Get out of the house tonight and spend some time with Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds. See all the details at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
–Eliot Wagner
Yearly Archives: 2010
Thanks to Hugh Crawford, Elizabeth Reagh & Our Sponsors
I’d like to thank the fabulous Hugh Crawford for making the OTBKB make-over possible. This site was originally developed by another paid programmer (who will not be named). That person disappeared in midstream. Grrrr. She said she was done but she wasn’t really done at all. And things were a really klugy mess.
In other words: I got screwed.
Hugh had to pick up where she left off which isn’t always the easiest thing to do. So thank you Hugh for the programming, the design, the Internet smarts, the programming genius, the stamina, the jokes, the putting up with the anxious blogger, the being there when I need you the most.
I’d also like to thank Elizabeth Reagh of Good Form Design for the design of my beautiful logo. I love it.
Thanks to the Brooklyn and Queens Conservatory of Music for advertising with me. And thank to the readers of OTBKB for their loyalty and patience during this transition.
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Au Revoir to Bed-Stuy Banana
Bed Stuy Banana, a highly creative and influential blogger, has decided to call it quits and I know that many are going to miss the great blog with the great name.
Sounds to me like BSB is moving on for all the right reasons: she’s got new and exciting things to do. Still, I will miss her unique take on the world and the glorious pictures she takes, often of signs and interesting graffiti, in the neighborhood she calls home.
Nearly three years ago, BSB named the blog after a bright yellow bodega sign. She described herself this way: “A yellow girl raised in a white suburb shacked up with a white boy and had a tan kid in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a primarily black neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York. Here’s a look at the few blocks that comprise our world and a little bit beyond.”
With her partner and her pre-schooler, she walked every street of Bed Stuy photographing everything from memorial murals to old signs. In her writing she describes her struggles with gentrification, financial hardship, and the joys of being both a parent and a part of a new community.
No one can deny that BSB was feisty and full of attitude. She wrote honestly about her life and the neighborhood around her. Scroll down on the far left column of her blog and find what she calls “the most viewed/praised/reviled posts” to get an idea of BSB in action.
Sometimes she was criticized for not being more of a neighborhood booster on her blog, which rubbed some people the wrong way and delighted many others. To the nay-sayers she had this to say:
My intention was never to portray Bed-Stuy or its long time residents in a bad light. It was to take a closer look, to really see what was in front of me instead of easily dismissing or condemning it and hopping on the train to spend my time and money in Manhattan. To comment about what I find quirky, interesting, and unique in our neighbourhood in what I thought to be a light-hearted way.
BSB says that the blog will stay up for about a month and then it’s going to go away so get on over there and check it out before it is no more. In her good bye note, BSB hints that a photo book may be in the works. I certainly hope that is true.
Here is BSB’s farewell letter and reasons for saying good bye:
So 581 posts, 802 days, and 174 miles later, I’m saying good-bye. Lately I’ve just been managing to keep up this blog as a sort of notice board for various Bed-Stuy causes – but they can be just as easily, if not better, served by Bed-Stuy Blog. For now I’ve got to focus my energy on keeping the amazing job I have (especially in these economic times), which my employer has told me I’m going to need to put more hours into – no more 9-5); on my wonderful partner, Big Joe, my fantastic kid, Little Joe, and myself. 2010 means finally starting the self-defense class I’ve wanted to do for the last 10 years but didn’t have the money for, on continuing with my anger management classes, my recovery meetings, meditation and physical fitness. And maybe one day this blog will materialize as a book and I’ll re-photograph every street in Bed-Stuy with a better quality camera. And my biggest dream – that I’ll finally get a book published.
BSB: Thanks for your great, groundbreaking blog. You will be missed. OTBKB wishes you the best of luck in everything you do and I for one am looking forward to that book.
