If it’s very, very hot and everything else you want to see at the Pavilion is sold out, go with Kung Fu Panda. I saw it last night with Diaper Diva, Ducky and OSFO and we loved it. Even if we had to sit in the front row of the tiny theater on the top that has a bunch of messed up chairs no one can sit on.

Jack Black is the voice of Po, the Panda. Dustin Hoffman is the voice of the Master Shifu. Even Manhola Dargis at the New York Times’ enjoyed the film not expecting to.

Visually, this animated film from Dreamworks is actually quite gorgeous. Here’s Dargis in her New York Times review:

That outsider is even more irresistible when nestled amid so much lovingly created animation, both computer generated and hand drawn. The main story, executed via 3-D animation (all done on computers) and directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, fluidly integrates gorgeous, impressionistic flourishes with the kind of hyper-real details one has come to expect from computer-generated imagery: photorealistically textured stone steps, for instance, and fur so invitingly tactile you want to run your fingers through it. One of the pleasures of “Kung Fu Panda” is that instead of trying to mimic the entirety of the world as it exists, it uses the touch of the real. The character designs may be anatomically correct, but they’re cartoons from whisker to tail

  Crazy headline from A Year in the Park; but she’s not kidding. The tour of the Quaker Cemetery in Prospect Park drew a really big crowd!

It figures. I cycle over in the sticky heat to one of the rare tours of Prospect Park’s Quaker Cemetery, and by the time I get there, there’s a 40-minute estimated wait on line. At the 10-acre cemetery, which predates the park and contains some 2,000 Friends’ graves, living Quakers were offering re-enactments of some of the interred residents, but I couldn’t tarry that long with dinner guests on the way.

Just got this enthusiastic note from the folks at Rosewater about a Crab Fest on July 10th at 7 p.m.

    In the Spring of  2007 we announced our first-ever Crab Feast. Our Maryland-born Chef then promptly decided to decamp to greener Connecticut pastures and suddenly the Boil was reduced to a slow simmer on the back burner. It’s a year later and, happily, another talented Maryland boy is manning the stove at RW – Chef Marcellus Coleman is champing at the bit to boil us up some Maryland Crab!

    We’re gonna cover the tables with tabloid newsprint, cover the upholstery, bust out the wooden mallets and dump some Old Bay Blues right there on the table – Chesapeake family style. Add pink wine, cold beer, cole slaw, fries and corn (if it’s good enough). You get the idea. Hard-shell Heaven. We’re expecting this to be so much fun that it will become an annual event!

    $68, all inclusive of tax and service. 718 783 3800. Tickets will likely go fast, so reserve asap.

I walked by with my mother and told her that Carmen’s, the new Seventh Avenue children’s stores, has handmade dresses with smocking. I used to wear hand made dresses with smocking when I was a girl.

At this shop, which is in the dripping cyclops/octopus building owned by Mark Ravitz Art and Design, you can buy seersucker shorts for a young boy in this store and all manner of formal looking clothing your grandmother would have loved. I know my grandmother bought me underwear at Best and Co. on Fifth Avenue

It’s the storefront that used to be Seventh Avenue Books (or was it Park Slope Books).

If variety is the spice of life: this kind of shop is a refreshing antidote to Lolli and Area if you like the sort of styles they feature.

Carmen’s Exclusives for Children on Seventh Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets, has clothing for children birth to five years old. Go this week while they still have cookies and beverages.

Richard Grayson, author of Who Will Kiss the Pig: Sex Stories for Teens, I Brake for Delmore Schwartz, and With Hitler in New York, is back in town and he went to Celebrate Brooklyn Presents The Crooklyn Dodgers Reunion last night and filed this report, which is also on his blog.

It was raining very hard at 6 p.m. last evening, and things didn’t look good as we finished our Boca burger and batata coreano, intending to leave Dumbo HQ in Williamsburg for the next hour’s starting time at the Prospect Park Bandshell for Celebrate Brooklyn’s presentation of The Crooklyn Dodgers Reunion.

By 6:30 p.m., things had brightened up a bit and we made our way to the park to represent BK’s old white people at what sounded like it was going to be a history-making night in the annals of Brooklyn hip-hop with the return of the classic super-group.

As Wikipedia notes,
They appeared in three separate incarnations since 1994. The first two incarnations recorded for the soundtracks for Spike Lee films, Crooklyn and Clockers, respectively. The theme connecting The Crooklyn Dodgers songs, aside from the Spike Lee films which they were made for, is the topic matter, which tends to comment on the state of affairs in and around urban New York, as well as other issues affecting everyday life; as Jeru spouses “Chips that power nuclear bombs power my Sega.”

