Aug 31, 2020
Fundraising for ramen, tattooed tapestries, dive bars, bandoleros, and falafel: my last pre-Covid night out in NYC 2020
New York’s live music, arts, and food scene is my life. I think a lot about my last pre-Covid night out. It was just another fun Gotham evening, but I realize now that it took so many well-oiled venues and people to make it happen. All of which are in the middle or outer ring of the microeconomic ripple effect caused by this damn virus. Below is a recap of the night and how you can support all the players that made it happen. Disclaimer, I’m not a blogger, food critic, or influencer *cringe*.
RE my New Yorker stats, I did 12 years in Manhattan, 2 years and counting in LIC. I do have faith that the energy, attitude and personality (all in we call this ‘the magic’) will return to the city, but not as much faith as Jerry Seinfeld. Right now, this night would be impossible to recreate but I look forward to its 2021 iteration.
IVAN RAMEN — 6pm
25 Clinton St. New York, NY 10002
Support: Ivan Ramen Staff Fund
I watch one ‘culinary’ show, Chef’s Table. Its episode on Ivan Orkin, founder of Ivan Ramen was all I needed to flag it in Google Maps. Their Tokyo Shio ramen bowl and Sho Chiku Bai filtered sake was the perfect beginning to the night. I sat at a stool with one elbow touching my girlfriend, the other touching a stranger. Oh, innocent stranger touches, how I… don’t miss thee but certainly hate the anxiety that comes with it now.
My last night out, the place was packed. We sat at a wall-hugging bar as there were no tables open, even at 6pm.
According to Chef Ivan Orkin: We’ve let go of 90% of our staff. With a bare bones crew we are still doing delivery in hopes that all of those people we’ve lost will have a job to come back to. I am reaching out to you as my neighbor, my community, my slurpers, friends and family to donate and help me offset the lost income of those employees. Every last penny will go directly to our hourly employees effected.
ABXY GALLERY — Zeehan Wazed exhibition — 7pmish
9 Clinton St., New York, NY 10002
Support: check out Wazed’s online shop and buy a $15 tee
We were post-meal strolling by this gallery when I saw people inside admiring art and drinking magnums of cheap white wine. That was my invitation, we walked in and were offered a glass and free reign. Amazing art was on display by artist Zeehan Wazed.
This exhibition write-up by Emily Gallagher is so damn eloquent, I decided to not even try to paraphrase. Enjoy her mellifluousness:
In Reality Show, the mercury rises as stakes surge to mythological proportion. Large scale paintings calligraphically connect disparate, yet familiar scenes within canvasses composed like tattooed tapestries. In works like “Hope Floats,” a colossal arm aims a loaded gun towards an innocent victim, while in miniature below an endangered whale rescues a sleeping child from deportation. By juxtaposing reality’s chilling likeness to nightmare with such an impossibly peaceful vision of an actual “Dreamer,” Wazed’s work effectively authenticates the dreadful absurdity of contemporary life.
Check out Zeehan on IG and support artists however you can!
MILANO’S BAR — For Those Who Know — 8pm
“Best damn bar in New York City” — Everyone
51 E Houston St, New York, NY 10012
Support: Preserve Milano’s
Fact — Milano’s was established in 1880. Eighteen fuckin’ eighty, ladies and gentlemen. You go there for the relentless character and detail of the place that’s possibly the most perfect dive bar ever. “I know the bartender” is an expression I’ve not been able to say much in my life, except for this night.
Enter Alex Pepperman, colleague and good friend of my pretty girlfriend. I *finally* made it to Milano’s to toast Alex who’s been tending Milano’s bar for many years. I rolled in for a few pre-concert whiskeys and to rendezvous with a friend. I feel relief writing this cause I don’t have survivor’s guilt of never having gone despite saying I will. Milano’s doesn’t even have sidewalk space on Houston St. to put out tables. Here are some excerpts from Preserve Milano’s:
Established in 1880, Milano’s Bar is one of our city’s oldest and most beloved neighborhood bars — beloved by our city and our staff. Each generation of barkeep & patron have gotten each other through a lot since the 19th century, and now we are going through it again. We wish we could be open for you now so we could all get through this together, pint in hand…
COVID-19 is not only straining the bonds we’ve developed with you, it’s devastating the service industry at large… We’ve been with you for every Christmas eve and day, every blazing hot summer and rough and wrathful winter, every blackout, World War, riot, protest, and of course, 9/11, when our community came together like never before…
Any donations you can spare to help your tried-and-true Milano’s family during these hard and scary times would be truly significant to us… We’ll be there for you again soon, and the reunion will be extraordinary.
ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL — livestreaming concerts daily via FB — 9pm
196 Allen St, New York, NY 10002
Support the venue: List of NYC music venue fundraisers
Support the band: https://www.thelastbandoleros.com/
I fucking love this band. Kid you not, I challenge you to find a bigger fan, and I then will challenge that person to a fan-off. These guys harmonize both vocally and spiritually, and not one song misses. Check them out on Youtube and you’ll either instantly love ’em or go “are these guys, like, country music?” That’s been my experience when introducing them to friends at least. Bonus of the night, Shaggy (yes, that Shaggy) came out for a couple songs. I danced and sang my face off. Need a more mainstream introduction to them? Check out their cover of Tom Petty’s American Girl. Tom’d be proud.
I love this venue too, ‘bought this ticket the minute it went on sale months prior. Finally, it was showtime. Rockwood is small, your rich friend’s house is probably bigger. I’m sorry I meant to say ‘intimate’ as that’s live music nomenclature. Here, I was elbow to elbow to elbow to chest to stage as it was a packed crowd. Rockwood has a livestream calendar, check it out and support live musicians!
Rockwood Music Hall is a beacon of emerging and established live music acts in New York City since 2005… (it’s) grown from a single stage venue, to boasting three intimate stages, all with top-notch sound systems.
Over the past 15 years, the venue has become one of the most respected names in NYC for finding and booking the next big thing in music. Here you will find music of all genres from local and international artists, many of whom use Rockwood for their first plays in the city.
All 3 stages are open seven days per week, and Stage 1 has remained an entirely no-cover venue throughout the venue’s history.
Save our stages #SaveOurStages
We NEED the #SaveOurStagesAct and the #RestartAct passed in order to keep independent venues nationwide from closing permanently. Please help us #SaveOurStages now.
STREET VENDOR — FALAFEL CART — 12am
Support: http://streetvendor.org/get-involved/donate/
Lower East Side, NYC
We ended the night with falafel, and it was amazing. It was between that and pizza but I don’t regret my decision. The Street Vendor Project has been around before Covid trying to help out vendors across the whole city.
There are more than 10,000 street vendors in New York City — hot dog vendors, flower vendors, book vendors, street artists, and many others. They are small businesspeople struggling to make ends meet. Most are immigrants and people of color. They work long hours under harsh conditions, asking for nothing more than a chance to sell their goods on the public sidewalk.
Writer’s note: I’ve not thoroughly vetted this organization, but one way you can contribute directly is to patronize street carts when you’re hungry!
PS— To repeat, I’m not a travel writer, blogger, foodie, or any kind of influencer. I’ve had hundreds of nights out like this but never wrote or posted on social media much. If this post inspires you, write your own and be sure to link out to the places and people you interacted with + if they’re running a fundraiser. You’re welcome to copy my template or repost it on your blog or listicle or whatever content format you do.
Or, just drop some (serious, SFW, non-spam) links in the comments. Thanks!
-Joe Espo
