OTBKB Music: May Music Calendar and The Last Milton for A While

It’s only hours away from May, so my May Music Calendar is up at Now I’ve Heard Everything for those of you who like to plan in advance.

But if you think that planing tonight’s entertainment now is advance enough, make it your business to get down to 92Y Tribeca to see the last full band show of Milton (both the name of the band and its leader) tonight.  Milton has roots in Park Slope with several band members living here at some point in their lives, including Milton himself.  Full details and a Milton video await you here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner

May 1 & 2: Sping Food and Craft Market at The Lyceum

OTBKB is a proud sponsor of this weekend’s Spring Food & Craft Market at the Brooklyn Lyceum. Over the last few weeks I’ve been picking vendors of the week and that’s been fun. This weekend you get to meet the vendors in person.

On May 1 and 2, the Market will feature all manner of “Handmade” to mean both Crafts and Edibles, as well as fun workshops for all ages. There will be crafters from  Maine to D.C., to ensure a fresh array of products, some represented in NYC for the first time.

The Market hopes to highlight the full expansive array of fantastic, artisanal goods available all throughout the Northeast, and get them into the homes, shops, mouths and consciousness of the thousands of discerning NYC patrons who will enter the Lyceum this Spring weekend, and exit with a healthy armload of gorgeous products they can feel good about. Clothing, clocks, art, gifts, jams, chocolates, cheeses, craft beer.

Pictured: Handmade decoupage light plate. Measures 3 1/2 inches wide and 4 1/2 inches tall, fitting any standard light switch. Each plate is an one-of-a-kind creation made from vintage papers and magazine clippings. This unique item will be on sale along with other items from Trixie and Radar. It costs $15 and Includes two screws to mount.

May 7-9: Bklyn Designs

Once again, BKLYN DESIGNS, an exhibition of designers of contemporary furnishings and home accessories made and/or designed in Brooklyn, will give thousands of visitors the opportunity to see Brooklyn’s cutting-edge design scene.

At BKLYN DESIGNS you can get a first look at new work from over 45 of the borough’s best designers including 10 never-before-seen exhibitors launching at the show. The three-day show, which takes place May 7-9 at St Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO, will have something for everyone including an exciting roster of engaging activities, fun events, lively entertainment, and area dining specials. The full rundown of events and activities can be found at www.bklyndesigns.com/events.

Perks include free coffee from Crop to Cup every morning and on Friday, May 7 there’s an on-site happy hour with free Peak Organic beer sponsored by Inhabitat.com. On Friday and Saturday afternoons DJs Nick Chacona and The Schwartz from Halcyon the Shop will set the vibe and provide the perfect soundtrack to experience the show.

Kids are the focus at BKLYN DESIGNS this year. On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 9, families are encouraged to check out the interactive BKLYN DESIGNS Kids Lounge featuring fun, functional, and fabulous children’s furniture by BKLYN DESIGNers. Don’t worry about your young ones getting bored at the show – the kids will surely keep themselves occupied as they enjoy the hands-on exhibit along with face painters, balloons and fun, kid-focused activities, including book readings from renowned children’s book author and Brooklyn Heights resident, Melanie Hope Greenberg.

Also on Mother’s Day, BKLYN DESIGNS will partner with the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation for the Annual Spring Fling set to take place from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at Pier 1 in the newly-opened Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn Heights. Families can walk from the show to enjoy concerts, children’s book readings and drawing demos from children’s book authors and illustrators, arts and crafts activities, and parent-child yoga. After working up an appetite, you can relax at restaurants in and around DUMBO with specially-priced BKLYN DESIGNS(TM) Mother’s Day brunch menus.

FHA Approved Buildings

Apartments in Federal Housing Association (FHA) approved building can be had with as little as a 3.5% down payment. 500 Fouth Avenue is one of these buildings.

In an article in the NY Post today reports on a program that insures mortgages. In certain buildings that the FHA deems stable, banks are allowed to lend as much as 96.5 percent of the purchase price — 3.5 percent down payment, anyone? After the building and the buyers qualify, borrowers can buy much more than they could have otherwise.

Today: Bicycle Bells Giveabway on Brooklyn Bridge

On Thursday, April 29th, from 4:30-6:30pm, the NYCDOT Bicycle Program will be handing out bicycle bells and other safety materials to cyclists and pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge.  The event will encourage cyclists and pedestrians to share the bridge.  DOT staff will be on hand to give out bicycle bells to cyclists who lack them, and other DOT cycling materials including the 2010 bicycle map.  Using a bell and calling out when passing makes for a safer ride for everyone.  Bike bells are required under New York law.

