Category Archives: Upper East Side

Central Synagogue

Central Synagogue

Convergence Center


Convergence Center from GammaBlog on Vimeo.

Creative Time’s year-long program Democracy in America: The National Campaign culminates in the Convergence Center: a major exhibition, participatory project space, and meeting hall mounted in New York City’s Park Avenue Armory just in time for election season.

My video includes an interview with Chitra Ganesh talking about Index of the Disappeared. The show goes from playful to thoughful, to terrifying to silly with everything scattered throughout the huge Park Avenue Armory. I enjoyed exploring the building, you have access up to the fourth floor. I shot it early Sunday afternoon before the performers and speakers were scheduled. The unknown Karaoke guy at the end was the only person with guts enough to lay it all out on the line while I was there.

643 Park Avenue at 66th Street, Manhattan
Noon to 10PM - $free
Continues through September 27
creativetime.org/programs/archive/2008/democracy/convergence.php

Armory Pano

The main hall, viewed from the second floor Moose room. Continued reading >

Mother’s Day Peace Parade - NYC

 Mother’s Day Peace Parade - NYC

Code Pink and the Granny Peace Brigade celebrate Mother’s Day, the way it was originally celebrated by Julia Ward Howe’s in her Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870.


Mother’s Day for Peace: a professional reading of the proclamation.

Faces and Flag

Faces and Flag

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. View Large

Truth March

The Truth March,
started out at the East Meadow in Central Park at 96th Street. Click each
photo to see full size. Or go here
to see all the photos.
When not taking photos, I spent my time drumming. I’ve
got to say that this was the most rhythmic spontaneous demo-drumming I’ve
ever experienced. It’s unusual to get random folks able to listen and
respond to each other as they play. It was a lot of fun, and we got people
to dance, which is always a good sign when drumming. That’s Citizen
One in the foreground, his hands a-blur as he beats something out
on a drum made from a plastic water bottle.
These colors don’t run the world.
Oil, water and blood.
Real Americans…Real Angry!
Bike Salute for the Truth March at the Metropolitan Museum.
Click the photo to see the full size panorama composed from four photos.
I didn’t get to take any photos after this. When we reached 59th Street
we were apparently in another police precinct and the mood grew noticeably
more oppressive as we were surrounded by large numbers of cops, cop vans.
I left the march when we reached 49th and Sixth Ave.

February 15 Protests


Photo by Peter Holderness . Click for uncropped version.

NYC Indymedia has published a selected
gallery of photos from the February 15 rally
. The above is the most
disturbing photo I’ve seen thus far. It seems to show a cop on horseback
coming dangerously close to this child riding on an adult’s shoulders.

Indymedia has also posted videos they say shows unwaranted
violence. I have not been able to view them. The download always craps
out on me before It starts. A critical comment there say, that the video
is edited in too quick cuts, not allowing you to see what comes before
the violence. Originally, when show at the press conference, it was
set to the tune NY, NY by Frank Sinatra. Sheeesh! Way to lend
credibility to your journalism, make it cheesier than some Fox newsertainment.
But the release of only selected clips may be a valid journalistic judgement,
protecting the rights of the sources, victims and arrested. I suspect
the unedited film is in the hands of lawyers.

Click for slightly larger version. Photo by Jaime W

This is the only overhead shot I have found
of the crowd in New York. You can see how people were penned
into small groups and kept from mingling with each other. Also
observe what appears to be cops on the roof on the left. This
is first Avenue. It looks to be taken from the 59th street bridge
looking uptown. You should also realize that at this same time
Second and Third Avenues were similarly full of people who were
obstructed from getting to the First Avenue rally site. Look
at how far uptown the crowd stretches. And the main stage is
eight blocks downtown at Fifty First Street. The entire upper
east side was tied up by the way that the city obstructed us
from our a legal march and gathering.

______________________

Paris

Huge crowd at Paris Demonstration.

Large selection of photos from worldwide anti-war protests
from punchdown.org

Filed in Big Brother, Demonstrations, Peace, Protest, Upper East Side | Permalink | Comments (0)

Top