Monthly Archives: October 2009

Civics and Urban Life

Tonight at 7 pm at the Old Stone House: From Career to Family and Back Again

Monday, October 5th at 7:00 PM
Park Slope Parents and DoubleX Magazine present: The Comeback. Whether you're thinking of going back to work, you never quit or you been there and  motherhood changes everything.

Come hear Emma Gilbey Keller, author of "The Comeback: Seven Stories of Women Who Went from
Career to Family and Back Again." http://www.thecomebackbook.com/

Some questions we'll consider:

–Is it good for women to work – above and beyond the economic necessity to?

–How does the rhythm of your day compare to paid employment before children
– is it really possible to get anything done?

–Where did all my confidence go?

–What do you see as your next life/career transition?

–Can a non-working woman and a working woman stay close friends?

Come along and share your thoughts and stories about this life-altering
transition so unique to women today.

Date: Monday, October 5th 7-9 pm
Place: The Old Stone House at
Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street
www.oldstonehouse.org

Admission:
–Park Slope Parent FREE (with membership card)
–Non-members: $5.00

Civics and Urban Life

Pardon Me For Asking: Biggest Atlantic Antic Ever?

1 Comment

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Katia Kelly at Pardon Me For Asking asks: Was that the biggest Atlantic Antic ever? See her blog for great pix of the big Brooklyn block party. She writes:

It is the best street fair in town, isn't it?
The people
the food,
the unique arts and crafts
the cool Tees…

Where else but Brooklyn would one find such variety?
But pardon me for asking! Was it more crowded this time than ever before?
My favorite part is still Eddie the Sheik's orchestra.
What was yours?

Music

ACME To Play Music from 2009, 1972, 1969 & 1740 at Galapagos

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ACME presents music by Andrew Hamilton, Frederic Rzewski,
Louis Andriessen … and J.S. Bach*
(yeah, that's right, Bach)

Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 8pm
Galapagos Art Space | 16 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY

The
music selected for this concert is unusual because the performers get
to choose the number and type of instruments, instead of the composer.
ACME's selection features a terrific group of players — violinist Ben
Russell, violist Nadia Sirota, cellists Brian Snow
and Clarice Jensen, percussionists Chris Thompson and John
Ostrowski, and pianist Eric Huebner.

The concert includes Andrew Hamilton's Product No. 1
(premiered in New York as part of the 2009 MATA Festival, it calls for
players to sing a Rastafari hymn while playing – selections online
here: www.myspace.com/andyfrankhamilton), Frederic
Rzewski's Les Moutons de Panurge of 1969 (written for any
number of musicians playing melody instruments, and any number of
non-musicians playing anything) and Louis Andriessen's Workers
Union from 1972 (written for an unspecified number and type of
instruments, with the instruction from the composer, "only in the
case that every player plays with such an intention that his part is an
essential one, the work will succeed").

ACME will intersperse selections from J.S. Bach's timeless The
Art of the Fugue throughout the concert . . . an innovation from
way back in the 1740s that still astounds.

Tickets are $15 at 718-222-8500 or www.galapagosartspace.com/events.html#100809. 

Civics and Urban Life

New Schedule on WNYC Radio

This is worth noting since I and many other neighbors and friends are incessant listeners to WNYC and NPR. So a change on WNYC: That's a change to the soundtrack of my life. This is the info from wnyc.org

We know you’ve heard about the new program schedules for WNYC and
WQXR. As the launch date nears, there remain a few final pieces to put
in place on WQXR, but we can tell you that our goal is to build a WQXR
schedule that features more music and fewer interruptions and we hope
that, if you join us next week on 105.9FM, you’ll hear that music is,
indeed, the priority.

First, here’s a a preview of the new program schedules for WNYC
AM820 and 93.9FM, which will go into full effect Friday, October 9th.
You can see the schedule here:

Download the schedule here (PDF)

As part of this migration you’ll continue to hear Terrance McKnight
and David Garland hosting in the evenings on 105.9FM. Non-classical
music programs such as New Sounds, Spinning on Air, and The Jonathan
Schwartz Show will remain on WNYC 93.9FM.

Consolidating classical music programming on WQXR allows us to
expand the News, Information and Cultural programming on 93.9FM during
the evening and overnight hours. Starting October 9th, All Things
Considered will be heard for an additional hour weekdays from 7-8pm
following Marketplace and providing listeners with news of the day from
NPR and the WNYC Newsroom. Current AM820 weeknight programs On Point
and Tell Me More will move to 93.9FM, allowing us to introduce a few
often-requested favorites, The Diane Rehm Show and To The Point, to the
AM820 line-up at 9pm and 10pm, respectively. Evening listeners will
have an opportunity to catch WNYC’s afternoon daily talk show about
music, Soundcheck with John Schaefer, weeknights at 10pm on 93.9FM.

