Monday, April 29, 2013

Eric Ferrara wins an Acker Award!

The Acker Award is a tribute given to members of the avant garde arts communities of New York City and San Francisco who have made outstanding contributions in their discipline in defiance of convention,  or else served their fellow writers and artists in outstanding ways.  The award is named after novelist Kathy Acker who in her life and work exemplified  the risk-taking and uncompromising dedication that identifies the true avant garde artist.

LESHP's founder and director has been honored with an award this year and he is in great company:

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Barney Rosset and Fred Jordan
EDITORIAL: Ron Kolm and Jim Feast​
WRITERS: Richard Kostelanetz​, Peter Lamborne Wilson, John Strausbaugh
POETRY: Bob Holman, Steve Dalachinsky, Eileen Myles, Jim Brodey,  Patricia Smith, Harry Nudel, Lionel Ziprin (Posthumous), Dorothy Firedman, Konstantin K.Kosminsky​
FICTION: Carl Watson, John Farris, Janus Eidus
THEATER: Judith Malina (The Living Theater), Crystal Field (Theater For The New City), Taylor Mead, Augusto Mecharize, Hapi Phace (Mark Rizzo), Tabboo Stephen Tashjian, Peter Kwaloff
BIOGRAPHY: C.Carr
ART: Boris Lurie (Posthumous), John Evans, Jose "Cochise" Quiles, Elsa Rensaa, Dash Snow (Posthumous), Jerry Pagane, Anthony Dominguez, Peter Missing, Joe Coleman, Spider Webb
PUBLISHERS: Dan Simon (SEVEN STORIES PRESS), Jim Fleming (AUTONOMEDIA)
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ira Cohen, Alice O'Malley, Paula Grimaldi-Reardon
PERFORMANCE: Tuli Kupferburg, Valery Oisteanu,  Red Ed, Steve Ben Israel
VIDEO: Nelson Sullivan
FILM: Nick Zedd, Howard Guttenplan (Millenium Theater), MM Serra (FILMMAKERS COOP)
COMMUNITY SUPPORT: Patricia Parker (VISION FESTIVAL), Klara Palotai, Jody Weiner, Monica Panomarev, Lia Gangitano, Lucien Bahaj
BUILDING PRESERVATION AWARD: Angel Orensanz
MUSIC: Danny "Lord Ezec" Singer, James "Jimmy G." Drescher, William Parker, LAch Anti-Folk, , Razbeez (Posthumous), Joey Semz (Joe McCarthy)
VENUES: Steve Cannon (TRIBES), Hilly Crystal (CBGB), Al Orensanz and Maria Neri (ANGEL ORENSANZ FOUNDATION)
HISTORIANS IN FILM: Jeremiah Newton, Eric Ferrara

Join the award ceremony:

Thursday, June 6, 2013
7pm – 10pm
SoHo House 
139 Ludlow Street

More info: http://www.ackerawards.com

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Recap: "Lower East Side Oral Histories" at La Mama Galleria

Nina Howes introducing Lower East Side: Oral Histories


On Tuesday, April 9, 2013, several long time neighbors gathered for a special event celebrating a new book by Nina Howes and Lower East Side History Project's Eric Ferrara, entitled, Lower East Side: Oral Histories (History Press, 2012).

The event--which was sponsored by Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and the East Fourth Street Cultural District--featured a handful of the twenty-five interviewees whose stories and personal photos were documented for the project.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

A Look Back at the Bowery “Blue Book”



If you were down and out on the Bowery in the 1940s or 1950s, you wouldn’t want to earn the reputation as a “toes-up mokus” or aggressive “pinker” because you just might “catch some heat” from the “bulls” – or worse – you might be ostracized by your contemporaries and “outed” publicly in the Bowery Blue Book.

Read full article at the Lo Down: http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2013/04/les-history-a-look-back-at-the-bowery-blue-book.html