The Villager

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

February 16, 2017 • $1.00 Volume 87 • Number 7

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Giving closure, finally, ex-bodega worker is convicted in Patz case BY DENNIS LYNCH

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n Tuesday a jury in Manhattan State Supreme Court found Pedro Hernandez, 56, guilty of kidnapping and murdering Etan Patz when the 6-year-old was on his way to his Soho school bus stop in 1979. The jury took nine days to reach its verdict.

The conviction ends a 38year ordeal for the Patz family and the neighborhood where Etan Patz went missing. The young Patz’s disappearance shot to the national consciousness. The Soho boy became the first missing child to appear on the back of milk cartons around the country as part of a program PATZ continued on p. 6

‘Gansevoort Row’ put on hold as judge stays project pending ruling PHOTO BY BOB KRASNER

BY DENNIS LYNCH

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state judge last Thursday ordered that a developer hold off on work on a large-scale project in the southern end of the Gansevoort Market Historic District until the conclusion of a preservation group’s lawsuit against both the developer and the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commis-

sion for approving the project. Aurora Capital Associates and William Gottlieb Real Estate want to demolish the oneand two-story buildings from 60-68 and 70-74 Gansevoort St. to build multistory commercial buildings that they have dubbed “Gansevoort Row.” They also plan to renovate 50 Gansevoort GANSEVOORT continued on p. 7

Clay ton Patterson, right, conferred the coveted Candy Darling Activism Award — an actual wig worn by Candy Darling — on Sur Rodney Sur at the Acker Awards Sunday night.

Community vibe is alive at annual Acker Awards BY SAR AH FERGUSON

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mmigration and border politics were central themes at this year’s Acker Awards ceremony — an annual event to honor the pioneer rebels of the Downtown arts scene. While most of the nation was home watching the Grammys, a packed crowd gathered at Lorcan Otway’s Theatre 80 St. Mark’s Sunday night to pay tribute to some of our local

countercultural heros — the artists, poets and musicians who’ve made “outstanding contributions in their discipline in defiance of convention, or else served their fellow writers and artists in outstanding ways.” The Acker Awards were created in 2013 by documentarian Clayton Patterson and writer Alan Kaufman, who hosts a parallel awards ceremony in San Francisco. The name comes from novelist Kathy Acker, who

lived both in San Francisco and the East Village, and whose work exemplifies the kind of risk-taking that defines a true “avant-garde artist,” according to Patterson. This year’s New York City event was co-sponsored by The Villager and Overthrow, the boxing gym that took over the former Yippie headquarters at 9 Bleecker St. ACKERS continued on p. 23

Farewell and ‘Flahooley’ to Irwin Corey ............p. 2 ‘Neo-Nazis’ beat up anti-fascists on L.E.S.........p. 5 Behind the 8 Ball in Soho........p. 4

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‘HOWEVER’…A GATHERING: Soviet-era flags and banners were draped across a table, as “The Internationale” and songs from “Flahooley” — Yip Harburg’s short-lived 1951 allegorical musical — were playing over the loud speakers, and a man was wearing a beat-up tuxedo and sloppily knotted string tie. The scene was a gathering last Friday at Greenwich Village Funeral Home, at 199 Bleecker St., for “Professor” Irwin Corey a.k.a. “The World’s Foremost Authority,” who died Mon, Feb. 6, at age 102½. The man wearing the famed comic’s garb was his son, Richard Corey, a musician and figurative painter. On an easel near him was an old black-and-white promo photo from “Flahooley” showing Irwin Corey as the genie Abou Ben Atom. With him in the shot was Elizabeth Logue, who had a brief dancing role as the “Flahooley doll come to life,” in what Richard described as “the most famous flop on Broadway.”

PHOTOS BY SCOOPY

Richard Corey wearing the stand-up comic outfit of his father, Ir win Corey. Nex t to him on the easel is a photo of his dad playing the genie in the 1951 musical “Flahooley.” Even in his old age, his father would sometimes break into song, belting out tunes from the ill-fated production.

The show closed after 40 performances. In the scene, Abou is in the hospital because Macy’s and Gimbels are in an uproar and all the capitalists have been trying to do him in for giving every kid a free Flahooley doll and destroying the market. “It was anti-capitalist, anti-McCarthy,” Richard explained, “the closest Harburg could get to ‘Das Kapital.’” A revival of “Flahooley” was presented at

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Max Vernon

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FOR GROUPS OF 8+, CALL 1.800.BROADWAY X2 THE LYNN REDGRAVE THEATER AT CULTURE PROJECT 45 BLEECKER STREET (AT LAFAYETTE), NYC 2

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Theater for The New City a year or two ago, he noted. As Richard recounted the quirky plot, Barbara Cook came over the loud speaker singing “Come Back Little Genie,” and Richard softly sang along to the lyrics. Asked if Irwin would always wear the string tie like that — with one loop and a long dangling piece — Richard said yes, and then demonstrated how, during his stand-up act, his father would sometimes pluck up the strand and peer at it like a ticker tape, then shout, “My God! We’ve been wiped out!” As for the red Soviet flags and banners, one sporting a portrait Lenin, Richard said his dad was a “died-in-the-wool atheist communist” and huge fan of the revolutionary red. However, he added of his dad, “He tried to join the Communist Party but they blackballed him — they thought he was an anarchist.” The two traveled to the Soviet Union together and visited Lenin’s childhood home. Although Irwin was an

atheist, Rabbi Jill Hausman from the Actors’ Temple spoke at the gathering. “A female rabbi,” Richard stressed. In a humorous anecdote, he recalled how Irwin once accepted the National Book Award for novelist Thomas Pynchon. “Pynchon was a recluse,” he noted. “Thomas Guinzberg, the publisher of Viking Press, and Herb Gardner, a Broadway producer, had the idea to have my dad accept the award. He did his shtick. He said he was ‘honored to accept on behalf of Robert Python,’ and ‘I want to thank acting President Henry Kissinger. …’ ” Also at last Friday’s Bleecker St. gathering was Soho author Larry “Ratso” Sloman, who collaborated on Howard Stern’s two autobiographies, “Private Parts” and “Miss America.” “I knew Irwin when I edited National Lampoon back in the ’80s,” Sloman said. “We used him for some photo SCOOPY’S continued on p. 10

A banner of Lenin that the Coreys got in the Soviet Union. Ir win was a big fan of the early red leader. TheVillager.com

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PHOTOS BY TEQUILA MINSKY

Rallies really all the time Feminist play wright Eve Ensler, top, joined a rally in Washington Square Park last Saturday in suppor t of Planned Parenthood, which faces defunding under the Trump administration. That rally was quickly followed by another one in a different par t of the park suppor ting immigration. Three days later, Ensler was back in Washington Square leading a V-Day “Ar tistic Rising — A Call for Revolutionar y Love� event in defense of women, refugees, immigrants, Muslims, “LGBTQIAGNC people,� African Americans, the indigenous and the poor. TheVillager.com

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Named best weekly newspaper in New York State in 2001, 2004 and 2005 by New York Press Association News Story, First Place, 2015 Editorial Page, First Place, 2015 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

PUBLISHER JENNIFER GOODSTEIN

EDITOR IN CHIEF LINCOLN ANDERSON

ARTS EDITOR SCOTT STIFFLER

CONTRIBUTORS ALBERT AMATEAU IRA BLUTREICH TINA BENITEZ-EVES SARAH FERGUSON BOB KRASNER DENNIS lYNCH TEQUILA MINSKY CLAYTON PATTERSON JEFFERSON SIEGEL SHARON WOOLUMS

ART DIRECTOR MICHAEL SHIREY

PHOTOS BY TEQUILA MINSKY

Volunteers at 8 Ball T V invest their blood, sweat and tears for no compensation — other than knowing they’re providing a totally free and open visual platform for anyone on Ear th to broadcast worldwide.