WNYC weekend listeners will also hear a new lineup starting October
10th. Some returning public radio favorites include Michael Feldman’s
Whad’Ya Know?, The Splendid Table, and Harry Shearer’s Le Show. We’ve
reworked the placement of our existing weekend programs to create
schedules that will, we hope, give you more opportunities to catch your
own favorite shows.
Download the schedule here (PDF)

Another piece in the puzzle: our second full-time music outlet, Q2,
which will be available as a web stream and via HD radio. This 24/7
channel for contemporary and adventurous music will feature large-scale
festival programming and live concerts from venues around New York
(including our own Jerome L. Greene Performance Space). Limor Tomer,
our executive producer for music, likes to describe this stream as “500
years of New Music.” After all, on Q2 you’ll be able to hear everything
from Adams to Zorn, from Gesualdo to Golijov.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts about the new schedule. As
you’ve probably noticed if you’ve listened for a while, our programming
is constantly evolving, and your feedback is part of that process. So
stay tuned!

Music

OTBKB Music: The Author, The Musician and The Park Slope Stoop Library

George Pelecanos is a writer, who among other things (including writing
the HBO series The Wire), has written a series of mystery novels set in
the Washington DC area.  In those books, people are frequently
discussing music.  One of those music discussions revolved
around the 1984 album Medicine Show by The Dream Syndicate.

Steve Wynn is a musician who from 1982-1989 was the leader of The Dream
Syndicate (since 2000, he has led Steve Wynn and The Miracle 3 and is
also a member of The Baseball Project).  Steve started hearing from his
friends that Medicine Show played a role in one of George's books.  So
Steve got in touch with George, and they hit it off.

They first collaborated on a song, Cindy, It Was Always You, which
appeared on the album …tick…tick…tick in early 2006.  Later that year, when George's book, The Night
Gardner, was published, George, Steve and The Miracle 3 all came out to
Magnetic Field, a bar/club no longer in existence on Atlantic Avenue
near Long Island College Hospital.  This video is from that
reading/performance.

Although I am not usually a reader of novels, what I heard of "The Night
Gardner" piqued my interest.  But I did not get around to getting hold
of it and as time passed I forgot about it. 

Until last week, that is.  As I was walking down my block I passed one
of the many branches of the Park Slope Stoop Library, which had on
display "The Night Gardner."  I took the book home and finished it in a
few days.  It was quite good, as I thought it would be from the
reading/performance.

 –Eliot Wagner

Civics and Urban Life

Oct 15 at 8 pm: Brooklyn Reading Works Presents: Poetry Punch

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So what is Poetry Punch?

It's BRW's annual poetry party curated by Michele Madigan Somerville.

How about a nice poetry punch?

When is it?

On Thursday October 15th at 8 p.m. come hear Edmund Berrigan, Louise Crawford, Bill Evans Sharon Mesmer, Wanda Phipps, Joanna Sit, Michael Sweeney and Jeffrey C. Wright.

How about a nice poetry punch?

Where?

At the Old Stone House. 3rd Street between 3rd and 4th Streets in Park Slope. Suggested donation of $5. includes punch, wine and snacks. 718-768-3195

How about a nice poetry punch?

Civics and Urban Life

Tonight 7-9 pm: Democracy Forum at Old First Church

City
Council District 39 candidates David Pechefsky, Brad Lander, and Joe Nardiello
will lead a discussion on democracy following a screening of the documentary "Please Vote for Me," a film
about an election for class monitor in a third grade classroom in China,
complete with
intimidation, bribery, and vote rigging! 

The film will
be the jumping off point for examining democracy in New York City and a chance
to see and hear the candidates together.

Monday, October 5th from 7 -9 p.m. at Old First Church. Seventh Avenue and Carroll Street.

Smartmom

Smartmom: Couch Chronicles II

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Here's this week's Smartmom from the Brooklyn Paper:

So Smartmom spent a long weekend in Michigan with her friend,
Divorce Diva. The time away gave her lots of time to think about her
life.

There’s nothing like sitting on a porch facing a really big lake
like Lake Michigan to help you think long and hard about the state of
your marriage.

And the meaning of the green leather IKEA couch that is so cherished by Hepcat, as she wrote about last week.

Why wouldn’t Hepcat agree to buy a new couch? Why was he so attached
to the old one? What was wrong with the Andre, the couch Smartmom
picked out at Room & Board? And why is this such a source of
conflict between them?

And that’s when she realized that a couch is a perfect metaphor for marriage:

• A couch is where you sit for years and years — like a marriage.

• A couch can be a source of comfort and relaxation — like a marriage.

• A couch can get worn out and dirty; it can even be dangerous and
hazardous like when its springs start to stick out — like a marriage.

• A couch can be recovered — like a marriage (if you choose to work on it and accept that it might need the work, that is).

• And a couch could simply be replaced — like, well, you get the idea.

So Smartmom really worked the metaphor of the couch/marriage in her
head sitting in a wicker chair on the porch of a beautiful old cottage
facing Lake Michigan.

And then another metaphor appeared. From the porch, Smartmom had a
clear view of the famous Mackinac Bridge, that five-mile span across
the straits of Mackinac. It’s the longest suspension bridge in the
Western Hemisphere, and it connects the lower and upper peninsula of
Michigan, our weirdest geographical state.

