SUBWAY SUB-STANDARD
I used to take the F
Until I cried
"First Aid!"
And someone explained the F
Is not a line but a grade.
Note: The Oh So Prolific One/Verse Responder will be less prolific this week. He writes: "By
the way, I’ll be away the rest of the week tangling with matters
cultural in the Tanglewoods of Massachusetts. I’ll miss OTBKB as I’m
laptopless along with clueless."
Don’t you love Brooklyn Based? Now they’ve come up with ideas for great local picnic spots and the treats to bring along. BB suggests:
The Green Community Garden, on 6th Ave. between 15th and 16th Sts. in the South Slope. This lush patch’s tables and chairs are open to the public Saturday mornings and Thursday and Sunday evenings (though, sadly, the on-site grill is for members only). If you’re bringing six or more, check beforehand to ensure your gathering doesn’t clash with another’s.
Perfect Meal: Fresh mozzarella balls marinated with sun-dried tomatoes, handmade bread, olives, and a pasta salad from Eagle Provisions, a small Polish grocery store on 5th Ave. and 18th St. that’s been serving the South Slope since the Thirties.
She even has suggestions for wine. Go to Brooklyn Based for the ‘tails. Better yet, sign up for Brooklyn-based a thrice-weekly e-newsletter about all things Brooklyn based.
Brownstoner reported yesterday that Whole Foods is set to announce some changes to their plan to open a Whole Foods on Third Avenue and Third Street in the Park Slope/Gowanus area. Some Park Slopers have been waiting with bated breath for the opening of that long-ago announced Whole Foods. Even members of the Food Coop conjectured that they’d lose members to that store once it opened (just as Food Coop members have taken the fair way to Fairway).
So what gives? Sure the site has major toxicity problems. But in the glory days of a few years ago that was no problem. Now with troubled financial times here and in the horizon (and a 31% net income loss for the natural foods behemoth) Whole Foods is finally coming clean about their intentions. Here’s the word from our friends at Brownstoner:
We asked for details
from Whole Foods, who emailed us this response from spokesman Fred
Shank: “We are currently working on revising our plans for our Brooklyn
store and hope to be able to announce updated details in the near
future. We remain extremely excited about bringing the first Whole
Foods Market to Brooklyn.” (The Brooklyn Paper was told the same thing, while Gowanus Lounge recently reported
the first activity on the site in many moons.) Could the cost of the
clean-up be more than the market can bear in this economic environment?
We’ve been waiting more than a year for something to go in to the storefront 7th Avenue Books vacated last summer.
Seventh Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets was a veritable wasteland for much of the past year with four empty storefronts. It seemed to herald the beginning of the recession; it looked like Seventh Avenue was about to embark on tough times.
But one by one, all the vacant spaces have been filled. First came Barrio, the hit nouveau Mexican restaurant painted pink with a lovely outdoor patio that seems to be packed most of the time. In my opinion, the success of Barrio got these other storefronts moving again.
Next came Carmen’s Exclusives for Children, which carries old-fashioned styles, including smock dresses, for kids up to age five. The jury is still out on this one.
Then the Second Street Cafe got rented. Finally. Kids Rx, a West Village pharmacy and health store for kids, specializing in natural products, is going to renovate that space.
As now, I’m told by a workman in that space that is being speedily renovated, a woman’s clothing store is going in to the space that used to have miles of used books. It wasn’t the Strand, but it was one hell of a used and review copies bookstore.
So now I’m wondering which women’s clothing store is going into that space. In that Park Slope way, I’m guessing it’s a shop that’s already exists elsewhere in the Slope. Diana Lane? Goldy and Mac? Kiwi? One of those Fifth Avenue boutiques?
Patience I say. the sign will be up soon enough.
Here’s an excerpt from the DOT press release about the Third Phase of Sign-Replacement Project.
Street Cleaning Regulations Suspended in Parts of Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Other Areas West of Court Street Starting August 18th as DOT Starts the Third Phase of Sign-Replacement Project
New Regulations Will Take Effect in Parts of Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Gowanus East of Court Street Starting August 25th
Effective Monday, August 18th, Street Cleaning/Alternate Side Parking (ASP) Regulations will be temporarily suspended in parts of Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and other areas west of Court Street in Brooklyn’s Community Board 6 for three to five weeks as the Department of Transportation (DOT) installs 1,600 signs with new, reduced street-cleaning regulations. This is the third in a four-phase project to change signs throughout the community board.
