It’s Saturday, time to figure out where we’re going to watch Mad Men on Sunday night. Without cable, we’re left to find a bar, restaurant or friend’s apartment where we can indulge in one of our favorite television shows.

Last week I called Sheep Station and asked if they were showing Mad Men.

SS Bartender: Sorry, someone spilled a drink on the video projector and it’s not working.

OTBKB: Really?

SS Bartender: Yeah, someone spilled a drink on the video projector. It’s Labor Day weekend and we can’t get it fixed.

OTBKB: Someone spilled  a drink on it?

SS Bartender: Yeah, I think it was Don Draper.

OTBKB: Oh, you’re pulling my leg.

SS Bartender: Really, though, the video projector is broken so we won’t be showing Mad Men tonight.

OTBKB: That’s too bad. I’ll call you next week to see if it’s working again…

So I guess I’ll give Sheep Station a call, see if their projector has dried out. I’ve missed the last three shows though my sister has kept me up to date.  Last week sounded really fun what with Peggy Olsen’s strip tease game with her art director. She’s developing into quite an interesting character.

And we’re missing out unless we can find somewhere to watch the show…

(illustration: Roxanna Velandria)

The Brooklyn Book Festival is on Sunday (outside, in and around Borough Hall) but there are Bookend events tonight and tomorrow, free and fun, all over Brooklyn. Tonight I’ll be going to ringShout at Littlefield at 7PM maybe I’ll go to Greenlight Bookstore and catch the Brooklyn Indie Press celebration at 7:30.

Secret History of the Dividing Line: A True Account in Nine Parts (Parts I–IV, 1999–2004). Light Industry presents a screening of David Gatten’s unfinished 16mm film cycle, a project based around the life, writing, and library of William Byrd II, a Virginia planter who owned one of the largest collections of books in colonial North America.
Location: Light Industry, 177 Livingston St.
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Price: $7

Brooklyn Indie Press Celebration! With Akashic Books, A Public Space, Archipelago Books, Armchair/Shotgun, BOMB, Electric Literature, Melville House, powerHouse Books, Tin House, and others. Brooklyn’s finest independent publishers of books and periodicals come together at Greenlight Bookstore. Mingle with writers and publishers who make Brooklyn’s literary scene, and enjoy refreshments and live DJs to kick off BKBF weekend. 
Location: Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton St. (at S. Portland Ave.)
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Price: FREE

WORD Presents an Intimate Conversation with John Waters. John Waters, the iconic filmmaker, actor, and writer, comes to Greenpoint to talk about his new book Role Models with Carolyn Kellogg of the Los Angeles Times. For details, visit www.wordbrooklyn.com.
Location: Coco 66, 66 Greenpoint Ave.
Date: 8 p.m.
Price: $25 (includes copy of book)

DEBUT LIT Presents “Opening Act,” a flash reading of original work by literary rock stars. Readings will be written on a theme provided by DEBUT LIT—it’s fun and it’s fast. Readers include Aryn Kyle (The God of Animals), John Murillo (Up Jump the Boogie), Sung J. Woo (Everything Asian), Brooke Berman (No Place Like Home), Matt Stewart (French Revolution), Fiona Maazel (Last Last Chance), and Daphne Beal (In the Land of No Right Angles).
Location: powerHouse Books, 37 Main St.
Date: 7 p.m.
Price: FREE

Books to Movies: The Sweet Hereafter. In this 1997 adaptation of Russell Banks’s novel, directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Ian Holm and Sarah Polley, a big-city lawyer descends on a small Canadian town following a tragic school bus accident to organize a civil-action suit, while simultaneously mourning the loss of his own daughter to drug addiction. Atom Egoyan’s masterpiece is a sensitive examination of overcoming grief. Q&A with authorRussell Banks.
Location: BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Ave.
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Price: $12 (general admission) / $8 (BAM Cinema Club members)

Literary Pub Contest staged by PEN American Center at St. Ann’s Warehouse. The first-ever PEN Quiz Night. Don’t miss the chance to compete with (and against!) your favorite authors. We’ll bring the paper and the pencils; you bring your literary mettle!
Location: St. Ann’s Warehouse, 38 Water St.
Time: 7–10 p.m. (doors open at 7 p.m.)
Price: FREE

ringShout: A Place for Black Literature kicks off its new reading series. Join us for an evening of readings by four acclaimed African American writers. Featuring Ta-Nehisi Coates, Tayari Jones, Jeffery Renard Allen, and Danielle Evans. DJ sounds by Rob Fields.
Location: Littlefield, 622 Degraw St. (between 3rd and 4th Aves.)
Time: 7–9 p.m.
Price: $5 (suggested donation)

Continue reading Bookends: Tonight and Saturday Before Brooklyn Book Festival →

As most of you know Brooklyn Reading Works is a monthly reading series at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, Brooklyn produced by me and curated by talented writers and editors.  All the readings are at 8PM. Suggested donation of $5 includes wine and snacks. Books are usually sold and there is often a Q&A after the reading.

