On Sunday, November 15th, there will be a memorial to honor the extraordinary life and work of Suzanne Fiol, founder of Issue Project Room.

On Sunday, November 15

4PM: Memorial Service at St. Ann’s
157 Montague Street in Brooklyn
Map/directions to St. Ann’s

7PM: Parade and marching band from St. Ann's to ISSUE Project Room. All musicians are encouraged to bring their instruments and join the marching band.

8PM: Memorial Concert at ISSUE Project Room
At the Old American Can Factory
232 3rd Street in Brooklyn, 3rd Floor
Map/directions to ISSUE Project Room
. Please note that the Memorial Service will start promptly at 4pm.

The service and concert are not ticketed events. No reservations are required and there is no admission fee.
To make a contribution in honor of Suzanne, please click here.  

After a successful 2008 debut, Brooklyn Flea
is moving its "Gifted" holiday market into Manhattan, taking over the
6500 square-foot former Tower Records Annex storefront at E. 4th St.
and Lafayette St. in Noho, where it will launch an expanded
five-day-a-week pop-up shop from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

What
to expect when the Brooklyn Flea takes Manhattan? An alternative to
big-box stores for one. An affordable option to high-priced boutiques
for another. Way better stuff than blah gift markets—for sure.

Gifted
will feature a rotating cast of 50 vendors from Friday, November 27, to
Thursday, December 24. Complete dates are as follows: Fri-Sun, Nov.
27-29; Wed-Sun, Dec. 2-6; 9-13; every day, Dec. 16-24. (Hours will vary
from day to day, in the range of noon to 7pm.)

This sounds great. Take your pick and see arts in various parts of Brooklyn. Pick a "Loop" and do the hop. IMO the "Visit Brooklyn" folks in the Borough President's Office are doing good things for Brooklyn arts — both literary and visual.

Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November 22, 70 participating Brooklyn art galleries will offer visitors outstanding exhibitions and refreshments as well as a unique opportunity to learn more about Brooklyn’s expanding art scene and galleries during the second annual smART Brooklyn Gallery Hop, an initiative of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Brooklyn Tourism.

Here's the Marty hype and he's right.

“We all know that Brooklyn is the Creative Capital of New York City, and contributing to that creative canvas are our neighborhood galleries and lively arts scene showcasing the work of emerging Brooklyn artists,” said BP Markowitz. “Last year’s smART Gallery Hop was a huge success, and again this year there’s no better time to get ‘art smart’—and maybe even find that perfect gift for the art lover on your holiday list!”

Here are the 'tails about the hop and the buses:

The free smART Brooklyn Gallery Hop features bus loops that depart from select hubs every hour on the hour from 1pm–5pm and run through four different gallery districts, allowing participants to hop on and off the bus within each line’s loop. Additionally, a “Tour of Four” bus tour (not a loop) will offer visitors a chance to experience unique art galleries “off the beaten path”:

–Williamsburg, Bushwick, Greenpoint — BLUE LOOP (Saturday). Hub: Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, 135 Broadway (at Bedford )

–Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene — RED LOOP (Saturday). Hub: MoCADA, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art, 80 Hanson Place (at South Portland )

–Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Red Hook — GOLD LOOP (Sunday). Hub: Brooklyn Borough Hall/Tourism Visitors Center, 209 Joralemon (Between Court and Adams)

–Boerum Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope — GREEN LOOP (Sunday). Hub: Brooklyn Lyceum, 227 4th Ave. (at President)

–Bay Ridge, Crown Heights , Sunset Park — TOUR OF FOUR Galleries (Sunday). Hub: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 200 Eastern Parkway (at Washington )

Buses will be staffed with expert art docents offering smART tip sheets about collecting and buying art.
The smART Brooklyn Gallery Hop is a collaborative effort between the public and private sectors working to advance local economic development and increase awareness and support of the arts.

You just gotta make a reservation:

RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED. For more information, visit www.visitbrooklyn.org.
 

Three Ways of Looking at Park Slope: Park Slope Northwest
Sunday, November 15, 2:00 PM

Join the Municipal Art Society (MAS) for the first of three tours (others to follow in 2010) looking at different areas of Park Slope and aspects of the neighborhood’s history. The first walk looks at Park Slope’s western edge and its relation to the Gowanus Canal. We will discuss the history of the canal and its bridges, cross over for a brief peek at Carroll Gardens, and return to touch down in the Park Slope Historic District. Leader: Francis Morrone, architectural historian. Meet in front of the Old Stone House in J.J. Byrne Park, just off 3rd St. between Fourth and Fifth avenues. $15, $10 MAS members. Reservations and prepayment recommended.

Pay online MAS.org/calendar or call 212 935 2075.

