So it seems that S.K. Thoth has been arrested.
What.
Now, as near as I can tell, the reason Thoth (and Pink Angel, his fellow Prayformer) were arrested was because they didn’t have a permit. City of New York Parks and Recreation Rules and Regulations section 1-05 d.4 states that “No person shall play or operate any musical instrument or drum or cause any noise for advertising or commercial purposes except under the express terms of a permit.” All right, fair enough. It seems to me that it would be a bit of a pain to get one, though, given that the section of the official NYC P&R website with the permit forms on it has no information whatsoever regarding permits for playing music. No cost of permit, no form to fill out, no one to contact regarding the matter, nothing. I don’t even know where I’d begin to go about getting a permit… and when you combine that with standard beaurocratic efficiency… well, it doesn’t exactly seem like getting a permit is a walk in the park, so to speak.
Of course, there’s also the fact that Thoth’s been prayforming there for how many years without being arrested? It sort of makes one wonder why the police all of a sudden decided that arresting him was warranted.
On the bright side, I suppose this means that the crime rate in NYC is down to almost nothing, given that the police have nothing better to do with their time than arrest street musicians, right? Right?
I’m also curious as to where certain freedoms, particularly speech and religion, come into play, given that Thoth “prayforms.” I mean, freedom of speech would be involved regardless, but in Thoth’s case… yeah.
I have to admire Thoth’s spirit, though. Even being handcuffed and led away by the police, it seems, couldn’t stop him from singing. Nor could they stop the crowd from booing the arrest, and cheering his defiance. Man, I wish I had that kind of inner strength.
And there you have it.
Tags: Civil Rights, Injustice, Pink Angel, S.K. Thoth
July 17, 2009 at 20:46 |
I just wrote and complained to
Anna Colletti at email AColletti@centralparknyc.org
I got a reply that stated a Mr.
Neil Calvanese, their Vice President of Operations was supposed to call me back to talk to me about it. The park is using Thoth’s name on their website to advertise the musicians and attractions that come to the park. This is some mess for sure. Geeze, he featured the park in the “Thoth” academy award winning documentary that he was featured in.
Below is my letter that I emailed to her.
“Dear Colletti,
You all had SK Thoth arrested along with Pink Angel. Why are you advertising that Thoth is an attraction at your park. http://www.centralpark.com/pages/attractions/bethesda-terrace.html “It has also brilliantly fulfilled the designer’s purpose in becoming Central Park premiere spot for crowd watching. Another aspect, perhaps unforeseen by Olmsted and Vaux is the Terrace’s role as center stage to a wide variety of artists. The most famous of these is Thoth, one of New York City’s most talented and celebrated street performers and subject of the 2002 Academy Award winning film of the same name.”
This seems very self serving and cruel.
He is now up on for an arraignment hearing on August 27th and in my opinion, you all should drop these charges, offer restitution for their (pain and suffering) and public humiliation.
People have travel many miles to come to your park just to see him and this is how you treat a crowd pleaser? He featured your part in his academy awarding winning film and gave you all some publicity and this is who you treat him? Gosh golly this is inhuman.”