Stoopendous, a celebration of the summer solstice, is this Saturday, June 23rd. Have you seen the signs?
What are you doing to mark the day? It can be something small like opening a bottle of wine and a carton of lemonade for you and your neigbors.
Or something a bit more organized like a drumming circle, a cocktail party or ice cream fest, a recycling event, a musical performance, a poetry reading, a stoop sale.
There are lots of ideas at stoopendous.org. Check it out.
Found this on Clinton Hill Blog:
The next Presidential election is coming sooner than later (thank GOD), and our neighbors in Bed-Stuy are organizing some events to watch the Democratic candidate debates. It’s a good reason to motivate: not only make sure you keep abreast of the issues, but also an excellent excuse to visit some of Bed-Stuy’s most talked-about hangouts:
What: Two simultaneous parties starting at 8:30 pm June 28 to watch the Democratic Debate (hosted by Tavis Smiley, live from Howard University, focused largely on African-American issues).Where: Common Grounds coffee shop, 376 Tompkins (b/t Jefferson & Putnam) and Bread-Stuy, 403 Lewis Ave (@ Decatur). Both locations are close to the C train.
The events are hosted by Bed-Stuy for Obama, though they’d love to have anybody interested in listening to all the candidates. RSVPs can be sent to bedstuy@brooklynforbarack.org.
Everyone is welcome!
Yesterday at her weigh in at the Weight Watcher’s meeting at the Montauk Club, Smartmom found out that last week she dropped 2.6 pounds for a total of 4.2 over two weeks.
And it’s a far cry from Snooky’s, the classic Seventh Avenue sports bar/restaurant that closed its doors a couple of months ago to some cries of: Not Snooky’s, too.
It’s not that anyone really ever ate there. It’s just, well, it kinda belonged on Seventh Avenue, a symbol of the old, the true, the origins of pre-gentrified Slope.
Elementi’s renovation is close to complete and the new restaurant is starting to become visible. Looks like an upscale Italian place.
Gowanus Lounge thinks there’s going to be a pasta war and that “the linguini will fly to and fro between Sette, Sotto Voce and Tutta Pasta? Or are they all far enough apart that they get their own territory?”
Judging by the crowds at Sotto Vocce and Sette, there is probably room for one more. I, for one, have never understood the appeal of Tutta Pasta. Hepcat, Teen Spiriti and I went in there around 1993 and promptly walked out. It wasn’t as child-friendly as Two Boots and we never came back. Now that we don’t need child friendly because our kids are older, I still haven’t been back.
I think I had a drink there once with a friend after a poetry reading at the Community Bookstore.
Sette is, I think, in a class all by itself. That said, there is quite a bit of pasta on Seventh. But people do seem to love it. None for me, thanks. I’m on Weight Watchers…
An 18-month-old boy was killed when he was run over by a neighbor’s car in a Flatbush driveway yesterday shortly after 5 p.m., reports the New York Times.
The boy was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The neighbor, who was backing the car out on East 26th Street near Avenue I, was unaware of the accident and drove away from the scene.
It is unclear whether the toddler was being supervised when he was hit. No charges are expected to be filed against the neighbor, the police said.
The Daily News reports that Thor Equities has dropped plans for a highly profitable residential component to its Las Vegas-style amusement park project in Coney Island.
The $2 billion residential project was controversial and had come under attack from city officials and residentsm who believed it would alter Coney Island’s character by including waterfront housing . Thor had originally earmarked 950,000 square feet for residential space.
Now, the plan will have no residential component and no 50-story tower on Stillwell Ave., as had been proposed.
You could have parked yourself at Old First Church on Sunday all day during Seventh Heaven and enjoyed quite a variety of music.
I know I did.
In the morning, Chocolate Chip Music, Helen Richman’s children’s concert series, presented a woodwinds concert of Peter and the Wolf, with dramatic narration by a woman with lovely English accent.
In the afternoon, there was great soul singing by kids from The Urban Academy, an well-regarded NYC high school, directed by Park Slope’s Ethan Schlesser.
Then it was Club Loco’s turn. The church’s monthly teen concert series presented quite a few of the bands that played Club Loco in the winter/spring of 2007, including Dulaney Banks, Tola, Cool and Unusual, Banzai, and others (names to come).
