New York City: Looking For Recognition On YouTube

It seems if you record or are featured in a video showcasing outrageous behavior, particular physical violence, an awareness exists, a hope even, that it will be disseminated online. Take these employees at Primavera Pizza & Pasta in midtown. A recent fight that erupted in their pizzeria was hardly over before they all gathered around to relive the action by viewing it on a witnesses camera. One even expressed their desire to see it on YouTube, going so far as to offer a title. "Fighting at Primavera Pizza & Pasta," he suggested, repeating himself for emphasis. "Fighting at Primavera Pizza & Pasta."

Friday Night Throwdown Under The Manhattan Bridge (Video)

Friday Night Throwdown, according to "Ray," a promoter, is a "clash of amateur boxing, underground music, underground party, New York seedy and New York City." The event has been going on for at least a couple of years and strives for that seedy, DIY atmosphere to entertain the glitterati of Manhattan fashion. The crowd is known to be pretty and so are the boxers, some of whom are models. The New York Times gushed: "The event is often packed with models and well-known photographers." The Lo-Down reports a movie is in the works.

Scott Cramer was there on January 28 and filmed the event (seen above) on the second floor of 88 East Broadway in Chinatown, under the Manhattan bridge. He told NYC The Blog via email. "They charged $20 bucks to get in the door. There was a DJ, a few bars serving drinks, and a ton of hot models everywhere. There were probably about a 1000 people there in total."

Naked Man Masturbates On Subway (Video)

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MTA Bus Driver Leads Passengers In Song (Video)

The broken coin box seen when boarding the crosstown bus—which means everyone rides for free—was the first sign this ride was going to be a better bus ride than normal.

The good feeling riding for free inspires, with a bus full of others who are beneficiaries, must be contagious because the bus driver started playing trivia over the intercom. Playfully prodding, he requested: "Give me ten body parts that only have three letters." A woman sitting nearby quickly rolled off three: "Eye, leg, lip." Someone near the front shouted out: "toe!" and the count got to eight pretty quickly. The last two came as well, but not so easily.

And the bus driver wasn't done entertaining the crowd. As you can hear in the video below, after he told a joke that was preempted by a passenger, he then led the bus in song, singing happy birthday to a birthday girl.

Offering some words of advice, the bus driver continued: "Lets look alive people, we only live once. Tomorrow's not promised." Afterward, as an elderly man disembarked, he told the driver: "You're the best bus driver I ever had." Listen in below:

Subway Commutes Soon To Contain Loud Irritable Phone Conversation (Video)

Can You Hear Me Now? I'm On The Train. 

It's been three years since the MTA signed a deal to bring mobile phone service to our subway stations, though not in the tunnels themselves. But that's not to say you won't get a signal while in one. An executive involved in the project told the Daily News that coverage could extend in tunnels from station to station if they are close enough or wide enough. Some people surely know that a few stations currently provide lucky signals. As artist Russell King's recent work requested, "please kill me," because the video above showing an audibly aggravated commuter on a 5 train having a loud, irritable conversation is what we can all look forward to.

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Fisticuffs On The Staten Island Ferry (Video)

Someone once asked: "How come rich white people dont like public transportation?" Well no matter the race, the answer is when you're rich, it's inappropriate to be anywhere near rats, physical altercations, graffiti, lack of etiquette, homeless people, dead people, drunk people or crazies. This is why rich people don't take public transportation in New York City. And that includes the Staten Island Ferry, where two young women recently beat the shit out of each other until a police officer broke it up by tackling both women like a linebacker.

Lack Of 'Proper Subway Arm Etiquette' Leads To Fight

A morning commute on the L train last week was interrupted by two men fighting over a very serious matter on the New York City subways: personal space. Details are vague on this one, but the description informs: "Things got heated on the L train when two passengers couldn't agree on proper subway arm etiquette. The man in the silver jacket then explodes." Likely not surprising to some, it was a woman who first stepped and cooled the situation down. As a commenter here pointed out in a previous post: "Notice that it's only ever women who break up these fights." Video below contains strong language.

Fight On The LIRR

Riding the LIRR anytime can be a test of patience, but never more so than on a weekend night. Though dated from 2002,  this complaint rings true today: late-night commuters on the LIRR "are at full screech, shouting at the top of their lungs, sometimes in drunken abandon." To wit: here's video of a large, loud fight that broke out in one car before the Christmas weekend. As one aggressor proudly noted: "631 baby."

