Photo History of Antifolk at Sidewalk
Fri, 02/22/2013 - 12:02pm
Hi - I've been compiling a large photo history of performers at Sidewalk from the mid-1990s through today, and it's now viewable online. I hope it will be of interest and spark memories among those here who have been part of that scene. A significant portion of the gallery comes from Lippe's archive, although there also are contributions from Anne Husick, Jon Berger, Dina Levy, Kim Mossel, myself, and Yoko Kikuchi, as well as some individual shots from artists pictured. I hope there are no glaring omissions, but we'll keep evolving this as time goes on. Click on one of the small thumbnails to scroll through larger images:
http://www.sidewalkny.com/gallery/creativity-community-on-avenue-a/
If you click on the "Gallery" link on the Sidewalk navbar you'll also find a smaller collection of posters and flyers.
Please spread the word if you are so inclined.
Herb
Fri, 02/22/2013 - 6:03pm
#2
Thanks Matt. Really glad you
Thanks Matt. Really glad you liked it. Means a lot.
Fri, 02/22/2013 - 8:33pm
#3
Haven't seen 'em all yet,
but it's pretty intense for me seeing some of those.
Sun, 02/24/2013 - 1:14am
#4
Oh man, great job!
That looks
Oh man, great job!
That looks like it took a whoooooole lot of work.
I'm incredibly glad that you undertook the huge task of making this happen!!!
I'm having a hard time loading some of the images, maybe my computer is just too slow to deal with this huge amount of images loading onto one screen... but I've checked out a good big ol' lot of them.
I wonder if putting this assortment into public is going to make other people start coming out of the woodwork with additional photos from their own personal collections. Like an expanding "open-source" way for more people to submit images to you for inclusion.
Sun, 02/24/2013 - 1:54am
#5
Y'all are some very
Y'all are some very photogenic people.
Dashan I miss you a lot.
Sun, 02/24/2013 - 3:15pm
#6
Jeff - yeah, I've already had
Jeff - yeah, I've already had some folks offering me more pictures. I do want to create some sort of variation on this where people can upload their own photos and it can be like a centralized Antifolk at Sidewalk image bank. It would be hard to do it on the site where the gallery is currently located for a variety of reasons, so I have to figure out another option where people can just upload stuff themselves. There are other considerations, but I do want to think about it and figure something out. It would be nice to be able to link together all the pictures people have had on their own Flickr and Face book pages or that only exist on people's individual computers.
Sun, 02/24/2013 - 10:18pm
#7
Herb,
I'm unable to Save Images from that gallery.
Was that done on purpose?
PS Good job.
Mon, 02/25/2013 - 1:40am
#8
No, it wasn't done on
No, it wasn't done on purpose.
Mon, 02/25/2013 - 2:06am
#9
I have a bunch
of black and white pix from my 20th wedding anniversary which was at Sidewalk. It included an early Schwervon gig, and Prewar, among other things. I have to scan those and make them available.
Fri, 03/08/2013 - 5:14pm
#10
wow
That is fantastic.
Michael Pitt hung out at Sidewalk?? I remember doing sound for Miranda July on a "Strangefolk Sunday" around 1996. No pix, though, probably. She was just passing through.
My fave picture here is Jon Berger, Carrie and the Mexican food.
That's some mighty artful picture taking by Lippe, Herb and Yoko. And the others. Gorgeous looking photos.
Fri, 03/08/2013 - 5:13pm
#11
I'd love to see more of the
I'd love to see more of the 1990s represented, and I'm sure you would too. I think the simple problem is that it's more or less the pre-digital era, and much of what exists is snapshots, with crappy flash, from people who aren't hanging out on the scene anymore. Still...someone was taking all those pix that ended up re-xeroxed for Antimatters. But...who? and what became of all of it? (my meager would-be contributions are in storage, and I am sure they are truly meager).
Among the missing....The Anti-Section ... Charles Herold .... Mr. Scarecrow .... Gene and Mimi ... Muckafurguson. And of course, The Dan Emery Mystery Band.
I know it's not for any lack of trying on Herb's part. He sure tried me! I'm sure once one shows up, it will all start falling into place.
From recent years, Ben Sadock has yet to make an appearance, and Somer, too. Subjects for further research!
Sun, 03/10/2013 - 10:27pm
#12
Steve -thanks for the
Steve -thanks for the comments. I really tried to get shots from the earliest days of Antifolk at Sidewalk but for some reason I wasn't able to get much representing the first 5 years or so. I just found some shots of Brenda Kahn that might be from an earlier time than what's already up on the gallery and as soon as I get a minute I'm going to put those up. Yes, it got to be easier once we got into the digital period, but I'm still a little perplexed about why the earlier pictures were so hard to get. I'm sure that if at some point I can ask around some more, some things will show up. I have a handful of other shots still to put up that came in after the gallery launched, which I'll add as soon as I can.
The shot of Jon with the Nachos got me thinking about Sidewalk's old menu. For a while I was pretty addicted to the Veggie Penne. But I also used to frequently order the salmon burger, and I'll never forget the night I ordered it - in front of some friends just in from Australia -- and Carrie said 'they took that off the menu, you were the only one who used to order that shit.' I miss the sweet and lovely Carrie.