In the Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Gowanus sections of Community Board 6 that are east of Court Street, where the second phase of this sign replacement project started on July 7th and is now complete, the 2,100 newly posted ASP regulations will become enforceable on Monday, August 25th, giving residents two weeks to adjust to the new rules.
In many cases, residential street-cleaning parking restrictions are being reduced from three-hour intervals to just 90 minutes, and from twice a week to just once a week, to ease parking for local residents. On commercial corridors, some streets will now be cleaned more often and regulations will be better coordinated to help ensure some curbside parking for local shoppers. The new rules were established by the Department of Sanitation.
Street Cleaning Regulations will be suspended within the following borders starting Monday, August 18th, and lasting an estimated three to five weeks. Go here for all the details.
Long Odds
Like many a Sloper
Whether maven or crackpot
I dream at all times
Of the Lotto jackpot
Though for me the chances
Are bound to dismay
Since I never bother
To actually play.
Tonight at Wingate Park, the MLK Concert Series presents Jill Scott. Presented by Marty Markowitz’s office and produced by my friend, Debby Garcia, this is the 26th season of this series, which is on every Tuesday evening between July 14th and August 25th, the series attracts both big-name acts and enthusiastic crowds. All shows are Free. Guests are encouraged to bring folding chairs, as seating is limited.
Shows begin at 7:30PM.
Wingate Field does not allow cameras, audio OR video recording, alcohol, pets, bottles, or smoking at the concerts. Because performers are subject to change, call the concert hotline for updates at 718-222-0600. The following is a blurb from today’s New York Times.
Jill Scott gets around. At Madison Square Garden last New Year’s, opening for Chris Rock, she sang “hip-hop, jazz and opera, none of it a stretch for her,” wrote Kelefa Sanneh. That was after a trip to Botswana, where she shot a pilot for a coming television adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith’s “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” books. Tomorrow she’s at Central Park SummerStage, but for those who just can’t wait — or who just won’t leave Brooklyn — she gives a free performance tonight at Wingate Field in East Flatbush, in a little gem of a concert series, presented by the borough president’s office, that books some surprisingly huge names. Don’t be late — Lauryn Hill’s show last summer was packed.
Here is the diary entry for August 11, 1969 from Richard Grayson’s new book, Summer in Brooklyn 1969-1975, a collection of his summer diary entries arranged in chronological order by day, not year.
I finished reading City of Night. It’s a beautiful book. I found the ending scene with Jeremy very touching. Why can’t dogs go to heaven?
I got the pictures back today – a few of them didn’t come out. I don’t know why photography interests me – maybe it’s that moment frozen in time forever.
I saw “Goodbye Columbus” & thought it was very good. The theater was pretty crowded. The wedding scene in the movie were so true to life. I think the message of the film is to decide for yourself what is right and what is not. But what if you’re like Brenda Patimkin or me, and aren’t sure?
Issac Hayes, who opened this year’s Celebrate Brooklyn on June 12th, was found dead yesterday next to the treadmill machine in the basement of his home. Here is the Celebrate Brooklyn blurb about this musical legend who had a big hand in inventing the 1970’s soul sound and was a major musical influence. He was 65 years old.
From the 60s soul and R&B of his Stax-Volt days to the 70s funk of Shaft to laying down the genetic blueprints for of both disco and rap, few artists approach Isaac Hayes’ overall influence on the evolution of American popular music. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 2002, the singer, musician, composer, and producer “has generated five decades of grooves.” – Rolling Stone Live in concert, prowling the stage in his signature wraparound shades, he remains as potent a force as ever.
A mom on Park Slope Parents was kind enough to let me reprint her post about a strange incident she witnessed in the 15th Street station of the F-train. She thinks that security has gotten very lax at the 15th and 9th Street stations and asks: How can we get better security in our train stations? What else can we do here? I can’t accept this being part of our beloved neighborhood.
