The Villager • Dec. 24, 2015

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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933

December 24, 2015 • $1.00 Volume 85 • Number 30

Pledging memorial funds, Cuomo says Triangle Fire ‘should never be forgotten’ BY YANNIC RACK

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ew York State is funding the construction of a permanent memorial to the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911, clearing a major hurdle in a years-long fight to erect a fitting monument to one of the deadliest industrial trag-

edies in the country’s history. A group of labor advocates and descendants of the victims started the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition a few years ago to find a design for the memorial and raise the money needed to construct and maintain it — roughly $2.4 million over all. FIRE continued on p. 11

Pier55 enviro impact would not be significant, says state; Suit remains BY ALBERT AMATEAU

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he high hopes for an innovative Pier55 took a step closer to reality this month when the state Department of Environmental Conservation posted notice that the project would not have a significant effect on the environment. The Dec. 7 legal notice

carried in the New York Post also said the $130 million new pier proposed for the Hudson River Park — with most of its funding coming as a gift from Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg — complies with the State Historic Preservation Act. The cost of the project inPIER55 continued on p. 23

PHOTOS BY Q. SAKAMAKI

A woman holding a sign reading “ISIS can sneak through our Northern / Southern border” clashed with anti-Trump protesters — including a man dressed up as a Ku Klux Klan member — on Fifth Ave. at Sunday’s demonstration.

Unity rally thumps Trump over anti-Muslim rhetoric BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

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acist, fascist, KKK — Donald Trump, go away!” nearly 200 protesters chanted outside the gleaming golden doorway of Trump Tower on Fifth Ave. last Sunday afternoon. They were mainly Muslims, along with Black Lives Matter activists and a few Mexicans — one sporting a massive pink felt sombrero and another a green and red

poncho. They had gathered outside the presidential candidate’s signature New York City building, in what was billed as a “unity rally against racism, anti-Muslim bigotry and fascism.” Really, in one word, it was a rally against Trump, who, Muslims at the protest said, with his blustering rhetoric, has been demonizing them and their religion, and poisoning people’s minds against them. In the wake of the recent

Paris and San Bernardino terrorist attacks, the surprising Republican front-runner recently called for temporarily banning Muslims from immigrating to the U.S., “until we can figure out what is going on.” Signs bobbing in the crowd, many with the International Action Center’s tagline at the bottom, bore slogans like “Wall Street is our enemy. Not Islam,” “Trump is a capitalist PROTEST continued on p. 8

More problems at nearby nuke plant..............page 4 Lee joins three in race for Assembly..............page 6 He’s all about that bass..............page 26

www.TheVillager.com

TOM BACKS BERNIE: On Tuesday, L.G.B.T. political pioneer Tom Duane announced his endorsement of Bernie Sanders for president. The former state senator put out a statement saying he was joining the “political revolution.”“Bernie Sanders is giving voice to people who are pushed aside and left out in a democracy where increasingly only the rich and powerful matter,” Duane said. “He’s mobilizing unprecedented enthusiasm, and he’s doing it by telling the truth, just as he has for his entire career. I am excited to have the opportunity to endorse Bernie Sanders, because I have long admired him. I know there are deep wells of support for Senator Sanders among progressive voters across New York. I hope my endorsement will make it a little easier for other progressive leaders to join the campaign as well.” Duane, who represented the West Side in both the City Council and state Senate, is nothing less than a progressive icon himself — we know he loves when we say that, but it’s true! He was among the first openly gay elected officials in New York and made history at the first openly H.I.V.-positive politician in America. Bill Lipton, director of the New York Working Families Party, applauded the endorsement, saying, “Tom Duane was one of our first champions in the early days of the Working Families Party, and he’s always been a trailblazer and a courageous progressive voice. We couldn’t be happier to see him join the political revolution.” Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver thanked Duane, saying, “Senator Tom Duane has been a fierce advocate for working people, families and the L.G.B.T.Q. community. We are grateful he has joined the political revolution and look forward to working with him.” CAFE AU EVICTION: First he tries to evict you, then he gives you a few cups of free coffee. One can imag-

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“It’s worth the trip down the street!” 2

December 24, 2015

ine the surprised confusion from residents of 17 East Village buildings recently acquired by Raphael “Raffi” Toledano, when they received a holiday e-card along with a $20 gift certificate to Ninth Street Espresso from their new landlord, who has been accused of predatory practices against his new tenants. The card, from Toledano’s BrookHill Properties, says, “Wishing you peace and happiness during the holidays and throughout the new year,” and then adds, referring to the coffee coupon, “Help us spread the holiday cheer by supporting local businesses.” One of his tenants, who requested anonymity, forwarded us the e-card and coupon, as well as his response to Toledano: “Thank you for your kind holiday greetings, and for your thoughtful gift card supporting our neighbors,” referring to the coffee shop. “If you truly want to make good on your generous wishes for my peace and happiness in the new year, please consider dropping your case against me and renewing my lease.”

was a challenge. And then there was the verbal abuse. “Let me tell you the problem — these people are hard,” she told us. The toughest were a group of young white individuals. “There was one guy who looked asleep — he popped up,” she said of one, who sounds like maybe he was nodding out on drugs. “They were pretty foulmouthed,” she said. “Two of the four eventually agreed to come in. … The older people do not want to come in.” The former Upper West Side councilmember also noted, “I see more [homeless] white folks with dogs. And not just in the Village — I see them all up and down Broadway.” She added that, according to the city, there are currently “11 legitimate homeless veterans on the street,” noting, “I don’t know where they got that.” Personally,

Sometimes even Gale Brewer does not have all the answers.

PHOTOS BY LOUISE WATERIDGE

Gale Brewer, perhaps talking about building heights under the mayor’s proposed Mandatory Inclusionary Housing plan.

GALE-FORCE INTERVIEW: Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer sat down with the editorial staff of NYC Community Media last Friday for a free-flowing interview on a wide range of topics. For starters, the Beep expressed her dissatisfaction with the Department of Buildings. “I don’t know if they’re short-staffed or if it’s incompetence,” she said of D.O.B., adding, “You need [tenant] attorneys and tenant organizers in every neighborhood in Manhattan. We need more visible attorneys.” On the ongoing homeless crisis, she noted that Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has said the “street-person problem” is essentially centered in Manhattan. (In an interview earlier this year, Brewer’s Brooklyn counterpart, Eric Adams, said as much, saying that his borough doesn’t have a street homeless problem, but that, “People have always gone to Manhattan to get lost.”) Wanting to check things out for herself, on Fri., Dec. 4, from 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., Brewer joined a group of homeless outreach workers focusing on the area around Union Square. “I think I’m the only elected official that’s doing that,” she noted. She was in a car, and they responded to 311 calls for homeless people on the street. She saw a total of around 15 to 17 individuals. Convincing them to come in off the street

she doesn’t give handouts to the homeless. Asked why, she said, “I give to a lot of charities.” We asked her about the Elizabeth St. Garden, again. Brewer previously told us she thinks senior affordable housing could be built on only part of the site, so that part of the garden could be preserved. Last Friday, she said, “There is an area in the back that is the children’s playground. You could put a small building there and the rest could be the garden.” Asked if she thought the community boards need more businesspeople, she unhesitatingly said, yes: “We need more businesspeople on the boards — I would agree with that.” At the same time, she said, it’s hard for merchants to commit the time to being on community boards, “because they have to be in their business.” She told us she stands by her decision to remove Ayo Harrington from Community Board 3, though didn’t elaborate. Harrington had been board Chairperson Gigi Li’s biggest critic, charging she was bypassing black and Latino members for leadership positions. Asked about C.B. 3 member Chad Marlow’s claim that the East Village board has seen a high “attrition” of members lately, Brewer said, “I don’t agree with that,” adding that she actually has aggressively been removing a fair number of members, in an effort to improve the Manhattan boards. We also pressed the B.P. on the long-stalled Small Business Jobs Survival Act. Will it ever get approved by the City Council? we asked. “The real estate industry would have a fit!” she declared. “I don’t know why it hasn’t passed — but it hasn’t passed since 1985. … The real issue is the rent.” Brewer reiterated that she has proposed her own bill, which would give priced-out merchants a year to remain in place while they look for a new space. Finally, also on the homeless crisis, what about Governor Andrew Cuomo recently declaring that Mayor Bill de Blasio can’t handle it, and that he’s going to step in and take care of things? “These two people — I don’t know what to do with them,” Brewer sighed in frustration. If only the two pols would work together instead of feuding, she said, they could achieve so much more for the benefit of everyone. SCOOPY’S continued on p. 22 TheVillager.com

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December 24, 2015

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Another Indian Point outage prompts probe Named best weekly newspaper in New York State in 2001, 2004 and 2005 by New York Press Association Editorials, First Place, 2014 News Story, 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

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December 24, 2015

BY PAUL DERIENZO

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n Mon., Dec. 14, one of two nuclear reactors at Indian Point in Buchanan, N.Y., went off-line for a second time this month. Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., which owns the plant, said the shutdown was caused by a “disturbance” on the non-nuclear side of the plant. According to a letter from Governor Andrew Cuomo to the New York State Public Service Commission, there was no release of radiation. Cuomo said he would send state investigators to inspect the troubled facility. A report on the incident by Power Engineering magazine, a trade publication, said the plant’s Unit 3 “shut down as designed on Monday night after the main electrical generator sensed an electrical disturbance in the transmission lines that connect the external grid to the unit.” The reactor was returned to service on Thurs., Dec. 17. The incident followed by three days another where magnets holding control rods lost power when a circuit breaker was tripped causing a shutdown of Unit 2. The two reactor units are among the oldest operating in the U.S. A third nuclear reactor on the site, built in the 1960s, was permanently shut down in 1974. The 40-year license of Unit 2 expired in 2013 and the Unit 3 license expired at midnight on Sun., Dec. 13. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said Entergy can continue to operate Indian Point while pursuing license renewal. As the expiration of its license approached on Sat., Dec. 12, 11 activists were arrested at the power plant’s front gate. Gary Shaw, a member of the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition, said, “We want the plant shut,” adding, “the plant never should have been opened in the first place.” According to Shaw, about 20 million people live within a 50-mile radius of Indian Point. In May an explosion at a transformer at the nuclear plant released oil into the Hudson River and frightened local residents, who described a huge plume of black smoke rising over the plant after

