Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings played an incredible show at Celebrate Brooklyn‘s next to last show Saturday night. If you were one of the 20,000 people in the audience you already know that. I was able to get up close to the stage and come away with some pretty nice shots of the show. You’ll find them here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

Also, JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys play The Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 tonight and The Apple Store tomorrow night; details on both show are here. And we have a winner in the Eli Paperboy Reed Giveaway. Check here to see if it’s you.
–Eliot Wagner

Author Richard Grayson wrote in to say that from Saturday, July 31 through Saturday, August 8th Saturday, it was possible to see 6 different free Shakespeare plays in Brookyn parks – and he did it and even wrote about it.

And that’s not all. He also saw “Lysistrata” at Van Cortlandt Park on Monday, and the two nights before this Brookyn-in-Shakespeare marathon, he saw “Medea” in Tompkins Square Park and “Cyrano” in Riverside Park. He writes: “But this past week was a bonzana for the Bard in Brooklyn!”

You won’t want to miss Grayson’s coverage of this Bard Bonanza!

If you don’t mind going out late tonight, check out Misty Boyce, who is  playing at The Mercury Lounge.  You’ll get great songwriting, spirited playing and an energetic crowd and tonight you’ll get some new song premieres as well.  Details here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

Tomorrow night Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, The Budos Band and others play the next to the last show of the season at Celebrate Brooklyn.  I’ll have more to say about this show tomorrow at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

Kathleen Edwards played a very cozy, semi acoustic show, with back up singers and a pedal steel, in Toronto earlier this week.  I have posted a video from that show here at Now I’ve Heard Everything in which Kathleen reaches back to 1975 and covers America‘s Sister Golden Hair.  The audio, video and performance are all outstanding.

Not all air mattresses were created equal: Reclaimed Home

Black-out shades with clouds: Swiss Miss

Surrounded by art in Carroll Gardens: Apartment Therapy

Flashback South Africa: A Brooklyn Limestone

Best of gallery walls: Design Sponge

While Congress debates immigration reform, an influx of foreigners continue to make Brooklyn their home, adding new accents, flavors, and art to the neighborhood cultural landscape. Non-Native New York is an art exhibition curated by Linn Edwards and Brian Bell, celebrating the cultural contributions of international artists living in Brooklyn. This exhibition examines the artwork that results when an artist is uprooted by moving to a new country, leaving behind a social support system, cultural commonality, and first language…

Continue reading Brooklyn Gallery Show of Immigrant Artists Opens Aug 5 →

Pictures of last week’s Celebrate Brooklyn Swell Season and Low Anthem show are up at Now I’ve Heard Everything.  For The Low Anthem, click here; for The Swell Season, click here.

There’s also some News and Notes over at NIHE today, and the theme seems to be “they used to live in Brooklyn.”  Read the latest about ex-Brooklynites Amy Speace, Kristin Diable, The Damnwells and the Damnwells’ show which goes on sale at 10am today by clicking here.

–Eliot Wagner

Aretha Franklin was set to play not one but two free shows in Brooklyn next week. Sadly, the famous diva has canceled. I can imagine this is causing much pain and consternation over at the Borough President’s Office, which runs the free Martin Luther King, Jr. Concert Series at Wingate Field and the Seaside Summer Concert Series at Asher Levy Park, where Aretha was scheduled to play on August 9 and August 12th respectively. That woman obviously has no respect for Brooklyn…

Continue reading Aretha Cancels Brooklyn Shows →

Sunday I was at Captain Nicks Rock and Roll Bar on Block Island listening to a reggae band from Boston called Ila Mawana. I didn’t even bother trying to find a place to watch Mad Men. As far I can tell there were no public viewings of Mad Men on Block Island. Ila Mawana is a great band with a lead singer named Gianpalo Blower (I’m guessing a made up name), a terrific female sax player name Nancy Loedy and a cheerful trumpet player named Trevor Bernatchez. They really rocked the place though there weren’t very many people in the club and very few dancing to an exceedingly danceable band. Meanwhile in Brooklyn…

Continue reading No Sound at Sheep Station, No Mad Men on Block but Great Reggae →

I have friends who have been going to Dancing Under the Stars every Tuesday night in Washington Park in Park Slope and are just loving it. Every week this summer this event, sponsored by the Park Slope Business Incentive District, features a different band and a different style of music. So far, there’s been jazz, pop, and folk dancing. This week a Latin band will be providing the music and there should be some great dancing rhythms. Continue reading Tuesday Night: Dancing Under the Stars in Washington Park →

For those of you who need to figure out what you are doing well before it happens, my August Advance Planning Music Calendar is now available over at Now I’ve Heard Everything.  Don’t forget that Aretha Franklin is coming to Brooklyn twice next week!

For those of you who’d like something for nothing, Now I’ve Heard Everything is holding a Giveaway.  Win tickets to see Eli Paperboy Reed and The True Loves at Le Poisson Rouge, the new CD from Eli and an American Express Gift Card.  You can read my review of Eli and the band when they visited The Bell House in June here, and then enter the Giveaway here.

–Eliot Wagner

Yes, it’s true. If you do not have cable at home (or specifically lack AMC) the nice people at Sheep Station welcome you to watch Mad Men tonight at 10PM in their back room. Here are the details from an OTBKB reader. And yes, I’ve called Sheep Station:

Like most Brooklynites, I don’t have cable, and like many Brooklynites I enjoy watching Mad Men. In trying to find a bar that was showing the premier last week, I kept hitting dead ends… Until the friendly folks at Sheep Station agreed last minute to show it for me and a few friends on the projection screen in their awesome back room. They’ve agreed quite enthusiastically to continue showing it every week, and I figured it was worth spreading the news to other Don Draper fans in the area. There have been questions posted on many a Brooklyn blog looking for this info which is why I’m sending it your way.

Mad Men is at 10pm on Sundays, and Sheep Station is at 4th Ave. & Douglass St. In Park Slope.

Celebrate Brooklyn hosts a rock weekend tonight and tomorrow.  Tonight’s show is of the softer variety with The Swell Season and The Low Anthem (gates open at 6:30pm and the show starts ay 7:30pm).  Tomorrow the festival goes loud with a triple bill of Sonic Youth, Grass Widow and Talk Normal (gates open early at 6pm and the show starts at 7pm).

After tonight’s show at Celebrate Brooklyn, why not head over to Two Boots on 2nd Street  and catch Li’l Mo and The Monicats?  You’ll get to see country, rockabilly, blues, 60s pop and whatever else she and they may play.  And I’ll add that not only are Li’l Mo and The Monicats terrific musically, they are just plain fun to watch.  More details for this show are over at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner