I always wondered why we never heard from Carole Greenwood, former co-owner of Comet Ping Pong. No interviews? No defense of James? Early Pizzagate investigators had uncovered the interesting relationship between the two and the history of their eventual partnership. As usual, it involves art, art galleries (Strand on Volta), and restaurants. Here's what I found and am reposting:
Plus Ça Change...
TODD KLIMAN MAR 5, 2004
"When Greenwood, the sensuous, Berkeleyesque restaurant in Upper Northwest, shut its doors for a couple of months last year, rumors abounded. Would chef Carole Greenwood, whose restless soul had driven her to open three different incarnations of her restaurant in three different locations in less than 10 years, return with a fourth Greenwood in a new part of town?"
BUCK'S FISHING AND CAMPING
"An answer, of sorts, arrived in October, when the curiously named Buck’s Fishing and Camping opened its doors—the very same doors that once belonged to the old restaurant. In fact, aside from a couple of thematic touches, such as the large canoe above the canopied communal table in the center of the dining room, the new restaurant looks an awful lot like the old. And the chef’s sensual, personal cooking remains much the same:"
"In fact, there is a dramatic difference, though one perhaps undetectable to the casual observer: It’s the first time Greenwood, a self-described “control freak,” has ever ceded command of the business end. That task falls to James Alefantis, formerly of Johnny’s Half Shell, Greenwood’s new co-owner."
"Greenwood was, she says, as good as gone this past summer, determined to start over and begin a new life for herself as a full-time artist."
ART DEALER/ STRAND ON VOLTA
"It was Alefantis who drew her back. He was, he says, “maxed out” on his job at Johnny’s, longing to strike out on his own.
He took a step toward fulfilling his dream of greater creative autonomy when he opened an art gallery, the Strand on Volta, in Georgetown. He took another, unwitting step when, on the lookout for artists, he decided to become Greenwood’s dealer. When the gallery launched last May with a group show titled “Ground Work,” Greenwood was one of the three featured artists. A one-woman show of her pieces followed in September."
ALEFANTIS "ARRANGES" CO-RUNNING GREENWOOD
"she was essentially working two jobs at the restaurant but also that her rent there was “ridiculously high.”
He immediately got on the phone with her landlord to negotiate a new lease for her. There was only one hitch: If she wanted this drastically reduced rent, this lease without which he’d told her she couldn’t keep on doing business—well, she couldn’t keep on doing business as she was. Discussions revolved around a single, nonnegotiable stipulation: that Alefantis would be “actively involved” in the restaurant."
JAMES/CAROLE AND TEEN SON
"...having sublet her house in Mount Pleasant for the summer, Greenwood was now without a place to stay.....Alefantis stepped in, taking in Greenwood and her teenage son, Dylan, at his apartment in Georgetown. One Saturday, typically the busiest day of the week for a restaurant, Greenwood came down with food poisoning. As it happened, Alefantis had a rare night off and so, with an assist from Dylan, he took over the kitchen at Greenwood."
"Returning to cooking with Alefantis alongside her, she says, was a way to “make a more gradual transition” to her eventual life as a full-time artist."
"She may have agreed to let him adjust her prices to reposition the restaurant as a neighborhood eatery"
"She casts a glance at Alefantis. “Would I have stayed in Washington without a gallery show of my work?” She pauses. “No.”"
https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/food/article/13028600/plus-ccedila-change
SHOWS AT THE STRAND
"Illicit Encounters" at Strand on Volta Owned by James Alefantis
"if you look up Strand on Volta... all the links are dead...
Weird."