The aging Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan — just 47 miles north of New York City — has seen six shutdowns this year.

hearing a loud bang. According to an independent report, that accident didn’t release radiation, but did allow water to pool in a crucial electrical switch room that might have caused a catastrophic failure if it hadn’t been caught in time. Governor Cuomo has been calling for Indian Point to be closed for years. He wrote on Tues., Dec. 15, that the latest shutdown was the sixth at Indian Point this year and the thirteenth shutdown since June 2012. Cuomo told the commission that the state has an “obligation” to properly maintain the nuclear plants and “make timely investments in critical infrastructure.” The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board commenced hearings earlier this month to hear “evidence” about Indian Point before deciding on a 20-year license renewal. The N.R.C. recently completed an inspection of Indian Point that said, “Over all, there were no areas of concern identified.” The commission has been quietly extending the licenses of nuclear plants throughout the U.S. However, cheap oil, natural gas and an economic downturn have made nuclear power plants less economical. Vermont Yankee, a nuclear plant also owned by Entergy, was decommissioned and is being demolished and shipped to waste dumps in the Far West. Entergy also wants to close down its nuclear plant in Oswego, N.Y., a move being opposed by Cuomo. One of the fears motivating groups that want the Buchanan plant closed is the proximity of the planned Spectra Energy Algonquin natural gas pipeline, which was recently approved by federal regulators. The 42inch high-pressure gas pipeline would pass 105 feet from electrical switching areas critical to the plant. The feds claim there is “no additional risk” posed to Indian Point by the pipeline. But nuclear experts hired by local An illustration from a Con Ed promotional package for the towns opposed to the planned Ravenswood, Queens, nuclear reactor in 1963. Spectra plan claim Defeated by local opposition, the plan was dropped the that regulators have next year. underestimated the

effects of a pipeline explosion. They refer to a massive blast in San Bruno, California, in 2010 that burned for 17 hours before being extinguished. According to pipeline opponents, natural gas contains 10 times more energy than TNT. Last May a Spectra gas pipeline in Texas ruptured and released almost 4 million cubic feet of gas. A reactor at Indian Point was first proposed in 1954. The economics of power generation at the time favored plants situated as near as possible to consumers, cutting the cost of transmitting the electricity by millions of dollars. Con Ed, the New York City region’s main utility, was planning to eventually build six nuclear plants at Indian Point, also one on an island near New Rochelle and another in Ravenswood, Queens, across the East River from E. 68th St. in Manhattan. In the end, two plants were built at Indian Point, and the New Rochelle and Ravenswood plants were never built. The Queens reactor, which would have dominated the East River shoreline, was canceled after vigorous opposition by the local community. It was the first movement against nuclear power to be based on safety issues, and marked the beginning of local protests against nuclear power facilities across the U.S. Government scientists who examined Con Ed’s plans soon saw the location was in their words “lousy” and that leaks of radiation were inevitable. They concluded that even the smallest release would have dire consequences in an urban setting. In 1964 Con Ed withdrew its proposal. There are three other nuclear power plants operating in New York State besides Indian Point. The Fitzpatrick plant in Oswego shares a site with the Nine Mile Point nuclear plant. Further west along Lake Ontario is the Robert Emmett Ginna nuclear plant. These are also among the oldest operating plants in America. The Fitzparick and Ginna plants have been losing money, but their continued operation is supported by Cuomo as a key to his plan to reduce carbon emissions in the state. The licenses for the two Nine Mile Point units have been extended for 20 more years until 2046. A similar aging nuclear power station at Oyster Creek, N.J., about 100 miles south of New York City, is the oldest operating in the country and is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2019. TheVillager.com

POLICE BLOTTER Ravenous rapper On Wed., Dec. 16, around 12:30 a.m., the rapper Azealia Banks allegedly attacked a female bouncer at Up & Down nightclub at 244 W. 14th St. Police said the victim, 28, was escorting Banks out of the club, the former Nell’s, when Banks became verbally abusive and began to punch the victim. She then bit the woman on her breast causing redness and swelling, police said. The victim refused medical treatment at the scene. Banks, 24, was arrested at the scene and charged with misdemeanor assault. The Daily News reported that the “212” rapper became incensed after she was told she couldn’t get into a private birthday party for one of the club’s owners because she needed a hand stamp.

Pain in the butt A security guard at the city jobs and food-stamps center at 12 W. 14th St. had a snappy encounter on Thurs., Dec. 17, at 9:05 a.m. Police said a man was acting irately in the building’s lobby, and after the victim cuffed him, the man bit her on the buttocks. Police arrived and while arresting the man reportedly found two bags of alleged cocaine in his book bag. McGill Daqwan, 28, was charged with misdemeanor assault.

Credit-card con Sixth Precinct police arrested a man for shoplifting on Thurs., Dec. 17, around 5 p.m., and it led to a further discovery. Police spotted three debit gift cards in the man’s possession, but the name printed on them did not match the information on the magnetic strips. Police said the cards displayed the man’s name but connected to other people’s bank accounts. Andrew Gerber, 29, was arrested for felony criminal possession of a forged instrument.

Bottles fly inside Jane More than fists were flying at the Jane hotel ballroom at 113 Jane St. on Fri., Dec. 18, at 12:25 a.m., police said. Two men who allegedly engaged in a verbal dispute threw glass bottles into a crowd. Police said a 37-year-old woman was struck in the back of the head, causing her serious injury and pain. She was removed to Lenox Hill Hospital. Police arrested two men, Samuel Son, 25, and Shahriar Eatemadpour, TheVillager.com

Police released images of the suspected shooter, wearing a baseball-style cap, above, and a “person of interest,” in a hoodie, in a previously reported early-morning shooting on Gansevoort St. on Dec. 8.

24, charging Son with felony assault and Eatemadpour with felony reckless endangerment.

Zapped outside Jane Police are looking for two men who used a Taser-like device to shock a 25-year-old man outside the Jane hotel before robbing him. The Daily News reported that the victim stepped out of the trendy bar for a smoke on Horatio St. near West St., when two men walked up and asked to bum a cigarette off him around 3:50 a.m., according to police. One of the two men suddenly shocked the bargoer with an electric gizmo around the upper chest and neck area, cops said. The perpetrators ran off with the victim’s Samsung cell phone, worth $700. The victim reportedly was not seriously hurt.

Stripper gone wild Police said a man leaving Pieces Bar at 8 Christopher St. on Sun., Dec. 20, around 11 p.m. was sexually assaulted. A stripper at the place allegedly grabbed the victim’s penis without his permission, police said. The victim refused medical assistance at the scene. Luis Sevriapt, 28, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor sexual abuse.

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Emily Siegel and Lincoln Anderson December 24, 2015

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Another candidate is eyeing Silver’s former seat BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

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fourth candidate is interested in running for Sheldon Silver’s former 65th Assembly District seat. Don B. Lee, who has 25 years of experience working in IT and got his start in former Mayor Ed Koch’s administration, confirmed in an e-mail to The Villager on Tuesday, “Yes, I am interested in the Assembly seat.” Lee said he was getting ready to travel abroad, and would be able to talk more upon returning to New York after New Year’s. He referred further questions to George Arzt, the political communications guru, who said, “Don is exploring the possibility of running in the special election and beyond.” A graduate of New York University who lives in Chinatown, Lee is in his early 50s and has an extensive résumé in both the public and private sectors. He worked for 12 years in city government at the start of his career. He is currently the chief information officer at Coalition of Asian American IPA, Inc. and the Asian American Accountable Care Organization. “He’s worked for several mayors,” Arzt said. “He fought in Chinatown for the opening of the Manhattan Bridge during the construction project years ago.” Corky Lee, known as the city’s “Asian-American Photographer Laureate,” tipped The Villager off this past weekend that Lee was interested in the seat. The three other known candidates said they also heard rumors to that effect, but weren’t sure if Lee actually wanted to run. In addition, Gigi Li, chairperson of Community Board 3, asked by The Villager on Tuesday if she was interested in the upcoming special election or September primary, said, “I’m considering, but have not yet made up my mind.” Lee and Li were not at the Downtown Independent Democrats club’s holiday party at the Grassroots Tavern on St. Mark’s Place on Monday evening, but the other three known candidates — District Leaders Paul Newell and Jenifer Rajkumar and Yuh-Line Niou, chief of staff of Queens Assemblymember Ron Kim — were. The club’s holiday party was twice as big as last year’s, drawing 100 people, perhaps due to the interest in the special election. Governor Andrew Cuomo has previously said he would like to hold the special election for the Lower Manhattan Assembly seat on Tues., April 19, to coincide with the Democratic presidential primary, but he has not yet officially “called” the election. The 65th District is split up between four Democratic clubs, which each lay claim to a portion of the district’s 196 Democratic County Committee mem-

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December 24, 2015

PHOTO BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

As everyone was leaving the Grassroots Tavern after the D.I.D. holiday party, Assembly hopeful Yuh-Line Niou, center, posed for a quick photo with Sean Sweeney, left, and John Quinn, right.

PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY

District Leader Jenifer Rajkumar, left, speaking with Lynn Kotler, a civil court judge who is running for state supreme court and is a member of the Chelsea Reform Democratic Club, at the party.

PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY

State Senator Daniel Squadron, left, spoke with District Leader Paul Newell.

bers, who will select the sole Democratic nominee to run in the special election. (On the other hand, the Democratic primary next September will be open to all candidates that qualify to get on the ballot.) D.I.D. and the Lower East Side Democratic Club each control about 30 percent of the district’s delegates, while Chinatown’s United Democratic Organization and Grand St.’s Truman Club both lay claim to about 20 percent. Newell reportedly has the edge over Rajkumar among D.I.D. delegates, though Rajkumar is said to “have the club.” U.D.O.,

led by its president emeritus, Virginia Kee, and her niece, District Leader Jenny Low, courted Niou, who lives in the Financial District, to throw her hat into the ring. The greatest number of uncommitted delegates are in L.E.S.D.C., so everyone is saying that club will ultimately determine the nominee for the special election. State Committeeman John Quinn, a leader in L.E.S.D.C., has been busily talking with everyone, including Sean Sweeney, a leader in D.I.D., Rajkumar and Newell, and recently also spoke with Judy Rapfogel, Silver’s former

Don B. Lee is also interested in the vacant Assembly seat.

chief of staff and a member of Truman. “Judy’s afraid of Paul Newell because he ran against Shelly,” Quinn told The Villager. “They want the status quo. I’m not for the status quo.” Meanwhile, he said, Newell and Rajkumar currently “hate each other” because the fellow D.I.D. members both are hungry for the seat and see the other one as standing in the way. Quinn also noted that while Niou speaks Mandarin — as reported in last week’s Villager — many Chinese-Americans in the district actually speak Fujianese. Councilmember Margaret Chin speaks Cantonese, which is the more common dialect in the district. Told about Quinn’s comment, Niou explained that she speaks “a little Cantonese,” and can understand it when it’s spoken to her. The writing is the same for all Chinese dialects, she noted. “I was born in Taiwan and part of my mom’s family is Fujianese,” she said, adding, “They’re just different dialects. Usually, Mandarin is the common dialect.” Sweeney and D.I.D. President Jeanne Wilcke both said that their club stands to gain nothing from endorsing Newell or Rajkumar. Quinn said D.I.D. definitely is going to be “torn apart,” and that it will be far worse than when a pro-Koch faction broke off from the Village Independent Democrats in the early 1980s to form the Village Reform Democratic Club. “I wouldn’t say ‘torn apart.’ I would say ‘a division,’” said Sweeney. “People want me to pick the candidate,” Quinn said. “I’m not gonna do it. People don’t know how left-wing I am. The community has to pick the candidate.” As for Niou, Quinn said, “She could be a nice person, but what has she done in the neighborhood?” “I’m hearing Gigi might jump into it,” he added. Meanwhile, Niou mingled at the party, introducing herself to the D.I.D. crowd. “She’s got charisma!” said Dodge Landesman, approvingly.

With reporting by Lesley Sussman TheVillager.com

PHOTO BY JONATHAN ALPEYRIE

May the tickets be with you!

An Obi-Wan Kenobi flashed his light saber in front of the Ziegfeld Theater in T:8.75” Midtown last Thursday on opening night of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

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Unity rally thumps Trump on anti-Muslim rhetoric;

PHOTOS BY Q. SAKAMAKI

PROTEST continued from p. 1

pig!” “Ban real estate speculators, not Muslims” and “Islam has been in New York 400 years,” showing an illustration of a Colonial-era African man wearing a toga-like garment. “They say they want to take America back,” one speaker, a native-born African-American Muslim, told the crowd. “They want to take America backwards.” He exhorted everyone to boycott The Donald’s hotels and casinos and “not buy anything with his name on it.” Another speaker recalled how Trump took out full-page newspaper ads proclaiming the guilt of the five suspects in the 1989 Central Park Jogger rape case. After spending six to 13 years in jail, the five men’s convictions were vacated in 2002. “Those men were found innocent,” he declared. “Donald Trump didn’t take out a full-page ad to apologize.” He went on to call for everyone to boycott the holiday shopping season “in its entirety — to show that we can have significant impact.” “Uh huh! Hit ’em where it hurts!” a woman in the crowd chimed in. Before they started to march, a female speaker told everyone they could use the restroom, if they needed, inside the mogul’s shiny edifice. “So everyone knows, there is a public restroom in Trump Tower,” she said, adding, “It’s the only appropriate thing to go in that building.”

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December 24, 2015

The march would head down to Macy’s, but first pass by the headquarters of the New York Post, Fox News and The Wall Street Journal. “They’ve made him the fascist mobilization that he represents,” she accused of Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomeration. At the start of the rally, pro-Trump supporters briefly angrily verbally sparred with some of the protesters on Fifth Ave., but police moved in to separate the two groups. In the crowd, Mohammed Ali, a subway worker

from the Bronx, originally from Bangladesh, stood wrapped in an American flag. “I’m here to stand with the city of New York,” he said. “What Donald Trump said makes no sense.” Ali was featured in The New York Times’s recent article “Do You Know My Heart?” profiling a cross section of the city’s Muslims and their reactions to the current climate of fear and suspicion. He was confronted about the flag by Paul GilPROTEST continued on p.9 TheVillager.com

Mogul is also slammed as racist, fascist, anti-gay PROTEST continued from p. 8

man, a member of the New York City Green Party who ran for state Senate in Queens last year. “When did it stand for justice?” Gilman asked. But Ali stood his ground, wrapped in the stars and stripes. How about World War II? a reporter offered. Gilman promptly whipped a book out of his bag, “The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich.” The march headed off down the middle of W. 56th St. going the wrong way into car traffic, before moving onto the sidewalk and then heading south down Sixth Ave. “Racist, racist, anti-gay, Donald Trump, go away!” the crowd chanted. The G.O.P. polls-leader has also said he does not support gay marriage. Wearing a hijab and carrying her young daughter Maweddeh in her arms, Jehan Eltazbwa, 23, from Bensonhurst, said the words of Trump and the other Republican presidential candidates are infecting people’s minds with hate. “Just today in the supermarket, I was cursed at and I was mistreated by a woman and it was very clear it was because I was a Muslim,” she said. “Trump is adding more flame to the fire.” She said the woman told her, “ ‘Go back to your country. F--- you.’ I was next to her. She thought I was a little bit too close,” Eltazbwa said. “She could have said excuse me.” Her husband walked by her side with their other two children. Eltazbwa said her mother was Jewish and her father Egyptian. She decided on her own to convert to Islam. Also among the marchers was Akhtar Hussain, who emphasized, “Islam means peace.” “We hate terrorists,” he said. “I work in real estate too — like Trump!” he said, though adding he’s just a small businessman. As the protesters moved along down Fifth Ave. chanting, “Dee-port Trump! Dee-port Trump!” the mostly white holiday shoppers from out of town, along with various furry-costumed characters and Mickey and Minnie Mouses, were pushed to the sidelines. The tourists stood blank-faced, not really knowing what to make of it. Some held up camera phones to snap shots. There were only a few faint bemused smiles among them. “Go Trump!” a man lightly mockcheered as he passed by the march, heading uptown. A food vendor at a halal cart blaring funky Arabic beats shimmied and smiled as the march passed by. Another vendor, a woman from Senegal selling hats and scarves, TheVillager.com

Counterdemonstrators made their presence known at the start of the two-hour rally at Trump Tower, but left before the march started.

was handed an anti-Trump flier by a demonstrator. “Thank you! I like it!” she told them. Asked what she thought about the potential presidential nominee, she said, “I no like Trump!” and swept her hand out in disgust, as if to fling him away. As the marchers passed Fox headquarters, a woman wearing a paper Statue of Liberty crown with one half of its face a white skull and carrying a “Make America Hate Again” sign, paused to give the building the finger. Adam Nasser, 47, was carrying his five-year-old son, Hussein, on his back and marching with his wife and other two children. “I think he’s going to run the country down the drain,” Nasser, originally from Yemen and a 34-year U.S. resident, said of Trump. “He’s just doing this for his own agenda.” Nasser, who installs security alarms, stressed that he loves America. “It’s the greatest country for many, many years,” he said. “Muslims don’t hate America.” He accused the media, ultimately, of ginning up anti-Muslim sentiment. “The American people are very smart,” he said. “It’s the media. How many Muslims are in jail, really?” he asked. “They work hard.” His little daughter Lubna, 8, was walking next to him, wearing a hijab and carrying a small white sign on a wooden stick with the handwritten words in black, “Muslims against ISIS.” “There is a phrase in the Koran,” her

Protesters, including a man dressed up as a Klan member, outside Trump Tower at Sunday’s rally.

father said, “‘If one man takes a man’s life, it’s like killing all humanity. Nobody has the right to take anybody’s life. Those are bad guys,” he said of the ISIS terrorists. “They are brainwashed.” At the same time, he felt compelled to add, Israelis kicking Palestinians out of their homes is terrorism, too. Sorry, what was that? he was asked amid the din of the marchers’ chanting. Yes, that’s what he said, he said with a smile. After the march had passed by out-

side, the discussion about Trump continued among a group of chess players in a glass-enclosed public atrium on Sixth Ave. at 42nd St. “He’s a little bit full of b.s., everyone knows that,” commented one of them, who gave his name as H.C. Muffkie. “He’s all talk.” He quipped that as a youth he was on the Sheepshead High School basketball team, where he played “bench.” “He’s just mouthin’ off because he has money,” said another. “You can’t be saying racist stuff like that if you’re president.” December 24, 2015

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Bratton keynotes chamber’s Safe Streets awards BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

