Announcing Brooklyn Reading Works 2010-2011 Season
Presenting another great year at Brooklyn Reading Works. One Thursday a month at the Old Stone House come to a themed reading by authors of absorbing fiction, poetry, memoir and drama curated by talented writers and editors. All readings are at 8PM. $5 donation includes wine, snacks, great writers and good company.
2010-2011 BROOKLYN READING WORKS SEASON
All readings at 8PM
September 23: Young Writers curated by Jill Eisenstadt
October 21: New Plays by Brooklyn Playwrights curated by Rosemary Moore
November 11: Writing War Fiction by Vets of Vietnam and Iraq curated by Louise Crawford
December 16: TBA
January 20: The Truth and Oral History (the double life of the interview) curated by John Guidry
February 17: Memoirathon curated by Branka Ruzak
March 17: Blarneypalooza curated by Michele Madigan Somerville
April 14: In the Year of the Rabbit: Voices from the East curated by Sophia Romero
May 19: Fifth Annual Edgy Mother’s Day curated by Louise Crawford and Sophia Romero
June 16: Fiction in a Blender curated by Martha Southhgate
No No Words Daily Pix for a Few Days…
…because Hugh has been very busy with a programming/web design job. When he gets a moment he will post incredible new pictures. Stay tuned…
The Weekend List: Labor Day Weekend
I scour the listings to find fun, cool, interesting cultural activities for the readers of OTBKB Keep checking back I update this list Thursday through Sunday (and in this case on Monday as well).
Movies:
Soul Kitchen, The Kids are All Right, Inception, The American at BAM
The Switch, Eat Pray Love, Avatar 3D, The American, Last Exorcism at the Pavilion.
Music:
Sept 3-4, 9-10 Help Save Puppets Jazz Bar Fundraisers 5PM until 3AM at Puppets Jazz bar 481 Fifth Avenue in Park Slope.
Friday, Sept 3 at 8PM at Barbes: Oran Ektin has been described as a “great clarinet player” and “excellent improviser” by the New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff and a “woodwind maestro” by PRI’s internationally syndicated show, Afropop Worldwide.
Saturday, Sept 4 at 8PM: New Model Army at the Bell House
Art
Healing the Wounds of War: The Brooklyn Sanitary Fair of 1864 at the Brooklyn Museum. This exhibition presents a selection of artworks and historical objects celebrating the contributions of women to the mid-nineteenth-century Sanitary Movement, particularly the highly important Brooklyn and Long Island Sanitary Fair of 1864. The genesis of the exhibition was a rare doll from the Museum’s collection featuring an elaborate trousseau made by a woman named Eliza Lefferts and sold at the Brooklyn Sanitary Fair. During the Civil War, sanitary fairs were held to raise money for the war effort in major cities in the Northeast.
Through September 30 at the Skylight Gallery in Bed-Stuy: Eyewitness to: Beautiful Black Brooklyn Photography exhibit at the featuring dozens of rare images from the 1960s to the 1980s Tues. – Fri., 11:00am – 6:00pm; Sat., 1:00pm – 6:00pm.
Through October 15th at The Pratt Institute School of Architecture and the Pratt Library: “Le Corbusier – Miracle Boxes,” a multidisciplinary, three-part exhibition on the work of renowned Swiss-French architect, urbanist, designer, writer, and painter Le Corbusier (born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris), who is considered by many to be the most important architect of the 20th century, starting August 30, 2010. “Miracle Boxes,” the first New York exhibition dedicated entirely to the work of Le Corbusier, is curated by Ivan R. Shumkov, Ph.D., adjunct associate professor of architecture at Pratt Institute. Shumkov will deliver an opening lecture that will be followed by a reception on September 13, 2010 at 6 p.m in Higgins Hall Auditorium located at 61 St. James Place in Brooklyn. The exhibition, opening lecture, reception, and an upcoming related symposium will be free and open to the public.
More to come…
Let’s Read Along with the Kids at Brooklyn College
“How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America,” by Moustafa Bayoumi, an associate English professor at Brooklyn College, is this year’s “common reader” at Brooklyn College (a book give to freshmen and transfer students at the beginning of the year to offer them a shared reading experience).
At BC, the books are typically set in New York City and written by authors, who are available to speak on campus. Past books included: Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes” and Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.”
It sounds like an interesting book. Maybe everyone in Park Slope should read this book too?