 EARLY SPAM

What's happened to
That erring regime
Now that Brooklyn 
Reigns supreme

The
Dumbo Books Foundation is pleased to announce the winner of the first
annual Dumbo Books Foundation/Betty Smith Award for Brooklyn Writers.

The
award will be given annually to a distinguished writer, residing in
Brooklyn, who exemplifies the tradition and excellence of Betty Smith
in her classic novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

The
award, given in an amount corresponding to the writer’s ZIP code,
ranges from $112.01 for residents of downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn
Heights and DUMBO to $112.39 for residents of Starrett City.

Candidates
for the Dumbo Books Foundation/Betty Smith Award for Brooklyn Writers
are proposed by nominators from across the borough whose experience and
vocations bring them in contact with individuals of extraordinary
talent.

Winners
are chosen by a selection committee, a small group of recognized
writers, literary scholars, and editors, appointed annually by the
Foundation.

Both
nominators and selectors serve anonymously. The Dumbo Books Foundation
does not accept applications or nominations for the award.

The 2009 winner is Tao Lin of Williamsburg, who will receive an award in the amount of $112.11. He is the author of Shoplifing from American Apparel, Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Eeeee Eee Eee and You Are a Little Happier Than I Am (All from Melville Books).

Truth and Rocket Science is looking for half-glass photos to share with his readers. See info below.

E.  Things that we never would have done had we known better, but that we must live with to the end of our days.

F.  Wonderful things and great discoveries that never would have happened had we known better.

Note:  E/F will be a recurring feature of truth and rocket science.
If you have a half-glass photo to share, or want to create one, send it
to me at jguidry.7 AT gmail DOT com and I’ll use it in a future
posting, with full credit to you.  Make sure that you tell me the story
behind the photo, including the contents of the glass, in the following
manner . . .

Credit:  This standard
Williams Sonoma pint glass is half-filled with Hoegaarden whitbier. 
Its taste is semi-tart and well-accented with a slice of lemon.  It
sits on a small faux-marble coffee table, in front of a love
seat futon that was found on the sidewalk in Park Slope, Brooklyn,
Sixth Avenue b/t Garfield and Carroll, on a spring day in 2008.  As the
mattress was clean and the frame in almost perfect shape, we took it
home because we needed a sofa.  Ah, providence.

NY Magazine's cover story about how Brooklyn became America's music capital.

The borough of Kings has produced the most fertile music environment
seen in New York since CBGB in the seventies, and the scene’s newest
hero is David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors: a Wagner-loving
taskmaster not afraid to mix strains of folk, hip-hop, classical, jazz,
and African pop.

Gerhardt (Jerry) Fuchs, 34, a drummer popular in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and highly respected by fellow musicians died in an elevator shaft accident in Bushwick.

From the New York Times: 

“His passing
puts an enormous hold on the Brooklyn music scene,” said Jon Fine, a
friend of Mr. Fuchs’s and a columnist for Business Week. “The world of
independent music has sustained a really significant loss.”

 Brooklyn Vegan also has the story.

From the Metropolitan Diary in the New York Times:

Dear Diary:

Walking in Prospect
Park a few weeks ago, I come upon a snow-white chicken, pacing a
frantic furrow in the dirt a few feet from West Drive. I stare,
fascinated, as she grooms her feathered rump and yanks up weeds in her
beak.

“How did a chicken find its way to Prospect Park?” I ask a passing jogger.

He stops to watch. “You going to call it in, parks department, maybe?”

“No, I think I’ll just let it roam.”

“Know what they call that?” he says. “Free-range chicken!”

Jessica Max Stein

Brooklyn Reading Works presents Young Writers Night, an evening of fiction, poetry and songs from young writers from across the city. The Old Stone House. Third Street and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope at 7 PM. $5 SUGGESTED donation includes refreshments.

Hannah Frishberg
Maria Robbins Somerville
Ben Waldman
Avery Whitted
Lily Konigsberg
Henry Crawford
Lucio Westmoreland
Eli Greenhoe
Heather Boo

The Prigs played at the Vox Pop birthday party. Photo by Tom Martinez.

On Monday: Cobble Hill Fall Meeting to Feature Panel Discussion:
 "Surviving the Economic Downturn in Cobble Hill"

The
Cobble Hill Association's Fall meeting, Monday, November 9, at 7:30 pm,
will feature a panel discussion on coping strategies for this difficult
economic environment. With
New York City's unemployment rate at a reported 8.9% and with
under-employment estimated at 17%, many Cobble Hill residents have been
affected by the economic downturn , especially with so many working in
the fields of finance, media, and law that have been hard-hit.
Panelists:
William S. Ross, Director of Development Marketing, Halstead Property;
Henry Zook of BookCourt at 161-163 Court Street
Michelle Mannix of Ted & Honey cafe at 264 Clinton Street at Verandah Place;
and Lauren Young, Personal Finance Editor of BusinessWeek

–Meeting will be at Long Island College Hospital,
339 Hicks Street (at Atlantic Avenue),Avram Conference Room A. This meeting is open to the public and is free of charge. Refreshments will be served

I just found a link to  this video on Full Permission Living, which is always full of interesting ideas. This video about FPL blogger Peter Loffredo was directed by Scott Colthorp, a Brooklyn filmmaker. You can find more of his work on Vimeo.

