Brouhaha over butt-ban sign

Save an indie bookstore!

As we were the first to report back in June, the St. Mark’s Bookshop on Third Ave. at Ninth St. is struggling to stay afloat and pay the market-rate rent that its landlord, The Cooper Union, is demanding. Saying that “a significant rent concession” by the school could help the bookstore stay alive at the location, Joyce Ravitz, a member of MoveOn.org and Community Board 3, has started a petition at SignOn.org, calling on Cooper Union to give the store a break. The goal is to reach 30,000 signatures, and they’re already at 25,058.    

Soho neighbors aired their views on a fire escape about the Kardashians on Fashion’s Night Out.

This is the reality?

The Kardashians caused another mob scene in Soho last Thursday during Fashion’s Night Out. Pauly D of “Jersey Shore” was DJ’ing for Kim’s birthday and her sister Khloe was also at their Dash store. A crowd of about 500 screaming fans, the majority of them teenage girls, filled the sidewalks on Spring St. outside the place. Everyone seemed to be there because it was a big event, but when we asked people if they were actually Kardashian fans, they only reluctantly admitted they were, sort of. The usual response was, “Uhh…” shrug, pause, “…yeah.” There were a fair amount of police on hand, and they did their best to keep a path open along the sidewalk so pedestrians could get through. Meanwhile, Justin Cavin, who was managing a band featuring Beth Ditto, who were playing at the Mac makeup store down the block, offered his thoughts on the crazed Kardashians hoopla. “It’s the symptom of the downfall of our culture,” he said. “I feel like we’re being upstaged by Pauly D — that’s so sad. When Beth Ditto is upstaged by Pauly D, there’s something wrong with the world.” Meanwhile, Sean Sweeney, the Soho Alliance’s director, is saying Fashion’s Night Out has gotten out of control. The Villager asked for his comments on the latest Kardashians event, and he sent us a letter.

Embattled pastry baker Ted Kefalinos’s response to accusations that he’s a cracker.

Anti-Obama baker’s back:

Ted Kefalinos, of Lafayette French Pastry and the “drunken Negro face cookies,” was back in his Greenwich Ave. store on Tuesday. Last month as he was leaving for vacation, he had kept everybody guessing whether he would be reopening. Tuesday, his display cases were looking a little barren, only partially filled with cookies and pastries, but he said that’s because he had just returned. He vowed that the local “liberal fascists” aren’t going to make him poor or drive him out of business. We thought we heard him say the brokers haven’t been coming by lately, either. What? Brokers? we asked. No, no, pastries, pastries, he said quickly. Of course, his problems all started with the infamous chocolate cookies he concocted specially for Obama’s ’09 inauguration. Sporting garish, twisted features and red splotchy eyes, the cookies were blasted as racist and created a neighborhood uproar. The New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense held protests to shut him down. He expressed irritation that some “little brats” who graduated from P.S. 41 last year had thrown rocks at his store. He spoke to someone at the school about it. He still harbors some animosity toward state Senator Tom Duane, who, after the cookie incident, had a state Division of Human Rights attorney instruct Kefalinos on nondiscrimination and how to treat customers. “I am not a toy. He wants a windup toy,” the pastry maker said of Duane. He’s also still miffed at Colin Casey, Duane’s former chief of staff, who he said was “sticking his finger in my face” at the training session. Since his opponents have called him a cracker, Kefalinos is now selling oyster crackers with a cutout of his face on the box. The former McCain supporter wouldn’t tell us who he’s backing for president, but we’ll just be happy if he doesn’t make any more offensive Obama cookies.

The Mosaic Memorial Bench on Seventh Ave. South.

On the tiles:

Village Angel Dusty Berke reports that just about all the Tiles for America tiles have been put back on the fence at Greenwich Ave. and Seventh Ave. South. There wasn’t a mass gathering at the grassroots 9/11 memorial over last weekend for the terror attack’s 10th anniversary. Rather, there was a steady stream of people, often with their young children in tow, who came by and offered to help hang a tile. The Village Angels and other volunteers had taken all the tiles down to keep them from getting blown off and damaged by Hurricane Irene. Meanwhile, Jim Power, the “Mosaic Man,” completed his concrete bench, which incorporates cracked tiles from the memorial in the top of its seat. Berke said Power got a little freaked out when he was told by the Department of Transportation that he’d need to get a permit for the bench — currently located on the sidewalk on the memorial’s Seventh Ave. South side — or it would have to be moved. Power and Berke would also like to keep his 9/11 palm tree planter there, too, and Power is working to get permits for both, Berke said.