Daily Photo: Mikey Drinking In Front Of The Precinct
Photo of Baje One from Junk Science by Vito Fun.
Steve Powers Says Waterboarding Sucks
As noted earlier, artist Steve Powers and a trio of lawyers were waterboarded in Coney Island on Friday for the sake of art. Though no video is available, Art Forum weighs in with some photos of the torture, including the one above of a troubled looking Powers watching David Dames get waterboarded, and reports:
The participants left the room for a minute, then burst through the door; Powers, now hooded, was roughly guided to the inclined waterboarding table … Ritz then stuffed a large black rag in Powers’s mouth, held the artist’s nose with one hand, and poured a steady flow of water onto the rag like a frat boy pours a pitcher of beer. After about eight seconds, Powers began to twitch and jerk on the table, and Ritz quickly removed the rag. Dazed and flushed, the artist was led out of the room … and, after a beat, said, “That sucked!”
Photo by Sam Horine for Art Forum.
James Powderly, co-founder of the Graffiti Research Lab, was detained in Beijing for plans to use the GRL L.A.S.E.R. Tagging System to project pro-Tibet messages on downtown buildings. Powderly’s colleague, Nathan Dorjee said, “He was going to project a message that said, `Free Tibet,’ and some other messages that would have been three-stories high in different locations in Beijing.” “Students for a Free Tibet said Powderly and some colleagues had been “disinvited” from a new media art exhibition in Beijing at the National Media Art Museum of China earlier this year due to their uncompromising stance on freedom of expression.” [AP]
Photo by urban data on Flickr.
Last month NYPD officer Patrick Pogan violently shoved a man off his bicycle during a Critical Mass ride in Times Square, and offered a perjured account of what happened. Now Governor Paterson is considering appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the incident. The Villager reports Paterson may also make the special prosecutor’s office permanent, with the ability to replace the city’s district attorneys on corruption cases.
Radar Hooks Up With Hipster Hookers
The new issue of Radar features a story by Jessica Pilot on “high-class hipster hookers” who charge $2000 per hour and frequent clubs like 205 and the Beatrice Inn. They’re also well-educated and choosing prostitution’s easy money over more professional careers.
Heather’s other partner, a blonde with freckled ivory skin with whom she had some common friends, works under the name Kelly. After graduating from an Ivy League college in 2006, Kelly says she was thinking about going to grad school to become an English professor. She’s decided to put that aspiration on hold, though, while she rakes in the equivalent of an investment banker’s salary selling sex.
Read the rest of the story over at Radar.
Photo by Jessica Craig-Martin for Radar.
Daily Photo: Tilt Shift - Corona Yard
Photo by Triborough on Flickr.
Sorry, We Don’t Sell ‘Billboard’
We regularly receive emails asking to buy some of the cool stuff featured on Razor Apple. Unfortunately for everyone fiending over DQM x Trackstar track bikes and masked hoodies, we don’t sell them.
Another thing we don’t sell is billboards, as in the giant advertisements found all over the city, yet each week we get a couple requests. The latest comes from Mr. Ken, a California businessman with companies in West Africa:
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Surfers Head Up the Creek With a Paddle
A pack of surfers are braving New York’s waterways today, circumnavigating the island of Manhattan, to raise money and awareness for autism charities. The surfers, taking part in Sea Paddle NYC, started paddling north from South Street seaport at 9 AM. We caught the group minutes later paddling by one of Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls. For a closer look, check out live photos of the surfers’ 28 mile journey, which finishes up in Battery Park City this afternoon.
Not content with just simulated waterboarding, artist Steve Powers, creator of Coney Island’s new Waterboard Thrill Ride, submitted to the slow drowning torture technique with a trio of lawyers on Friday night. “In a private room at Coney Island, with an audience of artists, journalists, friends and family, former Army interrogator Mike Ritz roughly stuffed a towel into his victims’ mouths, one by one, and poured water until they struggled.” “I think if you’re for or against this technique, the conversation about this needs to start. We need to recognize what it truly is — which is torture,” said the former military interrogator hired to waterboard the group. [Washington Post]
REVS and KAVES Drop Death From Above
Once practically a gallery of his work, DUMBO has lost much of the work by graffit artist REVS in the last few years. The REVS and PEEK mural on Front Street was painted over and many of his sculptures have been cut off their welds, probably bound for private collections or profits. Fortunately for the neighborhood that must tolerate an uninspired Nike ad, REVS is back, painting a fire and ice themed mural with KAVES of Lordz of Brooklyn. The mural is even crowned with one of his coveted sculptures, high up of course, so it’s less attractive to thieves. DJ Rob Low even caught the action:
I looked out my damn window Saturday and saw two guys painting over the old mural at the corner of York and Bridge Street in Brooklyn, near the Manhattan Bridge. By the time Sunday rolled around, the pieces were taking shape, and I could see that it was graffiti legends Revs and Kaves (from Lordz of Brooklyn) doing a new production. I introduced myself and they told me it was the first time they had painted together in 20 years… two Bay Ridge boys from the ’80s.