Listening to such a diverse range of music in front of Old Frist made me realize what a musical community has arisen out of there.
While Club Loco was playing in front of the church, Richman Studio for Flute and Piano was inside having their end of the year recital.
I got this email from the Kensington Brooklyn blog. That blog ROCKS.
The F train ‘express’ meeting will be held in a week. We currently have over 1300 signatures on the petition but I fear many more will be needed to persuade the MTA. If possible please pass on and remind your readers of the F train petition!
Thank you!
The petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/bkln4fnv/petition.html
F online petition post here…
http://kensingtonbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2007/06/improve-f-sign-petition.html
with details on why here…
http://firstandcourt.blogspot.com/2007/05/improving-transit-on-cheap-in-south.html
In honor of Stoopendous, a Celebration of the Summer Solstice in Park Slope, here is some information about ancient solstice rituals.
Most societies in the northern hemisphere, ancient and modern, have celebrated a festival on or close to Midsummer. This and more information is from: www.religioustolerance.org/summer_solstice.htm
Ancient Celts: Druids, the priestly/professional/diplomatic corps in Celtic countries, celebrated Alban Heruin (“Light of the Shore”). It was midway between the spring Equinox (Alban Eiler; “Light of the Earth”) and the fall Equinox (Alban Elfed; “Light of the Water”). “This midsummer festival celebrates the apex of Light, sometimes symbolized in the crowning of the Oak King, God of the waxing year. At his crowning, the Oak King falls to his darker aspect, the Holly King, God of the waning year…” 13 The days following Alban Heruin form the waning part of the year because the days become shorter.
Ancient China: Their summer solstice ceremony celebrated the earth, the feminine, and the yin forces. It complemented the winter solstice which celebrated the heavens, masculinity and yang forces.
Ancient Gaul: The Midsummer celebration was called Feast of Epona, named after a mare goddess who personified fertility, sovereignty and agriculture. She was portrayed as a woman riding a mare.
Ancient Germanic, Slav and Celtic tribes in Europe: Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires. “It was the night of fire festivals and of love magic, of love oracles and divination. It had to do with lovers and predictions, when pairs of lovers would jump through the luck-bringing flames…” It was believed that the crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump. Through the fire’s power, “…maidens would find out about their future husband, and spirits and demons were banished.” Another function of bonfires was to generate sympathetic magic: giving a boost to the sun’s energy so that it would remain potent throughout the rest of the growing season and guarantee a plentiful harvest. 6
Ancient Rome: The festival of Vestalia lasted from JUN-7 to JUN-15. It was held in honor of the Roman Goddess of the hearth, Vesta. Married women were able to enter the shrine of Vesta during the festival. At other times of the year, only the vestal virgins were permitted inside.
Ancient Sweden: A Midsummer tree was set up and decorated in each town. The villagers danced around it. Women and girls would customarily bathe in the local river. This was a magical ritual, intended to bring rain for the crops.
Christian countries: After the conversion of Europe to Christianity, the feast day of St. John the Baptist was set as JUN-24. It “is one of the oldest feasts, if not the oldest feast, introduced into both the Greek and Latin liturgies to honour a saint.” 16 Curiously, the feast is held on the alleged date of his birth. Other Christian saints’ days are observed on the anniversary of their death. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains that St. John was “filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb…[thus his] birth…should be signalized as a day of triumph.” 16 His feast day is offset a few days after the summer solstice, just as Christmas is fixed a few days after the winter solstice. 1 “Just as John was the forerunner to Jesus, midsummer forecasts the eventual arrival of” the winter solstice circa DEC-21.
Essenes: This was a Jewish religious group active in Palestine during the 1st century CE. It was one of about 24 Jewish groups in the country — the only one that used a solar calendar. Other Jewish groups at the time included the Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, followers of John, and followers of Yeshua (Jesus). Archaeologists have found that the largest room of the ruins at Qumran (location of the Dead Sea Scrolls) appears to be a sun temple. The room had been considered a dining room by earlier investigators, in spite of the presence of two altars at its eastern end. At the time of the summer solstice, the rays of the setting sun shine at 286 degrees along the building’s longitudinal axis, and illuminate the eastern wall. The room is oriented at exactly the same angle as the Egyptian shrines dedicated to the sun. Two ancient authorities — the historian Josephus and the philosopher Filon of Alexandria — had written that the Essenes were sun worshipers. Until now, their opinion had been rejected by modern historians. 19
STOOPendous, on June 23rd, is a week away. It is an event designed to celebrate community and
the summer solstice.
Folks are having BBQs, Bagel Breakfasts, Stoop Happy Hours and more. For more information and ideas, go to www.stoopendous.org.
Solstice, from the Latin for sun stands still, in astronomy, either of the two points on the ecliptic that lie midway between the equinoxes (separated from them by an angular distance of 90°).
At the solstices the sun’s apparent position on the celestial sphere reaches its greatest distance above or below the celestial equator, about 23 1/2° of arc. At the time of summer solstice, about June 22, the sun is directly overhead at noon at the Tropic of Cancer.
In the Northern Hemisphere the longest day and shortest night of the year occur on this date, marking the beginning of summer. At winter solstice, about December 22, the sun is overhead at noon at the Tropic of Capricorn; this marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. For several days before and after each solstice the sun appears to stand still in the sky, i.e., its noontime elevation does not seem to change from day to day.
In pre-historic times, summer was a joyous time of the year for those Aboriginal people who lived in the northern latitudes. The snow had disappeared; the ground had thawed out; warm temperatures had returned; flowers were blooming; leaves had returned to the deciduous trees. Some herbs could be harvested, for medicinal and other uses. Food was easier to find. The crops had already been planted and would be harvested in the months to come. Although many months of warm/hot weather remained before the fall, they noticed that the days were beginning to shorten, so that the return of the cold season was inevitable.
The first (or only) full moon in June is called the Honey Moon. Tradition holds that this is the best time to harvest honey from the hives.
This time of year, between the planting and harvesting of the crops, was the traditional month for weddings. This is because many ancient peoples believed that the “grand [sexual] union” of the Goddess and God occurred in early May at Beltaine. Since it was unlucky to compete with the deities, many couples delayed their weddings until June. June remains a favorite month for marriage today. In some traditions, “newly wed couples were fed dishes and beverages that featured honey for the first month of their married life to encourage love and fertility. The surviving vestige of this tradition lives on in the name given to the holiday immediately after the ceremony: The Honeymoon.”
From 1973 until 1989, Charlie Morrow and New Wilderness Foundation produced outdoor, site specific events with broadcasts designed to celebrate nature as a common elements in all human societies and all art. In the late 1970’s, I participated in one of his solstice celebrations, an ocarina festival in Riverside Park. My memory is dim but a group of more than one hundred people stood in Riverside Park near the boat basin and blew on ocarinas, which are small clay whistles. It was magical. This experience was much in my mind when I went to the first Stoopendous planning meeting.
Charlie Morrow (b 1942 Newark, New Jersey, USA), is a conceptualist and maple syrup maker whose music work ranges over many styles and forms, from events for media and public spaces to commercial soundtracks, new media productions. museum installations and programming for broadcast and festivals. Assembling expert project groups, Morrow employs a collaborative style that fuses arts, artists, and environment; technological expertise creates the basis for a significant portion of his work, much of which utilizes a combination of the newest and very old technologies. He is president and creative director of Charles Morrow Productions, LLC
Morrow’s later projects included broad participation by artists around New York and around the world. At first these events consisted of artists celebrating in New York with satellite connections to artists celebrating in international locations.
21 June 1973 – Got up early, with the smell of moisture and the likelihood of rain. Grey fog-clad clover is luminous and the sparrows are chirping. It is June 21, 1973 in Central Park fog. Musician, Carol Weber and I walk into the park, having announced our intention to celebrate the first moments of summer for the media.
We invited New Yorkers to join in from their rooftops. The results were so startling that we keep going for so many years, culminating in world broadcasts on radio, then TV. New York City Parks animated with our performances until 1989.
One sun celebration followed another: the sun in the Rockies, the sun on the Pacific, the sun in Lapland, the sun at the United Nations a solar energy event SUNDAY with Robert Redford & Leonard Crowfoot – what a combination, and (as an influence only) the ending of Black Orpheus, the children dancing as the sun rises. Bob Sullivan says “Nature is Robust and Dynamic, Humans are fragile.