Yesterday afternoon around 3:00 I took my little guy and his baby sister to the F train on
15th street for a trip to the new ice cream parlor in cobble hill. As we entered the turnstile, I
looked up towards one of the staircases, and saw a man sitting on the stairs receiving oral
sex from a woman whom I recognized from the local women’s shelter. I was so shocked that
I just stopped in my tracks, and the man actually made eye contact with me and smiled. Ugh.
I can’t quite find the words to describe how I felt (not very hungry for ice cream, anyway…).
I rushed down the stairs with my kids as quickly as I could and called the police. To make
matters worse, I have often seen this same guy around the neighborhood, drunk and passed
out or stumbling about. In fact, he got on the bus next to us on the way home from the ice
cream trip (there went dinner). Thankfully he was too drunk again to recognize me.
I feel like the security presence in the F train, both the stops at 9th street and 15th streets,
keeps getting worse and worse. I kind of expect that seedy stuff happens in the stations late
at night, but this was in broad daylight, and we could easily have walked down that same
staircase!
Smartmom doesn’t remember her parents ever talking to her about the birds and the bees. Sure, her mom probably gave her some kind of pamphlet about menstruation and told her about sanitary napkins.
But sex and all the rest: Smartmom has no memory of ever having that conversation.
At school, Smartmom has a vague recollection of watching films from the 1950s about puberty. It was in Mrs. Jarcko’s science class and they blend in with her memories of films about malaria, elephantiasis, and other tropical diseases.
When Smartmom got her period for the first time, she was just about to leave for sleep-away camp. It couldn’t have happened at worse time. Her mother packed a big box of sanitary napkins and a belt and sent her on her way. She was 12-years-old and felt nothing but embarrassment and shame. The last thing she wanted was for her bunkmates to know that she had her period. It really did feel like the curse. Instead of putting her soiled sanitary napkins in the bunk’s garbage pail, she took long hikes and disposed of them in the woods. No one would ever know except the raccoons and the deer.
Because of those difficult memories, Smartmom has always tried to create an open atmosphere in which information (and conversation) about puberty and sex are readily available. The funny thing is this: Teen Spirit and the Oh So Feisty One don’t always want to have “the talk” when she brings it up. They are, however, very open to books that tell the tale in an interesting and age-appropriate way.
In other words, they like to get the info they need, but in a private and discreet manner, and only when they’re ready.
When Teen Spirit was in second grade, Smartmom read a review of a book called “It’s So Amazing: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Birth Babies and Families” and rushed out to buy it.
She figured: why not? It’s never too early to learn the facts of life in an age-appropriate way. Indeed, it was one of the best purchases she has ever made. And a great spur for conversations about sex.
Recommended for kids ages 7 and up, the book by Robie Harris with illustrations by Michael Emberley, uses a variety of techniques, including cartoons of an inquisitive bee and an embarrassed bird, to dole out the facts of life. But there’s real information on these pages. With great illustrations and text, topics covered include changes in boys’ and girls’ bodies during puberty, intercourse, birth control, chromosomes and genes, adoption and adjusting to a newborn sibling. There are even gentle and age-appropriate discussions of masturbation, sexual abuse, HIV and AIDS and homosexuality.
Smartmom put the book in a prominent spot in Teen Spirit’s bedroom and knew that he would get around to it when he was good and ready. They looked at it together when he was in second or third grade and talked gently about what was in there.
“It’s So Amazing” is the kind of book that can grow with the child. When a girl in Teen Spirit’s class announced that she had two moms, Smartmom used the book to answer some of his pressing questions about gay parenting (which mom is the dad? How did they make a baby? Etc.).
A few years later, when his need to know was even more urgent, Teen Spirit read the book on his own cover-to-cover one evening. And then read it again, cover-to-cover, the very next day. Smartmom could tell he was relieved to have all that information under his belt (so to speak). And he was relieved not to have the conversation with his mom or dad. Thanks to that book.
It’s a bit harder — although vitally important — to have the safe sex conversation with a kid once he or she reaches high school. Unfortunately high-schoolers are notoriously resistant to receiving any information from their parents.
Smartmom knows that he’s pretty up to date and that there’s a condom-dispensing machine in the restrooms at his school. She also knows that he collects those stylish NYC condoms because she found an unused condom being used as a bookmark in his copy of “Death of a Salesman.”
