cityrag

Buddy Facts

1 - we first saw Buddy when searching Petfinder.com. he was up for adoption at the NY Center for Animal Control and Care, his name was listed as "Yum-Yum".

2 - the NYCACC took in over 60,000 animals last year (12,000-14,000 animals were killed). animals are given a limited time in the adoption facility before they are euthanized. Buddy was rescued the day before he was scheduled to be taken out of the adoption program by a group called New Yorkers for Companion Animals that fosters animals who are about to be killed until they can find them homes. this group relisted Buddy on petfinder.org, and through them we were able to schedule an appointment to meet and adopt him.

3 - Buddy was in poor health. he hadn't been fed well. his body shape was strange and his teeth were rotting. he would not eat dog food and he would not eat off a plate (he'd only eat scraps and would push them onto the floor with his nose.)

4 - he had also been badly abused and was extremely defensive (and would attack everything.) we would not look at you and always cast his eyes sadly at the ground.

after a year and a half in our home, Buddy is Mr. Happy Pants! he eats everything (loves a green bean), had some training sessions, is loosing his defensiveness and loves people. he's our little prince and knows it. and he's always lookin for eye contact, now the little guy just won't stop staring at us.

oh you beautiful city...
manhattan and brooklyn bridges glimmer through beer goggles as we find our way home last night...

ESPN Dream Job open casting call - live from Times Square...
this morning ESPN kicked off a month long, 8 city casting tour for "Dream Job" at their Times Square Zone location.

turn out was much better than the Virgin Billionaire casting call last month. good sized crowd, mix of interesting people, this one looks hopeful...

open casting call continues tomorrow from 8am - 6pm at the ESPN Sports Zone on 42nd and Bway!

New Vu
have ta laugh when we see the beat-up remnants of the crappy TaxiVu systems. seems every NY publication and taxi driver predicted its fate the day the idea was launched. last week this cab driver took the tip, with his homegrown improvement… Monsters Inc playing on a crisp little LCD screen with surround sound! (and pumpin’ air conditioning)

Youth gangs return to the lower east side...
but don't worry, Buddy has it under control

The Big Cherry?
it’s cherry season in NY. sure NY grows some of the best apples in the world, but our cherries are ripe, juicy and delicious! grown in various areas throughout the state and close-by, these cherries arrive almost warm off the trees and have a taste and texture all their own. crops are hitting local produce stores and green markets now!

Hot Tip! The Dutchess County Fair schedule has been announced – Charo returns!
For those who don’t know – County Fairs are THE BOMB! and, NY State has 2 of the best in the country. county fairs remind us of the EV/LES in some ways - a beautiful world of wonderment, thrills, oddities and amazing eats. It’s hard to describe all the f’ing fantastic reasons to go… here’s a quick recap of last years highlights…
- tractor pulls, classic cars, bands & mummer parades
- cute & whacky animals, arena after arena, 4-H shows, petting zoos, pig races, huge cows, canine tent
- exhibits: old tools, baking, jarring, knitting, gardening, cow milking, sheep sheering,
- the Mid-Way (Carny games and rides galore!)
- tons of tacky souvenirs, skull rings, trucker and vintage car t-shirts, all kinds of leather goods
- 4-H milkshake tent, lime fizz stands, homemade pierogis, snow cones, fresh candy apples and corn dogs, fried dough, kettle corn. a giant stand charbroiling roast beef on the spot then slicing paper thin and piling on a fresh roll (some raw onion, horseradish and a little beef juice) – great stuff
- free Charo show! walked in 10 minutes before the start and grabbed front row center seats. what an amazing performer! had her whole Vegas act with her, danced, sang classics, told her story, worked the audience (even kissed my girlfriend) and played the most beautiful flamenco guitar. she’s coming back this year – yeeehaaa! (along with the Bacon Brothers, Oakridge boys and others) DOES IT GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS?!

held in Rhinebeck, NY, less than a 2 hour drive outside the city up the beautiful Taconic Pky (might be accessible via public trans, bus or train, there’s a contact number on the site Directions page)

and that’s just the Dutchess County Fair. in a couple weeks we’ll post the highlights of the Columbia County Fair, a little north of Dutchess county and a whole different fair scene (held labor day weekend)

Beach Buddy
have a great weekend, we'll see you Monday

Buddy snubs his hertitage
showed Buddy some pictures of his corgi cousins, but he wasn't have'n it...

demo-licious
we've been trying to sneak shots through the always-closed gates of the Bank of America headquarters going on between 6th Ave and Bway on 42nd St (that will also soon take over the former location of the Chashama Theater performance space.)

this week some construction karma came around and we saw someone exiting the site. asked if we could step inside for a minute and take some pics and the suited-builder said yes! (he asked that we note that this is the demolition stage. construction soon to begin.) we stood there marveling together at the "bones" of the city, till a crowd gathered and he said it was time to shut the gates again.

getting Mila drunk
conversation in a bar last week with 2 EV bartenders…
girl bartender (to us): “you know I was 17 when I first started hanging out on your night at NoTell Motel”
boy bartender: “hey, I was too.”

maybe it was the irony of having Mila Jovovich's 18th birthday in a bar filled with creepy toys and cribs turned into love seats that made her peeps book Babyland. but it was obviously fate that brought us there as her bartender. (1993, right around Dazed and Confused release...)