Tuning into spirit of public-access TV BY DENNIS LYNCH

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ADVERTISING AMANDA TARLEY

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES GAYLE GREENBURG JIM STEELE JULIO TUMBACO

CIRCULATION SALES MNGR. MARVIN ROCK

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The Villager (USPS 578930) ISSN 00426202 is published every week by NYC Community Media LLC, One Metrotech North, 10th fl oor Brooklyn, NY 11201 (212) 229-1890. Periodicals Postage paid at New York, N.Y. Annual subscription by mail in Manhattan and Brooklyn $29 ($35 elsewhere). Single copy price at offi ce and newsstands is $1. The entire contents of newspaper, including advertising, are copyrighted and no part may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher - © 2017 NYC Community Media LLC. PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERROR

The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for others errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue. Published by NYC Community Media, LLC One Metrotech North 10th floor Brooklyn, NY 11201 Phone: (718) 260-2500 • Fax: (212) 229-2790 On-line: www.thevillager.com E-mail: news@thevillager.com © 2017 NYC Community Media, LLC

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Soho-based nonprofit has launched an entirely independent online television station and its looking for your content to fill the airwaves. The new station, 8 Ball TV, is a totally open platform for all kinds of content that hearkens back to public-access cable TV stations of the past. It operates with a simple philosophy — “no censorship, no prejudice, no hierarchy, no advertisements, no limits.” “The idea is to have a voice that comes truly from the people, to have a space to show their work and watch other people’s work without boundaries, like most online TV has,” Lele Saveri, 8 Ball Community Inc. co-founder, said. “We want to give people a space exactly like public access, in that anyone can go there and speak their mind publicly online.” The all-volunteer 8 Ball TV team built the platform entirely in-house and from the ground up. It started as an app that tapped into a YouTube channel. However, that forced them to show YouTube ads along with their videos. So, instead, they built a straightforward Web site and program to host the videos. That format reduces 8 Ball’s reliance on outside resources and frees them from service terms or censorship policies of those outside platforms, giving the team complete creative control over what they broadcast. They’re free to show anything they want, so long as they legally have a right to show it. Content creators retain the right to their videos. The only thing 8 Ball won’t allow is branded or commercial content. So far, they have broadcast some cam-girl

Tommi Kelly demonstrates how to use one of the cameras that 8 Ball T V lends out to budding filmmakers.

pseudo-porn and a video that shows how to skin a whole hog. It’s on late night on Thursdays, if you’re wondering. The porn, that is. They’ve set up the station to run videos based on local time, so content scheduled for 3 p.m. comes on at 3 p.m. local time, no matter where in the world you are. The founders of 8 Ball have carried that D.I.Y. philosophy with all their projects since they first organized to host events at a Brooklyn pool hall in 2012 to help the place boost business. They host a zine fair every year, plus founded the similarly open 8 Ball online radio station in 2014, and host film screenings, talks, workshops and other events. 8 Ball TV operates just like a traditional

TV station — with a schedule, no fast-forwarding, and no on-demand viewing. You can’t surf through stations or video categories, so whatever’s on is on. The only way to choose what you watch is to choose when you watch. It may seem restrictive at first, but it feels more laidback than surfing Netflix or cable, because you don’t have to make any decisions. Volunteer Emerson Rosenthal recalled that the seemingly billions of stations that came with the advent of the cable box have never really satisfied many viewers. Even with all those stations, and now Netflix, YouTube and countless other online content portals, it can still seem like there’s nothing to watch, he said. “For a time, it made it a lot harder to watch because you all of a sudden had this matrix of available TV content,” Rosenthal said. “That’s what online streaming sites are now faced with — where you want a little bit of structure instead of swimming through the red tides of Netflix for an hour and a half before you settle on something to watch. What we’re saying is there is something to watch.” They want student films, art films, independent series, talk shows, documentaries. Anything and everything is fair game, so long as it’s at least 15 minutes long or can be compiled into at least 15 minutes. They have equipment and a simple studio setup for folks who lack them, so even people without any real experience are invited to get involved. A lot of the content currently on 8 Ball is art or focused on art, but Saveri said that’s not at all a requirement. “We are contacting people to do howTV continued on p. 20 TheVillager.com

POLICE BLOTTER ‘Neo-Nazis’ in L.E.S. According to the New York Post, about a half-dozen men described by police as “neo-Nazis” beat up twin brothers, 27, and slashed one of them with a knife outside Clockwork Bar, at 21 Essex St., at 12:30 a.m. Saturday, after taking offense at an “anti-fascist” group’s sticker on one of their cell phones. The thugs — some wielding brass knuckles — all sported matching vests with “211 Crew” patches, a white supremacy gang, police said. Its members reportedly organize the annual New York City Oi! Fest, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has dubbed “hate music.” The Post reported that undercover cops driving by spotted the two bloodied men — both Columbia graduate students — trying to call 911 and asked what was going on. The victims ID’d one suspect lingering at the scene. John Young, 29, was charged with assault, grand larceny, menacing, criminal mischief and weapon possession, cops said. The twins suffered cuts and bruises, and required staples to close head wounds. Tuesday, Clockwork Bar released a statement: “Clockwork Bar would like

to express its concern for the victims of the attacks on Feb. 11 on Essex and Hester streets. Our hearts go out to them. And we pray for a speedy recovery. We would also like to state clearly that Clockwork Bar does NOT endorse, sympathize, nor invite the views and beliefs of Neo-Nazi, supremacist hate groups. These groups and their views are not welcome at our establishment. They have never been, nor will ever be invited or allowed in our bar. We apologize for what happened and are taking steps to prevent future instances as well as working with the NYPD to increase awareness and security for our patrons. Furthermore, it is fundamental to Clockwork Bar, its ownership and staff that we are not a Neo-Nazi, white supremacist or hate group association establishment. Clockwork is about music, friendship and good times. Anything else is hereby prohibited.”

Sexual stealing Police said that on Sun., Feb. 12, around 4:40 a.m., a male employee, 63, was inside Xcellent DVD, a porn shop at 515 Sixth Ave., when three males entered. One stabbed the worker in his left side before removing the cash register containing an undetermined

amount of cash. The trio fled west on W. 13th St. toward Seventh Ave. The victim was removed to Bellevue Hospital where he was treated and released. According to the New York Post, police later found the cash register’s drawer in a trash pile on W. 13th St. Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department’s Crime Stoppers Hotline, at 800-577-TIPS, or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted on the Crime Stoppers Web site, www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting to 274637 (CRIMES) and then entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.

Excuse didn’t cut it Police said that on Wed., Feb. 8, at 12:15 p.m. at 12 W. 14th St., a man brandished a knife at a 42-year-old woman, and made verbal threats, putting her in fear of her life. However, in his defense, the guy told cops, “She displayed a knife first.” The man, Toryv Marone, 30, was arrested for misdemeanor menacing.

Smash mouth A 26-year-old man was punched in the face by another man on the southwest corner of Hudson and Horatio Sts., on Fri., Feb. 10, at 9:50 p.m. The

victim suffered a cut to his mouth. Davan Farquaharson, 25, was arrested for misdemeanor assault.

Trespass not forgiven According to police, on Sat., Feb. 11, at 3:40 a.m., a man was seen trespassing at the Bank of America at 224 W. Fourth St. The suspect was found to be in possession of two stolen credit cards, one forged check and a small amount of pot. Clayton Scott, 23, was arrested for felony criminal possession of a forged instrument.

Police see ‘red’ Police said that on Sat., Feb. 11, at 4:25 p.m., a man was spotted crossing the street against a red light at Grove and Hudson Sts. An officer attempted to arrest the pedestrian, but he reportedly resisted. The man had to be “guided to the ground” in order to be taken into custody. Walter L. Newsome, 39, was charged with misdemeanor resisting arrest. It was not immediately clear why police felt they had to arrest him for the minor offense of crossing against the light.

Tabia Robinson and Lincoln Anderson

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Call 844-4MD-APPT (844-463-2778) to request your same-day appointment. Find more information at www.mountsinai.org/sameday.

If you call before 2 pm, we’ll offer you an appointment that day. For calls after 2 pm, we’ll offer an appointment for the next day. We’ll do our best to accommodate your insurance and medical condition. See www.mountsinai.org/sameday for further considerations.