Probably due to the heavy rain, the crowd wasn’t big at the start of the night, but it really grew. We managed to find a close seat, thanks to the tiny blonde 7-year-old girl who took it upon herself to sponge off the water from all the folding chairs in our area.

It was an incredible show, hosted by Buckhshot and Special Ed, who showed off some of their own freestyling skills. The evening was a collage-montage of Brooklyn hip-hop, with continual shout-outs to the neighborhoods: “Flatbush!” “Crown Heights!” “Canarsie!” (When the incredibly talented Chip Fu yelled out “East 56th Street between Church & Snyder!” we shouted back, since we spent our first 28 years on East 54th between Snyder & Tilden and East 56th between O & Fillmore.)

The classic original veteran Masta Ace came on with his group EMC featuring amazing talent – Wordsworth, Punchline & Stricklin, and Chip Fu – with their rollicking signature opening. It just got better from there. As the crowds grew, arms waved, fists pumped, everyone swayed, and to us, the event seemed both Dionysian and intimate, as when Wordsworth jumped off the stage and began rapping in the crowd.

It was like being at a greatest Brooklyn house party ever. O.C., after doing some amazing stuff, sat down at the edge of the stage and began to talk to the borough’s young rappers just coming up about the perils of artistic compromise and hypocrisy. “The last of my kind,” O.C. didn’t name names, but said “some people ain’t doin’ what they supposed to.” Around me, audience members did name the names of some stars he was referring to.

The whole evening was curated by Danny Castro and Anthony Marshall, creators of the pioneering they-said-it-couldn’t-be-done open-mic night Lyricist Lounge, who deserve much credit for putting together this defining event. And props to their majesties DJ Premier and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, whose historic work with A Tribe Called Quest brightened our days back in the day (and made early morning workouts bearable).

The night featured great freestyling and amazing rapping, some of it BK-centric. “Why do we gotta live in this environment?/Your grandpa done drank up his retirement” reminded us that we were really, really tired and maybe the second-oldest human we spotted in the by-now humongous (we’re bad at estimates, everyone who took our 30,000 at the Met Opera seriously!) peaced-out crowd.

Blaming our fatigue on not old age but severe jet lag (we were campaigning in Arizona all week), we left a bit after 9 p.m. for the return trip home (the F was running funny, taking over the G route to Queens, causing confusion but making this a one-train trip back to the Burg), so we missed most of the show after intermission: Chubb Rock, the incredible Jeru the Damaja, etc. But we’ve got Kevin’s report:
One highlight of this evening was going out with a post-party crew of stoners (Jon Good, Jesse, other Jesse, and Daniela) to dew-damp Prospect Park to catch the tail end of a fucking huge (and completely free) hip-hop concert, featuring the reunion of a moderately successful ’90s rap group called the Crooklyn Dodgers.

I usually go to small underground shows, so this enormous outdoor bandshell venue, with thousands of screaming fans, backup dancers, stage lighting, the whole shebang. And the artists, though icons of the hip-hop underground, were more professional than anyone else I’ve ever heard. That’s the great thing about Brooklyn–a local concert, with local artists celebrating the history and culture of the neighborhood, is going to have world-class talent. Some of the lyrics were a little blingy and whut-whut for my tastes, but for the most part the rhymes were tight, the beats were solid, and the Scene was Real.

And their lyrical talent was astounding. The distinction between rap and poetry is usually pretty controversial but there is no questioning that what I saw and heard tonight was poetry. These guys know their neighborhood, they know their culture, and they know life in Crown Heights, and they managed to tap that zeitgeist like a keg of ass.

Isn’t life wonderful!

My friend, Jezra Kaye, sent me this review of a recent concert of a band that includes Prospect Heights bassist, Jerome Harris. Harris has played with so many jazz musicians I don’t know where to begin. For starters, Jack DeJohnette, Bill Frisell, Ray Anderson, Don Byron, Bobby Previte, Oliver Lake, Amina Claudine Myers, Bob Stewart, George Russell, Julius Hemphill, and Bob Moses. The excerpt from Jazz Times, describes a wonderful new band that brings together klezmer, funk and hip-hop.

Hopefully a CD will be out in the not-too-distant future, and OTBKB will let you know when they’re coming to Brooklyn. As Jezra said, “In the meantime, we can all just enjoy that such a thing exists!J Happy Almost-4th of July, and much love to all.”

This endlessly surprising yet highly successful hybrid of klezmer, funk and hip-hop had the enthusiastic crowd—young and old, Jews and gentiles, whites and blacks—dancing ecstatically in the aisles like it was a Jewish wedding. Wesley brought the funk while virtuoso clarinetist David Krakauer delivered the passionate intensity and deep Jewish soul that ties him to the lineage of klezmer clarinet kings like Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarras. Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist and visionary beat architect Josh Dolgin, aka Socalled, provided a bridge between the klezmer and hip-hop worlds with his audacious Hebraic rapping while the Bronx-bred emcee C-Rayz Walz brought street cred to this unlikeliest of collaborations with his remarkable freestyling facility and stark urban imagery.