Before the bridge, the only way for people and goods to get from one
peninsula to the other was by ferry. Traffic sometimes stretched 16
miles — and to make matters worse, there was no year-round boat service
because the straits often freeze in the winter.

Interestingly, it was the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883
that inspired Michigan locals to dream about connecting their state’s
disparate parts. It took decades, but they did it: On November 1, 1957, the Mackinac Bridge opened.

Fifty-two years later, the engineering achievement of uniting Michigan inspired Smartmom.

For Buddha’s sake, she thought, there has to be a way to bridge the gap between her own and Hepcat’s vision of the living room.

If the lower and upper peninsula can form one Michigan, surely
Smartmom and Hepcat can figure out what to do with their green leather
IKEA couch — and all the other “issues” that ail their marriage.

Getting away from Brooklyn really was a good thing. The anger she
felt toward Hepcat about the couch definitely receded after a few days
of bike riding, long walks and talks by the lake, fossil hunts and
beach fires.

Indeed, the living room — and the leather couch — seemed very far
away when she and Divorce Diva spent an idyllic day on Mackinac Island,
a Victorian summer resort without cars.

By the time Smartmom had flown from Traverse City to Chicago and
then from Chicago to LaGuardia, she barely remembered that she and
Hepcat had had such an ugly argument about the couch.

But as soon as she walked into the living room she saw the couch and she felt the rage well up inside of her. Again.

She resorted to her metaphors. A couch is like a marriage. Certainly there’s a way to bridge their difference.

And then something mysterious happened. She sat down on the couch as
she has done for 18 years (luckily, she didn’t get stabbed by the inner
springs). The Oh So Feisty One came into the living room and sat beside
her. They hugged. Hepcat sat next to her, too, and she told them about
her weekend in Michigan.

Smartmom knew that it was going to be OK. This couch was not a
referendum on the state of their marriage. It was a metaphor. It needed
work, it needed TLC and it probably needed to be replaced. But that
didn’t mean all was lost.

Somehow, like the engineers who built the Mackinac Bridge, they would find a way. Smartmom was sure of it.

Civics and Urban Life

Atlantic Antic, TChoup Shop BBQ in Williamsburg (Lima Beans and Cherry Tomatoes)

Tchop_shop_email_01
If you like street fairs, this is a good one: Atlantic Antic. All day. Crowds, food, stuff to buy at great local shops, etc. Have fun.

Later: try dinner or a late lunch at the TChoup Shop at DBA, Sunday only restaurant in Williamsburg (is it a pop-up restaurant?).

I've been in touch with chef Simon Glenn and plan to talk to him soon (sorry Simon). So alll questions will be answered. In the meantime, the food sounds SO GOOD, prices great and Oh- So-New Orleans. Check this out: Char BQ oysters, New Orleans styles shrimp, cajun spiced burger, spiced lima beans and cherry tomatoes and roasted beets with sliced pecans…

You can tell that I'm hungry and that food sounds GOOD.

at DBA: 113 North 7th Street in Williamsburg! 2 p.m. until? 

Breakfast of candidates

Rev Billy and the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir Rocked the Brooklyn Lyceum

So often I post events on this blog but can't make it to them. But last night I made a point of getting over to the Brooklyn Lyceum's Benefit for a Garden Grown from Katrina with mayoral candidate Rev Billy to find  out for myself what this Rev Billy thing is all about.

I know he's running for mayor on the Green Party ticket. And I've heard that he's an activist and performance artist with a powerful political message against war and consumerism.

Friends have told me that he's an amazing performer. And recently a friend said that they'd heard him on the Brian Lehrer Show and that he was incredible. Still, I didn't really know if it was schtick or the real thing.

The evening began with a screening of "Mama Sue's Garden," a very promising work-in-progress by documentary filmmaker Susan Hamovitch about a feisty and watchable woman in St. Bernard's Parish in New Orleans who is coming back from the devastation and loss of Hurricane Katrina by creating a community garden.

Then it was time for Rev Billy and the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir and they rocked the house. The energy, the music, the humor of this group can not be understated.

And their message about democracy, consumerism and peace. A flyer that I got at the door states Rev Billy's reasons for running for mayor:

"It's called Democracy. My opponent Mike Bloomberg is buying his 3rd term, and now talks of a 4th. He's an old-fashioned strong man of the type we didn't think exicsted in America. His $300,000 a day keeps us consuming his little video performances about jobs, schools, the MATA or the Yankees—whatever ad is in rotation. But he is changing the subject The only issue is Democracy and all the other issue beomce importabot after we've talked out our facts and our positions in a democratic ways. That's because we are citizens, not consumer."