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Former bodega worker convicted in Patz killing PATZ continued from p. 1

initiated by the National Child Safety Council. Hernandez was an 18-year-old clerk at a bogeda near Patz’s bus stop at the time of the child’s disappearance. Not long after Patz vanished, Hernandez confessed privately to his church group and family members that he had killed a boy. In 2012, federal authorities dug up a basement at Prince and Wooster Sts. looking for clues in the missing-child mystery. The renewed attention on the case caused a brother-in-law of Hernandez’s to tip off police in New Jersey — where they both lived — that Hernandez had previously mentioned killing a boy. After being grilled by police for more than six hours, Hernandez confessed to authorities that he had lured the boy into a basement of the store at the corner of W. Broadway and Prince St. with the promise of a soda. He said he then strangled him — though not to death — and put him in a plastic bag and a box, which he then tossed in a nearby alley on Thompson St. Patz’s body was never found. Hernandez was convicted of first-degree kidnapping and second-degree murder, which carry sentences of between 12 to 15 years and 20 to 40 years, respectively. He will be sentenced Feb. 28. In a statement on Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. said he hoped the verdict brought the Patz family

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COURTESY MANHATTAN D.A.’S OFFICE

A confession written by Pedro Hernandez that was entered into evidence in cour t. “the closure they so desperately deserve.” to find his killer, this case will no longer “Thanks to all of those who never for- be remembered as one of the city’s oldgot about Etan or relented in their efforts est and most painful unsolved crimes,”

Vance said. This past fall, after participating in a rally to save the Elizabeth St. Garden, Etan’s father, Stan Patz, told The Villager he firmly believed Hernandez had killed his son almost 40 years ago. In an e-mail response to The Villager Tuesday evening, he said, “Thanks for writing. We are glad we finally got a conviction.” Following the conviction, speaking to the media at the court, Stan Patz said, “We’ve finally found some measure of justice for our wonderful little boy. I am truly relieved, and I’ll tell you, it’s about time. It’s about time.” The trial was a retrial of the district attorney’s first case against Hernandez for Etan’s disappearance that ended in 2015 in a hung jury. Eleven of 12 jurors voted guilty after 18 days of deliberations. During both trials, Hernandez’s defense team argued that he has diminished mental capacity and is mentally ill. He concocted elaborate stories in his head and couldn’t distinguish between fantasy and reality, his attorneys said. Hernandez had tearfully confessed to killing a young boy in a private prayer group meeting during a church retreat the same year that Patz went missing. A fellow churchgoer told the jury late last year that he remembered “exactly the words that Pedro said,” according to the New York Post. PATZ continued on p. 14

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‘Gansevoort Row’ on hold as judge stays project GANSEVOORT continued from p. 1

St. at the corner of Greenwich St., but that project is not included in the suit. Now that will all have to wait until at least after the next hearing on March 8, when lawyers from both sides will argue their cases and present expert witnesses. The judge may make a decision in the weeks after that hearing, although the suit could drag on longer. The preservation group Save Gansevoort is behind the suit and wants the judge to “annul, vacate and reverse” L.P.C.’s June 2016 decision that gave the developers the green light. The group’s legal petition argued that allowing the project to go forward would destroy the Meat Market district’s historic character and resign it “to the status of a neighborhood that includes a hodgepodge of buildings of different scale.” Michael Hiller, Save Gansevoort’s attorney, said he has three prominent witnesses, including Jay Shockley, who in 2003 wrote the roughly 140-page Gansevoort Market Historic District report for L.P.C. The report forms the basis for the area’s landmarking and meticulously breaks down the history and significance of each building in the district. The buildings in question date from and just after 1938 “during the last major phase of development of the district,” when a bank foreclosed on 60-74 Gansevoort St., according to Schockley’s

report. Back then, the new owners essentially chopped off the top floors of the tenement buildings there and converted the remaining one- and two-story buildings for wholesale, market and depot space. The current developers argue that their proposed buildings restore that pre-1938 multistory character to the block. L.P.C. signed off on the design for an 82-foottall building and a 62-foot-tall building at the sites. Hiller called the developers’ argument “laughable.” He noted that while the Meat Market area experienced four periods of change over a 175-year period, the “snapshot” of history that L.P.C. intended to preserve with its 2003 designation was “the period of rapid market industrialization in the first half of the 20th century,” not the tenement period before that. “The relevance of the tenement buildings was that they were replaced and retrofitted as market buildings rather than demolished,” Hiller explained. Shockley noted in his designation report that the building at 60-68 Gansevoort St., which “has significant fabric reflecting its 1940 alteration, contributes to the historically-mixed architectural character and varied uses — including market-related functions — of the Gansevoort Market Historic District…[and] further contributes to the visual cohesion of the district through its brick and stone facade and metal canopy.”

He deemed 70-74 Gansevoort St. as not being architecturally significant. However, Hiller said that does not preclude that structure from being historically significant. L.P.C. approved the Aurora and William Gottlieb projects at each address with an 8-to-2 vote. The commission appeared to disagree somewhat with Hiller’s assessment. In a document following its approval, the commission noted that, “while the low-scale of this portion of the block is reflective of the third phase of district development, this block contains buildings which do not contribute to the character of the historic district, specifically the building at 70-74 Gansevoort Street.” The commission also noted that the district already has some buildings at the scale of the proposed new buildings, and that to minimize visual impact, the project’s taller buildings were located away from the crucial intersection of Gansevoort and Little West 12th Sts. and Ninth Ave. Zack Winestine, a leading member of Save Gansevoort, said he feels L.P.C. has become “increasingly loose and sloppy” in implementing the standards in its historic district designation reports. He worried that the Gansevoort St. development plan would pave the way for more projects like it in the historic district. He wants to set the opposite precedent with a win in court.

“Our hope is that, if we win, it will send a very strong signal,” he said. “The fact that there’s this degree of opposition and that we’ve been able to mount a serious legal case will hopefully send a message to Landmarks that they need to be more careful about making decisions that can’t be justified under the designation report.” The development project isn’t popular with local politicians or Community Board 2. The community board unanimously voted down an earlier, more drastic redevelopment plan in 2015. Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, state Senator Brad Hoylman, Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Borough President Gale Brewer and Councilmember Corey Johnson have all opposed the development. The development team behind the project is also behind the troubled 9-19 Ninth Ave. project less than a block away from Gansevoort St. That project was marred by the death of a construction worker in 2015 when a trench caved in, and issues with the Department of Buildings, which said the new building was too big and, as a result, may not get a certificate of occupancy. The next hearing on the Gansevoort Row project will be at Manhattan State Supreme Court, at 60 Centre St., between Worth and Pearl Sts., Room 345, Wed., March 8, at 2:15 p.m.

COMING IN SEPTEMBER OF 2017

Manhattan. 2 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10011 A new day care center for children ages two to five will open its door for 2017/2018 school year. The TheVillager.com

center will be offering enhanced academic programs, dance/ movement, languages, sports, and art classes. The specific disciplines will be finalized based on the enrollment and the selection made

by the parents. For information and application please contact our Main office at 212-938-1223 ext. 112 vborsen@lifeadjustmentcenter.com

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FEBRUARY IS NATIONAL CHILDREN’S DENTAL HEALTH MONTH

From school pictures to hundreds of family photos and thousands of selfies, children’s smiles brighten our lives. Let’s give them healthy smiles that will shine for a lifetime. Good dental habits start at a young age and continue as children grow with: • Regular dental checkups (2x a year) • Brushing and flossing (at least 2x a day) • A healthy diet with fruits and vegetables

Fidelis Care covers preventive and routine dental care for kids! -0+,30: ÄKLSPZJHYL VYN (1-888-343-3547)

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TTY: 1-800-421-1220

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N AT I O N A L C H I L D R E N ’ S D E N TA L H E A LT H M O N T H

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ental braces have been used for decades to correct various alignment and spacing issues in the teeth. Braces can be crucial to the future of one’s oral health and prevent serious issues down the line. Roughly 25 percent of the people in North America who get braces are adults. But braces still are geared toward young people and getting them on the road to straight and properly aligned teeth early on. Braces correct a number of problems, including realigning the jaw and alleviating overcrowding of teeth. Crooked teeth can trap food and debris between them, making it harder to floss and brush. Wearing braces also corrects the bite. If teeth or jaws are not aligned correctly, it can lead to difficulty chewing food or create jaw muscle pain. Braces also may boost self-confidence because they can remedy

GXi\ekj j_flc[ jg\Xb kf X [\ek`jk fi dXb\ Xe Xggf`ekd\ek n`k_ Xe fi$ k_f[fek`jk kf \mXclXk\ k_\`i Z_`c[i\eËj ki\Xkd\ek e\\[j% appearance issues that may prove embarrassing. Parents eager to get their children on the road to straighter teeth may wonder when is the right time to get their kids braces. Many kids are getting braces earlier and earlier, but when to get braces typically depends on the child and the shape of his

or her teeth. The American Association of Orthodontics recommends that children see an orthodontist for an evaluation by age 7. The best time for braces will be when the orthodontist and parents collectively decide it’s time to correct the misalignment of a child’s teeth.

