Artist Wayne Adams: Art in Brooklyn
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan: The Written Nerd
An essay on Mariana Abromovic: The Spiral Staircase
Pentultimate: Do the Math
The glass of oil: Truth and Rocket Science
Yearly Archives: 2010
Current Weather in Park Slope
Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their Park Slope weather tower.
The Weekend List: Ailey, Brooklyn Film Festival, Allen Toussaint
Celebrate Brooklyn
On Saturday, June 12 at 7:30 PM (doors open at 6:30PM) Allen Toussaint and Davell Crawford bring the sounds of New Orleans to Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park. One of the true architects of New Orleans music and a national treasure, Allen Toussaint has produced, arranged for, or collaborated with everyone from Dr. John to the Neville Brothers to Irma Thomas (not to mention the Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, and The Band). Performing on his own, “the generosity and grandeur of his melting pot vision…invokes nothing but joy.” (Down Beat) The electrifying piano player and singer Davell Crawford is a direct descendent—he’s often referred to as “The Prince of New Orleans.”
NYC Writers Coalition Marathon
The NYC Writers Coaltion Marathon provides an opportunity for people to spend the day writing, meet other writers, attend free creative writing workshops, attend a lunch time talk with Nicholas Dawidoff, bestselling author of The Crowd Sounds Happy, and help NYWC’s free creative writing programs for the formerly homelss, at-risk youth, seniors & others.
Film:
The 13th Brooklyn International Film Festival continues into the weekend: For a full schedule of the screenings go here. Films are shown at Brooklyn Heights Cinema and indieScreen in Williamsburg.
Please Give, Solitary Man, Sex and the City at BAM Screenings are in
Dance:
This weekend and next at BAM: Alvin Ailey “By Popular Demand” Program. Jun 11, 12, 16 & 17 at 7:30pm. Jun 12 & 19 at 2pm (ING Family Matinees)* Audience favorites including: In/Side by Robert Battle; Uptown by Matthew Rushing; Revelations by Alvin Ailey
Music
Saturday, June 12 at 8PM at Barbes: Gato Loco plays arrangements of early Cuban son dance hits from the 1920s-1940s. The quartet plays the great compositions of Ignacio Pinero, Arsenio Rodriguez, Chano Pozo, Quarteto Habanero, Casino De La Playa, Maria Teresa Vera, as well as traditional folk songs, all filtered th0rough subsonic instruments played as delicately as possible. tuba, bari sax, baritone acoustic guitar, and acoustic bass guarantees that you feel the music, rather than hear it.
This Sunday and every Sunday at 8PM at Issue Project Room: Share Free Audio and Video Jam. Share is an open jam, not just for digirati, but for all new culture lovers. Participants bring their portable equipment, plug into IPR’s system, improvise on each others’ signal and perform live audio and video. IPR will furnish the amplification and projection. Share happens every Sunday.
Art
At the 440 Gallery in Park Slope: “Ezra, zichrono l’vracha, May his memory be a blessing” is a powerful installation that chronicles a year of mourning and a painfully altered family life.
At the Brooklyn Museum of Art: “American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection” Featuring over 80 dressed mannequins and a selection of hats, shoes, sketches, and other fashion-related materials. 10 am–5 pm.
At UrbanGlass: “Parenthetical Admission (Things Eventually Recognized After the Fact…)” Artist David Schnuckel presents works based on human fallibility. 647 Fulton St. at Rockwell Place • Tel: 718.625.3685
Theater
Tiny Toy Theater Festival at St. Ann’s Warehouse is a big festival of tiny films.
Saturday, June 12, 1 pm
Saturday, June 12, 4:30 pm
Saturday, June 12, 7:30 pm
Saturday, June 12, 10 pm
Sunday, June 13, 11 am
Sunday, June 13, 2 pm
Sunday, June 13, 7:30 pm
Trees as Permanent City Furniture: Writings by Frederich Law Olmsted
Full Disclosure: I received a promotional copy of Frederick Law Olmsted, Essential Texts Edited by Robert Twombley from W.W. Norton in the mail.
Frederick Law Olmsted, with Calvert Vaux, designed both Central Park and Prospect Park. Central Park came about because their firm entered a competiion to design it. In 1865 they collaborated on Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.
Quite a career.
The editor, Robert Twombley, writes in the introduction,
“His reputation rests not only on the quantity but also on the quality of the work he produced, which, even when neglected, altered, or executed improperly in the first place, remains a constant source of public and private pleasure. But the work itself was informed by his social and design philosophies, which are not always obvious in his writing but are nevertheless embedded there.”
These essays, dating from 1850s to the 1890s reveals Olmsted’s thoughts on park design, theory, landscape gardening and cities, are written in a slightly formal but clear style, and are very forward thinking about the importance of nature in the city.
In an essay entitled Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns included in the collection Olmsted writes:
“What I would ask is whether we might not with economy make special provision in some of our streets—in a twentieth or a fiftieth part, if you please, of all—for trees to remain as a permanent furniture of the city? I mean, to make a place for them in which they would have room to grow naturally and gracefully. Even if the distance between the houses should have to made half as much again as is is required in our commercial streets, could not the space be afforded?
…The change both of scene and of air which would be obtained by people engaged for the most part in the necessarily confined interior commercial part of the town, on passing into a street of this character after the trees had become stately and graceful, would be worth a good deal.”
