxic glyphosates “banned in most European countries but still being sprayed here in our great liberal town,” to police forces meeting protesters while dressed in military-grade gear, Reverend Billy says we “keep finding consumerism is always there, in a big way.” In the Reverend’s slogan-packed proselytizing, as well as in songs like “We Are The 99%,” all of these topics were given stage time at Joe’s Pub, along with a chance to declare BILLY continued on p.23 November 12, 2015
19
Fall into festival mode
More good stuff on deck than there are leaves on the ground
COURTESY JAY MICHAELS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
PHOTO BY SEAN SHAPIRO
No tall tales, just real life — when 6’ 1” former pro b-baller Terri Mateer’s “A Kind Shot” holds court at MITF: Fall.
Stripped bare: “Flyer Guy” dissects David Lawson’s days as a Times Square promo man — part of Nov. 20-22’s SOLOCOM.
BY SCOTT STIFFLER
Whether working every angle on the court or navigating the field of life, former pro basketball player Terri Mateer has taken plenty of hits — but that hasn’t diminished her drive to score. Performed with an athlete’s grace and confidence (but none of the indulgent swagger), the 6’ 1” Mateer’s “A Kind Shot” (Nov. 17, 21, 22) has plenty of insider anecdotes and famous names that will appeal to fans of street, college and pro sports. Besides her experience in these worlds, Vermont-raised Mateer also worked as a model, a stripper, and a designer. Raised by a single hippie mom and an African American surrogate father, and mentored by numerous others, she credits them with giving her the fortitude to confront sexual abuse and harassment. “The point of my story,” Mateer says, “is to inspire people to look out for each other.” MITF: Fall performances take place through Nov. 22, at the Workshop Theater’s Jewel Theater (312 W. 36 St. btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves., fourth floor). For tickets and info on all shows, ($20), visit midtownfestival.org.
MITF: FALL
We had mid-summer weather for most of last week — so why not have an autumnal version of the annual July/August Midtown International Theater Festival? This desperate stab at linkage is probably not what led founder John Chatterton to cook up “MITF: Fall.” A more likely inspiration is the year-round bumper crop of applicants, whose forceful personalities are more than enough to compensate for the fest’s no-frills staging. Those who make the cut are rewarded with free rehearsal space, a three-performance run, and the chance to exit the fest with a lifetime calling card to the rest of the world: the fact that you’ve performed in the heart of Manhattan, before rising sea levels from years of mid-70s November temps render it navigable only by canoe. We don’t know when that scenario will play itself out, but these performances are destined to take place over the next few weeks: Accounts from family members and soldier’s letters — from the American Revolution to Afghanistan — are enacted by Douglas Taurel, in “The American Soldier,” with particular focus on the challenges veterans face upon re-entry to civilian life (Nov. 18, 20, 22). In playwright Cameron Fife’s dark comedy “Killing Diaz,” five close friends conspire to commit the titular murder, in an extreme but effective attempt to avoid an awkward conversation (Nov. 18, 20, 21).
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SOLOCOM
Ah, the moment of birth: a little messy and sometimes accompanied by swear words, it is — for those of us not doing the grunt work — our one shot to say we were there at the start of something big. And so it goes at SOLOCOM, the world’s “only world premiere solo comedy festival.” Presented by the Peoples Improv Theater, at their always-packed E. 24th St. base and
their recently reclaimed loft space on W. 29th St., this year’s three-day fest will present never-before-seen works of sketch, storytelling, standup, physical comedy, music, multi-media, improv, cabaret, and clowning. With 120 offerings, numbers aren’t its only strength. Brevity (shows range from 15-60 minutes) keeps things moving at a brisk clip, and gives the artists plenty of room to develop their newborn into a bigger, stronger work with long legs. For example: British comedian Maggie Gallant grew up with parents whose idea of style was an itchy knit swimsuit, and whose ideal present for her 11th birthday was a leather briefcase. Convinced she wasn’t part of this odd brood, Gallant got a shock when she looked up the family tree. “A Fate Worse Than French” has her confronting the shocking truth, and dealing with its aftermath (Nov. 22). Closer to home, “Flyer Guy” is a collection of David Lawson’s strange and possibly traumatic stories, from three years spent eking out a living as one of those poor souls tasked with convincing Times Square tourists to take their flyers (Nov. 20). In “Dammit, Jim! I’m a Comedienne, Not a Doctor!,” Canada’s Polly Esther tells of how a casual virgin viewing of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” plunged her into a two-year voyage through every cinematic and TV permutation of Gene Roddenberry’s universe, culminating in her trip to a Las Vegas convention (Nov. 21). Thinking Continued on p. 21 EastVillagerNews.com
Autumn fest harvest time Continued from p. 20
man’s boylesque entertainer and sex toy test drive blogger Lucas Brooks — sweet and tart and occasionally baring more than his soul in Feb. 2015’s cautionary STD tale “Cootie Catcher” — comes to SOLCOM with another tasty venture. “I Am My Own Cast Party” is a blur of cattle call auditions and artistic oddities, through which Brooks totally crushes on that cocky little heartbreaker known as the American stage (Nov. 21). SOLOCOM happens Fri., Nov. 20th through Sun., Nov. 22nd at The People’s Improv Theater (aka The PIT, at 123 E. 24 St. Park Ave. & Lexington) and The PIT Loft (154 W. 29th St. btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves.). For tickets ($25 festival pass, $10 single tickets), visit ThePIT-nyc.com/solocom.