For almost two years, NWPB gave a series of designed event concerts with diverse guest artists: poets, dancers, native Americans. From this grew public events, publications, broadcasts, festivals and especially the love of the summer solstice. They were characterized by strong performance art elements and conceptual design by the participating artists. These event concerts stimulated a wide range of activities and developed a community of artists who would participate a wide range of activities.
Emily Berger, an abstract painter who lives in Park Slope, just launched her beautiful website, another great site designed by Good Form Design.
Berger’s site expresses the unique nature of Berger’s work, which often uses the shapes of the city and architectural structures as a starting point for her highly expressive, colorful work.
Berger uses poetry to describe what she she saw out her window at her old Nevins Street studio. Now she’s in another Gowanus art space and her work just keeps growing by leaps and bounds. It’s exciting. The painting shown is called Ninth Street.
Thought (excerpt)
280 Nevins, Looking West over the Gowanus
Out my window
Shapes rise and fall.
A wooden wall folds into the soft dirt of a grassy hill.
Curved by shadows
Fences undulate across tar,
Black pipes curl like stiff plants
In a tropical garden…
I saw Marty exercise walking with a friend around Prospect Park Saturday morning. He looked just like all the other runners and walkers going around the Park. And very thin, I might add. For the most part, his privacy was observed. One biker shouted, "Hey Marty." But then he got back to being a private citizen on an exercise walk in the park. I wondered if he craved the "Hey, Marty’s" or if he enjoyed the chance to be do his walk in peace.
I ran ahead of them and got to thinking about Marty now versus Marty in the old days when he was State Senator. He used to be Brooklyn’s best cheerleader. He never missed an event, a chance to add his wacky enthusiasm to a PTA meeting, a middle school graduation, Little League Day in the Prospect Park or the Brooklyn Pride parade.
The Atlantic Yards changed all that. One of the most heated and divisive urban controversies in recent memory, it has divided Brooklyn; and for his support of it, Marty has been demonized by many.
While I don’t agree with his views on AY, I still have good memories of the old Marty. He may have been annoying at times but he exuded a passionate Brooklyn brashness and enthusiasm that brought a lot of attention and to a borough that was, at one time, pretty much off of the NYC radar.
Things are different now. The stakes are so much higher, much meaner, much tougher. The AY developer has lots of money and political support. The opposition has a lot of smarts — but not enough money or power to stop it.
Marty may have expected his fan base to support his push for the Yards — just like they supported the kinds of things he did as State Senator. But he was wrong. In an interview in City Hall, he makes a telling remark about his own inexperience and his inability to get people to go along with him on this one. And he sounds very bewildered by it all.
CH: When it comes to Atlantic Yards, have you been surprised by the process?
MM:
Well I have to tell you, this is my first experience at it. You
understand, when I was a state senator for 23 years, out of 62 state
senators, you’re pretty much hit by the group. Then you become borough
president or mayor and you’re one out of one. And it really came as a
significant surprise that for the first time in my professional life, I
was not able to bring people together. I have to tell you, I tried my
best. I really did. I have to tell you I tried my best, my support of
Atlantic Yards and my enthusiasm for Atlantic Yards is based on my
true, sincere, full belief that it’s for the best of this and future
generations of Brooklynites, there’s no question about it. And yet in
the first time of my life, I’ve run into a number of people,
significant number of people, feel that anyone who’s for Atlantic Yards
is a sellout, is being schtupped, is being bribed, is being corrupt,
and those are nice words. And never in my life have I met a group of
people that if you’re not with them, you’re the enemy. I’ve never had
that. I’ve had many disagreements when I first started Albany. Gay
rights, abortion rights, those were contentious issues, believe me. But
never with the hostility and hate that I’ve experienced during this
process.
Brooklyn Artists Gym presents the topic: “How to Use Your Digital Camera.” $60 fee. Ages 16 and older. 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm. 168 Seventh Ave. (718) 858-9069
I found this on No Land Grab. Thanks, Lumi.