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
“People Make Mistakes” Fiction Curated by Martha Southgate
On Thursday, June 10th at 8PM at the Old Stone House in Park Slope Brooklyn Reading Works presents “People Make Mistakes,” an evening of fiction curated by Martha Southgate. Lauren Grodstein, author of A Friend of the Family, Danielle Evans, author of the upcoming short story collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, and Martha Southgate, author of Third Girl From the Left will read.
Martha Southgate is the author of Third Girl from the Left, which was published in paperback by Houghton Mifflin in September 2006. It won the Best Novel of the year award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It was shortlisted for the PEN/Beyond Margins Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy award. Her previous novel, The Fall of Rome, received the 2003 Alex Award from the American Library Association and was named one of the best novels of 2002 by Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post. She is also the author of Another Way to Dance, which won the Coretta Scott King Genesis Award for Best First Novel. She now teaches in the Brooklyn College MFA program.
Lauren Grodstein’s books include the novels A Friend of the Family and Reproduction is the Flaw of Love, and The Best of Animals, a story collection. Her pseudonymous Girls Dinner Club was a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. Her work has been translated into German, Italian, French, Turkish, and other languages, and her essays and stories have been widely anthologized. Lauren teaches creative writing at Rutgers-Camden, where she helps administer the college’s MFA program. She lives with her husband and son in New Jersey.
Danielle Evans was born in Northern Virginia in 1983. Her short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2008 and will appear in Best American Short Stories 2010, The Paris Review, Phoebe, Black Renaissance Noire, and The L Magazine. She received a BA in Anthropology from Columbia University, an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the Carol Houck Smith Fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. She has taught in the creative writing program at Missouri State University, and has recently joined the faculty at American University in Washington, DC. Her first short story collection, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, will be published in September and she is working on a novel entitled The Empire Has No Clothes. Both are forthcoming from Riverhead Books.
When: June 10, 2010 at 8PM
Where: The Old Stone House on Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope
$5 admissions inclues refreshments. Books on sale.
Tags:
The Thursday List: Brooklyn Reading Works, Alvin Ailey, Ensemble Laboratorium
Readings:
On Thursday, June 10th at 8PM at the Old Stone House in Park Slope Brooklyn Reading Works presents “People Make Mistakes,” an evening of fiction curated by Martha Southgate. Lauren Grodstein, author of A Friend of the Family, Danielle Evans, author of the upcoming short story collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, and Martha Southgate, author of Third Girl From the Left will read.$5 donation includes refreshments. Books for sale
Film:
Please Give, Solitary Man, Sex and the City at BAM
Dance:
Alvin Ailey “By Popular Demand” Program. Jun 11, 12, 16 & 17 at 7:30pm. Jun 12 & 19 at 2pm (ING Family Matinees)*
Audience favorites including: In/Side by Robert Battle; Uptown by Matthew Rushing; Revelations by Alvin Ailey
Music:
On Thursday, June 10th at 7PM at Issue Project Room: With members hailing from 14 countries on 5 continents, Ensemble Laboratorium presented its debut performance at the 2005 Lucerne Festival. A truly international ensemble, Laboratorium seeks to discover and develop an interactive exchange between the cultures represented by its members, often in the form of projects exploring a wide range of contemporary music.
Saturday, June 12 at 8PM at Barbes: Gato Loco plays arrangements of early Cuban son dance hits from the 1920s-1940s. The quartet plays the great compositions of Ignacio Pinero, Arsenio Rodriguez, Chano Pozo, Quarteto Habanero, Casino De La Playa, Maria Teresa Vera, as well as traditional folk songs, all filtered th0rough subsonic instruments played as delicately as possible. tuba, bari sax, baritone acoustic guitar, and acoustic bass guarantees that you feel the music, rather than hear it.
Tired
You gotta have a tough skin to be a blogger and you gotta have a tough skin to be the organizer of Blogfest. And that’s the truth as Lily Tomlin used to say.
The day after Blogfest I was under attack for having a sponsor and for not disclosing that I was given a bottle of vodka, a Flip camera, access to a VIP gala, and linkage from the Absolut Facebook page.
There. I did it. Again. Now you know. And if you didn’t already know: a well-known vodka company sponsored Blogfest and sent some swag my way.
Yesterday I was tired from the event and from months planning the event. A live event is stressful, you never know how things are going to turn out. I am always primed for disaster, for things going wrong, for chaos.
There was a big crowd and getting them into the space, tagging them, etc. was time consuming and stressful. The show started 30 minutes late.
The Spike and Lemon portion was unrehearsed and I had no real idea how long it would run or what Spike was going to do when he got up to the podium. The vodka company said he’d be there for five minutes. I’m sure he exceeded that. He sort of bit my head off (humorously) when I tried to move things along (“I’ve got this covered. Chill miss,” was what he said).
The party was lavish and fun. I had two drinks. The martini was tasty. The cocktail was not my kind of drink at all. The combination of ginger ale and apple/ginger vodka gave it a funny taste. People seemed to prefer the martini.
The food by Oaxaca, a new Fourth Avenue restaurant (chosen by me) was wonderful and I am very happy that I chose them to cater the event. Jake, who is a part owner, is a good guy and he really came through. The food was delicious, warm, fresh and plentiful. The restaurant has a catering arm and they really know what they’re doing.
My feeling during the show, the Blogs-of-a-Feather breakout groups and the party was that people had a great time. The next day the naysayers were more vocal.