Mila: "can you make me a drink that's strong but doesn't taste like anything"
us: "how about sex on the beach"
Mila: "that sounds great"
us: "you'll love it"

later...

Mila: "I love that drink. can you make me one in a bigger glass"
us: "sure" (swicthing over to the pint glasses we use for beer)

they stayed to the end. Mila was carried out. and yes, they tipped well. some people just naturally know how to party.

hole-some goodness
beginnings of a building on Fifth Ave and 42nd St.

us to construction worker: "how many floors"
construction guy: "it's gonna be about 40 stories"
us: "guess you're on zero then"
guy: "actually we're at minus 3 (big smile)"

Naked boyz on east village rooftops...
this one goes out to the ladies, and all you prideful gay men... a homey of ours who works behind the scenes in the porn biz has set up a rocking site NYCguys.com - with some very hot and very NY-y gay boy nudy pics (not hardcore stuff, but not work safe and you must be 18 to enter). in addition to 4 killer photo shoots of hot boyz in New York (including an East Village rooftop shoot!) there's some cool music commentary, NYC pics and other interesting stuff (with a couple obligatory pay links worked in, but no pop-up windows, and the contents page tells you what you're getting up front. how user friendly.)

Sugar Sweet Sunshine happiness
Sugar Sweet Sunshine bakery is the one of the coolest places to hit the LES in years. cake heaven, and right in our own back yard.

all their cakes are super moist with intense homemade flavor. the lemon is bright and tart. pumpkin is almost earthy and wonderful with their cream cheese frosting. pistachio has a great nutty flavor. even the vanilla (our favorite) is outstanding. the buttercream frostings are lovely, rich and fluffy. there's also yummy homemade pudding, a good assortment of fruit pies, layer cakes and other baked goods. but it's the $1.50 cupcakes that get us craving a weekly fix.

owners Peggy and Debbie not only make GREAT cake and goodies, but provide a warm and homey spot in the nabe for locals to chill. this is the real deal, check it out.

Happy Boy
Buddy loves a walk, and then hangin out on the stoop in the LES...

Times Square Security Drill
we were late for work for this one... cop cars line the street up and down Times Square (11:20 am Wed.) sirens are still going off out our window. here's what we know: all cops approached told us it's a standard, planned security drill. will skip the editorial for now and let the pics speak for themselves...

(check out the brilliant headline from gawker.com) and if you're following an old link, we posted an update that included pic of a 2nd drill a week later

Sunset over Brooklyn
from the Williamsburg Bridge - 8:30 pm Sunday, 6/20

Depp bar fight addition
a reader writes in with this great addition to the Depp bar fight story from friday...

"Let me add to the Johnny depp story that Jonathan had just introduced me to him and we had just started talking (I waited months for this moment) when that asshole interrupted, (what could have been a very important nite for Johnny and me, hee hee). So I says to Johnny while all hell broke loose around us 'i cant take you anywhere!' "

Buddy would like to thank the Academy...
the Interpreter, a new film with Kidman and Penn, was shooting on 9th St and 2nd Ave a few weeks back...

sneaking through the set, Buddy stops for a quick pee. we look down to see he's peeing on a prop lamp post. with a big smirk. he's territorial like that.

celebrity photo warehouses
WireImage.com is one of the best sites on the web. great for mining whacky, quirky shots of our favorite media stars, like... following Courtney's antics..., and this insane Sharon Stone set where she tries to make out with Liza Minnelli and Natalie Cole (they removed this pic but luckily we'd snagged it to send over to our man the Thigh Master)

WireImage.com has a great search engine, but also does a nice job of organizing stuff like headlines and parties.