The Stop Shopping Gospel Choir was really at the heart of Rev Billy's Lyceum appearance. They are an all-ages choir comprised of a very appealing, talented and energetic group of people who make soaring gospel music. They make you want to clap along, sing, and stomp your feet. The music moves you to move as it moves you. And they're really fun to watch. As they say on the about page of rev Billy's website:

We are
moms, activists, cyclists, worshippers, pagans, bakers, park-lovers,
tech-geeks, tinkerers, campers, gardeners, nerds, actors, athletes,
executives, hairdressers, designers, angels, devlis, and more.
In between songs, Rev Billy delivered  his message of peace and his core belief  that our neighborhoods, commons, stoops, parks, streets
and libraries, are disappearing into the corporatized world of big
boxes and chain stores. This is from his website:

We like independent shops where you know the person behind the counter
or at least –you like them enough to share a story.We ask that local
activists who are defending themselves against supermalls, nuke plants,
gentrification – call us and we'll come and put on our "Fabulous
Worship!"

His sermon for the night was about his experience at an "unpermitted" peace march at the G20 in Pittsburgh. "The only permit we had was the First Amendment," he said and the choir then broke into a singing of those 35 words.

Rev Billy then resumed his story about a group of approximately 700 peace activists ("and some 30-40 kids who wanted to get arrested," he said), who were surrounded by what he called DarthRoboCopVaders, in special riot gear, who created a menacing wall around them.

These "inscrutable" walls (cops at a demonstration, big box stores in a smal town), says Rev Billy,  are creating a new theory of social control called emptiness. " Reflected in those LA sunglasses there is the power of emptiness."

He came away from the demonstration thinking that consumerism and militarism—and even activism—are the same thing as he felt the activists imitate the Robocops "because we felt their tension and we forgot that we were arguing for peace."

While in Pittsburg, Rev Billy said he saw something he wasn't supposed to see: behind a a van he saw a group of Robocops getting into their bullet proof vests. "Toto pulled away the curtain and there were the cops looking like local young people, not too beefy, getting into their armour. They were stepping into that attitude, that ektoskelatal thing. And I realized if they can put it on, it can be reversed."

He went on to say: "We can return to softness," he said. "That is possible. We can stay soft, complex, articulate, sensual and interesting. Not like that wall."

This is complex, thoughtful stuff and I was very impressed by his way of speaking and the things he had to say. He's interesting and surprising and nuanced and smart. He is a very appealing guy who is, at heart, a performer and an artist who has devised an incredible way to get his message across.

After the show, I ran into a fellow blogger on Fifth Avenue. He told me that he'd never seen Rev Billy.

"So is it schtick or is it real?" he asked.

"It's schtick and it's for real. It's very sincere schtick," I told him. But I know that's only part of the story. That's why I will be doing a Breakfast-of-Candidates interview with Rev Billy so we can really go behind the scenes and find out what makes him tick. Stay Tuned.

Civics and Urban Life

Sunday: Check Out Metaphor Gallery at Atlantic Antic

Slip_Batu
Rain or shine, Sunday is the Atlantic Antic, one of the biggest street fairs in the country metaphor contemporary art is a gallery on Atlantic Avenue and they have a show, appropriately enough, called Slippery When Wet.

Needless to say, water is the theme of this show at the gallery, which is located on 382 Atlantic Avenue between Hoyt and Bond Streets in downtown Brooklyn.

For humans water has a timeless fascination. Covering 2/3
the surface of our planet, water nourishes, cools, cleans, entertains, and
inspires us. And no wonder, as is commonly known, 96% of our bodies is
comprised of water, we are literally made of the stuff. In our embryonic state
we develop while floating in a sort of inland sea, sporting the gills that
suggest our own distant evolution from the enveloping oceans. As a subject for
artists, water is an endlessly fluid metaphor presenting an ever-changing
surface of reflection, complex color, and translucent mystery.
Its' varied nature can be seen as a mirror to our own mercurial moods. Rain can
be soothing or pelting, a stream can murmur gently or roar with destructive
force. Water is the only element that we know well in all its' different states
frozen, liquid, and gas, but it is the liquid state flowing, turbulent, or
still that most attracts us. In Slippery When Wet, 5 painters and 2
photographers explore this liquid realm bringing the stillness of art and a
variety of sensibilities to bear on the the restless motion of this most common
yet still elusive element.
 

Suzan Batu, from Istanbul, makes paintings that present a sharply; focused and
highly contemporary take on the ancient Turkish art of calligraphy. Her
compositions evoke water or wisping steam with a crisp, sinuous line that reels
and puddles as it moves over and across the canvas. Her use of high keyed pop
colors locate her paintings squarely in the present while the eloquent beauty
of her line exhibits the timeless flow of dance

Susan Homer makes delicious paintings with lush painterly surfaces that
are rich in romanticism. In her new painting for this exhibition, her
protagonist, as in so many of her works, is a small bird, here caught amongst fantastic blossoms in a
downpour of juicy grisaille. Homer references pioneering naturalists like
Audubon, and the stylized flatness of Japanese prints and the decorative arts,
merging such disparate sources into giddily organic paintings that present
intriguing avian fables.

Nancy Manter is a photographer and also an accomplished painter. Here
she uses her camera to document  a
series of water drawings made by pulling her fingers through dew that has
gathered on windowpanes. With a nod to the dominant window configurations of
contemporary architecture, her impromptu marks drip and slide across the pane's
slick surface, playfully echoing the grid of the outside screens while clearing
our view to sunlit exteriors.