Brooklyn Bloggage: 01/08
Some of the stories on Brooklyn blogs today:
Community activists are Brooklyn’s newest council members: Brooklyn the Borough
These I like: Tracy Collins Photography
Mom taking pictures of ducks: Prospect: A Year in the Park
Brooklyn is alive with birds if you look for them: A Brooklyn Bachelor
It’s been fun but now I’m done: Bed Stuy Banana
Who gives a shit: Help me, help you: Fucked in Park Slope
The Weekend List: Mulch, Cinders & Anamanaguchi
MUSIC: The PS 321 Neighborhood Concert series presents: Bach and Beyond, featuring Simone Dinnerstein and the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). Sunday, January 10, 1020, 2:00 pm in the PS 321 Auditorium. Tickets are $15 and are available at www.ps321.org
FILM: Broken Embraces, Up in the Air, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and Nine at BAM.
SHOPPING: Holy crap. The Flea is taking over the insanely gorgeous former bank at One Hanson for the rest of the winter. The clocktower Art Deco building at Flatbush Ave., across from the Target mall, will be the Flea’s fancy new home every Saturday and Sunday through March, for 12 weekends only. 10am-5pm, 100 vendors, all your favorite foodies, 3 floors (stunning mezzanine, over-the-top bank, awesome vault), past, present, future.
MUSIC: Radiates, Crayons, Starscreen and Anamanagucci on Friday at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg. Mother Courage at the Tank on Saturday. All ages.
ART: Cinders Gallery presents Know New York. Opens Jan 8th through Feb 7th 2010. Opening Reception Friday January 8th 7 – 10pm with artists: Diane Barcelowsky, Hisham Bharoocha, Robin Cameron, Raul Denieves, Andrew Guenther, Maya Hayuk, Eli Lehrhoff, Dennis McNett, Cameron Michel, Leif Parsons, Carly Rabalais, Johnathan Rosen, Leif Ritchey, Ryan Wallace, and Eric White.
Tabla Rasa Gallery presents: About Face with Jeannine Bardo, Stephen Basso, Simon Dinnerstein, Anita Giraldo, Clarity Haynes, Kiseok Kim. Alexandra Limpert, Alex Pimienta, David Prifti, Stuart Shedletsky and Larry Siegel
GETTING HITCHED: Brooklyn Based is bringing together 30+ local, “Brooklyn-centric” at Wedding Crashers, including designers, florists, caterers, photographers, bands, and DJs. Tickets are $20 to $40. Saturday, 10:30am to 5pm at the Bell House, 149 7th Street.
TREECYCLE: Get your Xmas tree mulched this weekend. You can even take some home for your own garden. It’s happening on Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 2pm at two Prospect Park locations: Third Street and Prospect Park West or Park Circle at Prospect Park Southwest and Parkside Avenues
Drink a Toast to George Will at Freddy’s Bar
This week syndicated columnist George Will threw the residents of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, a life-line. His scathing column about government corruption in the Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Theft Case hit all the points: Using the the state to steal for politically connected developers; Paying consultant AKRF to find blight that only a paid consultant could find; And treating locals the way the British did in 1776.
Here’s the word from Donald O’Finn, the owner of Freddy’s Bar:
The staff and patrons of Freddy’s Bar would like to thank George Will for calling out the thieves in over 450 publications, including the Washington Post. Freddy’s Bar is in a State of Revolt against New York State’s Eminent Domain Law. In the style of our Founding Fathers, we have guillotined the Eminent Domain Law in effigy to announce that this law was bought by Real Estate Royalty and we will not follow it. We also installed the “Chains of Justice” on the bar itself (see Cuff Love, NY Post by Leonard Greene), for patrons to chain themselves to on the day, should the day come, when the Empire State Development Corporation (government entity conducting the theft of the bar and neighborhood for the private developer and his cronies) will try to take the bar for ACORN, Bruce Ratner, Barclays Bank, and Russia’s richest man. This week the ESDC responded to our revolt by announcing they will use the sheriff to physically remove us from the bar on the day of the siege (Daily News). If they can’t pull us out will they use tear gas? Will they use guns? They did not say. They only said they would use physical force, which leave us to wonder how far these villians will go to take our neighborhood to give it to somebody else. This week’s Federal corruption case in Yonkers shows that developer Ratner (called “Developer #2” in court documents) is no stranger to government manipulations for his benefit. We will issue our response to the Empire State Development Corporation’s threat of physical force on at Sunday’s event. Because the ESDC is merely working to take the land for others, our main retaliation for their threat will be directed at Barclays Bank.
