Howl!

Howl! is a five-day event which takes place in the East Village (click here for more photos). The name Howl, is taken from a poem by Allen Ginsberg, written in 1955 in Berkeley, and considered one of the seminal works of the beat generation. In its fifth year (it was not held in 2006), this art festival is the signature event sponsored by FEVA, the Federation of East Village Artists. For three years, Howl! hosted the legendary dragfest, Wigstock. Howl! is comprised of numerous events in a variety of venues in Tompkins Square Park and in the surrounding neighborhood, with the major activities on Saturday and Sunday in the park. There is a poetry festival (with a reading of Howl, of course), a book expo, musical performances on two stages (Moby was one of the performers) and Art Around the Park (shown in the photo): "ART AROUND THE PARK is a live-action event featuring over 140 artists from the East Village and beyond transforming an eight foot high, 900 feet long canvas into a riotous explosion of color and creativity." A myriad of neighborhood establishments participate - bars, cafes, clubs (such as ABC No Rio - click here or the Bowery Poetry Club), galleries, community gardens, theaters, a museum (Fusion Arts - click here) and places difficult to categorize like Bluestockings (click here). The day was calm, however there was a little altercation with a guy reported to have splattered people with paint - click here ...