Joanne Mattera's paintings employ flowing layers of near transparent encaustic which
build into rich and subtle color experiences that reveal hidden depths. Her
group of square paintings from the Silk Road Series shimmer within their
carefully crafted, softly textured surfaces like so many small ponds. In her
painting Vicolo 52,  she carves
through these layers giving a hint of her process in a painting that is bright
with flickering lights.

 
Andrew Mockler creates precise and complex abstractions that here seem to
capture in one place all of the colors that might be seen over the ocean during
a day at the beach from pale mid-day blues and muddied greens to late afternoon
violets and pinks. Mockler alternates passages of impasto with transparent
glazes calling attention to the paints' physicality while constructing
insistent horizontals that lead our eye deep into the matrix of his carefully
calibrated and refreshing color studies.

 
Don Muchow makes intense and quiet photographs that are filled with a
rich sense of place. Working in black and white or near monochrome he invests
his landscape studies with the carefully edited simplicity of Chinese brush
painting. These are elemental landscapes that reward patient viewing with their
pared down, subtly balanced composition and elegant tonalities. Suggesting
settings for an existentialist film these haunting images draw us into their
contemplative moods and provide stages for daydreams.

Peter Schroth is a painter with a strong affinity to the traditions of
plein-air painting. His group of ocean studies were painted on site near the
Atlantic Ocean and retain the immediacy and accurate color made possible by his
proximity to his subject. The viewpoint in these paintings hovers just above
these turbulent surfaces and seems to have us standing beside the painter in the middle
of the rush near the shore. On close viewing the images dissolve into skeins of
calligraphic marks and the bravura brushwork of pure painting.

 

Civics and Urban Life

Leon Freilich, Verse Responder: The House on Garfield Place

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Leon's poem and this illustration was in the  Metropolitan Diary on September 18, 2006. Leon Freilich sent it my way and I'm glad he did.

THE HOUSE ON GARFIELD PLACE

The brownstone just around the corner

Now sports a brilliant fuchsia flair,

Alarming dogs and stopping traffic

On foot, on wheels and in the air.

Park Slopers talk about the building,

Exchanging snarky real-estate jokes

About the home that’s become an attraction —

Except for the hapless next-door folks.

real estate

Pepto Bismol House is For Sale

2 Comments

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You know the Pepto Bismol house, the pink brownstone on Garfield Place? Well, my sister walked by this morning and it's for sale.

Now that's a tip!

The Pepto Bismol house is the house people either love to love or love to hate. It's been painted that shade of pink since before Park Slope was a historic district. That means its right to be pink is grandfathered in. If someone buys it they will have the choice to keep it pink or return it to its Brownstone grandeur.

Recently I was interviewed by a graduate student from the Netherlands who is studying Fifth Avenue and Park Slope for her thesis in urban planning. She asked me about the pink house and said that everyone she talks to brings it up or has an opinion about it. Many feel quite negatively about it.

I kind of like the Pepto Bismol house for its outsiderness, its expressivity, its wild and open uglinesss.

Breakfast of candidates

Tonight: Mayoral Candidate Rev. Billy at the Brooklyn Lyceum

Revbilly_timessquare Tonight there's a Benefit for a Garden Grown from Katrina with mayoral candidate Rev. Billy, his choir and More!

Saturday, October 3rd. Doors at 7:00pm. $10
One for the Crop, One for the Crow: A Benefit Event
The Brooklyn Lyceum | 227 4th Avenue | Brooklyn, NY 11215 | R Train To
Union Street

Join activist and Green Party Candidate for Mayor of NYC Reverend Billy Talen and the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir as we remember Katrina witha way forward.

The Rev and Choir will perform at 7:45pm, and the whole
evening is filled with music and films celebrating how communities have
survived and reinvented themselves in New Orleans after Katrina. We will
celebrate Mama Sue's Garden, created by Sue Boutwell LaGrange in one New
Orleans' most devastated parishes. Mama Sue-a-lujah!

The schedule of events:
7:30    Five minute short film on Hurricane Katrina
7:45    Reverend Billy and the Life After Shopping Gospel Choir
8:45    Anthony DeGregorio and his Jazz band
9:15    Susan Hamovitch introduces and shows 30 mins of new documentary
Mama Sue's Garden
10:00   The Amazing Mentalist Dr. Zenitram
10:30   Gary Fisher and his Jazz band

Civics and Urban Life

Author Victor LaValle on NPR

Victor LaValle, who read at Brooklyn Reading Works, on Thursday night, is a hot new author. Well, he's not exactly new. He's already written two acclaimed books, "Slapboxing with Jesus" and "The Ecstatic." But his new book, "Big Machine," may propel him to literary stardom. Mark my words.

LaValle read a terrific excerpt from this new book, Big Machine on Thursday, which WOWED the crowd. And now I'm listening to LaValle being interviewed on  NPR and Jackie Lydon is saying it's not like anything she's ever read.