This Sunday: Simone Dinnerstein Presents Contemporary Music at PS 321
Don’t miss this special contemporary music event curated (and featuring) acclaimed pianist Simone Dinnerstein:
The PS 321 Neighborhood Concert series presents: Bach and Beyond, featuring Simone Dinnerstein and the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME)
Sunday, January 10, 1020, 2:00 pm
PS 321 Auditorium
Tickets are $15 and are available at www.ps321.org
Brooklyn-based pianist Simone Dinnerstein gained an international following because of the remarkable success of her recording of the Goldberg Variations, released on Telarc in August 2007. Her latest recording, the complete works by Beethoven for piano and cello with cellist Zuill Bailey, received the Classical Recording Foundation Award and was released by Telarc in 2009. ACME was founded by cellist Clarice Jensen and is dedicated to the outstanding performance of masterworks from the 20th and 21st centuries in programs that are both avant-garde and archetypal. PS 321 Neighborhood Concerts is a concert series at the Brooklyn public elementary school that Ms. Dinnerstein’s son attends and where her husband teaches fifth grade. The concerts, which feature musicians Ms. Dinnerstein has admired and collaborated with during her career, are open to the public and raise funds for PS 321’s PTA.
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
New Blog on the Block: Brooklyn the Borough
Bring out the welcome wagon: there’s a new blog on the block and this one has some serious Brooklyn ambitions and talent.
It’s called Brooklyn the Borough and it has bunch of names on the masthead that I recognize like editor and publisher Nicole Brydson, who has written about politics, real estate and culture for the New York Observer, BlackBook, New York Press, Playgirl, the New York Post and the Brooklyn Paper. She writes: “When people still had real jobs, she worked for the House of Representatives, the New York State Senate and Fun City Tattoos.”
I also recognized this name from WNYC: David Bukszpan, a co-founder of Novel-T, a literary clothing line that offers book lovers a way to “wear your read.” Formerly, he was an editor and publicist in literary publishing and later worked in publicity at WNYC Radio, the nation’s largest public radio station.
Here’s a little blurbage from BTB. It sounds like an interesting place. Check it out.
Brooklyn the Borough is nnovative news website, melding the sensibilities of literary print journalism with the digital platform in a magazine feature format. This approach to local reporting is unique to Brooklyn’s internet landscape and intends to shed light on the borough’s subterranean cultural movements in fashion, music and art. Contextualizing the borough’s political and sociological landscapes is key to this website’s mission.
Welcome to the neighborhood Brooklyn the Borough! Great to have you here.
The Weekend List: Mother Courage, Penelope Cruz & The Bklyn Flea
FILM: Broken Embraces, Up in the Air, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and Nine at BAM.
SHOPPING: Holy crap. The Flea is taking over the insanely gorgeous former bank at One Hanson for the rest of the winter. The clocktower Art Deco building at Flatbush Ave., across from the Target mall, will be The Flea’s fancy new home every Saturday and Sunday through March, for 12 weekends only. 10am-5pm, 100 vendors, all your favorite foodies, 3 floors (stunning mezzanine, over-the-top bank, awesome vault), past, present, future.
MUSIC: Radiates, Crayons, Starscreen and Anamanagucci on Friday at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg. Mother Courage at the Tank on Saturday. All ages.
ART: Cinders Gallery presents Know New York. Opens Jan 8th through Feb 7th 2010. Opening Reception Friday January 8th 7 – 10pm with artists: Diane Barcelowsky, Hisham Bharoocha, Robin Cameron, Raul Denieves, Andrew Guenther, Maya Hayuk, Eli Lehrhoff, Dennis McNett, Cameron Michel, Leif Parsons, Carly Rabalais, Johnathan Rosen, Leif Ritchey, Ryan Wallace, and Eric White.
GETTING HITCHED: Brooklyn Based is bringing together 30+ local, “Brooklyn-centric” at Wedding Crashers, including designers, florists, caterers, photographers, bands, and DJs. Tickets are $20 to $40. Saturday, 10:30am to 5pm at the Bell House, 149 7th Street.
