Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn

NEW YEAR’S EVE AT BARBES

Spend New Year’s Eve with Chicha Libre at Barbes at 10 p.m.

Chicha Libre plays a mixture of latin rhythms, surf music and psychedelic pop inspired by Peruvian music from the Amazon. The Brooklyn-based band mixes up covers of forgotten Chicha classics with French-tinged originals, re-interpretation of 70’s pop classics as well as cumbia versions of pieces by Satie and Ravel.

With Greg Burrows – percussion; Joshua Camp – Hohner Electravox; Olivier Conan – Cuatro & Vocals – Nicholas Cudahy – bass; Vincent Douglas – Guitar – Timothy Quigley – percussion.

AU CONTRAIRE: THE OCCASIONAL NOTE FROM PETER LOFFREDO

Is having an affair good or bad for a marriage? Our pal Pete shares his thoughts on his blog, Full Permission Living. The piece by Jenny Block is also quite interesting.

A few weeks ago, I offered my comments (read them at: http://fullpermissionliving.blogspot.com/) on whether or not having an affair was potentially "good" for a marriage.

I was responding to an article that was in the NY Times on the subject called, "An Odd Turn of Affairs." (http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article2882883.ece)

On the Huffington Post blog this week there was another article on the same subject, taken from Tango Magazine, entitled: "Portrait of an Open Marriage," by Jenny Block. (http://www.tangomag.com/2006130/portrait-of-an-open-marriage-2.html/1).

The piece has this caption under the title: "Jenny Block reveals an unconventional marriage arrangement that worked."

So, I took a look, because I believe that openness is the key to a good marriage, along with the two partners being fully in love with each other, of course.

On my blog (http://fullpermissionliving.blogspot.com) are some samples of what I found in Jenny’s piece, interspersed with my interjections and conclusions. Check it out and offer your own comments.

Smartmom

SMARTMOM’S XMAS TREE

Here this week’s Smartmom from the Brooklyn Paper:

It was like Rockefeller Center in Smartmom’s apartment last week.
The Oh So Feisty One kept bringing her friends in and out of the living room to see the tree.

She and her friends just sat on the
green leather couch and stared as if intoxicated by the white lights
and the glittery gold ornaments.

Even Teen Spirit said it was a
nice tree. So did Hepcat. Grudgingly. He was still mourning the fact
that they spent Christmas in Brooklyn for the third year in a row
rather than in California. But he came around.

Here’s how they
got such a great tree: Two Saturdays ago, when it started to snow,
Smartmom, OSFO and Hepcat went out in search of a tree. What a perfect
time to shop. It was 10 pm in the wet, slushy snow.

The
three of them (and Teen Spirit in spirit) sloshed down Seventh Avenue
to browse trees first at the Apple Tree then at the Key Food. They even
went to the Food Co-op to see if those “organic” trees were still
there, but no go.

Back at the Apple Tree on Garfield, OSFO fell
in love with a short, squat tree at and they made a split-second
decision to buy it.

Forty-five dollars later, they were lugging
the tree back to Third Street. Smartmom hoped they wouldn’t run into
any of their Jewish friends — she’d have some explaining to do.

“It’s
our inter-faith Christmas tree, we’ll decorate it with Jewish stars,”
she would have said. But truthfully, Smartmom felt no shame about
having a tree because as an inter-faith family Christmas and Hanukah
are both meaningful.

And since deciding to do Christmas in
Brooklyn, it felt perfectly right to have a tree. Besides, it gave them
somewhere to put the presents.

Once home, they decided to put the
tree in the living room and just admire and inhale its luscious aroma.
They didn’t even decorate it.

Actually Hepcat found it so fragrant, he had to open the window because it was making him cough.

But
it didn’t make Smartmom cough. t made her think of moonlight in
Vermont and the Christmas scene in “Fanny and Alexander” and the Bing
Crosby movies “White Christmas” and “Holiday Inn.”

It made her
think of Christmas on the farm in Northern California where Artsy
Grandma decorates a live tree with timeless ornaments — some homemade,
some vintage glass ones from the 1950s and ’60s.

Smartmom’s
living room seemed so much smaller with the tree in it. She had to
disassemble the Noguchi coffee table and rearrange the furniture. The
tree took over.

Diaper Diva and Ducky came over to help decorate
it. Diaper Diva is a pro at decorating. And so is 3-year-old Ducky, who
delighted in selecting ornaments and finding a spot for them on the
tree. Hepcat strung the lights. OSFO put candy canes everywhere.

When they were done, they all just looked at the tree and sighed. It really was gorgeous.

Smartmom
liked to stare at it as she sat on the green couch in a state of
reverie that really had very little to do with the birth of Jesus and
more to do with how damn pretty that tree looked in her living room.