Like last year, the Blogs-of-a Feather element impressed me. Bloggers and wanna-bloggers like talking to other bloggers to get advice, share insight and information. Some of the groups lasted until 10PM and I think that’s very cool.
Reading the comments on Brownstoner and the NY Times I found out what I already knew: some people like me (“You like me, you really like me,” as Sally Field famously said at the Oscars) and some people don’t (hey, what else is new? I’ve been slammed since I started this blog and the Smartmom column. I’m used to it).
Still you need a tough skin and fast fingers to defend yourself from unpleasant attacks of your character.
That said, it’s all food for thought. I got lots of useful comments, advice, criticism, complaints and compliments. I take everything that was said very seriously and I am really listening and wondering and pondering and thinking.
And that’s the truth.
Current Weather in Park Slope
Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their Park Slope weather tower.
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
So I’m a Sell Out?
Looks like Brownstoner and Atlantic Yards Report are having a field day trashing last night’s Blogfest and me. Brownstoner wasn’t even there. He didn’t go on principle and is basing his reporting on Norman Oder’s blog post. Here Brownstoner really gives it to me:
An email we received a few weeks ago described a program whereby bloggers would be given a Flip video camera and some other Absolut swag in return for blogging and tweeting about the new brand of vodka. A number have done so and we’ve yet to see a single instance of disclosure; nor has the event’s organizer, Louise Crawford of Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn, been forthcoming about the backroom deals. (Here‘s where she should have mentioned the payola deal.) This wasn’t just a matter of a company donating some booze and getting to hang their banner in return; there’s nothing underhanded about that. It was a full-fledged sell-out with paid-for but undisclosed editorial pimping.
Brownstoner doesn’t think I adequately disclosed that Absolut gave me a bottle of vodka and a Flip camera in return for a posting about the stoop life. Obviously Brownstoner isn’t against sponsorship or advertising but “promotional blog posts and tweets for remumeration that are not identified as such.”
I couldn’t agree with him more.
I NEVER posted or twittered a promotional blog post about Absolut. Nor do I plan to. Yes, I posted about Blogfest but always mentioning that the event was sponsored by Absolut.
The piece I wrote that appears on my blog and on Absolut’s Facebook page is about my definition of the stoop life. It’s a moody piece about life on Third Street, watching my kids grow and hearing the second plane hit the second tower on 9/11.
I never mention anything about Absolut in the story. In the intro I wrote:
When Absolut Vodka, in honor of the release of Absolut Brooklyn and their collaboration with the Brooklyn Blogfest, asked me to write a post for my blog about the stoop life, this is what came to mind…
Maybe I should have been more specific about the Flip camera and the bottle of vodka but I still wasn’t writing anything about the vodka (or even the event).
I have to admit I wear a lot of hats these days and the last few months have been consumed with organizing Blogfest, a broken ankle and a root canal (and working, being a mom and all the rest). If I was remiss about disclosing my getting a $129.99 Flip camera on Monday, June 7, 2010 I apologize for any confusion that might have caused.
As to the $29.99 Vodka bottle that came a couple of weeks ago: Hugh took a sip but I didn’t. I haven’t been in the mood for vodka lately. In fact, I’m not much of a vodka drinker (more of a white wine person).
In the swirl of activity that went into the Blogfest planning I barely paid any attention to the “Ask Letter” they sent and the “swag” items they were giving out. I don’t feel obligated to do anything on their behalf. I see how it could be miscontrued as payola but that was the last thing on my mind. I know that might have been careless but I was really busy planning Blogfest.
One more thing: Norman Oder’s accusation that the bloggers on the panel and those included in the Blogs Aloud section were chosen by Absolut is patently ridiculous. Norman Oder never suggested that the panelists and those included in the Blogs Aloud section were chosen by Absolut. I misunderstood. The following bloggers are good writers and that’s why they were included in Blogs Aloud: Luna Park Gazette, Brooklyn Mabel, A Year in the Park, The Murder Book, The Audacity of Pope, Clinton Hill Chill, Bed Stuy Banana, Old First, Miss Masala, Brooklynometry, The Writer and the Wanderer, Pardon Me for Asking, A Cake Bakes in Brooklyn, Found in Brooklyn, A Brooklyn Bachelor, Callalillie, The City Birder.
Finally, I agree that having a sponsor at Blogfest commercialized the event. It was a gamble that I was willing to take. I also knew that I would learn a lot from the experience. Whether or not it was a good choice remains to be seen. But it was an adventure and I’m always up for one of those.
–Louise Crawford
Blogfest Not A Sell Out for Absolut
Yeah, I agreed to let Absolut sponsor the Brooklyn Blogfest because usually I pay for most of it out of my pocket plus some admissions fees (and a small number of donations plus plenty of volunteers and in-kind contributions).
Full disclosure: one year Robert Guskind contributed $200 towards paying for the space rental god bless him. For other Blogfests bloggers have loaned me small amounts of money. Two years ago, Petra of Bed Stuy Blog donated $100 but I never cashed the check because it was written to the Lyceum and I’d already paid them.
The in-kind contributions of time and talent from Adrian Kinloch for the photo blogger video, Blue Barn Pictures for the video opener, stage management by Larry Lopata, set design by Dede Kavanaugh, panel coordination by John Guidry, Blogs of a Feather coordination by Mike Sorgatz and Atiba Edwards, the poster by Mike Sorgatz, moderating of the panel by Andrea Bernstein, entrance coordinator Kim Maier and the work of a lot volunteers are just amazing and much appreciated.