TREECYCLE: Get your Xmas tree mulched this weekend. You can even take some home for your own garden. It’s happening on Saturday.
Sunday, 10am to 2pm at two Prospect Park locations: Third Street and Prospect Park West or Park Circle at Prospect Park Southwest and Parkside Avenues
Get Involved in Your Community Board
Think about it:
Local Community Boards play an important role in improving the quality of life for all citizens of Brooklyn , but many people don’t know about them. Now’s your chance to get involved. Applications for membership are due February 22. You can get more info here.
You can be a member. No kidding:
Community Boards are local representative bodies. There are 18 throughout Brooklyn . Each Board consists of up to 50 unsalaried members appointed by the Borough President, with half nominated by the City Council Members who represent the community district. Board members are selected by the Borough Presidents from among active, involved people of each community, with an effort made to assure that every neighborhood is represented. Board members must reside, work or have some other significant interest in the community.
It’s only one meeting a month:
Boards meet once each month. At these meetings, members address items of concern to the community. Board meetings are open to the public, and a portion of each meeting is reserved for the Board to hear from members of the public. In addition, Boards regularly conduct public hearings-on the City’s budget, on land use matters, and other major issues-to give the people of the community the opportunity to express their opinions.
Join a committee:
Board committees do most of the planning and work on the issues that are acted on at Board meetings. Each Board establishes the committee structure and procedures it feels will best meet the needs of its district. Non-Board members may apply to join or work on Board committees.
But there’s a deadline for applications:
Go here more information and applications (due February 22, 2010)!
Jan 25: Gowanus a Go Go
The Gowanus Canal Conservancy will be hosting the first annual “Gowanus a Go Go” benefit concert. The even will feature some of the best bands of the New York City music scene, bringing them together to play at The Bell House in the Gowanus Canal district.
Featuring:
*Plushgun
*PaperDoll
*The Flanks
*Gramercy Arms
*DJ Spiritbear
Monday, January 25th, 2010
Doors open at 6:30pm
Tickets are $20.00 and are available at http://www.thebellhouseny.com or Other Music (15 East 4th Street NYC – (212) 477-8150).
The concert is sponsored by Aguayo & Huebener, Brooklyn Creative League, National Grid, Other Music, and Verizon. To become a sponsor, please call the Conservancy at (718) 541-4378.
Brad Lander & Steve Levin Sworn in at City Council
On Wednesday at the New York City Council, Christine Quinn was chosen to continue in her role as Speaker and new council members were sworn i
That means Brad Lander and Steve Levin are officially, City Councilmen for District 39 and 33 respectively. They take over for Bill diBlasio who is now NYC’s Public Advocate and David Yassky.
During the swearing in event, Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron argued that he should be speaker.
“For us to be the new majority, and not a single black or Latino is in a powerful position in a citywide position, in this city, is unconscionable,” he said.
According to WNYC:
Barron’s supporters in the galleries shouted “sellout” at black and Latino council members who voiced support for Quinn. Barron also argued that the office of speaker has too much power, but ultimately he wasn’t able to get any votes except for the one he himself cast.
Brooklyn Paper: New LIRR Station Monument to Fear
Here’s an excerpt from Gersh Kuntzman’s critique of the new LIRR station and its concrete security blockades in the Brooklyn Paper:
Why bother having the terror trials in a courthouse when we could have them at the new Long Island Rail Road terminal? After all, the new “Atlantic Terminal” rail station that opened officially on Tuesday is one of the most heavily armored facilities in the borough — ringed by no less than 14 mammoth concrete coffins that give the beautiful new facility the look of an outpost in the Green Zone. The appalling capitulation to the so-called “realities” of the so-called “post–9-11 world” have turned architect John di Domenico’s inspirational portal into a bunker. Train stations are supposed to be about magic and adventure, not paranoia and fear. They’re supposed to inspire Americans to explore and look beyond narrow parochialism, not encourage it.