Truthfully,
it surprised her how much she loved that tree. In the past, her trees
were a cut above Charlie Brown’s. She was sure that Hepcat was
disappointed. But this year’s tree was wonderful — maybe because
Smartmom was finally comfortable with the decision to spend Christmas
in Brooklyn and make their own traditions here.

It looked perfect in their living room because it was theirs.

PASTOR MEETER: MY LIFE IS MORE BEHIND ME THAN BEFORE ME

This is part of the Christmas Eve homily that Pastor Daniel Meeter read at week’s service. There’s usually a big crowd at the church on Christmas Eve and last week was no exception. 300 or more souls: Christian, Jewish, something else or nothing in particular. He encouraged me to come. The service is open to all. I didn’t make it but I did look into the church at around 7 p.m. as they were lighting the hundreds of candles. The sanctuary looked beautiful.

I found this on Pastor Meeter’s blog:

Two weeks ago I went to a hospital to see my mother’s oldest
sister, who had a stroke. She is 93. We always liked my Auntie Jo. One
summer I lived with her. So I put my collar on and got there early
before visiting hours. She recognized me and we talked a bit. I read
her some psalms and she dozed off. I sat there and watched her.

Suddenly on her aged face I saw the face of my grandpa, her father, from thirty-five years ago.

What
was it — her nose, her cheeks, her forehead? And then I saw my
grandma’s face as well, from twenty years ago. I had loved those
people, who were so long lost to me, and now I’d had a sudden and
passing glimpse of them.

I now have entered the last
third of my life. My life is more behind me than before me, and I
notice of late how often I think and speak about my grandparents. I
suspect I’m trying to keep connected with my own earlier self as it
recedes from me. I don’t want to be adrift in the world. A part of my
self is contained in my memory of their faces. But soon, I expect, I
will lose my Auntie Jo as well.

But with a baby, it’s
all about the future. There is no clinging to our histories. With a
baby it’s not about myself. A baby is all about itself, all new and
undeveloped. A baby is pure gift. Isn’t that the emotional reason for
Christmas presents? Because the quintessential gift is a baby. You have
to receive it, you have to accept it on its own terms, it’s not about
you, and it calls you forward.

THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT 2007

—Institute for Collaborative Education

Like every year there are things to like and things not to like. Especially as you get older, stuff happens. People get sick. People die. There are personal and professional disappointments, as well as terrible world events (war in Iraq, Virginia Tech massacre, Benazir Bhutto’s assasination, the monks in Myanmar, wild fires…)

Life can be scary and sad.

Luckily there are always a few things to remember that make you feel good about things, our community and the world we live in. Ever since I started this blog, I make this list. Here’s 2004, 2005 , and 2006.

–Wonderful family and friends

–OSFO’s new piano

–Trip to Opera Boston to hear Amy Burton in Mahagonny

—Writers at the Beach in Rehoboth, Maryland

—The Brooklyn Blogfest (and the subsequent Brooklyn Blogade)

—Weight Watchers meetings at the Montauk Club

–The planning of and the actual Stoopendous Celebration on the summer solstice

—Cracker Barrel 2.0 by Greg Beyer in the New York Times

–Two weeks on Block Island at the Sea Breeze

–Dinners with The Moms

–Teens for Darfur at the Old Stone House

–Sag Harbor

–Louis and Capathia at the Metropolitan Room

–August in Tracy, California

-_Ducky’s 3rd birthday party

–Weekly meditation with Charlotte

—Brooklyn Reading Works at the Old Stone House

–The nice doctors and nurses at Mt. Sinai Hospital

–Teen Spirit at the Bowery Poetry Club

—Tupelo Press

—The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Ratatouille, Once, the Hoax, Across the Universe…

–Running the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving

–More nice doctors and nurses at Mt. Sinai Hospital

–Shopping for Teen Spirit’s ukulele at Rudy’s Music Stop with Groovy Grandpa

–Buying a beautiful vintage 4-string banjo at Jalopy

–Returning the banjo at Jalopy (wrong kind of banjo)

—Fun Run on New Year’s Eve in Prospect Park (planned)

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

MODERATED COMMENTS AT OTBKB

December 29, 2007 louise crawford 1 Comment

OTBKB has switched to moderated comments. That means I have to check the comments before they get published.

As you know I was a big believer in an unsupervised comment area but things got out of hand. I am finding this much more relaxing.

FUNERAL IN HER ABSENCE

This from New York 1:

Pakistani Americans are planning to hold a memorial today in honor of
Pakistani former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed Thursday
during a rally in her home country.

The service will be held today between 1 and 3 p.m. at the Makki
Mosque on Coney Island Avenue between Foster Avenue and Avenue H in
Midwood, Brooklyn.

Organizers are calling it "A Funeral in Her Absence."

STUFF AND THINGS

WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR NEW YEARS EVE?