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olice Commissioner Bill Bratton was the keynote speaker at the Greenwich Village – Chelsea Chamber of Commerce’s 12th annual Safe Streets Safe Cities awards last Thursday, honoring seven Manhattan South officers for their heroism during the past year. Bratton, in fact, had been scheduled to speak at last year’s event, but Black Lives Matter activists got wind he would be there and announced they would be protesting. The activists showed up in numbers and staged a die-in on the sidewalk in front of the venue, Manhattan Penthouse, at W. 14th St. and Fifth Ave., but Bratton was a no-show. Making good on his word to address the chamber, Bratton headlined last week’s awards event, speaking, in particular, to what the police are doing to help address the city’s current homeless crisis. The top cop said while there are around 50,000 homeless people in the city, the number actually living on the streets is around 5,000. He announced that all the city’s police officers will be getting four hours of training on how to deal with the street homeless, and will be instructed on the nuances of the law pertaining to them. To give one example, Bratton said, a person legally can lie on the sidewalk, but if he or she has a box, it can be considered an illegal abode. In the Officer of the Year awards, Anthony Gonzalez was the winner from Greenwich Village’s Sixth Precinct. Officer Gonzalez was recognized for two arrests. On Jan. 18, he quickly responded to a radio run regarding a purse snatching. He placed the victim in his car, and with her canvassed the area for the two suspects, who he found and arrested. In the second arrest, on Sept. 6 Gonzalez was on foot patrol in the Meatpacking District, when he was informed by a worker at the Jane hotel that three males were smoking marijuana in a car around the corner from the place. The officer responded and noticed a spent bullet shell casing in the car. Examining the vehicle more closely, he spotted a 9-millimeter firearm on the back seat. The three males were quickly arrested, preventing a possible serious crime from occurring. There were two honorees from the East Village’s Ninth Precinct. Officer Ruby Chau has made 27 arrests so far this year. One of these involved the recovery of a 9-millimeter handgun from inside a vehicle on Avenue C where a violent felon was arrested in an area where shootings had been spiking in the precinct. Chau’s hard work and dedication earned a spot

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December 24, 2015

PHOTOS BY TEQUILA MINSKY

From left, Officers Geraldo Casaigne, Thomas Knudsen, Lauren O’Rourke, Ruby Chau, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, Officers Scott Williams, Joaquin Sepulveda and Anthony Gonzalez.

on the precinct’s day-tour anticrime team. Also from the Ninth, Officer Joaquin Sepulveda, has made 49 arrests so far this year. The 12-year Police Department veteran previously worked in the Narcotics Division in the Bronx and has been assigned to the precinct the past three years. Over his career, he has taken a number of violent individuals off the streets — including seven who were armed with guns at the time of their arrest. Sepulveda is currently assigned to the precinct’s late-tour anticrime team. From Chelsea’s 10th Precinct, Scott Williams won Officer of the Year honors for the second year in a row. A member of the precinct’s anticrime unit since 2009, one of his most notable arrests came this past September. Williams, along with Special Operations Lieutenant Peter Benekos, was working on a borough-wide crime pattern involving a threeman team that had pulled 21 bank robberies during a five-week period. Williams and Benekos observed an individual who matched one of the men’s description from a wanted poster peering inside the People’s United Bank at W. 18th St. and Seventh Ave. They followed the suspect for several blocks, watching him as he looked into the windows of several different banks. When the man arrived at the Capital One bank at W. 17th St. and Eighth Ave., he met up with two other individuals. The trio cased the bank, then began changing their clothes to outfits matching their description from prior bank robberies, at which time

Councilmember Corey Johnson and Police Commissioner Bratton.

the two cops arrested them without incident. Representing the 13th Precinct, covering Gramercy, Stuyvesant Town / Peter Cooper Village and part of Rosehill, Thomas Knudsen was named the Officer of the Year. This year, Knudsen has made 66 arrests, including busting two individuals wanted for multiple robberies inside a public housing development. At the Midtown South Precinct, the Officers of the Year were Lauren O’Rourke and Geraldo Casaigne. On May 13, they were patrolling on Eighth Ave. when they observed a suspect wanted for several assaults with a hammer within the precinct. They followed him to the corner of W. 37th St., where O’Rourke instructed him to remove his right hand from his pocket. The suspect immediately whipped out the hammer and chased her into the intersection, striking her with the weapon on her upper back and shoulder area. Seeing his partner

in danger, Casaigne reacted in a split second, shooting the man four times at close range, striking him twice. The assailant was declared dead at Bellevue Hospital. Mathew Heggem and Maria Diaz, the G.V.C.C.C. board president and executive director, respectively, in a message from the chamber, said, “Now well into our 66th year, the chamber understands the impact that a thriving business community can have on its local economy. But this community cannot succeed without individuals who selflessly protect our storefronts, keep our employees safe to and from the office and provide a peaceful neighborhood to call home after a long day’s hard work. The Safe Streets Safe City awards is our chance, on behalf of the local business community, to extend our sincerest gratitude to law enforcement. We were especially honored to have New York City Police Commissioner as this year’s guest speaker.” TheVillager.com

Governor pledges to fund Triangle Fire memorial FIRE continued from p. 1

This week, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state government would provide the $1.5 million needed to build the memorial. “I’m feeling like I’m on top of the world,” said Joel Sosinsky, a retired city attorney who serves as the coalition’s secretary. “There are tears in all of our eyes, basically,” he added. Suzanne Pred Bass’s great-aunt Rose Weiner perished in the fire. “This is both so exciting and moving beyond words, to have this windfall that really enables what we’ve been dreaming about and hoping for across the generations,” she said of the news. Most of the 146 people who died were women and most were recent immigrant Jews — about two-thirds of them — and Italians. The memorial will be attached to the building where the fire occurred on Washington Place, just off Washington Square Park. More than just remembering the victims who perished in the fire, the coalition also sees an important role for the memorial in educating New Yorkers and visitors alike about the political and social activism — and eventually far-reaching labor re-

Firefighters battling the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on March 25, 1911.

forms — that followed the disaster. “The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire galvanized the labor movement in America and should never be forgotten,” Cuomo said in a statement announcing the grant. “New York State has always been a beacon for progressive government policies, and while we honor the victims’ legacy with this memorial, we must continue to improve workplace protections to ensure tragedies like

Jacob a. Riis revealing new york’s other half

this one are never repeated.” The design for the memorial, by Richard Joon Yoo, an architectural designer, and Uri Wegman, an architecture professor at The Cooper Union, envisions three sets of polished steel panels incorporated into the building’s facade. One panel, installed at pedestrian-hip level, would tell the story of the fire and also reflect the names of the victims, which would be etched into a second panel installed roughly 17 feet above the sidewalk. A third panel, running vertically up the building’s southeastern corner up to the eighth floor, is intended to reflect the sky and attract curious passersby from afar. The building, at 29 Washington Place, is owned by New York University, which uses it as science laboratories. The school has been working with the coalition for the past few years and supports the memorial. “We’re very pleased to hear the great news about Governor Cuomo’s support of the project, and glad about what this means for the coalition’s efforts,” John Beckman, the university’s spokesman, said. Before the tribute can be built, however, there are a few more challenges to be overcome. For one, the

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“heart-rending retrospective” – The New York Times

Inequality remains a fact of life in America. A century later, this New York master’s photos still explode with outrage.

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proposal will need to be approved by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, since the building is landmarked. But the coalition has also committed to raising around $1 million more to endow the memorial for maintenance and insurance, in a deal made with N.Y.U., according to Sosinsky. “We need to come up with another million dollars, which is no small sum,” Pred Bass said. She also mentioned Local Law 11 (the Department of Buildings’ Facade Inspection Safety Program, or FISP), which requires periodic facade inspections in the city for buildings over six stories high — which could hamper the start of the construction. “We obviously still have a long way ahead of us,” Sosinsky said, adding that he nevertheless hopes the memorial could be in place by 2017. Pred Bass said for her — and surely many other family members of the fire’s victims — the funding felt like a very personal victory. “This is so moving to me because it gives recognition,” she said. “It’s a kind of redemption for the suffering that my family endured. “We’ve been working for years on this, it’s incredible that it’s finally happened.”

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Union members mourned for the victims after the disastrous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in March 1911.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Welcomes Niou to race To The Editor: Re “Yuh-Line Niou is a new contender for Silver’s ex-seat” (news article, Dec. 17): Bread and roses — Yuh-Line Niou gets it and has the courage to say so. The recognition that people live “not by bread alone” is the heart of a good public leader. I welcome her to the race for New York State Assembly. I respect the other candidates, Jenifer Rajkumar

IRA BLUTREICH

and Paul Newell. As the district leader in the 66th District, I have no vote in the 65th. That does not dim my concern for all the needs of all the people. I think Yuh-Line understands. Public and private developers must construct truly affordable housing for families and seniors. (I am a senior and a family member). That means more low-cost housing all over the city — including the West Village, where I live — and we must keep the Elizabeth St. Garden whole. Bread — and roses, too.

Keen Berger Berger is Democratic district leader, 66th Assembly District, Part A.

Triangle Fire facts To The Editor: Re “Finally, a fitting memorial plan for Triangle tragedy” (news article, Dec. 17): The article stated the victims were “Eastern European,” but shouldn’t it have just said “Jewish”? At least 95 — the majority — of the 146 victims were Jewish. So it should have read, “mostly young Jewish and Italian immigrants.” Similarly, most of them were women, not “many,” as the article stated. And they were young, as young as age 16, though a few were in their 30s. The oldest, Mrs. Panno, was 48. Bonnie Rosenstock

Developer-driven rezonings To The Editor: Thank you to The Villager for your diligent coverage of the new proposed rezonings and how they will affect not only our Downtown communities, but those of all New York City. As a follow-up on both the recent Manhattan Borough Board resolution and the Dec. 16 City Planning Commission hearing, I and most of your readers would like to know where our representa-