DOC NYC
Social justice struggles and curtain-peeling looks at show business (both geo and local) distinguish this year’s installment of America’s largest documentary festival. From a roster of over 200 films, many of the directors and their subjects will be in attendance. The fest opens with filmmaker Jon Alpert and HBO Documentary Films head Sheila Nevins in conversation, after the world premiere of Alpert’s short film “Mariela Castro’s March: Cuban’s LGBT Revolution.” Also on opening night, director Barbara Kopple (Oscar winner for the influential 1976 coal mining labor strike doc “Harlan County, USA”) is on hand along with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, for the US premiere of “Miss Sharon Jones!” On Nov. 16, director Michiel Thomas is in attendance for the NYC premiere of “Game Face,” about the
public lives of a transgender Mixed Martial Artist and a gay college basketball player. Shot at NYC’s Joe’s Pub, David Kornfield’s “The Red Umbrella Diaries” has monologues from seven sex workers (Nov. 16). Director Adam Sjöberg is expected to appear on Nov. 15 and 17 for “I Am Sun Mu,” about a former North Korean propaganda artist who applies those skills to satirical pop art. Brooklyn-based and Chelsea-born Hillevi Loven makes her directorial debut with “Deep Run,” in which a teen trans man comes of age in deeply evangelical North Carolina. Executive producer Susan Sarandon joins Loven for at Q&A at the Nov. 17 screening, with subject Cole Ray Davis also in attendance for the Nov. 14 NYC premiere. “Daddy Don’t Go” (Nov. 14) is Emily Abt’s two-year look at four low-income fathers. Executive produced by Omar Epps and Malik Yoba, it’s a positive if not always uplifting look at the daily challenges faced by young men dedicated to raising their children. While “Daddy” offers a new image of the American family, Peter Flynn’s “The Dying of the Light” (Nov. 18,) is equally concerned with preserving the old ways. Focusing on career film projectionists in the New York area who continue to unspool celluloid in an age of digital domination, “Light” also provides a ray of hope, by charting the effort to restore over 100 projectors needed for 70mm screenings of Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight.” DOC NYC happens Nov. 12–19 at the IFC Center (323 Sixth Ave. at W. Third St.), the SVA Theatre (333 W. 23rd St. btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.) and Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas (260 W. 23rd St., btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.). For tickets ($17, $15 for seniors/children), visit docnyc.net.
COURTESY WINTERSONG TASHLIN, WINTER WIND PHOTOGRAPHY
Stop draggin’ his heart around! Lucas Brooks flirts with theater, in SOLOCOM’s “I Am My Own Cast Party.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FILMMAKERS
Brooklyn-based, Chelsea-born filmmaker Hillevi Loven’s “Deep Run” screens Nov. 14 and 17 as part of DOC NYC.