"Artists, writers, politicos, lobbyists and educators gathered at Strand on Volta Gallery to celebrate the opening of cutting-edge works by three international video artists.....allery owner and restaurateur James Alefantis said "Moving images are so stunningly contemporary. It has been incredible to see the response of Washington art collectors to this art form." Media Ma ers for American President and CEO David Brock, lobbyists Heather and Tony Podesta, The American Prospect senior editor Garance Franke-Ruta, The Washington Post editorial cartoonist Tom Toles and Sculptor Jeff Spaulding were also spotted studying the video works displayed on TV screens and projected onto walls of the gallery."
https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/5gtf4l/illicit_encounters_at_strand_on_volta_owned_by/
Strand on Volta Cuts In To Some Meaty Issues
By Michael O'Sullivan October 10, 2003
"ODDLY ENOUGH, amid all the images of flesh on view in Strand on Volta's latest group exhibition, shown along with examples of some less readily identifiable bodily tissue/fluid sculpted from molten glass -- teeth? a jawbone? sperm? tears? -- the word that springs to mind is not "meat" but "plastic." As in pliable, capable of being molded, able to deform continuously and permanently without rupturing."
"This is, I think, central to the point of "Meat and You," a smart if somewhat esoteric show organized by artist James Huckenpahler to underscore not only our relationship to meat but our embodiment of it."
"Meat, after all, is not so much a solid, static thing -- Frank Day's grotesquely lovely photos of pig feet and dried dog heads notwithstanding -- as it is a kind of energy."
"While the artist has been known to make installations that evoke, in no uncertain terms, bloody entrails draped over meat hooks, that's not what he's showing here. Sure, the hooks are still there..."
"MEAT AND YOU -- Through Oct. 25 at Strand on Volta, 1531 33rd St. NW. 202-333-4663. www.strandonvolta.com. Open Tuesday-Saturday 10 to 4. Free."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/10/10/strand-on-volta-cuts-in-to-some-meaty-issues/8a433284-af01-4d27-aff1-2afd819a815b/?utm_term=.4e8646efdccf
"Meat and You: Works by Graham Caldwell, Frank Day, Stephen E. Lewis and William Newman"
2003-09-29 until 2003-10-25
Strand on Volta
"Frank Day�s images of animal fetishes are part of a larger series set in the West African city of Accra. His earlier work includes a study of the persistence of memory amidst the rebuilding of east Berlin in the 1990�s"
https://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2003/09/29/31401.html
"2003 GROUND WORK: Recent Work by Margaret Boozer, Carole Greenwood and Erin Root, Strand on Volta Gallery, Washington, DC"
http://www.zenithgallery.com/pdf%20resumes/Boozer,%20Margaret.pdf
MORE RESEARCH:
"James Alefantis used to own a DC Art Gallery named Strand on Volta! Now owns Transformer gallery. MUST SEE its disturbing!" https://voat.co/v/pizzagate/1654738
David Ibata: I See A Darkness http://www.transformerdc.org/exhibitions/overview/exhibition-david-ibata-i-see-a-darkness
"Homage to Noble? Alefantis' knowledge of Art Brut suggests this poster, made for the weekly Sasha Lord Presents events at Comet Ping Pong, are referencing Satanist abuse.
But it goes deeper. Apparently, The University of London is the world's most important producer of art gallery curators. They are colloquially known as the "Courtauld Mafia". We can see fairly easily that they have graduates working at the TATE, MoMA, Guggenheim etc.
But the school, located on the Strand, seems to be some sort of dogwhistle, because Alefantis' old gallery--Strand on Volta--appears to be referencing the area. Not only that, but he refers to himself as James Strand Alefantis in the story. If one knew a thing or two about the art world, this would be an obvious reference." READ ALL!
http://svvordfish.blogspot.com/2018/01/explosive-new-evidence-links-tony.html
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Yuke ago
Every time I've ever read about how Alefantis got Buck's it makes me wonder a couple of things:
1.) How could he afford to open up an art gallery if all he was before, at best, was a restaurant manager (at the half shell)?
2.) It seems he at least used Greenwood, and at worst, completely conned her out of her own restaurant.
3.) To have expanded as rapidly as he has done means that again, at best, he has been money laundering, dealing drugs or something, and at worst...well, pizzagate.