The nearby Manhattan Bridge also has a bicycle path and provides a less congested alternative for cyclists.

Free bike maps, cycling safety tips and more information about DOT’s bike program is available at www.nyc.gov/bikes.

Register Today for the 5th Annual Brooklyn Blogfest

You can register today for the Fifth Annual Brooklyn Blogfest on June 8th, 2010 at 7PM.

“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 on June 8 at 7:00 PM when the borough’s most opinionated and dedicated bloggers (and surprise special guests) step away from their keyboards to 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.”

Fifth Annual Brooklyn Blogfest

The Brooklyn Lyceum 227 Fourth Avenue at President Street in Park Slope.

THE EVENT IS FREE

The 2010 BROOKLYN BLOGFEST is sponsored by ABSOLUT® VODKA

Tonight: Presentation on Prospect Park West Traffic-Calming Plan

Here is an email from Eric McClure, who runs Park Slope Neighbors about the traffic-calming plan on Prospect Park West. There will be a presentation at tonight’s Community Board 6 meeting. See details below.

In March of 2009, Park Slope Neighbors launched a campaign aimed at calming traffic on Prospect Park West, 8th Avenue and Union Street.  Some 1,300 people signed our petition supporting the campaign, and not long after we kicked off the effort, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) announced plans to implement a significant traffic-calming plan along Prospect Park West.

While it’s not everything we asked for, it’s a giant step in the right direction that will make Prospect Park West safer for all users.  Here’s the project summary from NYC DOT’s web site, and you can download a PDF version of the project plan by clicking here:

[Prospect Park West] currently is the site of chronic speeding which sometimes leads to injury-inducing crashes. The street is in a high bicycle use area, but does not have a bicycle facility, which can cause conflicts between cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles. This project will improve conditions for all users by installing a parking protected two-way bicycle path, removing one through travel lane and installing flush pedestrian refuge islands. This will enhance safety by creating shorter pedestrian crossings and reducing vehicle speeds. It will improve connectivity, mobility and safety by providing connections to existing bicycle lanes in Park Slope.

The need for traffic calming along Prospect Park West is clear.  A team of PSN volunteers armed with a radar gun staked out Prospect Park West during the weekend of March 20th and 21st, and we found that nearly a third of all vehicles were traveling at 40 mph or faster, with the average speed of all vehicles exceeding 36 mph.  The speed limit, of course, is 30 mph, but the extra-wide streetscape on PPW enables and encourages faster driving.

NYC DOT will be providing an update on the project (along with plans for some terrific improvements to the pedestrian, cyclist and driving environment within Grand Army Plaza) to a joint meeting of the Community Board 6 and Community Board 8 transportation committees tomorrow evening.  Here are the details:

Thursday, April 29 at 6:30 PM

Brooklyn Public Library – Central Branch
Grand Army Plaza
2nd Floor Meeting Room
6:30 PM

We urge you to attend the meeting for two reasons: first, it will be a great opportunity to learn more about the details of the Prospect Park West and grand Army Plaza projects, and to ask questions.  But just as important, those of us who want a safer, traffic-calmed neighborhood need to demonstrate support for the Prospect Park West project, since a small but determined group of opponents are doing their utmost to try to derail it.

Continue reading Tonight: Presentation on Prospect Park West Traffic-Calming Plan

78th Precinct Launches Newsletter

The NYPD’s 78th Precinct, which serves and protects Park Slope and Prospect Park, earlier this month launched an email newsletter.  It provides helpful crime prevention tips, information on community events, important precinct contact information, and more.

You can subscribe to the 78th Precinct’s email newsletter, which is run by local business Mad Mimi, by clicking here, or you can send an email to 78precinctcrimeprevention@gmail.com for more info.

How To Contact Your Local Council Members

You should know how to get in touch with your local pols. Park Slope’s City Council Members Brad Lander and Stephen Levin, who took office in January, are easy to find:

Brad Lander (representing the 39th Council District)
456 5th Avenue, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Phone: (718) 499-1090
Fax: (718) 499-1997
email:  lander@council.nyc.gov

Stephen Levin (representing the 33rd Council District)
114 Court Street, 2nd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: (718) 875-5200
Fax: (718) 643-6620
email: slevin@council.nyc.gov

If you’re not sure in which Council District you reside, you can find your Council Member by entering your address here.