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“Daddy Don’t Go,” Emily Abt’s two-year look at four low-income fathers, screens Nov. 14 at DOC NYC. November 12, 2015
21
The existential dread of a clown
Brilliant, bleak ‘Entertainment’ wanders out west BY SEAN EGAN
R
ick Alverson’s brilliant new feature, “Entertainment,” is an emotionally overwhelming sensory experience, which will leave those who can handle its unflinching bleakness dazed, confused, shaken and depressed. And Alverson wouldn’t have it any other way. “We’ve been taught for three quarters of a century in the United States and in American popular cinema to read our films in a traditional literary, narrative style, and essentially we’re looking to unpack that experience,” Alverson says. “What movies seem to bring, the potential of them is sort of in this tonal, temporal experience. The intellect being stimulated and activated and engaged could be a wonderful by-product of that, but you know, I think that it mostly is engaged when the experience doesn’t fit neatly into those prescribed categories; when the intellect isn’t just an arbiter of and a reader of the film, and has to wrestle with what the content is, and what the form is.” The film’s “plot,” as it were, concerns a character known simply as the Comedian. Played by Gregg Turkington (who co-wrote with Alverson and alt-comedy mainstay Tim Heidecker), the Comedian cuts a prickly but tragic figure, marching through the desert on a tour of dead-end clubs and dive bars. When not performing, he skulks around in near-silence visiting underwhelming tourist traps, and leaves his estranged daughter daily voicemails that go unanswered. Onstage, however, he springs to life, wearing an oversized tux and cradling drinks, delivering material
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November 12, 2015
COURTESY MAGNOLIA PICTURES
Gregg Turkington as the Comedian, in a position of stark isolation — his natural habitat.
(as incredibly dated as it is blue) in a nasal whine, with stilted timing that all but guarantees audience confusion and/or hostility. It’s a riff on Neil Hamburger, Turkington’s longtime anti-comedy performance art standup persona that Alverson and co. expand upon here. Juxtaposing the Comedian’s ill-received performances and his miserable personal life allows the protagonist to slowly unravel, and creates the mounting existential dread that provides the thrust of the film’s narrative. “Even more than sympathy, I think it’s a character that’s pitiable, which I think, as audiences, is something that’s even more attractive to us, because it allows us to elevate ourselves in relation to this person,” Alverson
comments on the decision to work from the Hamburger archetype and explore his off-stage identity. Almost as significant a character as the Comedian is the barren, oppressive sprawl of the western desert itself. Alverson admits to using motifs from American popular cinema as “raw materials” to shape the film’s structure, from the “stereotype of the spiritual journey in the desert, to the unlimited potential of the west,” and also notes his “obsessions and interests” that worked their way into the movie. “One of them is an American utopian bent — you know, this idea of the unlimited potential of things,” the director reveals. “And I’m obsessed with the idea that that’s the source of a lot of, if not all our global problems, is the outsourcing of this dream, that can’t expire, that has no limits or edges. You know, when the world is full of limitations, and limitations are beautiful and necessary.” As a deconstruction of the utopian myth of the west, it plays on the tropes of road movies admirably — and it’s clear its uncompromising, iconoclastic style shares some DNA with ’70s-era American independent cinema. “Five Easy Pieces” is even directly name-checked, though with its dream-like segues, emphasizing of sound and music over dialogue, and expressive use of color, it calls to mind another Bob Rafelson joint — the psychedelic fever dream/Mon-
kees vehicle, “Head.” Overall, the formal mastery on display creates an uneasy, immersive atmosphere of quasi-hallucinatory isolation. “Dialogue is not a narrative driver in any of my movies, and it won’t be, largely because I have this aversion to this unpacking and reading of the thing, and being essentially pulled by the author,” Alverson explains. “The intention was to deal with that totally formally as opposed to narratively,” he continues. “I think that the thing was made to be slippery. It starts off very naturalistic, and you do lead it like a traditional narrative, and everything becomes apparent. It’s very one-dimensional and very simple and standard, about the journey and this sort of thing. But then it becomes slippery and harder to actually wrestle out a compact meaning or experience of the thing, so that it becomes more surreal.” Indeed, trying to pull out a succinct lesson from the movie is difficult. A cousin played by John C. Reilly seems to be a warning against compromising or commercializing art, and a crass clown (Tye Sheridan) on tour with the Comedian is a stand-in for the empty, debased entertainment people regularly consume. For his part, Alverson sees the film as something of a “welcome swan song to the white, European, ENTERTAINMENT continued on p. 23 EastVillagerNews.com
‘Entertainment’ an unflinching, overwhelming experience ENTERTAINMENT continued from p. 22
male dominant culture that we’ve had for centuries,” and hopes the film makes its audience consider the impact entertainment has on them and the world at large. “We outsource this concept of limitless American potential, and the attainable American dream for all of the population, which is absolutely impossible. So, you know, I think that in our entertainment and our media, is a tool by which that narrative is facilitated,” Alverson explains. “If we don’t think every time we turn on a show on Netflix, or television, or click on a story on a page that it’s not promoting or selling something, whether it’s a concept, or an ideology, or goods, then we’re kidding ourselves.” Alverson’s view isn’t entirely nihilistic however, as he recognizes there’s “the promise of art as something that’s distinct from disposable entertainment” — though as a caveat, he believes art should “upset and animate and have some sort of constructive potential.” “Entertainment” upsets and challenges both its audience and its characters in the best of ways. Throughout the film the Comedian repeatedly brays the question “Why?” as a setup to his hackneyed jokes, becoming
COURTESY MAGNOLIA PICTURES
John C. Reilly (right) tries to shift Gregg Turkington’s Comedian to the mainstream.
