October 17, 2011

Chain stores and restaurants continue to overtake Manhattan. One of the reasons I wanted to live here was to escape places like 7-11, T.G.I. Fridays, Bed, Bath and Beyond and Trader Joe’s, but now you can spit in any direction and hit one of those generic stores. One of the latest places to invade the city is an IHOP on 14th street. So far, I’ve avoided walking by the place and was pretending it wasn’t there, but I’ve been inspired by the movement on Wall Street and I knew one thing had to be done: Occupy IHOP! And I’m not going there alone. This whole thing was suggested by fellow EV Grieve commenter and blogger, Lux Living and I’m meeting him and his partner in front of the Blarney Cove for pre IHOP drinks, so let’s be on our way.

And we're off, it's a straight shot down 14th Street to the Blarney Cove. A path I've walked many times in my life.

And here we are at the Blarney Cove. I met Lux and his partner in front, but they didn't want to be photographed because:
A. They're camera shy.
B. They’re wanted by the law.
C. All of the above.
D. None of the above.
E. Nobody told me there was going to be a pop quiz here today, this sucks!

They don't like you taking pictures in here, but I snuck this shot. The bar was pretty empty since it was Sunday night.

After a few drinks we made our way to IHOP. As you can see, they're not shy about signage on the block.

Inside the dining room has a brightly lit, interrogation room/shiny abortion feel to it.

And here's the booth we chose to occupy, Gumby is the first to take hold of the booth.

And the protest begins!

Corporate pancakes suck! Telling it to the man!

Huh?

Aaaahhhh!

As long as we were occupying the booth, we decided we may as well look at the menu. Yikes, someone get this stack of pancakes a Tampon before they bleed all over the eggs!

Lady Gaga?

Lux ordered the Philly Cheesteak sandwich and onion rings, which we guessed is nothing more than a well-decked sandwich made up of Steak Umms and processed cheese. I do want to take a moment here and note that our waitress, April and all of the people that work here are super nice and friendly. It doesn't make up for the food or the fact that an abortion like IHOP is here, but whatever gods are out there, please have mercy on the staff of people that have to work here. I ordered a pancake...

Aaahhhh!

Kei$ha?

Further Reading: Lux Living, EV Grieve, Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York and Grub Street.

I had some time to kill, I had a lot to learn yeah,
She said I heard you got a little money to burn yeah.

(Surprise link...click on it...I dare you! Link supplied by Crazy Eddie.)

September 2, 2011

EV Grieve has written about a guy in the East Village who parks an RV outside of his apartment building, check out the post here. EV Grieve commenter Larry Slade left a comment within the post saying that the Daily News recently did an article featuring the owner and the RV. I followed the link and it turns out the guy who owns it lives nearby where he parks it and treats it like a living room on the street. His name is Ron Britt and he’s quoted as saying he wants the interior to feel like a Texas whoreshouse. It also says he’s a singer in a disco/blues band. Okay, I’m intrigued and would like to meet this guy and maybe hang out in the RV and have a few beers. If he’s not inside, maybe we can find his apartment. At the very least, it’s near the Chillmaster Lair, so if all else fails, maybe we can roust The Chillmaster. Only one way to find out and that’s to get going to the East Village.

Off we go, into the wild dark yonder.

And down into the bowels of the subway system.

Ha! Check out the sign. "The Fun Is Back In Coney Island." That's true for this weekend, but the fun will be long gone next year as the Boardwalk gets turned into a land of sports bars and coffee shops.

Anybody else see the irony here? Anybody? Anyone? Bueller ... Bueller... Bueller...

Okay, here we are, the East Village, off to find the Free Willie RV!

There's a band playing at Boca Chica tonight. They've got a full house here.

And look, it's an RV, this doesn't look like the Free Willie one though.

This isn't the Free Willie, I read that Ron has two RV's and this is his secondary one, "Old Flat Top." Two RV's in New York City, that's pretty nuts!

Ha! There's a giraffe behind the wheel. I'd really like to meet this guy!

I walked up and down the block and can't find the Free Willie RV. I wonder if he's out on a road trip for the Labor Day weekend?

Another crazy thing is he's got his phone number on the RV. I blocked a few numbers out. Hey, you want to call him, you make the trip here, I'm not a walking white pages here!

So I called him and sure as shit on a shingle, it's his number. I got his answering machine and left a message. I sounded real pathetic on the message, for some reason I can't memorize my cell phone number, so I always leave messages saying, "I don't know what my cell phone number is, but hopefully you've got it and will call me back." I don't get a lot of return calls. But that's okay with me.

On the message I told him I'd wait at the corner for a while, so I got four beers to drink while waiting.

They forgot to put a brown bag in with the beer, so I decided fuck it, I'm drinking them bareback style on the sidewalk. Breakin' the law!

Well, I waited twenty minutes and never heard anything, so I thought I'd mosey down to the Chillmaster Lair and see what's shaking.

Ahh, the window is closed. Oh well, I'm down to my last beer anyway...hey, let's go drink it at the Mars Bar while it's still there.

It's just a couple blocks away.

It's still here. It'll be a sad day when it's not on this corner.

To the Mars Bar! Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.

Further reading: EV Grieve, Celeb Stoner, NY Press and Mish Mosh New York.

You Might Also Like: Animal Crackers, Animal House and Manimal.

Four Campers
Camper Van Beethoven
Happy Campers
Larry Camper
Shari Camper

You know my name,
Look up the number!

(Surprise link...click on it...I dare you!)

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Bonus Linkage From Paul Scanlon!

MAD pal, Paul Scanlon sent in this link yesterday...Aaaaahhh!

