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Windsor Terrace Says No to Walgreens!

July 31, 2012 admin

A community group calling itself Green Beans Not Walgreens is organizing a protest on Wednesday as tensions rise because Walgreens will be replacing Windsor Terrace’s just departed Key Food supermarket.

The closure of Windsor Terrace’s Key Food leaves the neighborhood without a single full service grocery store.

Windsor Terrace is generally a quiet place. A neighborhood known for its civil servants, police and firefighters, in the last decade has gentrified to include Park Slope type families (whatever I mean by that).

Clearly, this issue has radicalized locals and three hundred residents filled a local church for an anti-Walgreens meeting. Support your Windsor Terrace neighbors with their great slogan: Green Beans Not Walgreens. A bunch of local pols will be in attendance, including Assemblyman James Brennan, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Councilman Brad Lander, and Windsor Terrace Alliance.

Gotta love it.

Who: Green Beans Not Walgreens (community group), Assemblyman James Brennan, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Councilman Brad Lander, and Windsor Terrace Alliance.

When: Wednesday, August 1, 2012 at 10 am.

Where: Site of soon-to-open Walgreens, 589 Prospect Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11218

arts and culture

Two Marriages, Two Birthdays and a Tale of August 28th in Park Slope Copy

July 31, 2012 admin 4 Comments

Standing behind artist Simon Dinnerstein in line at the Park Slope Copy Shop, we fell into a conversation about the fact that he’d been married twice.

“Oh?” I said.

“Twice to the same woman,” he told me.

“Ah,” I said with obvious interest. I added that I knew the date of one of his anniversaries because I’d once run into Simon and his wife Renee at Belleville Bistro. It was on August 28, 2005 when they were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary and my twin sister and I were celebrating our 47th birthday.

“August 28th,” I said.

“Yes, that’s right,” he said.

He went on to tell an interesting story about what happened on August 26th in 1965. But first a little history…

arts and culture

Sunday Number 3: Breaking Bad at The Gate

The Gate was quite crowded last night for its weekly showing of Breaking Bad.

This week I went with my son, who is officially 21. We sat at the bar. He had a PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon, I learned) and I had a glass of white wine.

The sound worked perfectly and everyone quieted down when the show came on. The episode was excellent. No spoilers here except to say that Marie is getting wackier, Skyler is going off the rails, Walt is inscrutable, Jesse is as tragic as ever and Mike is fascinating.

arts and culture

Must See Doc Film: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

File this under: A must-see documentary that will resonate with those who are passionate about art, freedom, blogging and social media.

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Alison Klayman’s new documentary now playing at the IFC and Lincoln Plaza Cinema in Manhattan, is an intimate and powerful portrait of a very interesting contemporary Chinese artist who was recently detained by the Chinese for 81 days because of his so-called anti-government activities. He was a design consultant for Bejing’s Olympic Stadium called “The Bird’s Nest.”

Ai Weiwei is a large, gentle man born during the Cultural Revolution. In his twenties, he lived in New York City and was inspired by the free atmosphere of the 1980’s East Village art scene.

He returned to China after Tiananmen Square, which radicalized him and motivated him to create a dissident Chinese art scene. In the film, Ai Weiwei blogs and uses Twitter constantly as a way to inform the world about the repressive and corrupt tactics of the Chinese government. In a sense Twitter is one of his mediums and he uses it brilliantly.

Among other things, we watch as Ai Weiwei creates a 2010 exhibition at the Tate Modern in London called “Sunflower Seeds.” In the film, we watch as he and his assistants arrange 100 million handmade porcelain sunflower seeds on an enormous gallery floor.

I found his use of Twitter fascinating and it made me further appreciate the power of that social media form

Food and Drink

Have You Been to Greenwood Park?

It sounds like quite the extravaganza.

Greenwood Park is a 13,000-square-foot beer garden, bar and restaurant, which opened recently at the foot of Green-Wood Cemetery (555 Seventh Avenue). Open noon until 2AM, they’ve got 60 tap lines, an indoor bar as well as an outdoor cargo bar, 3 bocce ball courts a menu that will be serving from noon to midnight

Quite the extravaganza.

I love the fence made of shipping containers. That’s all I’ve seen. I might just go and take a look and get a, um, a beer. Have you been?

Bungalow Colony for Free Range Families in Upstate NY

July 30, 2012 admin 1 Comment

I just heard from Lenore Skenazy, an old friend of Smartmom and OTBKB. She’s the Free Range Mom, who made news when she let her son ride the subway when he was only 11-years-old. I wrote an article for Newsweek.com (now The Daily Beast) about it and Skenazy wrote a book and started a blog called, Free Range Kids: Giving our Kids the Freedom we Had Without Going Nuts with Worry.

Well, today she told me about a great place to vacation with free range kids. It’s called Rosmarins Cottages and it’s a bungalow colony. There are no Park Slopers there at the moment but hey, you can be the first. Skenazy says it’s a wonderful, hidden treasure.