!I’m not sure. But I’m thinking of doing this. For more information go to Slope Sports

2007-2008 NEW YEAR’S EVE FUN RUN
presented by
Brooklyn Road Runners Club and Slope Sports

3.3 MILE FUN RUN
Prospect Park, Brooklyn

DATE/TIME

Monday, December 31, 2007 —
11:15pm start

START/FINISH
Start/Finish Line is at the Grand Army Plaza entrance of Prospect Park

ENTRY FEE

$15 before December 30, 2007 for Brooklyn Road Runners Club members, $20 Non-members
Race Day: BRRC Members $20, $25 Non-members
No refunds and/or exchanges. Race will occur rain, snow or shine.

BYSTANDERS CHASE HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER IN BAY RIDGE

This from NY Metro:

Bystanders to a deadly car accident in Brooklyn leaped into action Friday when the driver tried to escape.

A group of witnesses to the hit-and-run crash said they chased the
motorist on foot and in vehicles, grabbed him and stuffed him into a
cab, which returned him to the scene of the crime.

"I was glad we got the bastard," Chris Blake, 41, of Bay Ridge, told
the Daily News. "He killed a guy. He was meant to get caught. He
deserves to go to jail."

The chase began at around 3:30 p.m. after a minivan making an illegal
U-turn struck and killed an elderly Brooklyn man as he carried
groceries across the street in the borough’s Sunset Park section.

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

December 28, 2007 louise crawford

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

LUNA PARK GAZETTE’S FEAR OF FLYING

I found this on Luna Park Gazette. I hope he had a good flight.

I’m what you might call a fearful flier, a first-class white-knuckle
loon who has left his hand prints in the cushions of a squadron of
passenger jets over the years.

The very thought of getting on to a plane makes my stomach turn upside down and inside out–all at the same time.

The
logical side of my brain tells me all about the statistics of car
crashes versus airline crashes but my neurotic side won’t answer the
door.

I wanted to do something positive, try and rid myself of
this irrational fear that has plagued me since I took my first flight
out to San Francisco nearly 30 years ago.

BILL DE BLASIO IN IOWA

The New York Observer reports that our man Bill de Blasio is in Iowa stumping for Hillary Clinton.

City Councilman Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn spent late 2003 and early
2004 traveling to Iowa as a volunteer to help his candidate at the
time, John Edwards, engineer a surprisingly strong showing in the
caucuses there.

Now he’s back in the Hawkeye state, helping fellow New Yorker
Hillary Clinton compete in what has become a tough contest. "I think
folks from Iowa, like people in New Hampshire, they’re used to people
coming in from the outside, probably more so than any other place in
the country," de Blasio told me earlier this week from the city of
Clinton (seriously), just north of Davenport.

"The outsiders are facilitators," he said.

De Blasio, who also managed Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, thinks
Iowa is significant for both New York candidates, but for different
reasons: "This could be a breakthrough moment for Hillary and a death
knell for Rudy.”

GREEN BROOKLYN: PLACES TO DONATE MONEY

Green Brooklyn has a great list of places where you can donate your money, including the FIfth Avenue Committee, Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment, and more.

STUFF AND THINGS

ROCKY SULLIVAN’S PUB QUIZ

Just about every week I get an email about Rocky Sullivan’s Thursday Night Quiz. This email was really long and fun (and with a great photo) so I decided to include it here. In February they’re doing an event called Quiz Don’t Destroy, an entire evening
dedicated to the battle over Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards
project. Pit your knowledge against teams from local newspapers,
bloggers and community groups. Watch out if Norm Oder of Atlantic Yards Report is there — he knows everything.

Greetings, Pub-Quiz Ball-Drop Buffs…Tonight’s the last Rocky Sullivan’s Pub Quiz of 2007. Thanks to all of you who’ve made it down to Rocky’s for our Thursday night Quiz, to you who’ve almost made it, and to you who, by gumby, will one of these days. We’ve been at it every Thursday
since mid-September. Well, not Thanksgiving night, but all the
others. We’ve churned out eight rounds every week — questions, photos
and music. You’ve taken home lots of prizes, except the ones you
fluidically imbibed and left behind at Rocky’s.

A prize is a prize, no matter how long it’s in your pocession. We’re just beginning. 2008 is the Year of the Quiz, according to
the Journal of American Cultural Sciences*. It’s also the year of the
U.S. presidential election, the Beijing Summer Olympics, and a year planning on leaping for pure joy.

On that last note, 2008’s leap day — February 29th — is the day
after a Rocky Sullivan’s Pub Quiz. Hence, more February to crow
about your team’s success the previous night.

Oh…2008’s also the year that Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards
project collapses under the weight of community opposition, an unkind
economy, legal beagles shining lights into dark corners, and the
project’s own disconnected hubris.