Peace on Earth. 12

December 24, 2015

LETTERS continued on p. 14 TheVillager.com

New Whitney floats on air, yet is down to earth NOTEBOOK BY MICHELE HERMAN

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ome of the people I am closest to revere visual art. One goes so far as to call museumgoing a religion. I am not that devoted. At museum events I sometimes chafe at the self-congratulatory tone, the rarefied atmosphere and the unquestioned practice of wining and dining the last people on the planet who need a free meal. So I felt ambivalent about the arrival of the new Whitney three blocks from my door, as I felt ambivalent about the old Whitney on Madison Ave. I could talk the art-cognoscenti talk and profess my undying affection for the “Breuer building” — but in fact I’ve always felt it was leering at me while threatening to squash me. But the new Whitney, three blocks from my apartment, has been growing on me. This is the pullout quotation at the beginning of the gargantuan Frank Stella retrospective that’s up through Feb. 7: “The more paintings you make, the more you learn.” My first reaction, when my husband and I moseyed over there on a recent Sunday, was “duh.” But then I thought some more, and I grew impressed and maybe a little enchanted. What an interesting sentence, its every word leading up to learning. And how telling that the curators chose to lead their exhibit with it. No one was showcasing that elusive and sometimes pretentious thing called vision, or showing off their erudition, or shaming others with more modest ambitions. The new Whitney building stands at the epicenter of moneyed Manhattan hipness and tries mightily, as architect Renzo Piano has said, to defy gravity. But I’m finding the institution surprisingly down to earth. The staff seem to understand that a lot of people feel far less welcome in museums than I ever will, and are doing their damnedest to break down the walls between the insiders and the outsiders. Piano’s building does this literally with huge expanses of glass on three sides of the museum. The administration has also done it by making the ground floor free and open to the public, stocking the entire building with comfy leather furniture, and taking pains to be inclusive in its curating. The always-charming Piano has said that American art can be a little impolite, so he made a building that’s a little impolite, too. But I think the Piano building has exemTheVillager.com

FILE PHOTO BY MILO HESS

The Whitney Museum of American Art — seen with the High Line park in the foreground — drew crowds on its opening weekend in May, above. Architect Renzo Piano has described the new building’s design as defying gravity.

plary manners, if manners involve making people feel at home — not just the seating, but the terraces, the stairwells with their shock of sunlight and Hudson River views; the reclaimed pickled oak floors (from a bra factory in Pennsyslvania); the layout that guides visitors gracefully through the galleries and is never confusing like the Museum of Modern Art; and glass doors onto the staff spaces that break down the usual barriers and create even more unexpected views. I’ve been working my way slowly from the building’s top to the bottom, getting to know the pieces on display from the Whitney’s huge permanent collection. The gang’s all there — Hopper, Calder, O’Keeffe. But I have found myself drawn to works by some of the more obscure artists, such as a pair of delicate drawings by a man named James Castle. I chuckled when I read that his medium was “soot and saliva on found board.” In a small screening room I grew transfixed by trippy cartoons made of simple Colorform-like shapes set to classical music by Mary Ellen Bute in the late ’30s. One large and rather threatening piece spoke to me unexpectedly. It’s

an untitled work from 1961 by a woman named Lee Bontecou, a big square framed relief full of rapacious maws with sharp metal teeth coming at the viewer, as if a couple of de Kooning’s women had sprung forth into 3-D. I thought it was scary and beautiful and hilarious in equal parts. How can it be, I thought, that Bontecou is not a household name? Curiously, the wall label again revealed an unusual (not to mention inexpensive) working method: It’s made of fabric stretched over conveyor belts taken from the laundry under her studio.

How is Lee Bontecou not a household name?

As for Frank Stella, I’ve always marveled at and kind of feared the enormous confidence it must take to make a painting as big as a lap pool and sculptures that bolt to multiple points on the gallery wall, require whole staffs of assistants, and stick out yards in every direction. But I came away from the museum’s new Stella show understanding and respecting his ambition, both his seriousness and his playfulness in push-

ing painting beyond what felt to him like the straitjacket of a square frame. It turns out that the huge colorful curlicue metal sculptures I always associated with Stella barely began to define him, and that the Whitney’s floor-through gallery is the only possible venue that can do justice to the mad variety of his output. I always assumed my occasional balkiness in an art museum was a failing on my part. But lately I’ve begun considering the possibility that I could have been reacting to actual forces at work in some museums’ exhibits. Maybe the work was more provocative than rigorous; maybe it was thumbing its nose at society but catching me in the same net; maybe the exhibit was poorly curated or the wall labels dull and pedantic. Like most people, I’ve never had an art museum in my immediate neighborhood before, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. Several times lately, I’ve moseyed over to the Whitney with nothing in my pocket besides my keys and my membership card. If I feel like it, I can stop in to see just one painting. I love the way the Whitney curators are using their vast new galleries to wedge open all this new space in the canon. Turns out the canon is a much more fluid, colorful and eccentric place than we’d been led to believe. Who knows, maybe I’ll reach religious fervor. December 24, 2015

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Continued from p. 12

tives stand on the Zoning for Quality and Affordability and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing proposals. I was disappointed to hear that all Downtown city councilmembers abstained on the vote on the Manhattan Borough Board resolution, with the exception of Rosie Mendez. Please consider publishing at least some highlights of Ms. Mendez’s commendable six-page testimony to the commission and inform us concerned New York City residents and voters on where these absent politicians stand on this very important issue that will affect the physical and demographic structure of our city. As someone who grew up in this city in the 1960s and ’70s, the daughter of an urban planner and designer who worked for the City Planning Commission for more than 30 years — and who was trained as an architect myself — I am very attuned to the physical transformation of our neighborhoods. I am shocked that our city cannot come up with truly more vital and equitable solutions to our affordability problem and is taking its cues from market-driven developers and

their enablers. Perhaps our leaders should go back to the history books and learn from precedent how this city was built — for people, not plutocrats. We have lost our soul as a city. Kriti Siderakis

You can’t build everywhere To The Editor: Re “NYCHA will build on ‘hot’ East Side, chief assures” (news article, Dec. 10): This is a warmed-over version of the Bloomberg plan — absolutely no attempt to think this through in a different way. Sure, there will be more “affordable” housing, but how affordable is the question, and for whom? And current residents and those in the nearby community lose valuable light and air, amenities that the New York City Housing Authority chairperson seems to feel are just not that important. The only people I hear talking about the virtues of density are developers and NYCHA, for some reason. Most of the inhabitants of this city welcome the benefits of

PHOTO BY Q. SAKAMAKI

A woman helped along her friend — who looked like she could have better used a sleigh — during the recent SantaCon bar crawl.

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December 24, 2015

sunlight and fresh air and a view of the sky once in a while. Like Bloomberg, and NYCHA’s previous chairperson, Ms. Olatoye has taken the warehouse approach to housing: Pack ’em in as tightly as you can and let the tenants work it out. No, the tower in the park is not an outmoded idea; it was developed for a reason — the same reason we have parks and the same reason carefully designed cities allow open space (squares and plazas) in otherwise dense agglomerations. New York City is driven by and for the real estate industry, and the NYCHA board seems to be just another part of that ruinous appendage of city government.

printer. The book will be out soon and everyone can read his life story. He is now dedicated to helping troubled youths and showing them that the gang life is not all that it is glamourized to be. Meanwhile, ask the troubled youth to look at the compassion of NYCHA. Years of neglected housing problems and now selling off the projects to developers and taking away open spaces, then throwing them and their connected families out of the projects. Hmm.

R. Bonnono

To The Editor: Re “What would Francis do? Voting on the S.B.J.S.A.” (talking point, by Sharon Woolums, Dec. 3): New York City’s small businesses are “dead men walking.” Unfortunately, they are doomed to die when their lease term ends and they are faced with double and triple rent increases. After 10, 20 and 30 years of operating a successful business, our small merchants face sudden death when they get hit with exorbitant rent increases. The American Dream of owning a business has turned into an American nightmare in New York City. The City Council can solve this problem. They have before them the Small Business Jobs Survival Bill, which addresses this crisis and offers small businesses a lifeline. The question is will this bill make it out of committee to the Council floor for a vote, or will it too die in committee as all similar bills have over the past 25 years? What is the Council waiting for now in order to vote on this bill? Is the real estate industry again calling the shots? While hundreds of businesses face eviction every month, the City Council band plays on.

NYCHA just doesn’t get it To The Editor: Re “NYCHA will build on ‘hot’ East Side, chief assures” (news article, Dec. 10): Where is the space for the building coming from? Oops, there goes the parking lots and open spaces around the projects. I was on the Alan Kaufman panel mentioned in the article, and Jose “Cochise” Quiles made many good points. Regarding Campos Plaza, NYCHA workers are no longer allowed to work there since a private developer bought a 50 percent ownership stake in the complex. America has one of the world’s largest prison populations. Prisons are a major industry and the incarcerated minorities are the ones who feed the machine. So it is not highly unusual that someone in a minority family has been in jail. It is also not that unusual that a relative has gotten into a homeless crisis, due to a fire, hurricane, domestic problems and so on. And yes, families double up. But the families are not running hot-sheet hotels. Their space can be invaded by a needy relative. It sounds like these NYCHA officials have no understanding of the kinds of trials and tribulations innercity families face. The additional security cameras, at first blush, sound great. The people wanted the security — but how much surveillance intrusion is too much? Every open space at Campos now has a camera. The cameras are everywhere. This is Bloomberg with a different spin. When are good things going to happen for the people who need it the most? I just sent Jose Quiles’s book on Lower East Side street gangs to the

Clayton Patterson

Merchants zombified

Alfred Placeres Placeres is president, New York State Federation of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager. com or fax to 212-229-2790 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. TheVillager.com

Two blocks of L.E.S. fame

The Antagonist Movement has a vision worth seeking out BY PUMA PERL

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ometimes, it’s good to be wrong. I often find myself feeding into a New York City conversation about dead scenes and lack of innovative movements. In optimistic moods, I maintain that there is vitality somewhere that I just don’t know about. DYI happenings in basements off the beaten track; a new type of sound or genre; an original vision — but I’m never sure if I’m right. Last May, I participated in an event arranged by the Destination Downtown project. Clayton Patterson, the well-known artist/activist/provocateur and I discussed our experiences creating art in a changing Lower East Side landscape. The third presenter, Ethan Minsker, was new to me. Originally from Washington, DC, he is a writer, filmmaker, artist, fanzine publisher, and creator/editor-in-chief of Psycho Moto Zine. He is also a founding member of the Antagonist Movement — a group of artists, writers, and musicians who promote and support one another. That night, I didn’t fully comprehend the richness and density of the movement, although bits of it had been somewhere on my radar. In July, I attended a screening of “Self Medicated,” and the light bulb flickered. “Self Medicated,” a 93-minute film directed by Minsker, demonstrates the ways in which art, within a supportive community, keeps the depression and isolation which plagues many artists at bay. It begins on the Lower East Side, where the movement was founded, and, through animation, interviews, and an exceptional soundtrack, demonstrates its global reach and aspira-

