Category Archives: East Village

#17 By Peter Nolan Smith

In April of 1976 I drove a stolen car from Boston to New York. The Olds 88 wasn’t really stolen, since a Back Bay lawyer paid $300 for the disappearance of gas-guzzler. Several hours later I abandoned the Detroit clunker by the Christopher Street pier after midnight. I threw the plates into the Hudson and […]

November 3, 1978 – East Village – Journal Entry

Last night at THE NEW WAVE VAUDEVILLE SHOW at Irving Plaza was a great success, but a debacle for me. Klaus Nomi was the headliner along with a horde of starry-eyed rockers and artists. I was asked to be the security with my friends. None of us were paid, but we guaranteed free drinks . […]

November 2, 1978 East Village – Journal Entry

At Club 57 on St. Mark’s Lang and I heckled the performers. Several people in the audience took offense. Miss Nancy, the emcee, shrilled, “Get the fuck out of here.” The crowd laughed and I responded saying, “Join the real world or at least the 1930s.” We didn’t leave, but when David Dirtbomb, a comic, […]

May 3, 1978 – Journal Entry

Am I a poet? Some people think so Not many But most consider poets wastrels without money Today, tomorrow, yesterday Throughout time Poets have suffered Scorn, hatred, ridicule, apathy, love, and poverty___ Hart Crane wrote THE BRIDGE A brilliant poem How many dawns, chill from his rippling rest The seagull’s wings shall dip and pivot […]

THE DUKE OF ROCK by Peter Nolan Smith

2012 Back in the 80s and 90s Tompkins Square Park in the East Village had several basketball courts. Full-court games were played next to the handball courts closest to Avenue B and East 10th Street. Half-court games was located against the fences of the asphalt baseball field on Avenue A. Players were split between neighborhood […]