DAILYSESSION

By The Villager

The Underbelly Project, an illegal show of street art, curated by street artists PAC and Workhorse, fills the inside of an abandoned Brooklyn subway station. The project began in 2009. Artists, 103 in all, were escorted into the space individually to create their works. According to the project’s Web site, “Unobstructed by the pressures of commercial sales, e-mail or daily routines, each artist painted one full night.” (There’s definitely no e-mail, since four stories belowground in the century-old station, there’s no WiFi.) [Read More]

By Dave Itzkoff – NY Times

It is not uncommon for people to react with awe to their first up-close encounter with a balloon from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. But when Takashi Murakami saw his contributions to Thursday’s event, he bowed. Twice.

On Wednesday afternoon, on a stretch of West 81st Street in Manhattan where brightly colored, 30-foot-tall inflatable versions of his characters Kaikai and Kiki were wriggling and writhing underneath a huge net, Mr. Murakami, the Japanese pop artist, held a brief Shinto ceremony for purity and luck. He stood at a table where he poured out a glass of water and a glass of sake in front of two plates, one of white rice and one of sea salt. He gave two bows and clapped twice, then declared the ritual complete. [Read More]

By Amanda Farah – BushwickBK.com

When it was announced that Marissa Nadler was playing in Bushwick last week, almost as much buzz surrounded the venue as the artist. It was the first time many of us had heard of Envelope, a space that had held its first and only show in October. What led to further chattering was that the address of Envelope was only given to those who purchased tickets, and that those tickets were $30 — considered steep by “Bushwick standards.”

In a neighborhood with more DIY than licensed music venues, Envelope presents a new approach to the homegrown experience. Envelope hosts only one show a month, with a capacity for only 60 guests. The rest of the time, it operates as a recording studio. Shows have been booked for the next 10 months, but at the moment there are no plans to expand performances beyond the once-monthly showcases. [Read More]

Photo by Clayton Patterson – The Villager

Tompkins Square Park’s “Tent City,” partly seen above in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s, was a highly polarizing issue in the East Village. At times, the homeless settlement occupied as much as one-third of the entire park. [Read More]

By Bille Jam – NewYork Post

It was only 31 years ago that Gary Weis filmed his movie on South Bronx gang culture, 80 Blocks From Tiffany’s, but it seems like an eternity. “It was a whole different time and place. It was kind of like Dresden when I filmed there,” the director now says of the rubble-strewn, bombed-outlooking borough where he shot his gripping, gritty documentary in the summer of 1979.

It was Koch-era New York when the South Bronx, one of the poorest areas in the nation, was such a rundown destitute place that both Presidents Carter and Reagan traveled there for photo ops to exemplify the most striking symbol they could find of urban decay in America. It was also the time and place when the subways were covered in graffiti and when a new music and culture called hip-hop was taking root in the “Boogie Down” Bronx. [Read More]