Anyone who visits Bethesda Terrace in Central Park is familiar with Thoth, a street performer that has made the center of the park his personal stage for years now. His performances evoke responses ranging from amazement to annoyance – last Sunday’s performance met with an entirely new reaction – his arrest.
The 55-year-old – a Bethesda Fountain fixture whose real name is Stephen Kaufman – was apparently the target of a Central Park Conservancy crackdown on music played at “quiet zones” that include the fountain plaza.
Clad in loincloth, sandals and headress Thoth combines violin, percussions and an eerily eching voice to create what he calls a “prayformance.” He’s in the tunnel by the Angel of the Waters Fountain every afternoon from Wednesday through Sunday, year-round. After park police officers told Thoth to move along Sunday, he and his assistant Zoe Harkin, 21, aka Pink Angel, decided to at least perform their opening prayer, Anya.
Singing in a trance, they ignored cops’ orders to stop. When the song was over, they were summarily hauled off and charged with disorderly conduct, area use restriction and failure to comply with an officer. They’re due in court Aug. 27.
While I can certainly understand the Conservancy’s point, it is a crowded area and the masses of people that collect for the performances make visiting the Fountain much like a rugby scrum on weekends. I also don’t much care for the rather arch histrionics of Mr. Kaufman’s performance. On the other hand – you can’t help but think that there might have been any number of better ways that this could have been dealt with, besides leading the man away in handcuffs. He’s been a fixture in the park for years, surely some accommodation could have been made that didn’t include police intervention. After all, it’s not as if he had a major wardrobe malfunction – that is if you accept the fact that his costume doesn’t constitute a misdemeanor in the first place.
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the name of the assistant is not “Pink Angel” it is “Pink Anger”
Oh.
“Pink Angel” is correct, according to Thoth’s website.
Oh. Redux.
This is what is confusing me… Parks Department spokesperson Philip Abramson is quoted as saying, regarding the arrest, “There are many spaces in Central Park where unamplified music may be played without a permit. However, the Bethesda Terrace area has been designated a ‘quiet zone’ for many years. The Parks Department routinely asks musicians and performers to move from Bethesda to other areas of the park such as the Bandshell and Dead Road.”
I’ve looked and looked and Bethesda Terrace is NOT a “quiet zone”. According to the *official* Central Park website:
“For visitors seeking peace and tranquility in Central Park, there are seven designated quiet zones. These are Strawberry Fields, Sheep Meadow, East Green (located at the northern end of the Dene), Conservatory Garden, Shakespeare Garden, Conservatory Garden, and Turtle Pond.
There are signs posted in each of these areas indicating the following:
This area is reserved for quiet enjoyment. Musical instruments are not allowed, headphones are required for radios.”
(not sure why they list Conservatory Garden twice)
And nyc-park.com states that “there are six designated quiet zones. These are: Strawberry Fields,Sheep Meadow,East Green,Conservatory Garden, Shakespeare Garden,Turtle Pond”.
It seems that park authorities simply wanted to disperse that crowd that had gathered and claimed that Bethesda Terrace is a quiet zone in order to do so which is SIMPLY UNTRUE. He and other performers are perfectly within their rights to be there. What – he can be there every day for years and they’re fine with it until there’s a big crowd in which case they conveniently and falsely make it illegal?