On the avenue:
Biker Billy recently let us know that from now on he is to be called Thor-Grim — or more formally, Thor-Grim, Formerly Known as Biker Billy, Protector of the Neighborhood. The Avenue A fixture also recently bought a laptop computer at Best Buy on 14th St., and is psyched that now he can get his motorcycle-recovery business going again, plus let the world know more about Biker Billy — oops, sorry! Please don’t rip our head off for goofing it! — Thor-Grim. This might come as a surprise to some, but T.G. also writes what is known as “barbaric poetry” — think: drinking blood from a skull — and is just as likely to hang out with playwrights as his homeboys the Hells Angels, or “H.A.,” as he likes to call them. Thor-Grim also said that former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, who used to mingle with motorcycle riders a bit, copied his distinctive Celtic eye tattoo.
A spot of tea?
Matt Borden, chief of staff for Deborah Glick, recently forwarded to us this message from an invite that his boss got:
Dear Assemblywoman Glick,
Attached is an invitation to a Legislative Unity Meeting to be held by TeaParty365 on Monday, December 13, 2010. TeaParty365 looks forward to your response.
Regards,
Adrienne Pescevich
“Deborah will not be attending,” Borden assured us. “I’m not sure how we got on their mailing list. I imagine it was sent to all local elected officials.” Maybe it was our recent article in which Glick slammed the Tea Party set as “totally uninformed and stupid.”
Avenue A play:
We’ve been hearing rumors that the landlord of East Village Farm grocery store on Avenue A between Sixth and Seventh Sts. is looking to develop the property in some way and is not planning to renew the store’s lease. A deliveryman who services the store reported he was told this, and that the plan is to construct an enormous residential tower, right near Tompkins Square Park. Now, of course, we know that’s impossible, thankfully, because of the new East Village / Lower East Side rezoning that caps building heights. When we spoke to him this week, however, Mr. Song, the store’s owner, made it sound like the landlord is just toying with him. “I don’t know,” Song said. “I staying next year, too. I don’t know — my landlord he didn’t decide yet. He delaying, he playing now. No guarantee, not yet.” Song said the property owner knows business hasn’t been good this year, yet is still doing this to him. He also seemed to indicate that he doesn’t currently even have a lease. The building was formerly a movie house, and we’re told, the old theater — seats and all — is still intact in the space above the store.
Hmm, dairy interesting…:
Speaking of supermarkets, as a follow-up to her recent paean to Trader Joe’s, columnist Michele Herman got the lowdown on the current state of butter. Herman wrote to Trader Joe’s Web Customer Relations: “I’m wondering why the price of butter went up so dramatically, and why the sticks are short and squat.” Amy, a T.J. customer relations rep, e-mailed her back: “Thank you for your e-mail. We changed the source of our butter to a CA producer so that we can provide this item as rbst/rbgh free. We have a completely new source and they do not produce the long, thin quarters. Please know we did not raise the price due to these changes. However, the price of milk fluctuates throughout the year, which affects pricing for other dairy products, like butter. Unfortunately, prices are a little higher in the winter as the supply of milk decreases. However, we can assure you that when our costs go down we will definitely pass on the savings to our customers.”
Had it with hospital:
We hear that blogger Bob Arihood, after spending something like more than a week in the hospital treating a medical condition, is back at home in the East Village. We wish him a speedy recovery and that he gets back on the blogging beat soon.
Correction:
In an obituary in last week’s issue, the age of artist Jack Levine was incorrect. He was 95.