Thank you all.
But a lot of the costs still do come right out of my pocket. I’m sorry for not wanting to go broke on it. And it’s not like OTBKB has all that real estate advertising like Brownstoner. Wish I did but…
Absolut paid for the drinks, the food (though I had to arrange it and I gave newbie Fourth Avenue restaurant, Oxaca, the job). They did a great job and the food was delicious. The fee Absolut gave me paid for some but not all the operating expenses.
The Lemon/Spike section of the night had a kind of crackle to it, an electricity that was fun. It was cool when it looked like Spike and Marty were going to get into a row about the Knicks vs. the Nets. I had a hard time cutting off Spike to begin the Q&A and he turned to me and said: “Chill, I’ve got this covered, Miss. That was pretty funny/embarrassing.
Sure, the inclusion of Borough President Marty Markowitz may have put some people off. He is a highly divisive figure in Brooklyn due to his support of the Atlantic Yards but his purpose was to give me one of those Proclamations and I was happy about that.
To paraphrase what I said in my opening remarks: Brooklyn is a place where people strive to know their neighbors, their politicians, their artists, their educators, their developers, their social activists, and those they agree – and disagree with.
Blogfest is a highly democratic and diverse event. Sometimes it’s like a see saw that goes this way and then that.
There have been years when the Develop Don’t Destroy crowd dominated the Blogfest. Although I agree with their views on the Atlantic Yards project, there was criticism from other kinds of bloggers that Blogfest isn’t just for political activists.
But that just goes back to what I LOVE about Blogfest. It is an opinionated and spicy event and last night it was alive with an obviously diverse and opinionated mix of people and ideas.
The elements created by me and my wonderful Blogfest collaborators actually did include the many diverse voices of Brooklyn. For instance, Blogs Aloud, the dramatic reading from blogs, included many points of view as did the The Big Picture, which was chock full of images of social activism and protest Brooklyn-style. The panel discussion, led by WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein, was also a really interesting discussion with panelists, Atiba Edwards of FOKUS and Visual Stenographer, Faye Penn of Brokelyn, Heather Johnston of sogood.tv, Petra Symister of Bed-Stuy Blog and Jake Dobkin of Gothamist.
Finally, I was comfortable with my working-relationship with Absolut. It was definitely a balancing act to keep Blogfest true to its essence, an annual gathering of Brooklyn bloggers. Obviously there’s some disagreement about how well I balanced things. There’s definitely a learning curve associated with having a sponsor and maybe the event tipped too far to the side of Absolut. I can’t tell. The evening is a bit of a blur (all those sponsor martinis). This is a criticism I will take VERY seriously and think about in the weeks and months ahead as I ponder doing next year’s Blogfest.
As for a quid quo pro: I am happy to reveal what Absolut offered the bloggers and me in the name of full transparency. In fact, I told Absolut that they should give the bloggers something for their participation and that people would want to be very transparent about that. I got a Flip Camera and plan to give it to one of the volunteers who was so helpful yesterday (I wish I had 30 Flip cameras).
They gave me exactly one bottle of Absolut Brooklyn.
They paid for all the liquor and food at the after-party. I can tell you what the food cost: $755 plus tip. I paid for the delicious skirt steak hero from Fairway that was approximately $120 plus delivery. I don’t know what they spent on the bar service.
They also contributed to some of the operating expenses of the event, which was a huge help to me because this is an expensive endeavor. There were lots of extra costs that they DID NOT cover like fees for a producer, extra security for a free, hard liquor event and event insurance, space rental, video rental, technicians, table rentals, chairs, etc.
Apparently I will be included as a Blogger of the Week on the Absolut Facebook page, which I think is cool because it will hopefully expand my audience. My piece is not about Absolut but partially about 9/11 and hearing the second plane hit the second tower of the World Trade Center from my stoop.
Yes, I was invited to the VIP gala but I probably won’t be able to attend because I’m presenting a Brooklyn Reading Works event on Thursday night (June 10th at 8PM) at the Old Stone House in Park Slope with the great novelist Martha Southgate, author of Third Girl from the Left, which won the Best Novel of the year award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association in 2006. Lauren Grodstein and Danielle Evans will also be reading from their work. It should be a great event and you’re all invited!
Will all of this “payola” convince me to say that I heart Absolut Brooklyn even if I don’t? I don’t think so. (Personally I don’t like the strong apple fragrance).
Will this make me a “drink the Kool Aid follower of Absolut?”
Nope.
Does this mean I will only order Absolut for the rest of my life?
Nope.
Does this mean they can buy me?
Not a chance.
OTBKB is Taking Questions at the New York Times
I am featured this week in the City Room’s Taking Questions column. Heck, there’s a lively conversation about last night’s Blogfest. Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report asked this question and I will respond today on the NY Times site and here. But not yet because I’m tired from last night’s fabulous Blogfest. This is just one voice of many points of view that is showing up at City Room today.
Louise, I understand that it takes money and energy to put on the Blogfest.
But I and others thought that the sponsorship by Absolut hijacked the event this year.
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2010/06/blogfest-meets-shillfest-as-spike-lee.htmlDo you have any second thoughts about that?