Astonishing Video Of Brooklyn's Coney Island Avenue After Blizzard

Brian Elmquist's photo (at left) of Coney Island Avenue in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, taken on Monday, is fast becoming the definitive photo of the blizzard of 12.26. Now see unbelievable video of the same avenue, filmed Monday morning in high winds and freezing temperatures, and take a virtual walk through a maze of abandoned vehicles and traffic mayhem for a truly "The Day After Tomorrow" moment.

Video: Don't Shove Me Bro! Turtle Bay Bar Patron Hits The Pavement Four Times In Confrontation With Bouncer

A casually dressed, presumably very intoxicated drunk young man, sporting a snappy blazer, button down shirt and blue jeans, aggressively verbally assaulted a large bouncer outside of Clancy's* on 2nd Ave, north of 51st Street. This had predictable results, with the bouncer shoving the hapless dude down to the ground at least four times. The sloshed patron did not let this deter him, jumping right back up each time to continue antagonizing the exasperated bouncer, while his trusty sidekick threatened a lawsuit for assault over and over again. Watch the ridiculous video below.

Jay Shells Poop Poster Installation On Video

Yesterday you saw two photos of a new Jay Shells poster installed on 173rd Street at Fort Washington Avenue in Washington Heights, reminding dog owners to pick up after their dog. You might've even read about it in the NY Daily News. Now, watch video of that installation below.

Target And MTA Unveil First Full Length Subway Train Wrapped In Advertising

Yesterday morning, the 6 train become the first ever full length train completely wrapped in advertising to run on the New York City subway system. The cartoonish and unexpected ad wrapped train, in support of a new Target opening in East Harlem this July, will run for six weeks, generating $250,000 in revenue for the MTA. (See a full set of photos here.)

You may have seen subway cars wrapped in ads before—the three car Times Square shuttle, for instance.  The History Channel and Google both wrapped the Times Square shuttle in 2008 when the MTA began to allow a full wrap of trains. More recently, the Netherlands Board of Tourism wrapped the shuttle in what might be the most elaborate and complicated wrap yet, due to its extensive detailing (photo album here). But never before has a full length train been wrapped.

Below, watch video of the full train travel through the 96 Street station to fully appreciate the bizarre nature of seeing our beloved trains covered in red and white circles.

Recently Unearthed Video Of 80s Punk Band "The Pork Guys" With Moby On Drums

"Then we played in New York City with Earth Crisis and the only clothing I wore was a donut around my penis. We only ever played in our underwear or naked."

Moby, New York City's favorite techno-vegan, played in various punk bands while attending college in Connecticut. One of those bands was called The Pork Guys, which he continued to play with at least through the 90s with friends Tarquin Katis and Paul Yates. Yates and Moby famously had a falling out in the last decade (they have since reconciled), and Yates sold Moby's soul on Ebay for $41.

Last Thursday, Yates quietly uploaded a video of The Pork Guys to his Vimeo channel.

Put Your City On: HD NYC; Paper Tiger TV In The Gulf; NYC: Paid Less, Costs More;

Mesmerizing video of New York City in HD by Andre Merilo. Part 2 is here.

• Paper Tiger TV is heading to the Gulf Coast today and will be there all weekend live-tweeting the oil spill disaster [@PaperTigerTV]
• The Guggenheim solicits 200 videos for exhibition with YouTube. Artists in U.S.-sanctioned countries are prohibited. [NYCTT]
• The Making of Manhattan's Elite Welfare Farmers [New York Press] 
• Growing up on the Upper West Side in the 70’s [Westside Independent]
• New York City Workers Are Not the Nation’s Best Paid [WSJ Metropolis]  
• David Rockefeller, Sr., celebrates the 75th Anniversary of Ft. Tryon Park [Manhattan Times]
• Newsies vs the World! The Newsboys Strike of 1899 [The Bowery Boys]
• The Floating Sistine Chapel of Angel Orensanz [Gammablog]
• Poetry Whores Are Coming Back to NYC [ANIMAL]
• Union Square Pot Plant Disappears. [Gothamist] 

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Asobi Seksu - New Years (Live) in NYC at The Japan Society

Asobi Seksu - New Years Live in NYC at The Japan Society Saturday April 12, 2010, as part of the Society's j-CATION festivities, covered here in The Wall Street Journal.

During the intimate performance in front of approximately 230 fans who paid $5 a ticket for the under the radar show, singer Yuki Chikudate explained this was the first time in a few years the band played "plugged in," having been playing acoustic sets up until now, as well as recording an acoustic album at Olympic Studios in London. What's more, Chikidate informed the audience, this was to be one of their last live shows for a while; the band is ready to hunker down in the studio to record new material for a new album. "We hope you'll be here when we get back," she offered, "and we hope you'll like it."

In the meantime...