Further into the future, be sure to mark your calendars for the
Quiz Event of the New Year: January 17, when along with Develop Don’t
Destroy Brooklyn, we present QUIZ DON’T DESTROY — an entire evening
dedicated to the battle over Bruce Ratner’s disastrous Atlantic Yards
project. Pit your knowledge against teams from local newspapers,
bloggers and community groups. Arrive early for good seats.

ROY NATHANSON AND THE MUSIC TEACHERS AT BARBES

Thursday, December 28th at 8 p.m. at Barbes: The Jazz Passenger and educator takes on a repertoire of West Coast pop songs which, to his own admission, are a complete mystery to him, and gives them a new and quirky twist: featuring Sean Sondregger, Pete Karp, Adam Jackson and Marcus Rojas. Barbes is located on 9th Street just east of Sixth Avenue. For more information go here.

Other Bloggers

THE STREETSIES: AWARDS FOR LIVABLE STREETS

Best Livable Streets Project, Best New Public Space, Best Pedestrian Project, Best Bicycle Project, Best Incremental Gain, Best Bus Project and more: check out the Streetsies, Streetsblog’s awards for those who contributed to livable streets in NYC and elsewhere.

HELPING TO FIX WHAT’S BROKEN IN AMERICAN SOCIETY

Consider making a donation to the Petra Foundation:

The Petra Foundation was established in 1988 to sustain the trajectory of Petra Tölle Shattuck‘s
life by honoring the kind of people she most admired – unsung
individuals making distinctive contributions to the rights, autonomy
and dignity of others.

Each year since then, through a national search and nomination process, the Petra Foundation has recognized such leaders as Petra Fellows.

Often
at risk and without the safety net of personal privilege or
institutional support, Petra Fellows fight poverty, discrimination,
environmental degradation and violence. They work in prisons and police
departments, labor unions and migrant worker camps, health clinics,
housing projects, family farms and public schools – wherever people
lack the resources, education, connections or clout to participate
fully in American society. Armed with the fierce passion for justice
that inspired Petra Shattuck, they are fixing what’s broken in American
society.

JOIN THE ‘GOOD BYE CONEY ISLAND’ FLICKR PAGE

December 27, 2007 louise crawford 1 Comment

I found this on the Brooklyn Museum blog.

I am very excited that Patrick Amsellem, curator of photography, is working with us on a web project in conjunction with the Goodbye Coney Island? exhibition he curated in the Luce Visible Storage-Study Center. We have created a Goodbye Coney Island? Flickr group
which photographers can join and submit their best photo of Coney
Island. From this pool Patrick will select four photos to feature in
his posts on our blog throughout the run of the show.

This idea came about because the other day I joined Patrick for a discussion of Goodbye Coney Island?
and he spoke about the popularity of Coney Island throughout the years
as a subject for both American and International photographers. I am a
casual photographer, and his comment reminded me how much I enjoy going
to Coney Island to take pictures with my Polaroid, Holga and digital
cameras. Every time I am there I see countless other photographers
strolling the boardwalk in search of the perfect shot to capture the
Coney Island’s essence. What a better way to pay homage to this fabled
part of New York, I thought, than to engage some of the photographers
in our community in conjunction with this exhibition of more than fifty
photographs from the Brooklyn Museum’s holdings that traces its
evolution over the past 125 years. We look forward to seeing the
photographs everyone will choose to post!

To participate please join the Goodbye Coney Island? group on Flickr: (more…)

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

December 26, 2007 louise crawford

NO WORDS_DAILY PIX BY HUGH CRAWFORD

December 25, 2007 louise crawford 1 Comment

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIE?

December 25, 2007 louise crawford 6 Comments

My favorite Christmas scene in a movie is the one in Fanny and Alexander by Ingmar Bergman. How about you?

STUFF AND THINGS

YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE:

December 25, 2007 louise crawford 1 Comment

I loved it! It is depressing but not as depressing as it sounds — a film about a French man (who was the editor of Elle Magazine) who suffers a stroke and is left with locked-in syndrome. He can’t speak and can only blink one eye to communicate yes or no. Amazingly, he writes a book this way. Directed by Julian Schnabel, it’s an amazing work of art, a great story, too. We saw it at BAM

YULE LOG ON-LINE

December 25, 2007 louise crawford

If you don’t have a TV (or a fireplace) you can watch the yule log here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS JAKE

December 25, 2007 louise crawford

I had a nice talk with Jake this evening. Jake is the panhandler who stands in front of Ace Supermarket on Seventh Avenue and Berkeley Place. He has a lovely smile and a pleasant personality. Jake said this is a tough Christmas for him because his 95-year-old mother died a few weeks ago. She lived in South Carolina. That’s where Jake grew up. On a farm. He thinks about going back to South Carolina but he likes the pace of New York City he said. "It’s too slow down there," he said. "Too slow."