What’s With That Brownstone on Garfield?

Brownstoner seems to know a bit about the derelict brownstone on Garfield Place in Park Slope. Slope City Council Members Lander and Levin are getting involved and trying to do something about it. Wonder if they can do anything about the eyesore on Third Street just west of Seventh Avenue in Park Slope. You know which house I mean.

174-Garfield-Place-0410.jpg
Back in 2007, a reader posted a “What’s the Deal?” question about the boarded up brownstone in Park Slope. Today, the Brooklyn Paper tackles the topic. Neighbors have been complaining about the eyesore and potential safety hazard at 174 Garfield Place for many years, but now Council Members Lander and Levin are getting into the act, calling on the Bank of New York to force the owner, a real estate investor named Peter Saltina, to fix up or get out. “It is within the bank’s power to urge [Saltina] to fix it up, or put it in the hands of a responsible owner,” Lander told The Brooklyn Paper. “

Greetings from Scott Turner: Let’s Start Not Forgetting

Scott Turner is flying in from Seattle (where he recently moved) for Friday night’s closing party for Freddy’s Bar and Backroom. It’s like seeing someone at a funeral: great to see you, sorry it had to be for this. It is surely the end of an era for Freddy’s at its location on Dean Street in the Atlantic Yards footprint. The legendary bar will be moving to Fourth Avenue in Park Slope this summer.

Hi, all…

I’m a long way away — in a land where the daytime high in the mid-50s was swell in February and a drag in mid April.  A land where bike riders think they’re Lance Armstrong, where it doesn’t rain as much as New York.  A land where I can see and hear freight trains, cargo ships and landing planes out my front window.  A land where here, too, a dumb-ass government has spent years shoving a rich-person’s development project down everyone’s throats.

…a land not too far to grieve over the passing of Freddy’s Bar & Backroom.

That would be this Friday, April 30, at the corner of Dean Street and Sixth Avenue — the future site of not a school, not a health clinic, not an AIDS or cancer research center, not a job-training facility, not an emerging small business, not an artists’ colony, not a community center, not one stitch of affordable housing, not open space or green space or free space or peoples’ space.  The future site of some ancillary structure connected to a Russian oligarch’s basketball team’s arena.

Friday is the last hurrah for everyone who’s ever loved Freddy’s — the bands, the quizzes, the karaoke, the knit nights, the opera nights, the cringe-nights, the bartenders and staff , the Rev 99 video mixes on the corner t.v. set, the refusal to let people watch Nets games these last seven years, the characters who lived (and a few who stopped living) in the sturdy, eccentric latticework of raw emotions and creative fireworks exploding in Freddy’s every night.

Even when Freddy’s was dead, it was alive.  And when it was alive, you could sometimes feel the dead brush up against you.  Not to haunt or frighten.  Just to join in the fray.  The dead know something about fray-joining.

Because the Atlantic Yards project continues to be mired in controversy, failed promises, suspect financing and the utter lack of democracy and decency, these last nights at Freddy’s will feel, weirdly, like a victory.  We know the battle was worth fighting.  We know that fighting City Hall is A) the right thing, B) the fun thing and C) the necessary thing.   Miscreants like Bruce Ratner and Michael Bloomberg, and their sycophantic successors, will never try this again.  In spite of New York City’s notoriously short memories (“who’s this Robert Moses, again?”) and post-Bush-era self-absorbancies, folks will remember this battle.

Why?  Because for generations, Atlantic Yards will be remembered as the Great White Elephant That Forgot — forgot to stop killing everything in its path.

Let’s start not-forgetting by meeting up at Freddy’s this Friday, for Goodbye. All the Freddy’s musicians will perform.  RebelMart will be flying in from Seattle for a few songs.  It’ll be something to see, all those singers just nights before moving day.

We’ll be cradling these moments, ready to fashion new ones, and terrifying governments who always ignore the dangerous weapons that memories can be.  In the words of Captain Malcolm Reynolds, “no, they won’t see this coming.”

New Blog on the Block: Moms in Babeland

Get out the welcome wagon and head on over to a new Babeland blog featuring the moms of Babeland! There are quite a few of them and they’ve spent a lot of time learning and thinking about sex, love, parenting, sex toys and so much more. If you’re a mom, or know a mom or want to some day be a mom, you should read this blog.

Here are some recent posts:

Are non-moms sexually happier?