Asobi Seksu - New Years New Years (via)
Asobi Seksu - Thursday Live at Olympic Studios in London (Acoustic) (via)

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Coney Island: One Last Time From The Air

New York Aerial Photography - Coney Island from Jason Lam on Vimeo.

Did you ever wonder how tv shows or films get those awesome aerial views of Manhattan? Those helicopter rides must get expensive. Unless of course you're not using full size helicopters, but radio control toy size copters with cameras attached. Upon stumbling upon the video above, we wanted to kmow more about how it was shot, and whether or not the NYPD tried to shoot the camera out of the sky from a SkyWatch tower.

Jason Lam, founder of New York City based SkyShutter.com, wrote via email that he shot the video using an AeriCam. With the redevelopment of Coney Island moving along, Lam wanted to capture the park in an aerial video, for posterity'sake.

SkyShutter.com's site states:

We specialize in Low Altitude and Close Range Aerial Photography. Simply put, we film where cranes and jibs are out of reach and full-scale helicopters are not permitted and unsafe for filming purposes.

Jason told NYC The Blog this is not a new idea, and in fact has been used by Hollywood for about 25 years. Fascinated with radio controlled planes and helicopters since his youth, Jason started experimenting by strapping his cell phone on an RC helicopter – with results that left more to be desired. As he started to purchase commercially available aerial systems from different companies, he became frustrated with high prices for poor design that was often heavy and aesthetically unappealing. So he did what any of us would do. He made his own AeriCam: "without any of the compromises of the current products on market."

Seeing as we've run into our problems on occasion while lawfully taking photos or video, our next question asked him about any run-ins he might have had while filming New York City in an AeriCam. "I have not have any problems with NYPD," Jason wrote. "They are most interested in the AeriCam than want to give me troubles."

You can see more aerial videos featuring New York City and San Francisco on Jason's Vimeo page.

And if you'd like to try out some of your own aerial video or photography, you can always get some helium balloons and try it yourself. Here's a step by step how-to.

Asics Digital Projection Ad: Union Square Subway Station

More of these types of advertisement will become prevalent in our subway stations as the format becomes aggressively marketed by the agencies selling the space, (in this case CBS Outdoor who handles all the ad space in our subway stations) and embraced by companies looking for new ways to get their message their across.

The NY Times recently ran a piece exploring the variety of advertising options available in the stations to get your message across, such as the projecting of ads on tunnel walls as they do in Boston and L.A., wrapping whole cars as was done recently on the Times Square Shuttle, and wrapping poles as you might have seen in the Herald Square station. CBS has also recently began testing a large digital display above a passageway by the 7 train in Times Square. As well, according to the Times, "it has offered stairs and the full interior of trains to advertisers for a technique known as a wrap." And for those truly looking to utilize all ad space available, and one that I've never (yet) seen covered with any ads, CBS also makes available for advertisers the turnstile arms, and the entire turnstile structure.

For further reading, Public Ad Campaign has a nice collection of stories regarding advertising in the subway stations.

Subway Musician Prof. Edwardo Alvarado

Often seen at the 34th St BDFV NRQW Station, Prof. Edwardo Alvarado plays his keyboard with the help of three band members and a belly dancer, who play a trumpet, sax, and violin respectively as the belly dancer continues her routine the entire time, never stopping for even a moment. The CD Edwardo sells at his feet notes that he "graduated in the Music Conservatory of Viena - Austria, Ex - Director of the Symphony Orchestrain Gauyaquil - Ecudaor." (YouTube)

Gospel Singer Arlethia Lindsey At The 125th St ABCD Station

(youtube) Because as you might have noticed, that's how we do up here. "Faith in Jesus is the only way to God. Amen."

Related videos:
The Most Cavernous Subway Station In NYC?
Subway Dancers On The D Train, From 145th To 161st
Daniel Smalls AKA Geechee Dan: 59th St ABCD Subway Station
Big Daddy Kane - Ain't No Half-Steppin' Live @ Marcus Garvey Park
Kelton Hundredz Hustles His Demo On The Corner Of 145th And St. Nicholas, Harlem

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NYC The Blog Recommends: I ♥ NY Subway Maps From EQ

EQ is an artist who holds court on Prince St in Soho, off Broadway. You can find him there spray painting the ubiquitous I ♥ NY on subway maps, along with a variety of other original designs he works with. He will also do commissioned pieces on request. The piece he creates in the video, spray painting I ♥ NY on the map are sold for a very reasonable $20, and might make the pickiest tourist/friend/sibling happy to receive one.

You can find him via MySpace or by emailing him at groundzeroartsATyahoo.com

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