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PHOTO BY ETHAN MINSKER

Comprised of Antagonist members, the band SLC appears in the film “Self Medicated,” directed by Movement co-founder Ethan Minkser.

tions. Watching the film, that light grew from a flicker to 60 watts. I knew people involved, and was familiar with many of the venues; I began to connect the dots and add a little color. I met with Ethan Minsker several weeks later. He brought along an armful of zines and DVDs, as well as answers to my questions — beginning with, “Why the hell didn’t I know about you guys?” “We are famous in two blocks in the Lower East Side, but outside of that nobody knows us,” he replied. “The sad part is we can’t figure out

what two blocks those are.” Interestingly, there are pockets in the world, including Quito, Ecuador, in which they are very well-known, and several days later Ethan and other members would set off to Australia to make art, show films, and connect with old and new compadres. And that is the story of how the Antagonist Movement began — friends connecting. A number of the original members were working in various bars and clubs around the Lower East Side. In 2000, a pop-up show of paintings took place in the

basement of Niagara, a bar on Avenue A. What was planned as a single show moved upstairs and became a weekly event for 11 years. Group shows, live bands, and DJs were added. Two years later, the writers in the group decided that they needed a venue. Poet Sergio Vega, an Antagonist co-founder, along with Anders Olson (another co-founder), was working at Black and White, and the Fahrenheit Writer’s Night was born. A public access ANTAGONIST continued on p.16 December 24, 2015

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Antagonist ethos accommodates acceptance, provocation ANTAGONIST continued from p. 15

show on Manhattan Cable Network was added in 2004. “An artist’s life doesn’t need to be a solitary life,” said Minsker. “The Antagonist Movement is a social art movement, a group of people who like one another and like each other’s art, and mentor other emerging artists.” This is not the first movement with a social aspect, but it may be one of the most inclusive. There are no age, gender or racial barriers — a severely disabled woman, for instance, created one of the zines Minsker brought me. Part of the mentoring philosophy can be attributed to the spirit of the late Arturo Vega, who was widely recognized for his punk rock roots and graphic designs (including the creation of the Ramones logo). Arturo worked with the Antagonists since 2002, as a general member, a curator, and, eventually, as their main advisor and mentor. The Antagonists are committed to continuing his legacy through building community and creating the laboratory that allows people to experiment, and to utilize art in ways that push ego aside.

PHOTOS BY ETHAN MINSKER

Antagonist Movement member Shannon Marie Daugherty in her Long Island City studio.

As a writer, I would have been remiss had I not paid a visit to the Fahrenheit Writer’s Night. The movement’s name is based on a literary reference — there can be no story featuring only protagonists. We need antagonists to provide the conflicts and move the story forward. Richard Allen has been in involved with the Antagonists and Fahrenheit since the

beginning and was filling in as host. I had planned to read a story, but decided to do a piece with a musician friend since it seemed more in sync with the evening. “It comes in waves,” explained Allen. “It was once only writers, poets and other ne’er-do-wells. In the last few years it’s turned into quite a hodgepodge of musicians, even the occasional comedian. Recently, we are in a singer/ songwriter phase.”

One of the most well-known people to have gotten his start on this stage is actor Jonah Hill, Oscar-nominated for “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Moneyball.” On the other hand, as one participant stated on the cable access show, “The best night ever at Fahrenheit, there were three readers and maybe six audience members. These guys just wanted to get up and be heard, say what they wanted to say. And it was a great night.” This dichotomy perfectly describes the Antagonists, who pledge to make art regardless of audience size or commercial success. Minsker’s next project is “Ghost Guns,” an installation that displays the ways that guns move randomly in any direction; it’s dedicated to the friends he has lost. As per the manifesto, “An antagonist is not only one who opposes, but one who provokes.” As per me, “It’s good to be wrong.” Visit antagovision.com (and access the Public Access Show icon). The Fahrenheit Writer’s Night takes place at 8 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month, at Black and White (86 E. 10th St., btw. Third & Fourth Aves.). To submit art, contact them through Facebook or Instagram. “Self Medicated” is available on Amazon and iTunes.

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Ethan Minsker’s “Ghost Guns” installation has the titular objects moving in unpredictable directions, reflecting the randomness of being targeted and killed. TheVillager.com

Buhmann on Art: Jim Shaw

‘The End is Here’ reveals stunning range and inventiveness

PHOTOS BY MARIS HUTCHINSON

Exhibition view of “Jim Shaw: The End is Here,” at the New Museum through Jan. 10.

BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN For over 30 years, Jim Shaw has worked in painting, sculpture and drawing, as well as all sorts of hybrids in-between. He sources his eclectic imagery from comic books, record covers, conspiracy magazines, and obscure religious iconography (among others) in order to draw an accurate portrait of the American subconscious in its contemporary political, social and spiritual context. His work, which ranges from early airbrush drawings to immersive sculptural installations, is further sparked by his large personal collections of objects that are representative of both consumer desires and counterculture. For Shaw, seemingly mundane artifacts reflect something profound: shifting social and political values that describe how individual Americans are the product of a variety of conflicting forces. Shaw, who emerged in the vibrant Los Angeles art scene of the 1970s after graduating from the acclaimed California Institute of the Arts, has never had a comprehensive museum show in New York until now. Rectifying this oversight, “Jim Shaw: The End is Here” is a major survey that encompasses no less than three entire floors of the New Museum, and succeeds in revealing the stunning range and inventiveness of Shaw’s unique oeuvre. Through Jan. 10 at the New Museum (235 Bowery, at Prince St. btw. Stanton & Rivington Sts.). Open Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun., 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Thurs., 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Open Mon., Dec. 28 & Tues., Dec. 29, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Closed Dec. 25 & Jan. 1. Tickets: $16 general, $14 for seniors, $10 for students (with ID), free for under 18. Pay as you wish Thurs., 7–9 p.m. Call 212-219-1222 or visit newmuseum.org. TheVillager.com

“The End is Here” features objects from Shaw’s personal collection that represent counterculture and consumer desires.

Shaw’s eclectic imagery is drawn from comic books, record covers, conspiracy magazines, and obscure religious iconography. December 24, 2015

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Through a glass darkly

Nemes’ navigation of Auschwitz divides and devastates BY STEVE ERICKSON

T

here’s a shot upon which Hungarian director László Nemes’ Auschwitz-set drama “Son of Saul” could have ended that would make it one of the most tasteless films ever. Thankfully, Nemes is smart enough to let it go on a bit longer and conclude on a deeply disturbing note. “Son of Saul” has been dividing spectators since its Cannes debut last May. (Ushered into the competition despite Nemes being a firsttime filmmaker, it won the Grand Prize.) One acquaintance described it as “aesthetically, historically, and morally reprehensible.” On the other hand, the notoriously grumpy filmmaker Claude Lanzmann — director of “Shoah,” the most acclaimed movie ever made about the Holocaust — has said that it’s the first narrative film on the Holocaust of which he approves. If enough Americans care to see a subtitled Hungarian film and argue about it, it could be 2015’s controversy magnet, a la “American Sniper” or “Zero Dark Thirty.” In Auschwitz in the fall of 1944, Saul Auslander (Géza Rohrig), a Hungarian Jew, is a member of the Sonderkommando. The Sonderkommando are a small group of Jews who work for the Nazis and live apart from the rest of the concentration camp inmates, getting slightly better treatment. His daily rounds of brutalizing work, such as sweeping out crematoria, have made him a zombie. But one day, he springs back to life when he discovers a corpse he takes for his son’s. (The film never definitively answers whether he’s right about this.) He hides the body and searches for a chance to bury it and for a rabbi to perform the Kaddish over the corpse. Saul is usually depicted in closeups or medium shots of his face or neck. The camera rarely ventures very far from him. At times, cinematographer Mátyás Erdély practically seems to have a camera track glued to Rohrig’s body. Nemes got his start working with Béla Tarr, famed for his long-take style, and he’s retained that influence from Tarr. There’s a long strain of thought about the moral implications of aesthetic choices in French film criticism, perhaps best exemplified by critic-turned-filmmaker Luc Moullet’s remark that “morality is a mat-

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December 24, 2015

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Géza Rohrig as a Hungarian Jew assigned to be part of the Sonderkommando at Auschwitz in László Nemes’ “Son of Saul.”

ter of tracking shots” (later repeated by Jean-Luc Godard) and peaking with Jacques Rivette’s attack on Gillo Pontecorvo’s “Kapo.” Since then, it’s been received wisdom for many cinephiles and critics that documentary is the only ethical way to depict the Holocaust. The kinky concentration camp antics of Liliana Cavani’s “The Night Porter” haven’t helped, nor did Roberto Benigni’s dire Auschwitz comedy “Life Is Beautiful.” Nemes is clearly aware of these debates, which have obviously informed his directorial choices. In the press kit, he says he wanted “Son of Saul” to avoid beautiful images and to look like a horror film. I’m not sure he successfully dodged the latter — piles of corpses aren’t so far from George Romero, even in this context. But Erdély shoots with a shallow focus, allowing sound (including a Babel of unsubtitled background noise in many languages) to overpower the image. It’s as if Saul were navigating

around Auschwitz without glasses; the audience shares his myopic POV. Such an approach allows Nemes to suggest all kinds of disturbing material without explicit violence. The narrative is deliberately confusing; all kinds of action, most of which only tangentially involves Saul, is taking place around him. Some critics of “Son of Saul” have compared its style to a video game. To me, that seems really off-base. For one thing, first-person shooter games generally use far more rigid perspectives than Nemes does. For another, so what? Even if it were true, I’m not sure that it’s such a damning criticism. Certainly, it would be ethically dubious for Saul to run around Auschwitz like a player in a first-person shooter game. But he’s prey here, not a predator, and he’s well aware of it. What’s more problematic is Nemes’ flirtation with sentimentality. It would be going too far to say the director is using the Holocaust as a pretext, but what really seems

to be on his mind is Saul’s desire to do right by his son (whether real or imagined) via Jewish ritual. The Jewish-American market is too small — and, probably, too liberal and secular — to have “faith-based” films aimed at it (although the Israeli “Fill the Void,” made by a female Orthodox director and released by Sony Pictures Classics a few years ago might qualify); however, practicing Jews might respond particularly strongly to this film. Even in Auschwitz, Nemes suggests, there are moments of happiness. Fortunately, he does no more than make the suggestion before going back to the film’s regular rhythm of unpleasure, culminating in an emotionally devastating ending. Directed by Lásló Nemes. In Hungarian, Yiddish, and German with English subtitles. Through Jan. 19, at Film Forum (209 W. Houston St., btw. Sixth Ave. & Varick St.) For tickets and info, call 212-727-8110 or visit filmforum.org TheVillager.com