Sure, they make great bookmarks, but she hopes that, if he is sexually active, he’s using them correctly.
When OSFO came along, Smartmom knew from the start that she was going to be very open with her about her body and how it works. As for those funny sticks in the blue Tampon box on the bathroom shelf, OSFO has been well aware of them and their function for years.
In other ways, too, Smartmom has tried to undo some of the shame and secrecy she experienced as a child. When Smartmom was a girl, she needed a bra at least a year before her mother bought her one. That’s probably because she hit puberty in the heyday of bra burning and 1970s-style women’s lib. But Smartmom remembers feeling funny about her floppy breasts in a see-through white T-shirt one day in sixth grade. And that’s when she and her mom finally went to the bra store on Upper Broadway, where an elderly Jewish lady with a tape measure expertly (and somewhat invasively) fit her for her first bra.
For at least two years before OSFO showed any signs of budding breasts, Smartmom dropped hints about shopping for training bras. Just in case. Not to rush things, Smartmom just wanted OSFO to know that her mom would be there for her whenever she was ready.
When OSFO was about 6 or 7, Smartmom asked if she’d like to look at the funny cartoons in “It’s So Amazing.” She was interested but only to a point. Smartmom learned then that OSFO only wanted as much information as she was comfortable with and it didn’t pay to overwhelm her with too many details.
That’s why it’s important to take cues from the child about what they are and aren’t ready to learn about.
For OSFO, “The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls” from the American Girl Library has been a lifesaver. She’s had it around since she was about 8 years old and has consulted it for information about everything from proper tooth-brushing technique, healthy eating, hair care, braces, pimples, periods and bras.
OSFO keeps the book in a private spot near her bed and it, like “It’s So Amazing,” is in heavy rotation.
While these books are fantastic resources, nothing replaces those important conversations between parent and child — though those conversations never quite go according to plan.
What if Teen Spirit had discovered Internet porn when he was just a 13-year-old? It would have been inevitable, right? If so, Smartmom and Hepcat thought it would be a good time to have the “sex is beautiful” conversation and the “what goes on between you and your body is personal and private” chat.
But Teen Spirit would be so mortified to have that talk, given that it meant his parents knew that he’d been looking at porn sites. If Smartmom knows her boy (and she does), he would storm out of the apartment and spend the next 24 hours in his room sulking.
Some of Smartmom’s female friends handled the situation by telling their sons that porn was disgusting and exploitative against women. But Smartmom wouldn’t want to create any kinds of shameful or bad feelings about Teen Spirit’s potential discovery of sex — even if it was on a Web site exclusively devoted to large breasts.
Sexual orientation is very personal and no parent should ever get in the middle of it. It’s all about knowing what to say and what not to say. If it involves health and safety, parents should talk. If it involves legislating ideas about sexuality, parents should stay out of it.
Sometimes sex talks can feel like an intrusion. When Smartmom decided to impart important details about menstruation to OSFO, OSFO already knew everything and wanted to keep the whole matter on the down low.
Smartmom has big plans for when OSFO finally gets her period. She fantasizes about a mother/daughter bonding ritual that will include circle dancing, pagan prayers to the goddess, candle lighting and life affirming chants.
But Smartmom knows that’s not going to happen. While she does strive to create an open atmosphere about sex and the body, she must, of course, take cues from her girl.
And OSFO is simply not the circle-dancing, goddess type.
Sex education, like everything else when it comes to parenting, requires loads of trial and error. It’s important to stay attuned to your child and the way he or she likes to receive information (from you, a book, a film, or at school). Rest assured: if you provide kids with what they need to know in an open-hearted, age-appropriate, and non-invasive way, parent and child should survive the experience just fine.
Here’s August 10, 1972 from Richard Grayson’s latest book Summer in Brooklyn 1969-1975, a collection of daily diary entries.
Life seems ever more like a soap opera than ever these days. I never could get in touch with Debbie to make things definite about tonight. So on the spur of the moment, Marc & I decided to go to the movies. We went to the Georgetown to see “The Graduate.” I enjoyed it, altho it seems a bit dated now. It was probably just my imagination, but as we were going out in the dark, I thought I saw Jerry & a girl sitting down. I’m sure I’m wrong – but it did look like him.