Also, Absolut recruited bloggers–people who work “closely with you on Blogfest”– to join them in “a viral, underground effort” to spread the news about the Absolut Brooklyn campaign, offering them:
· A feature as our “Blogger of the Week” on ABSOLUT VODKA’s Facebook page
· VIP access to a celebrity event in Brooklyn
· Special call-out as a key collaborator during the Blogfest
· Gift of a Flip camera
· Gift of product that has yet to hit store shelves
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2010/06/so-how-did-absolut-recruit-bloggers-to.html
Note added June 10, 1010: There was no special call out of “key collaborators” during the event. Maybe that was a fantasy on the part of Absolut but it never happened. The shout-out at the end of the program was a random list of bloggers who registered for the event. I think the writing in the letter quoted above from Absolut is a bit overzealous and hopeful.
Brooklyn Blogfest Recap
Thanks to everyone who came to the Brooklyn Blogfest last night. It’s always a blast to see how the evening unfolds. The program was, I thought, a nice blend of the planned and the serendipitous. There were moments that really crackled with energy and aliveness such as performer/spoken work artist Lemon Andersens’s entrance and his beautiful Ode to Brooklyn (thumb drives with this performance were given out to participants).
Spike Lee’s appearance was also fresh and fun. He calmly took to the podium and spoke about his childhood, observations about the changes in the borough, filmmaking, why he moved to Manhattan and more. He was there to “promote” his collaboration with Absolut on Absolut Brooklyn but he smartly didn’t try to sell the audience but just talked about his connection to Brooklyn and its stoop life.
Towards the end of the Q&A with Spike, I called on Marty Markowitz, who surprised Spike with a question about moving back to Brooklyn. Markowitz then presented me with a Proclamation declaring June 8th, 2010 5th Annual Brooklyn Blogfest Day.
I must say, Marty made the nicest speech to me about my blog and my Blogfest. I was touched.
This year’s Blogfest definitely had a boisterous middle. But the opening segment, Blogs Aloud was also spellbinding. The talented Charlotte Maier, Natalie Paul and Aaron Costa Ganis read selections from great writing on blogs. I loved the way they brought those blogs to life with their voices and energy and really made the words and content SING.
And I mustn’t forget to mention the very creative Dee Jay Van Veder who added so much to the readings with his cool, sometimes funny musical selections and fabulous party music.
Adrian Kinloch’s The Big Picture, Tribute to Brooklyn Photo Bloggers was an absolutely wonderful 6 minute montage comprised of more than ten photographers set to pulsating electronic music composed by Kinloch (It is on Adrian’s blog, Brit in Brooklyn and on OTBKB this morning as well).
The panel discussion moderated by the expert (and I mean expert) Andrea Bernstein, WNYC award-winning journalist was dynamic and really interesting.
A video opener by Blue Barn Pictures was a great way to start the show…
(I have to run out but will add more to this later this morning with links to all the talented people who helped and information about the show…_
Brooklyn Blogfest: Tribute to Photo Bloggers
OTBKB Music: Norah Jones Opens Celebrate Brooklyn Tonight
Tonight Norah Jones and her band opens of the 2010 season for Celebrate Brooklyn, the music/film/spoken word (which this year is comedy) festival held in the bandshell in our very own Prospect Park. This is kind of a homecoming for Norah, who recently bought a house in Cobble Hill, but as far as I know hasn’t yet moved there.
If you haven’t seen Norah’s show in a while or haven’t heard her recent album, The Fall, be prepared for some changes. Yes, Norah will play piano on a few songs, but will spend much more time playing a Wurlitzer keyboard and a candy apple red Fender Mustang electric guitar. And the songs from The Fall are more upbeat than some of Norah’s previous stuff.
Joining Norah in her band are Brooklyn’s Smokey Hormel on guitar, drummer Joey Waronker, keyboard player John Kirby, bassist Gus Seyffert, and multi-instrumentalist Sasha Dobson (a personal favorite of mine and Norah’s close friend) on guitar, percussion and backing vocals.
Here are some tips about getting into the show tonight:
Entrance: For this show the only entrance will be the one at Prospect Park West and 11th Street.
Lines: It’s going to be crowded and there’s going to be a line, so get there early. The doors will open at 6:30pm.
Give $3: That’s the contribution that Celebrate Brooklyn asks and they put on great shows every year. This year a bunch of their corporate sponsors didn’t pony up, so you should. $3 for Norah? That’s more than a bargain.
Seats: There are about 2000 seats (with the front section roped off for the folks who paid $325 each to attend a pre-show fundraiser). The earlier you get on line, the more likely it is you’ll get a seat. But if you want to make a picnic out of this, bring a blanket and sit on the grass hill in the back of the bandshell area.
Food: No cans, bottles, coolers or alcoholic beverages can be brought in. Everything else (foodwise) is OK.
Norah goes on at 8pm; there’s no opening act announced.
–Eliot Wagner
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Walk the Peace Walk
I just got this press release from the organizers of The Children of Abraham Peace Walk:
The Children of Abraham Peace Walk is in its seventh year of building bridges of understanding in Brooklyn’s diverse communities. Each year participants choose a different route for the walk, in order to visit local churches, synagogues and mosques in different Brooklyn neighborhoods.
