Bruner Blog

Ludlow Street/Broome St, Lower East Side NYC

Bulgarian Bar Lovers’ NEWS FLASH! This just in:

Jul 22, 2006 3:11 PM

Hello everyone,

In case you haven’t seen the e-mail below, here is a short summary: (i) Mehanata is in big trouble, (ii) if you’d like to support them, you can visit the new place tonight at 113 Ludlow st. (b/w Delancey and Rivington) from 6 pm till 11 pm and sign a petition to the Community Board (they cannot serve alcohol but i think the dj will be there) and (iii) you can also show up at the Community Board meeting next Tuesday at 6:30 pm at 100 Hester st. where the final decision about granting the liquor license will be made. Pearl and i were asked to attend the meeting and it would help if a sizeable group of friends show up (specially LES and East Village residents). We also plan to be at Mehanata tonight around 10 pm.

kisses,
Ildik?

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joro boro wrote:
Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:39:35 -0400
From: “joro boro”

Subject: MEHANATA needs your help

Dear Friends,

As some of you may have heard, the opening of Mehanata Meyhane “House of Gypsy” had to face a series of challenges during the process of obtaining liquor and cabaret licenses at the new location. The previous approval by the local Community Board was mysteriously reversed and the transfer of licenses rejected. Consequently we had to close the bar and restart the application procedure.

What became apparent at the last meeting of Community Board 3 on July 17th was that an approval will not be granted. While a number of arbitrary and unsubstantiated reasons were given (e.g. “the proposed use of this location as a dance space?is inconsistent with the primarily residential character of Ludlow street” at a site that has hosted a number of clubs/bars during the past many years ? Seho, Lickwed, etc.), it was clear that the primary concern was not stated.

It seemed that hidden intolerance towards New York’s global thinking community as well as the immigrant circles is colliding with the idea of bringing Gypsy Punk, Balkan, and Eastern European, Turkish music and culture to NYC. As a result of the inexplicable action of the local Community Board, there is a very small chance for Mehanata Bulgarian Bar to reopen at the new Ludlow location. This would rob New York’s global oriented residents, the academic and artistic youth, and immigrant circles from various walks of life and ethnic backgrounds ? all of who came to be synonymous with Mehanata Meyhane ? from the unparalleled opportunity to experience and participate in the development of a unique fusion of cultures.

Therefore, we need your support.

OPTION 1:

This Friday and Saturday evenings (6pm-11pm) we are opening our new location at 113 Ludlow Street (between Rivington and Delancey) to show the space and give our supporters a chance to sign a petition to the Community Board.

OPTION 2:

Attend the Community Board and speak up!

Any voice matters, but especially if you are a resident of the Lower East Side or are a performer/musician.

If you care about Mehanata Meyhane “House of Gypsy” if you identify with New York’s forward thinking Americans and immigrants, if you are outraged at the unjustified discriminatory refusal of the Community Board, come and

Speak your voice this Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - 6:30PM
Chinatown YMCA Beacon Center located inside MS 131
100 Hester Street (Between Eldridge & Forsyth Streets)

For the final meeting of the local Community Board

OPTION 3:

If you are unable to attend neither the sign-up session, nor the Community Board discussion, you can still express your support by sending the following text to the Community Board by e-mail info@cb3manhattan.org Please include your Name and address at the bottom of the e-mail

Text of the E-mail

Lower East Side Performing Arts, LLC (LESPA) is an organization committed to introducing and popularizing the culture, music, and food of Bulgaria, Turkey, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe to the city of New York. LESPA is also in the process of opening a new venue located at 113 Ludlow Street, which would host a broad program of dance workshops, instrumentation labs, and music lectures to present the richness of the respective ethnic cultures to the residents of the community.

In light of this, I want to express my complete support for the institution and to emphasize the need in the city of New York for this kind of venue. As LESPA follows in the tradition of two established cultural institutions (Mehanata and Maia Meyhane), I consider their mission entirely justifies their obtaining of liquor and cabaret licenses and hope that in your decision you will consider the full value of this mission as it diversifies and enriches the neighborhood and presents an unique opportunity to expose local talent.

Thank you,
(Your name, last name)
(Your address)

I attended this evening a bachelor party for an old friend. Mazel tov!

I told my boss about it in advance, and she said she pressumed that meant I’d be in around 11am with puffy eyes. I said I doubt it. Indeed, the nine of us said our goodnights approximately sober before midnight. Most of the evening was spent plumbing the groom-to-be for all details of his youthful indiscretions. Honestly, it was little to blog home about. He’s too accomplished professionally to have actually lived an indiscreet life.

At some point, one of the married among us rallied us to offer marital advice. Although I wasn’t the oldest in the group, I believe it’s correct that I am the longest married: Adi and I celebrated 12 years of more than less marital bliss in May, plus three years of living in sin beforehand.

Here, therefore, is my best advice for a life of domestic harmony:

0) My most obvious (for those who know us well) piece of advice is simply unbloggable, but practically no one would follow it anyway, so nevermind.

1) In any disagreement between your wife and your mother, always side with your wife.

2) My mother told me this soon before we were married, and even though I don’t think she meant it to be explicit advice, it has served us better than anything else I know in the pursuit of happy coupledom: The reason second marriages often work better than first ones is that in first marriages you think you can change the person into the person you want them to be, and in second marriages you just accept them for who they are. (The morale is if you can apply that thinking to first marriages, you’ll be much better off.)

3) Buy her flowers often.

I’ve written before about “name phreaks” (such as here and here). Here’s a new one: Oatman, Arizona has a solar fried egg contest every July 4th. The founder of the contest being interviewed by NPR, also the chairman of the town’s Chamber of Commerce: Fred Eck. (Fried egg, Fred Eck…get it?)

Iz?

We have a new cat. For the time being, anyway. A neighbor had adopted it (details unknown) and is now moving, so we volunteered to look after her, for the time being, anyway.

The neighbor called her Booboo (which is a bit odd). We’ve settled on Iz?, which is Hungarian for something along the lines of “thing” or “whatsits.” She bears some resemblance to Berci, whom we catsat for a couple of weeks a little while ago, though Berci was quite a bit more, let’s say stout, and possibly a bit dimwitted.

We have been thinking of getting a new cat lately, as our belove Cini and Popsi are getting up there in age (15 and 14 respectively), but the jury’s still out after two days as to whether Iz? is the ticket. We’re hoping it’s just the jitters of adjusting to a new place and two slightly cranky old feline roommates, but so far Iz? is a bit of a hisser and a biter. We shall see.

Cini

Popsi

Berci

Shout out to Matt Ragan, our favorite bartender, from our favorite neighborhood restaurant, the exceptional Pisticci. Matt is following his dreams and moving to LA to make it big in moving pictures. We gave him a framed copy of this picture at his going away party at the restaurant last night. Dozens of faithful patrons showed up to wish him bon voyage. We wrote in the card that he should remember us in his Oscar acceptance speech. Even a reference to “and all the little people I encountered along the way” would suffice. Great guy. And hold on to Chris, Matt. She’s a keeper!