something of an obnoxious catchphrase. But as things progress, the phrase starts to sound less like a joke, and more like a desperate plea for anything to make sense in his life — and a cue for viewers to question what they’re watching. And like the God of his film, Alverson offers no easy answers to this inquisition. “I’ve taken this approach to not so
much talk about the content of the thing, because I think there’s this imbalance where all we talk about is content. You read ninety percent of criticism of movies, everybody just says, ‘This is what something’s about,’ ” Alverson claims. “Well what did you see and hear? That’s the experience. It’s a little frightening because there’s something hap-
pening there that people seem to be unaware of, that’s what they’re seeing and hearing — the actual physical experience of the thing.” “Entertainment” runs 102 min. Opens Nov. 13 at Landmark Sunshine Cinema (143 E. Houston St. btw. First & Second Aves.) and On Demand. For tickets and info, visit landmarktheatres. com/new-york-city.
Preaching ‘punk gospel’ at Joe’s Pub and beyond BILLY continued from p. 19
victory on at least one front. The Nov. 8 preview came on the heels of Obama’s Keystone decision. Proof, Billy noted, that “Earth Culture stopped the pipeline.” That made for a nice segue to the upbeat “Gratitude Song,” a golden oldie Church hymn that canonizes activist saints, willing martyrs, and innocent victims — but the majority of selections land on the side of active struggle rather than cautious optimism. “Get home safe” and “run for your life” are alternately hushed and urgent refrains in two early selections, causing Reverend Billy to note, “Even when the dogs don’t bark, they can bite your ass.” “Make that anger righteous, not reckless,” a Choir member shouts. Good advice when Reverend Billy asks us to ponder both sides of the protest line: “Two institutions with EastVillagerNews.com
PHOTO BY ERIK MCGREGOR
Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping take a message as big as Times Square and squeeze it onto the intimate Joe’s Pub stage, Sundays through Dec. 20.
pavement between us,” he says. “We’ve got to fill that pavement with bacteria and birds and nature.” With the Choir clapping, music thumping, and Reverend Billy giving every syllable in “Earth-a-lujah!” its own sense of end times urgency, you don’t know whether to tap your toes or change the world. This is one church service that puts you back on the street convinced life is at its best when we strive to do both, preferably at the same time. “Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir: The Earth Wants YOU!” plays through Dec. 20, Sundays at 2 p.m. (doors open at 1:30 p.m.), at Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette St. btw. Astor Pl. & E. Fourth St.). For tickets ($15, plus $12 food or two-drink minimum), visit joespub.publictheater.org or call 212-967-7555. Get info on Church activities, and their new “Resist Extinction” album, at revbilly.com. November 12, 2015
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Pols say it’s time to bring Airbnb back to earth AIRBNB continued from p. 1
make ends meet. This is about big business,” said City Councilmember Mark Levine, who was joined by some of his colleagues, as well as Assemblymember Deborah Glick, in calling for tougher regulations and higher penalties for operators of illegal hotels. Levine and other councilmembers charge that Airbnb turns a blind eye to the many landlords that use the site to illegally rent apartments to tourists while driving out long-term tenants — often from rent-regulated units. “When Airbnb is following the law, I don’t have a problem with it,” said Councilmember Helen Rosenthal at a press conference before the hearing that attracted dozens of Airbnb opponents. “However, 30 percent of the people — and we’ve done data scrapes — who rent out units on Airbnb are making 60 percent of the revenue,” she said. “We are here because there are landlords who are unscrupulously harassing tenants out of their homes because they want them to leave, so that they can make more money renting out the apartment as a hotel.” A state law passed in 2010 prohibits anyone from renting out their apartment in a multiple-unit building for
PHOTO BY YANNIC RACK
Joined by tenant activists at a City Hall press conference last week, politicians said Airbnb must be held accountable, from left, City Councilmembers Ydanis Rodriguez, Helen Rosenthal and Jumaane Williams, Assemblymember Deborah Glick and Councilmember Mark Levine.
less than 30 days unless they, the host, are present themselves, as well. This is meant to enable home sharing of an extra room but discourage the operation of de facto hotels.