Sex Questions: What do kids really need to know?

Vibrating Pediatric Pain Relief

Parlour Games: Dancing in Brownstones with Tze Chun Dance Co.

Calling all dance buffs, real estate obsessed, historic brownstone types and fans of site specific artworks.

I just heard from someone at the Tze Chun Dance Company’s about their site-specific series called Parlour Games. They’ve been performing all across Brooklyn, and will continue to present the free event in historic Brooklyn spaces again this weekend and in June.

They passed along a short video trailer of the piece, filmed in one of our 12 historic Brooklyn locations- 105 St. Marks Ave (currently listed for $2.5M with Corcoran).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMp7g_zlzV4

The Local (the NY Times’ Ft. Greene blog also made a video article about the series:
http://fort-greene.thelocal.nytimes.com/tag/tze-chun-dance-company/

There will be a show this Saturday in Lefferts Gardens and Sunday in Stuyvesnt-Heights.  We are also still looking for locations for our June 20th finale show.  More information, videos, and photos can be found at www.TzeChunDance.com.

They’re hoping that OTBKB readers and other  Brooklyn enthusiasts come out to these FREE shows.

Cool Murals by Shephard Fairey at Music Hall of Williamsburg

Last weekend artist and illustrator Shepard Fairey (designer of that iconic Barack Obama poster) took over the upstairs bar area at the Music Hall and created a one of a kind permanent installation of two murals on adjoining walls.

As he worked he listened to a playlist that included Metallica, Fugazi, and Band of Horses. Fairey created a collage that he says addresses the US’s dysfunctional democracy and the need for campaign finance reform.

Apparently, Fairey is creating murals all over New York City to support his upcoming exhibition at Deitch Projects, and as part of the OBEY phenomenon aimed to enhance the urban landscape.

Photo credit: Gregg Greenwood

Twenty Indie Films in Ten Days on Fifth Avenue

Films on Fifth joins local independent filmmakers with the Park Slope Community so they can share their powers of storytelling, facts and fiction on Fifth Avenue.

Here are some of the films that will screen:

Arusi Persian Wedding *** Half Nelson *** King Corn *** Lock, Load, Love *** Mardi Gras Made In China *** Misconceptions *** New World Order *** Darkon*** P Star Rising *** Reel Works ( Compilations of short films by student filmmakers) *** Sparrow *** Sugar (in Spanish) *** Sunday Dinner***When Broomsticks Were King***

Movies will show at the following restaurants:  Apertivo, Aunt Susie’s, Balucchi, Belleville, Black Horse Taver, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Coco Roco, Gingers, Kappa Sake House, Melt, The Old Stone House, Pirimide South, South Paw and more. Short films will show at Le Chandelier, Lisa Lobue, Park Slope Eyeworks.

Screenings are free with a $10 minimum purchase.

More information at these sites: allaboutfifth.blogspot.com and parkslopefifthavenuebid.com

Some Scheduled Movies:  Sunday May 2: Melt  440 Bergen St. Arusi Persian Wedding and at Belleville  332 5th Ave  Alice Neel.   Mon. May 3: Black Horse Tavern Lock-Load-Love and at Baluchi’s   310-5 Ave  Darkon.  Ginger’s Bar 363 5th Ave: Misconceptions; Old Stone House at Washington Park 3rd St & 5th Ave: P-Star Rising.


Saturday: Run/Walk With Brad Lander for Schools

Saturday, May 1st, from 10 am to 1 PM, run for your neighborhood school with the Brooklyn PTA 5K Run/Walk for Public Schools in Prospect Park (Bartel Pritchard entrance, Prospect Park West & 16th Street). Pictured above is a group of runners from PS 139 in last year’s race.

BrooklynPTA.org and City Councilmember Brad Lander are co-sponsoring the third annual PTA 5K Run for the Schools. Budget cuts in Albany threaten not only after-school enrichment activities but the core programs our children so rely upon in their schools. While it is unfortunate that parents are forced into the role of trying to make up for these shortfalls, this fundraiser is a great way for us to all come together to take action in support of local schools—and it’s good for your health, too!

Participants pay a registration fee ($15/person, or $25/family) and can also raise money through sponsorships.  The proceeds are split among the participating schools. You can run as part of a school team, or sign up as an individual and we will assign you to a group.

Last year there were more than 300 participants, with school teams from PS 10, 29, 39, 107, 146, 130, and 261.  We hope to have even more this year.  We’ll have awards by age group, and for the fastest teacher and principal!