What a blessing that Hal Willner is on the Celebrate Brooklyn team because every so often Brooklynites are treated to one of his great tribute concerts at the bandshell in Prospect Park.
And last night’s celebration of Bill Withers was no exception. A breathtaking multi-artist concert of the now 70-year-old artist’s oeuvre of hit songs, as well as songs you’ve never heard of, it was a great ending to the 30th anniversary season of the series.
Withers was there with his daughter Corey and it was a thrill to see the silver haired hit-master hug every musician on-stage during the “Lean on Me” finale.
Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone, Lovely Day, Lean On Me, and Grandma’s Hands: those are just a few of the memorable songs created by this one-man hit machine. There are other treasures in his songbook that may not have been hits but are well worth a second listen.
Especially when performed by a list of top-notch performers like Angelique Kidjo, Nona Hendryx, The Swell Season, Corey Glover, James “Blood Ulmer, Sandra St. Victor, The Persuasions, Eric Mingus, Jim James, Howard Tate and Henry Grimes with a great band featuring Lenny Pickett, Steven Bernstein, and Cornell Dupree, who brought the crowd to their feet many times during the long, but ultimately rewarding show.
There were many great moments—and a few slow spots. But overall the 4-hour show, which was filmed for a documentary called Still Bill, was a crowd pleaser. The weather was grand and the diverse Brooklyn crowd seemed to enjoy the cool R&B vibe of the night.
Highpoints included Bill Withers, of course, singing the beautiful Grandma’s Hands; The Swell Season (Glen Hansard and the Czech singer Markéta Irglovám, who won an academy award for the songs from the Irish indie movie Once); the passionate and virtuosic Eric Mingus, who’s wildman scatting is a presence at these tribute shows; Nona Hendryx and the Persuasions, an inspired choice for the much-awaited “Lean on Me.”
Thw acapella and propulsive version of Grandma’s Hands by this legendary five-man group was also a
showstopper.
Wither’s daughter Corey, who has obviously inherited the family’s vocal talents, was a sweet presence during this tribute to her dad, which she called an honor for her family. She thanked the Celebrate Brooklyn crowd for being such a great audience and seemed genuinely moved.
Her dad, who only sang one song, proudly encouraged his daughter to sing perhaps his biggest AM radio hit, “Just the Two of Us.” In her voice, it was a lilting and beautiful love song that came across as a daughter’s heartfelt tribute to her dad.
She was joined by thousands of Brooklynites when Withers asked the audience to sing him home “so he wouldn’t have to take his medication tonight.”
Right/Left
Conservatives swear by
The status quo;
Liberals swear at
The status: Whoa!
Rabbi Andy Bachman, the ever thoughtful blogger and rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim is back from his sojourn in Israel. Here are some of his thoughts now that he’s home. It is titled “Whatever:”
I was struck right away by the abundance of things here in America.
In Jerusalem, before returning the car on Thursday, I filled the car with gas and was astounded how much money I had to pay. $3.85 per gallon or whatever we’re paying here these days is nothing. I suppose it was fitting that as soon as we exited the terminal at JFK at 6.45 am this morning, the wave of nostalgic smells we were greeted by was a mix of jet fuel and taxi cab exhaust, serving as a formidable filter for the mid-August summer breeze coming off Jamaica Bay.
With Moqtada al Sadr offering to put down arms, we must be near a financial deal to share oil revenues with various Iraqi leaders from across the spectrum. I wonder who will win the bidding war to sponsor the night of the Republican Convention when Vice President Cheney speaks–Halliburton or Exxon?
Like I said, abundance. Fuel, hubris. Take your pick.
I tried really hard in the cab ride home to grab a hold of that American narrative that reaches beyond what we crave as individuals and instead strives toward the greater good–now more than ever in our fractured world. Though Isabel Kershner writes about an Israeli anxiety with the current state of the Hebrew language, I’d have to say that most Israelis I spoke to were having a good old time mixing the ancient tongue with contemporary iterations and adding, day after day, to the incredible richness of the experience of using the Hebrew language. Our last night in Tel Aviv, there was even a sign advertising a band called Tractor Revenge. It’s a line that even the aforementioned prophet Isaiah from the famous Dead Sea Scrolls couldn’t have come up with at his sarcastic best.