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But Airbnb representatives claim the service affords supplemental income for tens of thousands of middle-class New Yorkers, many of whom, they say, could go bankrupt or struggle to pay their bills if the proposed legislation passes the City Council. “We support fair, progressive rules for home sharing, but we are concerned about legislative proposals that would limit the ability of middle-class families to share the home in which they live,” said Christopher Lehane, Airbnb’s global head of public policy, in a letter addressed to the Council. “This proposal would deal a catastrophic blow to regular New Yorkers who are already struggling to get by,” Lehane said. A package of three bills was discussed at the hearing of the Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings. Rosenthal is sponsoring legislation to increase the penalty for violating the current law — which now ranges from $1,600 to $25,000 — to between $10,000 and $50,000. A second bill, sponsored by Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, would require the Department of Buildings to submit an annual report to the City Council on illegal conversions in apartments. The third measure, sponsored by Levine, would better inform tenants of their rights, so that they can determine when they don’t have to pay rent to a law-breaking landlord. In response to Lehane’s criticism that high fines would punish regular users of the site, Rosenthal retorted that nobody legally renting out his or her apartment would suffer, but
that serial lawbreakers with multiple listings need to be prosecuted more severely than is being done currently. “We need to make the fines more than the cost of doing business,” she said. Last year, a report by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman found that nearly three-quarters of rental units listed on Airbnb violated the law, a number vehemently disputed by the company. And a study released earlier this year found that more than 20 percent of the apartments in some of the city’s least-affordable neighborhoods are offered for short- and long-term stays through the site, with the East Village, Lower East Side and Greenwich Village / West Village neighborhoods all at the top of the list. The lawmakers have repeatedly asked Airbnb to provide detailed information on how often and where specific apartments are rented out for a short time, so the company can prove its own case that illegal use is less widespread than it claims. In a small sign of cooperation, Lehane eventually offered to further discuss the issue with the Council later this month, so that the two parties could work toward a common goal of cracking down on illegal hotels while protecting New Yorkers who legally rent out their homes. But the councilmembers indicated they are determined to push ahead, with or without the cooperation of Airbnb. “This is only the beginning of the legislative process, not the end,” Levine said at the hearing. “We have a real problem to address.” EastVillagerNews.com
EastVillagerNews.com
November 12, 2015
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Kornacki: Politics to pubs PROFILE continued from p. 17
As for New York City politics, Kornacki said, “I’m an observer.” However, with Mayor Bill de Blasio trying to have a role on the bigger stage, local and national politics are intersecting. Regarding de Blasio’s long-delayed endorsement of Clinton, it went over like a lead balloon. The Clinton campaign released a list of 130 mayors who are supporting her, and de Blasio wasn’t even listed first. “They tried to make the endorsement an event,” Kornacki noted of the de Blasio camp. “Instead, they alienated the Clinton people. He ran her 2007 Senate campaign. She’s responsible for his success, in a sense.” In fact, he said, it’s her opponent Sanders, not de Blasio, who has been pushing Clinton to take more liberal positions. If the New York mayor is hoping to affect the Iowa vote, polls show voters out there don’t really have a sense of who he is, Kornacki noted. Kornacki has lived in the East Village in two separate stints, the first for two years, in 2007 and 2008, and now for the last three years. Asked what he enjoys about the neighborhood, he said, “I like that it’s a cool mix of the old and new. There are a lot of young people from all over the place. But you walk down Second Ave. and you see the Ukrainian social club and the Ukrainian federal credit union. My family on my mother’s side is Ukrainian. And there are the big old Catholic churches” — well, at least those that haven’t been knocked down for development yet. “To be honest, I love the bars,” Kornacki said. “I hate fancy bars with expensive drinks, where you have to dress up.” Some favorites he listed are Sophie’s, 7B / Horseshoe Bar — “whatever it’s called,” he said. “I call it Horseshoe Bar. My friends all call it 7B.” “Lucy’s might be my all-time favorite because of Lucy,” he said. “Standings sports bar on Seventh between Second and Third, it’s gotta be the coolest sports bar in the country. … Seventh and First, we all call it ‘Tile Bar.’ I love Coal Yard, at Sixth and First Ave. Oh, oh! — Drop Off Service, at 13th and A.” His go-to brew is Narragansett, not surprising given his New England roots. He’s a little concerned, though, that the East Village scene is starting to morph for the worse. “Avenue A feels like the bar scene is changing a bit,” he said. “There was a place that had a rope line — like the West Village was moving in, or the Meatpacking District…sort of like the bridge-and-tunnel crowd. Not to be derogatory, but… .” In terms of local places to eat, he likes Gruppo for pizza and Fonda for Mexican food, Little Frankie’s and Supper restau-
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November 12, 2015
rants, plus Barnyard for sandwiches. Before the interview, an MSNBC handler expressly told The Villager not to ask Kornacki about his sexuality. But, as it turned out, the news host wasn’t adverse to a question about it. Basically, coming out felt like it would be a big deal, but when he did it, it really wasn’t. “Honestly, it’s sort of I don’t think about it,” Kornacki said of his current view of his sexuality. “I had a lot of stress about it for a long time. Once I wrote that essay a few years ago. … I think I pretty much figured it out in high school, but I didn’t deal with it till I was like 30. I had fears about coming out. But being it — and everything is exactly the same — now I’m not paranoid about it.” The interview was winding down, as Kornacki had to jump back in front of the camera. He explained he had to do an interview with the Carson campaign about the “revolt” by the Republican candidates against the networks’ debate format. Between the time of The Villager in-
‘I had fears about coming out.’
terview and the writing of this piece, there were, of course, more wild developments in the election, particularly in the Republican race, such as, for starters, the media’s accusations that Carson has been lying about his biography. The Villager, this week, asked Kornacki for his take. “I don’t think the Carson controversy has hurt his core support at all,” he responded in an e-mail. “There’s enough gray for the people who already believe in him to believe him when he says he’s being persecuted by the media.” How about Trump’s turn on “Saturday Night Live” and the accompanying “Basta Trump!” protest outside NBC studios at Rockefeller Center? “SNL got big ratings with Trump, so once again he gets to go out and brag about what a big star he is,” Kornacki said. “The protest is nothing new — it’s what he’s been facing since he made his comments at the start of the campaign. As long as he’s at or near the top of the polls and bringing in big ratings hosting SNL, he has the ammunition he needs to dismiss the protests.” Over all, despite what the polls say, how this election turns out, as usual, is anyone’s guess. And Kornacki’s very informed, ongoing take is as good as any. “I look at this pretty much is that I have a one-year sprint to the presidential election,” he said. EastVillagerNews.com
PHOTOS BY CLAYTON PATTERSON
Throwing down moves in a breakdancing competition at Overthrow, in the former Yippies building, at 9 Bleecker St.
Punching and partying at Overthrow boxing gym SPORTS
From left, Carlos Castillo, Adam Gonzoga and Joey Goodwin during a break in the action at Overthrow. Castillo, from Monterey, Mexico, and Hell’s Kitchen, worked with famed light-heavyweight champ Archie Moore and also trained his own son, who was a Golden Gloves champion. Gonzoga, an amateur fighter, is being trained by Goodwin a.k.a. “Soho Joe,” who runs Overthrow.
Dr. Dave Ores worked on the heavy bag, held by Dan Halen. EastVillagerNews.com
Until recently, No. 9 Bleecker St. was the longtime home to the Yippies. A hub for organizing for the peace movement and drug legalization efforts, among other issues, it was also where the Yippies published their radical newspapers, including the Yipster Times and Overthrow. Around two years ago, after a court battle, the Yippies lost control of the building. Today it has been remade into a hip boxing gym and workout spot, with the name Overthrow, an homage to the Yippies and their defiant attitude. Also, in the spirit of the Yippies, when they aren’t pounding heavy bags or each other in the ring, the Overthrow crowd likes to party hearty.
Things got hairy as Power Malu, a writer, rapper and actor, emceed the action. November 12, 2015
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November 12, 2015
EastVillagerNews.com