I’ve updated the BRW website and there’s a Facebook page as well.

The Old Stone House. Fifth Avenue and Third Street in JJ Byrne Park (AKA Washington Park in Park Slope. Go to the house’s website for directions.

September 23, 2010: Young Writers
Curated by Jill Eisenstadt

October 21, 2010: New Plays by Brooklyn Playwrights
Curated by Rosemary Moore

November 11, 2010: Writing War Fiction by Vets of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan
Curated by Louise Crawford

December 16, 2010: Feast: Writers on Food

Curated by Michele Madigan Somerville (an annual benefit for the soup kitchen at St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church in Park Slope)

January 20, 2011: The Truth and Oral History (the double life of the interview) Curated by John Guidry

February 17, 2011: Memoirathon
Curated by Branka Ruzak

March 17, 2011: Blarneypalooza
Curated by Michele Madigan Somerville

April 14, 2011: In the Year of the Rabbit: Voices from the East
Curated by Sophia Romero

May 19, 2011: Edgy Mother’s Day
Curated by Louise Crawford and Sophia Romero

June 16, 2011: Fiction in a Blender
Curated by Martha Southgate

RingShout: a Place for Black Literature kicks off its new reading series and celebrates the 2010 Brooklyn Book Festival

Tonight at Littlefield (622 DeGraw Street) from 7PM unitl 9PM, an evening of readings by four acclaimed African-American writers.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Tayari Jones, Jeffrey Renard Allen and Danielle Evans.

Danielle Evans, author of the brand new Before You Suffocate You Damn Fool Self, read last June at Brooklyn Reading Works. Her writing is wonderful and I can’t wait to hear her again. Tonight there will be DJ Sounds by Rob Fields. The Suggested donation: $5

Hey everybody: I am teaching a class in Manhattan this Monday Night called Blogging 101.

A group called NYC Entrepreneurs contacted me and asked me to do it and I said, “Hell, yeah, I love to talk about blogging.”

Here is the class description. It only costs $10 and it would be fun if some of you were there (keep me company, put in your two cents, learn something new, teach me something new).

Entrepreneurs create and use blogs to engage their customers/readers, build their brand, position themselves as experts in their field, develop trust and create community.

There are over 100 million blogs online today and that number is growing. How does your blog stand out from the crowd and how do you increase the number of readers to your blog?

Learn how to create a great blog and increase your blogs traffic with strategies used by some of the most successful bloggers today.

In this class you will learn:

• Strategies for increasing your blog readership
• How to analyze your blog to see what works and what does not work
• How to make money with your blog
• How to create rich, relevant and engaging content
• How to use social media and guerilla marketing tactics to increase your blog traffic

Date: Monday, September 13, 2010 at 6:00 P.M.

Location: City Space Suites. 817 Broadway (b/w 11th and 12th) 10th fl
New York, NY

Agenda:
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM: Registration
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM: Presentation / Q &A
8:00 PM – 8:30 PM: Networking

Speaking of poems, my friend Michele Madigan Somerville has a poem up on her blog today called Particle Collider (September 10) for Louise Crawford.

It is dedicated to me, which is thrilling. The poem was inspired by the poet’s thoughts on the day of my father’s funeral in 2008.

The poem is also about September 11th and thoughts about leaving or staying in New York City after that day.

Michele is a Native New Yorker, who writes frequently about religion for the Huffington Post. She is the author of the book-length poem WISEGAL (Ten Pell Books 2001) and Black Irish, her first collection of verse. Her verse has appeared in many literary journals.

Somerville’s work received 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 in 1988.

She curates readings at The Old Stone House in Park Slope, including the upcoming Feast (Writers on Food) on December 16th, 2010 at 8PM and Blarneypalooza on March 17th, 2011 at 8PM and has hosted readings at Ceol Bar in Cobble Hill Brooklyn and Cornelia Street Café in Manhattan. Somerville recently completed two collections of verse: Glamorous Life, and Stations of Light. She is currently working on a novel, Sucker Punch.

Read more to see my favorite section of her poem…

Continue reading Particle Collider (September 10) →

I wasn’t able to identify this car but I asked my dad who was visiting and he rattled it off: a vintage 1956 Chevy Belle Air Station Wagon (down at Coney Island, of course). Thanks Dad.

