The Villager • Feb. 18, 2016

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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 18, 2016 • $1.00 Volume 86 • Number 7

E.V. graffiti artist has been in jail for 5½ years for murder, without trial

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

A

n East Village graffiti artist arrested for killing a rival tagger more than five years ago still hasn’t had a trial and remains locked up on Rikers Island to this day.

According to police, around 5:30 a.m. on Mon., Oct. 25, 2010, Jairo Pastoressa, then

25, stabbed another graffiti writer, Christopher Jusko, 21, with an 8-inch kitchen knife in the stairway of a squatter building at 272 E. Seventh St. outside Pastoressa’s second-floor apartment. Slashed in the neck and stabbed in the back, Jusko staggered down the stairs and out of the buildARTIST continued on p. 10

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

BY COLIN MIXSON

B

eloved literary haven St. Mark’s Bookstore has entered the final stage of its terminal money woes, and the proverbial book will soon close on Manhattan’s oldest independent bookshop.

But owner Bob Contant is still clinging to hope that

current talks with investors will result in a new bookstore emerging from the ashes of St. Mark’s, albeit, with a new name, new operators and none of the debt.

“We’re basically going out of business at this point,” said Contant. “There may be a continuation of a bookstore ST. MARK’S continued on p. 14

PHOTO BY JEFFERSON SIEGEL

Athanasios Ioannidis, center, and Andrew Trombettas, right, try to hide their faces while being walked into their arraignment last Thursday. Trombettas is accused of “renting” his plumber’s license to Ioannidis, an unlicensed plumber who is accused of twice rigging illegal gas-siphoning systems at 121 Second Ave.

‘Gas House Gang’ indicted in deadly 2nd Ave. explosion

BY YANNIC RACK

A

lmost a year after a gas explosion rocked the East Village, killing two men and leveling three buildings, four people were indicted last Thursday for manslaughter and other charges in connection with the blast.

Maria Hrynenko, 56, who owns the building at 121 Second Ave. where the blast occurred, her son Michael Hrynenko, 30, contractor Dilber Kukic, 40, and plumb-

er Athanasios “Jerry” Ioannidis, 59, were also charged with criminally negligent homicide and assault in the second degree, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

In addition, Andrew Trombettas, 57, was charged with “renting” his master plumbing license to Ioannidis so the latter could get work on the property approved, prosecutors said.

Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance said last week that the defendants set up an elaborate ille-

gal gas line and hid the setup from inspectors, causing the explosion and subsequent fire on March 26, 2015, that claimed the lives of Moises Locón and Nicholas Figueroa and injured and displaced dozens of others.

“The seven-alarm fire that killed two people and engulfed three buildings in March 2015 was caused by a foreseeable, preventable and completely avoidable gas explosion,” Vance said.

All five defendants pleadGAS HOUSE continued on p. 6

Surgeon general wants you — to walk!.........page 4 Hawkers market sticks in their craw........page 8 Burlesque with a new twist...........page 26

www.TheVillager.com

DORIS LOVES BOB: One of the great mysteries of Scoopy’s Notebook has finally been solved.

Bob Gormley, district manager of Community Board 2, used to tell us that, for a few years running, every Feb. 14 he would get a card, always unsigned, wishing him a happy Valentine’s Day. There were no leads to go by, and — as you know, if you’ve ever seen him sing on the mic at the end of board meetings — the man is a stud...so the mystery endured. Gormley recently told us he finally was able to figure it out by the handwriting. It was, in fact, none other than veteran board member Doris Diether.

GREENTHUMBS-UP! Congrats to Bill LoSasso of Community Board 3, who, earlier this month became director of the city Parks and Recreation Department’s GreenThumb program. “I’m excited to get to work with gardeners across the city,” he told us. Previously, he worked at the Port Authority, where he was manager of planning and project development, working on various economic development projects. Closer to home, LoSasso also served as executive director of La Plaza Cultural community garden, at E. Ninth St. and Avenue B, until “retiring” last fall. He played a key role in securing the Gardens Rising project, and its funding, for the East Village and Lower East Side’s green oases.

ALL-AMERICAN DANTE: Local tipster par excellence Gary Shapiro tells us that he recently spotted Dante de Blasio, the mayor’s son, at the Strand Book Store browsing in the Americana section. Shapiro also reports that both Film Forum and Anthology Film Archives have raised their ticket prices.

PHOTO BY MILO HESS

At the Lunar New Year Parade in Chinatown, a monkey was hamming it up with selfies. And why not? The Year of the Monkey only swings around every 12 years.

FARRIS MEMORIAL: Steve Cannon and David Hammons are planning a memorial for poet John Farris at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, on Fri., April 29, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. His friend, fellow Lower East Side poet Cannon, said, “The date is set. The music, food, etc. is unknown.”

GETTING NOTICE: L.E.S. Dweller activist Diem Boyd tells us her hard-hitting talking point on Mayor Bill de Blasio in The Villager back in December (“De Blasio’s L.E.S. / Chinatown tale of two cities”) definitely has gotten some notice.

Her column took the mayor to task for his failure to rezone Chinatown and much of the Lower East Side to protect it from overdevelopment.

Her piece concludes, “This all begs the question, Mayor de Blasio — are you a true beacon of the new left, like Sanders and Warren, or just another right-leaning centrist, bought by big real estate interests, cloaked in progressive rhetoric?” Soon after her talking point came out, a Washington Post reporter jumped on the story and did a walkaround through the neighborhood with Boyd, and

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is now reportedly doing the same with disgruntled activists in other parts of the city who also feel the mayor has “sold them out.”

LIGHTS! CAMERA! MENIN! As recently reported by one of our sister papers, Downtown Express, Julie Menin has taken over as head of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, which issues permits for location shoots across the city and also works with Broadway and Off Broadway theaters. “Julie has shown time and again that she is a highly effective leader who has the skills and passion to get the job done for New Yorkers,” the mayor said in a statement. Most recently, Menin spent two years as commissioner of the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs, where she launched projects including promoting the paid-sick-leave law, and the Small Business Relief Package, an initiative to reduce fines on businesses. She was chairperson of Community Board 1 from 2005 to 2012, helping lead Lower Manhattan’s rebuilding after 9/11, before leaving to run unsuccessfully for borough president in 2013. “I am honored to take on this new role within the de Blasio administration,” Menin said.

“We have an unprecedented opportunity to drive economic growth with this new and expanded portfolio — from film to music, TV to advertising — and as commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, I look forward to supporting the 130,000 New Yorkers who are employed through this industry and to strengthening the city’s engagement with the media and entertainment sector.”

CORRECTION: Bill Weinberg reports that his column last week, “Berber New Year in an E. Village Ukrainian church,” incorrectly stated that the Kabylia provisional government was demanding autonomy under Algeria’s constitution. In fact, they have taken the decision to move toward independence from Algeria.

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

2

February 18, 2016

TheVillager.com

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February 18, 2016

BY ALBERT AMATEAU

U

.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy told the annual community breakfast of the Greater New York YMCA last week about the efforts of the U.S. Public Health Service to promote the nation’s health by encouraging walking and other physical activity.

Dr. Murthy, whose duties include overseeing the U.S. Public Health Service, gave the keynote address at the Feb. 12 event, held this year in the gymnasium under the walking/running track of the McBurney YMCA, at 125 W. 14th St. Among elected officials at the ninth annual event was Richard Gottfried, chairperson of the New York State Assembly’s Health Committee, who introduced Vice Admiral Murthy, whose title derives from his leadership of the uniformed U.S.P.H.S. Commissioned Corps. State Senator Brad Hoylman and Mary Bassett, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Health, were also among the guests.

“The YMCA has been an important partner in the U.S.P.H.S. call to action on walking and community walking,” said Murthy. “We’re working with the Y to bring generations together to walk to improve health,” he added, noting that he recently convinced his mother to begin a walking program.

Murthy said the health benefits of walking have been proven.

“Just 22 minutes a day of brisk walking can reduce a person’s risk of getting diabetes by 30 percent,” he said.

Appointed to his post just more than a year ago, Murthy, 38, said that he has been traveling across the country to learn about people’s health concerns, and he found that addiction, diabetes and heart disease were among the top problems.

How to support options that promote good health for everyone has been the focus of the U.S.P.H.S. “The culture has viewed healthy options in food and activity as pain,” Murthy said. “We’re trying to change that view from pain to preference.”

One indication of that cultural shift has been the rise of the private sector programs, like Healthy Chef, that offer healthful meals online. Moreover, the U.S.P.H.S. is encouraging schools to offer fresh fruits and vegetables in lunch menus, which students are beginning to prefer. The agency has also been supporting local efforts to make neighborhoods more walkable by improving street lighting, which deters violence.

Murthy said the agency has achieved some success is convincing merchants to lower the price of fruits and vegetables and raise the price of junk food.

Prejudice, poverty and social isolation contribute to unhealthy choices, and reducing those conditions on the national and local levels will have a

Vivek Murthy, the 19th surgeon general of the U.S., spoke at the McBurney YMCA last week.

positive effect on the nation’s health, Murthy said.

In addition, he said, removing the stigma of mental illness is important to encourage people to seek help. More efforts must be made to reduce childhood

dom, graduated from Harvard and earned his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees at Yale. At age 17, Murthy and his sister co-founded VISIONS, an H.I.V./AIDS education program in India and the U.S. In response to a question from state Senator Hoylman about electronic cigarettes, Murthy said he hoped the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would make a policy decision soon about e-cigarettes.

“It’s not entirely true that the smoke is pure water vapor,” Murthy said. “It does contain nicotine and may contain other substances.”

Work also must also be done to determine if e-cigarettes help people give up smoking, the surgeon general added.

“Some say they helped them to quit, but others say they now use e-cigarettes as well as regular cigarettes,” Murthy noted.

“We live in an extraordinary nation,” Murthy said in conclusion, “with intelligent and caring people. I see them everywhere. It can be easy to forget the role of good and compassionate people, but we can recognize and value it. We saw it in the healing of New York City after 9/11.

We can save more lives if we invest more in prevention. It’s time for a new generation, defined not by age but by spirit. We need a new contract for a new vision. I believe it will happen with people who come together and make it so.”

‘We should start encouraging healthy choices earlier and earlier.’

Vivek Murthy

obesity, he said.

“It’s true that the incidence of obesity has leveled off recently, but it’s still too high among children,” Murthy said.

Making physical activity a significant part of education is also important in reducing the incidence of childhood obesity, he said.

“We should start encouraging healthy choices earlier and earlier,” he stressed.

“Children would influence their families and help shift the culture for the next generation.”

Murthy, raised in Florida by immigrants from India via the United King-

TheVillager.com

TheVillager.com

February 18, 2016

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E.V. ‘Gas House Gang’ indicted in deadly blast GAS HOUSE continued from p. 1

ed not guilty to the charges at an arraignment in State Supreme Court in Manhattan last Thursday. Bail was set at $1 million for all the defendants — except Trombettas, who must post $100,000.

This week, tenants and restaurant owners on the block who suffered in the aftermath of the explosion, expressed mixed feelings about the indictments.

“It’s a very empty feeling. These guys got indicted, so someone’s going to do a few years,” said Stuart Lipsky, whose second-floor apartment at 125 Second Ave. now abuts an empty corner lot.

“I’d be pleasantly surprised if they all went to jail,” he said. “But I don’t have much faith in the system.”

Lipsky, who has been in the apartment for more than 35 years and now lives there with his wife and teenage daughter, said the gas in their building was only restored three weeks ago.

The family also lost one of their cats in the explosion, and their home suffered extensive fire damage.

Lipsky said the charges alone didn’t bring him any closure.

“How are you going to make them feel the pain that they’ve caused everyone else — the poor father [of Figueroa], who’s still coming to cry by the fence?

“Justice will be served when I can go visit these bastards in jail,” he said.

For others, the news of the indictments brought some long-awaited sense of relief.

“Of course the charges are great.

This is what they deserve,” said Fawzy Abdelwahed, standing behind the counter at B&H Dairy, the kosher restaurant he owns with his wife at 127 Second Ave. The blast almost put him out of business. The restaurant had to stay closed for almost five months after the explosion, while Abdelwahed struggled with the red tape of city bureaucracy and had to install costly upgrades to his facilities that were mandated by Con Edison.

Despite two successful fundraisers that brought in more than $50,000, Abdelwahed said he was still forced to take out a loan for the same amount.

The Stage restaurant, another neighborhood staple across the street, wasn’t so lucky, though — almost a year on, its storefront remains shuttered.

Vance said the indictment should be a warning to building owners and others that might be tempted to cut corners in the city’s real estate boom.

“Development, construction and renovation is happening across the city at breakneck speed,” he said.

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February 18, 2016

PHOTO BY JEFFERSON SIEGEL

From left, handcuffed behind their backs at their arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thurs., Feb. 11, from left, landlord Maria Hrynenko, Athanasios Ioannidis, Michael Hrynenko, Dilber Kukic and Andrew Trombettas. They were all indicted in last year’s East Village gas explosion.

PHOTO COURTESY MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

The first illegal gas hook-up installed at 121 Second Ave., where prosecutors allege the landlord’s practices led to a fatal explosion last March.

After Con Ed workers found this first scofflaw system and shut off the gas, a second illegal jury-rigged setup was then allegedly created — and concealed from view behind a locked door — prosecutors said.

“In this market, the temptation for property owners, contractors and managers to take dangerous — and, in some instances, deadly —shortcuts has never been greater.”

Last week, prosecutors described an illegal scheme that involved the landlord, her son, the contractor and an unlicensed plumber, who allegedly twice installed unsafe gas systems in the basement of the building — hiding the second one from inspectors after the first was found and shut off by Con Edison.

According to the indictment, Maria Hrynenko informed Kukic in July 2014 that gas for the apartments at 121 Second Ave. should be taken from the meter of the building’s ground-floor

restaurant, the Japanese eatery Sushi Park.

Shortly thereafter, Ioannidis, the plumber, illegally connected flexible hosing to the restaurant’s meter in order to provide gas to the residential tenants, who were not informed of the source of the gas, according to the D.A. But an inspection by Con Ed and the Fire Department in August 2014, triggered by residents smelling gas, revealed the setup to be unsafe and likely to disconnect, break or leak, according to prosecutors. Con Ed then shut off the gas supply, leaving both the restaurant and the upstairs tenants without gas.

But instead of hiring a licensed

plumber to fix the situation, investigators said the defendants then constructed another unsafe gas delivery system by installing a series of pipes and valves connecting the residential units in 121 Second Ave. to an uncapped, commercial-grade gas meter in the adjacent, vacant property at 119 Second Ave., which Hrynenko also owned.

“When Con Ed came in and shut this illegal system off with the hoses, what then happened was the creation of an alternate delivery system behind a locked door in the very same room,” Vance said at a press conference.

After Ioannidis filed paperwork with Con Ed, the company restored gas to the restaurant by mid-August, while upstairs tenants continued to receive gas by way of the defendants’ illegal gas delivery system, according to Vance.

On the day of the explosion, inspectors from Con Ed came to check the system at 119 Second Ave., but found no signs of leaking gas because Kukic and Ioannidis had temporarily turned the illegal gas line off.

After the inspectors left, officials said, Kukic and Hrynenko, the owner’s son, turned the gas back on — but failed to close several valves in the basement of 121 Second Ave. that had been opened for pressure tests by Con Ed, causing them to leak.

Shortly after, the manager of the Japanese restaurant allegedly called landlord Hrynenko and told her that he smelled gas.

Surveillance cameras show Kukic and Hrynenko entering the basement and then swiftly sprinting out of the restaurant without warning any of the patrons or workers, and running around the corner toward the E. Seventh St. entrance, where the illegal gas delivery system was set up, according to prosecutors.

When the gas caused an explosion moments later, Locón, an employee of Sushi Park, and Figueroa, a diner, were killed. The ensuing fire quickly spread to neighboring buildings 119 and 123 Second Ave., and all three structures eventually collapsed.

“The individuals involved in the East Village gas explosion showed a blatant and callous disregard for human life,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

“These indictments will hopefully bring Mr. Figueroa and Mr. Locón’s families some closure following this tragic event.”

City Councilmember Rosie Mendez said last week that she hoped the landlord would be held accountable for her “reckless actions.”

“The events from last year are still very much with us in the East Village,” she said. “Every day, the GAS HOUSE continued on p. 16 TheVillager.com

TheVillager.com

February 18, 2016

7

Despite critics, Board 4 bullish on Pier 57 plan

BY LUCAS ROPEK

P

assions, like the tide, can run high — especially when waterfront property is involved.

And although the reception from local residents was decidedly choppy during a Feb. 3 presentation to Community Board 4, it seems as if there will be smooth sailing ahead for plans to revitalize Pier 57.

Development firm Youngwoo & Associates and RXR Realty are poised to transform the historic semi-abandoned structure — at W. 15th St., in Hudson River Park — into a multifaceted complex with a public park, retail shops and a foodie-focused “hawkers’ market,” curated by peripatetic celebrity chef Antho-13 ny Bourdain (host of the CNN travel and food show “Parts Unknown”).

Despite Bourdain’s star power — and the promise of economic benefit — Chelsea residents have viewed the plans with concern since Youngwoo approached the Hudson River Park Trust in 2009 about leasing the property.

The public comment period, which began Dec. 17, extends through Feb. 16. Though an official public hearing on the pier occurred on Jan. 20, the C.B. 4 meeting was another opportunity for neighborhood residents, board members and developers to discuss the project before the Trust officially approves it.

Noreen Doyle, the Trust’s executive vice president, began the meeting by expressing the state-city park authority’s support for the renovations.

“This is a really exciting project for the Hudson River Park, and we think it’s equally exciting for the surrounding neighborhood, the community board and for the city as a whole,” she said.

Seth Pinsky, executive vice president and investment manager of RXR Realty, then gave an extensive powerpoint presentation addressing the project’s key components.

Pinsky displayed images of the building’s empty and dilapidated basements.

“It’s an impressive structure, but it needs a full reworking,” he said, noting that one of the pier’s most recent uses was as a storage area for MTA buses. It was also used as a holding area — a.k.a. “Guantanamo on the Hudson” — for arrested protesters during the 2004 Republican National Convention.

The planned renovation would add two mezzanines, transforming the pier into a four-story structure.

On the ground floor would be the market area, which Pinsky likened to Seattle’s Pike Place farmers’ market.

Though this space is “still evolving”

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February 18, 2016

IMAGE COURTESY HUDSON RIVER PARK TRUST

The Pier 57 plan calls for the pier’s roughly 90,000-square-foot roof to be used as a public park, with free events open to the public.

conceptually, the developers want to transform it into a kind of seaside bazaar, replete with fishmongers, food vendors and fine dining establishments.

Below the market, in a caisson, or basement area, an internal roadway would be used to deliver goods for the retail and restaurant venues. Deliveries would be made through entrances at W. 16th St., but gated entrances would also be available on W. 17th St., in the event of overflow.

Under the plan, adjacent to the market, 34,000 square feet of new esplanade space would be added, creating a publicly accessible walkway that will wrap all the way around the pier.

Above the market, the third and fourth floors would be devoted to office space, hosting a variety of local and international businesses. The developers believe the offices would drive traffic to the pier year-round, though they predict the pier’s largest influx of patrons would be during the summer. Google has already signed a lease for 250,000 square feet as part of the project.

Pinsky called the pier’s roof “one of the most exciting” aspects of the design. The roof would be around 90,000 square feet and would be used as a public park, where summer events, outdoor movies and potentially concerts would be hosted and made available to the general public, free of charge. The plan calls for lawns, walkways and an elevated pavilion, including a restaurant, concession stand and vantage points from which to view the river and city.

The rooftop would also purportedly be used to host the Tribeca Film Festival in the coming years.

Despite these grand plans, locals were concerned whether the development would benefit the surrounding community.

Miguel Acevedo, president of the

Fulton Tenants Association, asked if jobs from the construction and maintenance of the pier’s redevelopment would go to Chelsea’s low-income residents.

“I support the project, but there are a lot of unemployed people living in this community,” Acevedo said.

Greg Clancy, RXR vice president of development, responded that the project’s construction would be facilitated by the city’s unions.

“We will work with the community board and community groups, and we are open to this conversation,” Clancy said, in reference to the prospect of future jobs.

Several board members also questioned whether the retail area would accommodate local rather than international business. Pinsky conceded he was unsure what the local-to-international ratio would be.

Gwen Billig, a member of C.B. 4’s Waterfront, Parks & Environment Committee, asked if the current plan included areas for nonprofits, community and youth groups or educational facilities.

Pinsky cited a “requirement in our lease that there be a certain amount of space devoted to cultural and educational and entertainment use.” But he noted that, of the 110,000 square feet devoted to public use, “We don’t currently have space reserved for community space. What we have is a pretty tight program, and there’s a lot of public amenities already. But, again, that’s something we’re happy to have conversations about.”

Other concerns — about noise, the height and dimensions of the pier’s facade and traffic flow around the structure — were also broached. The developers and the Trust promised that none of these issues would not be a problem for locals.

Not everyone was satisfied by these promises, however.

Melvyn Stevens, the most vocif-

erous opponent to the deal at the meeting, let loose during the public comment section, claiming that the project was “nuts.” Stevens accused the Trust of “selling out” the waterfront to developers, and pleaded for the community board vote to recommend denial of the project’s 97-year lease, so as to leave the river an “object of reverence.

“Hands off our Hudson,” Stevens concluded.

Despite the concerns expressed at the meeting, C.B. 4 Chairperson Delores Rubin later said that the Trust had always been transparent with the board about the project, and that, for the most part, board members favor the proposed renovations.

“There hasn’t been any resistance from the community board,” she said. “We’re actually very pleased that this historic pier will once again be useable, and that there is a very large amount of the project that is dedicated to open, public space.”

A Feb. 9 letter — addressed to Tust President and C.E.O. Madelyn Wils and signed by Rubin, along with members of C.B. 4’s Transportation Planning and Waterfront, Parks & Environment committees — expressed the board’s pleasure “that [the Trust] is entering into a formal lease for Pier 57 so that the revitalization of this pier may now start.” But their letter also suggested that the lease include “stipulations that the vast majority of the deliveries would be done overnight to minimize potential conflicts with the bikeway.”

C.B. 4 also urged the Trust to install solar panels and small wind turbines on the pier’s roof.

“These types of installations,” they noted, “will save on the cost of electricity use at the pier and will also serve as educational examples to others if installed in this prominent location.”

Other suggestions included the incorporation of a rainwater-capture system for use in cleaning, plant watering and the HVAC water supply.

The letter also urged the Trust and the pier’s operators to “focus on hiring local residents, both for the construction phase of this project and once Pier 57 is up and running.” An additional “ask” was that “the operators of Pier 57 give priority to artists residing or working in the Clinton/ Hell’s Kitchen/Chelsea district for future art installations on this site.”

The pier plan is currently undergoing what is known as a “significant action process” public review.

The public comment period is open until Tues., Feb. 16. Send an e-mail to Pier57comments@hrpt.ny.gov or mail to Amy Jedlicka, Esq., Hudson River Park Trust, Pier 40, 2nd Floor, 353 West St., New York, NY, 10014.

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9

E.V. graffiti artist has been in jail for 5½ ARTIST continued from p. 1

ing and died on the sidewalk in front.

Pastoressa turned himself in to police the next day and was arrested for second-degree murder.

The two men had reportedly been feuding over a woman.

Antonio “Chico” Garcia, the legendary Lower East Side graffiti artist, had been working with Pastoressa back then, doing street murals, and saw him as someone who could be a worthy heir to his work, carrying on the neighborhood’s graffiti tradition. Garcia at the time told The Villager that while Pastoressa was gentle he was also “a jealous guy.”

An ex-girlfriend, Alice a.k.a. “Cuba,” also told The Villager back then that Pastoressa had been controlling and abusive during their relationship, and that she had once had him arrested for assaulting her. She claimed that Pastoressa sometimes was physically abusive to his pit bulls, as well.

Meanwhile, his mother, Anna Pastoressa, recently called the paper to express her outrage about the lack of a trial, and also to vouch for her son’s character.

“My son acted in self-defense,” she stressed, adding, “He has a lot of support from the community.”

Over the years, court dates have been set, but then pushed back, over and over.