Back in Brooklyn this morning, I walked the dog, picked up coffee, dropped off my laptop for repair, ran various errands, and happily ran into several congregants–it feels good to be home. Inside Community Bookstore is another book questioning the legitimacy of Zionism–Arno Mayer from Princeton University has just published Plowshares into Swords: From Zionism to Israel. Two years ago, the Nation called Mayer “Israel’s Cassandra. I dunno
.
This fantastic band, Pinataland, has lots of New York City history songs (including
one about the elephant that got electrocuted at Coney Island and
another about the history of Dean Street). The show is Saturday, with details below:
Friends.
Be pleased to escort yourself and your loved ones to a
free performance by the weird-and-dark history orchestrette
Pinataland next weekend.Appearing will be the inscrutable David Wechsler
on vocals, piano and accordion, the terrific Dan Nosheny on tuba, the
essential Robin Aigner on vocals, the crafty Bill Gerstel on drums,
the surly Gerald Menke on pedal steel guitar, and myself on guitar and
vocals.Old Stone House
Saturday August 16th 7pm
JJ Byrne Park in Park Slope
5th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets
Richard Grayson’s new book arrived in the mailbox yesterday. What fun. A selection of entries from his summer diaries from age 18-24. They are arranged chronologically by day but not by year. For instance May 26, 1975 is followed by May 27, 1970. So it is one summer in Brooklyn that spans 1969-1975. Interesting.
He is a experimental writer, you know. With a decidedly Woody Allen orientation.
Grayson was born in Brooklyn and grew up here. He bagan keeping a daily diary in August 1969 when he was about to enter Brooklyn College.
His first book of short stories, With Hitler in New York, was called really funny” by Liz Smith in the Daily News. A Rolling Stone reveiwer wrote: “Where avant-garde fiction goes when it becomes stand up comedy.
I can tell that this book, like much of Grayson’s writing, is going to be addictive reading. I find myself randomly going through it and reading entries from 1971, 1975, 1972. Here are some excerpts from this seemingly artless record of the day to day life of one literary Brooklynite. This one is from July 21, 1971:
A hot, clear day. I woke up early & watched AM News New York with guest host Robert Klein, whom Sheli idolizes. I kept trying to call him & ask him to stay away from her as a joke. I got a letter from Alice today. Altho she’s probably back by now, I enjoyed the note – she wrote that she was having a ball, climbing the alps, playing in the snows of the Matterhorn & seeing quaint out-of-the-way towns. I also got a letter from Avis who enjyed Copenhagen very much altho she’s lost 10 lbs & it’s the porno capital of the world..
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A proposed federal probation office in One Pierrepont Street just across a small street from the St. Ann’s School caused a brouhaha in the spring. Now, according to the Times, a judge listened to the parent’s concerns. Here’s an excerpt from the Times.
Parents were alarmed. Blogs buzzed. Elected officials were enlisted, and, this week, Raymond J. Dearie, chief judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, promised to try to limit interaction between students and the probation office, but said the cohabitation would likely continue.
“What I proposed is that we deal with their specific concerns, rather than this emotional image of criminals walking around Brooklyn Heights, which of course happens every day,” Judge Dearie explained in an interview. “In terms of the kinds of work we do, we can do a lot of things, like altering our schedule, to make this work, but we need to get down to the very specific.”
The school, St. Ann’s, has been educating the best of Brooklyn (and other boroughs) for four decades. The school, whose 1,080 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade are spread over six buildings, is in an increasingly gentrified neighborhood that also includes the courthouses and government buildings of downtown Brooklyn and their varied inhabitants.
Parents who pay St. Ann’s tuition, about $25,000 per year, said they were shocked that the federal government would deem it acceptable to monitor convicted criminals just steps away from students of grade-school age or older. Even more infuriating, they said, was that while the move has been in the works for months, the school was never officially informed
Sian Killingworth is a Park Slope mom, who reads OTBKB for updates on what’s going in the nabe and the borough, is curating two free poetry readings this month, and also teaching a new poetry class at the First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn Heights starting in September.