I haven’t posted a Friday Freebie for a while, but here’s a pretty nice one.  Last night The Americana Music Association had their awards show in Nashville.  In recognition of that event, Amazon is offering a 14 song sampler from 14 artists.  The link to download the sample is here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

I spent three hours Monday night at The Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 listening to Nick Africano, Misty Boyce and Chris Cubeta and The Liars Club.  Wonderful music all around.  You’ll find some photos from that night at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.

–Eliot Wagner

If it’s Friday it’s the arts and culture day at OTBKB’s Bklyn Bloggage:

Maria Baraybar: Art in Brooklyn

The rise of ollaborative consumption: Swiss Miss

My life with Julio Cortázar: Truth and Rocket Science

Shana Tovah: Brooklynometry

Watching the detectives: Old First

Rosh Hashanah sermon: Water Over Rocks

After seeing Matisse in Morocco: The Writer and the Wanderer

It’s Friday and I’m one day late with the home & design bklyn bloggage.Here goes.

Architecture fantasy camp: CasaCara

Moved back but not settled in: Reclaimed Home

So haute living room: Limestone Advenutres

Eclectic bathrooms: Apartment Therapy

Best of bedrooms: Design Sponge

Questions for a minimalist: NY Times

It’s Friday and there’s is so much to do this weekend: it’s actually ridiculous.

On Monday I want a full report on how much of it you actually did, okay? I know I’m going to be busy (Brooklyn Book Festival, Bergen Street Lot Party, Zora Space, BAM). Heck, I just spent the last two hours scouring the listings for the best and brightest things to do this weekend. This is for you, OTBKB readers. Enjoy! And keep reading…

Continue reading The Weekend List: And What a Weekend! →

There is so much to do this weekend: it’s actually ridiculous: On Monday I want a report on how much of it you actually did, okay? I know I’m going to be busy (Brooklyn Book Festival, Bergen Street, Zora Space, BAM). Heck, I just spent the last two hours scouring the listings for the best and brightest things to do this weekend. This is for you, OTBKB readers. Enjoy! And keep reading…

Continue reading The Thursday List: Craig Harris’ Birthday, Bergen Street Lot Party, Mesrine: Killer Instinct →

Gabriela Herman, a professional photographer, who resides in Park Slope some of the time, took a great shot of President Obama on Martha’s Vineyard this summer.

Herman came to my attention when she asked if she could take a picture of me for her Bloggers at Home series (a work in progress).

We had a delightful photo shoot in my dining room and I now get her occasional emails and know about her wonderful blog featuring her own work and the work of other contemporary photographers. I urge you to take a look at her high energy photographs!

What a summer she had; what a great shot of our president. Read more for the details of getting the shot of Barack…

Continue reading Park Slope Photographer Snaps Great Shot of Obama on the Vineyard →

On September 18th at 8PM, Marketa Irglová will be appearing at Park Slope’s new Zora Space on Fourth Avenue near Third Street. The artist, who is one half of Swell Season, recently performed at Celebrate Brooklyn with her musical partner Glenn Hansard.

But at Zora Space, she’ll be performing her delicate, melodic music with Jake Clemons,

Irglová began playing music at age 7, and began playing piano at the age of 8 when her parents bought her a piano and sent her to lessons. When she was 9, her father bought her a guitar and she immediately began playing and learning songs by ear. Her mother insisted Markéta learn piano because, as a child, her mother’s family could never afford a piano even though she loved it so much.

Jake Clemons has been performing his whole life.  As a child his family traveled cross-country singing and performing musical theater. He is the son of a former Marine Corps band director and nephew of an international rock and roll icon, Clarence Clemons.

Irglová and Hansard appeared in the Irish film, Once. Among the songs Irglová wrote with Hansard for Once was “Falling Slowly,” which received an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Irglová became the first Czech woman to win an Oscar, and at age 19 she was the youngest person to win an Oscar in a musical category. Hansard and Irglová performed the song live on the Oscar broadcast at Los Angeles.

This should be an amazing night at the very intimate Zora Space.

Yesterday Boldtype ran a round up of the 10 best bookstores in the US. I hungrily searched the list for familiar and/or local names. The intro blurb lamented the demise of the bookstore and the book business.

“Bookstores are dying. They’re dying because of jerks who are too cheap to buy a hardcover, or even a paperback, and too lazy to get a library card. Guys like the one from Julie Bosman‘s NY Times article, and this guy, and this guy. Even before we break into the eBooks discussion, think about everything else that reading is supposed to contend with these days — movies, video games, television, and the internet.”

It was nice to see their list, which included the Strand Bookstore right here in NYC, Powells in Portland, Secret Headquarters in Los Angeles and City Lights in San Francisco. It got me to thinking of the all the great bookstores that no longer exist in NYC. So here’s my roundup of the ghosts of bookstores past…

Continue reading Ghost Bookstores of NYC →

I’ve just discovered that the new parenting columnist at the Brooklyn Paper is Steph Thompson. Her blog, Gold Star for Trying, is an OTBKB fave.