“This is the story that has now been going on for five years,” she said. “The prosecutor always says they aren’t ready. He is taking his sweet time, and the judge has allowed it. Jairo had a pretrial hearing in 2012 — that was three years ago. My only thought is, they don’t have a case — why would you wait five-and-a-half years if you have a case?”

Anna said that as Jairo described it to her, on that fateful night, he had three people over at his place — a man and a woman who were lifelong friends of his, plus a second woman.

“Jairo wasn’t dating [her],” she stated of this other woman.

“They were eating, smoking pot, drinking and chatting. Whatever,” Anna said. “They were having a good time.”

There were a number of phone calls back and forth to Jusko, who eventually showed up at the building. Jusko was bigger, around 6 feet tall, while Jairo, his mom noted, “is a shrimp.”

She said threats had been made that gave Jairo reason to fear for his life. According to reports at the time, though, it was Jairo who issued a challenge to Jusko.

There was a confrontation between Jusko and Jairo in the hallway. Jusko wound up stabbed, then staggering out of the building, before dying on

10

February 18, 2016

A pair of blue Vans-style sneakers that Jairo Pastoressa customized with bleach.

VILLAGER FILE PHOTOS BY JEFFERSON SIEGEL

Jairo Pastoressa being arraigned in court in October 2010 for second-degree murder in the death of Christopher Jusko.

the pavement outside. Anna said, as Jairo explained it to her, the two had struggled over the knife, which left Jairo with a deep cut on his left finger. She said he claimed to have called 911 but there was no reply.

Covered in blood, and with the knife stuck in his pants waist, Jairo walked down to her home on Delancey St. He eventually turned himself in at the Seventh Precinct and was arrested and then taken to the Ninth Precinct.

After the fatal fight, Jairo “lost his mind for months,” his mother said.

Initially, according to her, he was on a suicide watch during his first few weeks at Rikers.

“His defense lawyer said he was delusional,” she said. “He called for a ‘730’ — not fit to stand trial.”

Two court-appointed psychiatrists diagnosed him as bipolar, she said.

For three months, he was incarcerated at Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Wards Island, where he was put on psychotropic medications, including Depakote and Risperdal. He slowly calmed down.

After three months, Anna said, he was transferred back to Rikers.

But he became sluggish and overweight due to the medication. They later got his dosage lowered, and Jairo eventually stopped taking the meds entirely because he found it was zonking him out too much.

Fast-forward to the present and Jairo is now halfway into his sixth year behind bars without having had a trial.

His mother said he has suffered “physical abuse by other inmates and mental abuse by correction officers.” He gets

beaten up by inmates about four times per year, she said.

The latest beatings came just a few weeks ago at breakfast, after he questioned why everyone else had been served a muffin except for him. Later, she said, as he was recovering in the “intake area” — where new prisoners are brought in — he was beaten up again.

Jairo’s artsy personality and appearance simply annoy some fellow inmates and guards, she said. Barring certain colors, prisoners at Rikers can dress how they want, and his look apparently offends some of them.

“He wears a sweater, jeans — he doesn’t wear baggy jeans — and shoes, not sneakers. He wears eyeglasses. He looks like a nerd,” she said. “He gets beaten up because he’s not black and he’s not white. They want him to pick a category — black, white or Hispanic.

He’s an interracial child.”

Anna is originally from Italy. Jairo’s father, who has remarried, is originally from Brazil. She is an international real estate broker and still co-op president of a building on E. Seventh St. where she owns a unit and where Jairo grew up. Jairo’s father, with whom she is not in contact, is a musician.

She said her son, after being in the system for so long, could write a book about all the drugs, violence and corruption inside Rikers, but that right now is not the time for him to tell everything he knows, since obviously he could suffer retaliation. Although Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed to reform Rikers, she said she hasn’t seen that.

“De Blasio is not doing anything,” she scoffed. “Bloomberg did one thing — he changed the visitors’ lockers. I don’t see any changes.

“The buildings leak when it rains and snows. The whole thing needs to be wiped out. That island should not exist. It needs to be redone from scratch.”

Indeed, Council Speaker Melissa

Mark-Viverito has recently called for shutting down Rikers and replacing it with separate jails in each borough. De Blasio calls the idea “impractical,” but his chief nemesis, Governor Andrew Cuomo, supports it.

Anna talks on the phone with her son twice every day. For privacy, they speak in Italian, so that others can’t understand what he’s saying.

Despite it all, Jairo continues to produce art behind bars, right in his cell or in common areas, although working with a very limited range of materials.

He fashions pigments from things like pink Kool-Aid powder, tea bags and even newspaper — soaking the paper to extract the black ink. Once in a while, a friendly guard might give him some colored pencils, and this “is like a million dollars” to him, she said. He’ll mix the pigments into body wash to create a kind of paint. When making collages, toothpaste is his glue.

For canvases, he rips up Department of Correction bedsheets. The original “D.O.C.” stamp logo can be seen in some of his works. For paint brushes, he uses toothbrushes. He uses straws to blow paint to achieve more abstract effects. He has made soap sculptures, even soap rings. He also creates flowers out of crumpled and rolled-up toilet paper, she said.

“He’s done incredible artwork with nothing,” she said. “I can fill up maybe two galleries with what he has done at Rikers.”

Every week, she brings him a fresh pack of white Hanes T-shirts that he decorates with his art. Some of them he makes for his mom and sister, Cassia, and his friends on the outside. Inmates and correction officers also place orders with him for the shirts, and in return he gets money from them to buy things at the commissary, like coffee, creamer, sugar packets or salt. The prisoners must buy all these things for themselves, and sometimes also buy supplemental food, like beans or tuna, she said.

She takes all of his finished work home with her and photographs it, then posts it on a Tumblr blog site she created for his art, “Freelinkslicka.”

(When he graffitied on the streets, his tag was “Link” and his crew was “City Slickaz.” Some of his artwork also says “Sixers,” since his crew referred to the Lower East Side as “the sixth borough.”) As an artist, it’s important to him to have his work out there and for it to be seen.

His mother then sends the items on to the girlfriends or mothers of the inmates or guards who have ordered them, or to Jairo’s friends and others.

In one particularly impressive work, using bleach, which prisoners have acARTIST continued on p.11 TheVillager.com

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An A and a C train connecting in a heart, for his mother, Anna, and sister, Cassia done on a torn prison bedsheet.

ARTIST continued from p. 10

cess to for their laundry, he bleached out a pair of Vans-style blue sneakers, leaving a blue “C” on the top of one and an “S” on the other — for “City Slickaz” — while creating a New York skyline along the shoes’ sides. (His mom liked these so much, she kept them for herself.)

She also brings him copies of photos he shot of subway trains and city scenes, which he then uses as backdrops for his artwork. None of the T-shirts are washable, since they weren’t done with fabric paint.

However, some of his fellow inmates and guards resent Jairo’s artistic abilities, according to Anna.

“They’re jealous — they’re pissed!” she said. This can sometimes just lead to more abuse.

Again, she said, there is support for Jairo in the community where he grew up. He attended St. Brigid’s School, LaSalle Academy and SUNY New Paltz, though didn’t graduate. A community

petition on his behalf garnered 450 signatures.

At the time of his arrest, he had been hoping to do silkscreening at the Lower Eastside Girls Club.

Lyn Pentecost, the Girls Club’s executive director, wrote a letter to the presiding justice of the State Supreme Court - Criminal Term on Jairo’s behalf more than four years ago. Three days after The Villager contacted her for this article, she wrote another letter to the court on Feb. 11: “I have known Jairo Pastoressa since he was a young boy and watched him grow up in our community,” Pentecost wrote the court. “He has always been a model youth — sweet, talented and respectful from grammar school through high school.

“As he developed his career as an artist, he has always gladly donated his time and talents to a wide range of community endeavors. This has included assisting my organization, the ARTIST continued on p. 35

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11

Raw-food Rashomon as cops remove disruptive man

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

A

couple of concerned Villager readers recently alerted the newspaper to a video clip of an incident involving a police intervention last month at a local healthfood store that the readers felt was disturbing.

However, the store’s general manager said there was more to the story than what was shown in the brief cell-phone video.

The incident occurred at LifeThyme All-Natural Market, at 410 Sixth Ave., between W. Eighth and Ninth Sts., on Fri., Jan. 29, at 5:30 p.m.

The video shows two police officers — it’s not clear which precinct or task force they are from — standing near a man who a clearly fed-up female manager is saying she just wants out of the store. The man sits down at a table, though, and says he just needs “a minute more” to finish his food. But the police, after one dons gloves before taking hold of his arm, promptly escort him out, as he protests.

Before they get out of the store, though, there is a loud commotion as the man falls to the ground.

“Owwww! S--t! You’re hurting me!” the man shouts.

The cell-phone video, taken by an unnamed witness, doesn’t show a

close-up view of when the man goes down — the video was being shot from too far away at that point — but subsequently does show a bright splash of blood on the floor where some part of the man’s head, face or mouth apparently hit it.

“Stop resisting. Shut the f--k up,” one officer can be heard growling to the uncooperative man in irritation.

When the cell-phone holder rushes up, though, the officer at first stops talking, then his tone gets more polite.

Now concerned for the man’s welfare, the female manager implores the cops, “He’s gonna leave. Don’t handcuff him.”

“Ma’am, back up, please,” the same officer tells the employee.

“I’ll leave now,” the man says, but it’s too late, as the police snap the cuffs on him.

The witness can be heard on the video accusingly calling the incident “police brutality, police brutality — right where we eatin’ food.”

But Jason Bander, who has been the store’s general manager for 10 years, said video from a well-positioned store surveillance camera showed a more accurate picture of what happened.

“He took himself down,” he told The Villager last week. “He tried a spin move. It was clear that he took a dive when it was clear they wouldn’t let

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February 18, 2016

Police handcuff a customer before removing him from the LifeThyme store on Jan. 29. According to store employees, the man had scared a cashier, causing them to call police for assistance.

him spin away and go his own way.”

Bander said he wasn’t at the store when the incident occurred but got a full report from the female manager.

The man is a local, likely in his mid50s, someone who has been a regular customer at the store for years, according to Bander.

“It’s been very hard on us at the store,” he said. “He’s been in a state of accelerated decline. His hygiene has really gone down. In summertime, the smell is so disruptive — and it leaves a trail. We have a series of situations over the last few years where he would engage with female clientele — really putting himself into it.

He didn’t look good, he didn’t smell good. Other times, he would be just singing horribly — he would have customers crying upstairs. He would say the pits in some of the food were poisoning him.”

The store’s staff know the man as “The Professor,” Bander said. In the Jan. 29 incident, the man was in the second-floor seating area and wanted to get a scissor from behind the store counter so that he could open up a raw vegan “chewie.” (The store did recently switch from folded-andtaped to pull-and-peel packaging for its chewies, but a scissor isn’t necessary, Bander said.) And there wasn’t any scissor behind the counter anyway, but the man did go behind it to look for one. Bander said the man was also cursing this time, which he had never done before. As the manager on duty states in the video, this all scared the cashier, which is why they called police.

The man used to do full grocery shopping at the store in the past but nowadays his routine has shrunken to getting three chewies per visit, said Bander.

“We have seen him decline over the years from normal shopping to disruption,” he said.

Bander said he only found out the man’s first name — Michael — last week, coincidentally the same day that The Villager called, inquiring about the incident. In fact, the man may actually have been a professor.

Bander said his understanding is that the police, after removing the man from the store, put him in an ambulance, though this is not shown on the witness’s video clip.

“We haven’t seen him since,” Bander said. “We’re at a deep crossroads as a business: You’ve known given customers for so long — what do you do?”

A Sixth Precinct community affairs officer said he wasn’t familiar with the incident. The Police Department’s press office did not respond to request for comment by deadline as to whether the arresting officers did everything properly in escorting the man out of the store. Bander said the Civilian Complaint Review Board had been contacted regarding the incident, though it wasn’t immediately known if there had been any finding of police wrongdoing.

The Villager was unable to contact Michael or a representative for comment by press time.

To watch the witness’s video of the incident go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEjO6QIPlFA. TheVillager.com

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February 18, 2016

13

After 38 years, it’s final chapter for St. Mark’s ST. MARKS continued from p. 1

at this place, but it won’t be St. Marks. It will be a start-up and we’re not sure if we’ll be involved.”

St. Mark’s Bookshop has been in business for 38 years, in four different locations.