Free Poetry Readings
at the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn Heights
with featured poets and open mic afterward
124 Henry Street, Brooklyn NY
location: the Peace Garden
Refreshments will be served
Wednesday, August 13th at 7:30 PM
Featured Poets: Mark Bibbins, Susan Miller, Michael Montlack, and Rev. Cari Jackson
Wednesday, August 27th at 7:30 PM
Featured Poets: Michael Cirelli, Sian Killingsworth, and TBD
Poetry Class
124 Poets’ Workshop at the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn Heights
124 Henry Street, Brooklyn, NY
location: Rose Room
Poetry Writing Workshop: Releasing the Voice Within
Each one of us has our own unique voice, and many of us don’t have the opportunity to express ourselves with the written word. In this workshop, students will examine and discuss poems written by contemporary poets, referring to poems in a variety of styles as jumping-off points for their own experimentation. Each class meeting will include a lecture on writing craft, literary devices, form, and interpretation, yet the focus of the class is the students’ own writing. While exploring the art of making poems, students will engage in exercises both in and out of class that are designed to provoke thought and stimulate the creation of original poems. This class is a safe space for creative play, experimentation with form and voice, and giving and receiving feedback in a small community of empathetic and honest fellow poets.
Classes begin Wednesday, September 10th at 7:30pm and run for 10 weeks.
Cost: $250. Some scholarships are available. Make checks payable to First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn.
Contact Sian Killingsworth at poetryclasses@gmail.com
From waterbugs to bookmobiles, this OTBKB reader has news of an interesting event sponsored by the Brooklyn Public Library in Prospect Park.
As a new Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn reader–I was brought to your blog looking for a solution to a waterbug problem and have been hooked ever since–I wanted to let you know about an event that is happening in Prospect Park at Grand Army Plaza (behind the Memorial Arch) on this Tuesday, August 12th from 10am to 7pm. The Brooklyn Public Library is sponsoring the Digital Bookmobile, which we hope will further promote our Digital Media Catalog, a downloadable collection of eBooks, eAudiobooks, eMusic, and eVideo. Here is the link to the annoucement of the event on our web site: http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/events/overdrive.jsp
The Brooklyn Public Library will be partnering with Overdrive, a national leader in digital content distribution, to promote downloading services available in our libraries. Overdrive has constructed an 18 wheel high tech tractor trailer educational experience called the Digital Bookmobile, which will be touring public libraries throughout the country.
The Digital Bookmobile will connect and instruct patrons about the Brooklyn Public Library’s online catalog and Digital Media Catalog (eAudiobooks, eBooks, eMusic, and eVideo). On board the Digital Bookmobile, library users can take part in hands-on training using web connected PCs, interactive displays, portable MP3 players, and exhibits. Brooklyn Public Library staff members will be around to help with library card registration, online public catalog searching, and general questions about the Brooklyn Public Library.
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A second solo album from Telarc, a release party at (Le) Poison Rouge: Simone Dinnerstein is on a roll:
Park Slope pianist Simone Dinnerstein will celebrate the release of her second solo album, “The Berlin Concert” (Telarc 80715), by returning to (Le) Poisson Rouge on Thursday, August 28 for a CD release party and performance. In June, Ms. Dinnerstein was the first classical musician to perform at the new multimedia art cabaret, located at the site of the historic Village Gate at 158 Bleecker Street in NYC. On August 28, she will perform Bach’s French Suite No. 5 in G major and Philip Lasser’s Twelve Variations on a Chorale by J.S. Bach, which are included on her new CD. Doors open at 7 pm, and the concert begins at approximately 7:30 pm. Seating is on a first-come, first-served, general admission basis. Brewery Ommegang will provide one complimentary Ommegang beer for each audience member over the age of 21.
“The Berlin Concert” is a live recording of Ms. Dinnerstein’s recital debut at the Kammermusiksaal of the Philharmonie in Berlin , which took place on November 22, 2007. The program features J.S. Bach’s French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816; the world premiere recording of American composer Philip Lasser’s Variations on a Bach Chorale; and Beethoven’s landmark Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. Grammy Award-winning engineer Adam Abeshouse produced the CD.