Bklyn Bloggage: home & design
Good morning, garden: CasaCara
Etsy find: large e: Swiss Miss
Useful DIY sites: Reclaimed Home
Rebecca colors the white box: Apartment Therapy
My photos 1 year later: Brooklyn Limestone
Salt shaker lamp: My Coney (she’s back)
I’d like to share my bathroom with you: My Coney Twice because we missed you)
The audacity of taupe: NY Times
Briana Ojeda RIP
So sad to read about the death (and the horrifying circumstances surrounding it) of 11-year-old Briana Ojeda, who was with her mother en route to the hospital Friday when their car was pulled over by an officer who refused to help.
Yesterday a funeral mass was held at St. Francis Xavier Church in Park Slope, Brooklyn. A horse-drawn carriage accompanied by a police escort brought Ojeda’s coffin to the steps of the church.
So sad. Briana died last Friday of an asthma attack
Carmen Ojeda, Brianna’s mothers, says that she was driving the wrong way down a one-way street in Boerum Hill to rush her daughter to Long Island College Hospital, when she was stopped by a police officer, who stopped her car. The mother cried for help for daughter who was having a severe asthma attack. He claimed he did not know CPR (note: all city police officers are trained in CPR).
Eventually, the officer did take the Ojedas to the hospital, but by driving behind them with his lights on. Briana, who was set to start sixth grade in a few days, died at the hospital about an hour later.
According to the NYPD, Officer Alfonso Mendez, 30, of the 84th precinct was identified as the man involved in the incident.
Police say witnesses were able to identify Mendez, who has been on the force for five years and works out of the 84th Precinct, as the officer who failed to help Briana.
Sources say he was suspended without pay Tuesday for failing to take proper police action. An internal affairs investigation is underway.
Stay Indoors: West Nile Mosquito Spraying Tonight
Thanks to Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn for this information about mosquito spraying tonight:
According to a notification issued on 9/1/2010 at 4:00 PM, the Department of Health will be spraying for mosquitoes to help prevent West Nile Virus from 8 PM on 9/2 until 6 AM on 9/3 in the following Brooklyn zip codes:
11210,11214, 11223, 11224, 11229, 11230, 11234, and 11235.
Department of Health recommends that whenever possible, stay indoors during spraying. Go to http://www.nyc.gov/health or call 311 for details.
Book Fest on Sept 12: 200 Authors, 175 Publishers/Presses
200 Authors, 175 Publishers/Presses; Artisanal Food Vendors; 13 Venues, Expanded “Bookend” Events all Weekend 9/10-9/12!
It’s the Brooklyn Book Festival and it’s a little more than a week away. Now in its fifth year, the Brooklyn Book Festival is one of the top book festivals in the country.
With the extraordinary literary heritage, vibrant publishing community and international reading audience of Brooklyn and New York City as its backdrop, the Festival offers the best and brightest stars in contemporary literature. The hip, huge and free all-star literary lineup includes Salman Rushdie, Naomi Klein, Paul Auster, Venus Williams, Nelson George, Sarah Silverman, Gary Shteyngart, Mary Gaitskill, John Ashbery, Rosanne Cash, Paul Krugman, Colson Whitehead, Francine Prose, Dennis Lehane, Per Petterson, Esmeralda Santiago, Pete Hamill, Jennifer Egan, Russell Banks, Michael Connelly, John Hodgman, Kristen Schaal, Sam Lipsyte, Sloane Crosley, Maaza Mengiste, Paul Harding, Amy Goodman, Marlon James, Sarah MacLean, Jean Valentine, Elizabeth Nunez and many more, as well as children’s and young adult lit stars like Rebecca Stead, Sara Shepard, Jacqueline Woodson, Jon Scieszka, Jenny Han, Nina Crews, Mac Barnett, Tad Hills, Chris Raschka, Michael Rex, Matthew Reinhart and Francisco X. Stork.
OTBKB Music: Bruce Springsteen and The Damnwells
Both last week and this week were kind of slow musically, with one exception I’ll mention shortly. So while we cool our heels waiting for Labor Day to come and go and the Fall Music Season to begin, let’s go take a look back at the late 20th century. Specifically, at a video of an amazing performance of Prove It All Night by Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band posted here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
That exception to the slow week? It’s An Evening with The Damnwells at The Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 tomorrow (Thursday 9/2) night. The Damnwells had one of my Ten Best Albums of 2009, One Last Century, which was only available as a free download on the Internet. Their followup is now in the can and the band will be performing it live tomorrow. There are two shows, a long sold out one at 7:30 and one at 10:15, which the band tells me is almost sold out. So if you are interested in seeing that show, get your tickets now from The Rockwood’s website.
