Trekkie Monster is the alter-ego of Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster in the award-winning Broadway play, Avenue Q, which is an adult parody of Sesame Street. Geoffrey and I saw it several years ago and it was completely hilarious. Created by Rick Lyon, Trekkie is obsessed with social media and has made millions of dollars off investments in various platforms. In a previous iteration of the show, the original Trekkie was obsessed with Star Trek, hence his name.
Photographed in the Museum of The City of New York as Part of the Exhibit, Puppets of New York.
It’s a good thing I have a sharp eye or I would have walked right by this fun street art sticker, which cleverly portrays the hideous orange face of Dump as an Orange Dum Dums sucker! Bwhahahaha! They got the sucking part right, that is for sure. Just six more that of this loser. January 20th can’t come soon enough.
Photographed at the Southeast Corner 23rd Street and 8th Avenue.
Oh, how timely is this T-Shirt parody of the undead Grady Sisters from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining? Designed by Boggs Nicolas, the shirt is shown here in dark (blood) red, but it’s available in over a dozen different colors, and in sizes and styles to please everyone. Best of all, The Distancing T-Shirt is here just in time for all of your summer quarantining needs! You can pick one up for yourself or as a gift for a fan, at This Link! Prices start at just $19.95!
If you’ve passed by Gem Spa, the legendary East Village bodega that is home to the city’s Best Egg Cream (#BestEggCream) at any point since September 11th of this year, you may have done a double, or even a triple take. We know that St. Mark’s Place has become increasingly gentrified, but is Gem Spa now a bank, or wait, what is going on here, exactly?
While it has been rumored that a citibank is slated to take over the corner lot which has been home to  Gem Spa since 1957, fear not: this an art installation meant to draw attention to, but also satirize, the phenomenon known as “Disappearing New York.” It isn’t very pretty.
Disclaimer text running across the bottom of the sign above reads:
schitibank has kept the historical appeal to this building to absorb their customer base. This schiti location is not affiliated with any other schiti locations. We don’t mean to gentrify, as schitibank is co-opting this space with Gem Spa to bring you an authentic banking, egg cream and vaping experience. Every customer is on surveillance cameras. Smile, you’re on camera.
The Gem Spa Schitibank installation is the work of Tommy Noonan and Doug Cameron of boutique marketing firm DCX Growth Accelerator, who are known for their ‘Artisanal’ publicity stunts (Google them and be very impressed).
Click Image to Enlarge So You Can Read the Fine Print!
God is definitely in the details here. Promotional posters for the ‘bank’s’ various perks and services include artwork by Robert Mapplethorpe as well as the likenesses of The New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.
Click Image to Enlarge for Detail
More posters and props can be found inside the bodega!
Schiti ATM!
We clearly do not need another bank in the village (or anywhere in NYC, for that matter) but we do need a cool bodega that’s been around forever, and we need our delicious egg creams! Gem Spa is located at the southwest corner of 2nd Avenue and St. Mark’s Place. Drop in and drop some cash next time you’re in the hood. Better yet, make a special trip to visit, so you can see the schitibank installation before they take it down!
Update, May 8th, 2020: Sadly, Gem Spa has fallen victim to the Coronavirus Outbreak. Read the Press Release After The Jump
Nothing in the Universe has yet made me happier than my now decade-old decision to stop having romantic relationships. Because relationships blow, and, as musician Lisa Prank so concisely states is this triumphant return of the Video Clip of the Week, “Luv is Dumb.”Prank, also know as Robin Edwards, has a lot fun with this video, which goodheartedly parodies the iconic, 1992 Romantic Comedy / Grungesploitation film, Singles. If you’ve never seen it, I enthusiastically encourage you to add it to your Netflix queue immediately. I’ll wait.
Aurally, “Luv is Dumb” recalls the ecstatic power-punk tunes of the Buzzcocks, one of the greatest bands to emerge from British First Wave Punk Rock — and surely there is no higher praise than that. It doesn’t even matter than the song is about the living hell that is dating, because it just makes you want to rock. Visually, “Luv Is Dumb” features appearances by friends of Edwards‘ who are all in bands that I’m not even going to pretend to have heard of, including Tacocat, Chastity Belt, Dogbreth and Happy Diving, so if you enjoy those bands already, you have even more reason to check this shit out!
“Luv Is Dumb” can be found on the album, Adult Teen, which, I can already tell just from the title, must be excellent. Like her on the FaceBook at This Link!Enjoy!
Lisa Prank Fulfills her Dream of Flight in the Video for “Luv is Dumb”
