You are currently viewing the stories for April, 2003

Wartime in Williamsburg

by 04/30/2003
Neighborhood: Brooklyn, Williamsburg

One American flag pin is not enough for the woman across the aisle from me on the L train to Brooklyn. She wears one on her lapel, one on her coat, one on the front of her Le Sportsac bag. All are bejeweled. Her eyes are closed; her head falls to the side. She has […]

Tupperware with a Twist

by 04/28/2003
Neighborhood: West Village

All those who believe Tupperware parties have gone the way of Suzy Homemaker may have cause to break out the crinoline. As a party at PROUN space studio has recently demonstrated, Tupperware is alive and glib in the West Village. No longer the exclusive domain of Valium-popping post-WWII housewives, this particular Tupperware party, given by […]

The Zeta Jones Stake-Out

by 04/24/2003
Neighborhood: Upper West Side

I got the call at 9:00 am. They wanted me to go to a Central Park West address, the home of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones. The celebrity couple had just had their second child, a girl, two days earlier, and were expected back from the hospital at any moment. Rounding the corner in […]

The Post-Breakup Drugs (feat. Kyp Malone from TV ON THE RADIO, at Clovis Books)

by the man with the funny camera 04/22/2003
Neighborhood: Brooklyn, Williamsburg

Several years ago, in the Spring of 2003, I endured one of those moderately shattering moments of identity crisis – a break-up – and resorted to drugs to ameliorate its effects. Included among the expected substances and liquids was the powerful drug of technology, specifically a new gadget, even more specifically a neat-o cool-o camera […]

John Epperson

by 04/22/2003
Neighborhood: Uncategorized

Thursday, April 24, 2003, 7:30 p.m. JOHN EPPERSON: SHOW TRASH is moving up in the world! For one night only, the performance David Finkle of “Backstage” says is “a funny, often touching autobiographical revue,” will play at the posh boite Joe’s Pub in The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street in New York City. JOHN EPPERSON: […]

Neighborhood Reading 4/23

by 04/21/2003
Neighborhood: Greenwich Village

On the Wall Reading Series at Cornelia St. Cafe welcomes Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood Readers include: Elizabeth Frankenberger Debbie Nathan Gerald Howard and Annie Bruno WEDNESDAY APRIL 23 6:30pm Cornelia St. Cafe 29 Cornelia St. (for directions, go to www.corneliastreetcafe.com)

Going to Washington D.C.

by 04/21/2003
Neighborhood: Midtown

Day 24. Widespread looting in Baghdad. I had been gearing up for three weeks for the antiwar demonstration in D.C., but as it approached I became uncomfortably aware of several things. First of all, none of my friends were going, in fact, most had not even heard about the demonstration. Secondly, I did not like […]

One Hour Till Midnight at the Post office

by Thomas Beller 04/16/2003
Neighborhood: Chelsea

The pictures on this page are 360 panoramic images. If you do not have Quicktime (and you’ll know if there are no pictures visible even after a minute), Download it here. These are not static pictures. You can move them left and right, up and down. To move the image: Hold down mouse button and […]

The Ayatollah of Nueva York

by 04/14/2003
Neighborhood: Brooklyn, Flatbush

It was late 1979 — high point of the Iranian revolution — and the Immigration and Naturalization Service had just announced its nationwide dragnet. I was teaching ESL at Brooklyn College and had just confiscated the vocabulary test of one of the eighteen Iranian Jews in my beginners class. Cheating had increased since the INS […]

The Red Shoes

by 04/11/2003
Neighborhood: Union Square

Yesterday, after visiting my family in my small hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, I took the train back to New York City, my chosen home. Though it was a weekday, the platform was congested with people. Some stood naively about and others, like myself, train-savvy, were waiting in the place where the train’s opening doors would […]

War and Duane Reade

by 04/04/2003
Neighborhood: Greenwich Village

Day 14. U.S. troops four miles from Baghdad. It was 9 PM and I was out of Breathe Right strips. If I don’t have Breathe Right strips I can’t sleep soundly, so I put on my coat and my orange button that has a photograph of a very sweet looking little Iraqi girl and the […]

Scumbags with Cameras

by Thomas Beller 04/02/2003
Neighborhood: Upper West Side

Photographs by Alexej Steinhardt and Thomas Beller Click here for more information about the 360 One VR When not in use however, the attachment comes with a plastic jar that screws over the mirror ball, to protect it. The plastic jar makes it look downright lethal, weird, and mad-scientistish, and I was a little concerned […]