Some orthodontists prefer a two-stage approach to orthodontic treatment. They may use a dental appliance or a preliminary amount of braces to begin moving the teeth while a child still has most of his primary teeth. The second stage begins when all the permanent teeth are in. The thought is to shorten the overall duration of treatment. Other orthodontists follow the traditional approach of putting on braces once all the primary teeth have fallen out. This occurs between ages 9 and 14. This is often a less expensive approach because braces need only be applied and removed once. A number of studies have shown that, for common problems alleviated with orthodontic work, youngsters are better off waiting until all of their permanent teeth have come in. Antonio Secchi, a pro-

fessor of orthodontics at the University of Pennsylvania, notes that if parents choose to treat crooked teeth too early, the child may need another phase of intervention a few years down the road. Some problems, like crossbites, overbites, or severe overcrowding, warrant early intervention. Scheduling an orthodontic visit early on means children can get the care they need when they need it. The orthodontist will be able to monitor how teeth are growing in and map out the best treatment plan for all. Braces can help fix an imperfect smile and alleviate oral health concerns. Parents should speak to a dentist or make an appointment with an orthodontist to evaluate their children’s treatment needs. Severity of overcrowding as well as bite issues will dictate when a child should get braces.

?\cg b`[j ]\\c Zfd]fikXYc\ Xk k_\`i [\ekXc m`j`kj R outine dental examinations and cleanings are an important component of oral healthcare for both children and adults. However, many children do not visit the dentist until well after the time recommended by medical and dental professionals. Parents may be unaware of the dental health timeline, or they could be reluctant to bring their children for fear of how their kids will behave — especially if parents are harboring their own apprehensions about the dentist. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends that a child go to the dentist by age 1, or within six months of the eruption of his or her first tooth. Yet, according to a survey commissioned by Delta Dental Plans, the average age of a child’s first dental visit is 2.6 years. Parents worried about how their kids will respond to the dentist can take the following steps to acclimate kids to dental visits to make them more

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GXi\ekj ZXe _\cg Z_`c[i\e Y\ dfi\ Zfd]fikXYc\ n`k_ ^f`e^ kf k_\ [\ek`jk% comfortable during their appointments: Be a positive role model. Children frequently learn by example. If they see their parents being diligent about dental care, they’re more likely to embrace proper oral hygiene. Bring children to your own dental appointments so they understand the process

and become familiar with the type of equipment used. Stick to the first-tooth milestone. Take your child to the dentist on or about when his or her first tooth erupts. Early dental visits will get kids used to going to the dentist and prevent minor problems that may lead to more complex dental issues.

Read books about the dentist and role play. Information can allay kids’ fears about the dentist. Read books together about dental visits and act out possible scenarios with your kids. Give kids toy dental health tools and have them practice exams on you and vice-versa. Be supportive and in-

still trust. Avoid telling your child that everything will be okay. If a procedure is needed, this could affect his or her trust in you and make the dental office an even greater source of anxiety. Simply be supportive and offer a hand to squeeze or a hug if your child needs you. Consider using your dentist. Some parents like to take their children to a pediatric dentist, but it may not always be necessary. Many family practices cater to patients of all ages, and the familiarity of the office may help make children feel more comfortable. Speak with your dentist about the ages they see. Steer clear of negative words. Dr. Michael J. Hanna, a national spokesperson for the Academy, suggests using positive phrases like “clean, strong, healthy teeth” to make the visit seem fun and positive rather than scary and alarming. Let the office staff come up with its own words to describe processes that won’t seem too frightening. Februar y 16, 2017

9

Scoopy’s Notebook SCOOPY’S continued from p. 2

funnies. … He spanned a generation, influencing guys like Robin Williams. Irwin was also intensely political — he was blackballed. He paid the price. He stayed true. He was a beautiful, loving guy.” (On a local note, Sloman said he supports a tony Italian restaurant by Da Silvano’s former manager taking over the Prince St. space formerly home to Milady’s bar, which has sat empty for three years now. “Everybody in the neighborhood wants a restaurant there. They don’t want another chain store,” he said. “Sean Sweeney is against it,” he said of the Soho Alliance director. We’ll have more on that one later. …) James Drougas, owner of Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Books, on Car-

10

Februar y 16, 2017

mine St., was also at the Irwin Corey gathering. He said there will be a memorial at the Actors’ Temple at a future date. Drougas said Corey, with the help of his son and health aide, had been managing at home O.K. using a walker and spending most of his time in his electric lounge chair. He had lost most of his hearing — so people used a white board to communicate with him — but his mind was still sharp. But then he fell and was disoriented, and spent two weeks in the hospital. He then returned home for one last week before he died. A few weeks ago, Drougas noted, Cuban officials came to Corey’s home on Sniffen Court in Murray Hill to present him with the Amistad Award. “Amistad” means “friendship” in Spanish, and Corey was a big friend to the communist island nation. “They gave a lot of money and medical supplies to Castro,” Drougas noted. “It was one of the things you were allowed to send to Cuba.” Corey’s late wife, Fran, was an even more hardcore Communist Party member than he was, he added. Drougas recalled big Friday night dinners and Passover Seders — actress Susan Sarandon was a frequent guest — at Corey’s place. “Larry Storch was there for his 102nd birthday,” he said of the Corporal Agarn of “F Troop” actor. As for why the gathering was held at Greenwich Village Funeral Home on Bleecker St., Drougas said, “That’s where Fran had her cremation. I guess they always had this bohemian quality to them. Irwin got started at the Village Vanguard. And it’s easy to see that the Village is culturally and ideologically much more of the Corey family than anywhere else. Peter DeLuca is a big fan, by the way,” he added of the funeral home’s director. Irwin will be cremated, too. Fran’s ashes had just been sitting in a bag on a shelf at home, and DeLuca reportedly gave two free cremation boxes for the couple — a $1,000 value.

CREDIT

Fran and Ir win Corey.

What about Professor Corey’s prodigious pot smoking, which we had always heard about from his pal and fellow stand-up comedian Randy Credico? “He attributes his longevity to that,” Drougas said. “He was a big smoker — I couldn’t keep up with him. I’d sometimes be a little nervous about going up there because I couldn’t handle it. They had some primo stuff. He was a big advocate.” The potent pot also might have helped alleviate some of the pain he suffered — the comic had shingles in his legs for the last 20 years. But it might not have been able to relieve another, far yuuger pain… . Sadly, like some other seniors we know, Corey reportedly began to go downhill after Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton. “His health started failing after Trump won the election,” Drougas said.

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11

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Extreme vetting, for Trump!

THE

VILLAGER

To The Editor: Re “The TRUMP Act: Make candidates’ taxes public� (talking point, by Brad Hoylman, Feb. 2): We need full vetting for presidential and vice presidential candidates, including their income taxes and psychological and physical evaluations by an impartial team of doctors. Stephen Katz

Don’t miss a single issue!