Contant has been struggling to satisfy debts owed to wholesale bookseller Baker and Taylor, to which he was “about $30,000” in arrears around the time when St. Mark’s moved to its current location on E. Third Street in 2014.

Following the move, Contant said he was able to pay off something close to half that debt, but struggled with follow-up payments. He was subsequently brought to court by the juggernaut bookseller in a suit that left his accounts frozen and a U.S. marshal auction scheduled, which was set to clear the store’s shelves on Feb. 10.

But then the auction was suddenly canceled and rescheduled for a later date, and Contant suspects that Baker and Taylor called off the sale in response to a scathing article by Publishers Weekly, a trade publication that the bookstore owner described as “the only thing the book business pays attention to.”

“They thought they could write us off and forget it, but now that it’s been mentioned and written up in Publishers Weekly, they realize they look really bad,” he said. “They’re putting an independent bookstore out of business. I think whoever in the credit department doing this was trying to set an example. And then somebody higher up said, ‘Wait a minute, this is the wrong approach.’ So they came back to us in a more solicitous manner and we’ll see what happens.”

Contant has since made a new offer to the book wholesaler to settle his debts, and is awaiting word from Baker and Taylor on whether they’ll accept the deal. But, whatever happens, Baker and Taylor isn’t the only creditor knocking on Contant’s door.

And for the East Village book seller — who also owes thousands in back rent to his landlord, the New York City Housing Authority — even bankruptcy is a luxury he can’t afford.

“We can’t do Chapter 11, because we’re not going to reorganize anyway, and the debt is there,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether we file for bankruptcy — it’s expensive to do, and the debt’s not going away. So, basically, we’re just going out of business.”

Ada Calhoun, author of “St. Mark’s Is Dead,” grew up on St. Mark’s Place, which is where the bookstore started out — hence, it’s name. Writing in the New Yorker last week, she said that the book-

PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY

St. Mark’s Bookshop owner Bob Contant this past Tuesday in front pretty barren shelves at the E. Third St. store. The store is holding a 50 percent clearance sale. Asked by the photographer if he had any “parting words,” he paused for a second, chuckled and said, “To books and reading.”

store had stubbornly shunned ideas to change its business model to try to increase its profitability.

“St. Mark’s Bookshop has...seemed frustratingly unwilling to seek out new streams of revenue,” Calhoun wrote. “The former employees I’ve spoken to have mentioned various innovations that were floated over the years by friends of the store: offering deeper discounts, as the thriving Strand does; investing in advertising, or opening an instore cafe like McNally Jackson. (‘Cafes are an enormous headache,’ Contant told me.) There was a push at some point to host more regular events, but Contant says that they weren’t a moneymaker.

When I asked him about the possibility of selling used books, which tend to have more generous profit margins than new ones, he said, ‘Strand

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is a few blocks away, and who wants to compete against them there? It’s a whole different kind of business.’ ” To this day, the storefront, owned by The Cooper Union, at Stuyvesant St. and Third Ave. that St. Mark’s Bookshop was forced to vacate due to rent remains empty. The store had been hit hard by the 2008 crash, and even with a reduced rent that Cooper conceded to in 2011 — in the face of intense community pressure — St. Mark’s couldn’t hang on at the high-profile location.

The new space, located just west of Avenue A, is smaller and more affordable, but not as good for business in terms of visibility, walk-in traffic and proximity to transportation as the former Third Ave. spot.

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15

POLICE BLOTTER Not so cozy

Sharp words led to broken glasses at the Famous Cozy Soup ’n’ Burger diner at 739 Broadway early last Friday morning. At around 2 a.m. on Feb. 12, a restaurant employee was involved in a verbal dispute with a man, police said. The man intentionally damaged three drinking glasses valued at $20 total, according to police.

Colin Harrington, 33, was arrested for misdemeanor criminal mischief.

Brothers in arms There’s no good time to trade weapons in public. Around 4 a.m. on Sat., Feb. 13, a police officer observed two men on the southwest corner of Eighth Ave. and W. 14th St., according to a police report. The officer saw the two men holding brass knuckles and a billy club and exchanging them.

The pair, Louis Lumpkin, 39, and Steve Hollie, 29, were arrested for misdemeanor criminal possession of a weapon.

Thunder blunder Not a good way to beat loneliness on Valentine’s Day. At Thunder Jackson’s bar, at 169 Bleecker St., a stranger forcibly touched a woman’s buttocks without her consent, police said. The victim’s two friends witnessed the occurrence at around 10 p.m. Sun., Feb 14.

Police arrested Kelson Jones, 31, for misdemeanor forcible touching.

Missing from L.E.S. Jordan Rojas, 19, has been reported missing. He was last seen around 10 a.m. on Thurs., Feb. 11, at 70 Baruch Drive in the Baruch Houses, the Lower East Side public housing complex south of E. Houston St. by the East River.

Rojas is 5-feet-6, 240 pounds and is reportedly in good physical condition. When last seen, he was wearing a green Army jacket, blue jeans and black shoes. As of this Tuesday evening, police said he was still missing and that the investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department’s Crime Stoppers Hotline, at 800-577-TIPS. Tips can also be submitted by logging

d a l g h a y t Arch ’n r u o y g n i d a to be re ? r e p a p s w e n y t i n u m m co Don’t miss a single issue! ! r e g la il V e h T o t e ib r c s b Su Call 646-452-2475

Jordan Rojas, 19, is reported missing.

onto the Crime Stoppers Web site, www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting them to 274637 (CRIMES) and then entering TIP577.

Citi Pharmacy Police observed a man forcefully rock and pull a Citi Bike out of its docking station and walk away with it in front of 135 Christopher St., according to a report. At 10:30 p.m. on Tues., Feb. 9, police arrested the man at the scene and found a clear bag of alleged marijuana in his right hand.

At the Sixth Precinct stationhouse, upon a search, police found a clear bag with white powder in it, empty clear gel caps, empty clear zip bags and a prescription pill bottle containing 68 alleged alprazolam tablets (also known by the brand name Xanax).

The man told police, “I was just joking around. I’ll put it back. That’s sugar.”

Police arrested Ryheenme Bell for criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Emily Siegel and Lincoln Anderson

‘Gas House Gang’ indicted GAS HOUSE continued from p. 6

people of the East Village have been waiting for justice. Today we are one step closer.”

At B&H Dairy, business is largely back to usual, although Abdelwahed fears Maria Hrynenko’s insurance will be depleted before any of the businesses and residents can claim compensation for their losses.

For him and his family, the explosion also left more permanent marks.

At the time of the blast, his wife, Ola, was three months pregnant with their first child together. (The couple also

have two children from previous relationships.)

A few weeks after the explosion, she had a miscarriage, which Fawzy blames on the acute stress that followed.

“I will never forget it,” Abdelwahed said. “It was a tough experience.”

“I don’t feel sorry for no one. Not even one of them,” his wife said of the indictments.

She added that now, after they barely managed to get back on their feet, the chance to start a family had passed for the time being.

“Do we deserve this? No,” she said.

“Nobody did.”

SOUND OFF! Write a letter to the editor

news@thevillager.com 16

February 18, 2016

TheVillager.com

PHOTOS ©PMC

Linda Troeller, left, with photographer Marcia Resnick, at the opening night for Resnick’s show. Troeller’s 2015 book “Living in the Chelsea Hotel” is a “photo journal” of the historic hotel.

‘Punks, poets & provocateurs’ at HOWL! Happening

H

From left, Chosei Funahara, Puma Pearl, Vito Bruno, Marcia Resnick, Clayton Patterson and Elyn Kuznetova.

Dina Jordan Pattillo, center, and David Pattillo, right, beside Resnick’s shot of John Belushi.

TheVillager.com

OWL! Happening gallery is currently hosting a month-long exhibition of Marcia Resnick’s photographs of counterculture heroes, “Punks, Poets and Provocateurs: New York City Bad Boys 1977–1982.”

The show features signed contemporary silver prints and large archival pigment prints from Resnick’s photographic tour de force of what some call the counterculture’s final climax, with portraits of rockers Johnny Thunders, Joey Ramone, James Brown, Iggy Pop, David Byrne, Brian Eno and Mick Jagger; Beat poets and writers Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and William S. Burroughs; and provocateurs and raconteurs John Waters, Steve Rubell, Gary Indiana, Abbie Hoffman and Norman Mailer, plus Andy Warhol and the incomparable John Belushi. The show runs through March 2. For more photos of New York City events by Patrick McMullan, go to http://www.patrickmcmullan. com/site/index.aspx .

Fly was in fine style.

February 18, 2016

17

PHOTO BY RAYMOND LIANG

Better health is a walk in the park — or the gym during his recent visit to the McBurney YMCA on W. 14th St., Surgeon General Vivek Murthy took a brisk walk on the jogging track with, from left, Paul Groncki, Rita Fischer and Ruth Gursky, as they discussed the benefits of walking.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Still plenty to fight for To The Editor: Re “Fired-up Babes for Bernie” (Scoopy’s Notebook, Feb. 11): As for Deborah Glick’s comment, I suspect that younger women know quite well that they are not being treated as “equal.” But the notion that younger women “have not experienced what older women have,” in terms of sex discrimination, implies that they haven’t experienced sexism

to the degree that those of us who are older have.

The same week that the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case was in the media, House Republicans ensured that the Violence Against Women Act expired. Republicans also opposed an expanded version of legislation with increased protections for the L.G.B.T. community, immigrants and Native American women.

Last year the U.S. military was called to task by the United Nations for its abysmal record on sexual assault in the military.

Women’s reproductive rights are being dis-

IRA BLUTREICH

mantled, and Planned Parenthood is under open attack for providing reproductive choices.

Sexual harassment and sex discrimination are part of the air young women breathe at universities. Undocumented women are utterly vulnerable to sexual violence.

We live in a country where politicians can call rape a “gift from God” and infer that women lie about being raped. The New York Times describes an 11-year-old gang-rape victim as “wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s.” A woman can be fired because her boss finds her “irresistible.”

The sex-trafficking industry makes $3 billion a year — thousands of girls are brought in just for Super Bowls — and 80 percent of trafficking victims worldwide are girls.

The World Health Organization reported that one in three women experience sexual or physical assault. Fifty percent of all sexual assaults in the world are on girls under age 15, and 14 million girls under 18 will be married this year. There are 33 million fewer girls than boys in primary school.

Many of us older women have won important battles and built movements to end sexism. But every woman grows up and still lives immersed in sexism both institutional and interpersonal. Younger women are smart. Give them the history you know about — but let them find their own fight.

K. Webster

Obscene: City Council raises its pay by 32 percent!

18

February 18, 2016

LETTERS continued on p. 20 TheVillager.com

Forget County Committee; We need to look ahead TALKING POINT

BY CHAD MARLOW

I

am not a bit surprised the County Committee selected Alice Cancel to fill the 65th Assembly District seat of disgraced former Speaker Sheldon Silver. Truth be told, I am more surprised that anyone is surprised by how the election operated or what its results were. While people may justly criticize the process for being less than democratic (with a small “D” — it was very much Democratic with a big “D”), that is the process we have chosen for filling such vacancies. If people are truly offended, I suggest trying to change the process for the next time, starting now. It is very hard to achieve change in the midst of an election, where supporting or opposing change inevitably feels political.

vacated by Steve Sanders. Friedman held the position for just seven months before she was defeated in the 2006 Democratic primary by current Assemblyperson Brian Kavanagh. This is not to say I am predicting defeat for Alice in the September primary — I am merely pointing out that a far more important and decisive election is around the corner.

All that said, should we even care about what happened at County Committee on Feb. 7? The answer, albeit on a different level, is yes.

While I do not live or vote in the 65th Assembly District, I have a daughter who attends public school on the Lower East Side and I serve on Community Board 3, which covers that area, so I very much consider myself a member of that community. I also understand a bit of history, so I know that the Lower East Siders have benefitted from having two of the most powerful and influential members in the history of the state Assembly representing them in Albany: Shelly Silver and, before him, Al Smith.

The voters of the Lower East Side — including those who vote on the County Committee — need to accept a very unfortunate fact; namely, that whoever they send to represent them in Albany will not have nearly the influence that Silver or Smith had. They may have it several decades from now or, more likely, never will again. This will have a direct and profoundly negative impact upon the community.

