Viewing NYC Articles Categorized Under No Your City

"No Your City" Introduces Normal Bob Smith, Union Square Documentarian

2015-05-12T08:19:20-04:00

No Your City is an 8-part mini-documentary series that offers a glimpse into the lives of extraordinary New York City street characters. Previous profiles include Ms. Colombia and Qween Amor amongst other well-known street performers.

In this episode, the show profiles Normal Bob Smith, Union Square's urban anthropologist and documentarian.

Filming the events of the Square, producing & distributing my blasphemous products, and illustrating beautiful, bizarre, often under appreciated subjects, are my three creative salvations.

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"No Your City" Introduces Curtis Sliwa, Founder of the Guardian Angels

2015-05-06T09:53:31-04:00

No Your City is an 8-part mini-documentary series that offers a glimpse into the lives of extraordinary New York City street characters. In this episode, the show profiles Curtis Sliwa, anti-crime activist and founder of the legendary Guardian Angels.

In May 1977, Sliwa created the "Magnificent 13", a group dedicated to combating violence and crime on the NYC subways. At the time, the city was experiencing a crime wave. The Magnificent 13 grew and was renamed the Guardian Angels in 1979. The group's actions drew strong reactions, both positive and negative, from the police, public officials, residents and the media. Throughout the early 1980s the group's distinctive uniform, a military type red beret and white insignia T-shirt, became recognizable as the group grew and courted media attention.

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"No Your City" Introduces Jim Power, the East Village's Famous Mosaic Man

2015-04-28T11:39:03-04:00

In this episode, the show profiles Jim Power, the East Village's Mosaic Man.

"The people in the Village love this art. When you go to the Empire State Building, you look at it and walk away from it. When you come to the East Village you walk through the art. It's a museum all around."
- Jim Power

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"No Your City" Introduces Ricky Syers, Washington Square's Beloved Marionette Puppeteer

2015-04-21T12:27:18-04:00

In this episode, the show profiles Ricky Syers, Washington Square's marionette puppeteer.

"The marionettes keep everyone around me 8-years old again. I gotta be honest with you, I don't think I have gone through or will go through a mid-life crisis... Life hasn't changed for me since I've been a kid." - Ricky Syers

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"No Your City" Introduces Ms. Colombia, Jackson Heights' Eccentric Drag Street Performer

2015-04-15T07:56:17-04:00

No Your City is an 8-part mini-documentary series that offers a glimpse into the lives of extraordinary New York City street characters. In this episode, the show profiles Oswaldo Gomez, better known as Ms Colombia.

Gomez is originally from Colombia and moved to Queens in 1975 to pursue a career as a lawyer. After being diagnosed with HIV in 1988, she decided on a drastic change in her lifestyle, living the way she wanted to from then on. Ever since, she has been performing on the street in colorful dresses, hats and props, including live parrots on her head and baby carriages with puppies inside.

“They ask me: "Are you homo? Are you gay? Are your lesbian?" And I say: "No, I am a human being from another planet."

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"No Your City" Introduces Qween Amor, Midtown's Scantily Clad Twerker

2015-04-07T14:06:07-04:00

No Your City is an 8-part mini-documentary series that offers a glimpse into the lives of extraordinary New York City street characters.

In this episode, the show profiles Qween Amor, a thong-wearing twerker who is not afraid to sing and dance anywhere and everywhere he wants.

A lot of the backlash and hate comes from my own community, and that is shocking to me because the gay community will go out to the bars and get messy-ass drunk, and they will do exactly what I am doing but the only difference between them and me is that they do it behind closed doors and I do it out in the real world where everyone can see. Gay people were not meant to fit into society... We were meant to stand out and live bright and be loud… Because it was our God given right to do so.

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"No Your City" Introduces Wendell, Union Square's Psychedelic Hippie

2015-03-31T11:58:10-04:00

No Your City is an 8-part mini-documentary series that offers a glimpse into the lives of extraordinary New York City street characters. In this episode, the show profiles Wendell, a well-known Union Square Park character and self-described psychedelic hippie.

When the tourist bus comes around my hood, they wave at me because they know that I am a visual oasis. And it’s something that’s needed. A visual oasis that relieves people of the stress of what’s out here already. It’s almost like a mirage. I am the water that not here, that people are thirsting for. They see this visual oasis and they thirst for it. And when they grab it, it’s not even there.

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Season 2 of "No Your City" Kicks Off With the Unbelievable Story of Larry the Birdman

2015-03-30T10:59:31-04:00

Back for a second season, online show No Your City is an 8-part mini-documentary series that offers a glimpse into the lives of extraordinary New York City street characters. In this first episode, the show profiles Larry the Birdman, a well-known Washington Square Park fixture, and
discovers his unbelievable story.

"I went to prison for 20 years because two guys broke into my house and murdered my wife and kids on December 20th, 1986. I caught them in my house and handcuffed them to my front yard and I worked them over with a piece of lead wrapped in leather, and worked them from their ankles to their neck and them I chopped their heads off with a steak knife... The birds help keep me normal. I am not violent anymore." - Larry

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