More information & registration is available at http://brooklynpta.org/.

City Shutting Down After-School Programs at PS 295 and PS 282 in Park Slope

From the Brooklyn Paper:

The city is shuttering two much-needed after-school programs in Park Slope and a summer program in Fort Greene because the neighborhoods aren’t poor enough to justify their existence.

As a result, several hundred students who use the Out of School Time programs at PS 295 and PS 282 in Park Slope, along with the summer program at IS 113 in Fort Greene will be left to fend for themselves this summer and in the 2010-11 school year.

“Taking this program away is dangerous,” said Traci Tucker as she picked up her 6-year-old son, Ryan, from PS 282 on Sixth Avenue. “This is for single parents, or families where both parents work, like ours.”

But Park Slope and Fort Greene aren’t poor enough, according to Department of Youth and Development spokesman Ryan Dodge, who said that the programs can continue only in the most-needed neighborhoods due to budget cuts.

“[We} examined our entire portfolio and sought to preserve programs that serve the needs of working parents … in high-need areas,” he said.

As a result, the city will cut 33 after-school programs, with nine in Brooklyn getting the axe. Additionally, 31 summer programs will be cut citywide, including 11 in Brooklyn.

In all, the savings will be $7.5 million.

This Weekend: Spring Food & Craft Market at Brooklyn Lyceum

OTBKB is a proud sponsor of this weekend’s Spring Food & Craft Market at the Brooklyn Lyceum. Over the last few weeks I’ve been picking vendors of the week and that’s been fun. This weekend you get to meet the vendors in person. The cool Kentile floors t-shirt pictured above is from Live Poultry Industrial Clothing. They will be at the show this weekend.

On May 1 and 2, the Market will feature all manner of “Handmade” to mean both Crafts and Edibles, as well as fun workshops for all ages. There will be crafters from  Maine to D.C., to ensure a fresh array of products, some represented in NYC for the first time.

The Market hopes to highlight the full expansive array of fantastic, artisanal goods available all throughout the Northeast, and get them into the homes, shops, mouths and consciousness of the thousands of discerning NYC patrons who will enter the Lyceum this Spring weekend, and exit with a healthy armload of gorgeous products they can feel good about. Clothing, clocks, art, gifts, jams, chocolates, cheeses, craft beer.

Undomesticated Brooklyn: It Takes a Village To Make Dinner?

by Paula Bernstein

Everybody knows that it takes a village to raise a child. But does it take a village to prepare dinner?

In our house, dinner is often a collaborative affair. For years, my husband, Avo, bore the full responsibility of meal preparation — shopping, cooking, and cleaning (well, I’d occasionally chip in). But then when he landed a new job with later hours, I rose to the occasion and took over these household duties on weekdays while he ruled the kitchen on weekends. Now that I’m suddenly busy with work, he’s happy to chip in (what a mensch!).

On Friday night, we pieced together a meal — I roasted asparagus with olive oil and salt and pepper (always a safe, yummy bet) and he grilled buffalo burgers (the ones at Trader Joe’s are the cheapest and the best). It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was as satisfying as a gourmet meal at Chanterelle.

Friends have suggested that we form a dinner co-operative so we can all take turns preparing meals. The idea appeals to me, but the logistics overwhelm me. Just coordinating a play date seems tough enough these days since everybody is so overbooked.

In college, I lived in a co-operative where we all traded off on meal duties. Since I didn’t know how to cook, I made the same thing every week — falafel from a prepared mix. Now that I’m a bit more domesticated, I bet I could even try making falafel from scratch. And then Avo can make some tabbouleh to go with it. I’m ready for the kids to learn how to cook so they can pitch in too!

Tom Martinez, Witness: Mosaic by Juan Carlos Pinto for Rivendell School

Rosalie Woodside, Director of the Rivendell School, and artist Juan Carlos Pinto standing in front of the mosaic he created on the rooftop of the school with students. They hold a frame created by the kids for Juan Carlos as a token of their appreciation for the mosaic and the fun they had with him.

The green area was intentionally left unfinished so the kids could draw on it with chalk. “I want kids to know that art is something you can touch and feel and play with, not just something to hang on walls behind glass,” Juan Carlos explained.

Across the street at the Crooked Tail Cafe on Third Avenue (near President) where more of Juan Carlos’ art was on display. The owner of the Cafe is looking for more artists who would like to show their work in a room specifically created for that purpose.