Here's what the book is about (from the publisher's blurb): a character named "Ricky Rice, a middle-aged, middling hustler,with a lingering junk habit, a bum knee and a haunted mind. The sole survivor of a suicide cult, he spends his days scraping by as a porter at a bus depot in Utica, New York, until one day a letter arrives reminging him of a vow he once made…"

On NPR, LaValle says of the book: "It's the wildest book you're going to read this year…I wanted to write a book of unqualified optimism. At the end, people are a little bit beaten, a little bit bruised, but hopeful."

Civics and Urban Life

Witness, Tom Martinez: Standing Room Only for Tom Hayden at Park Slope Church

IMG_8264 At a special event at Park Slope Methodist Church, political activist, writer and former State Senator from California, Tom Hayden, critiqued the government's tendency toward military escalation in his anti-war address sponsored by  Brooklyn for Peace held at the Park
Slope Methodist Church.

During the question and answer session that followed an audience member pointed out the event was taking place on Gandhi's birthday.

Photo: Tom Martinez
718-915-2600

Civics and Urban Life

Sunday: Brooklyn Bridge Park Preview Tours at Atlantic Antic

A reported in the Brooklyn Heights Blog via The Brooklyn Bugle, there wil be "two tours of the construction areas of the
park-in-progress during the Atlantic Antic street fair on Sunday.

One tour will focus on the work at the 1.6-acre Pier 6 playground and
the other tour will cover the rest of the park-in-progress. Tours will
be offered every half hour from noon to 3:30 p.m. this Sunday at
Atlantic Antic. Groups will depart from the Moxie Spot, 81 Atlantic
Avenue at Hicks St.
Civics and Urban Life

David Pechefsky: Tom Hayden at the Park Slope Methodist Church

Hayden at PS Methodist October 2009(2)
David Pechefsky, the Green Party candidate for City Council in the 39th district was at the Tom Hayden lecture Friday night sponsored by Brooklyn for Peace at the Park Slope Methodist Church.

 On Monday, Pechefsky will be participating in a Democracy Forum at Old First Church with Brad Lander and Joe Nardiello, the other candidates for City Council int the 39th. Pechefsky had this to say about Tom Hayden's lecture.

Hayden talked about "movements" versus "machiavellians."  He
described how in his view Obama was elected by a movement, but from
what I heard he didn't offer much of an explanation of why
Obama abandoned his anti-war stance and seems poised to expand the war
in Afghanistan.   Nor did he offer any real advice for the peace
movement other than a vague call to support Obama but "keep the
pressure on."  He seemed to suggest that the problem is with Congress
without any explanation of why Congress might be such a problem.  
 
More than one questioner asked him why he persisted in
supporting the Democratic party given its stance on the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan, etc.  As far as I could make out his view was that the
Democrats remain the best albeit an unsatisfactory option.  He acknowledged
working for the election of third party candidates might be a "viable
strategy depending on your constituency."

Photo by Tom Martinez

 
Civics and Urban Life

Park Slope Neighbors: Walk Don’t Destroy, Expand PS Historic District, Democracy Forum and More

Lots of announcements from this week's Park Slope Neighbors Newsletter.

1) Don't forget: Please Join PSN's team for DDDB's October
17th Walk Don't Destroy 5
Here's a reminder that our Park Slope Neighbors team for Develop
Don't Destroy Brooklyn's Walk Don't Destroy 5 walkathon is anxious to
have you join us in helping to raise funds for DDDB's legal effort
against Atlantic Yards.
It's truly crunch time in the fight to stop Bruce Ratner from
building a basketball arena and acres of parking lots just across
Flatbush Avenue.  New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals,
will hear the challenge to the project's use of eminent domain on
October 14th, and DDDB plans to bring additional lawsuits — but their
ability to do that depends on our collective fundraising
efforts.
Please sign up to walk with us on October 17th.  If you're
already signed up, please reach out to as many people as you can to
sponsor your efforts.  Every dollar is critical at this
juncture.
To join the Park Slope Neighbors team or to make a general
donation in our name, please click here.
To visit the Walk Don't Destroy 5 home page, click here.
If Forest City can be prevented from breaking ground and securing
the financing it needs by December 31st, it's very possible that the
Atlantic Yards project will be stopped once and for all.  But
that will only be achieved if we raise the money needed to seal the
deal.  Please help make that happen.

2) Help Expand the Park Slope Historic District

The Park Slope Civic Council is looking for
people willing to serve as block captains to help further efforts to
expand the current Park Slope Historic District.

If you'd like to help put a stop to the
proliferation of ugly, out-of-context new buildings and inappropriate
alterations to historic homes in Park Slope, this job's for
you.

The Park Slope Civic Council is leading the
effort to preserve the character and architectural heritage that
contributes so mightily to making Park Slope a great place to live. 
The PSCC has submitted a plan to the NYC Landmarks Preservation
Commission that calls for expanding the historic district in stages, 
and recently succeeded in getting the LPC to begin work on reviewing a
first phase that would add more than 700 buildings, largely in the
South Slope, to the existing historic district.