–Eliot Wagner
Are The Eggs in Brooklyn Safe?
It’s truly disgusting to read about the Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms in Iowa that caused this recent salmonella outbreak. There may have been thousands of cases of salmonella in California, Minnesota and Colorado and elsewhere linked to the dangerous strain of salmonella.
None of the recalled eggs was packaged in New York, but the eggs are shipped nationwide.
So how safe are the eggs in Brooklyn?
The eggs that are believed to be tainted were sold with 13 brand names: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemp. You can check the FDA website for specific instructions on how to spot tainted egg crates.
This recent episode really exposes the holes in our food safety system. How do we really know what we’re eating. It’s a pretty disturbing thing to contemplate.
More and more it makes sense to know where your food is coming from and buy from local food distributor and shops like the Park Slope Food Coop, that provide information about the sources of their food and produce.
Tom Martinez, Witness: Surfer Silhouette (Far Rockaway)
A surfer silhouetted by the late afternoon sun, Far Rockaway Beach, Queens.
Crossing into Brooklyn Last Night at 3AM
Yup. We knew that the Manhattan-bound lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge were closed nights and some weekends due to repairs but for some reason we didn’t realize it was closed the other way, too.
The schedule of night-time and weekend closures is complicated so you better check the NYC DOT site for updates so you don’t get screwed like we did last night.
At 3AM after our 14 hour drive from Chicago (accomplished in one day, mind you) we wanted to drive across the beautiful Bridge, a visually stunning way to enter Brooklyn at night.
Okay, I begged Hepcat to take the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel but no, he wanted to fill his eyes with a gorgeous view even after such a long trip. But it was closed Brooklyn Bound (which surprised us).
We ended up taking the FDR to Houston Street, going down Allen Street…and finally made it onto the Manhattan Bridge…
After 1400 miles of driving over the last few days what’s a couple more miles.
For those who don’t know, the Manhattan bound side of the Brooklyn Bridge be closed nights and some weekends. Like I said, check the DOT schedule for details
Last Night to Dance Under the Stars on Fifth Avenue
One last night of hot jazz, blues, pop and R&B with L.A. Blacksmith in JJ Byrne Park (AKA Washington Park) on Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue and Third Street. The entertainment and the weather promise to be hot so dress light and get ready to dance.
The festivities start at 6 with kids programming. The adult, dancing portion of the program begins at 7PM and continues until 9PM.
See you there…
Creative After-School Program: Art in the House
Artist/educator Debby Albenda introduces Art in the House, a new after-school creative arts program at the Old Stone House in Park Slope.
I worked with Debby on PS 321′s annual poetry magazine, Pandamonium, and I know her to be a talented artist and a lovely person.
An arts educator, who is also a professional graphic designer and artist (she worked at the beloved but now defunct Nickelodean Magazine for years) Debby aims to put a contemporary spin on historically relevant techniques, including painting, print-making, embroidery, sculpture and other craft activities after-school on Mondays for 2nd and 3rd graders and Tuesdays for 4th and 5th graders.
The 10-week program will follow the public school schedule. To register, call OSH at 718-768-3195 or e-mail info@theoldstonehouse.org. For more information: http://www.artinthehouse-osh.org/?p=5
Leon Freilich, Verse Responder: The Ashy Sidewalks of New York
The Ashy Sidewalks of New York
East Side, West Side,
All around the town,
No smoking’s allowed in the office,
Fewer teeth are turning brown.
Men and women addicts
Scared that they’ll pop a cork
Puff–then drop cigarette butts
On the sidewalks of New York.
Current Weather in Park Slope: Air Quality Alert
Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their local weather tower.
Bklyn Bloggage: neighborhoods
Lucky penny paintings: Pardon Me for Asking
Breast feeding in public: Effed in Park Slope
Shane the repo man: Bushwick BK
Another Walgreens gone: Sheepshead Bites
No cabbies to Brooklyn: Brownstoner
Inside the mysterious world of Trader Joe’s: McBrooklyn
There goes the neighborhood: NY Shitty
The Coney Island Illusicination: Amusing the Zillion
Everyones’ Talking About Bed Bugs
Seems like everyone, I mean EVERYONE, is talking about bed bugs. Finally, the EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have weighed in on what seems to be a rampant problem in NYC.