So, is there anything the 65th Assembly District can do about this unfortunate state of affairs? Yes, there is. The voters of the district can do everything in their power to elect a new assemblyperson with the intellect, leadership abilities, accomplishments and gravitas to command the respect of his or her new colleagues in Albany — or at least as much as a freshman legislator can hope to muster. Over time, perhaps such an impressive person will rise in the ranks, like Smith and Silver did.

This leads me to an unavoidable fact voters in the 65th Assembly District need to accept: a person who has been a district leader and government employee for decades is not going to be that person. No offense to Alice Cancel, but she is exactly the type of obvious, uninspiring selection that will garner a collective yawn in Albany. I am not certain any of the candidates who presented themselves for election before the County Committee fit the bill, but Alice surely does not.

Of the other candidates who presented themselves on Feb. 7, one was a young woman who seems to have garnered support based on identity politics, and not her paper-thin accomplishments. Two of the other candidates have been dogged by ethical controversies over the years and, as such — be those allegations fair or unfair — would be a particularly bad choice to succeed Silver.

A lot of positive things can be said about the Lower East Side and 65th Assembly District, and here is one of them: The community is a hotbed of highly progressive, highly talented, highly accomplished individuals, many of whom are also highly ethical. If the community’s residents want to recover from the severe damage Shelly Silver inflicted upon them, they must join together and identify

a candidate to elect in November 2016 that will cause Albany to collectively stand up and say, “Wow! The Lower East Side may just have sent us another assemblyperson for the ages.”

The people of the Lower East Side and 65th Assembly District, if they truly search their consciences, will know that type of person when they see him or her, and they should accept that such a person may not be active in local politics. Giants of the private, public and nonprofit sectors live in your midst. Go out, find that person, and send him or her to Albany to begin repairing the damage that has been done and restoring our community’s unrivaled Albany legacy.

Marlow is a member, Community Board 3 and Coalition for a District Alternative

Alice Cancel is exactly the type of person County Committees tend to elect.

So let’s talk about Alice Cancel.

Although I know very little about her, it seems this much is clear: Alice is a good person, a dedicated government employee who works for a Democratic elected official, and has served as a district leader for decades. (Parenthetically, I can’t believe this position still even exists, since it really hasn’t meant much since the days of Carmine DeSapio). This is exactly the type of person County Committees tend to elect.

While the wives of Shelly Silver and William Rapfogel may have voted for Alice — which was certainly poor form — in the end, that’s really much ado about nothing.

Nevertheless, if I were Alice, I wouldn’t sign a long-term lease in Albany just yet. The last time one of our local County Committees followed this pattern, it chose Sylvia Friedman, a good person, a dedicated government employee who worked for a Democratic elected official, and served as a district leader (sound familiar?), to fill the Assembly seat TheVillager.com

PHOTO BY BOB KRASNER

A photo of St. Mark’s Church, at E. 10th St. and Second Ave., in the style of a daguerreotype.

February 18, 2016

19

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Continued from p. 18

Honored...in a way To The Editor: Re “Conservative mag attacks Catholic Worker as lefty extremists; Who wrote it?” (news article, Feb. 4):

During the past four-and-a-half years, The Villager has, at least three times, referred to me as a Zuccotti Park Occupy Wall Streeter. Now, in this new article, I’m described as being cast in a “William Buckley” mold.

I must regard, I guess, both appellations to be compliments. So, thank you. However, one can’t imagine that the late founder of National Review would, as I do this election season, wear the political button: “Bernie Sanders for President.”

The article reports that I said there was “no stir,” after a Catholic Worker representative is quoted telling The Villager there was a buzz just “for a moment.” That’s not a big difference in perception, and surely not a matter that rose to a level of newsworthy Sturm und Drang.

Robert Reiss

C.W. critic doesn’t get it To The Editor: Re “Conservative mag attacks Catholic Worker as lefty extremists; Who wrote it?” (news article, Feb. 4): I’ve attended quite a few Catholic Worker Friday night meetings at which Mr. Reiss has spoken up from his seat, and he consistently proves that he misunderstands the nature and history of nonviolence and nonviolent direct action in the American peace movement.

He also has a very confused misunderstanding of what is going on in the Middle East between Israelis and Palestinians and within the movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction Israel.

Over the years, I have always wondered why in the world he associates with the Catholic Worker movement. I have been since 1973 active with the secular War Resisters League, located around the corner from the Catholic Worker, and the two groups work very well together, joining together to co-sponsor anti-war actions that attract both secular and religious activists.

Join whichever of the two groups you feel more comfortable with! Out of the meetings and into the streets! Power to the peaceful!

Mike Levinson

Landmarks’ shocking stance To The Editor: Re “L.P.C. nitpicks massive Gansevoort St. upzoning” (news article, Feb. 11): This article doesn’t emphasize enough the height restrictions imposed on the developers by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Also, L.P.C. emphasized that penthouses and setbacks were inappropriate and should be removed from the proposal.

20

February 18, 2016

So, there was some good news for the community.

That said, it is shocking that this entire lowscale landmarked block of Gansevoort St. will be destroyed by developers, with the aid of L.P.C. By the L.P.C. chairperson’s own count, she received 820 messages in opposition to this plan and only 30 in favor. There were also a huge number of people who signed a petition in opposition.

Isn’t this another example of how developers are supported by government against communities?

Bernie, where are you? Go to http://www.savegansevoort.org for a video at “news and reports.”

Elaine Young Young is a founding member, Save Gansevoort

Memorial danger is glaring To The Editor: Re “Neighbors demand input on Triangle Fire memorial, fearing its negative impact” (news article, Jan. 28): Yes, there should be a memorial. However, this design is not the best. The sun reflecting off of it will be obtrusive to people walking and also to motorists. If a motorist is temporarily distracted by the blazing reflection, it could lead to tragic consequences. Haven’t we had enough tragedy on that corner? Pick another design!

Dean Longfield

A good dose of politics To The Editor: Re “Committee picks Cancel to run in special election to succeed Sheldon Silver” (news article, Feb. 11): As a “political junkie” and not from this district, I attended the meeting of the divisional County Committee for the 65th Assembly District to observe.

I commend Lincoln Anderson for his excellent and comprehensive coverage in this and prior articles on the important and pivotal Assembly race.

Alan Flacks

An icon of the LES To The Editor: Re “John Farris, bohemian poet who chronicled life on Lower East Side” (obituary, Feb. 11): All the outrageous and loved icons and freedom fighters of the Lower East Side are going now. I didn’t know John had died until I saw this lovingly written piece by Sarah Ferguson.

Over the years, I smoked many a joint of very strong ganja with John and we both had great mutual respect for each other. Being stoned with him and listening to his thoughts on anything and everything was something that was part of the reason I loved living in the neighborhood. I don’t live there anymore, and I wish I could attend any memorials being put together for him.

But, honestly, all the people and things I loved about the “East Village” are dead or bulldozed.

Goodbye, John, and I won’t say rest in peace

because that phrase really means nothing. So I say gone but loved and not forgotten.

John Penley

A medley of characters To The Editor: Re “John Farris, bohemian poet who chronicled life on Lower East Side” (obituary, Feb. 11): Dear poet John. I met you at Nublu decades ago as you held court on your esteemed stool, reserved solely for your presence. You were noble, playful, wry and a bit skeptical of everything.

I was always impressed by your cutting, yet astute critique of the performances there, speaking with unapologetic candor. That always amazed me.

Then you’d reach for a drink of the steady round of whatever you were drinking. You were a handsome devil and tried to cop a feel whenever you could.

Ah, you were a medley of characters.

I stopped visiting Nublu regularly a decade ago, but have kept fond memories. So grateful I got to share time with you on the planet. Forever in our hearts, R.I.P. The world is poorer without you in it.

Sandra McKenzie

Farris flashbacks To The Editor: Re “John Farris, bohemian poet who chronicled life on Lower East Side” (obituary, Feb. 11): I remember him being really ruffled that my roommate’s big black dog was named Satchmo.

One time, Chris from Unsane was sitting at the bar after last call and John was like, “Boy, you ain’t nothin’ but a punk.” Chris was all, “Um, yeah, exactly.”

Whenever Brubeck’s “Take Five” would come on, he’d say, “Ah man, that’s some ugly jazz.” I was always fine with that tune. Not after that.

Trippy Thompson

Planter plantations To The Editor: Re “Soho planters have taken root, but not legally” (news article, Feb. 11): One only has to look at the photos accompanying this article to realize that sidewalk planters, regardless of whatever aesthetic value they may have, are a permanent obstruction of public space. To install a long row of them on a narrow sidewalk is an insult to pedestrians, an obstruction to EMS, firefighters and police and an objective safety hazard.

Apart from the obvious, the reality is that throughout Manhattan real estate interests have set up planter plantations for the express purpose of obstructing legal vendors — such as disabled veterans and artists — from setting up stands in legal vending locations.

This fact was stated by Lieutenant Robert DiOnofrio of the New York Police Department in sworn testimony in a federal lawsuit brought by disabled vets.

When the city attorney asked DiOnofrio if he Continued on p. 28 TheVillager.com

Discover a new state of Tennessee

Late Williams works embrace ‘bigger than life, juicy characters’

PHOTOS BY ANTONIS ACHILLEOS

L to R: Patrick Darwin Williams, Kate Skinner, Declan Eells and Jade Ziane in “The Remarkable Rooming-House of Mme. Le Monde.”

BY TRAV S.D.

I

t’s been over 30 years now since the great American playwright Tennessee Williams passed away.

Little did anyone (least of all him) suspect in 1982 that the early 21st century would be a time of reevaluation and elevation of his late works. Most efforts from his last two decades were uncelebrated, to put it mildly. Most were unproduced in his time. Those that did see the light of day were panned by critics, unfairly compared to his early masterpieces like “The Glass Menagerie” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.” But that has been steadily changing. In recent years, New York has seen critically acclaimed productions of such late Williams works as “In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel,” “Green Eyes,” TheVillager.com

“Clothes for a Summer Hotel” and “In Masks Outrageous and Austere.”

One key player in this Williams Renaissance has been Romanianborn stage director Cosmin Chivu.

Among his credits are a revival of the 1981 play “Something Cloudy, Something Clear” in the 2011 Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, and his 2013 hit production of Williams’ 1966 oddity “The Mutilated,” starring Mink Stole and Penny Arcade.

Two years ago, Chivu sat on a Tennessee Williams panel sponsored by the Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company. This lead to his directing a Sept. 2015 staged reading of John Guare’s “More Stars Than There Are in Heaven” for the company, which resulted in Playhouse Creatures hiring him to direct “Tennessee

L to R: Ford Austin, Kate Skinner in “A Recluse and His Guest.”

Williams 1982.” The production — which features the late-career oneacts “A Recluse and His Guest” and “The Remarkable Rooming-House of Mme. Le Monde” — is running at Walkerspace through Mar. 13.

“A Recluse” is a Scandinavianflavored parable about an outcast woman who briefly finds love and safety in the arms of a half-witted, skittish hermit. “The Remarkable Rooming-House” is a punk-era black comedy, with detectable overtones of Samuel Beckett, Joe Orton, John Waters, and Derek Jarman.

Miraculously, Chivu and his set designer Justin West have built a space for both plays to live in that is at once warm, cluttered, elemental, and timeless.

“These two plays work together on stage surprisingly well,” says Chivu.

“Though set in very different worlds they have extraordinary things in common. ‘A Recluse and His Guest’ is unique and unprecedented, unlike anything else Tennessee Williams has written. It may surprise the audience.

It’s written like a fable or a folk tale, set in an unspecified Northern Europe — we’re imagining it somewhere north of Norway. ‘The Remarkable Rooming-House of Mme. Le Monde’ is a rough political commentary, seen through the eyes of characters in an attic in London in the 1980s.”

Each work is set in a location that, Chivu notes, is “unusual for Williams,” with a tone that is “far from realism. Both plays have the recurring theme of life in imposed exile and fear of accepting love. And TENNESSEE continued on p. 22 February 18, 2016

21

Exile and survival are key in two by Tennessee TENNESSEE continued from p. 21

at the bottom of both is a familiar theme from Williams’ work: how a woman survives. Each of the two plays complements the other. They are like windows into Tennessee Williams’ soul.”