This Year the Peace Walk will be in beautiful Sheepshead Bay. Local participants include such historic churches as St Marks Catholic Church, where the walk begins, and the First Methodist Church of Sheepshead Bay, who will host walk participants. As in past years, prayers and story telling and food will help bring Jews, Christians, Muslims and all people of good will together in spirit of peace. The walk is modeled after a similar peace walk that was first held in New Mexico. In past years we’ve walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, in Park Slope and Kensington.
“The Walk is not a political march but a walk together—at once a multicultural tour, a walking meditation and a movable block party,” stated Rabbi Ellen of Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, one of the founders of the annual event.
With heightened tensions in the Middle East and a small group sparking local controversy around the building of the Sheepshead Bay Mosque, the Peace Walk seeks to bring people from different religious and cultural communities together amidst an atmosphere of mutual respect.
While religion is often times a source of division, the purpose of the walk is to harness religion’s capacity to awaken compassion and a sense of hospitality. As neighbors within Brooklyn, we celebrate the opportunity to come together, to learn from each other, and to build a sense of community.
“The Children of Abraham Peace Walk is intended to promote dialogue and not provoke controversy,” stated Adem Carroll of Muslim Consultative Network, one of several sponsoring organizations. “Every community must work out its own issues, but the organizers of our Walk do see dialogue and trust-building among neighbors as essential to any community.”
The Brooklyn Blogfest is TONIGHT
“Where better to take the pulse of this rapidly growing community of writers, thinkers and observers than the Brooklyn Blogfest?” ~ Sewell Chan, The New York Times
How many bloggers does it take to fill the Brooklyn Lyceum? Come find out TONIGHT (June 8 at 7:00 PM) when the borough’s most opinionated and dedicated bloggers and special guests Spike Lee and performer Lemon Andersen sound off about how and why Brooklyn remains such a rich source of material and inspiration.
But forget about filling the room. Here’s the real question the Brooklyn Blogfest will answer: How many bloggers does it take to wrap their arms around New York’s most happening borough? So, whether you are a blogger, wannablogger, reader, or media maven, you’ll want to come see for yourself. And meet up with this year’s most tenaciously keen tribe of bloggers as they gather to celebrate all the reasons Brooklyn is such a potent source of runaway creativity.
Since it was founded in 2005, the Brooklyn Blogfest has established itself as the nexus of creativity, talent, and insight among the blogosphere’s brightest lights. This year will be no different as a panel of blogging’s best disect the unique brand of entrepreneurial creativity flourishing here. Also on tap: a video tribute to Brooklyn’s most visionary photo bloggers, special networking sessions for like-minded bloggers (i.e. Blogs of a Feather), the return of the ever-popular Shout-out, when bloggers are invited to share their blogs with the world, and a roof-raising after-party with ABSOLUT® VODKA cocktails, food and music.
“The borough of Brooklyn has always been front and center in the world of blogging,” says Louise Crawford, founder of the Brooklyn Blogfest and onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.com. “Whether you live by a blog, blog to live, or live to blog, you’ll want to come out on June 8.”
We’re expecting a big crowd so come by early, doors open at 6:30 PM but you can line up at 6PM. If you didn’t pre-register you can still get in..
The Brooklyn Lyceum
227 Fourth Avenue at President Street in Park Slope Brooklyn
THIS EVENT IS FREE
The 2010 BROOKLYN BLOGFEST is sponsored by ABSOLUT® VODKA
June 10: People Make Mistakes: Fiction Curated by Martha Southgate
On Thursday, June 10th at 8PM at the Old Stone House in Park Slope Brooklyn Reading Works presents “People Make Mistakes,” an evening of fiction curated by Martha Southgate. Lauren Grodstein, author of A Friend of the Family, Danielle Evans, author of the upcoming short story collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, and Martha Southgate, author of Third Girl From the Left will read.
Martha Southgate is the author of Third Girl from the Left, which was published in paperback by Houghton Mifflin in September 2006. It won the Best Novel of the year award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It was shortlisted for the PEN/Beyond Margins Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy award. Her previous novel, The Fall of Rome, received the 2003 Alex Award from the American Library Association and was named one of the best novels of 2002 by Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post. She is also the author of Another Way to Dance, which won the Coretta Scott King Genesis Award for Best First Novel. She now teaches in the Brooklyn College MFA program.
Lauren Grodstein’s books include the novels A Friend of the Family and Reproduction is the Flaw of Love, and The Best of Animals, a story collection. Her pseudonymous Girls Dinner Club was a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. Her work has been translated into German, Italian, French, Turkish, and other languages, and her essays and stories have been widely anthologized. Lauren teaches creative writing at Rutgers-Camden, where she helps administer the college’s MFA program. She lives with her husband and son in New Jersey.
Danielle Evans was born in Northern Virginia in 1983. Her short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2008 and will appear in Best American Short Stories 2010, The Paris Review, Phoebe, Black Renaissance Noire, and The L Magazine. She received a BA in Anthropology from Columbia University, an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the Carol Houck Smith Fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. She has taught in the creative writing program at Missouri State University, and has recently joined the faculty at American University in Washington, DC. Her first short story collection, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, will be published in September and she is working on a novel entitled The Empire Has No Clothes. Both are forthcoming from Riverhead Books.
When: June 10, 2010 at 8PM — Where: The Old Stone House (theoldstonehouse.org)on Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope — $5
Undomesticated Brooklyn: My Friend, She’s Fried
My best friend Dori was a foodie before being a foodie was cool. She is the sort of person who phones just to tell you she made the most fabulous Potatoes Au Gratin with Gruyere that you just have to try. When we eat out, she knows where to go and exactly what to order (and how it should be cooked).