"Good, True, and Beautiful" — Peter Loffredo from Scott Colthorp on Vimeo.

A note from President O about the health care vote in the House. He has good news! I love getting these personal notes from the president.

There are two parts to this comprehensive list featured in the New York Times of things a restaurant staffer should never do compiled by Bruce Buschel, who runs a restaurant in Bridgehampton, New York.

It's a really great list. If only all restaurants used it.

Young Writers Night at Brooklyn Reading Works

Make your way to Park Slope for a night of original work—fiction, poetry, and music—from teenagers across the city.

Thursday, November 19, 7 PM at the Old Stone House, Fifth Avenue and Third Street

I am baffled by the release plan for the highly anticipated stop-action animation version of Fantastic Mr. Fox.  I don’t get why Fox Searchlight has opted for a limited release two weeks (New York gets it this Friday) prior to opening nationwide on November 25? A family movie with names like Clooney and Streep – treat as a potential blockbuster. Picturehouse/New Line did this with Kit Kittridge: An American Girl Movie, but no one paid heed to the warnings of that marketing mishandling or the success of the national release of the somewhat elusive Where The Wild Things Are.

These indie companies are trying to earn big $$ by putting out pictures with bigger appeal, so why treat them like indies?  Maybe they’d have some profits and cushion for  risky projects.

Why Wes Anderson’s pictures are released as arthouse fare escapes me. His populist appeal should result in attempts at a big opening weekend.  I thought a big national opening would have done wonders for Rushmore’s box office and Oscar chances.  Instead, I remember waiting until February of a cold Chicago winter for this film to hit two screens, after the Oscar push two months earlier.

 But Anderson’s passion indicates he isn’t in it for the money (the Oscars – maybe).    His films radiate exuberance, but I find the passion to be within, reserved for loving the work itself and the characters that inhabit his world.  I keep anticipating that he’ll break from that and offer something with greater depth sometime soon.  While I don’t hold him in the high esteem that many of my contemporaries do, but I will say that the working relationship between director and music supervisor (Randall Poster) makes for a consistently perfect pairing.  Despite my limited-release of love for Anderson, I still am eager for a family outing to Fantastic Mr. Fox.  Certain to be one of the two best talking fox movies of the year, along with Antichrist. The YouTube mash-ups are already up.

-Pops Corn

My friend and Brooklyn Reading Works co-conspirator Michele Madigan Somerville is launching her new book of poetry, Black Irish (from Plain View Press) at KGB, probably the coolest literary bar in New York City.

I am so psyched. I am intimately acquainted with Somerville's new book and I love it. I am so thrilled that it is finally available for all to see.

KGB Bar, 85 East 4th StreetNew York City, NY

Brooklyn poet Michele Madigan Somerville is the author of the book-length poem WISEGAL (Ten Pell Books 2001) and Black Irish,
her first collection of verse, forthcoming this fall (2009) from
Plainview Press.  Her work has appeared in many literary journals.  Her
essay “Born Again Catholic in Brooklyn” recently appeared in the New
York Times online Happy Days series.  Somerville’s poems have has won a
number of poetry awards: an Honorable Mention in Dublin’s Ireland’s
Eason Books Poetry Competition in 2003, first place in the W.B. Yeats
Society poetry competition in 2000, a MacArthur scholarship for poetry
at Brooklyn College in 1987, and the Louise B. Goodman Award for
Women-Centered writing at Brooklyn College.  She has run reading series
at The Old Stone House in Park Slope, Ceol Bar in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
and Cornelia Street Café in Manhattan, and has given many public
performances of her work. Somerville recently completed two collections
of verse: Glamourous Life, and Stations of Light, and is currently
working on two books of prose: a novel, SUCKER PUNCH and a memoir (yet
untitled) about being Catholic. She worked for 14 years s a teacher in
New York City elementary and high schools, and as a lecturer in
creative and expository writing at CUNY and SUNY, Purchase. She posts
her verse on Fresh Poetry: www.michelemadigansomerville.com.

Nava Renek is author of SPIRITLAND (Spuyten Duyvil 2002)and NO
PERFECT WORDS (2009).  She is also the editor of WRECKAGE OF REASON:
XXPERIMENTAL PROSE BY CONTEMPORARY WOMEN WRITERS.  Her short stories
and essays have appeared in a number of literary magazines and
websites.  She is currently program coordinator of the Women’s Center
at Brooklyn College.