Ms. Dinnerstein chose this program because of how the pieces speak to each other, and because of their relationship to the music of Bach. She explains, “My hope was to program a group of pieces that would contrast with and relate to each other, despite being separated by hundreds of years. So much music written since Bach has been influenced by him, and the Beethoven and the Lasser recorded here are no exceptions.
Philip Lasser’s variations on the very dark Bach chorale, Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott (Take from us, Lord, Thou faithful God), draw on Bach’s intense and meditative side. Lasser’s writing is intricately crafted and encompasses a range of styles, from a contrapuntal energy reminiscent of Bach, to French Impressionism and even jazz. Beethoven’s Opus 111 sounds surprisingly contemporary in this company. The first movement looks ahead to Liszt and the second movement, with its set of variations on a chorale-like arietta, looks back to Bach and ahead to jazz. All three works are densely layered, but also have a sense of freedom and directness of expression. Though they span almost 300 years, in many ways, to me, they each feel grounded in the present.”
Task-Task, Tsk Tsk
Multitasking began
With the original man:
Adam gathered fruit
That he knew would suit
Eve, his Eden bride
Always at his side.
Simultaneously
He prayed–so earnestly
To his maker-God
(Which He above thought odd)
That when they came to some bridge
Eve took jealous umbrage,
And signaled the snake who’d made
Overtures in the shade
Promising a life
Superior to that of a wife
And let her jealousy
Squash all loyalty.
Then as everyone knows,
Taste-of-the-apple and close.
Bye bye Edenic basking–
Thanks to multitasking
The meaning behind all this
Hip-hop in Genesis?
To keep your significant other
Unitask, earth brother.
A Year in the Park reports on last week’s murder at Lookout Hill in Prospect Park. Here’s an excerpt. Go to her blog for pictures. The story hasn’t gotten much coverage. Nor have the police found his killer or a motive for this mysterious death.
A man beaten to death in Prospect Park has been identified, but his killer and the motive for his death remain a mystery.
Mohammed Afzaf, 41, was found with a massive head wound in a wooded area near a jogging path on Wednesday, police said.
The medical examiner said Thursday that his death was a homicide.
Afzaf suffered from mental illness and had spent time in a hospital being treated, said his imam, Abdul Rashid. He had been homeless for six months, a former employer said.
This sketchy report raises more questions than it answers. For one thing, the man’s name may be wrong; “Afzaf” is virtually a “Googlenope” (writer Gene Weingarten’s neologism for a search term that comes up empty), whereas “Afzal” is apparently a common name, particularly in connection with Pakistanis.
Nearby, the swans were unruffled. Poor Mr. A, no wonder they took no notice. Homeless, mentally ill, and Muslim: victim-wise, that’s hitting the trifecta for media apathy. Imagine if it had been a young, blonde female Episcopalian—an out-of-work actress, perhaps—whose body lay up on the hill for two days. Even the swans would have wept and demanded big headlines, heart-rending sidebars, and frequent updates on the hunt for the killer.
Go on a free guided tour of the park and see its wonders in the dark. Bring your own bike or rollerblades.
Meet at 9pm at Grand Army Plaza.
(212) 802-8222
Neil Feldman, publisher of Not Only Brooklyn (NOB) says it’s the Bill Withers Tribute on Saturday night that’s his Of course. Subscribe to Not Only Brooklyn, Wondrous Free Arts and Events, a great resource for NYC culture vultures. Email arbrunr(at)yahoo(dot)com with the message “Subscribe to NOB” and your first and last name, so it is legal to add you to the subscription list
7:00: Celebrate Brooklyn ends its season with another of the wondrous Hal Willner tributes featuring a panoply of excellent artists interpreting the works of one musical visionary. Tonight, hear the songs of Bill Withers (born 1938) covered by ANGELIQUE KIDJO, NONA HENDRYX, THE SWELL SEASON, COREY GLOVER, JAMES “BLOOD” ULMER, SANDRA ST. VICTOR, THE PERSUASIONS, ERIC MINGUS and many more! FREE, but $3 at the gate keeps it great. Prospect Park Bandshell near 9th St & Prospect Park West