With European training in the experimental theatre and a master’s from the Actors Studio, Chivu sees the late work of Tennessee Williams as “a perfect combination requiring both approaches. It’s written with experimental precision, but very well-structured. It’s full of ideas and free imagery, which excites me as a director. All these challenges. You read it on the page and you say to yourself, ‘How am I going to do this?’ He has a character hanging from a hook for 45 minutes and then falling down. How do you do that without compromising the voice of the playwright? As a director, I think hard about how to honor what the playwright wants first and try to stay focused on that. At the same time, I’m not afraid to make changes that bring his visions to fruition, to create a three-dimensional experience, to give it flesh and bones.”

Chivu also embraced an opportunity to explore “these bigger than life, juicy characters” found in the pair of one-acts that comprise “Tennessee Williams 1982.” That element was always to be found in his plays, says Chivu, “but he stopped apologizing for it in his later work and just went for it.”

Two of the actors to watch out for in the present production are Ford Austin and Kate Skinner. Austin recently fought his way back from a near fatal accident and a prognosis of total paralysis in 2013, to give an amazing, moving performance as Ott, the titular “Recluse.” Skinner demonstrates tremendous range as both Ott’s sweet, needy “Guest,” as well as the sexy, serial-killing Mme. Le Monde, underlining the evening’s thematic throughline.

It’s a thought-provoking and moving evening of theatre, and this observer intends to continue watching Chivu’s work with great interest.

“Tennessee Williams 1982” plays through Mar. 13. Preview performances Thurs.–Sat., Feb. 18–20 at 7:30 p.m.

Opening Sun., Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. Regular performances Wed.–Sun., Feb. 24–28, Mar. 2–6 & Mar. 9–13 at 7:30 p.m. Sat., Feb. 27, Mar. 5 & Mar. 12 at 3 p.m.

At Walkerspace (46 Walker St., btw.

Broadway & Church St.). For tickets ($40 general, $50 premium), visit playhousecreatures.org or call 800-838-3006.

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February 18, 2016

PHOTOS BY ANTONIS ACHILLEOS

Kate Skinner demonstrates tremendous range as a sweet, needy visitor in “A Recluse and His Guest” and as the sexy title character in “The Remarkable Rooming-House of Mme. Le Monde” (seen here).

Ford Austin (seen here in “A Recluse and His Guest”) overcame a prognosis of total paralysis, to give a moving performance as Ott — the titular “Recluse.”

TheVillager.com

In the land of pages, gamers stage this

Jefferson Market Library hosts live-action roleplay true love at the ball, but they don’t know who that is until the end of the game. Players only know the details about their own character, and have to mingle to learn about the others.

All of the dialogue and interaction is improvised. Character have unique personality traits, and abilities like magical spells and/or sword fighting skills. These can be used to vie with one another for the favor of a particular dance partner, or to learn clues about the backstory of the game’s setting and characters.

“Dance” uses a format similar to speed dating, where Ladies can choose a Lord to dance with, and converse while waltzing. The dancing is real, and each performance of “The Dance and the Dawn” involves a brief lesson on how to waltz. The event lasts four hours, with players dancing, then taking breaks to mingle and converse. Tusk says this format “shepherds the players through each moment of their experience, rather than leaving them to putter around unguided and find their own interactions.”

Tusk designed the game so that characters have ideal “pairings” in which every Lady has a specific Lord who is ideally suited to her. Ending up in the right pair might seem like a way to win the game, but Tusk doesn’t see it that way. According to him, “The player’s goal should be to experience the most compelling story, and that can certainly happen whether or not the character finds true love.

I’ve had PCs [player characters] undergo devastating romantic tragedies and walk out feeling like it was a really cool thing to witness from the inside. For that matter, I’ve had players deliberately forgo true love because they were so attached to the ‘wrong’ PC romances that they developed over the course of the game. It would be incredibly foolish to say that those people ‘lost.’ ” “Dance” has been produced in a variety of locations, including college classrooms, Off-Off Broadway theaters, and a games cafe in Beijing, with the most recent NYC proGAMERS continued on p. 24

THE NEW SOUND OF

IMAGE BY GONZALO ORDONEZ

Game designer Warren Tusk’s “The Dance and the Dawn” is a gothic fairy tale for 15 players who waltz and duel while searching for true love.

BY CHARLES BATTERSBY

A

generation ago, “Dungeons & Dragons” redefined the word “game” to many people. In D&D, players created roles for themselves, and Dungeon Masters told stories that starred those characters. However, this sort of “roleplaying game” doesn’t have to be about killing monsters, or played sitting around a table.

Some people take their games away from the table and do live-action roleplaying, or LARP. Paracelsus Games creates and publishes a form of LARP called “Theatrical Experiences,” which have elements in common with games and improvisational theater. They recently presented one such LARP called “The Dance and the Dawn,” in conjunction with the New York Public Library (NYPL).

The term LARP is often associated with people running around in parks, with foam swords (this is TheVillager.com

what players call “boffer” LARP).

“The Dance and the Dawn” does have some swordplay, but the focus is on character interaction between its 15 players. These players take on the roles of noble Ladies and Lords at a midnight ball, where everyone is seeking out their true love. Each player is assigned a role in advance by the person hosting the game. In this case, the event is hosted by representatives from the NYPL and Paracelsus Games, but anyone can buy a copy of the game and host their own performance.

Warren Tusk, the Creative Director at Paracelsus Games, is the author of “The Dance and the Dawn” — which he describes as being “different from boffer LARPs, in that it focuses on heavy roleplay with no physical-sport combat element, and different from ‘Nordic’ LARPs, in that it works largely with elaborate pre-created plot and characters.”

Every character in “Dance” has a

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23

Gamers bring ‘Ice and Ash’ to life, in library

PHOTOS BY LIZ SUSMAN KARP

The Prince (Eduardo Perez) and Lords (Kristen Hendricks, Stefan Huber, Brian Farr and Steve Chang) watch an unusual twist of events as Lady Jade (Nicole Orabona) challenges Lord Paleos Kalbrock (Jeff Wirth) to a duel.

GAMERS continued from p. 23

duction having taken place on Jan. 30 at the Hudson Park Library. This unusual venue, Tusk says, “provides useful gaming spaces, and helps us reach out to potential players that we wouldn’t have a way to reach on our own.”

Miranda Murray, the Library Manager at Hudson Park, notes that staging a LARP was a new experience for her. “I’m always looking for new and exciting programs and new things to attract people to our library,” she says. “We’re in

the West Village, and we certainly have lots of cultural institutions in the neighborhood that are exciting for our patrons, and I was looking for something to compete with that, and have something new.”

Just about any LARP will involve NPCs or “non-player characters.”

They portray characters, just like players do, but the NPCs are part of the staff hosting the show. In “Dance,” the NPCs are the Queen of Ice, and the Duke of Ash. Players compete to earn the favor of the Queen and Duke, and can even unravel a mystery about their backstory, which might affect

The Queen (Aili Klein) rebuffs the advances of Lord Paleos Kalbrock (Jeff Wirth) during a recent run of “The Dance and the Dawn,” whose sequel will come to Jefferson Market Library on Mar. 4.

how the game plays out.

At the Hudson Park Library show, we spoke with the people who played the NPCs, David Kotsonis (the Duke of Ash) and Aili Klein (the Queen of Ice). Both of them first experienced the show as players in past productions, but volunteered to play NPC roles. “I watched the Duke and the Queen have their very dramatic moment, I was like ‘Wow! I want to do that!’ ” said Klein of her earlier experience as a player.

Kotsonis explained that players are allowed to read the game documents about other characters after

the game, and he was “struck by the Duke and Queen’s backstory, and the Duke’s side of it,” so he asked to play the role himself in the recent production.

Interested players who missed the Jan. 30 production can participate in the sequel to “The Dance and the Dawn,” called “Dreams of Ice and Ash.” The action unfolds at Jefferson Market Library (corner of Sixth Ave. & W. 10th St.) on Fri., Mar. 4, from 6–10 p.m. The event is free, but interested players must register before Fri., Feb. 26. To do so, visit paracelsus-games.com.

Buhmann on Art

Richard Aldrich at Gladstone Gallery

BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN

B

orn in 1975, New York-based Richard Aldrich creates paintings and sculpture that range in scale, material, and technique. He works with printed dibond and ceramic appliqué, for example, as well as with the traditional oil on canvas.

Believing in the free mixture of forms and materials without being restricted by a particular style or context, Aldrich focuses on layering information and inspiration sourced from everyday life. Here, motifs reoccur and evolve, allowing objects from the artist’s life to become symbolic protagonists in a deeply personal narrative. As is reflected in its title, “Richard Aldrich: Time Stopped, Time Started” will explore notions of time and memory, both philosophi-

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February 18, 2016

PHOTOS COURTESY GLADSTONE GALLERY

Installation view, “Richard Aldrich: Time Stopped, Time Started.”

“Time,” said Richard Aldrich, “can be used as a medium, just like oil paint.”

cally and as a visual tool. In fact, Aldrich has stated: “Time can be used as a medium, just like oil paint.”

Through Mar. 5 at Gladstone Gallery (515 W. 24th St. btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Hours: Tues.–Sat. 10a.m.–6p.m.

Call 212-206-9300 or visit gladstonegallery.com.

TheVillager.com

Just Do Art

BY SCOTT STIFFLER

FRIED CHICKEN AND LATKES

“I grew up Black and Jewish,” recalls Rain Pryor, “which means I’m proud, but I feel guilty about it.”

That’s more than enough material to build a comedic persona around, if not an entire career — but for Rain, daughter of Richard, tales of her struggle with racial and religious identity in the ’60s and ’70s are springboards from which to leap toward contemporary truths, not crutches that keep her tethered to the past. Pacing the stage and occasionally mimicking her father’s cadences with genetically impeccable precision, Rain’s searching eyes, skeptical tone, and well-parceled expressions of exasperation are unmistakable products of her paternal legacy — but the daughter distinguishes herself with observational material that dad simply wasn’t built to ponder, let alone fathom with such nuance and depth.

Riffing on the West African dashiki garment, Rain likens it to a caftan, then shifts gears for those in the audience who might not grasp either reference (“If you don’t know what a caftan is, it’s a housecoat with flowers.”). Expect plenty of likeminded cross-cultural outreach at Pryor’s autobiographical solo show, “Fried Chicken and Latkes,” in which she recalls her Beverly Hills upbringing, retraces her father’s path, and finds her own identity — as a woman, an artist, and a mother. Not enough for you?

There’s also material from her days as a sitcom actor, a stand-up comic, and a cabaret singer. To paraphrase kindred spirit Gilda Radner: You don’t have to be Black and Jewish to like it, but it wouldn’t hurt.

Wed., Feb. 24, 7 p.m. at the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust (Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Place). For tickets ($35, $25 for Museum members, $15 for students with valid ID), call 646-437-4202 or visit mjhnyc.org. Artist info at rainpryor.com.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY’S 13th ANNUAL LOVE N’ COURAGE FUNDRAISER

An East Village treasure you can always bank on, Theater for the New City (TNC) has spent three decades discovering new talent, keeping ticket prices affordable, and fighting the TheVillager.com

PHOTO BY CHRISTINE JEAN CHAMBERS

Guilt, pride and punchlines: Rain Pryor performs her autobiographical show “Fried Chicken and Latkes” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

PHOTO BY PETER RAD

Gonna make you sweat: Megan Hill puts a select group through their paces, during “The Last Class: A Jazzercise Play.”

Mon., Feb. 22. Cocktails at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:45 p.m., performance and presentation at 8 p.m. At the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South, btw. Irving Pl. & Park Ave. South). For tickets ($175 each, $150 each for tables of 10 to 12), call 212-254-1109 or visit theaterforthenewcity.net.

THE LAST CLASS: A JAZZERCIZE PLAY

COURTESY TNC

Betsy Von Furstenberg, as she introduced Edward Albee the year he was honored at TNC’s Love N’ Courage benefit.

good fight by giving the green light to countless projects that advance the causes of social justice, sexual liberation, and limitless silliness. But putting their money where their mouth is costs a lot of green. That’s where this annual fundraiser comes in, which helps shore up TNC’s bottom line while paying tribute to key figures in the arts community who support the development of new works for the stage.

