Volume Number 1 Issue Number 4 | October 20 - 26, 2006
The Buzz
Kiss to rock parade:
The Buzz hears that Kiss — Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, but no other former members of the ’70s superband — will be the grand marshals of this year’s Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Kiss will be in full makeup (which is good, because everybody seems to like them better that way). Actually, it would be impossible for the former Kiss members to join them, at least in makeup, since after a falling out with their former band mates, Stanley and Simmons now own the exclusive rights to wear the Kiss makeup in public. Also, their lead float will include “six women,” specifically requested by Simmons, according to Jeanne Fleming, the parade’s director. “You’re scooping Page Six on this,” Fleming told us. … And in a first for the parade, the second float will have dogs and their owners, both dressed in costume. Several “high-profile dog-rescue groups” will walk along with them. The float is looking for people with dogs in costumes to join them in order to bring more awareness to dog adoption. To join, meet at 6 p.m. at Spring St. and Sixth Ave. and find Float 2, Bella Starlet’s Dog Float, right behind the Kiss float.
Furniture in Pier 40’s future?
We hear from a source that H.D. Buttercup, a Los Angeles-based retailer, is interested in 500,000 square feet on Pier 40 for retail space. The Hudson River Park Trust, at the end of August, issued a request for proposals to redevelop the 14-acre W. Houston St. pier, which has 1.2 million square feet of usable space. The R.F.P. submissions are due Nov. 17. H.D. Buttercup in L.A. is described on a Web posting as a “massive, 100,000-square-foot furniture emporium…where more than 50 manufacturers become retailers, selling their products directly to the public.” The store is described as “huge” and “comfortable,” but “expensive.” The owner and creator of the store is Evan Cole, former chief executive of New York City’s ABC Carpet & Home, who has dubbed the store’s innovative sales strategy “manu-tailing.”
Hooray for body bags:
We were passing Union Square on Sunday when we chanced upon the rally of the October 22 Coalition Against Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. Lynne Stewart, who last week was sentenced to 28 months in prison for aiding terrorism, was the keynote speaker. Flanked by black-beret-wearing members of the Young Black Panthers, Stewart sat listening as a member of the D 12 group spoke about Cuba standing up to the “imperialist beast” and, closer to home, a future showdown during which, he vowed, there will be “body bags and blood on both sides.” The crowd applauded, Stewart clapping right along with them. In her remarks, Stewart said she looked forward to a day when young men won’t have to fear police officers on the subways, and gave a shout out to Matula Shakur (Tupac Shakur’s stepfather), Sekou Odinga and other “political prisoners.” Stewart is still free pending her appeal. … Also at the rally was Geoff Blank, president of the No Police State Coalition. He told us a jury recently found him guilty of two charges of disorderly conduct and one charge of using amplified sound without a permit at Union Square, but acquitted him of charges of inciting to riot. However, Blank said his days of using the electronic bullhorn without a permit are over — “I was arrested 18 times,” he said — but that he still hopes to change the law.
hex and the city:
Another fun-sounding Halloween event — and how could it not be, since it’s being cooked up by Florent Morellet? — is the “Hex and the City” bash at Florent restaurant at 69 Gansevoort St. in the Meatpacking District on Oct. 31, 8 p.m. to midnight. The gimmick: Come as your favorite “Sex and the City” character. “Best witch” wins a dinner for four.