Soapbox Gallery is pleased to present “Wishing dead trees back to life” a performance piece by Travis Clarke. Travis will spend seven consecutive nights in the gallery window space on Dean Street from sunset to sunrise wishing a dead tree back to life.
Soapbox Gallery, 636 Dean Street, Brooklyn, NY 11238, www.soapboxgallery.orgFriday, June 15 through Friday, June 22, Sunset to sunrise.
“Wishing dead trees back to life” is about attempting to do something that seems impossible. It is a very sad piece and is simply about the abstraction of trying. Dead trees seem like an appropriate metaphor for a lot of what is in the world today; it loosely connotes the environment, although this is not an environment piece exactly. The tree also represents a love or a person or even our collective social consciousness.
While running in Prospect Park on Saturday mornng, I noticed what looked like a hut made out of tree branches. On closer inspection, I saw that it was a piece of art, which I liked very much. There was a sign that said the piece was created by Leonard Ursachi and is called Hiding Place. Here;s some information about the piece from the Parks Department.
Parks & Recreation, in cooperation with the Prospect Park Alliance, is pleased to announce the opening of Leonard Ursachi’s exhibition Hiding Place. The sculpture will be on view from May 5 through August 31, 2007 at the entrance to Prospect Park facing Grand Army Plaza (Flatbush Ave., Eastern Parkway, and Prospect Park West). There will be a press preview with the artist on Saturday, May 5, 2007 at 3:00 p.m.; following the press preview, there will be a public reception from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Hiding Place, a cylindrical bunker made from willow branches, is over 8-feet tall and 8-feet in diameter. The shelter has three “windows” with mirrors instead of glass.
“Because Hiding Place lacks a door and its windows are reflective shields, viewers can only imagine its interior,” said Ursachi. “It is a receptacle for imagining and the yearning through which its simple iconic form may shift from bunker to refuge to nest-home. With this sculpture, I continue my investigation of the world of porous borders, vulnerable shelters, and mutating identities that is the 21st century experience of home.”
“Just as the birds are busy weaving their nests, Leonard Ursachi’s own willow nest in Prospect Park inspires contemplation about the meaning of home,” said Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “Hiding Place’s placement in Grand Army Plaza, home to the Soldiers and Sailors monument, is fitting as the work also resembles a bunker thus furthering Ursachi’s examination of the shifting definition of a shelter.”
“Prospect Park is such a wonderful setting to display art,” said Prospect Park Alliance President Tupper Thomas. “Especially a work like this that references nature and engages viewers’ imagination. We’re very happy to host Ursachi’s sculpture.”
Leonard Ursachi, a Brooklyn-based artist, left his native Romania in 1980 and has exhibited his work internationally. This is his third public art project with Parks & Recreation. Ursachi exhibited an earlier version of Hiding Place next to a 15th century stone fortress in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains.
Parks & Recreation’s public art program has consistently fostered the creation and installation of temporary public art in parks throughout the five boroughs. Since 1967, collaborations with arts organizations and artists have produced hundreds of public art projects in New York City parks. The program includes approximately 20 temporary art installations per year in New York’s flagship and neighborhood parks, playgrounds, and traffic islands.
Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the Brooklyn Paper.
Smartmom has always been a strong believer in public schools — so it’s no wonder that she feels angry, confused, and bitter when her friends, even those who are zoned for a good public school, send their kids to private school. For Buddha’s sake, one of the reasons that Smartmom and Hepcat moved to Park Slope in 1991 was because of PS 321.
Her pregnant belly bulging with Teen Spirit, Smartmom would randomly stop people on the street during their months of apartment hunting and ask:
“Is this street in PS 321?”
Even then, Smartmom felt like the cliché of the over-determined New York parent. She even wondered if they’d still be living in Brooklyn by the time Teen Spirit hit kindergarten. Maybe their ship would come in and they’d be able to move back to Manhattan.
That’s right. In the old days, Brooklyn was the booby prize, the place you had to move because you’d been priced out of Manhattan.
Sadly, Smartmom and Hepcat moved to the wrong side of Fifth Street. They didn’t know it at the time but only the north side of the street is “in the zone.”
Luckily, when Teen Spirit turned 3, Smartmom found an apartment in the zone and grabbed it as fast as you can say, “I love those limestones on Third Street.”