PARKING CIRCLES

They came from outer non-spaces

Having heard of Park Slope’s parking places–

A wide-open neighborhood for cars

Where once the attractions were churches and bars.

To Slopers, told that parking regs

Were gone for the summer like hated dregs

It seemed the end to spots you fish for;

Oh yeah? Be careful what you wish for.

A man and a woman talking on a train stream of consciousness about Black Pearl, the recently closed restaurant on Union Street between 6th and 7th Avenues:

Do you think it’s closed?

There was a sign that it was reopening on June something but I think it’s closed for good

I liked it.

I really like Black Pearl.

Do you think it was too big?

But it was such a good restaurant.

If it had been on Seventh Avenue maybe it would have done better

It had a Bay Ridge vibe

I loved the arugula pizza

The food was good

I’m really going to miss the arugula pizza

Do you think it closed?
Why do you think it closed…

I really liked Black Pearl

I wonder why it closed…

On First Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, I happened on a stoop sale with lots of LPs, found super-8 movies, Criterion Collection DVD’s, art books, and film equipment. My dad collects classical and jazz LP’s here’ what I got for him:

The Art Tatum Buddy DeFranco Quartet on Verve

Bird and Diz on Verve

In a Mellow toe by Johnny Hodges on Verve

Die Dreigroschenoper: The original cast recording of The Three Penny Opera on Telefunken

Victoria De Los Angeles on Seraphim

Bach: The Two and Three Park Inventions Gleenn Gould on Columbia

Elizabeth Schwarzkoph singing Mozart and Bach

But the real find was this, a book, copyright 1958:

The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men: Revealing stories and pieces by the most damned and praised writers of our day, including Jack Kerouac, Colin Wilson, Joh Wain, John Osborne, Kingsely Amis, Allen Ginsberg and many others…

All hail Rachel of Park Slope Parentswho puts together this fantastic list of things of things to do on the weekend with kids. You can find details, addresses, phone numbers, URL’s, etc. at the PSP calendar on the home page.

Friday, June 27, 2008

NYC Waterfalls

Storytime @ The Postmark Cafe

Sing A Long At The Tea Lounge On Union

Storytime @ The Moxie Spot

Suzi Shelton & Randi Kaplan – Tea Lounge

Youth Council Outdoor Movie Night – Prospect Park, Cat In The Hat

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Puppetworks Presents Pinocchio At 12:30pm & 2:30pm

NYC Waterfalls

Kids Cook – Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket

Open House NY Kids! Prospect Park

PLG Arts Performs This Short Version Of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

ARTY Facts At The Brooklyn Museum @ 11 Am & 2pm

Figment Arts Festival

Storytime At Court Street Barnes & Noble

McCarren Park Live: AudraRox

Intro To Birdwatching At The Audubon Center

Lefferts House – Quilt Exhibit & Workshops

Tree-mendous Walk

Nature Crafts At The Audubon Center

It’s A Bee, Honey – Puppet Making FREE

Walk And Learn In The Quaker Cemetery In Prospect

Prospect Park Audubon Center – Discover Tour

Hootenanny Art House – Open Family Art Studio

John Rocco – Moonpowder Story TIme

He Friends Of Douglass/Greene Park Invite You To A SUNSET SWIM (

Sunday, June 29, 2008

NYC Waterfalls

Canoe The Lullwater – Sign Up Begins 10:30am

Brooklyn Indie Market Craftin’ Kids Workshops

Figment Arts Festival

Brooklyn Museum – Arty Facts At 11am & 2:00pm

Prospect Park – Lefferts Historic House Quilt Exhibit & Workshops & More!

Fulton Art Fair

Puppetworks Presents Pinocchio At 12:30pm & 2:30pm

It’s A Bee, Honey – Performance FREE

Prospect Park Audubon Center – Discover Tours, 3pm

PLG Arts Performs This Short Version Of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

Heres the word on the waterfalls from About.com’s Brooklyn page written by Kristin Goode:

The city has been buzzing lately with news of a major new work of public art that will be on display for the next few months. The project, called The New York City Waterfalls, will be “live” from June 26 to October 13 and will consist of four large (90- to 120-feet tall!) man-made waterfalls, all installed throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Governors Island.

A product of artist Olafar Eliasson, one of the four waterfalls will live near the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge, and another one will be between Piers 4 and 5 near Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights. The falls will run between 7am and 10pm, seven days a week. They’ll also be lit after sunset.