Veteran leadership To The Editor: Re “Convinced now?� (Scoopy’s Notebook, Feb. 2): In these dark days of challenge to American democracy, we need experienced leadership to move the progressive-action agenda within our party — and at the community level, a new hospital. I am glad to hear that Arthur Schwartz will fully recover. I have had one stent in my left descending artery since August 2013. So far, so good. I hope to see Arthur leading our Lower Manhattan chapter meeting of the Progressive Action Network, Mon., Feb. 13. We need you. Gil Horowitz

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

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It’s a closed book: St. Mark’s Bookshop is going out of business

BY COLIN MIXSON

current talks with investors will result in a eloved literary haven store emerging new bookfrom the ashSt. Mark’s Bookstore es of St. Mark’s, albeit, with a new name, new operators stage of its terminal mon- and none of the debt. ey woes, and the proverbial “We’re basically going out book will soon close on Man- of business at this point,� hattan’s oldest independent said Contant. “There may be bookshop. a continuation of a bookstore But owner Bob Contant is still clinging to hope that ST. MARK’S continued on p. 14

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Squadron slam s Senate for refusing to consider the Elevator Safety Act

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To The Editor: Re “D’Agnammit!� (letters, Feb. 2): Update: After I sent my letter to The Villager about D’Agostino and the delay with processing my application for the senior discount, I sent it to the store via their Web site. I heard back right away from Nancy D’Agostino, who apologized for my not getting the discount. She told me she had instructed store managers to give seniors the discount even if our applications had not yet been processed. (I can only guess the Bethune St. store did not recall that message.) Better yet, she graciously sent me a $20 gift card to make up for the problem. So, good ending. Good customer service. Pays to complain. D’Ag’s prices are high but they were open in the snowstorm and the workers are friendly. Of course it would be preferable if we had more options in the

far West Village. Kate Walter

T.A., you have no say! To The Editor: Listen up, Transportation Alternatives. Until you get your law-breaking — wrong way in bike lanes, running lights — rogue bikers under control, you have no say on 14th St. Until you pressure Citi Bike to get their members and customers to follow the rules — no bikes in parks or on sidewalks — you have no say on 14th St. Until you admit that protected bike lanes force pedestrians into the middle of the road, you have no say on 14th St. You claim to advocate for pedestrian safety. Put your money where your mouth is: Every curb and gutter in every borough needs repair. Get your mayor to allocate 10 percent of the bike lane budget for repairing them. Maybe then you’ll have earned some street cred to comment on 14th St. Noreen Shipman E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-2292790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 1 MetroTech North, 10th fl oor, Brooklyn, 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.

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Resisting The Donald and the ‘dream deferred’

TALKING POINT BY CHRISTOPHER MARTE

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rowing up in the Lower East Side, I went to school and sat side by side with children of immigrants from all across the globe. We didn’t think about living the American Dream. We were too young to recognize the sacrifices and obstacles our parents made and overcame. We were just children of people who had been welcomed into a country that had welcomed immigrants since its founding. But children today do not get to enjoy this same naiveté. They see the stories of their parents portrayed as alien, the travels of their families called illegal, and they listen to a president who wants to force their parents back to the dangers they fled in their countries of origin. My parents followed in the footsteps of millions who came before them when they arrived in Lower Manhattan, looking to live the American Dream. But today that well-worn trail has been severed with a roadblock. It is inhumane to judge

Christopher Mar te.

somebody based on where they are from, and it defies the core values of our country. And this is why I do not believe this barricade of bigotry is insurmountable. New York has always been the starting line. It was the starting line for our coun-

try as the nation’s first capital. It was the starting line for the Dutch before there even was a nation. Since then, the Irish workers, the Jewish families, the Chinese storeowners and countless other immigrant groups have created one of the most cherished and beautiful corners of our city in Lower Manhattan. This neighborhood should not fade away as a vestigial limb of our national body. Rather, as anyone who has walked the streets of Chinatown, or visited a bodega in the Lower East Side, or stood in awe of the towers in the Financial District can tell you, this community is a beacon of openness in a country that is increasingly closed off. But if you listen to our president, he has told us that these open borders, these immigrant communities are toxic to our nation. He has rejected the truth we know: the truth that without immigrants, there is no nation. He has told us there is a difference between us and them, between citizens and immigrants, legals and illegals. But just in the past few weeks since the inauguration, we are proving him wrong. We marched in the streets as an entire gender’s rights were threatened. We chanted in the park as an entire religion was called dangerous. And we rallied at the airport as our borders were closed off to entire countries. I stand with my fellow New Yorkers in

supporting our rights to organize at the airport, in the park, in the streets and in the courtroom. I stand with my fellow New Yorkers in remembrance of the immigrants who built our district, our city and our country. And I stand in acknowledgment of the millions that continue to do so. In these times of uncertainty, we can turn to the struggles of our forefathers. The words of the poet Langston Hughes remind us of the “dream deferred,” the exclusionary and contradictory nature of the American Dream in the 1950s. We will not regress to this narrow-minded vision of what it means to be American. We will maintain our energy, our perseverance, our resistance. We cannot let 200 years of progress be cut down in a few weeks or months. This battle may last four years and we need to hold ourselves accountable — staying alert, informed and ready to protect the values and principles of this land that we call home. Marte is a Democratic candidate for City Council in Lower Manhattan’s First District

Oh say can you see something but say nothing? RHYMES WITH CRAZY BY LENORE SKENAZY

I

f you see something, say something. That campaign, launched in New York after 9/11 and rolled out nationally in 2010, suggests that anyone and anything we see could be out to get us, so our job is to immediately alert the authorities. What a wonderful way to turn kind, caring citizens into paranoid busybodies who don’t even actually help each other. All they do is call 911 and smile smugly. “People are submitting thousands and thousands of tips a day,” says Joshua Reeves, author of “Citizen Spies: The Long Rise of America’s Surveillance Society” (NYU Press). He has examined these tips, including gems like, “Someone is standing next to a water fountain, checking their wristwatch.” And, “I saw a suspicious person watching her daughter on the playground.” As a result of being asked to err on the side of extreme caution, says Reeves, “There’s this sort of extended paranoia throughout the culture that everything is a potential signifier or terrorism or crime.” TheVillager.com

Consider this sign I saw on New Jersey Transit last week. It began with the usual, “If you see something, say something,” but added, “If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.” Ah, but what if you have been primed by years of going through airport security, being forced to ditch your 4 fluid ounces of Head & Shoulders in case it is a bomb? At some point, our common sense gets corrupted and even the most innocent items and activities don’t “feel right” anymore. And so we turn to the authorities. In turn, the authorities just keep getting more…authority. You see something like this happening at schools, with kids being told to report any possible bullying to the adults in charge; and on college campuses, where the same goes for students encountering the slights known as “microaggressions.” Of course, no one wants real harassment going unchecked. But young people are being taught they are not competent to examine or solve interpersonal problems on their own. To Reeves (and now me), this is the one-two punch of the problem: Not just that we overreact to innocent “triggers,” but that we are told to outsource the solution. Two examples: On the subway, there are signs that say (I’m quoting from memory): “If you see a sick passenger, do not attempt to help them yourself. Alert

an M.T.A. employee or the police.” So we’re not supposed to exercise basic compassion? Only the authorities are qualified to help another human? Example No. 2: We have also been told to dial 911 if we see a child waiting in a car. This makes us believe that a few minutes’ car wait is automatically dangerous, even though most of us remember waiting in the car when we were kids. But once again, our common sense has been curdled by constant warnings of the worst-case scenario — in this case, the rare deaths of kids forgotten in cars for hours. So now, if we’re not seeing terrorists, we’re seeing terrible parents. But here’s the thing. When parents tell me about coming out of Walgreen’s only to find someone dialing 911 and screaming at them for “abandoning” their child,

the screamers don’t seem to recognize that they were watching the child. They could make sure no kidnapping occurred. (An extremely unlikely crime anyway.) They could hang out a few minutes, making sure the parents returned, and then say something like, “Hi! Just watching to make sure you got back soon. Your kid is so cute. Have a great day.” That is what good samaritans do. Opening a Child Protective Services investigation on a mom who dashed in to get some Tylenol is what good samaritans do not do. Yet today’s samaritans are asked to spy on their neighbors and turn them in. Reeves has felt this in his own life. He and his wife have four kids and the oldest, age 7, goes to karate six blocks away. “We would love to be able to send him over there by himself but we won’t do it,” says Reeves. They fear that a citizen pumped with fear and armed with a cell phone could call 911 to report a case of child neglect. Usually, this won’t happen. But if we want to create the kind of place we’d like to live, where onlookers wave to kids and help them cross the street, we have to dial back the culture of dialing up the cops. Asking citizens to assume the worst at all times is making us paranoid. But asking us to involve the authorities is even creepier: It is making us forget how normal and nice it is to be kind. Februar y 16, 2017

13

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Closure in Patz murder PATZ continued from p. 6

“That he took the child, took him to the basement. He grabbed him there, took him by the neck, took a stick and he struck him with the stick several times,” Ramon Rodriquez told the court. “He told me that he had abused the child.” Police first learned of Hernandez’s potential role in the Patz case in 2012 when a brother-in-law tipped them off that he had privately confessed to family members, as well as his church group. He subsequently confessed to police after a lengthy interrogation, but his lawyers argued police coerced him. For years, law enforcement officials and the Patzes believed convicted mo-

lester Jose Ramos was responsible for the 6-year-old’s disappearance. Ramos had a relationship with a woman who walked Patz and other kids home from the bus stop. While serving a 27-year prison sentence for molesting a boy in Pennsylvania, Ramos reportedly told a jailhouse informant he molested and killed Patz. During Hernandez’s first trial, the defense brought Ramos to New York to testify, but he vowed to plead the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. The Patz family sued Ramos for wrongful death and a court found him liable for Etan’s death in 2004. But at the parents’ request, a judge later overturned that judgment, clearing the way for Hernandez to be tried.