Tue, 03/12/2013 - 11:38pm
#13
Old photos/photocopies of
Old photos/photocopies of Sidewalk MENUS would be amazing!!!
That would actually bring up a lot of memories for a lot of people... the different offerings over the years that some of us probably ate over and over during different time periods...
I wonder if restaurants EVER keep copies of their former menus? It would be an interesting archive for any restaurant, after 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, etc.
Can't believe Sidewalk doesn't have the hummus plate anymore, that was always a very good option.
And those pasta dishes... ravioli, I recall... with the pink sauce option... back when they came with automatic sides of salad AND garlic bread! And of course the salad had the carrot-ginger dressing. It actually wasn't a bad deal, back when the ravioli came with all that stuff. Then it switched and only came with the garlic bread... then it got worse again and cost more money but didn't come with anything! And NOW it doesn't even come with ravioli!! : )
(In fact, ravioli has been quoted as saying: "When they came for the salad I said nothing, because I wasn't a salad... when they came for the garlic bread I said nothing because I wasn't garlic bread... and when they came for me there was nobody left to speak out...")
Wed, 03/13/2013 - 8:23am
#14
Part of me
(my arm?--okay, attempting to join Jeffrey in some humor) wishes these images could be saved so that I could share them via email or use one of me should I choose.
They aren't my photos, so I have no right to expect it.
Wed, 03/13/2013 - 2:36pm
#15
Barry, if you are on a PC, on
Barry, if you are on a PC, on Firefox, you can right click on the thumbnails and do an "open link in new tab." From there you can save the images. For example:
http://www.sidewalkny.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/sidewalkgallery-75-...
http://www.sidewalkny.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/sidewalkgallery-181...
You can also right click in the margin of that gallery and "view page source" to get an overall sense of which images are where. Make sure you select the links to the full sized images, not the thumbnails.
On the mac OSX you can do the same with....option click? command click? one of those.
Thu, 03/14/2013 - 11:25am
#16
Just a point about
Just a point about downloading/using the photos. I assume the folks who contributed photos won't mind, but I think it is appropriate to check with the individual photographers before using the shots elsewhere (unless it is purely a private/personal use).
Now, back to food....Jeff you reminded me about the garlic bread and salad that came with the pasta. It was really great garlic bread and I remember that I was always amazed that was included. I didn't used to get the ravioli but as I mentioned earlier, I was addicted to the Veggie Penne, which was on the menu from the time I started coming around in 2004. I wonder if it was offered much before that. I remember it was very dense with cauliflower. Also, I liked the falafel, although I remember a conversation with Matt one time where we were saying how frustrating it was that with your five balls of falafel you never got enough pita bread to go with it. So, you either had to get a side order of pita, which pushed the price of the dish up from a reasonable $5 to a less reasonable $7 or you had to eat your pita balls naked. The menu was such a miss-mash of things. With the hummus and all that it had a middle-eastern slant but then there were so many other random things.
I also used to frequently order the salads, which would change from time to time...I can't remember what was on the Sidewalk Salad. I can't believe I'm going blank on this...didn't it have candied walnuts or some kind of candied nuts...Also, when I first started coming around they had the Garden Salad, which actually was very good - obviously mostly vegetables but then they cut that. Yes, the carrot-ginger dressing was a staple...pretty good stuff.
I remember often wondering who would ever order the Chicken Schnitzel but then I saw Jon Berger get a big plate of it...I think that was his regular dish -
Also, lots of people liked the Cajun Fries, although I would get them regular. I remember once Dan Penta said he liked to get them "extra Cajun-y."
Occasionally I would get an entree - which got you two sides (right?)...wasabi mashed potatoes was one I would always get.
Oh, and I also liked that you could get breakfast food at anytime. When the prices of the other selections started going up you could still get eggs at a reasonable price.
When the current burger and grilled cheese menu was introduced I remember thinking it wasn't too bad - and in fact considering everything they do have some reasonably priced items now. But the more I think about it the more I miss the something for everyone menu of the old Sidewalk. It seems to me that a lot of the sort of standard East Village restaurants like that where you could basically get a fairly hearty meal for a few dollars have disappeared...one I used to go to frequently was Kiev. I guess there are still some of those places around...Veselka, etc.
Sat, 03/16/2013 - 11:54am
#17
The pita thing was with the
The pita thing was with the hummus. It was really good and the pita was always nice and warm. But you only got like one pita with a whole plate of hummus. And they charged you 2 bucks for more pita or you had to just eat the rest of your hummus with your finger.
I loved the sidewalk salad. It was the same salad they had at Baby Jupiter back in the day. It had spinach, apples, blue cheese, and candied pecans. Yum! I wish I had one right now.
Fri, 03/15/2013 - 9:03am
#18
0001
Herb,
I agree.
Steve,
Thanks.
Sat, 03/16/2013 - 2:09pm
#19
Got it!!
OK, so Bob Strain was the main Antimatters photographer and his stuff has become tragically impossible to find.
I recommend checking in with Pierre J of Home Office Records and the Gigometer.
A very kind man, and I remember him giving me very good photos he took at Sidewalk. He is an expert on local music. (Everyone should sign up for his gigometer.) And he knows his Belgian ales.
Wow. This made me cry. Amazing job Herb.
"Here to do great things."