When her children were infants, instead of relying on store bought baby food, she mashed sweet potatoes and peas from scratch. As her kids grew into toddlers, Dori insisted on cooking them homemade chicken nuggets since she couldn’t stomach serving them the frozen kind.
Dori always makes cooking seem effortless and fun. Somehow, she manages to whip up dinner for eight with two kids underfoot while still looking as glamorous as a movie star (some see a resemblance to Meg Ryan). Not surprisingly, she has always been baffled – if not a bit irked – by my culinary ineptitude.
After years of rolling my eyes and listening patiently as she recounted her latest success in the kitchen, I finally have begun to take an interest. Now that I’ve begun to cook myself, I appreciate her passion for food and cooking even more. I’m lucky to have her on hand to (well, by phone or e-mail) to answer my questions about grilling, sauteing, steaming, and everything in between.
I’m proud to say that after years of dreaming about it, Dori has finally taken the leap and begun cooking school at the Institute for Culinary Education in Manhattan. She had taken recreational cooking classes there before, but this one is for pros. Of course, I thought Dori already knew everything there was to know, but I’m sure they can teach her a thing or two.
Dori is chronicling her journey on her blog, She’s Fried, which, like Dori, is funny, smart, animated, and always surprising.
In her most recent post, Dori tells of how she took on a lobster — and lost. Well, to be fair, she won (the lobster is dead), but she lost some blood in the process.
Check it out and see She’s Fried for yourself.
Life on the Stoop
When Absolut Vodka, in honor of the release of Absolut Brooklyn and their collaboration with the Brooklyn Blogfest, asked me to write a post for my blog about the stoop life, this is what came to mind:
It seems like I’ve spent years of my life sitting on the limestone stoop of my apartment building in Park Slope watching the world go by.
From the stoop I’ve watched my children grow. Now 13 and 19, they’ve spent countless hours playing with friends, inventing imaginary games, and racing their bikes and scooters from one end of the block to the other.
On hot summer days we used to take the plastic turtle kiddy pool out of the basement and fill it with iced cold water. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t a lavish suburban pool. I could cool my toes and supervise the kids having plenty of splashy fun.
More meals than I can remember have been eaten on our Third Street stoop. We’ve ordered Chicken Lo Mein from Szechuan Delight and pizza from Pino’s and enjoyed homemade barbecue grilled on the Weber that we keep chained to our basement gate.
Those summer barbecues are legend on Third Street. Neighbors bring their salads, meats, fish, vegetables and condiments downstairs and everyone cooks and eats together. My neighbor on the first floor always mans the barbecue expertly grilling the food, his face sweaty and red by the end of the night.
After dinner, the kids roast marshmallows on the grill and make chocolate S’mores, which leave a sticky mess on the sidewalk the next morning.
On Halloween night, we have a VIP view from the stoop of the magical Park Slope Halloween Parade as colorfully costumed adults and children move past our building.
Throughout the year, I learn the news of the block, the neighborhood, the city and the world from the stoop.
I was on the stoop when I found out that a young mother in the building next door was dying of brain cancer. Neighbors and friends banded together to help the family through this unthinkable tragedy.
I was on the stoop when I heard the faint rumble of an airplane hitting the second tower of the World Trade Center. I wasn’t sure what I was hearing until my neighbor ran into the building with radio pinned to his ear.
“We’re being attacked.” he said.
News travels fast on the stoop, where we talk about our children’s successes and troubles. We share news of weddings, graduations, school admissions, reunions; it’s where we keep up to date on local politics and school life. We complain, whine, opine, brag, tell stories, joke and basically live our lives out loud on the stoop.
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
June 10: Children of Abraham Peace Walk
I walked the Peace Walk last year and it was really interesting and fun. I highly recommend it for those who believe that people of different faiths and different life experience can enjoy mutual respect and friendship.
Every year the walk covers a new neighborhood. Last year they went from Sunset Park to Park Slope stopping in at Beth Elohim and concluding at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, where there was an excellent program of poetry, speeches and a VERY delicious buffet dinner.
This year they’ll start on East 19th Street and end up at Sheepshead Bay. And I’m sure there will be delicious dinner.
So think about joining the peace walk.
This year’s Children of Abraham Peace Walk is on Thursday, June 10 from 4-7PM. In the spirit of peace, Jews, Christians, Muslims and people of other religious persuasions, walk and stop at stop at various houses of worship. They will conclude at the building site of a new mosque.
The group will be supporting the emergence of this new faith community while deepening their interfaith connections
and spreading the message that here in Brooklyn there is interfaith friendship and respect.
I’ll drink to that.
The walk begins at: St. Mark’s Church, 2609 East 19th Street (corner of Ocean Avenue & Avenue Z.
Subway: B/Q to Sheepshead Bay Station) in Brooklyn. The group will walk south along Ocean Avenue to the water of Sheepshead Bay.
They will then make a left on Emmons Avenue (after crossing Emmons) to the marina. At Bedford Avenue the group will turn left onto Bedford, then right on Voorhies Avenue.
The walk ends at the proposed building site of the mosque, 2812 Voorhies Avenue (about a quarter mile, near 28th St.).
Refreshments will be served. All ages welcome.