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Februar y 16, 2017

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She puts spirit in the stone Artist Lorrie Goulet, on the power of ‘complete immersion’

PHOTO BY DLO SLAUGHTER/WWW.FAITHFOCUSFLASH.NET

PHOTO BY BUDD PHOTOGRAPHY

Lorrie Goulet stands in her W. 20th St. studio with 1952’s “Ear th” (walnut, 36x32x30).

From 1963, Lorrie Goulet at her former studio on W. 21st St., holding an unfinished piece done in alabaster.

BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN

L

orrie Goulet’s New York studio, located in a townhouse in the heart of Chelsea, includes a stunning collection of work spanning seven decades. Set up on pedestals, her many sculptures tell of a life devoted to art. “I was always happy to be in the studio,” she explained, clarifying that it was, and remains, her “favorite place.” In conversation it became increasingly clear that to her, happiness was indeed always rooted in having enough time to work and in maintaining the considerable physical strength needed to tackle her challenging materials — “any kind of stone I could get my hands on,” she explained. TheVillager.com

Though her oeuvre also entails painting, drawing and poetry, Goulet is primarily known as a sculptor, who carved each of her works directly by hand. Born in 1925 in Riverdale, New York, Goulet knew she was an artist early on. Considering that her formative years occurred during a time when women were discouraged from pursuing any profession, let alone art, and when the handful of working female artists could never dream of receiving the same recognition as their male peers, Goulet’s success seems both staggering and inspiring. She did get married (to another artist), raised a daughter, and taught hundreds of art students — but she also, as she

proudly noted, created more than 500 sculptures by hand. Goulet’s story is one of unwavering determination. “I wasn’t interested in any of the things traditionally expected of women like getting married and having several children,” she said. Bolstered by this conviction, she managed to fi nd her unique path, as well as a professional support system. In 1932, at the age of seven, she met Aimee Le Prince Voorhees at The Inwood Pottery Studio, which Voorhees had founded with her husband Harry. There, in the pastoral setting of Inwood Hill without any modern conveniences, Goulet studied with Voorhees for four crucial years, reflecting once that “It was one of my happiest experiences,” and that

she had “never forgotten [her] fi rst teacher.” Even when The Pottery Studio was forced to close by Mayor LaGuardia (protested in the press by the then-11-year-old Goulet) and her family moved to Los Angeles, Goulet still managed to fi nd a way to supplement her regular schooling with a serious art education. In 1940, she apprenticed with local ceramicist Jean Rose. However, it was not until 1943 that Goulet entered art school full time, enrolling at the venerated Black Mountain College in North Carolina. There, she was able to study painting and drawing with Josef Albers, as well as weaving (with Albers’ LORRIE GOULET continued on p. 16 Februar y 16, 2017

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LORRIE GOULET continued from p. 15

wife, Annie). It was at Black Mountain that Goulet also met her future husband, the established sculptor José de Creeft, four decades her senior. A visiting instructor at the time, de Creeft is perhaps best known for his 16-foot “Alice In Wonderland” bronze sculpture in Central Park. The couple was married in the fall of 1944. Two years later, they acquired a farm in Hoosick Falls, New York. Through 1968, they worked part of each year there while raising their daughter, Donna Maria de Creeft. Goulet’s exhibition history dates back to 1948, including several Annual Exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York and an installation at the New York World’s Fair of 1964/1965. From the beginning, it was Goulet’s ambition to create sculptures that would appear timeless and free of specific stylistic tastes. She never belonged to an art movement. In fact, in her sculpture, she always remained committed to one subject: the human figure. However, instead of realistically rendering its physiognomy, Goulet was interested in interpreting it. She was describing its potential, tracing fluid shapes and movements without a sense of weight or density. “I believe that anyone in the world can understand my work,” she said, stating that she wanted to make art for all people from all cultures. “I like the idea that someone in Borneo can access my sculpture as well as someone from my background.” As a direct carver, she would take her material as-is and begin to work without making any preparatory studies or maquettes. “Direct carving is a way of life. It’s a way of seeing things,” Goulet explained. “That’s why I was always so reclusive — because I was concentrated on seeing; it was about complete immersion in my work.” Goulet’s process required an extensive contemplation of the raw material, including its details, such as the grain of the wood or the veins in the stone, as each unique feature would impact the fi nished work. This might explain why alabaster, which possesses a range of rich natural colors and an unusual sense of translucence, counts among one of Goulet’s favorite materials. Each unique characteristic holds an inherent promise of potential. In fact, according to Goulet, “You see the potential when you look at the stone and you start to make forms. Everything begins to take shape and then you see the whole thing and you go towards that goal.” However, rather than superimposing an idea of form onto the raw material, Goulet was always interested in searching for something already hidden inside of it. The female body — its sensuality, fertility, and embedded sense of strength — was a recurrent theme in Goulet’s work. In fact, instead of focusing on individual women or styl-

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COURTESY THE ARTIST

“Aurora in Limestone” (1971; 20x39x10; collection of Lee Hall of Nor thern Michigan University).

ized goddesses, Goulet employed the female figure as an analogy for nature. “It is full, it is blossoming, it is progressive, it is giving; the female figure has all the qualities that I think are so important in sculpture. In fact, when you look at the history of sculpture, you fi nd that artists have always used women. It carries on [in] my feelings about what sculpture should be.” A prolific writer, Goulet’s philosophical and educational writings aid in formulating her vision. One of her past statements, which best sums up her take on the creative process and role of the artist, rings truer than ever when considering the entirety of her oeuvre today: “I believe the source of our art lies on our inner center of being… the core of our awareness. From this center flows our power of creativity, the mystery and magic of our art. I believe that art is the realization of the dynamic energy and order of the universe… as perceived by the individual… as reflected and made whole in the visual images we create.” In addition to her work in the studio, Goulet looks back at decades of teaching. First, at the Museum of Modern Art’s Peoples Center, New York (1957), then at The New School, New York (1961-1975) and the Art Students League of New York (19812004). In fact, between 1964 and 1968, CBS aired 23 segments featuring Goulet’s teachings with demonstrations for children in a program entitled “Around the Corner,” which was sponsored by the New York City Board of Education. Today, Goulet continues her daily practice in the studio. Despite a stroke, which made it impossible for her to continue carving, she has not slowed down much. She now focuses primarily on painting while continuing to write poetry. When speaking with Goulet, one gets the clear impression that for her, it was

COURTESY THE ARTIST

L to R: Goulet’s acr ylic paintings “Unit y” (2011) and “Madonna of the Plains” (1991).

always about making work with as little distractions as possible. “Often my studio door was closed and nobody knew what was going on. It was my peaceful niche.” Luckily for the general public, examples of her work can be found in many major collections, including at The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid. “I was making beauty: beautiful sculpture,” Goulet reflected, adding, “The French philosopher René Descartes wrote that beauty was harmony, unity, and radiance — and I work with these three words. Radiance is the life, the ‘me’ that I put into the stone, and which of course gets lost over time. But the spirit I put in stays.” Visit lorriegoulet.com for artist information.

PHOTO BY DLO SLAUGHTER/ WWW.FAITHFOCUSFLASH.NET

Lorrie Goulet at her Chelsea studio in 2016. In the background: “Equinox” (1993; acr ylic, 84x60). Below is the sculpture “Goddess Of The Sea in Alabaster” (2014; 20x27x12). TheVillager.com

Just Do Art SHOW UP: A SPONTANEOUS COMEDY ABOUT YOU

PHOTO BY MINJI LEE PLAYWRIGHT

Rober t Patrick’s decades-old, disturbingly predictive work gets the multi-media, post-“Matrix” treatment. L to R: Valois Mikens and Agosto Machado.