At the time, Teen Spirit was enrolled in a wonderful Montessori school called The Children’s House. It cost $11,000 and Teen Spirit had a great, if expensive, year. But, boy, were Smartmom and Hepcat thrilled to drop Teen Spirit off on his first day of first grade at his excellent — and by excellent, she means free — public school the following fall.
Almost immediately, Smartmom worried that she’d made a mistake. Compared to the hushed atmosphere at the Children’s House, Teen Spirit’s first public school classroom seemed chaotic.
Smartmom even wondered if the teacher knew how to control the class.
Hah. That teacher, who is now an assistant principal at PS 321, was smart, organized, imaginative, and compassionate: a real winner.
So much for public school misgivings.
That’s why when a friend recently told Smartmom that she’s choosing private over public, her first reaction was a little snarky: That’ll just make room for some kid whose parents can’t shell out $20,000 for kindergarten.
But then the dread set in: Is the Oh So Feisty One getting a good education in public school? Will she be prepared for the hyper-competitive world out there?
Then, when the apocalyptic dread wore off, she went ballistic.
Over the years, Smartmom has heard all kinds of reasons for writing the big private school checks. One friend, whose daughter went to pre-school with OSFO, once told Smartmom, “My kid is too sensitive for public school. She’s too delicate. She’ll get lost.”
That made Smartmom think: What, my kid isn’t sensitive and delicate?
Yeah, right. Your kid is so delicate, she needs to be handled with boxing gloves.
Another friend who went private offered this rationale: “My kid is very smart, you see, and I’m worried that he won’t get the attention and level of instruction he deserves.”
This made Smartmom livid: So, your kid is too smart to go to school with my kid. Got it.
Another friend told her that public school is too diverse. “You know, bad influences, too many levels of intelligence, too many learning styles.”
It doesn’t take a private school graduate to see that comments like that contain some subtle and not so subtle hints of racism and classism. Sorry, your kid needs to be around kids who spend spring vacations in Gstaad and have beach houses in East Hampton. Hope they don’t get sunburned.
Some of the excuses make Smartmom laugh: “We only have one child and can splurge,” one friend told her. “We want him to have a special experience.”
Oh, your only son is more special than either of Smartmom’s kids.
Sure, some kids do need special school settings. But Brooklyn certainly has some excellent small public schools, like the Children’s School, which only has 450 kids (compared to 1,300 at PS 321); PS 39; the Brooklyn New School; or PS 107, where Dumb Editor sends his kid.
Smartmom knows there is a difference between public and private school. She herself went to progressive private schools after spending three years at public school.
She felt the difference as a child. The kids at the private school were richer, whiter and more likely to have a country house.
Smartmom does admit that middle school is a whole ’nother kettle of stinky fish. As there are no zoned middle schools, students must apply and it’s a harrowing process.
In preparation for next year, when OSFO will apply to middle school, Smartmom is getting pre-emptive shock treatments and is planning to start a Middle School Stress Meditation Circle for herself and other parents on weekday morning.
Ommmm.
Who can blame anyone who wants to opt out of that? Of course, getting into private middle school is no piece of cake either. But once you’re in, you’re in — and you can keep your kids there until they graduate from high school.
So, the other day, when a neighbor told her that she was sending her daughter to a private middle school, Smartmom had a very civilized reaction.
Lucky you, she said with not a trace of envy (hah). Now you don’t have to worry about high school. What a break.
She did feel a pang of snark: What, all of the new middle schools aren’t good enough for you?
Later that same day, OSFO, who barely understands the difference between public and private, told Smartmom that she wants to go to the Berkeley Carroll School because one of her best friends may be going there.
Smartmom almost fell over. But then she gave it some thought.
You know, OSFO is such a sensitive child, a delicate one. Very smart. Very special…
Then, Smartmom remembered that Teen Spirit would be going to college in two years.
College and private school tuition? Simultaneously?
Like she said, Smartmom has always been a strong believer in public schools.
That’s the topic of Pastor Dan Meeter’s sermon on June 17th at the Old First Reformed Church on Seventh Avenue and Carroll Street. Service begins at 11 a.m.
Read the Pastor’s blog about the Transformers, the young adults who came to Park Slope from Wisconsin to spruce up the church. The church looks incredible. Here’s an excerpt.