Here’s an interesting interview on video with Olafar Eliasson from the New York Times.

For the fourth year in a row, the Old Stone House is presenting a great series of music, film, theater and dance from July 1-30, all outdoors, all free. Opening night will feature Opera on Tap in JJ Byrne Park at Fifth Avenue and Third Street on Tuesday, July 1, at 6 pm and 8 pm, sponsored by The Gate, 5th Avenue ’s favorite tavern. With music on Tuesdays, film on Wednesdays and a fantastical equity showcase production of Midsummer Night’s Dream on July 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, as well as Silver Brown Dance Company on July 20, there’s something to bring you to the Old Stone House almost daily.

The complete schedule:

Music on Tuesdays:
July 1: Opera on Tap, 6 pm & 8 pm
July 8: Astrograss, 6 pm
July 15: Opera on Tap, 6 pm & 8 pm
July 22: Buzz Universe, 6 pm
July 29: The Plush Interior, 6 pm

Movies on Wednesdays/Democracy in Action:

July 2: 1776, 8:45 pm
July 9: Reelworks Film Festival, 7:30 pm
July 16: The Manchurian Candidate, 1962
July 23: The Mouse that Roared
July 30: The Candidate w/ Robert Redford

Piper Theatre at the Old Stone House
July 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19 at 8 pm – an equity showcase of Midsummer Night’s Dream with a Coney Island theme

Silver Brown Dance Company
July 20 at 4 pm

Smartmom and OSFO packed up two jelly sandwiches and headed to the park for the fifth grade end of year celebration picnic at Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park.

Smartmom and the Oh So Feisty One got there more than an hour before the show started and set up a blanket near friends. The kids, many in their blue fifth grade t-shirts, ran around with fair abandon. The parents, on the other hand, seemed happy to sip wine and beer and engage in wistful conversation.

There was the feeling, to Smartmom at least, that people had already begun to move on. Conversations were about things other than middle school applications, fifth grade activities, and graduation.

With one friend, Smartmom discussed what this transition might mean in terms of continuing friendships. There is, of course, the worry that friendships will fizzle out as the connection to the school fades.

Smartmom knows from experience that with effort (and plenty of it) those who want to will remain friends via monthly dinners, meet-ups for coffee or drinks, phone calls.

At 7:30, the Dixie Hummingbirds, the legendary jubilee gospel quartet, began their set of joyful, spiritual music with many shades of harmony. Stevie Wonder says of them; “they continue to press the envelope with their greatness, linking us to a rich musical heritage that keeps us in-tune and in harmony with the universe and each other.”

Smartmom didn’t know this last night, but Ira Tucker, who had been singing with the Dixie Hummingbirds since 1938, passed away the evening of June 24. He was born in 1925 and performed with the group until the end of his life.

The crowd observed a moment of silence, but up in the hills behind the seats, Smartmom isn’t sure if anyone realized that.

After a brief intermission, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, young black musicians who play the wild string band music of the 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s and dress the part as well, played raucous and ecstatic music that was wonderfully fun.

Toe tapping, hand clapping, it brought the crowd to their feet. Smartmom even saw some square dancing. Another great night at Celebrate Brooklyn; this one with a bitter sweet twist.

And plenty of wine.

I just got a note from Jessica Aptman, who is opening Blue Angel Wines in Williamsburg:

I wanted to pass along infomation regarding Blue Angel Wines – a new wine boutique based in Brooklyn with a strong focus on organic wines. “Blue Angel” is a German certification for products and services with environmentally friendly practices. I was hoping this might be of interest for Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn.

Blue Angel’s Chief Wine Buyer is Kym Apotas, who most recently served as a wine buyer for three years at Astor Wines and Spirits. As one of two wine buyers at Astor, Kym shared responsibility for stocking the store with more than 3,500 different wines and organizing more than $2 million in inventory. At Blue Angel, Kym has helped build the store’s organic-focused wine repertoire, featuring smaller distributors and producers, with her sharp palate and incomparable experience.

The latest addition to Grand Street’s booming culinary scene (including Huckleberry Bar, Wombat and Le Barricou), Blue Angel’s sophisticated yet earthy aesthetic was constructed using materials that are either recycled or eco-friendly. Additionally, the store has a great backyard that will later open for tastings. For those pressed for time but in need of wine, Blue Angel will deliver to their customers in the neighborhood.

Blue Angel
638 Grand Street
718-388-2210
Hours:
Monday – Wednesday; Noon to 9PM
Thursday – Saturday; Noon to 10PM
Sunday; Noon to 6PM

Adrian Kinloch of Brit in Brooklyn and Tracy Collins of Not Another F*cking Blog share their thoughts on photoblogging and talk about the Web Cam that is documenting the demolition at the Atlantic Yards site.