This year’s Love N’ Courage event, which will raise funds for TNC’s emerging writers programs, salutes the actress and philanthropist Betsy Von Furstenberg (19312015), along with sculptor and painter Donn Russell. Among those offering tributes will be David Am-

ram, Phoebe Legere, KT Sullivan, the Yip Harburg Foundation Rainbow Troupe, TNC’s Street Theater Company, dancer Cha-Lee Chan and Eric Yves Garcia. Downtown performers Phoebe Legere and Matt Morillo will emcee. Cecilia Johnson and J. Seward Johnson, Jr. will also be acknowledged (their Johnson Theater is one of four TNC stages on which countless writers, directors, actors, designers and producers have presented new work). So turn off the idiot box, venture into the night, and find yourself transported to a time when — says TNC Executive Director Crystal Field — “theater was what television is today. It was the place to go, where art was created.”

If you haven’t quite gotten around to making good on those New Year’s resolutions to exercise more and support the arts, the sweaty multitaskers at newly formed DODO: A Theater Collective are here to help. At each performance of “The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play,” two ticketholders will be able to join playwright Megan Hill on stage, as she assumes the persona of Kelsea Wiggan — a deeply insecure instructor who refuses to surrender herself to Zumba, even as that trendy exercise regimen threatens her reign at the Chikatawnee Valley Community Center. With meltdowns that number higher than her heart rate, even ever-patient co-instructor MJ (Amy Staats) can’t keep things from deteriorating, as Wiggan leaps about the stage in a brave but misguided attempt to marry ’80s-style aerobics with the music of Adele, Macklemore, and Imagine Dragons.

Wed.–Fri. at 8 p.m., through Mar. 5, at TheaterLab (357 W. 36th St., third floor, btw.

Eighth & Ninth Aves.). For tickets ($18) visit dodotheater.com. To “take the class,” send an email to askadodo@gmail.com.

February 18, 2016

25

Vavavoom! Burlesque dancers reclaim an art form, but

BY NOAH KLEIN

Y

ou are in the Slipper Room on Orchard St. on the Lower East Side. It’s a sensuous-looking performance space. Its decor some have likened to a bordello. There’s a stage at the front. The red velvet curtain is thick, closed to all not privileged to enter backstage. Illuminated in a soft glow, a bar is at the right side of the room. At its corner, two women — in colorful shawls and sequined dresses, their hair tied up in intricate curls, the corners of their eyes dotted with rhinestones — drink amber colored liquid from clear glasses.

Hovey Burgess, an artist-in-residence at Tisch School of the Arts, where he teaches circus techniques, sits at a table up front, in his usual spot, near the corner of the stage. He sips his Coke in his red shirt and signature rhinestone bow tie.

Lily Faye a.k.a. the Bronx Bombshell walks out on stage. “My Daddy Rocks Me,” a rollicking 1920s jazz tune, pumps through the speakers. A seamstress as well as a performer, she designed her red robe, sewed the feathers down the front and across the shoulders. Each stitch is an essential part of her performance, as much as her first step onto the stage to the first smooth trumpet note of the song.

A long, dark-haired and dark-eyed Latina, she controls the stage with each lunge, each smile and each choreographed, sinuous movement.

Those movements and her expressions have been honed over her three years of performance experience: the bold, fluid forward thrust of her right leg, the slit opening slow, like the foreboding red curtain, revealing a well-toned thigh; the slight smirk that lifts the corner of her mouth; the graceful, powerful motions of her arms as she sheds the outer layer of “cloth of fire”; a surprised open mouthed “oh” when the first glove comes off revealing skin.

Another night, another venue on the Lower East Side: a classic 1920s French hotel design, complete with a Parisian rooftop garden and an elegant lobby bar. From the copper-plated ceiling, to the red velvet booths, Hotel Chantelle oozes a sultry, jazzy elegance. You glance at a woman standing in a semi-hidden room across from the bar. She looks completely at ease and in control in her blue, rhinestone dress, her long white gloves, her white, feathered boa and white feathered hat — her general’s uniform.

She is a legend in the scene — eight years as a performer and producer, she has earned the respect and admiration of her peers and the adoration of audiences across the world. Calamity Chang a.k.a. the Asian Sexsation of classical burlesque, and a “burlesque maverick,” according to fellow producer and performer Chicava Honeychild, has a larger-than-life presence on and off the stage. Her personality: a battering ram of raunchy jokes, charming smiles and witty banter.

Finish your Tito’s vodka martini dirty at the Chantelle’s rooftop bar and stroll over to Nurse Bettie, a small, intimate, back-alley venue on Norfolk St. The space is cramped, packed with people — yuppies, hipsters, financiers and, of course, a random assortment of bar hoppers who stumbled into the right place at the right time. The free Thursday night show, first started by Calamity Chang, begins.

Calamity, co-hosting with the “Golden Throat of Burlesque,” Broadway Brassy, steps on stage: “Give a burlesque welcome to Chicava Honeychild!”

Wolf whistles, hollers and raucous applause (all

26

February 18, 2016

PHOTO COURTESY NOAH KLEIN

Lily Faye a.k.a. the Bronx Bombshell.

are always encouraged) follow.

A tall, black woman — all tightly coiled sexuality and utterly comfortable in her “not the American ideal” body type — claims the small raised stage for her own. Chicava, who started performing in 2006, joined Brown Girls Burlesque in 2007, and started producing for them in 2008.

All three women share the qualities of being highly educated, ambitious and of color.

Lily Faye has a B.F.A. in women’s intimate apparel with a minor in art history from The Fashion Institute of Technology.

When asked about her ultimate goals in burlesque she states, “Performing is not my number one occupation. I am a lingerie designer and seamstress and plan to start my own company.”

However, she acknowledges, “Burlesque has helped me in my other pursuits as I design cos-

tumes for other dancers, including Calamity Chang. Also it has helped to get my name out there — I have more of a following as ‘Lily Faye’ than I do as a lingerie designer.”

Similarly, Calamity Chang has a master’s in fine arts from Columbia. Her ultimate goal is “to diversify the ‘Calamity Chang’ brand and write a memoir about her journey as a burlesque dancer.”

Not only that, but according to Calamity, “Burlesque has helped me get in touch with my Asian roots. Growing up in Texas I was different, often ashamed of being Chinese. I grew up in the era when people called you chink. With burlesque I use my nationality as a selling point.”

Chicava Honeychild is one of the foremost authorities on the history of black dancers in burBURLESQUE continued on p. 27 TheVillager.com

with a new, challenging — badaboom! — feminist twist BURLESQUE continued from p. 26

lesque. She holds and M.F.A. in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College. Currently, she is working on a documentary, “Sister Shake,” about the history of black dancers in burlesque.

At the helm of Brown Girls Burlesque, she produces quarterly shows at Joe’s Pub in The Public Theater on Lafayette St. and actively mentors women of color in the burlesque scene through The Broad Squad Institute.

As for her goals, she spoke about B.G.B.’s upcoming community engagement program, which will roll out this year and share synergies with other movements for black women.

“The idea is to provide a safe space for women of color to learn and enjoy burlesque,” she said, “discussing and dissecting topical and longstanding issues, such as how to talk to teenage women about sex and how to embody positivity for brown women of different shapes, sizes and stories across the world.”

Burlesque is a truly provocative art form. On its surface, it seems to draw purely on the pleasure of aesthetics and movement. But, as the three aforementioned dancers attest, burlesque plays with societal expectations of what “art” is, especially in a traditional American context that is based on puritanical-patriarchal values.

Striptease and burlesque create conversation about the patriarchal limitations and misogyny that exists, and has always existed, in America.

Burlesque dancers, through the power of performance and movement, no matter their body type or skin color, engage the audience in a conversation. The reciprocal relationship is a give-and-take: Burlesque dancers give new perspectives, new ways of thinking, and provide disequilibrium to an audience; burlesque dancers, in return, take positivity, confidence and, of course, money.

Being raised in a puritanical-patriarchal society, watching women who embody, and expose, our sexuality to the light of day may scare us. As Calamity Chang states, when asked about what first drew her to burlesque, “These women were having fun with their bodies and their sexuality, in a different way from strip clubs. There was a narrative. These women became a character. Sexuality was more approachable for both men and women.”

Lily Faye, speaking later over a steaming bowl of vegetable ramen, explains, “Burlesque is about more than a pretty woman taking her clothes off. There is attitude, glamour, intricate costuming, choreogTheVillager.com

PHOTO COURTESY MIKE WEBB

Calamity Chang a.k.a. the Asian Sexsation.

PHOTO BY TONI WALLACHY

Chicava Honeychild.

raphy, music. In America, we live a very prude life when it comes to the human body, particularly our own bodies. We see the human body sexualized everywhere in advertisement, but that sexualization challenges us to be comfortable in our own skin. Burlesque glorifies different body types and challenges societal conceptions of what is beautiful or what is sexy.”

In the past, academia has played a large part in determining what art is. This is evidenced by such institutions as the Norton Anthology of English Literature — first compiled and edited by Cornell Professor M.H. Abrams and then transferred over to Harvard Professor Stephen Greenblatt — which is the standard for canonizing Western authors.

However, Harvard and Cornell are probably the last things on one’s mind when thinking of burlesque dancing and, technically, stripping.

However, the Norton Anthology of Literature missed many important influences of pop culture and art.

For instance, there has never been a speculative-fiction author included in the Norton Anthology. J.R.R Tolkien, author of “The Lord of the Rings,” and C.S. Lewis, author of “The Chronicles of Narnia,” have never been included. Yet their works revolutionized pop culture, including cinema and popular genre fiction, the world over.

In the same fashion, burlesque has never been considered an academic art form. In the words of Calamity Chang, “Burlesque has always been an outside, marginalized art form. In the last 10 to 15 years, with the new wave of feminism, burlesque has been reclaimed as an art form. In the ’30s and ’40s, it wasn’t. It was stripping. Burlesque repackages the sexuality present in popular culture and strip clubs, and gives it a narrative, entertaining form.”

Yet, when examining burlesque closely, one sees telltale aspects of “academic art.” As Lily Faye mentioned above, there is choreography, costuming, music choice and acting. You can pursue an undergraduate and graduate degree in all of these areas.

Schools such as Juilliard and Tisch are dedicated to music and acting.

As burlesque aficionado Hovey Burgess offers, “All art pushes boundaries, and burlesque, practiced as the art of the striptease, is no exception.”

We would be remiss not to believe Hovey, who has taught an N.Y.U. collective for 49½ years!

So, if it looks like art, smells like art, and “pushes societal boundaries,” call it what it is. Not a spade, but art. And, of course, as Calamity Chang so eloquently puts it, “Burlesque is art because we’re not making any f--king money on it.”

February 18, 2016

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LETTERS Continued from p. 20

knew why BID’s (business improvement districts) had set up tens of thousands of planters on Manhattan sidewalks, he testified that it was done to prevent vets and other legal vendors from setting up.

Here’s a video about New York City planters, showing thousands of them: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=RvtFS2GCdDw How can a community that has spent decades castigating vendors for temporarily using the public sidewalk, allow real estate interests, billionaires or a charity to permanently deny the public the full use of city sidewalks?

17 8th Avenue (between 12th and Jane)

Robert Lederman Lederman is president, A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists’ Response to Illegal State Tactics)

Pull the plug! www.leftbankbooksny.com leftbankbooksny@yahoo.com instagram @leftbankbooksny

212.924.5638

To The Editor: Re “Null sues WBAI; Endgame near for iconic radio station?” (news article, Feb. 4): WBAI has been in constant turmoil since the reign of Anna Kossoff and Pablo Guzman. That goes back to 1977.

The “golden age” of Bob Fass, Steve Post and Larry Josephson is but a long-faded memory. Someone should show mercy and pull the plug on this now-sad excuse for a radio station.

JT Fangio

Null-ify WBAI? To The Editor: “Null sues WBAI; Endgame near for iconic radio station?” (news article, Feb. 4):

It doesn’t matter if listeners do or don’t like Gary Null. The issue is whether WBAI is breaking federal laws by making illegal copies of someone’s intellectual property. If this lawsuit is successful in putting the “experiment in democracy” to bed, at long last, then Gary Null will have done Pacifica Foundation and its founders, subscribers and listeners a big, big favor.

