Fred Askew Photography

INSIDE THE VILLAGER
Lynne Stewart talks as defense rests in terror case
By Mary Reinholz
The lawyer for radical Downtown attorney Lynne Stewart rested her defense Nov. 10 after she completed 8 1/2 grueling days of testimony in her ongoing trial on charges of materially aiding terrorism.

St. Brigid’s members still seeking audience with Egan
By Albert Amateau
The group trying to save St. Brigid’s Church, where the last Mass was held Sept. 15, is still trying.

Great cheese, without the squeeze, as Murray’s moves into a new space
By Jennifer Bodrow
Murray’s cheese shop, the oldest cheese store in New York and a Greenwich Village culinary institution on Bleecker St., has moved — just across the street. Although always renowned as a cheese nirvana for its more than 250 varieties, the store’s former location, with only 600 sq. ft., was always a tight squeeze.

Chelsea settlement house renovation is at midpoint
By Albert Amateau
Visitors to the Hudson Guild’s main center on Nov. 4 needed a big dollop of imagination and a good guide to visualize the new John Lovejoy Elliott Center that will emerge on W. 26 St. early next year with the completion of the $7.8 million transformation project.

Landmarks bento out of shape over Sushi Samba rooftop tent
By Lincoln Anderson
Is it just the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission and a couple of neighbors who think so — or is there something fishy about how Sushi Samba 7 has been able to avoid bringing its rooftop dining area into compliance with landmark regulations for three years?

AIDS, poverty and children in Cambodia
East Village photographer Q. Sakamaki traveled to Cambodia last month to document the toll that country’s crushing poverty and AIDS epidemic is wreaking on its children. Most affected is the large population of orphans, most of them known as AIDS orphans.

Methodists find new home nearby
By Albert Amateau
More than 120 men and women attended the last worship service of the Washington Square United Methodist Church in the historic building at 135 W. Fourth St. on Sun., Nov. 7, and then marched in procession two blocks away to a new home in the New York University Catholic Center.

Assemblymembers slam governor’s veto of budget reform
By Ronda Kaysen
When Governor George Pataki vetoed a budget reform bill on Monday — approved unanimously in both houses of the State Legislature — many state lawmakers expressed disappointment at what they saw as a move by the governor to undermine the authority of the Legislature.

Wagging tails, not hanging chads, are latest election flap
By Lincoln Anderson
In the latest election controversy in this turbulent political season, Greenwich Village dog owners are saying that the Board of Elections is unfairly barring them from voting if they bring their pets with them.

Hidden Meat Market art space is a world unto itself
By Divya Watal
Never judge a book by its cover, they say. In Melinda Brown’s case, a more appropriate adage would be: Never judge a building by its facade.
Some turf, not all mirth, in Columbus Park agreement
By Ronda Kaysen
Heeding the advice of King Solomon, the warring factions of the Columbus Park turf war agreed to divide their baby in two, repaving half of the aged ball field with synthetic turf and the other half with rubber-painted asphalt.

ARTS
Playwright resurrects script to critical acclaim Fritz Weaver in role of his life
By Jerry Tallmer
He was 81. She was 25. Well, in cold fact, “I was a little older than the girl in the play and had already had three children,” says Joanna McClelland Glass, while the girl in the play, to whom the playwright has given the name of Sarah, is 25 and pregnant and unhappily married.

Stacks of whacks
By Jerry Tallmer
If, in this Googling age, you type “francophile” into your computer and then type “namesakes” and then press GOOGLE SEARCH, you come up with 142 of what are called “hits,” or Googlewhacks. At least I do, at this very moment, on this computer.

Out There, And Too Far Beyond
By CHRISTOPHER BYRNE
Sometimes “quirky” works—when a unique perspective or series of perceptions come together to create a show that, if not perfect, gets a lot of credit for being “out there,” for breaking a few rules and taking a chance. In the case of “People Are Wrong,” the story is “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” meets “E.T.,” and it probably pays not to look too closely or the cracks in the narrative become glaringly apparent.

The Queen of Salsa remembered lovingly
By Bonnie Rosenstock
When Celia Cruz died on July 16, 2003 at the age of 78, she was accorded two state-like funerals, each one befitting royalty. For Latinos and many who are not Latino, Cruz was the peerless and beloved “Queen of Salsa.”


koch on film
By Ed Koch
“Enduring Love” (-)
This movie even put my foot to sleep. When the lights went up, I couldn’t walk and had to endure another couple of minutes hopping around.
“Brother to Brother” (+)
is a superb film melding the struggles of Harlem’s black artists in the 1920s with those of a young black artist today. The pressures on the central characters because of racial bigotry and homophobia were and continue to be enormous.