Punk’d: The CBGB family feud is getting uglier than the former Bowery rock mecca’s infamous skuzzy bathrooms. Mark Dana Kristal, the son of Hilly Kristal — the club’s legendary owner who died last month at age 75 — is charging that his dad got his ex-wife, Karen Kristal, to sign away her share in the business for nothing when she was mentally out of it after having suffered a series of mini-strokes. Karen lives in the West Village and Mark lives in the former CBGB office space around the corner from the old club. Mark says he’s been trying to get his sister, Lisa Kristal Burgman, to help pay for a home health aide for his elderly mother — who recently broke her arm — so far, without any success. In fact, Karen Kristal’s name was on CBGB’s business license and she was technically its president until about two years ago, when, for some reason, she signed the contract relinquishing her interest. Mark noted that for 10 years, his mom faithfully checked IDs at the door for CB’s hardcore shows and made sure people didn’t kill themselves stage-diving into the mosh pit or bring in “spikes” or other punk accessories that could cause injuries. Burgman, who controls the CBGB franchise name and lucrative T-shirt trade, could not be reached for comment by press time.
Batter up! We hear John Sexton, New York University’s president, is penning a book on baseball. “For some years, Sexton has a taught a popular undergraduate course called ‘Baseball as a Road to God,’” John Beckman, the university’s spokesperson, told us. “A couple of years ago, Sexton had a conversation with his T.A. and some of his students about writing a book that would both serve as text for the course and be a more widely distributed text. Some work has been done on the book, but it hasn’t come to fruition yet. … You should be aware that he was noted for his appearance in the recent HBO special on the Brooklyn Dodgers,” Beckman added of the Brooklyn-born, apparently “bums”-lovin’ Sexton. Projecting into the future — and why not? — might Sexton follow the path of another former university president, Bart Giamatti, and someday become baseball commissioner? One thing’s for sure, to borrow a term Sexton likes to use to describe the Village, baseball’s “fragile ecosystem” — currently drowning in steroids and H.G.H. — definitely needs better stewardship than we’re seeing right now.
Party crashers: Opponents of Donald Trump’s 42-story Soho condo-hotel planned a protest for Wednesday morning, Sept. 19, to coincide with the “launch party” for the lightning-rod project. … In addition, attorney Stu Klein, who is representing the Soho Alliance in their fight to get the condo-hotel’s building permit pulled, tells us that if the Securities and Exchange Commission decides that the building should fall under its regulation, then S.E.C. agents — not real estate brokers — would have to handle the condo sales. Klein said he doubts Donald and his developer partners want to have to deal with the feds on that front.
Jammin’ John: Last Thursday night — well, more like early Friday morning — John Mayer dropped in at the Village Underground on W. Third St. to jam with Cheryl Pepsii Riley and Friends. The Grammy-winning guitar man played along with the soulful band for about an hour and a half, then slipped on his sweatshirt and slipped out without any fanfare.
Drunken monkey: Why, a concerned reader asks, does the E. Houston St. Whole Foods Market have a photo up in its “Beer Room” of a wild monkey guzzling beer? The “Beer Room” solicited “fun photos” by shoppers for its display window, but this alcoholic ape surely doesn’t mesh with Whole Foods’ message of respecting the environment, said the reader, requesting anonymity.
Wine before the wash: Speaking of drunken monkeys, we hear that the big laundromat on Third Ave. between 10th and 11th Sts. is closing and that the owner is putting in a wine bar at the location. “Very convenient,” our tipster notes, “right across the street from the N.Y.U. dorms and the new S.V.A. dorm.”
Pink Madonna? As the debate about Julian Schnabel’s Palazzo Chupi, a.k.a. “Big Pink,” rages on, Madonna fans are weighing in on the pro side — as far as we can tell. Madonnasworld.com, a worldwide fan site, links to Toni Dalton’s Villager photo of the audaciously colored W. 11th St. building and states, “This is the building Madonna wants to buy.” How about if she just buys an apartment? … As for the mysterious meaning of “Chupi,” we recently heard two somewhat plausible-sounding explanations: It could refer to a village outside of Siena called Ciupi, which is pronounced “chupi,” making this a possible unintentional — or perhaps, for some reason, intentional — misspelling. Also, chupa-chup is a name for a Spanish lollipop, so perhaps it’s a reference to that and means “Palazzo Lollipop,” which, given the building’s color, would make sense. Then again, someone e-mailed us: “For what it’s worth, in Argentinian slang, ‘chupi’ refers to drinking booze.”
What’s cooking? To help kick off the fall produce season at the Father Demo Square Greenmarket, on Sun., June 23, at noon, Harold Dieterle of “Top Chef” fame and Perilla restaurant, 9 Jones St., will be at the market at 10 Downing St. by Sixth Ave. to whip up something special with market ingredients.
Barack rocks his vote: Veteran East Village politico Howard Hemsley is supporting Barack Obama for president all the way. “Barack Obama convinced me to become active again,” said Hemsley. “I think Obama’s the best agent for change, and for a tired old pol like me, he ignites hope.” Hemsley helped engineer Antonio Pagan’s election to the City Council in the early 1990s. “Local politics — I think it’s basically dead,” Hemsley mused. “The battles are over. What we’re dealing with now is gentrification. … What’s going on nationally is appalling. The issues — war and freedom — dwarf the local issues.” Hemsley noted that while he doesn’t think Obama will win New York State, they’re still going to campaign hard, since the presidential primary here isn’t winner take all, unlike California, for example. That means if Obama gets more than 15 percent of the New York vote, the delegates will be split proportionally, Hemsley explained.
Paltry polls: Primary elections on Tuesday weren’t Downtownters’ primary attraction. In the 66th Assembly District, for example, there were only two contests for Democratic County Committee that we know of. In other words, out of 117 election districts in the 66th A.D., there were no races in 115 of them. In the 38th E.D. (three blocks bounded by Barrow, Hudson, W. 10th, Weehawken, Christopher and Washington Sts.) the candidates were Robert Bradlow, Katrina Baker and Steven Latasa-Nicks. In the 45th E.D. (all of Washington Square, bounded by MacDougal/Washington Square West, W. Third St., Broadway and Waverly Pl.), the candidates were Daniel Contreras Radin, Andrew Duncan MacVicar, Joseph Ragno and Damian J. Kennedy.
Correction: In last week’s article on the 75th anniversary of the Little Red Schoolhouse being located at Bleecker St. and Sixth Ave., Suzanne Cohen was incorrectly identified as the assistant director of the middle school. She is assistant principal of the lower school. In last week’s article on the resale of the Cabrini Polyclinic, James Kinsey should have been identified as one of three representatives of Massey Knakal Realty Services who were involved in selling the building. (P.S.: Bonnie Rosenstock, who wrote last week’s article, tells us that garbage is really piling up on the old clinic’s stairs.)
