NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY OTBKB
It’d Take a Guy a Lifetime…from OTBKB JANUARY 31, 2005:
Curious about the name of this new blog. Here’s an excerpt from
Thomas Woolfe’s masterful short story called: "Only the Dead Know
Brooklyn" written in thick Brooklynese:
Dere’s no guy livin’ dat knows Brooklyn t’roo an t’roo, because it’d
take a guy a lifetime just to find his way aroun’ duh goddam town."So like I say, I’m waitin’ for my train t’ come when I sees dis big
guy standin’ deh — dis is the foist I eveh see of him. Well, he’s
lookin’ wild, y’know, an’ I can see dat he’s had plenty, but still he’s
holdin’ it; he talks good an’ is walkin’ straight enough. So den, dis
big guy steps up to a little guy dat’s standin’ deh, an’ says, ‘How
d’yuh get t’ Eighteent’ Avenoo an Sixty-sevent’ Street?’ he says…"
and
"Jesus! What a nut he was! I wondeh what evah happened to ‘m,
anyway. I wondeh if someone knocked him on duh head, or if he’s till
wanderin’ aroun’ in duh subway in duh middle of duh night with his
little map! Duh poor guy. Say, I’ve got to laugh, at dat, when I t’ink
about him! Maybe he’s found out by now dat he’ll never live long
enought to know duh whole of Brooklyn. It’d take a guy a lifetime to
Brooklyn t’roo an’ t’roo. An even den, yuh wouldn’t know it all."
Video Pioneer Nam June Paik Dies
Pioneering video artist Nam June Paik passed away yesterday. This from Boing Boing.
"The future is now." –N.J.P. (1932-2006)
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_WHOLE FOODS DELAY
A Brooklyn Life has this story about the new Whole Foods at Third Avenue and 3rd Street.
Brooklyn Papers
is reporting that the construction of Whole Foods at 3rd Avenue and 3rd
Street in Gowanus/Park Slope has been delayed–again–by the slow
removal of toxic gasoline storage tanks. Looks like they won’t be outta
there until March. The paper also delves into a bit of the site’s
glorious industrial history:
Going back to the 19th century, the land had hosted a lake, a coal yard,
an oil-processing company and a radiator manufacturer. Oh, and it was
also a junkyard at one point. Since excavation began in the fall, a lake
of green water has overtaken the site, a consequence of digging below the water
table…READ MORE AT A BROOKLYN LIFE
Wendy Wasserstein Dies
Brooklyn-born Wendy Wasserstein died of cancer on Monday. This from NY1:
Award winning New York playwright Wendy Wasserstein died Monday morning.
The 55-year-old had been battling lymphoma for several years. She died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Wasserstein achieved success both off an on Broadway, making a name for herself by writing about the joys and challenges of being a woman, being in love, having a career and motherhood.
One of her best known works is the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play, "The Heidi Chronicles," which was later made into a film.
She was born in Brooklyn and raised in Manhattan. She attended Mount Holyoke College and the Yale School of Drama.
While best-known for her plays, she also penned screenplays, children’s books and essay collections.
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_SOUTHPAW GIG
Cool and Unusual played Southpaw on Sunday, the Slope’s groovy indie rock club
on Fifth Avenue. It was a first for all the teen bands that played. A real rock club. Woo. A great sound system. Woo hoo. A big place with
room to dance. Woo hoo hoo.
No one danced. The kids hung out near the stage and moved along to the music, screamed, yelled, hooted, and cheered after songs.
Cool and Unusual played one of their best sets ever. Their patter was pretty great: "Chinese New Year’s resolution: That we won’t suck." Sadly, they are
taking a one month hiatus. Luckily February is a short month. As
the bass player’s mother, I am sorry that they won’t be playing for a
few weeks because the improvement has been so consistent, and they are
getting so tight, so good. But they have their reasons. I for one will miss hearing their original songs like "Snow Song," "Retrospect," "2L,"Cheerful Infinity," "The Test," as well as their Arcade Fire medley.
But nobody listens to mom. They will, hopefully, be back in the swing of things in March.