Brooklyn Bloggage: 01/07
Some of today’s stories on Brooklyn Blogs:
A rare book found at the PS Bookshop in DUMBO: Brooklynometry
A Heartwarming Holiday LICH story: Brooklyn Heights Blog:
Nine Good Teeth, a film tribute to the life of Mary Mirabito Livornese Cavaliere, born in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn on September 8, 1899, the second of thirteen children: Pardon Me for Asking
Rilke, 9 Star Ki Astrology & What was up with 2009?: Cathryn’s World
Parenting as existential experiment with artist Rebecca Olguin: Art in Brooklyn
Coming Soon to Seventh Avenue: Johnny Mack’s
As everyone probably knows by now a branch of Johnny Macks, the 8th Avenue bar/restaurant, is set to open on Seventh Avenue between Garfield and Carroll Streets (right across from the Community Bookstore and Shawn’s Wine Shop).
Yesterday the front doors were open and I peeked in as workers moved kitchen equipment in. The transformation of Elementi into the more casual but attractive Johnny Macks is in full swing. Too early to report on decor but I’m hoping they’ll do another great brownstone block mural like they’ve got in the bar area of the 8th Avenue restaurant but I have the feeling that they’re going for a different look.
I agree with this writer on Yelp who said:
Johnny Mack’s has a really nice neighborhood feel. The menu is wide-ranging and seems to have something for everyone. I ordered a roasted chicken special and was very pleased. The chicken with gorgonzola seemed a little too creamy, but the burger looked great and my friend enjoyed it. A good place if you’re going with a good-sized group and looking for a casual place to relax.
I for one think that the new Johnny Macks should be a nice addition to Seventh Avenue. We love going to the 8th Avenue one after movies at the Pavilion.
Okeanos Restaurant Opens on Seventh Avenue
Okeanos Restaurant, a Greek restaurant with a menu that features a lot of fish, has opened on Seventh Avenue and 8th Street in a space that used to be a laundromat.
First impressions: it looks like a glorified Greek diner but that could be good thing.
The menu, which is posted in the window, is promising with its emphasis on fish and Greek and middle eastern specialties.
I will give it a try and let you know. Any other first impressions out there?
Art About Face at Sunset Park Gallery
The Tabla Rasa Gallery in Sunset Park has an intriguing show that runs through January 23rd. It’s called About Face and it presents artwork that explores unusual examples of portraiture. Sculptor Jeannine Bardo’s “Eve”made out of birch bark is one of the standout pieces in the show.
Other artists included in this show are:
Stephen Basso
Simon Dinnerstein
Anita Giraldo
Clarity Haynes
Kiseok Kim
Alexandra Limpert
Alex Pimienta
David Prifti
Stuart Shedletsky
Larry Siegel
The Tabla Rasa Gallery 224 48th Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11220
Tom Martinez, Witness: Stop Deportation of Jean Montrevil
From the New Sanctuary Coalition press release:
At a rally attended by over a hundred people outside the Varick Street Immigrant Detention Center, eight clergy and two community leaders were arrested after stopping traffic for a half hour to prevent vans transporting new immigrant detainees to the center. The participants called for the release of detained immigrant rights leader, and father of four US-born children, Jean Montrevil. They also demanded reform of draconian immigration laws separation of families.
The Rev. Donna Schaper of Judson Memorial Church, where Montrevil’s family worships, stated: “I am being arrested because it is a moral outrage that our government would do this to such a great man and father. These immigration laws that destroy families contradict the values we should uphold as a society. They need to change now.”
Montrevil entered the U.S. from Haiti in 1986 as a legal permanent resident. Homeland Security is trying to de-legalize him for a 1989 drug conviction, for which Montrevil already served 11 years. He has kept a clean record ever since. Detained on December 30th during a routine check-in, Montrevil is now held in Pennsylvania’s York County Prison, where he has begun a hunger strike. “I am fasting side-by-side with nearly 60 others to take a stand against this horrific deportation and detention system that is tearing families apart,” he explains.
“Our son keeps calling Jean’s cell phone, hoping daddy will pick up. He asks me, ‘Why are they pretending daddy is bad, so he will go back to Haiti?’” says Mrs. Montrevil. “Jean made mistakes before we started building a family together. Homeland Security wants to turn me into a single mother.”Jean’s 6-year-old son Jahsiah also suffers from severe asthma, which has been aggravated since his father’s detention.