What a wonderful week it was at Old First. We hosted the Transformers, a young adults group from the Gibbsville (Wisconsin) Reformed Church. They refurbished our main chandelier, and did eight other projects too.
There are 108 light bulbs in that chandelier, but God’s love shone through 63 young adults from Wisconsin this week, filling our old church building with light and life and love. And music. And laughter. And scripture. And joy.
Let me recommend you go to a blog by Chris Wensink for more details.
Cool and Unusual Punishment, sponsored by Club Loco, the monthly teen music event at Old First Reformed Church (located on 7th Avenue at Carroll Street) will be playing outside of the church at 2 p.m. Also playing: Banzai, another great local band…
I don’t want to make you to feel too bad if you missed the show — one of their best. I won’t go into too much detail about the incredible music, lyrics, piano, bass, and guitar…
I won’t attempt to describe Capathia’s breathtaking get-inside-the-emotional-story-of-a-song approach to singing that can make you cry, laugh, and kvell. Or mention Louis’ edgy and personal way with a song like “The Southside Jew Blues” or “Reincarnationist” two of my faves.
Or tell you how moved I was by the whole event, a benefit for the free summer arts programming at the Old Stone House.
You can catch them at Birdland next week or buy the CD. It is also sold at the Community Bookstore in Park Slope.
That’s all I will say.
A note from Kim Maier, director of the Old Stone House, about tomorrow’s concert at the Old Stone House and Sunday’s opening of the Farmer’s Market
Capathia
Jenkins, and Louis
Rosen are scheduled to perform their second benefit concert on behalf of The Old Stone
House this Saturday night, June
16th. The proceeds will go to supporting our rapidly growing arts
programming, including this summer’s concert and film series and Piper Theatre
Company’s production of Macbeth — all taking place outdoors in JJ Byrne Park.
The performance will
mark the Brooklyn concert premiere of songs from their recently released and
highly acclaimed debut recording, South
Side Stories, songs of youth, coming of age and experience, inspired by the
Chicago
neighborhood where Louis grew up. They’ll also be offering a "sneak
preview" of a number of songs from Louis’s newest work for Capathia, Giovanni Songs, on words by the
renowned poet Nikki Giovanni. Capathia and Louis will be joined by two splendid
musicians, the pianist Kimberly Grigsby, currently the musical director and
keyboardist for Spring Awakening, and Dave Phillips on acoustic
and electric bass.
There will be
champagne and dessert beginning at 8 pm, and the concert starts at 8:30
pm. Tickets are $40 in advance, $45 at the door. Reservations can be
made by calling 718-768-3195, or tickets purchased on-line at www.nycharities.org. Click on the
Event Calendar, View All, then click on June 16.
On Sunday, June 17,
welcome the Park Slope Farmer’s Market back to 5th Avenue! Thanks to the Fifth
Avenue Merchants Association for once again sponsoring the market. Hector
Perez was here last week with a preview of this season’s produce from Alex Farm,
so come down for more fabulous strawberries, as well as goodies from other
vendors including bread, chutneys, pastries, and pickles.
That’s because it’s the New York Aquarium’s 50th Anniversary this week. This from New York 1:
The New York Aquarium will hold a two-day festival this weekend to celebrate its 50th Anniversary at Coney Island.
City officials and wildlife advocates re-dedicated the aquarium Thursday morning during a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Sea lion Otis hammed it up for the crowd, and performed tricks that prove the aquarium can be both entertaining and educational.
“The animals are very intelligent,” said sea lion trainer Joanne Sottile. “They’ve learned a lot of different behaviors to help highlight the natural history of the species itself.”
As part of the weekend’s festivities, anyone turning 50 this year will be admitted free of charge.
Gowanus Lounge reports: No resolution yet, but it’s looking good…
Representatives of the Red Hook food vendors and City Council Member Sara Gonzalez met with Park Department Friday afternoon about the future of the vendors whose plight has drawn citywide attention. Red Hook Vendors Committee head Cesar Fuentes told GL that although “there is still no answer to our plight, we have good hope that there will be a positive outcome.” He described the meeting as “positive” and “good.”
