The Antagonist: 2010

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Short Changed at the Bowery Ballroom

On Saturday December 11 I went to the Bowery Ballroom to see Jesse Malin perform. I was on the main level (where the stage is) standing next to the bar in the back of the room. There was a female blonde bartender with a "fashionable pageboy haircut" serving drinks. I ordered a $5 Budweiser and gave her a twenty dollar bill. She gave me 5 singles back. I called her over and said " I gave you a twenty"....she nodded and then I said " and this is the change you gave me" ( as I showed her my 5 singles). She opened the register and said " You gave me a ten." I said " Okay, I'm sorry" and left her a dollar tip. I am 99% sure that I gave her a 20 dollar bill. I don't think that the fact that she opened the register and looked in really meant anything.( She was doing multiple transactions while mine was taking place.) I did not want to start trouble and ask for the manager because it was her word against mine. ( I assumed that the Bowery Ballroom would have taken the bartender's side over the customer's .) Should I mark my money in the future? Should I bring a flask into the Bowery Ballroom and not purchase alcohol? Should I loudly announce the denomination of money I am handing the bartender in the future? Was it an honest mistake or was I ripped off? My gut feeling tells me I was ripped off.

-Brother Mike Cohen Sunday December 11, 2010. NYC

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Outtakes from Ethan Minsker's Upcoming Book, The Bar Stool Prophet

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Launch Eleven - December 30, 2010

Friday, December 3, 2010

HO! HO! HO! HO! HO!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Outtakes from Ethan Minsker's Upcoming Book, The Bar Stool Prophet

On the Cutting Room Floor

Outtakes from Ethan Minsker’s Upcoming Book,

The Bar Stool Prophet

Saturday, I was out walking Darby along Fifth Street between A and B when three little dogs spilled out of a Cadillac and darted straight for her. The owner was in the car, and he didn’t react at all. They were barking, but not in a friendly way. They wanted blood. Circling around us, a white dog bit Darby on the paw. Darby howled. I stumbled forward and swiftly kicked the white dog back into the open door. The other two dogs scampered out of my kicking range.

“What the fuck man?” the owner said in broken English. His hair was in a pompadour. “Why you be kicking me fucking dog?”

Puerto Rican. Maybe Dominican. The music coming from his car was the same I heard in the bodega on the corner.

Darby bared her teeth at the man. I held her leash tight. I had protected her from the dogs, and now it was her turn to return the favor.

“Back the fuck up!” I shouted at the guy. He looked at Darby, then at me. We were on the brink of violence. He didn’t say anything. I knew he didn’t want to fight. Now it was my choice. I could have pressed it, but I walked on down the street pulling Darby. The threat to Darby was gone. Fuck it. He was only trying to protect his dogs. I thought of his hair. It was characteristic of the young rocker crowd that used to hang out in the bars. We would probably have been friends if we had met at the bar. There was no need to fight. At the corner we stopped, and I checked her paw. I didn’t find anything. She always cried more than she was hurt. It was typical of her.

Finally, I dropped Darby off at home and went to work. I was late.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Dolls of Lisbon

As part of Pop Up Lisboa 2010, the Antagonist Movement has a current exhibit of art dolls by over 60 artists. The show, which runs until mid-December, is being held in the Miradouro de Santa Catarina, an old palace which overlooks the city of Lisbon.

Eleven Antagonist Artists visited Lisbon for two weeks, from October 31^st to November 13^th. While in Lisbon, we did art on the street and in a gallery, showed films and worked with a youth center.

Check out our pictures below.