August 6, 2011

As some of you know, there was a problem with the comments section here the last couple of days and it was driving me fucking nuts. I pestered the shit out of the support staff at Squarespace and they’re probably kicking themselves that I picked them as a host. People's comments weren’t showing up and it was stressing the shit out of me, I had visions of everyone abandoning this blog. Well, the support people at Squarespace are great and they did find a bug and patched it and most people seem to be able to comment again. Jaws can’t and I’m not sure about Biff, but we’ll see what happens tomorrow. (Update: Jaws is posting again and I bet Biff will be able too as well. Finally! I had a two day massive obsession fest over this.) The end of my work night sucked too and all I want to do is have a beer or seven and chill the fuck out. Now where should I go to chill out? Hmmm...

Okay, it's off into the night we go.

Okay, I've been staring at this ad in the subway station for about eleven minutes now. What the fuck is this? I mean I know it's an ad for Jello pudding, but what does the hell? "You never forget a Pudding Face?" What does that even mean? And why did they capitalize the words, "Pudding Face?" Why would I ever eat pudding again after seeing this monstrosity of an ad? The answer is simple, I won't! What the fuck is a Pudding Face?

Oh shit...it's a whole campaign. I got a feeling this could haunt me in the future. I thought it was bad when Bill Cosby was their spokesman. Pudding Face? Fuck.

Boy, I'm really not having a good streak of luck lately. I thought I'd go to the Chillmaster's and chill out with him and some of his classic soul music, but his window is shut down and it's not even midnight! I'm going to have to give him shit about this at the next Chillmaster Dance Party.

I decided to get a bag of beer and just wander around the East Village and take some photos.

Okay, the first beer is bagged and ready to go. I put a straw in it to give it a more soda-like look in case I encounter a cop. Kind of pathetic, I know.

And here we go for a leisurely stroll around the Lower East Side.

Wow, that's a fully loaded psychic window.

These three pretty ladies were chilling on their stoop, so I thought I'd stop and say hi.

I asked them their names and they are (from left): Luninisa, Georgia Peach and Poison Puss. They were really nice and they know of the Chillmaster. They read about him on EV Grieve and said they'd stop by the next Chillmaster Dance Party on the 14th of this month.

Like a magnet I was pulled to the now shuttered Mars Bar.

Shit, Terry's art got tagged.

Mike Grey's tribut to Hank got blacked out last week and now it's been retouched somewhat.

A note to Myriam on the sidewalk.

I'm going to try and get some shots of the inside from the window up here.

The bar's gone, but some of the graffitti and empties remain.

Sad.

According to the DOH, there's over 17,000 fruit flies in that blue cup alone! Danger, danger!

Some people were nice enough to stop and take a photo of Gumby and I toasting the Mars Bar.

A photo of the photo takers. Thanks!

Here comes the wrecking ball!

Thanks for the memories Mars Bar! Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.

Further reading: EV Grieve, The Gog Log, Neither More Nor Less, One More Folded Sunset, Slum Goddess and Single Linds Reflex.

You Might Also Like: The Onion, An Apple and A Fish.

Five Things People Do To Relax
Drink
Nap
Masturbate
Masturbate with Bob Crane
Bludgeon Bob Crane

When it comes to men like you I know the score,
I’ve heard it all before.

(Surprise link...click on it...I dare you!)

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Bonus Photo By Bobby Williams!

Bobby takes shots for EV Grieve’s blog and snapped one of the Chillmaster the other day. He sent me the original and here it is. Thanks Bobby and keep up the great work!

July 18, 2011

Three words sums up today’s post: Chillmaster Dance Party Three! (And a shoutout and thanks to our friend EV Grieve who got the ball rolling with this post.)

The Chillmaster Dance Party Pre-drinks happen here at Mars Bar, which is still open. Unbelievable! And there's Ray out front.

And there's Hank in his chair, it's going to be a sad day when this is gone from this corner. Let's go inside.

There's Shawn and Lindsay at the bar.

And here's the whole crew, from left: Kate, Goggla, Yours Fooly, Shawn and Lindsay. We're ready to let the chilling begin!

Here's the infamous Chillmaster window and soul music is wafting from it.

The Chillmaster chair is empty...what the fuck?

All of a sudden we hear a, "Hey!" and it's the Chillmaster standing behind us!

Once inside it's the traditional pouring of the Hennessy...

And the music blasts...

The table is well stocked for the party.

Lindsay and the Chillmaster share a laugh...

And the dancing begins!

Kate, Chillmaster and Lindsay take a break for a photo.

The Chillmaster and I clowning around.

And here's the Chillmaster's daughter, Anastazia. It was her 18th birthday so we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

Father and daughter, nice!

And here's Victoria, who's a little late due to work.

Victoria and the Chillmaster trade hellos...

And hugs, it's all about the love in the Chillmaster den!

It's always fun to watch the people go by the Chillmaster's window.

Shawn is chilling the fuck out in the Chiller chair.

And Gumby takes his turn.

Easy Ed shows up on the scene and the party is complete!

Ed and the Chillmaster grooving to the tunes.

And the last arrival is Chanel...

Who gets into the swing of things immediately.

Dance, dance, dance!

The Chillmaster grooves with Gumby!

And one last shot for the road. Thanks to the Chillmaster and everybody for showing up and making the Chillmaster Dance Party III a total blast as always! Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.

Further reading: EV Grieve, The Gog Log, Neither More Nor Less, One More Folded Sunset, Slum Goddess and Single Linds Reflex.

You might also like: Patti Smith, Patty Smyth and Patty Melt.

Four Other Masters
Masters Golf Tournament
Masters of War
Master Cleanse
Master Of Their Domains

I know a change is gonna come,
Oh yes it will.

ARCHIVES

(Surprise link...click on it...I dare you!)