Mod Rocket, an all-girls punk band from Manhattan was incredible, too. It’s hard to believe they are just 15-years-olds. The lead singer can really sing and all the others are amazing musician, too. I just found their list of their influences on their web site:
Bowie, The Stooges, Velvet Underground, MC5, Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails, Ramones, T Rex, Sonic Youth, Siouxsie, Jesus and Mary Chain, Pigface, Suicide, Big Black, Skinny Puppy, Bjork, Nirvana, Cream, New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins, The Jam, The Clash, Black Sabbath, The Cure, Television, The Smiths, Legendary Pink Dots, The Swans, Teenage Jesus And The Jerks, Lydia Lunch, The Who, The Damned,Gang Of Four, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Depeche Mode, Bob Dylan, Thin Lizzy, PJ Harvey, The Cars, White Stripes, Talking Heads, New Order, Adam Ant, KMFDM, Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy, Alien Sex Fiend, Rozz Williams, Christian Death, Alice Cooper, The Byrds, The Doors, Big Star, Janes Addiction, Butthole Surfers, Stones, Mudhoney, Melvins, Manson, Interpol, Velvet Acid Christ, Throbbing Gristle, Slint, Slayer, The Cramps, The Beatles, Misfits, Neil Young, Zeppelin, Sleater Kinney, Pavement, Malkmus, Iggy Pop, Echo And The Bunnymen, Bikini Kill, Jefferson Airplane, Kraftwerk, Fantomas, Tomhawk, Lords Of The New Church, AC/DC, KISS, Pink Floyd, Killing Joke, Tool, A Perfect Circle, EinstÃï¿1⁄2rzende Neubauten, Faith No More, Rites Of Spring, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Pentagram, Blur, Graham Coxon, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Syd Barrett, Todd Rundgren, Lightning Bolt, REM, The Slits, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, LeadBelly, XTC, Bob Marley, Hole, Meat Puppets, Badfinger, Supergrass, Blondie, Yardbirds, Kinks, Guns N Roses, Placebo, Systerm Of A Down, Johnny Thunders, Cheap Trick, Dead Boys, Edith Piaf, Billy Idol, Generation X, Love, Morrissey, Motorhead, Sex Gang Children, Dangiz, 45 Grave, Samhain, Mott The Hoople.
I guess they listen to a lot of music. It shows.
Defibrilator, an all-guys band from the Berkeley Carroll School really got the crowd going with their funky, rappy, rock-y sound. Crowd favorites: A rappy "Old McDonald" (Eee i, Eeei, fuckin’ Oh") and "Firetruck" ("My favorite word begins with F. My favorite ends with UCK. My favorite word is FIRETRUCK, what the fuck else did you think I’d say?").
The usual parents were there catching up on all the local band gossip. StunGun has officially disbanded. Three of the bandmembers continue on as the punky "Fiasco." Former StunGun guitarist has a band called Blue House and is also performing originals and Dylan tunes as a solist.
Who knows what new bands are forming as we speak?
Daughter and her friend played pool in the back for most of the show. So much cursing, loud, raging music, teenagers being teenagers. It was a great, great afternoon. Amazing how far all of these kids have come. A scene in the making….
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_IT’S MARY
Monday morning and the mystery of whether that is Mary on the flap of Paul Auster’s new book has finally been solved. It’s her, it’s her, it’s her. I can tell this is going to be a great week. Here’s the missive from Mary.
I finally bought "Brooklyn Follies." It ISN’T me holding the beach ball on the front cover because, as Austin Powers would say, "That’s a MAN, baby." (In addition to be much photographed throughout my life, I have been mistaken several times for a man in real life. Seriously. Despite lipstick.)
However, if you look at the back flap, (near the author’s portrait) there is a woman in a black jacket and light jeans. And I am 99 percent certain it’s me.
I bought the book at Seventh Avenue Books and told the owner as he rang it up that I thought I was on the flap. He looked and agreed it might be me. He then asked for $25.07. I gave him $26.00 and said I didn’t have any change. He said, "Well, seeing as I’m running out of change and you are a celebrity, I won’t charge you the seven cents."
So, being on the Auster back flap is paying off all ready. If I carry the book around with me, will I get free drinks at local establishments? Perhaps Second Street Cafe will give me a half-priced coffee.
At home, I took out a magnifying glass. Under magnification, I still think it is me. And my husband and four-year-old think so too. My 2-year-old also has declared, "That’s Mama." Unfortunately she was pointing to the photo of Paul Auster. "That’s a man, baby!"
