Chelsea Now photo by Jefferson Siegel That’s quite an ice-breaker Tantric master Wim Hof stood engulfed in 1,550 pounds of ice for 72 minutes on Saturday in front of an appreciative crowd outside the Rubin Museum of Art, where he shattered his own world record-breaking mark for ice immersion as part of the citywide BrainWave festival. The Dutchman controls his body temperature through “tummo” meditation, and is the only non-Tibetan to have mastered the art. (article) Bank Street case reveals threat to a million tenants By Chris Lombardi Last week, residents of One Bank Street met at the office of State Sen.Thomas Duane hoping for good news in their fight to avoid eviction. ‘Tummo’ practitioner breaks ice-immersion record By Charlotte Cowles “Do you think you’ll make it?” shouted a woman bundled in a long fur coat. “I’m not thinking!” responded Wim Hof, clad only in shorts, standing neck-deep in 1,550 pounds of ice. The crowd cheered and clapped their gloved hands. Hell’s Kitchen music festival finds a new venue By Veronica Zaragovia Until recently, they had the rhythm—but not the kitchen.		NEWS Strip club losing Privileges in W. Chelsea By Evangel Fung A new strip club slated to land in West Chelsea in place of another former topless establishment has already weathered enough problems before opening to possibly prevent dancers from ever taking the stage. New W. Village group nets top attorney to fight St. Vincent’s By Albert Amateau A new group opposed to the current St.Vincent’s/Rudin plan to redevelop the hospital campus in the Greenwich Village Historic District emerged last week at a Community Board 2 landmarks forum attended by more than 500 people. Residents snowed by mystery dust on 22nd St. By Charlotte Cowles “I thought it snowed,” said Lex Alvarez, 33, regarding the thick coat of white powder that mysteriously appeared along 22nd St. between Seventh and Eighth Aves. last Tuesday. Silver and community boards on board with congestion pricing By Josh Rogers Since the mayor began pushing for traffic pricing a year ago, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s skepticism has been one of the toughest roadblocks to passage, but Silver said last Wednesday he likes at least one of the suggested adjustments to the mayor’s plan. Volunteers dialing it in for Chelsea votes By Chris Lombardi With New York’s Feb. 5 presidential primary approaching next week campaign volunteers in Chelsea manned volunteer phone banks.

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Arts & Entertainment

Landslide for Lane
BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE
Politics, as anyone with access to a newspaper or television knows only too well, is a very, very messy business. A combination of naked aggression, manipulation, ego run rampant, and cynicism tricked out as humanity, this most ancient of arts is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. The depressing and tawdry circus of the current, seemingly interminable primary season could make one laugh — if it didn’t so often make one want to cry.

Koch on Film

Los Santos are marching in (dude)
By Lee Ann Westover
On a recent weekday night at The Jazz Standard in Gramercy, Grupo Los Santos gathered to celebrate the release of their new disc, “Lo Que Somos Lo Que Sea.” Amidst the pungent smell of barbeque from Blue Smoke above, the Latin-influenced quintet took the stage in front of assembled friends, fans and family to celebrate their first release in seven years.

Big man on canvas
BY JEFFREY CYPHERS WRIGHT
A true denizen of the art world, David Gibson was groomed to be a “wheeler dealer” from childhood. “All my friends were artists,” he says. Son of the influential gallerist John Gibson, David knew everything about the business from early on. Before he curated his first show in 2000 at L. Brandon Krall’s Nolita salon/studio space, he had written about art, worked briefly for Art in America and helped run his father’s gallery.

In a State of Non-Emergency
BY CHRISTINE CALLAHAN
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I have become preoccupied with natural disasters, especially when they cause the loss of one’s home. The exhibition “Fire Scene,” at Daniel Cooney Fine Art, makes the fears of such losses a reality.

At the Center, Illness
BY GARY M. KRAMER
André Téchiné’s exquisite drama “The Witnesses” chronicles the relationships between a handful of intersecting characters — a writer, a doctor, a policeman, and a teenager — in Paris, 1984. It is the start of the AIDS crisis and the impact of the disease on these characters forms the basis for this poignant and elegant drama.

Under the sea, but not entirely soggy
By Scott Harrah
Anyone expecting a highbrow adaptation of a Disney film like Julie Taymor’s “The Lion King” will be disappointed with the colorful mess that is “The Little Mermaid,” but it is not nearly as bad as some of the buzz has claimed. The show has been receiving negative press ever since it started previewing out of town in Denver last year, but it is never as tepid as the ill-fated 2006 Disney adaptation of “Tarzan,” and it is actually more fun for children than the current revival of “Mary Poppins.”