PHOTO BY ALICIA LEVY

Peter Michael Marino’s “Show Up” recruits the entire audience for the plot of his improvised one-man show.

BY SCOTT STIFFLER

HI-FI | WI-FI | SCI-FI Pity the poor futurist who lives to see his fantastic visions come to pass. More often than not, the sweet distinction of being ahead of the curve comes with a bitter, unpredictable, “Twilight Zone”like twist. Such ironies, both cool and cruel, bounce off every image and obTheVillager.com

ject as you walk through the satisfyingly interactive, genuinely immersive experience that brings finely calibrated, cutting-edge tech to the decades-old, forward-looking work of playwright Robert Patrick. An all-too-rare success story within the realm of multi-media endeavors that bite off more than they can chew only to serve little worth digesting, “Hi-Fi | Wi-Fi |Sci-Fi” is a multi-room presentation of La MaMa’s Culture-

Hub art and technology center. Hub artistic director Billy Clark co-directs alongside Peabody award-winning artist Jason Trucco, with live performances beamed in from Seoul, as guided by Korean director Park II Kyu. Together with a nimble and intense five-member cast appearing live and in the electronic ether, this communal experience (which includes a communion of sorts) is worth the trip — but those perfectly synchronized speakers and screens within the 360degree setting aren’t the only selling point. Beyond the impressive physical presentation are those sparse, cerebral, and, it turns out, disturbingly predictive scenarios of the playwright. From 1968’s time delay courtship kerfuffle “Camera Obscura” to 1981’s “All in The Mind” (which handily beats “The Matrix” when it comes to critiquing the hive mind mentality), to a new world premiere and an endearing stab at crooning from a surprise guest, this triple “Fi” is one blast from the past you’ll be chewing on long into the future — if there is such a thing. Through Feb. 19: Thurs., Fri., Sat. at 8pm, Sun. at 3pm; at The Downstairs at La MaMa (66 E. Fourth St., btw. Bowery & Second Ave.). For tickets ($25, $20 for students/seniors), visit lamama.org or call 212-352-3101.

Last seen by this publication in the basement performance space of Triple Crown Ale House — where his chipper but talent-challenged character Lance soldiered through a oneman show to which a bevy of invited megastars failed to attend — comedy coach (and skilled practitioner) Peter Michael Marino moves one block away and two floors up for his latest endeavor. The PIT Loft is the place to be, as Marino manages to “Show Up” without ever phoning it in. That’s mighty impressive for a guy who recently outed himself as suffering from the sort of social anxiety that makes it far more tempting to stay at home watching documentaries about space aliens rather than taking the stage, looking people in the eye, and engaging them in rapid-fi re conversation. So goes the deceptively simple device that fuels this often silly, occasionally searing, ultimately affectionate send-up of solo theater performances, interpersonal communication, and the bendable nature of truth. At February 2’s show, after the abovementioned schmoozing — during which the audience provided a laundry list of highly personal details — Marino used those quirks to improvise the epic saga of Otto, a Russian/ Mexican lad with a crippling sugar addiction, a scandal-plagued sibling, dreams of big city glory, and a knack for creating fantastic, Wonka-like sweets from household throwaways. All the while, beneath Otto’s sweet but dim monkey mind façade, Marino was in chess master mode: absorbing the many plot points he’d just commissioned, then orchestrating those wildly disparate moving parts toward a logical end (using traits of order and empathy, he noted, that come with his social anxiety). Adding to the absurdity was a second wave of audience participation: random sound cues, and rearranged set pieces every time Otto stopped the action to hydrate. Unlike that hackneyed device familiar to anyone who’s ever suffered through a less-than-stellar solo show, Marino made each sip of water seem like a breath of fresh air. “Show Up” plays Thurs., Feb. 16 & 23 at 8pm, at The PIT Loft (154 W. 29th St., btw. Sixth & Seventh Aves.). For tickets ($15), visit thepit-nyc. com. Aritst info at petermichaelmarino.com. Februar y 16, 2017

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For more news and events happening now visit TheVillager.com

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Getting firmly behind the 8 Ball TV in Soho TV continued from p. 4

to videos, their own shows, cooking shows, news reports every week — nothing to do with art, necessarily,� he said. “We want something truly like a public-access station. A show on chess, for example, is not art in any way, but it’s very interesting. It may be a more artistic crowd in the beginning, but that’s not all we want.� Public-access television stations are the legally mandated stations that cable providers must offer for community use at the local level. They have faded somewhat in the popular consciousness as creators turn to the Internet to share content. Yet for decades public-access TV was the most effective visual outlet and the best resource available to the general public to share content directly with their communities, especially if they had no media experience. Actor Kaci Hamilton, who has never hosted a TV show before, is behind 8 Ball’s first regular in-house studio show. “The Dialectic� is a roundtable show

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for discussing sometimes tough and thought-provoking questions. She got involved with the 8 Ball community on the advice of a friend to get equipment to do the show as a podcast or on 8 Ball radio. But she jumped at the chance to make it a TV show when they offered to help her produce it in that format. The pilot episode asked, “If you don’t or are unwilling to satisfy your partner’s sexual needs and you cheat, is that adultery justified?� It’s perfect for 8 Ball — a discussion you won’t hear on cable TV and one that many people won’t necessarily seek out online, but that 8 Ball’s model will expose them to. Hamilton isn’t aiming for a definitive answer, only a discussion — she just wants to get those unconventional conversations out there, she said. “I think we talk about such superficial fluff all the time,� she said. “But people don’t talk about these kinds of things because they don’t want to offend or get heated about something. I think a lot of current programming filters things based on how we will receive it as an au-

dience. It’s sort of having the food cut up for us when we’re old enough to bite off a piece — just give it to us unfiltered.� Rapper TRock, DJ Flacko and Joe Jeffers have hosted the hip-hop show “D-Lo Radio� on 8 Ball Radio for about a year now, but are eagerly moving over to TV. The music show is an outlet “for people who don’t have access to the market or professional tools,� particularly for folks with developmental disabilities, Jeffers said. They collaborate with the Representing NYC network of artists and educators, and Flacko said he hopes that broadcasting video will build “D-Lo� ’s audience and help him and his co-hosts connect more strongly with their audience. It should help them source fellow artists, too, he said. “People can follow us and know who we are, and then they can come do shows,� he said. “We want to get new talent, people who sing, DJ and produce.� In addition to content-creators, the folks at 8 Ball are looking for anyone

who wants to volunteer their time to make 8 Ball TV better, including coders, video editors and people to help source more content. To send in content, e-mail 8balltelevision@gmail.com and for all other inquiries, e-mail 8ballcommunity@gmail.com.

Arch ’nt yah glad r to be reading youper? community newspa Don’t miss a single issue! r! Subscribe to The Village Call 646-452-2475

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PHOTO BY MARY REINHOLZ

At the N.Y.U. forum on how to cover Trump, Lydia Polgreen, of the Huffington Post, left, and Jacob Weisberg, of Slate.