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
QUESTION TO READERS OF OTBKB
I’ve always wondered if the order of posts on OTBKB should be:
-Daily Pix
-Scoop du Jour
-Postcard from the Slope
Usually it’s:
-Daily Pix
-Postcard from the Slope
-Scoop du Jour
I’ve always thought it makes more sense to put Scoop du Jour before the Postcard because it has the day’s weather and What’s Happening. It’s the "Wake up and smell the world" portion of this blog. But my sister called this morning and said that she’d so much rather see the Postcard first.
I’ve also gotten rid of the two news sections on Scoop du Jour. It was too much work and it was taking up too much space. If you need news you know where to get it. Husband thought there were too many murder and car wreck stories, anyway.
Does anyone look at Scoop du Jour?
Does anyone care about the order of posts?
Does anyone want to weigh in?
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_IS IT MARY ON THE COVER OF BROOKLYN FOLLIES?
I need to get a copy of Paul Auster’s "Brooklyn Follies" to my friend Mary because I think she is pictured on the cover. I saw her yesterday at Maggie Moo’s and asked her if it’s her on the cover. She didn’t know a thing about it. I told her that I’d posted about it a few weeks back.
I loved that you stopped in at Maggie Moo’s to tell me about the Brooklyn Follies cover. The kids were running in too many circles from their ice cream high for me to focus on what you were saying. Now that I’ve read your post, I’m blushing. Thanks for calling me "very nice" (in the post).
Still, Mary isn’t sure whether it’s her picture on the cover. Oddly and coincidentally, she’d had her picture taken for Time Out Magazine on the same Second Street corner and she thought that was what I was talking about. Who knew about her busy modeling career.
As far as the photo on the Auster cover goes–it wasn’t the one I thought it was. The one I told you about that was taken on the 2nd street corner was taken of me and my husband and supposedly appeared in Time Out–although I didn’t follow the issues closely enough to see it. And I wasn’t carrying a beach ball as "I" am on the Auster cover-but my husband was carrying a huge bag of brickettes. I haven’t been able to run out to the bookstore to scrutinize the Auster cover tonight. Looking at a close up view on Amazon has been inconclusive. I have to say, it does appear to be me!
I am also pretty sure that it’s Mary. I assumed she knew about it and had signed a release or something. The fact that she was unaware of the picture being taken adds another element to the story. I thought it was particularly interesting because Mary is a writer (she and I met in Tim Tomlinson’s fiction writing course at the Writer’s Voice). Since she moved to Park Slope a few years back, we’ve had regular chitchats about writing, children, work, and other Park Slope-ish matters.
I’ve always wanted to write an essay about the strange places your image could appear without your knowledge (think of those group photos taken in restaurants–with your table in the background.) Once, when I was dining at Ellen’s Stardust with a friend, the waiter (whom I had never seen before) said "What will it be, Stacey and Mary?" After we completely freaked that he knew our names, he said he recognized us from a photo he saw in Chicago when he was staying with a friend of his–who was also a close friend of ours–who mentioned (I guess several times–since he remembered them) our names.
The oft-photographed Mary is going to let me know soon if it’s her on the cover. But even if it’s not, she’s still a big deal in my book. In addition to the care and feeding of two kids, she writes daily at the Park Slope Writer’s Space and has a story coming out later this year in a webzine.
I’ll let you know what I think after I see the real cover! And, thanks for asking, my story is coming out in a 2006 issue of Paper Street. (A small lit mag based in Pittsburgh).
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_MUSIC TIP
I am quite smitten with the just-out CD from Cat Power, "The Greatest." Cat Power is the performing name of the critically raved about Chan Marshall. I was expecting a more raucous album — it’s called Cat Power, afterall. Instead, it’s an ambient, moody, slow-speed and eclectic voice-piano-strings soundscape with songs that convey the poetic wisdom of a love-worn life.
Marshall has a endearing world-weariness that calls to mind a low-energy Lucinda Williams with a little Memphis R&B and shoo bop thrown in for good measure.
Check it out. Sound Track and Music Matters has it in stock.
NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_LAST JANUARY
Last January 23rd was all about snow. What a different kind of January that was.
Sunday 8 a.m
–It’s still snowing
–There are snow drifts
–White blanket out there
–The wind looks fierce; the air is white
–They’re predicting 18 inches on WNYC
–Only people walking their dogs
–or shovelling their sidewalks
–are out on the snow thick sidewalk
–Bare tree branches shake heavy with snow
–Brownstone rooftops look downy soft
–Smartmom’s air conditioner, her window sills are snow platters
–Hepcat, Teen Spirit, OSFO are still sleeping
–Wait until they see what happened.
POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE_IN NYC THERE MUST BE 40 WORDS FOR DEPRESSION
This appeared last January 25th on the old OTBKB:
There wasn’t even a word for depression in Sri Lanka
until a few years ago. Not that they didn’t need it. Doctors there say
that people express their unhappiness by having pain, back aches, or
difficulty sleeping. And by commiting suicide. Apparently, Sri Lanka
has one of the hightest suicide rates in the world.
In New York there must be 40 words for depression. If not more.
Sri
Lanka, with a population of 20 milliion people, has only about 30
psychiatrists. Very few of them speak the language of the Meulaboh
region, which was badly hit. Needless to say, therapy is not a common
activity in that part of the world. Unlike New York City, the Sri
Lankans are not held together by the loving thread of trained
therapists. Not to mention Zoloft.
There must be thousands of therapists in Brooklyn alone.
No,
a stop at the shrink’s office is not a weekly occurrence in Sri Lanka.
How spoiled we are in New York City where the examination of one’s
navel is considered a necessity not a luxury. And yet, Smartmom
believes that navel examination truly is a form of preventive health
care. In so many ways, New Yorkers benefit from their weekly
exploration of self. Without it, Lord help us: New York would be a
whole lot more neurotic and/or psychotic than it already is.
Just imagine New York without therapy.
But
in other parts of the world, there’s just too much else to do — like
survival — to have time for such things. Religious institutions
probably do their part. Buddhist meditation is just one example of a
spiritual practice that is, in its way, deeply psychological in nature.
The people of Sri Lanka are a stoic people with a strong belief
in god’s will, and a different (maybe better) relationship to death.
Even in a crisis of this magnitude, they carry on. Call it denial, call
it pragmatism, they are grieving quietly and privately while rebuilding
their lives. What other option do they have?
And yet, grief and
trauma can wreak havoc on people’s lives. Experts have observed that "
suicide rates drop in times of crisis but then bounce back up again -
to higher levels than they were originally," writes Denise Grady in the
New York Times.
Mental health experts the world have made
offers of help. But the Sri Lankian government is asking them to stand
back and respect the nature of the Sri Lankan culture. They believe
that the deep religious beliefs of the Sri Lankans and their strong
sense of community and family will help them through this tragedy. And,
in most cases, they are probably right.
One Sri Lankan
official quoted in the Times said that "too many irrelvant, inept,
strange ideas from other countries could do disservice to tsunami
victims." He was especially adamant that de-briefing, a technique where
disaster victims are encouraged to talk about traumatic experiences
after a disaster, would be especially harmful.
Smartmom is
familiar with this argument. She has been working with the FDNY since
December 2001 on a newsletter for the families of those who lost loved
ones on September 11th. After the WTC disaster, firefighters were
debriefed and urged to talk about the tragedy in great detail –
apparently it helped them a lot. They were also encouraged to partake
of the free counseling services available 24 hours a day at the
Counseling Service Unit.
After 9/11, many health care
professional from around the world offered their services to the FDNY.
Fairly quickly, the FDNY realized that mental health professionals
without the proper understanding of the fire department culture could
do more harm than good. Over time, the FDNY expanded its counseling
staff in order to provide appropriate care for those who were suffering
from various degrees of post-traumatic-stress and grief.
Firefighters
are also a stoic lot with a strong sense of family and religious ties.
For them, therapy helped them with the on-going grief and stress. At
first it was hard to convince those who are used to helping others that
they needed help. But many of them came around because they were
suffering so much. And their recovery was fairly rapid once they went
in for counseling. There’s no telling how much alcoholism, drug
addiction, spousal and child abuse, and suicide were avoided because of
this.
So, Smartmom wonders how the Sri Lankans will fare
emotionally. What of the parentless children, the parents who lost
their little loved ones, those who saw whole communities die — how
will they get through this? Is it true that this community will be able
to escape "post traumatic-stress" simply because of their cultural
background?
There is no one-size fits all solution to recovery
from tragedy. A person’s mental health prior to the event, resilience
and resourcefulness must all be taken into account. People are very
unique in the ways that they heal; in how they like to take care of
themselves.
Smartmom is grateful for her weekly trips to her
therapist, her shaman, the man who helps her "see." Her problems are
fairly minor compared to those of people in other parts of the world.
But still, she believes in the value of self-examination and is
thankful that she has the option.
Everyone needs help from time to time.
