http://www.thevillager.com/villager_360/policejustwent.html
Police just went bananas, says L.E.S. photographer
By Lincoln Anderson
Clayton Patterson, the longtime Lower East Side documentarian, got a phone call on the afternoon of Sat., March 13, from an Orchard St. resident, who told him there had been a stabbing in a building on the block between Houston and Stanton Sts.
Archive for Clayton Patterson
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Posted in News with tags Clayton Patterson, villager newspaper on March 26, 2010 by Clayton PattersonBilly Busted
Posted in News with tags Angel Ortiz, bowery, Clayton Patterson, houston, LA II, scorsese, william Billy Leroy on March 24, 2010 by Clayton PattersonOn Friday March 19 William, Billy, LeRoy of Billy’s Antiques and Props got the surprise of his life. Around 11 AM Billy got a call on his cell phone that there was a major commotion happening at his store on Bowery & Houston. Billy all excited quickly drove to his store. He thought the new independent feature movie he starred in, Dirty Old Town, directed by the 2 new young downtown film sensations Jenner Furst, and Dan Levin, had been accepted in Cannes. It was Cannes alright- a one way ticket to the Can- 100 Center Street.
Turns out the MTA subcontractor he had, for more than a decade, been legitimately buying the used scrap MTA subway signs from had lost his contract with the MTA, but not his connection to getting the used signs. Billy’s supplier had been caught buying and selling these signs. Billy got caught up in the scam.
The arresting officers were sympathetic to Billy, gave him the white glove treatment, told him not to sweat it and he was shepherded through a quick tour of one the grimiest places in NYC– the infamous jail called “The Tombs”.
The last international news exposure the Tombs got was the record breaking name changes of a public building. The Tombs were renamed the BBKC or in long hand the Bernard B. Kerik Complex. Bernard B. Kerik, Giuliani’s disgraced Police Commissioner, is now himself a graduate of the Tombs, and is serving out his 48 month felony conviction in the states prison system.
The judge immediately cut Billy loose with no bail, all experts are reassuring Billy his case will soon be resolved. So, in the end, the real major drama is: will Dirty Old Town be accepted in Cannes. Anxious Billy is waiting to buy his airplane ticket to what he dreams will be his new “Star” exposure.
btw- Jenner Furst, Dan Levin, Ben Solomon made Captured the movie- the documentary about Elsa and my life in NYC.
DID A FOLLOW-UP The winds of fame and trouble have been circling back and forth between Houston and the Bowery and S&V. It turns out that the so-called Keith Haring Wall in the Angel Ortiz, LA II, story, is on the same block where Billy’s Antiques and Props is located. That wall and that street location is the background of Martin Scorsese’s first movie, Who’s That Knocking at My Door? (1967). Martin Scorsese directed the pilot, of the HBO special, Boardwalk Empire, and the music in the trailer is by Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre. The movie I mentioned, starring William “Billy” LeRoy, Dirty Old Town, directed by the highly talented Dan Levin and Jenner Furst, also has the music of Anton Newcombe in it. Not sure why but that block resonates with the sound of fame and music, but it does. clayton patterson.
photo Billy- feeling tired and soiled from his dirty experience in the Tombs.
Steve Madden
Posted in News with tags Clayton Patterson, IYAZ, Lower East Side, Ludlow, Steve Madden on March 24, 2010 by Clayton PattersonThe event was Steve Madden and Star magazine present live music by IYAZ. The Steve Madden store on Ludlow and Rivington was packed beyond capacity. The event was by invitation only. One of the burly door security men was an ex-cop, then ex-fire marshal, now retired. I became familiar with him when he showed up when I was documenting local fires. We first met when a highly suspicious fire, the 3rd for this landlord, once again, destroyed his failing furniture business.
AS soon as you entered the Steve Madden store door you could feel the excitement pressed hard up against you like a rip tide at Coney Island. The air was filled with the smell of leather and lace, and coconut oil and expensive perfume.
Not one attracted by the free booze, or being especially comfortable stuck in the middle of a mindless mass of over excited people all pushing each other back and forth trying to touch or be close to some nouveau celebrity, so spotting the perfect location to take a few shots unencumbered by the mental madness of celebrity excitement I made my way outside. On the street, looking in the window, was a perfect place to shot the event. This spot included the bonuses of being able to comfortably hear the music without shattering my ear drums, offered a great view, I was the only one there, and what was most exhilarating for me was to be able to photograph some of the local kids who could not get in, but had the same view I did. The kids knew about IYAZ, knew the words to all his songs and sang along.
I am not a paparazzi, nothing against those guys, have friends who are, but what attracted me to this story was to be able to document the next stage of gentrification on this street. I have documented Ludlow for more than 2 decades. I have numerous photos of the drug dealers who used to control this block, crews like Hell Raiser. One especially poignant memory is of Tony a hit seller. Tony was shot. No ambulance came. No cops arrived. I hooked up with a local Dominican limousine and we raced him to the Bellevue emergency . Was amazing because different than on TV, the only evidence you could see of his wound was an end of your pinky sized burn mark on his sweater. No blood splattered everywhere, all the blood was flowing to all the wrong places inside his body- it was a serious internal injury. Once we got to the hospital the drive took off. I went inside. With the help of a nurse we throw him on a gurney and they rushed him into an operating room. I got off one shot of the medical staff cutting off his clothes- then a doctor went nuts and threw my ass out of there. I walked home. Feeling lucky to be alive.
Tony survived- Ludlow did not.
clayton patterson
CLAYTON PATTERSON L.E.S. 