(Photo: Scott Lynch)
Drummer Tommy Ramone, the last surviving member of the Ramones, died Friday afternoon at age 65 at his home in Ridgewood, where he’d been receiving hospice care for cancer of the bile duct. [Rolling Stone]
Kendal Felix, the 26-year-old who has plead not guilty to a second-degree murder charge in the death Williamsburg landlord Menachem Stark, testified at length about the night Stark died. [NY Post]
Unlocking the Truth, the metal band consisting of three eighth grade boys who live in Flatbush and Bed-Stuy signed a record deal for a minimum of two albums with Sony. Unlocking The Truth was discovered in Washington Square Park in 2012. [NY Daily News]
Peter Spear, a 28-year-old man from Greenpoint, went missing eight days ago in Millerton, NY. [Greenpointers]
Steps from Williasmburg’s Smorgasburg yesterday morning, a two-alarm fire blazed at a Kent Avenue residential building (also home to the coffee shop Sweetleaf). There were no injuries but lots photos. [Gothamist]
During a visit to a Chelsea spa last week, singer and performance artist Laurie Anderson was temporarily trapped inside a hyperbaric chamber. FDNY responders freed Anderson after she texted a friend for help. [NY Daily News]
436 Jefferson Street—a 2,500-square-foot space, and part of the outdoor art gallery Bushwick Collective—will become a restaurant, according to paperwork recently filed with the Department of Buildings. [Buzz Buzz Home]
Essex Crossing—the $1.1. billion mixed-used development that will spread across nine Lower East Side blocks—will include a new 15,000-square-foot park on Broome Street with gardens and a playground. Plans for the park were unveiled at last week’s CB3 meeting. Projected opening date is 2017. [The Lo-Down]
Watch Jay-Z‘s guest appearance Saturday at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival in Williamsburg. [Gothamist]
Ride share app Lyft did not launch in Brooklyn and Queens as previously planned. State attorney general Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit Friday accusing the company violating NY’s licensing and insurance laws. [ABC News]
Crepeteria, a French cafe, opened on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint. [The Greenpoint Gazette]
“Uplift,” a huge new art installation resembling tectonic plates by Jarrod Beck, will debut in late August or early September at Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side. [DNA Info]
Police are looking for this bearded guy, who they think is responsible for two butt-grabbing incidents (in as many months) around E.14th Street. [Town & Village Blog]
Read a glowing review of sculptor Tom Friedman’s show “Paint and Styrofoam” at Luhring Augustine gallery in Bushwick, running through August 9. [Artnet]
A 29-year-old woman who spent most of her life as a Hasidic Jew in Williamsburg (until leaving the sect in 2010) now gives guided tours as proprietor of her business, Visit Hasidim. [NY Times]
EcoStation:NY of Bushwick and North Brooklyn Farms of Williamsburg both saw their Kickstarter campaigns successfully funded, raising a combined $52K for upcoming projects. [DNA Info]
See what Williamsburg looked like in 1941, thanks to these photographs from the Library of Congress. [Curbed]
According to this round-up, the city’s 10 best taco spots include Brooklyn Taco on the Lower East Side, Tacombi at Fonda in Nolita, Rockaway Taco on Rockaway Beach, and both Taqueria Cocoyoc and Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermanos in Bushwick. [Refinery29] 