The expansion area would extend between 7th
and 8th Avenues, from 4th Street to 15th Street, as well as
encompassing buildings on 7th Avenue from 15th Street to Berkeley
Place. This expansion would be contiguous with the existing historic
district.

The Civic Council is seeking volunteers who
live in the proposed expansion area to be block captains. Block
captains will be tasked with discussing the proposed expansion with
their neighbors and answering their questions about what it means to
dwell in an historic district.  Most importantly, they will
gather petition signatures from building owners to demonstrate to the
Landmarks Preservation Commission that there is broad community
support for this designation.

The PSCC will provide information, training
and outreach materials to all block captains. The outreach campaign
will launch in mid-October, and the goal is to complete the effort
early next year.

If you're interested in serving as a
Historic District Expansion block captain, please contact Stephanie
Doba, Chair of the Outreach Subcommittee, at sdoba@nyc.rr.com.

To learn more about the effort to expand
the Park Slope Historic District, please visit www.parkslopeciviccouncil.org.

3) Halloween Volunteers Needed

Speaking of the Park Slope Civic Council, the PSCC is also
looking for volunteers to help with this year's Halloween Parade. 
Did you know that it's the largest children's parade in the entire
U.S.?
The Civic Council, which organizes and runs the parade, is
seeking volunteers to carry giant puppets, help with crowd control,
and interact with the crowd in a fun, entertaining manner.  You
can wear your own costume or inhabit one of the parade's Sun, Moon,
Mermaid or Sea Dragon outfits.  This year's parade theme is
Spooky Seas, in case you want to get creative and tailor your own
maritime costume.
If you're a high school student who needs to earn
community-service credit, the Halloween parade is a perfect way to
have fun while doing good.
If you're interested in helping out with the 2009 Park Slope
Halloween Parade, please send an email to halloween@parkslopeciviccouncil.org.  Click here to see a slideshow of last year's parade.

4) Community Forum Saturday on Planned Renovations to the Park
Slope Public Library

This Saturday, October 3rd, at 11 a.m., officials of the Brooklyn
Public Library will hold a community forum to explain plans for the
renovation of the Library's Park Slope branch, located at 431 6th
Avenue, between 8th and 9th Streets.  The renovation plan calls
for the closing of the library for approximately two years, beginning
on October 30th.
The improvements to the Park Slope branch will include:
  • A new ADA-compliant ramp, entry door, elevator and bathrooms
  • new interior finishes, lighting and flooring
  • an upgrade to the HVAC system
  • and the installation of machines for self-checkout
There's little dispute that these upgrades are necessary, but a
good question for library officials would be why the work will require
the total closure of the branch for such a long period.  It's an
important neighborhood resource, especially so when the economy is not
so hot.
The BPL says that Bookmobile service will be offered outside the
library on Mondays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. while the
branch is closed, and that nearby branches will continue programs that
were being held at the Park Slope location.
The community forum will take place at the Park Slope branch this
Saturday.  To download a PDF with more information about the
meeting, and more details about the renovation plan, click here.
5) Democracy Forum and Film Screening, Monday, October 5th, 7
p.m. at Old First Church
The three candidates running for the City Council in the 39th
District — Brad Lander (D, WF), Joe Nardiello (R) and David Pechefsky
(Green) — will lead a discussion on democracy Monday evening
following a free screening of the documentary film Please Vote For Me. 
The film, about an election for class monitor in a third-grade
classroom in China, replete with intimidation, bribery and
vote-rigging, will serve as a jumping-off point for examining
democracy in New York City.
The discussion and screening will take place this coming Monday,
October 5th, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the Old First Reformed Church,
at 7th Avenue and Carroll Street in Park Slope.
Sincerely,
Eric McClure
Campaign Coordinator
Park Slope Neighbors
Civics and Urban Life

BRW: Read These Authors, Buy Their Books!

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Victor-LaValle-190 CoverImage of cliff's book

Not to toot my own horn but last night's Brooklyn Reading Works, Young, Gifted & Black (Men) really rocked.

James Hannaham, Victor LaValle and Clifford Thompson read terrific work and there was a great discussion afterward about voice, process, and literary and other influences.

Martha Southgate curated, introduced the authors and led the Q&A. Martha will be back in June to read her own fiction and to present other writers as well.

Take a look at these author's websites. Buy their books. And come to the next Brooklyn Reading Works on October 15th: Poetry Punch. Yeah.

Poetry Punch
A group poetry reading featuring the following
exuberant and scintillating wordsmiths (those are curator, Michele Madigan Somerville's words).
 
Edmund Berrigan, Louise Crawford,
Bill Evans,  Sharon Mesmer, Wanda Phipps,Joanna Sit and Jeffrey
C. Wright.
 