Nalini Lasiewicz E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager. com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 1 Metrotech North, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY, NY 11201. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager reserves the right to edit letters for space, grammar, clarity and libel.

Anonymous letters will not be published.

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February 18, 2016

Library is saving bits of Village and all of The Villager archives

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

E

veryone always says that the Village as we’ve known it is vanishing, a little bit more day by day. Well, The Jefferson Market Library will be helping to hold on to a bit — make that bits — of the historic Village through its new Greenwich Village Ephemera Project.

As Corrine Neary, the library’s senior librarian, explained the concept, “We’re collecting personal objects and mementos that tell a story, along with a short written narrative, from Village residents.”

She already put out notice of the project and has been receiving submissions, which so far have included things like postcards, photos and pins from Gay Pride and political events.

The display cases are small — around 13 inches by 13 inches by 2 inches deep. The opening will feature 15 objects.

“The items will be displayed all together at the opening, then on a rotating, ongoing basis in a display case in our lobby,” Neary said. “I will be returning them to their owners once the item has had its month in the display, but we are going to photograph the

items, and hopefully compile a book with each object and story.”

Right now, the project will run for at least 15 months, but it could be extended if there’s interest.

“We could keep it going in perpetuity, if there’s interest,” Neary said.

The Ephemera Project will kick off with an opening reception Fri., April 1, at 6 p.m. at the library, at 425 Sixth Ave., between W. 10th and Christopher Sts. The 15 objects’ owners will be there to meet people and share the items’ stories. There will be light refreshments.

In other library news — literally — Neary reported some encouraging developments in the Jefferson Market branch’s ongoing digital archiving of The Villager’s back issues dating back to April 1933. First, it looks like the library will be able to complete the scanning of all the microfilm of The Villager’s back issues for digitizing within this year.

In addition, the New York State Historic Newspapers database is going to host The Villager’s archives on its own Web site, which is free, and the New York Public Library is working to put them on the library’s site, as well, according to Neary.

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February 18, 2016

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STATE OF MICHIGAN COUNTY OF MACOMB CIRCUIT COURT

To Advertise Call: 646-452-2490 Case No. @TheVillager.com LegalAds Deadline – 12 noon Wednesday 2015-003936-CB

ORDER

Planet Stage Productions, LLC 75251

Attorney: Pamela M.Sossi P#

Plaintiff(s)

vs Masonic Temple Association of Detroit, Inc., 450 Temple, Inc., Michael Smith, and Matthew Mazer, Jointly and Severely.

70408 Jason R. Abel and Gary & Attorney: D. Merigan

Defendant(s) At a session of the Court, held on

P# 24782

February 1,2016 Granting Plaintiffs Ex-Parte Motion to Modify Court’s December 1,2015 Order Regarding Alternative Service for Defendant Matthew Mazer ORDER OF

Title of Order

IT IS ORDERED: That Plaintiff’s Ex-Parte Motion to Modify the Court’s Order Regarding Alternative Service for Defendant Matthew Mazer is hereby GRANTED. The Court finds that service of process by publication of the ‘notice of the action’ pursuant to MCR 2.106(C), is the best available method of alternative service of process on Defendant Matthew Mazer.

Plaintiff may serve process of its action on Defendant Matthew Mazer by publishing the following notice pursuant to MCR 2.106(C) once per week for a period of three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper, as defined by MCR 2.106(F), that is published in a county of the Defendant Mazer’s last known address: “An action seeking money damages regarding a certain live concert event that occurred on or about November 23, 2012, in the City of Detroit, County of Wayne, State of Michigan, has been commenced by Plaintiff Planet Stage Productions, LLC, against Defendants Matthew Mazer; Michael Smith; Masonic Temple Association of Detroit, Inc., and 450 Temple, Inc., in the Macomb County Circuit Court for the State of Michigan, Case Number 2015-003936-CB, and Defendant Matthew Mazer must answer or take other action permitted by law within 28 days after the last date of publication. If Defendant Matthew Mazer does not answer or take other action within, the time allowed with the Macomb County Circuit Court, a judgment may be entered against him for the relief demanded in the Complaint’’· FEB 01 2016 (5125/04) Approved as to form and substance by: Pamela M. Sossi Signature of attorney for plaintiff

Signature of attorney for defendant

FILED by Macomb County Circuit Court 2/3/2016 11:12:47 AM Service, Submitted, and File

STATE OF MICHIGAN JUDICIAL DISTRICT 16th JUDICIAL CIRCUIT COUNTY PROBATE

Original - Court 1st copy - Defendant

2nd copy - Plaintiff 3rd copy - Return

CASE NO. SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT

Court address

2015-003936-CB Court telephone no.

40 North Main Street, Mount Clemens, MI 48043

(586) 469-4351

Plaintiffs name(s), address(es), and telephone no(s). no(s).

Planet Stage Productions, LLC, A Michigan Limited Liability Company

V

Defendant’s name (s), address(es), and telephone Matthew Mazzer, An Individual, Jointly and Severally.

Plaintiff’s attorney, bar no., address, and telephone no.

Law Office of Jordan J. Rassam, PLLC By: Jordan J. Rassam (P75874) & Pamela M. Sossi (P75251) 400 Monroe Street, Suite 280 Detroit, MI 48226 313-962-0000 ISUMMONS I NOTICE TO THE DEFENDANT: In the name of the people of the State of Michigan you are notified: 1. You are being sued.

2. YOU HAVE 21 DAYS after receiving this summons to file a written answer with the court and serve a copy on the other party or take other lawful action with the court (28 days if you were served by mail or you were served outside this state). (MCR2.111[C)) 3. If you do not answer or take other action within the time allowed, judgment may be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint.

Issued 02/03/2016

This summons expires Court clerk /S/ CARMELLA SABAUGH 03/04/2016 *This summons is invalid unless served on or before its expiration date.

This document must be sealed by the seal of the court. | COMPLAINT| Instruction: The following is information that is required to be in the caption of every complaint and is to be completed by the plaintiff. Actual allegations and the claim for relief must be stated on additional complaint pages and attached to this form. [x] This is a business case in which all or part of the action includes a business or commercial dispute under MCL 600.8035. Family Division Cases [ ] There is no other pending or resolved action within the jurisdiction of the family division of circuit court involving the family or family members of the parties. [ ] An action within the jurisdiction of the family division of the circuit court involving the family or family members of the parties has been previously filed in Court.

The action [ ] remains [ ]is no longer pending. The docket number and the judge assigned to the action are: Docket no.

Judge

Bar no.

General Civil Cases [ ] There is no other pending or resolved civil action arising out of the same transaction or occurrence as alleged in the complaint. [x] A civil action between these parties or other parties arising out of the transaction or occurrence alleged in the complaint has been previously filed in Macomb County Circuit Court.

The action [ ] remains [x] is no longer pending. The docket number and the judge assigned to the action are: Docket no.

Judge Bar no.

2014-002758-cb Katherine A. Viviano P 60219 |VENUE| Plaintiff(s) residence (include city, township, or village) Wayne County

Defendant(s) residence (include city, township, or village) Wayne County and New York, New York

Place where action arose or business conducted Wayne and Macomb County 02/01/2016 f you require special accommodations to use the court because of a disability or if you require a foreign language interpreter to help you fully participate in court proceedings, please contact the court immediately to make arrangements.

MC 01 (5/15) SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT MCR 2 .102(8) (11). MCR 2.104, MCR 2.105, MCR 2.107, MCR 2 .113(C)(2)(a). (b), MCR 3.206(A)

Vil: 02/11 - 02/25/2016

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February 18, 2016

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PHOTOS BY ROBBIELEEPHOTO.COM

A Seward Park player flying in a for a layup during a regular-season game.

Bears lose tough one to Wadleigh in boro tourney SPORTS

BY RICHARD KUSHNER

W

rapping up their regular season, the Seward Park High School boys varsity basketball team edged out a victory versus LaSalle Academy, 52-51.

Although it was not a high-scoring game, it was still extremely entertaining. In the past, Seward Park might have lost a close game like this one.

But this year’s seniors are much more mature now and were able to hold on for the win. D’Andre McLamb hit two foul shots to win it.

Next, the Bears went to Washington Irving High School on Irving Place on Feb. 4 and had one of their better games of the season, winning, 88-73.

Everyone played well in that one, especially junior Dean Laboy, the team’s 6-foot-5 center, who found a dunk, his first of the season and his first of his varsity career. Dean has an opportunity to be a real star next season if he works hard in the classroom and on the court.

The team then traveled uptown on Feb. 9 to Wadleigh High School for the Manhattan divisional championship.

Seward Park, however, lost a very tough game to Wadleigh, 57-51, and was knocked out of the Manhattan playoffs. The Lower East ballers had cut a 10-point lead down to one with 15 seconds left. But the game ended in some controversy, as the Bears got hit with three technical fouls, the first one coming when Coach Wallace Simpson protested his players were repeatedly getting hacked while shooting.

Citywide championships are up next.

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February 18, 2016

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Artist held without trial ARTIST continued from p. 11

Lower Eastside Girls Club, in a variety of mural painting projects.

“From what I have learned through my community sources, Jairo Pastoressa was threatened on numerous occasions and ultimately feared for his life,” she wrote, in apparent reference to the slain Jusko. “It is my hope that you will take his history of community service and the testimony of people like me who have known him for years into account as you consider this case.

“Please note, I wrote a similar letter in October 2011 and am disturbed to learn that there has been no action on this case.”

Pentecost told The Villager: “While there is no doubt that Jairo was involved in some sort of crime — the facts of which have never been heard in a court of law — it is now compounded by the crime of our government denying him his civil and human rights. This is an important story and I hope you will continue to follow it.”

According to Anna, earlier this month, the prosecution wanted to call as a witness the woman who Jairo and Jusko were allegedly feuding over, but she was in Europe. According to her, that was the reason for the latest delay in the case.

Anna also recently dumped the defense lawyer and has retained a new one, who asked the judge for a six-month delay so he could get up to speed on the case. However, the judge — now apparently eager to move things along — opposed the delay. The new attorney was also planning an effort to try to bail out Pastoressa. That attorney, an older man, however, subsequently got sick and dropped the case, and Anna has now retained a female attorney, who seems very good, she said.

A new court date has been set for April 20.

Patrick Muncie, a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney, said, “While this case has required multiple extended adjournments — largely not in the People’s control — none are related to the strength of the evidence.”

According to a D.A. source, in addition to Jairo’s having been held at Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center for several months after his arrest, the defense attorney, in mid-2014, alerted the court that TheVillager.com

he intended to present a “psychiatric defense.” Preparations were made for interviews of Jairo by psychiatric experts, but then the defense “abruptly withdrew its psych notice” in late 2015.

In addition, a delay of the better part of a year occurred when the first judge on the case was appointed to a federal post, and time then had to be allowed for the new judge to familiarize himself with the case.

At the most recent court date, the prosecution reportedly said it was ready to go to trial, but, again, the new defense attorney asked for a six-month adjournment.

The source said that just switching defense lawyers is not a significant enough change to warrant a new bail hearing.

But Jairo’s mother was having none of the excuses.

“I am appalled to hear all of that,” she said, told of the D.A.’s response. “The psychiatric defense, that was being used — what? — for five-and-a-half years? Nonsense! They just like to blame one another. They are just a bunch of lazy people, including the judge.

“If he has to be sentenced, sentence him. If he’s innocent, let him out,” she stressed. “To hold someone that long, it’s unconstitutional. The fact that you are delaying the trial, you are exposing people to a very bad environment [in jail at Rikers].”

However, unlike other offenses, New York’s criminal code actually does not mandate a speedy trial when it comes to murder.

“My son is not a murderer,” Anna reiterated. “My son acted in self-defense. He didn’t purposely kill the guy.

“My son is a very reserved person. He’s the type of person who was at home, doing his work.

He didn’t go to parties, he didn’t go to bars and clubs. He doesn’t like to be in crowds, exposed. He doesn’t like confusion. When the chaos came to his door, he had to defend himself, he had no choice.

Besides, this guy was bigger than him. All this madness came to him.”

His mother said she doesn’t feel that Jairo, who is a private person, would be up for a jailhouse interview right now.

The victim, Christopher Jusko, grew up in Stuyvesant Town but was living in Bushwick at the time of his death. The Villager was not able to reach Jusko’s family members for comment by press time.

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