A community leader, Montrevil became a national spokesperson for the Child Citizen Protection Act (H.R. 182), a House proposal that would bring due process into the deportation system by allowing immigration judges to consider the best interests of American children before deporting a parent. The proposal is part of Representative Luis Gutierrez’s recently introduced bill, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act (H.R. 4321).
“Jean Montrevil’s case is precisely why we need to see the provisions of the Child Citizen Protection Act passed into law–ideally as part of comprehensive immigration reform. We cannot continue to allow inflexible deportation guidelines to separate families with U.S. citizen children,” said Congressman José E. Serrano. “I commend all those fighting on Jean’s behalf, and look forward to a successful resolution of this sad case, and a day when there is more humaneness in our nation’s immigration laws.”
Montrevil has received support from many elected officials along with Serrano author of H.R. 182, including U.S. Representatives Jerrold Nadler, Nydia Velasquez, (all three are cosponsors of H.R. 4321); NY State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick; and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
In a letter supporting Montrevil’s request to ICE for deferred action, Rep. Velazquez writes, “My office believes that his deportation will be a disproportionate punishment to him, his family, and his community.”
At the rally, Dan Zanes performed songs dedicated to the movement to keep immigrant families together, while political leaders including NY City Council Member Rosie Mendez, NY State Senator Thomas K. Duane, and a representative from U.S Representative Jose Serrano expressed their support.
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
OTBKB Music: News and Notes
The Damwells new album, a DJ spot open in Austin, Mary Lamont sings with The Les Paul Trio and The New York Post agrees with me (not politically, of course). Details over at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
–Eliot Wagner
Author Colm Toibin’s “Brooklyn” Wins Prize
From the New York Times via the new Gowanus Lounge:
Irish writer Colm Toibin was named novelist of the year Monday in Britain’s lucrative Costa Book Awards for his emigrant saga ”Brooklyn.”The judges praised Toibin’s ”poised, quiet and incrementally shattering” story about a young Irishwoman in the 1950s caught between a new life in New York and the pull of her homeland.
Census Cautiously
The following is from the Better Business Bureau which wants to help people learn how to tell the difference between a U.S. Census worker and a con artist
For years, the Better Business Bureau has educated consumers about not giving out personal information over the telephone or to anyone who shows up at their front door. With the U.S. Census process beginning, BBB advises people to be cooperative, but cautious, so as not to become a victim of fraud or identity theft.
The first phase of the 2010 U.S. Census is under way as workers have begun verifying the addresses of households across the country. Eventually, more than 140,000 U.S. Census workers will count every person in the United States and will gather information about every person living at each address including name, age, gender, race and other relevant data.
“Most people are rightfully cautious and won’t give out personal information to unsolicited phone callers or visitors, however the Census is an exception to the rule,” said Steve Cox, BBB spokesperson.
“Unfortunately, scammers know that the public is more willing to share personal data when taking part in the Census and they have an opportunity to ply their trade by posing as a government employee and soliciting sensitive financial information.”
The Census data will be used to allocate more than $300 billion in federal funds every year, as well as determine a State’s number of Congressional representatives. Households are actually required by law to respond to the Census Bureau’s request for information.
During the U.S. Census, households will be contacted by mail, telephone or visited by a U.S. Census worker who will inquire about the number of people living in the house. Unfortunately, people may also be contacted by scammers who are impersonating Census workers in order to gain access to sensitive financial information such as Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers. Law enforcement in several states have issued warnings that scammers are already posing as Census Bureau employees and knocking on doors asking for donations and Social Security numbers.
The big question is – how do you tell the difference between a U.S. Census worker and a con artist? BBB offers the following advice:
• If a U.S. Census worker knocks on your door, they will have a badge, a handheld device, a Census Bureau canvas bag and a confidentiality notice. Ask to see their identification and their badge before answering their questions. However, you should never invite anyone you don’t know into your home.
• Census workers are currently only knocking on doors to verify address information. Do not give your Social Security number, credit card or banking information to anyone, even if they claim they need it for the U.S. Census. While the Census Bureau might ask for basic financial information, such as a salary range, it will not ask for Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers nor will employees solicit donations.
