Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

By Alissa Fleck

Pussy Riot supporters worldwide will be disappointed to hear this morning’s news. Just before 8 a.m. EST, David M. Herszenhorn, the New York Times reporter based in Moscow, reported members of Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot were given a guilty verdict on charges of hooliganism for an impromptu anti-Putin concert put on in Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February. They have been in prison, awaiting charges, ever since then.

Pussy Riot, a group which formed in only 2011, regularly stages similar, politically-charged performances in Moscow. The group consists of at least 10 members, who take measures to remain anonymous, including wearing balaclavas along with their brightly-colored dresses and tights. The Times reports Pussy Riot is “far more political than musical” as “[they] have never released a song or an album.”

Barely a fraction of the people in line outside the Ace Hotel in mid-Manhattan last night, a line which wound all the way around the block, made it inside the hotel’s dark basement bar for the protest in solidarity with the group. Similar protests took place worldwide, including outside the courtroom where the women were to be tried. Herszenhorn reported many of these protesters were also arrested.

People of all ages came together in the hotel basement, some wearing balaclavas and “Free Pussy Riot” t-shirts, many more wearing bright, flashy dresses, to join in the protest.

Artists and writers, including Eileen Myles, Chloe Sevigny and K8 Hardy, took to the stage to conduct dramatic readings of correspondences by incarcerated members of Pussy Riot, song lyrics (such as those to “Putin Pissed Himself”), court transcripts and letters from celebrities in support, like Yoko Ono.

The women’s statements were laced with philosophy and political commentary, as well as humor. “We made a prayer in the church with the wrong intonation,” they said, of their 40 second performance, and: “We are not messiahs…but who knows.”

The group also mocked charges against them, including that they “intentionally bought clothes for the occasion,” explaining the dresses, tights and balaclavas were, in fact, their customary garb.

Photo Courtesy of Alissa Fleck

Channing Powell and Ana Veselic said the New York Pussy Riot protest was the first event they had attended in support of the group, and found the turnout interesting. They knew nothing of the group until they stumbled upon the recent controversy in the Times.

“Then I went and read about it in Jezebel,” said Veselic, “I knew they’d have something about it.” The interest grew from there.

“I think we compare them to Western chicks and identify with them, because of their clothes and stuff,” said Veselic. “And we think in America, it would be better. But would it be?”

Powell said she had listened to the group’s music, and while she couldn’t understand it, it had “an interesting aesthetic.”

“They’re obviously intelligent and incredibly eloquent,” she added.

They also made predictions about the trial’s outcome. Veselic thought the women would be released. “I think they’re going down, sadly,” said Powell. “There would be too much embarrassment in releasing them, Putin has an ego.”

As of this morning, the women are still waiting to be sentenced.

There’s always a line and nowhere to sit at Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Yet, you can eye the cute, tattooed wait-staff in their jaunty hats and bring your robust cold brewed coffee ($2.50) and small savory sandwich ($4.50) into the Ace Hotel lobby. Like the New York Public Library reading room, albeit with food, a bar and chatting, the space features an oblong table with brass lamps where a line of patrons sat tapping at their laptops—except for one man who bellowed into his cell:

“ANNIE LEIBOVITZ… You know THE PHOTOGRAPHER. YES, she’s going to be the stylist.”

An Aussie business exec, a blond screenwriter and I rolled our eyes in unison and continued chatting about NYC real estate and great public places in which to write—like the highly cool, both in degrees and design, Ace Hotel lobby. Another patron confessed that the Ace is her client and that they encourage hanging in the lobby to make it lively and convivial—not the dead space most hotels have. I was chatting so much I almost forgot my mini-sandwich with its soft pretzely bun. By the time I’d finished savoring the gooey cheese and butter, smoked meat and salty bread, my tablemates were tapping again and the cell phone bellower was saying, “I have SPATIAL issues.”

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Stumptown Coffee Roasters
18 W. 29th St. (near Broadway)
212-679-2222

Got a snack attack to share?
Contact NBrand@aol.com

The Ace Hotel has two tiny, almost hidden eateries, both of which serve noteworthy snacks: No. 7 Sub (a spin-off of Chef Tyler Kord’s Ft. Greene No.7) and Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

The unifying theme to Kord’s wacky, wonderful hoagies ($9) seems to be pickles—from the pickled rhubarb in General Tso’s Tofu to pickled jalapeños in the Eggplant parm.

Photo by Daniel S. Burnstein

When No. 7 Sub started serving breakfast,* pickles were part of their wake-up call. I was dubious when I saw the cucumber peanut butter sandwich ($3) featuring “pickled bananas.” Yet the tangy bananas and the cucumbers, pureed into the PB, work with honey and PB’s natural sweetness to create a sweet/sour effect. The crusty bread—baked at Crown Heights Bun Panthers—accommodates oozy innards without getting soggy. Sometimes weirdness works. Sometimes it’s just weird, as in the corned beef hash ($5) with scallion cream cheese, zucchini and poppy seeds. Corned beef this good deserves a starring role, not schmeary scene stealers.

A bonus to any order is entrée into the Ace Hotel’s lobby, which is like the NYPL reading room albeit with food, coffee and chatting. At a long table in pools of dim light from brass lamps, a line of patrons, bloggers, no doubt, sat tapping at their laptops—all, except for one man (to be continued).

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No. 7 Sub
1188 Broadway (near 29th Street, ground floor of The Ace Hotel)
212-532-1680

Got a snack attack to share?
Contact NBrand@aol.com