Sure, she’s got big shoes to fill but I’m sure she’s got big feet (figuratively) to fill them. I met Stephane at Blogfest and I couldn’t be happier that she’s taking over the page I occupied for six years.

Good luck Steph  and you get “a gold star for trying” as you begin your reign at the Brooklyn Paper.

As for me, I am excited to be moving on. I will be doing a new column at the Brooklyn Paper as well as a bi-weekly arts and culture feature that will include interviews with notable figures in the Brooklyn cultural scene. Stay tuned for more about that in the coming weeks.

Sure, I miss Smartmom. I’ve been channeling her voice for 6 years and it’s hard to get her syntax out of my head. Rest assured, she (and Crazy Lady) have been texting, Tweeting and emailing so I’m keeping up to date on what’s been going on with the Smartmom clan now that Teen Spirit is cloistered away at a college. No doubt you’ll be hearing from her in the not so distant future on OTBKB.

In fact, if you’d like Twitter updates on Smartmom’s life sign on here.

Stay tuned.

In case you haven’t heard: the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 12th (in and around Borough Hall at venues indoors and outdoors) is a huge, free public event about books, established and emerging authors from across the national and international literary world.

The event is making a name for itself as a hip and diverse gathering, that attracts thousands of those who love books. The festival is organized around themed readings and devoted to timely and lively panel discussions with top national and international authors.

This year the Book Festival is adding what they’re calling Bookend Events all weekend, all over the borough of kings.  It now includes three days of parties, music, film screenings, children’s theatre, literary games and author appearances that “bookend” the festival—September 10th, 11th and 12th with partners like BAM Rose Cinemas, Bell House, Brooklyn Bridge Park, The Brooklyn Kitchen, Brooklyn Public Library, CoCo 66, Freebird Books & Goods, Greenlight Bookstore, Irondale Center, Light Industry, Littlefield, Pizza D’Amore, powerHouse Books, and St. Ann’s Warehouse!

Continue reading Brooklyn Book Festival Chock Full of Events →

Now I’ve Heard Everything is very happy to offer you yet another ticket giveaway.  This time The Rockwood Music Hall is offering a lucky reader two tickets to the September 16th performance of Sam and Ruby, with opener Dan Dyer.  This might be the show to see for those of you who like quieter, folkier stuff.  To enter, just leave a comment on the original post here at NIHE.

Also at Now I’ve Heard Everything is a video of singer-songwriter Amy Speace performing The Real Thing solo acoustic.  I’m probably posting this more for Amy’s monologue before the song, which is part diary and part stand up.  And the song itself ain’t bad either.  Click here to view the video.

–Eliot Wagner

This little red headed girl LOVES her every Tuesday afternoon art class with Bernette Rudolph and now’s the time to sign your child up for this great class.

This little red headed girl truly looks forward to this weekly class and runs from the PS 321 playground all the way to Ms. Rudolph’s on Third Street.  Alright, she walks after she’s gotten an ices or something from Mr. Softee. And when class is over, she is always very proud of her creative art project (fit to be hung on a wall or displayed in the family’s living room).

A talented Park Slope artist, Rudolph has been an art teacher and art therapist for over forty years. She offers wonderful small art classes for children ages five and up. Classes follow the school calendar and there are only five children to each class.

Basic mediums and skills are explored through varied art materials.

The class meets on Tuesdays 3:30 to 4:30 (Bernette says she will add a Wednesday class if the Tuesday class fills up). Class fee is $25 per class, which must be paid one month in advance. There is a $35 material fee paid once for the term paid the first month.

Your child is invited to a trial class for $25.  
If the child joins the class the fee will be added on to your first month. Classes meet in the Art Studio/Gallery of Bernette Rudolph in central Park Slope (very convenient).

For information and to sign up email: Bernette(at)earthlink(dot)net

Full disclosure: That is my niece Sonya pictured. But I am writing this post because I truly admire Ms. Rudolph and know that her classes are wonderful and inspiring for children!!!

A wonderful show of the work of artist Barbara Ensor opens on September 9th  (running through December 31, 2010) at the Phyllis Stigliano Gallery, a lovely space in the parlor floor of a brownstone on 8th Avenue in Park Slope (62 8th Avenue near Berkeley Place).

And who knew there was such a cool gallery in Park Slope?

Ensor, the author of Cinderella, As if You Didn’t Already Know the Story and Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride is well known for her paper silhouettes. But this show takes her work to another level with brief narrative captions that are at once funny, strange, spooky and fanciful.

The above picture is from another show of Ensor’s work.

Continue reading Take Me Home: Paper Silhouettes by Barbara Ensor at Stigliano Gallery →