Top journos talk on yuuge new task: How do you cover Trump? BY MARY REINHOLZ

D

onald Trump’s war against the press recently got some fierce blowback from a group of top journalists meeting onstage at New York University’s Skirball Center auditorium. They had gathered there for a panel discussion, titled “Not The New Normal,” on how to cover the new president in a changing media landscape pockmarked by fake news, disinformation and outright lies, many emanating from the White House, they said. “How do you cover a beast like Trump?” inquired Jay Rosen, press critic and N.Y.U. journalism professor, in his introduction. He contended that Trump had begun his political career attacking the legitimacy of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate and later ascended to the Oval Office, “in part, by turning the press into a hate object” and creating doubt about facts and even scientific findings in a “post -fact” and “post-truth” society. Given the environment, Rosen predicted the press would have a difficult time combating Trump’s varied falsehoods, even if it “publishes Watergatestyle revelations.” His remarks received strong applause from attendees at the sold-out event, many of them N.Y.U. journalism students. It was sponsored by Slate, with proceeds from the sale of the $30 tickets going to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Audience members asked questions, such as

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why colleagues of CNN’s Jim Acosta had failed to stick up for him when he was “blackballed” by Trump at a preinaugural press conference. The question drew loud cheers. CNN’s Brian Stelter served as the moderator for the discussion by four panelists: David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker; Jacob Weisberg, chairperson of the Slate Group and creator / host of “The Trump Podcast”; Borja Echevarria, vice president and editor in chief of Univision; and Lydia Polgreen, the new editor in chief of Huffington Post. Stelter asked Polgreen if Huffington Post considered itself at war with Trump. “We certainly don’t want to be at war with the president of the United States,” she said, adding, however, that Trump seems to “need a bogeyman. He needs someone to point to as the culprit who’s getting away with his trying to make America great again. At one point, it was immigrants; at another point it’s Muslims. I think we’re a very convenient target.” Weisberg observed that the New York real estate mogul-turned-commander in chief has clearly withstood journalistic scrutiny thus far. “It’s a matter of record that Donald Trump is a flim-flam man,” he said. “Just read his autobiography. It tells you that he lies. We have a spectacular amount of information about his life as a businessman and as a politician. But he won! He occupies the Oval Office. So there’s a huge job to be done.”

Weisberg suggested canceling the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. “The idea that, faced with his attacks on how we do our jobs, we’re going to invite this guy to come and mock us in person is just abhorrent,” he said. The panelists also criticized themselves. Polgreen said there has been a erosion of trust, in the media, particularly among “low-information,” working-class Americans who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 but turned to Trump in 2016. For his part, Remnick of The New Yorker enjoined journalists to “buck up! This is the time, like never before, to do your work ferociously and honestly and fearlessly! And as down as you may feel, in so many ways there is wind at your back,” he said. Remnick then spoke about the “hundreds of thousands of people” in the streets of Washington, D.C., for the Women’s March one day after Trump’s inauguration. “They were saying something to that person in the White House. ‘I’m not going to lay [sic] down,’ ” he said. “This is not the election of a conservative as opposed to a liberal or Republican versus a Democrat,” he added. “An authoritarian, demagogic style has come to power. If you’re not energized by that prospect as a journalist, then you should become a certified public accountant.” TheVillager.com

Community vibe is alive at annual Acker Awards ACKERS continued from p. 1

All told about 50 people received awards, so the audience was mostly past and present honorees and their friends. That gives the Ackers a real community feel — something like a high school reunion crossed with an East Village “greatest hits” variety hour. Octogenarian scenester and essayist Anthony Haden-Guest opened the night by honoring “Countess” Alex Zapak, a British performer and “c--- rocker” who used to hold court at the now-defunct Pink Pony on Ludlow St. Some have called her the inspiration for Lady Gaga. But Zapak couldn’t come collect her award in person because she has been barred from entering the U.S. since 2010, when customs officials cited her for overstaying a Canadian visa by 16 days. Zapak was supposed to be banned from the U.S. for five years, but it’s two years beyond that and she still can’t get in, caught up in America’s border-police state. So Haden-Guest accepted her award — a pizza box full of CDs, poems, art and other ephemera donated by the 49 other Acker recipients — in her absence. At least Istvan Kantor was able to make it to the show. Last December, Kantor, who now lives in Toronto, was turned back at the Canadian border by U.S. customs officials, after they discovered a graffitied megaphone and hypodermic needles in his luggage. These were props for the “Neoist conspiracy” performance he planned to stage at the East Village release party for the longawaited compendium he edited called “Rivington School: ’80s New York Underground.” But the U.S. border agents weren’t into his irony; Kantor said they detained him for three hours and grilled him on whether he’d visited any Muslim countries lately. Admittedly, Kantor, a.k.a. Monty Cantsin, has something of a track record, having been arrested numerous times for splattering his blood on the walls of museums — the last was 2014 at the Whitney, when he got busted for defacing a Jeff Koons retrospective. This time Kantor left his needles behind and said he had no border issues. “It was amazing,” he told the audience. “Even the airline captain greeted me and said, ‘Thank you for your art.’” Nevertheless, the fact that two white, non-Muslim artists could face such obstacles — even before Trump’s border clampdown — is troubling. “How can we stop this constantly growing, infectious, control-freaking authority?” Kantor demanded. Aside from that, there was little politics on display, and scant mention of Trump — save for the comments of Lincoln Anderson, The Villager editor in chief, who when receiving his award for “Community Media” recalled the time he interviewed Trump in 2010 at the real estate mogul’s TheVillager.com

PHOTO BY BOB KRASNER

After she received her Acker Award, Felice Rosser of the band Faith obliged the eager crowd with some soulful singing.

ribbon-cutting for his new Trump Soho condo-hotel. “He was the weirdest guy I ever met. He gave me the weirdest interview,” Anderson said, drawing laughter from the crowd. He noted that his item in the Ackers box was a column he wrote about that encounter. Speaking right before Anderson, and inspiring his Trump comment, was another Acker honoree, Eden Brower of Eden and John’s East River String Band. Brower ended her acceptance speech with, “I can’t help saying this whenever I have a mic in front of me — F--Trump!” The other “Community Media” award went to Lucky Lawler of the rock and punk zine NY Waste. It being the Ackers, some of the award categories were quite eclectic. Sur Rodney Sur, who helped launch the East Village art scene with fellow gallerist Gracie Mansion — and who also helped found the Green Oasis community garden — was awarded the Candy Darling Activism Award, for his role in archiving the works of artists who died of AIDS and assisting with their estates. Appropriately, Sur accepted his box while donning a platinum wig that Darling — one of Warhol’s superstars — once sported. Former sex journalist and performance artist Veronica Vera got the award for “Sexual Evolutionary” — for establishing the world’s first crossdressing academy, Miss Vera’s Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls. And boxing coach Carlito Castillo — whose grit and knowledge apparently

inspired the creation of Overthrow Boxing — got the “Art and Science of Boxing” award. Many of those honored have roots in the counterculture of the 1960s. Actor Marilyn Roberts was one of the original La MaMa troupe members. Magie Dominic helped preside over Caffe Cino, considered the birthplace of Off Off Broadway. Photographer and WOW Cafe cofounder Jackie Rudin recalled being drawn to the Lower East Side in 1967, after hearing Bob Fass on WBAI. “I feel very proud. This was my world,” she told the audience. Others were relative newcomers, like Anne Hanavan, a former sex worker turned lead singer of the band Transgendered Jesus. “It’s just so incredible that the years on the streets selling my ass have turned into something good,” Hanavan told the audience. “So it’s proof of art as healing.” Given the range of talent in the house, it’s surprising that the Ackers don’t feature much actual performance. We only got a brief tastes, like when soul rocker Felice Rosser of the band Faith took the stage and belted out a lick worthy of Nina Simone. But it’s the community that comes through, the way everyone’s art and existence seemed to bounce off and inform one another. Rosser recalled working the night shift in the early ’80s at a dive on Second Ave. with fellow Acker recipients Charles Schick and Regina Bartkoff. She remembered how graffiti artist Michael Stewart used to

come through after the Pyramid Club let out. These subtle and not-so-subtle intersections are what the Ackers are about. “The one ambition I’ve had is to try to save as much of the community as possible,” Patterson told the crowd. He sees the Ackers as one way to do that. Recipients don’t get a plaque, but instead a box of artifacts contributed by other recipients. Although the artists themselves often complain about having to supply 40 or more copies of their work to supply the D.I.Y. boxes, Patterson defended the concept. “Over time, you get these collections of stuff and these booklets,” he said, holding up the program. “It’s like building up an encyclopedia of bios — tracing out a family tree. “You start making all these links between all the people, and so it describes the old community. It’s like building this community abstractly, which we were all part of,” Patterson said. The “booklet” Paterson referred to is the annual Ackers “chapbook,” which contains photos and bios of all the honorees, and — as usual — was designed by Michael Shirey, The Villager’s art director. Each box given to the honorees contains a booklet. “I’ve been in the East Village since 1980,” remarked jazz flautist Cheryl Pyle, another Ackers ’17 winner. “I moved here with $100 to play jazz, and this means so much to me. The community is really all the arts, and when we combine we’re much stronger.” Februar y 16, 2017

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