• Eventually, Census workers may contact you by telephone, mail or in person at home. However, they will not contact you by e-mail, so be on the look out for e-mail scams impersonating the Census. Never click on a link or open any attachments in an e-mail that are supposedly from the U.S. Census Bureau.
For more advice on avoiding identity theft and fraud, visit www.bbb.org
Gowanus Lounge Returns
Yesterday blogger Eliot Wagner emailed me with this news about the blog Gowanus Lounge, the late great blog run by the late great Robert Guskind.
I just got a tweet from “Gowanus Lounge.” It used to belong to whoever was keeping the GL archives. But I followed the link in the tweet and there is a new Gowanus Lounge blog, with a new logo, at www.gowanuslounge.com without any of Bob Guskin’s old blog there. A check of WHOIS merely shows the hosting company.
Later in the day, Wagner figured out what was going on with the help of Ben Musessig of Gothamist:
Less than a year after the death of blogger Bob Guskind, someone has apparently acquired his acclaimed Gowanus Lounge website and changed its focus. Sources close to the deal told Gothamist that Guskind’s wife was approached by a company interested in paying $7,500 to purchase the domain where the journalist once detailed Brooklyn development and neighborhood minutia…
Turns out that Miss Heather of NY Shitty is the person who now owns Gowanus Lounge. The following is a post from NY Shitty about the sale of Gowanus Lounge to a new owner. I was mistaken. The new owner is not Miss Heather of NY Shitty. Sorry for the mistake.
I have a creeping suspicion who the aforementioned “source” is. It is none other than yours truly. It is in the interest of staving off even more speculation that I am writing this post. Last December my husband, who is the admin for the Gowanus Lounge, was contacted by a gentleman who was interested in purchasing the site: url, content, everything. My husband forwarded this offer to Bob’s widow, Olivia, as it is her property.
After much discussion, soliciting of advice and tough choices a compromise was reached: the url would be sold, but Bob’s work would be migrated to a different site: www.bobguskind.com. This has been done. I will not disclose what was paid for the Gowanus Lounge’s url. This is because it nobody’s business but Olivia’s and the purchaser’s. I will point out, however, that Olivia offered my husband and I a portion of the proceeds as way of saying “thanks”. We turned it down. As far as we are concerned it was the least we could do for a good friend. I hope this clears up any confusion. — Miss Heather
Ribbon Cutting at New Atlantic LIRR Station
Six years in the making, the the Long Island Rail Road’s new Atlantic Terminal Pavilion opened on Tuesday with many politicians on hand.
At a cost of $108 million, the three-story limestone, granite and glass structure at Flatbush Avenue and Hanson Place has a customer waiting area, ticket offices and restrooms.
It’s like a real train station. Wow.
The Atlantic LIRR station connects to five bus lines and 10 subway lines – the B, D, M, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 4 and 5 trains. It is estimated that 57,000 commuters come through the station daily.
You can even take the train to Montauk from there if you are so inclined .
The name will be changed to Atlantic Terminal in March. This video is a promotional video produced by the MTA.
Greetings From Scott Turner: Ignoring What Hurts People
Here’s the first missive of the New Year from writer/designer Scott Turner, who, among other things, runs the Thursday pub quiz at Rocky Sullivan’s in Red Hook. This post is, as always, brought to you by Miss Wit, the t-shirt queen of Red Hook.
Greetings Pub Quiz Bundle-Uppers…
Is it cold? Or is it just Winter?
The Daily News had a scintillating story this morning…page 2, where stories of great import appear.
“N.Y. cold snap to rival horror winters of ’70s” was the real eye catcher. Forget for a second that it reads like a 1950s B-movie sci-fi headline (“Martians to destroy humanity”). The News must have sensed that underwear-bombers just weren’t scary enough.
It’s bad enough to add every Yemeni to the No Like List. Another entirely to add the weather.
The article delves into the meteorological community’s (meaning two guys from Accu-Weather quoted in the News‘ piece) belief that this will be a Day After Tomorrow winter.
The Daily News and Accu-Weather’s prediction for the next two months — and New Yorkers’ reactions
Big storms heading from the Plains states (those frakkin’ Nebraskans!), Arctic air swooping down from the North Pole, and reminders of the winter of ’77’s two consecutive storms that dumped 31″ on the city.