Getty is another image service that gets some great shots and will sometimes will cover events that wireimage doesn't. like Mary Kate Olsen's love of sticking her finger in her boyfriend's ear

today while looking for a link for the Buddy post, we stumble on FilmMagic.com, a cool site that does a nice job of combing wireimage and pointing us to more good stuff

Williamsburg bar opening
Tainted Lady Lounge is off to a howling start! the newest project from NY bar legend Deb Parker (NoTell Motel, Babyland, Beauty Bar, Barmacy) opened at Grand and Havemeyer last night. Deb's artistry is in bringing together unusual, amazing collections; surrounding them with sexy and comfortable design, lighting and music; and topping it off by filling the bar with cool people (staff and patrons.) the result is a bar that's funky, dark, intimate, detailed and crazy fun, with a fantastic collection of naked lady paintings. shots from the official opening party...

word at the party last night was that Tainted Lady has the vibe and subversive spirit of NoTell Motel, and promises to bring a taste of the glory days of the East Village to Williamsburg. hot tip: check it out soon - this bar is a chance to see Deb's artistry in it's freshest state and be part of the making of a bar legend.

scientists discover the foot gene
happy father's day from Brooklyn...

a beautiful weekend in the LES and all over NYC. coming up later this week...
- Sugar Sweet Sunshine profile & pics
- another Babyland story (getting Mila drunk...)
- new waterfall sculpture in Carroll Gardens
- Fights Happen and Buddy The Wonder Dog updates

Bushwhacking
42nd St and Broadway - 11:00 am this morn...

yeeeehaw! we LOVE NEW YORK

Moving Images
pics out the car window...

crotan reservoir

west river

Johnny Depp + ? = bar fight
in the early 90's alphabet city was in it's final days as a subversive haven for the sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle. back then we bartended at NoTell Motel and Babyland, 2 of the best east village bars that ever were. after hours parties, drug abuse, naked dancing and bar fights were a nightly occurrence. the bars were packed every night with local artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, punks and celebrities out for a taste of east village anarchy. some crazy stuff went down. like the Johnny Depp Babyland fight...

here's what was written in People, 10/3/94 (without any real info, no one was talking) ... "The night after his release from jail, Depp, flanked by leather-clad, heavily tattooed bikers, was at Babyland, a Lower East Side bar filled with cribs and nursery paraphernalia. Price, a Manhattan pipe fitter, claims that Depp bumped into him at the club's bar, after which Price says he was pummeled by the biker bodyguards and hit with a rocking horse."

here's what we recall...
Depp was in the bar with Jonathan Shaw (a well known tattoo artist who's done many of Depp's tattoos.) near them were a bunch of hard core bikers (they weren't body guards.) Depp was hanging out having a good time, everyone was being cool and leaving him alone (that the creed back then). this big mouth who's shitfaced drunk starts getting loud about Depp being there. he goes up to where Depp is sitting - PULLS IT OUT and says "hey Johnny Depp - SUCK MY COCK"! - BAM -everyone is out of their seat and fists are flying left and right at the guy. he was beat down with all kinds of baby stuff - cribs, toys. Depp got out. cops came, shit went down. it was an f'ing madhouse. a classic EV bar fight.

lesson: don't tell bikers to suck your dick (or someone close by them)

Respect

a 24 year young man died last week on the lower east side. candles were lit, bottles poured out and other tokens left in tribute and memorial.

Popping our cherry bomb
growing up in NYC our fireworks experience went like this... sparklers bought at convenience store at the jersey shore, small fireworks scored at local Italian sandwich shop, start to get fireworks regularly in Chinatown, find bigger stuff over in Little Italy, stops at South of the Boarder and other roadside stands on trips down south.

last week we discovered fireworks nirvana - a back woods hidden warehouse! (2 hours from NYC) Fireworks Express right over the NJ boarder in Maryland. lots of BIG aerial items, like we've never had access to. and cheap prices. JACKPOT BABY! for $230 bucks ($190 online + $40 there) we got TONS of stuff. 3-4 big shows, and lots of smaller novelty stuff for the nephews. the packaging is so fantastic and fabulous. it was like Christmas...

18 inch mortars with 6 inch shells that explode into 4 bursts/breaks like - "gold bees, blue/red star, silver dragon, crackle shower". 3 different boxes for $65. all kinds of roman candles $5 a pack, many different 100+ shot aerial shows - all around $3 each.

cute mini fountains .25 cents for a box of 5 (novelty ground items, tanks, cars and stuff - were between .25 cents and $2 and were buy 1 get 1 free!)

orders can be placed online (lots of freebies and discounts online) -or buy there. $200 minimum and you have to have an out of state drivers license (they can't sell to MD residents.) directions are: 123 Peninsula Drive - From : I-95 Take Exit #100A(Go 1 mile South on Route 272 to Peninsula Dr, turn West at Holiday Inn Express

direction lead to a run down industrial park in MD. go down a dirt road (barbwire on all around) and see a run down warehouse with lots of abandoned trucks that say "explosives". it's a bit weird, but inside the warehouse is PACKED with all kinds of amazing fireworks. they're open year-round, everyday until July 4th with extended hours - phone number 918-491-6262.