According to the NY Times, they have issued a joint statement on bedbug control. “It was not, however, a declaration of war nor a plan of action. It was an acknowledgment that the problem is big, a reminder that federal agencies mostly give advice, plus some advice: try a mix of vacuuming, crevice-sealing, heat and chemicals to kill the things. It also noted, twice, that bedbug research “has been very limited over the past several decades. Ask any expert why the bugs disappeared for 40 years, why they came roaring back in the late 1990s, even why they do not spread disease, and you hear one answer: “Good question.””
In the statement, however, they attribute the rise in bedbugs to a variety of issues including:
–increased resistance of bed bugs to available pesticides
–greater international and domestic travel,
–lack of knowledge regarding control of bed bugs due to their prolonged absence
–continuing decline or elimination of effective vector/pest control programs at state and local public health agencies.
Read on for the actual statement…
Jazz and Meditation Together
Adam Bernstein’s Jazz Mindfulness Program (JMP), now entering its second year, is set to begin a new semester in October. Bernstein, a well-known musician and jazz educator, has created a program designed to bring music and mindfulness practice together in a new way to nurture young people in their day-to-day lives. Students have the opportunity to play jazz while learning mindfulness meditation.
“When students learn mindfulness at a young age, they can experience both the joy of music and also get beneath the chatter and judgment that can suppress the creative, open mind,” says Bernstein. “The skill of mindfulness can help them in their daily lives, too. One of my youngest students, who was being very hard on herself about her schoolwork, told me that when she stopped to notice her breath, she was able to calm down.”
OTBKB Music: Looking Ahead to September
Although there’s still a bit of summer left ahead of us, on Wednesday it will be September. That means it’s time for the September edition of the monthly music calendar over at Now I’ve Heard Everything. Check out 25 shows, and get ready for Rosanne Cash‘s visit to our borough as part of the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 12th (which this year has five panels devoted to writings about music). And speaking of Rosanne, if you are not following her on Twitter, you are missing her very funny take on what’s going on.
–Eliot Wagner
Bklyn Bloggage: arts & culture
What’s going on Friday: Brooklyn Vegan
The glass of art: Truth and Rocket Science
Cat Celebrezze: Art in Brooklyn
Birthday salutations from a year ago: Do the Math
Portal Land: Brooklynometry
Who is watching the watchers: Brooklyn Bachelor
Bob Dylan and the Beats: Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn
Mystery Swap at the Community Bookstore
Ezra, the new (or soon to be new) owner of the Community Bookstore wrote in with news: “and we don’t mean the arrival of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay or Wolf Hall in paperback (though they have perked things up considerably in a month to which, usually, the adjective torpid barely does justice). No, we’re referring to the return of the mystery swap, a bookstore institution whose abrupt disappearance several months ago left Slope sleuths scratching their heads…
OTBKB Music: Linda Pitmon Times Two
The best drummer playing around town these days? For my money that honor goes to Linda Pitmon of Steve Wynn and The Miracle 3 and The Baseball Project. Linda’s originally from Minnesota and a long time Upper West Sider, although I have seen her play and attend shows here in Park Slope. You can see her in action with The Baseball Project playing Steve Wynn’s signature song Tell Me When It’s Over posted here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
But if you want to see Linda hit the skins live, she’s playing with The Pretty Babies, an all-female Blondie cover band at Le Poisson Rouge tonight. I’m not a big fans of tribute bands, but I’ve seen The Pretty Babies before and I can recommend them. They’re not only musically quite good, they are just flat out a lot of fun, and Tammy Faye Starlite does a great job as front woman/lead vocalist as well. You’ll find more details here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
–Eliot Wagner
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Bklyn Bloggage: home & design
RFP Issued for Tobacco Warehouse in Dumbo:McBrooklyn
Annie’s porch: CasaCara
Hello Kitty house: Reclaimed Home
Dining table ding ding ding: Limestone Adventures
Napkin origami: Swiss Miss
Good bones: Apartment Therapy
Best of offices: Design*Sponge
An anthropologist’s take on homemaking: NY Times
Nested doors at Moxie Spot: McBrooklyn
Tom Martinez: How Many Muslims Do You Know?
Since 2003, Rev. Tom Martinez has served at Brooklyn’s All Souls Bethlehem Church. He is an active participant and organizer of the annual Children of Abraham Peace Walk.
A reporter interviewing me on Staten Island in front of a building whose ownership is disputed (the Catholic Church sold it to a local Muslim community then reneged on the sale) asked me if I had anything else to say to the people who oppose the mosque. I don’t remember exactly what I said. Of course a month later I thought of the perfect thing to say:
“Well, yes, there is one last thing I’d like to add. I encourage everyone who’s opposed to the creation of new mosques or community centers to ask yourself, ‘How many Muslims do I know?’ If the answer is zero, then I’d encourage you to make an effort to actually get to know someone who’s part of a local Muslim community. Tell them you’ve decided not to pass judgment until you meet and speak with someone from their community. You might be surprised by how warmly you will be received and the impact the experience will have on your perceptions.”