I didn't realize that he had actually played a part with regards to Greenwood's art dealings. That obviously gave him info and an angle to get in. Then there's the stuff about supposedly getting caught with her son as well.
Shady, shady stuff. We'll crack this bastard one day.
KnightsofHubris ago
This is not the best reasoning. "At best money laundering or dealing drugs," are you kidding? That's as far as your imagination goes? He couldn't have inherited a small amount? Or got an insurance settlement or sold some real estate?
Your faulty reasoning seems to come from the idea that it's expensive to open an an art gallery. It's not. All you need is a space with 4 white walls. You can get that pretty cheap, especially if you are not opening in a fashionable area. The main thing you need is connections to artists who would be willing to show in your gallery. If you are not going for the high end known artists, but up and coming unknowns this becomes much easier and cheaper to do. To get artists to agree to show in your gallery, you probably need to show them that you could get people who have money to see your paintings and hopefully buy them. Someone like Alefantis who has experience in the restaurant world could provide this. Artists like anyone else need a resume. Having a list of previous gallery showings looks good for you, it opens doors for you.
I just googled art galleries in the neighborhood next to the last cool frontier neighborhood in Brooklyn I knew about and yup, there's art galleries opening there. One of them is an old factory and when they opened it, it was in a loft. The folks who owned it lived there and there and would do exhibitions there. A lot of these places are just an empty space with four white walls.
Yuke ago
He could have inherited money, yes, but we have no information on any relatives that would suggest this. I don't know about the insurance, but he certainly didn't have any real estate either at this time that we know of. And that art gallery was in a decent location. He had no known status within the art world at this time either, so, what, people just went along with this guy who came from nowhere, with no expertise or experience?
And when I speak of laundering or drugs I speak of a means to go from restaurant manager, to art dealer, to multiple restaurant owner etc all within the space of a few years. Most people would take time to build things and become established etc. The gallery he had for what, two years? Then somehow got in with a restaurant, and then another, and then another, and a high ranking position with the Transformer gallery too. There are peices missing in this jigsaw.
The big thing I think I missed from my theories is the influence of David Brock. It could well have been him that started all of this by providing the seed money for his then boyfriend Alefantis to produce businesses to launder through.
KnightsofHubris ago
I don't really see this as that big a deal, because we have no info that the art gallery cost much to operate. He had a well-established partner partner in both restaurants and you could easily do a business loan to open Comet. Bucks was a well regarded restaurant, it doesn't seem like it would be hard to do a business loan. In old interviews, he said Comet was not a success at first, they were scraping by...in fact the ping pong tables were as a way of drawing customers.
You're making assumptions here. We don't know this. It's not like he just blew into town. He's obviously interested in art, he could have been part of the DC art scene the whole time he was working at the other restaurant, he could have been making connections for years. Like I said, if you are going to do a shoe string gallery, connections are more important that money.....and as you note, it only last two years, it's not like it was a success.
Somehow? How hard is it to get a job working in a restaurant? Thousands of people do it. He lived in NYC for a while and I think he worked in restaurants there if I remember correctly. As for hooking up with Carole Greenwood, it seems like a match of talents. See this article. Greenwood was known in DC as a talented chef, but she also seemed to be a pain in the ass.
https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/food/article/13037971/how-are-bucks-fishing-camping-and-comet-ping-pong-faring
She had a reputation for rubbing people wrong in that I'm great chef/artist kind of way. When she owned her own place she was running the kitchen and the front of the house and she was not good at the front of the house. That seems to be Alefantis strong suit. So it seemed like their partnership let each focus on their talent. Greenwood turned up in a New York kitchen recently, but didn't last very long.
You basically have this suspicion and you are trying to turn all the known facts to be suspicious whether they fit your theory or not. It could have been Brock who financed it or it could have been anyone else he knew from the art-world-fine dining-gay DC subcultures that he was part of.