Thursday, October 15
Old Stone House in Washington Park,
Park Slope, Brooklyn 
 718 768 3195  
3rd Street between 4th and 5th Avenues
in Park Slope
admission :Donation $5.00
 

 
Music

OTBKB Music: Sunday’s Atlantic Antic Music Schedule

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Anticlogo09 The 35th annual Atlantic Antic is coming this Sunday.  As usual, in
addition to the crafts, foods and local wares there will be music. 
I've put together the locations, times and bands for you.  Although
most of this information is from the offical Atlantic Antic website,
where I've been able to learn a more exact time for a band, I've noted
that as well.

Chip Shop, 128 Atlantic Avenue (between Henry Street and Clinton
Street)
On and off all day starting at 12:00pm  The Windsor Terrors

Last Exit, 136 Atlantic Avenue (between Henry Street and Clinton
Street)
12:00pm – 1:00pm  DJ Momotaro
1:00pm –
2:00pm    Bill Carney's Jug Addicts
2:00pm – 3:30pm    DJ
Morotaro and his dancing girls
3:30pm – 6:00pm    Les Sans
Culottes (probably will play sets at 3:30 and 5pm)
6:00pm – ?             DJ Mr. Lee

Waterfront Ale House, 155 Atlantic Avenue (between Henry Street and
Clinton Street)
From 1:00pm – 6:00pm
Popa
Chubby (probably will appear at 2pm)
Big Ed Sullivan
Dimitri
Black Coffee Blues Band

Brazen Head,  228 Atlantic Avenue (between Court Street and Boerum
Place)
1:30pm – 4:30pm    The Dysfunctional Family Jazz Band

Downtown Atlantic, 364 Atlantic Avenue (between Bond Street and Hoyt
Street)
2:00pm – 4:00pm    Joe Vicino & The Smoke Daddys
4:30pm – 6:00pm    Carl Thompson & Friends

Hank's, 46 3rd Avenue (between Nevins Street and 3rd Avenue)
On
and off all day starting at 1:00pm
The Demolition String Band (will play a set at 2pm)
Tash Brothers Band

I can hardily heartily recommend The Demolition String Band (and actually have done so before here).  Although the name
sounds old timey, the DSB can not only play country, they can rock out
as well.  If you are in the vicinity of Hank's, you'll do yourself a
favor if you catch them.

 –Eliot Wagner

Civics and Urban Life

Forum on Gang Violence in Sunset Park

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Due to the recent murders in Sunset Park involving Mexican gang
members, the 72nd Precinct will be hosting a forum with police
officials, clergy, and former gang members in an effort to educate
parents.

After talking to some of the parents of both the victims and
perpetrators, Deputy Inspector Jesus "Raul" Pintos, Commanding Officer with the 72nd Precinct, realized that some of these parents are in denial or
simply unaware of their kid's affiliation with local gangs.

According to Deputy Inspector Pintos, "one mother didn't know that her son was in a gang despite
countless gang tattoos all over his body. I feel that these parents
need to know what to look for, including tattoos and gang signs."

The 72nd Precinct is scheduling guest speakers from the NYPD's Gang Division (Det
Ramos, from Queens Gang, an expert in Hispanic gangs). Also, former
gang members (we have a few that are willing to speak) and family
members of victims of gang violence. In addition, Ointos will address the
attendees as will the youth officers from the 72nd Precinct.

The forum is scheduled for
October 15 at 6:30 PM at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, located 545 60th
Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues).

Civics and Urban Life

Sunday, Oct 4: Super Stoop Sale This Weekend for BAX

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BAX is
hosting a fund raiser this weekend, the BAX Super Sale. It’s a stoop sale on
the corner of 6th Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope.

Third Street and 6th Avenue? That's right near where I live! What a great location.

Again the
date is Sunday, October 4th. The sale begins at 11 am and will go
until 5 pm. If people wish to drop off things for the sale that will happen
the day of the sale, from 8- 10 am.

This sale is to benefit BAX which offers arts and enrichment classes for kids and adults. In fact, I will be teaching a HOW TO BLOG class there in December.

BAX, Park Slope's arts education and performance treasure, was founded in 1991, as a small, pioneer arts organization on an
industrial block in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn. In 1998, BAX moved to
lower Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn to accommodate a growing
demand for services. By 2006, BAX had achieved most of its programmatic
and infrastructure expansion goals and seized the opportunity to expand
to a second floor and create THE BAX BUILDING. BAX currently has five full-time and four part-time employees, a roster of 24 teaching artists, four interns and volunteers.

BAX is a place that connects people. It is a rigorous forum for
ideas and creativity. A place for families, artists, students, and
audiences — a community asset. BAX provides advocacy and opportunities
for emerging and mid level professional dance and theater artists to
develop, grow, explore and present new work. BAX is also well known for
its comprehensive youth programs that support young people, toddlers
through teens, in their pursuit of creative skills and experiences in
dance and theater.

 SHOP THE SUPER SALE

You will find:

nearly new train table

baby/children’s clothing

toys

play equipment

halloween costumes

IKEA lanterns

desks, chairs

women’s clothing & shoes

men’s coats

tools

exercise equipment

scanner/computer equipment

kitchen stuff

cd’s, books, art supplies

and MORE!

 This event
is being sponsored by www.1800gotjunk.com/nyc/