Kinda fun! Not so numb: Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda and his wife, Anna, were recently at Bluestockings bookstore, at 172 Allen St., for Anna’s reading of her debut novel, “Learning Not to Drown.” It’s a semi-autobiographical tale about growing up in a family in which someone is incarcerated.
Valorous vendor: In a first, the Vendy Awards — the city’s leading food truck competition — this year will honor a nonfood seller with the Heroic Vendor award. The honor will be bestowed on Barre Batchiri, who was stabbed by Richard Pearson, the “Soho Wild Man,” back in June. Batchiri, who sells cell phone accessories in front of 590 Broadway, near Houston St., was minding his own business when the mentally ill, violent street character got into an argument with a passerby, then set his sights on Batchiri. Pearson grabbed the vendor’s scissors and plunged them into his chest. Despite being wounded — just inches from his heart — Batchiri tailed his attacker to a nearby subway station and pointed him out to police, who made the arrest. He still has pain and trouble sleeping because of the stabbing, but bears no bitterness toward Pearson, according to a Vendy Awards source. “He is being honored for his generosity and friendliness to everyone in the neighborhood — even the mentally ill homeless guy who almost killed him,” a press release for the Sept. 13 event on Governors Island said. The Heroic Vendor award was started in 2011, after a street vendor spotted the Times Square car bomb and reported it to police. Last year’s Heroic Vendor award was given to a collective of 40 food truck vendors who helped serve meals in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
The revolution will be televised! Advocates for ibogaine, naturally led by recently freed but displaced Bleecker St. Yippie Dana Beal, rallied on City Hall’s steps Wednesday morning. They called attention to the fact that Afghanistan will now be allowing treatments with the drug, which they champion as the most effective cure for heroin addiction, but which is not sanctioned in the U.S. Anwar Jeewa, an ibogaine expert currently living in Sweden, arrived in Kabul on Tuesday and in six weeks will set up a clinic for dosing addicts. There can be a few complications, though. “We’ll also need a heart monitor, a blood pressure monitor and a defibrillator — sometimes there’s a reaction,” Beal told us. “The heart slows down and the brain can add a beat, which is why we need a defibrillator.” Meanwhile, the ibogaine will be sent in from Durban, South Africa. “This is a global effort,” he declared. “Ibogaine is sanctioned under sharia law,” he said, though adding, it’s not quite that simple. “There was a fatwa from the grand ayatollah in Iran that applies to Afghanistan. So, it’s halal under the Shiites — but the Sunnis are really down on drugs.” At Wednesday’s rally, the advocates called for Mayor Bill de Blasio to allow a “large open-enrollment trial” of the drug in New York City. “It’s time to bite the bullet,” Beal said. … On another front, Beal dropped a little info about the new reality show he has in the works, “Beal’s Revolution.” “The contract is signed,” he told us. “We haven’t actually signed with a network — we have someone representing us, Etan Edwards. … I would think the show would be a natural for Nat Geo, but I can’t say who’ll pick it up. It will be centered in New York, but there will be some stuff in Afghanistan and Baja, where they have 10 ibogaine clinics; they’re charging about $7,000.” Beal, 67, likely wouldn’t be able to travel to Kabul since he’s on parole following his release from jail in the Midwest for repeat cross-country pot trafficking in a car. (He still claims it was all medical marijuana.) Some scenes might be filmed in the Millinery Center Synagogue, at Sixth Ave. and 38th St., which is slated for demolition for a new tower, but where Beal has been allowed to live for the meantime. “I want to thank Rabbi Wahrman for doing something that is going to help so many people of so many faiths,” the ibogaine crusader said. So will Aron Kay, a.k.a. “The Yippie Pie Man,” be on the series? “Yeah, he’s a fixture,” Beal replied. “He’s a large fixture — wherever he goes!” (Rim shot, please!) How about East Village journalist Paul DeRienzo and medical marijuana advocate Kenny Toglia? “They’ll both likely be figures in it — and Priya [Warcry],” Beal answered. And, yes, no doubt, Dylanologist / garbageolist A.J. Weberman will also see screen time, he assured. “A.J. will probably come in as an expert on J.F.K., the Yippie conspiracies… .” (At last, maybe we’ll get to the bottom of it all.) However, activist John Penley “decided to bow out,” according to the Yippie veteran. “He thought there should be a separate John Penley reality show,” Beal quipped. “Penley’s got a big ego.” Penley responded to us via Facebook: “First of all, I don’t even know that it is even gonna happen, and honestly, I just don’t want to do it. I don’t want my own show either. I want to party in NOLA.”
Burned up: Speaking of medical marijuana, Allen Roskoff and his Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club members are burned up over Governor Andrew Cuomo’s recently approved New York version. We got a shot of these custom Jim Owles-approved lighters (on page 2) back when the club was getting ready to endorse Zephyr Teachout over Cuomo for governor, which was only a bit before Cuomo approved medical marijuana. However, the lighters’ message still applies today, Roskoff recently told us. He angrily blasted Cuomo’s medical pot plan as way too watered down, fuming, “It’s something you’d expect in Texas — not New York!”
Wash. Sq. Williams: Local park activist Sharon Woolums told us about her encounter with Robin Williams about five or six years ago, when the hot topic was the park’s redesign. She said she had taken her neighbor’s dog to the dog run, and found out that Williams was shooting a film in the park. “And there he was,” Woolums said. “So I went out to ask him if he’d like to comment on the redesign controversy. He said he’d love to know more about it. Much to the delight of the dog walkers and owners, he came into the dog run to get the information. He was very sweet and I am so very sad he is gone.”