I was at another press conference just yesterday, this one was just a few blocks away from my church here in Brooklyn. My friend Mo Razvi, the Executive Director of a local Pakistani organization called COPO had asked me to stop by.
Mo was thrust into the limelight in wake of 9/11. Family members whose loved ones were picked up for questioning came to him for legal assistance. At the time he was a trusted businessman on Coney Island Avenue, one of the most demographically diverse neighborhoods in the continental US and home to a large community of Pakistani-Americans.
In addition to serving as a liaison between ordinary citizens and various law enforcement agencies (he proved so helpful in these matters he was eventually asked to complete a training course offered by the FBI), he also documented over 800 hate crimes carried out against Muslims in his neighborhood and throughout Brooklyn.
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Vox Pop Closed Down by the IRS For Good
Vox Pop Cafe, the iconic Cortelyou Road cafe, bookstore and performance space was once again closed down by the IRS and it looks like this closure is permanent.
Liena, who writes the Ditmas Park Blog had this to say about what seems to be Vox Pop’s final closure: “After the latest seizure by the marshalls this morning, Debi Ryan says she has had enough. And before any of you snarky commenters put fingers to the keyboard, I just wanted to say that I have never seen anyone work harder at making Vox Pop work for our community – to be the space to meet, talk, learn, listen – over coffee or not. The neighborhood simply is not the same without it. What will become of it, time will show. Right now though – leave a kind note for them.”
For the past year or more the cafe has been closed numerous times by the IRS for non-payment of back taxes. There were many “Save Vox Pop” town hall meetings and benefit shows and the cafe, under the leadership of its new manager, Debi Ryan, was able to revive again and again after these setbacks. The IRS leans were a result of the previous ownership (and financial mismanagement) of Vox Pop by Sander Hicks, who is no longer an owner of the cafe (note: you can also read about Hicks in a New York Observer article by Alexander Zaitchik. In 2009, the cafe was transformed into a “for-profit collective” with shares owned by various community members.
In 2004, Sander Hicks and his then-wife Holley Anderson started the cafe with seed money from the sale of Holley’s family farm. In fact, the children’s loft section in the cafe (which looks a little like a barn) is actually from that farm. The original conception was a cafe/bookstore/performance space/community center and self-publishing mecca (called Publish Yourself) that would morph into a national franchise of political cafes.
Vox Pop was the first cafe of its kind on Corteylou Road and it quickly became a community destination with its decidedly progressive politics, free trade coffee and vegan menu. Since opening, The Farm on Adderly, Sycamore, Purple Yam and other neighborhood spots have opened and Corteylou Road now has a growing mix of ethnic businesses, basic service shops run by longtime shopkeepers and new shops catering to the gentrifying neighborhood.
It can’t have been easy for Hicks to walk away from his unique creation. It was no doubt the best thing for him and for the cafe. In Ryan, he found the perfect successor to keep his vision alive. It was a peaceful transition of power with a board made up of long-time Vox Poppers including Sander’s ex-wife, Holley.
Continue reading my interview with Debi Ryan from March 30th, 2009.
September 11th Memorial Poetry Reading
The Brooklyn Arts Council announces a reading of poems about September 11th written by local poets to be held on Thursday, September 9, 2010 from 7 – 8:30pm at P.S. Bookshop in Dumbo, Brooklyn (76 Front St.).
Read more
OTBKB Music: Ted Leo’s Broadway Parody, Amy Speace’s Guitar for Sale and John Hiatt’s Perfectly Good Guitar
A few days ago, I noted that Ted Leo had, in a long rambling post, announced that he’s worked on a musical film project of some sort. To make a long story as short as possible, Ted’s post was a head fake. What Ted has done is produce an extremely funny music video which parodies “half-assed musicals which cheapen [the] music and embarrass everyone involved” (perhaps this one). See Ted’s video (which includes a prominent Park Sloper) here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
I got an email from singer-songwriter Amy Speace earlier this week and she’s selling a pretty special guitar (a Taylor GS Western Red Cedar/Indian Rosewood with Taylor’s Expression II pickup system installed). Maybe you’re interested; if so the details are here. If not, you can see the video of John Hiatt’s Perfectly Good Guitar here.
–Eliot Wagner
