The Empress

(Helen Jewett - upscale New York City prostitute – Photoshopped by Joe) Who would have ever guessed that a temple to Aphrodite was on the corner of Bridge and Nassau streets. I thought the three of us were headed into the bowling saloon next door, where through the nearly closed blinds of a third floor window [...]

Delicious pizza, ice cold beer, a cap from the 1850s & Staten Island

(Lee’s Tavern in Staten Island – Photo and Photoshopped by Joe) The four of us sallied to the edge of the known universe last Friday night, which for New Yorkers is the borough of Staten Island. It’s a strange and indescribable place, where the fruit of its bounty populate TV shows such as Mob Wives and Jersey Shore. Though I won’t motor [...]

The Day We Disappear – Trailer

(The Day We Disappear – Trailer) From The New York Times: “Disappear is an edgy erotic thriller about a quiet artist (Derrick Damions – whose deep green eyes spark a sexy mix of vulnerability that also leak danger at the drop of a hat) who gets lost and tries to find his way back via [...]

Born to Kill

(Brooklyn Heights – 1854, Cropped/Photoshopped by Joe) The three of us ruffians sailed across the moonlit bay in a breathless huff. The two-masted brig suspected of transporting an Irish vampire gained rapidly on our sloop. We weren’t so much afraid as we were amazed. The craft’s arrival into NY Harbor seemed to trigger distant cries that we could not place and strange [...]

Demon Hunting

(“Dredging for Oysters” Prince’s Bay, NY, 1855 - Ballou’s Pictorial/Photoshopped by Joe) Jack steered the oyster sloop away from the South Brooklyn wharves where ice had begun to form, bearing to the Narrows strait that flowed between Brooklyn and Staten Island. In an effort to masquerade as river pirates, and because Jack liked fine clothes, the three of [...]

Hello, Hello…

(Cartoon by Seth – “Bald Punk’s apartment” – The New York Times, 10/30/09)   Hello! It’s me, Joe aka Bald Punk. I’m here in my apartment, chatting with my lady friend(LF) and the pizza and Chinese delivery guys(aka num and nuts). Scrappy Doodles is nestled snugly in my arms. LF keeps asking me what I was doing in [...]

American Horror Story

(Legendary Bowery Gang Leader, Mose Humphrey) “The deaths are three each day. This is in the parish of Tuosist. The people are buried without coffins, frequently in the next field. (There is) no noise or sign of grief for the dead; every thought is selfish and unfeeling…” – Irish official during potato famine, 1847. – The [...]

THE PAIN

(My grammar school photo) “Just hit the fecking thing,” Jack Jefferies had said. “But you have to break the bone. Skull’s the best spot. That’s all a man has to do and he’s golden.” I looked down at the diabolical weapon in my grasp that Jack had been showing me how to use. It was a wooden stave with [...]

Into Darkness – Christmas Day, 1853

   (View of Brooklyn Heights, 1849 – from digital New York Public Library) You had to be there before nightfall. These ships always came in the middle of the night, and they wanted you there earlier to wait. They wanted to watch you and the others… – Miller’s Landing was a rickety old wharf on the [...]

Gorged

 (Greek Salad – food photos uncreditted) No one goes to a diner in NYC unless you live in Staten Island and don’t know any better. I know Seinfeld did, but he went with a TV crew and George Costanza, and then made comic history. All I can think is because of that awesome show, Diners, Drive-ins [...]

Next Page »