Master of puppets: President Donald Trump’s first homecoming visit to New York City last week was met by a protest of thousands. During his brief May 4 stop in the city, Trump met with Australia’s prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, aboard the aircraft carrier Intrepid to honor the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral read more here »

Third Street Roots: At its spring gala at Capitale, at Grand St. and Bowery, on Mon., May 8, Third Street Music School will be honoring The Roots, Clarfeld Financial Advisors and Beverly Harper, the school’s director of safety for nearly two decades. The $500-a-ticket event (or $5,000 per table) raises funds to transform lives through read more here »

Theater drama: It seems that Lorcan Otway’s Theatre 80 on St. Mark’s Place will be picketed by “antifa” (anti-fascist) protesters on the evening of Sun., April 30, when the venue will be hosting a talk by the controversial word-slinger (and saxophonist) Gilad Atzmon. Neighborhood activist Bill Weinberg, who says he will be among the protesters, read more here »

Ex-bookstore blues: It’s not surprising that William Kelley, the director of the Village Alliance business improvement district, is ticked off about the old Barnes & Noble bookstore corner space at Sixth Ave. and Eighth St. having sat empty for more than three years. TD Bank has held the lease on the space all that time. read more here »

R.I.P. Peel: A memorial for David Peel will be held Sat., April 15, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the East Village at Peter Jarema Funeral Home, at 129 E. Seventh St., followed by “a singing tribute” across the street in Tompkins Square Park. Burial will be Monday morning at Calverton Cemetery on Long read more here »

Bum steer: So we did a bit more digging on that wild rumor we heard from a manager at the Jue Lan Club that Peter Gatien is looking to open up a new nightclub in New York City. Basically, it sounds extremely unlikely. New York nightlife guru David Rabin reminded us that, for starters, the read more here »

Rajkumar report: In case you haven’t noticed, Jenifer Rajkumar isn’t running in the First District City Council primary race. We had heard before that she had vowed never to run for Council again. More to the point, she resigned as Democratic district leader a month ago to take a job in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration. read more here »

Goose stock on the loose: Canada Goose held its initial public offering last Thursday and, as you might expect, the animal-rights activists who have been protesting constantly outside the costly coat company’s new Soho store were instead down in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Many of them were wearing coyote masks, to highlight read more here »

The snows of Kilimanjaro: The Village Independent Democrats political club decided to go with Eric Coler as their new president when they elected him back in December, in part, because of the 25-year-old’s youthful energy. Well — talk about vigor! — hey, this guy’s all over the place! He just reported that he climbed Africa’s read more here »