The Fairway Market in Red Hook and the USO of Metropolitan New York launched a care package program Wednesday to support troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As part of the launch, 75 members of the Coast Guard were treated to a luncheon.
For $20 to $69, customers can order packages like “Mulberry Street on the Go” with goodies like Hebrew National Salami, Black and White Cookies, and sweet peppers.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re for the war or against the war,” says Fairway Market owner Howie Glickberg. “This is going to the troops. They’re not politicians. They’re just over there doing all our dirty work.”
“When people get a package, even if you send it to an individual, they share it with everybody that’s with them, so it’s a great way to support the troops,” says Mike Berman of USO of Metropolitan New York.
A hundred percent of the proceeds go to the USO.
For more information, log on to: fairwaymarket.com.
This weekend is the third annual Brookyln Renegade Craft Fair. The annual DIY event, started in 2003 by Sue Blatt and Kathleen Habbley, welcomes over 150 vendors and thousands of shoppers from all over the country. Check out DIY knitting, jewelry, sewn items, paper goods, silkscreening, comics, zines and more. Saturday and Sunday, June 16 and 17, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., McCarren Park Pool, Lorimer Street, between Driggs & Bayard Avenues.
Dana Kochnower, a video producer, got in touch with me today. Her film project about the Greenest Block in Brooklyn Contest sounds really interesting. Email her if you’re interested in participating or just say hi when she’s on Fuller Place on Saturday.
Come take part in a short documentary about The Greenest Block in Brooklyn Contest sponsored by Brooklyn Greenbridge the community horticulture program of the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.
I am a professional television news producer (10+ years in local and national news), and this documentary is a personal project I am undertaking as part of a professional level workshop at The New School University.
I am interested in speaking with residents of Fuller Place, a longtime contender and runner-up for Greenest Block in Brooklyn about their gardens and their experiences in the competition, as well as other past and current participating block associations.
I will be on Fuller Place tomorrow, Saturday, June 16th to introduce myself in person. If you are interested, or know someone who might be interested in this project, please contact me at greenestblockdoc@yahoo.com.
Robert Guskind, who runs the Gowanus Lounge, took Pete Hamill to task for some comments he made on the Brian Lehrer radio show earlier this week.
Apparently Hamill doesn’t think there’s any real reporting or good writing going on in the blogosphere. He believes writers need to be part of the newsroom, with real editors; he believes they need to spend time rubbing elbows with the life of the city — not sitting at computers all day.
Robert Guskind was a perfect gent and a great guest on WNYC’s great morning talk radio show. He’s gentle, polite and also smart as a whip. A pundit in the making. He agreed that Hamill, Kempton, et al (he listed a bunch of Hamill’s journalistic contemporaries) are hard to top. That said, there’s still quite a bit of good reporting happening on blogs. Guskind, for one, doesn’t sit by his computer all day. Not by a long shot. He travels all over Brooklyn getting his stories, which focus mostly on development and city planning issues in Gowanus, Long Island, Park Slope, and Williamsburg.
This from New York 1:
As of Friday night, police in Brooklyn were still searching for a man
who sexually assaulted a woman in Prospect Park overnight.Investigators say the attack happened at about 2 a.m.
The victim was reportedly approached near the ball fields on the
south end of the park by a man who either had a gun, or said he had
one. The man then sexually attacked the woman.The victim then called for help after the attack and was taken to
Methodist Hospital. Doctors describe her as being in good condition.Women who say they use the park every day said they were being extra vigilant following the attack.
“Precautions, you know, common sense,” said one woman. “I don’t
think things happen all the time, but I don’t want to be the next one
that it’s going to happen to. So, I think the park is pretty safe. I
feel very sorry for this woman. That’s awful.”Police are unsure if the victim was at the park for a Neville
Brothers concert in the park’s band shell, but that concert wrapped up
at about 10:30 p.m.“Well, two o’clock in the morning. Even though the concert ended
about 10, 10:30, no one should be in the park at two o’clock in the
morning,” said another. “It’s not a safe time.”"I’m not saying it’s her fault, there is no justification for
that," said a third. "But, at two o’clock in the morning I would never
do that."Police are not describing the attack as a rape, but as a sexual
assault. They have not yet released a description of the suspect.