John

What Happens When You Spend Lots of Money at Odessa Bar ?

Help History Repeat Itself . Vote for Mayor Mike Bloomberg a Third Time ...

The Emperor Napoleon Crowns Himself by Jacques-Louis David


Nearly seven score and six years ago President Lincoln closed his address at Gettysburg with these words : ... and that government of the people , by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.

It's up to us folks , not plutocrat Mike Bloomberg and his billions , to see that such governance prevails .

Halloween and Early All Saints Day on Avenue A ...

Gravity defying braids were popular .We saw the Longstocking braids up and down avenue A .Spidey was there thrilling the ladies with his rickshaw acrobatics .Ray's Candy Store was busy all night as were all the bars and clubs . It seemed that everything imaginable disgusting and terrifying was manifest and afoot on the avenue this Halloween night . As is typical there was plenty of Halloween violence too.

There were numerous conflicts in the East and West Villages resulting in beatings , stabbings and shootings . Four males were shot on 7th avenue . We only saw one fight though on the avenue Halloween night .

Two strangers , a male and a female , started arguing in front of Ray's . The argument progressed to blows . The female's male companion attempted to drag her away from her male opponent but blows still landed on both parties before the sparing pair could be permanently separated .The male who had hit the female at least once was not popular with the folks who saw it all .

Saturday in T.S.P. : Spike Returns , Kissy , Black Electrical Tape , Pink iPhone , Dick and Ron , Spidey , Music and More

A Moral Tale From Avenue A : His Mom Was Always Saying ,"Sweetie , Don't Pick at Your Scabs " . He Didn't Listen .They Were Just too Tasty .

Thursday in Times Square

A Spyder , Trotskyist Karl and Fall's Last Roses

Game One at Odessa

Sixth Street

Homeless Again

The Lost , Lost Keys and Something Old Uncovered

Moon and Jupiter

Sunday in Tompkins Square Park : Tricked-Out Pooches , Old Timers , Music , Booty and Blood Wrestlin'

At the Corner of St. Marks Place and Avenue A Spidey Charms the Women as a Fight Brews in the Background

Marlene Returns From Rikers ....

It wasn't just pounding an onion on a door that got Marlene (a.k.a. Hot Dog )some time at Rikers . That's what her friends had told us . Marlene Friday night added to the story : she also hurled a bottle at someone .Whatever , her sentence was 30 days .

Marlene told us that they treated her well after being arrested . She was in the hospital for a week and then arraigned and ultimately pleaded to get her 30 days , 20 of which she actually served .

On the avenue Friday night she found a party hat and with a half pint in hand tried to have a good time . A party didn't happen though and she decided to nap in the infamous wee wee phone (a.k.a. Pee phone ).

Later she bought a Cobra for a buck and was drinking it when the Friday night beat cop came by and welcomed her back with a " How you doin' beautiful" . Then he told her to hide her beer .Marlene put the beer in her coat pocket .

For a while Marlene talked and drank with some of her friends and some of the folks from Yuca Bar that had stepped outside to smoke . To drink more freely though she decided that it was necessary to depart avenue A for 2nd avenue where she could spange and drink at ease . She spent the rest of the evening on 2nd avenue but returned to avenue A much later to sleep on the sidewalk on a pile of folded cardboard boxes.

Parking Space

Biker Bill Says : "I Don't Mess with the Bad and the Bad Don't Mess with Me"

Leica M9 Images From Avenue A Tuesday Night ...

The images for the last 4 posts were all made with a new and very rare , at least for now , Leica M9 camera . The camera was made available to us by Foto Care @ 41 west 22nd Street in Manhattan .We thank Jeff , Vinnie and all for this one night opportunity .

We chose to push the camera to its limits for this post . All the images in this post were shot at an ISO of 2500 .Of course the imaging is even better at lower ISOs but we wanted to see what the camera would do in the extreme , which is how we would most often use it .

Of the images for the other posts , all except the St Marks post were shot at ISO 2500 . the St Marks image was shot at ISO 1250 .

Eden's Band Mentioned in "Page Six" of the New York Post

Eden's band "Eden's and John's East River String Band"was mentioned today along with R. Crumb in the NY Post on "Page six" .Folks were looking at the copy on avenue A last night .

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/crumb_plays_the_blue_wzSXrJVIB8dwsme5dmhywI

Markey and Friends Johnny "Crutches" and Eden

These are better days for Markey . The last 3 posts concerning him had all shown Markey with the black ,blue and red marks of the beatings that he had endured while living in the street . Tonight on avenue A we instead happily picture him with two of his friends.

St. Marks Place

L.E.S. Jewels Expelled From Crusty Row

This afternoon most of the folks on Crusty Row just wanted to sit and drink their beers in relative peace and quiet .

L.E.S. Jewels was drinking his beers on the Row too .But Jewels had a problem. He couldn't just drink . He had to get drunk and obnoxious and mess with some of the other folks on the Row this afternoon .

A little guy that Jewels had annoyed , quickly and easily put him down and then ran him off Crusty Row .

Of course problems always return and Jewels being a problem for most returned to the Row several times . He was beat down of course . He had the black and blue and red marks to prove it too .

Drunk with Blood on His Hand on Crusty Row...

The call was for a heavy bleeder in Tompkins Square Park . If the man pictured above had been a heavy bleeder he likely would have bled to death . The call confused locations in the park causing a considerable delay in finding the location of the injured man . Fortunately the cut , though bad , was not bleeding dangerously .

Just a few weeks ago we pictured this same man ,Tim , being hauled away to the hospital . This time it was a cut hand . Previously it was a head wound due to a drunken tumble on the sidewalk .

We do not know what caused the cut on Tim's hand . Perhaps a broken bottle . Possibly a knife which would make this a more involved and topically important story .

This story goes nowhere as do most of the daily stories in the street . Mostly the same people are seen in trouble or in violation of a law , again and again . Police , Fire Dept and various medical personnel deal with it all daily . Mostly the same situations , sometimes violent , sometimes not , repeating again and again .

The First Satisfied Customer Tastes Ray's Newest Delight , The Belgian Waffle ...

First it was Belgian Fries now its Belgian Waffles at Ray's . This most recent gustatorial delight comes topped with a variety of tasty goops , creams , syrups and fruits to suit the most discerning of tastes . The customer can even choose Ray's own organic Maple Syrup .

As can be seen above , tonight's first customer to taste the new Belgian Waffles was watched intently by Biker Bill . Bill right away called for his own waffles which he happily wolfed down in true biker style .