I expected a third Accu-Weather expert to say “and don’t forget, New York dug out from that last ice age 11,000 years ago!”
All of this would have exactly the kind of stultifying woe-is-us effect that stupid baseless reporting usually aims for — except for that graphic that accompanied the story. The three-day forecast’s horror temperatures are 33, 36 and 34 degrees.
Really? Above-freezing temperatures to prove the point that we’re all about to freeze to death?
The Daily News really does think we’re idiots. All the papers do. But really…a story about the winter conditions not seen in a generation accompanied by a graphic that completely contradicts their point?
Well, this is a paper that’s lobbied hard against bodegas selling alcohol-punch drinks called “nutcrackers” but has kept silent about Bruce Ratner getting $750 million in public money for his Atlantic Yards basketball arena for a team owned by a Russia‘s wealthiest man.
which of these will hurt New York more? Wait! Let, the Daily News make the call!
Still, it’s good to start the morning with a laugh. That’s why everyone should at least glimpse Mortimer “Yes, Mortimer” Zuckerman‘s Newspaper of Lost Opportunities. In a town with a paper whose biggest concerns are the GNPs of Central Asian nations and another whose reactionary politics make Sarah Palin look smart, eloquent and kind, the Daily News could actually do what journalism is supposed to — report the facts, give its readership a voice, and offer a platform for truth. Instead, it takes the easy way — weeks of Tiger Woods covers and coddling of rich real-estate FoMs — Friends of Mortimer.
While there are good reasons to read the News — Mike Lupica, the I-Team sports investigators, David Hinckley and the city’s best daily comic section — it’s good to remember what the worst transgression of the news media is. It’s not lying. It’s ignoring the things that hurt people the most. Second most important? Being beholden to the people, not your advertisers and friends.
It helps nobody in this town to spend energy and ink on bodega drinks, Tiger’s paramours and breaking-news that winter is, it can now be reported, cold.
The Daily News sporadically wages up-with-good/down-with-bad campaigns against MTA fare hikes, dopey legislators up in Albany, and city children’s agencies failures. Big deal. My dogs know those things are wrong. When it comes to doing the hard work — reporting on the many frakk’d-up elements of Michael Bloomberg‘s New York that, if the mayor were shoved against a wall by an angry citizenry, could change — the Daily News is a cowardly lion, without even the desire to go get some courage.
Mayor Bloomberg and Mortimer Zuckerman (r.): peas in a rather stanky pod
There are good reporters and workers at the News. But their hands are tied by Mortimer, his minions and the various ranks of editors, lawyers and advertising-account hacks.
It’s not an awful thing to read The Daily News. I do, daily. It still aims to care more about this city than the Times or the Post.
That’s a way-low hurdle, though. This much is clear: the Daily News is the poster child for everything wrong with newspaper journalism today. A newspaper that refuses to dig under the rocks that conceal Bloomberg, Ratner and others’ malfeasant acts can call itself a lot of things.
“Newspaper” isn’t one of them.
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Tom Martinez, Witness: Queen Mary Under the Verrazano
Finding OTBKB
I think most of you have probably found the new OTBKB by now but you may have landed on a weird old page with a story aabout coffee or something. That shouldn’t be happening.
The new url is: otbkb.com or onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.com
Tell your frieds who maybe haven’t visited OTBKB in a while that there’s a new OTBKB and a slightly different way of getting to it.
If you’re using an old bookmark, you might be having problems. You should bookmark the blog anew
What about RSS feeds? Yikes I just remembered about RSS feeds. Any feedback on that would be appreciated.
Some people aren’t seeing stuff that’s supposed to be there. Like the boxes that say Contact, Tips, Advertisement, and PS 100. Are you seeing them?
The category tabs aren’t working perfectly yet. We’re still working out the kinks. I mean, genius fabulous Hepcat is.
How does it look on your browser. Do you use Firefox? Safari? Internet Explorer?
The thing is: it’s much harder to transfer an old blog in its entirety (12,000 posts) to a new system than starting a brand new blog.
Onward and upward and thanks for hanging in there.