OTBKB Music: Folk City at 50
Folk City was THE club in the New York City music scene back in the day. The owner of Folk City was Mike Porco, and tonight, his grandson, Bob Porco, will present a show in honor of Folk City’s 50th anniversary at The Village Underground, which is in the building where Folk City spent most of its years until it closed in the late 80s, with more than 40 Folk City alumni performing. Details and a video of The Roches talking about the place and singing Face Down at Folk City are over at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
–Eliot Wagner
Tonight at the Tea Lounge: The Easy-Bake Orchestra
Don’t miss this BIG musical treat at the Tea Lounge on Monday, June 7th at 9PM at 837 Union Street, Brooklyn, New York
The Joshua Shneider Easy-Bake Orchestra is a 17 piece ensemble comprised of some of NYC’s most illustrious and adventurous improvisors, interpreting the music and arrangements of Joshua Shneider.
The Tea Lounge gig is part of the Monday night Big Band series, Size Matters, curated J.C. Sanford. Please check the schedule for other great bands.
Josh Shneider and the EasyBake Orchestra will perform new compositions. The wonderful (and I mean wonderful) Saundra Williams will be singing with the band. Saundra has sung with Victor Wooten, Phish, and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings among many others. Saundra can currently be seen in the new movie “Phish 3D”.
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
People Make Mistakes: Fiction Curated by Martha Southgate on June 10
On Thursday, June 10th at 8PM at the Old Stone House in Park Slope Brooklyn Reading Works (brooklynreadingworks.com) presents “People Make Mistakes,” an evening of fiction curated by Martha Southgate. Lauren Grodstein, author of A Friend of the Family, Danielle Evans, author of the upcoming short story collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, and Martha Southgate, author of Third Girl From the Left will read.
Martha Southgate is the author of Third Girl from the Left, which was published in paperback by Houghton Mifflin in September 2006. It won the Best Novel of the year award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It was shortlisted for the PEN/Beyond Margins Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy award. Her previous novel, The Fall of Rome, received the 2003 Alex Award from the American Library Association and was named one of the best novels of 2002 by Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post. She is also the author of Another Way to Dance, which won the Coretta Scott King Genesis Award for Best First Novel. She now teaches in the Brooklyn College MFA program.
Lauren Grodstein’s books include the novels A Friend of the Family and Reproduction is the Flaw of Love, and The Best of Animals, a story collection. Her pseudonymous Girls Dinner Club was a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. Her work has been translated into German, Italian, French, Turkish, and other languages, and her essays and stories have been widely anthologized. Lauren teaches creative writing at Rutgers-Camden, where she helps administer the college’s MFA program. She lives with her husband and son in New Jersey.
Danielle Evans was born in Northern Virginia in 1983. Her short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2008 and will appear in Best American Short Stories 2010, The Paris Review, Phoebe, Black Renaissance Noire, and The L Magazine. She received a BA in Anthropology from Columbia University, an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the Carol Houck Smith Fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. She has taught in the creative writing program at Missouri State University, and has recently joined the faculty at American University in Washington, DC. Her first short story collection, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, will be published in September and she is working on a novel entitled The Empire Has No Clothes. Both are forthcoming from Riverhead Books.
When: June 10, 2010 at 8PM — Where: The Old Stone House (theoldstonehouse.org)on Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope — $5
Diane Arbus Birthday: Hugh’s 50th in 2005
One can safely assume that my husband’s 50th birthday cake for his birthday party on June 4, 2005, was probably the only cake EVER to have a Diane Arbus photograph painted on it in icing.
And that’s not all. The cake also had photographs by Muybridge, Stieglitz, Julia Cameron, Ansel Adams, Feinineger and even Hugh Crawford, painted in gorgeous sepia hues.
Created by Park Slope cake designer, Ruth Seidler, the cake was a vertible history of photography. And it was a smash hit at my husband’s 50th birthday party on Saturday night at The Old Stone House. An almond sheet cake with rasberry frosting on the inside and marzipany frosting on the outside, it was astonishingly delicious.
JollyBe Bakery is the name of Ruth’s baking business. A former art restorer, she makes all kinds of painted, stained glass and sculptural cakes. For my father’s 75th birthday she created a Matisse cake that was also quite wonderful (pictured above).
Last night, we had an impromptu after-party in our front yard on Third Street. The kids enjoyed singing Happy Birthday. Then they got to the part about “Are you 1?. Are you 2? Are you 3,? Are you 4?…” etc.
Finally, my daughter shouted out: “Let’s just count by tens!”
And yes, that was a more expedient way to reach the momentous number.
Today – June 6th, 2010, is Hugh’s Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUGH!
Monday Night at Tea Lounge: Easy-Bake Orchestra
Don’t miss this BIG musical treat at the Tea Lounge on Monday, June 7th at 9PM at 837 Union Street, Brooklyn, New York
The Joshua Shneider Easy-Bake Orchestra is a 17 piece ensemble comprised of some of NYC’s most illustrious and adventurous improvisors, interpreting the music and arrangements of Joshua Shneider.
The Tea Lounge gig, Size Matters, is part of the Monday night Big Band series curated J.C. Sanford. Please check the schedule for other great bands.
Josh Shneider and the EasyBake Orchestra will perform new compositions. The wonderful (and I mean wonderful) Saundra Williams will be singing with the band. Saundra has sung with Victor Wooten, Phish, and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings among many others. Saundra can currently be seen in the new movie “Phish 3D”.