Just Do Art

The holiday holdovers edition BY SCOTT STIFFLER

A WILDER CHRISTMAS

Peccadillo Theater Company’s evening of rarely seen Thornton Wilder one-acts begins with “The Long Christmas Dinner,” which spans 90 years, and listens in on an American family’s annual holiday gathering. Then, “Pullman Car Hiawatha” expands on the eavesdropping theme, as the audience becomes privy to the thoughts and motivations of people of all ages and social standings, brought together as they travel for the holidays, on a train headed to Chicago. A cast of 17 plays multiple parts. Through Jan. 10. Mon. & Wed. at 7 p.m., Thurs.– Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. At Theatre at St. Clement’s (423 W. 46th St., btw. 9th & 10th Aves.). For tickets ($25), visit ThePeccadillo.com or call 866-8114111.

THE IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE: “A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES”

PHOTO BY CAROL ROSEGG

Anna Marie Sell and John Pasha as married couple Harriet and Philip in Thornton Wilder’s “Pullman Car Hiawatha.”

Comfortably (if temporarily) ensconced at Union Square’s DR2 while their longtime Chelsea base gets a major upgrade, it’s no accident that matters of home have been at the heart of recent productions from the Irish Repertory Theatre. “Da” and “The Weir” both explored the siren call of place — and now, as they prepare for a Spring 2016 return to W. 22nd St., the current production proves (in more ways than one) that you can go home again. Adapted and directed by IRT Artistic Director Charlotte Moore, this music-filled revival of the Dylan Thomas classic, “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” is stuffed like a Christmas goose with many of the IRT’s favorite things: ghost stories, colorful families, and near-tearful reflections on disappearing ways of life. Through Jan. 10, at The DR2 Theatre (103 E. 15th St. in Union Square). For performance schedule and tickets ($70), call visit irishrep.org or call 212-727-2737.

PHOTO BY CAROL ROSEGG

L to R: Katie Fabel, Kenneth Quinney Francoeur, John Cullum, Ashley Robinson, Mark Hartman and Jacque Carnahan in “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” at the Irish Repertory Theatre.

AMORE OPERA

The material is tried and true, the venue is new, and the mission — to foster music appreciation at affordable prices — is a song that remains the same, as the Amore Opera marks its seventh season by becoming a staple at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture. Their fully staged and orchestrated production of Giacomo Puccini’s “La Bohème” (through Jan. 3) runs concurrently with Amore Opera Academy’s all-kids production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” (through Jan. 2). At The Sheen Center (18 Bleecker St., at Elizabeth St.). Tickets for “La Bohème” are $40 ($30 for seniors, students, children) and $75 for the New Year’s Eve Gala. Tickets for “Hansel and Grete” are $25. For performance dates and reservations, visit sheencenter.org or call 212-925-2812. Artist info at amoreopera.org. TheVillager.com

COURTESY AMORE OPERA

Musetta and her wiles soon make Marcello succumb, in the Amore Opera production of “La Bohème.” December 24, 2015

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DEADLINE NOTICE Due to the holidays, the deadline for Legal Advertising will be Wednesday, Dec. 30th at 12PM for the Dec. 31st issue. To place your ad, call 718-260-2555. Have a safe & enjoyable holiday! TheVillager.com

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Legal Notices

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Why Pay More? BY TEQUILA MINSKY

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t’s been five years since the VillageCare Rehabilitation and Nursing Center opened on West Houston St. between Varick St. and Sixth Ave. On Dec. 8 the facility’s on-site staff and administration gathered to mark the anniversary. During the brief celebratory remarks, Emma DeVito, president and C.E.O. of Village Care, proudly stated, “We have the best reputation. We’ve gotten a five-star rating for five years.” The center is designed as a place where patients can come for rehabilitative therapy and recovery to prepare them to return home after hospital surgery and other hospital stays. The average stay is from 10 to 20 days. The patients’ average age is in the 70s. Six stories tall with 105 beds, the rehab and nursing center is the first skilled nursing facility to be newly built in Manhattan in more than a half century. The sale of Village Care’s long-serving Village Nursing Home, at Hudson and 12th Sts., in the mid-2000s to a residential developer helped finance the construction of the new facility. “We could see the changes in the healthcare model,” DeVito said. “People need rehabilitation and then go home. “We work closely with the hospital partners,” she added, “and are always at capacity. Eight patients leave every day.” The center serves 1,500 patients per year. The ground-floor rehab room is used to capacity for the needed physical strengthening and rehabilitation that takes place. Amenities include common areas on each floor where patients can socialize with each other and receive visits from friends and family. Wireless communications — including electronic medical records, wireless staff communica-

PHOTOS BY TEQUILA MINSKY

Emma DeVito, president and C.E.O. of VillageCare.

Call noW 646-452-2490

VCRN staff at the healthcare facility’s fifth-anniversary event.

tions and electronic dietary and patient monitoring — support patient care. For the fourth straight year, in 2014

U.S. News and World Report named the VillageCare Rehabilitation and Nursing Center one of the nation’s “Best Nursing Homes.”

To adVerTise all your legals and naMe Changes

SCOOPY’S continued from p. 2

TRUMP, PUTIN, SLAIN JOURNOS: Well, just when you thought this election couldn’t get any crazier — actually, we now expect it to get crazier each week — Donald Trump is now defending Vladimir Putin, saying he has seen no proof that the Russian strongman was behind the assassination of journalists in his country. “Nobody has proven that he’s killed anyone. He’s always denied it,” Trump told ABC’s “This Week,” adding on Fox News, “I think it would be despicable if that took place, but I haven’t seen any evidence that he’s killed anybody in terms of reporters.” However, as the Daily News reported last Sunday, “Several Kremlin critics — including journalists and politicians — have died under

mysterious circumstances throughout Putin’s tenure as president and prime minister, including Paul Khlebnikov, in 2004, Anna Politkovskaya, in 2006, and Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down outside the Kremlin in February 2015. Many international human rights groups have claimed that Putin, or people close to him, were involved in many of the deaths.” Sergei Klebnikov, who interned with The Villager two summers ago — writing some high-readership articles on Chumley’s, Mrs. Green’s and the boozy ZogSports adult league commandeering Lower East Side school playgrounds — is the nephew of the slain Paul Khlebnikov. We asked Sergei, who is currently in college, for his thoughts on this latest Trump flap. He said he’s following the story closely, but that, “for obvious reasons,” he and his family don’t have any comment. TheVillager.com

Pier55 enviro impact not significant: D.E.C. PIER55 continued from p. 1

cludes $17 million from the city for infrastructure — basically, to put in 535 piles to support the new 2.76-acre pier, plus improvements to the park esplanade related to the project. The pier would essentially be its own island off of W. 13th St., accessible from shore by two footbridges. It would be built on a brand-new footprint in the river, north of the former Pier 54. But before construction can begin, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must review and approve the project. The corps told The Villager in a Dec. 15 e-mail that the Trust filed the application for approval this past April, “but at this time the application is still under review.” Another remaining issue is a pending State Supreme Court lawsuit filed this past June by the City Club of New York seeking, among other things, to stop the Trust from proceeding until the park authority conducts a full environmental impact statement, or E.I.S., of the entire 4.5-mile-long riverfront park as it relates to the new pier. The Dec. 7 legal notice of “no significant impact” was based on an environmental assessment form, or E.A.F., a preliminary document filed with the state a year ago. A full E.I.S. would involve a more detailed

A rendering of Pier55, which would rise to seven stories tall at its highest point and would be connected to Manhattan by two foot bridges.

review that could take another year to complete. Assemblymember Deborah Glick is also calling for a full E.I.S. for Pier55. In addition, she wants the Army Corps of Engineers to host a public meeting on the project. But the corps has said it is not authorized to do so. The corps could, however, order an E.I.S. as a condition of its approval. David Paget, the Trust attorney, said last week that the City Club lawsuit was not based on facts.

“You need more than rhetoric,” he said, regarding the legal action. The assessment form was supported by a 300-page technical document that justified the “no impact” finding, Paget said. He also dismissed the lawsuit’s complaint that the Trust accepted the Diller / von Furstenberg gift secretly without public bidding. Paget said bidding is not required for the Trust to accept a gift. Paget also disputed the lawsuit’s contention that the uses proposed for Pier55 violated the law. The

new pier includes an amphitheater, a venue for public performance based on an admission fee. Public recreation and entertainment are permitted park uses and fee-based events are common in the city’s parks, Paget said, citing Randall’s Island and the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Community Board 2 has held two public hearings on the Pier55 project. “We had certain concerns but we were happy with the Trust’s response about establishing a public advisory group for the project,” said Tobi Bergman, C.B. 2 chairperson. “Board members were impressed that there would be a real sharing with the public of the performance areas in the park when there were no performances,” Bergman said. “A gift like this is not coming back if it goes away. We really need public recreation and we need culture. This is a great opportunity,” he added. Adrian Benepe, senior vice president of the nonprofit Trust for Public Land and former commissioner of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, told The Villager last week that he was confident that Pier55 would prevail in court. “There is a long tradition of ticketed events in public parks,” Benepe said, adding that the project “is a great way to combine public recreation and an arts venue.”

Hallelujah! Or maybe not? Jews cleared for heaven RHYMES WITH CRAZY BY LENORE SKENAZY

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ou’d think this would be good news to a Jew like me: The Vatican has declared that my tribe can get into heaven. In a statement just released in honor of the 50th anniversary of the “Nostra Aetate” — itself a high point in Jewish-Christian relations, in that it stated Jews should not be considered “accursed by God” (yay!) — the Vatican has gone one step further. The new document states that, “…it does not in any way follow that the Jews are excluded from God’s salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God.” In other words, Jews are now heaven-eligible — which has me very worried. (How Jewish is that?) You see, until now, I was already a little obsessed by what qualifies a perTheVillager.com

son for a post-life thumbs up or down. And by “a little obsessed” I mean, I worried that if I ate a piece of bacon, did that make me a bad Jew, which then might damn me to hell, even though we don’t really have hell — so maybe even framing the question that way was a sin — meaning I was headed to some sort of miserable afterlife that supposedly doesn’t exist, with or without a devil, pitchfork and lake that burns without giving off any light, etc.? See? So Jewish. And then, when I did something actually unkind — and by “unkind,” I mean screaming at a cabbie who totally deserved it, because he made a righthand turn while I was in the crosswalk, but still, those guys have a hard life and are barely surviving, thanks to Uber — I’d worry, “Well, was that one little blowup the thing that’s actually going to tip the scales? I’ll be standing before St. Peter and he looks at a list of everything I did and it’s, ‘Why did you yell at the poor cabbie? They’re barely surviving, thanks to Uber.’ And he shakes his head like, ‘Sorry, you blew it,’ and then he pushes the little button that opens a trap door in the floor?”

All this while I’m still in the crosswalk, shaking my fist. “Don’t worry about hell!” my husband has told me, over and over. (Am I dishonoring him by writing this?) “We don’t believe in it!” But now...sheesh. All bets are off. I mean — on! That whole Pascal’s wager thing is now in our court: Bet that there is a God and if we’re right, infinite rewards await us if we can just keep it in our pants (metaphorically speaking). But bet that there is no God (or heaven), go rip-roaring wild, and we could be in for a world of pain (and jackals gnawing our intestines) later. That was a wager we Jews didn’t have to worry about. Until now! So how good do we have to be to go upstairs? What is the fine print? Is one “goddammit!” all it takes to rip up our VIP pass? Or do I have to be Bernie Madoff before I worry? Or, to put it a bit more proactively: How can I prove my heaven-worthiness? Jews were already told to live righteously, give generously, dress warmly. (Well, most of us were.) We already knew we’re not supposed to murder,

steal or commit adultery. The real trip wire on that list is, “Thou shalt not covet.” But even if we did covet (come on — who doesn’t? Have you even seen my sister’s house?), it wasn’t like we were immediately disqualified from anything great. Coveting a fantastic house, or less-jiggly thighs, or a job that pays more than freelance journalism, did not mean kissing goodbye to eternal life and harps that, because they are in heaven, must not sound as horrible as I imagine 10 billion amateur harpists must sound. We Jews just knew we were supposed to try to not covet so much. No wonder the goyim drink. (I’m kidding! I’m kidding! St. Peter — it was just one dumb, slightly un-P.C. joke. Come on!) Now I’m a Jew faced with all the worries of a Christian, without even Christmas to ease the pain. Because a Jew celebrating Christmas — I’d hate to think where they’d end up! But I probably will. Skenazy is a keynote speaker and author and founder of the book and blog “Free-Range Kids” December 24, 2015

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From a guitar symphony to ‘campfire’ jams, BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

C

ity Winery is known for great live music, wine and cheese. But on a Sunday afternoon early last month, it was all about acoustic guitars, around 300 of them — and strummers in equal number plucking away at them — for the fourth annual Guitar Mash benefit. About a third of the audience was young children, with the rest adults, including many parents playing guitar side by side along with their kids. Here and there among the crowd could be spotted an occasional mandolin, banjo or ukulele. On stage Mark Stewart, Guitar Mash’s ponytailed and high-energy musical director, and a rotating group of superstar musicians, led the room in twanging and singing along to classic rock songs like Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” Tom Petty’s “Free Falling,” the Grateful Dead’s “Sugaree” and jazzier Afro-inflected fare like Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Soles of Your Shoes” and “You Can Call Me Al.” The musicians included top talents Jerry “The Duke of the Dobro” Douglas, Jackie Green of the Black Crowes, Sonya Kitchell, Bakithi Kumalo, whose bass lines propelled Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album, Binky Griptite, Bill Kirchen, a.k.a. “The Master of the Telecaster,” and sixstring prodigy Brandon Niederauer, who plays Zack in the new “School of Rock” Broadway musical. Lending their local voices to a rousing rendition of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” were members of the Lower Eastside Girls Club. The songs’ guitar chords and lyrics were projected on a screen to the left of the stage, so that everyone could follow along. And the chord charts are kept up on Guitar Mash’s Web site for awhile after each event. The benefit was live-streamed, and people as far away as Brazil, the U.K. and Italy also joined in. Founded three years ago by Rebecca Weller, the nonprofit Guitar Mash creates participatory events for guitarists and music lovers of diverse ages, abilities and backgrounds. Weller, who lived for years in Tribeca, currently resides in Soho. She previously worked on special projects at Lincoln Center, where she co-founded the popular Midsummer Night Swing series, free dance- and music-related events situated around the performing arts center’s fountain. After 9/11, Weller ambitiously tried to start a museum of world culture for children at the World Trade Center. She was in talks with Mexican architect Enrique Norten to design the $25 million project. But in 2005, Weller had just had her third child, and ul-

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December 24, 2015

PHOTOS BY TODD FRANCE

Jamming together at the end of the benefit, from left, Mark Stewart, Jerry Douglas, Binky Griptite, Bill Kirchen, Sonya Kitchell and Jackie Green.

South African musician Bakithi Kumalo, who laid down the famous bass lines on Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album.

timately decided it was too big an undertaking for her at that time. “I ended up putting that nonprofit on hold indefinitely, but Guitar Mash came out of that nonprofit,” she said. Weller grew up in a Flatbush household where folk and classical music were always playing on the radio or the record player. As a young girl, she studied and performed classical piano very seriously, but before high school, had decided she would not pursue a music career. At the same time, she also loved the

popular rock music of her formative years, including The Clash, Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac and Squeeze. “I think Pete Seeger is kind of our unofficial founding father,” she said of Guitar Mash, “really, in his belief that music is a personal connection and also a thing that can change the world. When we did a flash mob last year, our teens played Stephen Stills and Pete Seeger at Columbus Circle. Our teens love the idea that you can use music to effect change on issues that are important to them — it might

be gender identification, it might be immigration, it might be poverty.” Guitar Mash doesn’t run classes, but holds different events throughout the year, with the goal of creating a movement. At one event held in a Soho home, the mashers evoked the atmosphere of an “urban campfire” by playing an image of a flickering blaze on their cell phones. “We want to make it right and intimidation free,” Weller said. “It is a jam — that’s exactly what it is. And we bring in ‘A’-list artists, which just ups it a notch.” The pro musicians get paid a stipend, a few hundred dollars. They play at Guitar Mash, Weller said, “because we’re a nonprofit group and our mission is connecting people through music, and they believe in the mission.” Indeed, more than one of the artists at last month’s benefit mash at City Winery, marveled, “I never saw so many guitars in one place!” As for Stewart, he grew up in a musical family out in the Midwest. He has worked with Paul Simon since 1998 as a guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and music director. On the recent Paul Simon-Sting tour, he worked to meld the two men’s bands together. “He makes everyone incredibly comfortable, but has worked with the highest, highest stars,” Weller noted. GUITAR MASH continued on p. 27 TheVillager.com

nonprofit aims to rekindle public music-making

As a warm-up for singing, the audience hummed while holding sticks in their mouths. It looked a little kooky, but it worked!

Rebecca Weller, the founder of Guitar Mash. GUITAR MASH continued from p. 26

Stewart, who lives in Brooklyn, said Guitar Mash’s ultimate goal is “to connect individuals to their birthright as sound makers — to make music together. We want it to be a ‘fire starter,’” he said. “Folks need to have their own living room ‘campfires’ and sing their songs together. This is important and old community behavior — historic and prehistoric. It’s who we are.” What about karaoke? Isn’t that sort of, well, public music? “Karaoke is the Viagra of community music making,” Stewart scoffed. “Music was always shared in the pubs — public houses — of every age. Karaoke is a modern economically viable response to a basic human need to keep participatory music in public life. I like karaoke, but we are not karaoke. We are an older model. The sound you hear is being made in the room. And everyone gets to be part of that sound.” Stewart doesn’t get paid much to run the mashes, either — again, doing it just for the love of the music. For the meantime, Guitar Mash continues to evolve, but at its own pace. “We just want to grow it carefully and beautifully,” Weller said. TheVillager.com

Helping them keep the organization going is the Guitar Council, which includes, among others, Elyssa Ackerman and her husband Jason Ackerman, the founder of Fresh Direct, and Tony Sosnick, of Anthony men’s skin-care products, all of whom live in Soho. The benefit jam at City Winery included an auction, featuring items like a Fender guitar signed by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a Boho Surf Wax oil-can guitar, two tickets to see Hot Tuna at the Beacon Theater and a silver pendant with a string played by Greg Allman. Among the event’s sponsors was D’Addario, and everyone got a schwag bag, including an electric tuner and a glass bottleneck for playing slide guitar, plus Anthony skin-care products, like hand cream to keep the guitar players’ fingers in good shape. For anyone who lacked a capo to bar their guitar strings for certain songs, there were “capo men” who went around during the event and handed them out. The seven guest artists at the benefit each played a couple of songs with Stewart, then all returned to the stage to jam together for the finale. “We could have had them do two hours each,” Weller said. December 24, 2015

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