The long-standing legal battle between the city's artists and Department of Parks and Recreation has started to heat up.

Yesterday, the city's artist vendors asked Richard J. Sullivan, U.S. District Judge of the Southern District of New York, to consider new evidence in their suit against the city.

That new evidence? They claimed via letter that the Department is unfairly and illegally prohibiting craftsmen and artisans from selling their wares in city parks, since entertainers are allowed to perform for money again.

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Last week the Voice brought you news that the City had reversed a decision prohibiting virtually all entertainers from performing in New York's parks.

That mandate, which stemmed from "expressive matter vending rule," was used against performers starting in 2010, after the city carried out a controversial crackdown on artist vendors with the same regulation.

As it stands, the city's artisans and craftspeople currently must stick to certain locations in spaces controlled by the Department of Parks and Recreation. Judging from the language of the rule, though, it's unclear why this no longer applies to performers but still applies to artists.

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wikipedia

Sotheby's made over $14 million from a single sale yesterday

As you may have heard, Sotheby''s had a good day yesterday, auctioning off Edward Munch's "The Scream" for a record $119.9 million dollars.

Not having such a good day? The still locked-out art handlers at Sotheby's, who appeared as number 84 on the Voice's list of the "100 Most Powerless New Yorkers" last January and have been locked out from the auction house for nine months now.

In a nut shell, Sotheby's thinks it offered its workers a fair contract for the business it is doing last summer. As the website Flavorwire summarized of the other side, the unionized workers see it a bit differently:

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Black folks have been in the news a lot recently and, despite the fact that an African American is in the White House (and according to recent polls stands likely to stay there for the next five years), a lot of that news has been extremely depressing in the past month. From "Stand Your Ground" to why John Derbyshire might be considered racist, Americans have had a cantankerous time discussing race (and especially black culture) in the past few weeks.

On a much lighter note, Mary J. Blige has hilariously brought the age old question of how much black folks can talk (sing?) about eating fried chicken in public out of the closet and into the bright, fluorescent lights of a Burger King .

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If reading books or papers on the train doesn't quite satisfy your lit fix, Runnin' Scared has some wonderful news!

Shortly after launching a new arts in transit app, the MTA today announced the restoration of Poetry in Motion, which places poems alongside art in the transportation system.

Poetry in Motion, which operated from 1992 to 2008, was so greatly missed that the MTA's Arts for Transit and Urban Design team decided to bring it back, group director Sandra Bloodworth tells Runnin' Scared.

"I would often be out in public and have people constantly saying to me: 'When is the poetry coming back? ' It was a very personal plea," she says. "I think throughout the MTA, various staffers and leadership heard this loud and clear."

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Let's face it -- Long Island City is just way cooler than your typical go-to trendy neighborhoods in New York City. It's got that great combo of not-yet-too-gentrified, still-a-safe-place-to-chill, not-as-hipster-as-Williamsburg, and very-friggin'-close-to-Manhattan-AND-Brooklyn.

At the heart of this growing Queens neighborhood -- where strip clubs are NOT welcome! -- is a comedy joint on the rise. The Creek and the Cave, a multi-level restaurant and bar with nonstop comedy, is a gem that nicely epitomizes the little-neighborhood-that-could. The clubhouse features affordable Mexican food and drinks, the comedy shows are free, and it's a homegrown effort run by a Long Island City resident. And just like the fast-paced development of its surrounding neighborhood, the Creek and the Cave is also growing rapidly -- now, with the help of the ever-popular Kickstarter.

Today, Runnin' Scared caught up with the comedy-loving, former underwear-saleswoman owner of Creek and the Cave to hear about the clubhouse's latest expansion goals with the Kickstarter project.

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Take that, Hollywood!

In the battle for Oscars, New York City is beating Hollywood by a long shot -- at least in one category.

A study released today from the Center for an Urban Future, a New York City-based think tank, shows that half of the films nominated for an Oscar in the documentary-film category were made by New York City-based directors, and four out of the 10 nominated films were produced by New Yorkers.

This is not the first New-York-City-is-actually-better-than-Hollywood news we've heard this year. Last month, our jokester fashion-loving, Gaga-kissing mayor Mike Bloomberg chilled with the cast of Gossip Girl at a press conference declaring New York City the true film capital of the country.

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NYC Department of Cultural Affairs

Vacant spaces will be transformed into artist studios through new initiative.

Governors Island just got a little bit cooler.

While lots of exciting activities and new projects have been popping up on the little-island-that-could -- which the city finally took over in 2010 -- there are still many unused, vacant spaces on the 172-acre plot of land just south of Manhattan.

But if a new city initiative goes as planned, those vacancies -- and some at the Brooklyn Army Terminal -- will be converted into affordable studio and rehearsal space for artists.

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Even the best New Yorkers can sometimes feel a little antsy after spending too much time in the city. Perhaps this is why rich folks have their summer houses out in the Hamptons, and there is a new four-story REI in Soho trying to convince people to give hiking and adventuring a chance.

Now, a new Gowanus-based art project called the Bureau of Unknown Destinations is offering "temporary displacements" to people who wish to get out of the city and experience something new.

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Who should get credit for a mural of Biggie Smalls designed by a 21-year-old Parsons student and painted by artists CERN and Lee Quinones? The mural was commissioned by the owner of Habana Outpost in Fort Greene, and features the famous Che Guevara photo that adorns a million t-shirts with the Notorious B.I.G. in place of the Cuban revolutionary.

CERN painted the mural onto the wall, and Lee Quinones painted the pigeons that surround it. But now Parsons student John Garcia is saying that he should receive credit for submitting the original design (if "original" is the right word in this case).

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