Fragglerock and why Deborah Harry kicks ass
from the late 90′s until around 2002, there was a great party that toured the rock club circuit called Fragglerock. Fragglerock was put together by some of the East Village’s hottest promoters and drew a wild and mixed party crowd. but what made it great was a house band made up of local rock legends, that would cover one well known 80′s band for each party. they’d practice until they had the songs down, dress up as the band did, and cover their best tunes (big hits and underground classics.) from Guns ‘n’ Roses to Heart – this was not a joke cover night, the band took it seriously, and every party was KILLER! here’s one of our favorite stories from one of those nights….

the party’s at Acme Underground, a down and dirty, rock space below Acme restaurant and Blondie is the theme of the night. the house is packed and everyone in the room is shoulder to shoulder. the band’s amazing and the crowd is jumping. listening to Rapture, someone over our shoulder is singing along kinda loudly. so we turn around and it’s… DEBORAH HARRY! she looks fabulous and is totally rocking out with the rest of the room and gives us a big smile! how fucking awesome is that – Debbie Harry checking out a cover night of her own music! a true rock goddess.

LES snow
shots of “Storm 2005″ from around the lower east side and east village. after a storm in NYC the sanitation department pushes the snow together into massive piles (some 2 stories high) to be scooped up and trucked away.

artist workspaces
Wooster Collective is running a fascinating series of shots of artist workspaces. below are highlights from the first four parts, each filled with photos… Artist Workspaces #1 , Artist Workspaces #2, Artist Workspaces #3, Artist Workspaces #4, Artist Workspaces #5, Artist Workspaces #6

introducing the amazing wonder ball!
you can run with it. hold it behind your head.

talk into it. use it as a pillow.

it’s the amazing WONDER BALL, with thousands of uses, you’ll wonder what he’ll do next!

Lower East Side Food Tour testimonials!

this summer we put up a bunch of information and a homemade map for a Lower East Side Food Tour that highlights some of the LES’s very best ethnic and carry out food. this last weekend 2 readers took the tour and sent us nice email with some cool testimonials. so we thought we’d throw up the testimonials and repost a link to the tour and map incase you’re in the LES and looking for something to do in the snow this weekend (and maybe we’ll see you along the way. that strudel is looking good…)

TXP writes “hey wanted to give you city rag folks a shout and let you know that after reading your blog (and enjoying it for months) that we hit nyc this past weekend and had a blast following some of your recommendations… managed some of the “food tour”. tinys is killer, economy candy the bomb, that dumpling spot was great” (TXP also wrote that they found Epstein’s Bar to be a cool and welcoming spot.)

And Black Lilly took the tour and had a yummy time! she LOVED Sugar Sweet Sunshine (and spotted Buddy’s pic on the wall and even ran into our fave guy at Russ and Daughters!

dead wood

Oh SNAP – this fantastic photo was caught by Low Culture on Getty Images. Check out Low Culture’s hilarious Golden Globes post for more.

the cat in him
if there’s a sun beam in the room, you’ll find Buddy lying in it.

closed in sadness

Bush is the most corrupt president our country has ever seen. he is a liar and a war monger. he entered the office with an agenda to declare war on Iraq. in his 2001 inaugural address (PRIOR to 9/11) he began using the “weapons of mass destruction” language and declared his goal to go to war… “We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors. The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake: America remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power that favors freedom.” he has consequently sent thousands of young people to die for a war no one supports, and he will send thousands more.

and it’s been noted by many main stream media sources that the balance of power has indeed shifted, but in a negative direction. China and North Korea, and other countries that actually DO have weapons of mass destruction, have seized the opportunity to increase their nuclear weapon production over the last couple years knowing our recourses are focused in Iraq.

today this site is “closed”, in protest and sadness of 4 more years under this madman, and fear for all of our future.

protests going on today:
- Bush Black Out
- Turn Your Back on Bush
- CODEPINK
- Counter-Inaugural.org
- Not One Damn Dime
- Black-Thursday.com
- Gasoline Boycott Day
- Blackthursday.org
- Womeninblack.net
- International day of fasting and prayer for peace and democracy