STREET-FIGHTIN MAN.

"summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy."

Yes, Mick Jagger, it is. The temperature in the city reached 82 yesterday and it felt a little like summer in the afternoon. Then, as the evening wore on tempers were on the rise. While sitting outdoors and finishing the fourth of four pints, I heard behind me some shouting. Naturally, I turned around to see what the fuss was all about.

A fiery Welshman was shouting at an Italian guy, who I'll refer to as Mario. Mario was backing away as his friend--call him Luigi--was trying to separate the two. But the Welsh fellow was getting in their faces, shouting (the only word of I could decipher was "oy!"). The Welshman finally broke by Luigi, only to be greeted by a punch to the head from Mario. This stunned the Welsh, allowing the two Italians to retreat further up the street.

Once he regained his wits, the Welshman, henceforth referred to as Pedr (Welsh for rock or stone), decided on the most logical course of action: take off your shirt and charge after the two retreating Italians. When he caught them, he attempted to return fire, but was easily knocked off balance by a backpedaling Mario. Mario then dealt several close-fisted blows to turtle-on-his-back Pedr before standing up for some kicking and stomping.

Again, Mario and Luigi tried walking away. But Pedr was unrelenting. Now in the center of the street, he kept after Mario. Before long, he took a surprise punch to the jaw from the formerly peaceful Luigi. Then a punch from Mario, who continued to try and walk away. They went around the corner; luckily we had just finished our beers, so we could get up and join the following crowd. When we reached the corner, a shirtless Pedr was shouting at Mario and Luigi, who kept pushing him away. By this time I had taken my camera from my bag, set it to camcorder mode and began taping.

This, thanks to a having the wrong memory card, is all I captured. Notice the peace maker, still trying to hold Pedr back. Amazing.



It was just after this that the retreating Italians decided to stop retreating and just give Pedr what he was looking for, which was apparently ten yards of double face punching, followed by two--I shit you not--TWO flying karate kicks to the head. The fight came within a few feet of me, which would have made for amazing footage had I not been using the wrong memory card. Result, five seconds of pushing caught on tape.

After this flurry of action, Mario and Luigi, feeling they had made their point, again attempted retreat. And again Pedr gave chase. He was clearly "nothing can hurt me, not even flying karate kicks to my face" drunk. But before he could take more punches the police arrived. They corralled Pedr, talked to him for a bit and amazingly let him go. I guess they thought he had been punished enough.

Also, I apparently missed some punk rockers who dropped a giant jar of banana peppers on the sidewalk, shattering it. Without discussion, they quickly fell to their hands and knees and began eating the spilled peppers. If you live by one rule, it should be don't eat food off of New York city sidewalks. Nobody told those guys.

Welcome to summer in the East Village. Or spring. Whatever.