A Conversation with Jim Power, Mosaic Man

"R.I.P. NYC," says the script on tombstone drawn in chalk on the sidewalk outside the Gap on Broadway. "Died of no funding." In larger lettering beneath that "Mosaic Man's Trail" and then "EMPOWERJIMPOWER.com."

Residents of the East Village probably know Jim Power by that more colorful attribution "Mosaic Man." He's responsible for the trail of some 80 mosaic-covered lamp poles covering New York's Lower East Side, East Village, and Greenwich Village. He started decorating them over 20 years and today he's repairing one, which pays homage to police and firemen who served on 9/11. He says he found a photo in a book about the East Village, which is helping him reconstruct some of the details of this particular mosaic. I mentioned to him that he could probably find many photos of his work on Flickr. Yes, he confirmed, he has many photos online.

Mr. Power hopes to raise funds, which would allow him to continue restoring his work across this large swathe of Manhattan. His work is mentioned in guidebooks, but has never been officially recognized by the city.

Related:

• Web site: empowerjimpower.com
• Complete photoessay on Flickr
• A version of this story also appears on CNN's iReport.com

East Village Gentrification Protest

I posted this CNN iReport tonight on a gentrification protest in the East Village. The building across the street from me has become emblematic of this ongoing issue in the area.

iReport: The Changing Village

Thought I'd try my hand at a report for CNN's citizen journalism site iReport. I simply took a couple of my photos from Flickr and coupled them to a brief update on the gentrification of the East Village. The result: The Changing Village.

The experience? Well, I was hoping to be able to go into the report and update it later, but that doesn't appear to be an option. I can understand why, given that people have the ability to comment on the stories, and some users might change their stories to an extent that they render the comments out-dated. Nonetheless, TV and print journalists often do get to update or repackage their stories, and I'd hope to see that experience replicated here. I suppose you could always create a 2nd story incorporating much of the same content.

Nonetheless, my story's currently on the homepage, so that's pretty darn cool.

Life in the EVil

This informative New York Times article about the East Village mentions that Claes Oldenburg once had a studio in my apartment building. I know that Quentin Crisp, about whom Sting wrote the song "Englishman in New York," also lived in my building. We occasionally still get mail for him, though he died in 1999. We also occasionally get misplaced mail for Phillip Glass, who lives across the street, and who I often see when I'm trudging bleary-eyed to the subway weekday mornings. If we ever become acquainted, I want to ask him if he's ever heard "Glass Breaks" by DJ BC, which is a mashup of Glass's music with the various hip-hop artist's lyrics. Actually, if you click on the first of those two links, it would appear they've met.

Photo of East Village regulars outside the infamous Mars Bar a couple of blocks away. More New York photos on my Flickr site.