Buddy likes baths...

but Buddy don't like wet ears...

so Buddy gets the blower, and is clean and happy...

the end (thanks Sarah for Buddy's first email :-)

The V Lounge
on sweltering days you step down to the 2nd Ave F train and there it - the uptown V train waiting to start it’s run across the platform. icy cold air conditioning and plenty of seats. come on in and sit down while you wait for the F train (or better yet – it might just pull and and take you to your stop.) it’s the V Lounge!

Invincible Spirit

Govener GovNor
graf on abandoned building next to the Loreley on Rivington off Chrystie -

The Schnitzel Fo' Shizzle
we've been a fan since the Loreley opened last fall. in honor of the recent buzz, here's the #1 reason to go the Loreley - the Wiener Schnitzel...

lots of other good stuff on the menu. great beer, freshly made hot pretzels, the spaetzle with cheese and bacon is insanely good.

The bigger the job, the bigger the trucks, the better.
love NYC construction. there's nothing like peeping inside the city's shell. below are photos from Monday of the giant hole being dug on Chrystie and Houston. does it get any better than this? (click pics to blow up)

and while we're at it... also from this Mon - Avalon Christie Place is going up FAST. a month ago it was a giant hole in the ground. now it's a giant hole filled with cement and rebar.

The Dumpling House
The Dumpling House is small store front on Eldridge between Broome and Grand serving the BEST fried pork dumplings in NYC. made by hand from an old family recipe. sold hot out of the pan, nicely browned and crispy. ONLY $1 for 5. the owner, a beautiful and smart woman named Vanessa, opened the shop 5 years ago. Vanessa is in the shop everyday assuring the dumplings are top quality and things are running smoothly.

the sesame pancakes are excellent. .50 cents for a thick and fluffy triangle covered in toasted sesame seeds with bits of scallion inside. steamed vegetable dumplings are out of this world good, lots of different chopped vegetables and tofu. they make their own version of "kimchee", that has apple slices. a special item they're known for is the Sesame Pancake with Beef. sesame pancake sliced open and layered with grated carrot, fresh cilantro, thinly sliced beef and sauce - $1.50

you can put together a great meal for about $3.50. this is the kind of place that makes NY rule the food world. (open until 10 pm daily and there's a cool Chinese dollar store across the street.)

this is the first in a series profiling delicious food in NYC. Coming up: 'inoteca, Sugar Sweet Sunshine, The Loreley beer hall, more cheap eats, the ultimate delivery series, and more.

Fights Happen...
we're not advocating hateration, but fights happen. they sometimes make good stories. and sometimes there's lessons in those stories. so without any further rationalization - here's the Fights Happen series - with some pics of 2 street fights snapped last month within one 24 hour period...

#1 - a kid was being chased up Ludlow by a restaurant worker. when the guy snagged him, the kid grabbed a bike parked on the corner. when the chick who's bike it was jumped up to protect her bike, the kid made a break and ran (first pick the kid is hiding behind the girl with the rolled up pants protecting her bike. second pic is the kid breaking away). lesson: people might not protect you but they'll protect their property - so grab onto something if you're being chased.

#2 - the next day on the corner of 42nd St and 7th Ave at around 11:00 am with tons of people around - this man pops this woman in the nose. she did not hit him first and was a foot shorter and 70 lbs lighter. many people asked if she was ok and yelled "fucking asshole" after the guy. lesson: it's a good thing most NY'ers don't carry guns, the guy would have been dead.

coming up:
- Sharon Osbourne Kicked My Boss in the Balls
- infamous East Village bar fights

Billionaire casting call (an early warning sign?...)
you'd think the Billionaire open casting call at the Virgin Mega Store in the heart Times Square NYC would have a great turn out... you'd think. listed as an 11am-6pm call (on a Thursday, 5/20), there were lots of police and barricades, even a Times Square traffic alert was issued to local buildings.

but at 12:00 noon there was under 20 people in line. lots of space, take all the time you need.

at around 1pm the line had dwindled down to about 12 people. the barricades extended to the end of the block but the line never extended past the edge of the store. many people looked, er, a little old to be "young would-be billionaires".

even the cops walking by were joking with the cops hired for "mob control" at what an easy job they had. make you're own predictions...

Meet Buddy...
Buddy is a tough little mutt. rescued off of death row on his last day. half corgi and half chihuahua. 16 lbs and will take on a rottweiler for no reason. and a people whore. known throughout the EV and LES for his badass style and massive personality. this is the start of the Buddy series -

In the coming weeks:
- Buddy pees on Interpreter film set
- finding Buddy on petfinder.org
- Tompkins Square small dog run posse
- pics pics pics