One of the most important aspects is that your child can go to camp, run free in the sprawling grounds, all the while the adults have their own version of summer camp– they can relax and kick back, safe in the knowledge that their child is having the summer of their lives, whilst they fire up the grill for their friends and bungalow neighbors.

And the location of Rosmarins couldn’t be more ideal: It’s only an hour outside of New York, which makes it easy to commute back and forth if need be.

If you are interested, you can spend the day with your family at Rosmarins on Saturday, August 4th or 5th (that’s this weekend) or the following weekend August 11th or 12th.

Alternatively, if you would like to speak to Scott Rosmarin about what the bungalow experience entails and the history of this bungalow colony you can email melmyers6(at)gmail(dot)com.

arts and culture

Race Imboden in Men’s Individual Foil on July 31

Race Imboden, our Park Slope Olympic hopeful, will be competing in the Men’s Individual Foil on Tuesday July 31. I can’t quite figure out when and where it will be televised. You can stream it from the NBC Olympics 2012 website.

arts and culture

Gina Barreca: Why Indie Bookstores Matter

I just love Gina Barreca’s funny and smart take on the world.

On Huffington Post today, Gina Barreca writes a love letter to independent bookstores.

For those who don’t know, Gina blogs for the Chronicle for Higher Education, Huff Post and Psychology Today. She is also a professor of English and feminist theory at the University of Connecticut. Her books, which have been translated into seven languages, include They Used to Call Me Snow White But I Drifted, Babes in Boyland, and It’s Not That I’m Bitter. Her latest book, Make Mine a Double, was published in September 2011 and includes an essay of mine in there called the Park Slope Stroller Wars.

Here’s an excerpt from a piece called Why Independent Bookstores Matter, which will resonate with Park Slopers, great supporters of indie bookstores like the Community Bookstore. Read the rest on Huff Post.

“Independent bookstores do everything big corporate bookstores do, with only one significant difference: Independents do it better.

“Without independent bookstores — meaning those places not owned by huge corporate chains or multinational conglomerates –there would be three, maybe four, books published a year.

“There would be a blockbuster thriller, a densely detailed romance, a pseudo-science exploration of a catchy phenomena, and a celebrity bio.

“And a diet book — there would be a diet book.

“So eventually, there would be one book issued per year: a densely detailed autobiographical and pseudo-scientific celebrity thriller containing recipes. Denzel Washington meets Stephen J. Gould meets Don Delillo meets The Naked Chef. Yum.”

Stats on Park Slope’s Olympic Fencing Hopeful: Race Imboden

July 28, 2012 admin

I’m so jazzed up after seeing the Opening Ceremonies last night that I wanted to check in on Park Slope’s Race Imboden. I found these stats on Race at the US Fencing website.Home: Brooklyn, N.Y.Birth Year: 1993
Event: Foil

Height: 6′ 1″

Weight: 155 lbs.

Birthplace: Tampa, Fla.

Current Residence: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Club: Empire United Fencing

Coach: Jed Dupree

Most People Don’t Know That… I used to be a BMX racing champion.

Current U.S. Ranking: #1 (Junior), #1 (Senior)

Current World Ranking: #13 (Junior), #5 (Senior)

Olympic Teams: 2012

Senior World Championship Teams: 2011 (Eighth)

Junior World Championship Teams: 2012 (Gold – Team), 2011 (Gold – Team)

Cadet World Championship Teams: 2010 (Bronze)

Personal: Imboden took up fencing when, as a child, a stranger saw him playing with swords in a park and suggested he take up fencing. By 16, Imboden had qualified for his first major international team and had earned a bronze medal at the Cadet World Championships in 2010. On the junior level, Imboden won back-to-back gold medals in the team event at the Junior World Championships. Imboden says his coach, 2004 Olympian Jed Dupree, opened his eyes to the mental aspects of fencing which have allowed him to acheive the success he has had in recent years, but he still says one of his biggest challenges is controlling his emotions on the strip.

The above was found on the US Fencing website. You can read more about Race, his teammates and Olympic fencing there.

arts and culture

John Cage’s 12-Hour Empty Words at Roulette on August 3rd

July 28, 2012 admin

File this under: I went with my family to see John Cage perform Empty Words at the Hunter College Auditorium when I was a kid. I was bored out of my mind but somehow I understood that we were seeing something amazing

On August 3, at 8PM at Roulette I will have the chance to experience all 12 hours of Empty Words again.

Varispeed, a group of composer-performers, will perform Part I of their 12-hour arrangement of John Cage’s Empty Words, a landmark text-based work from the mid-70s that transforms speech into music and brings to light the beauty and power of the human voice.

Performing this piece is quite an undertaking.

In Part I, Cage’s text “establishes a distinctly non-syntactical speech rhythm with words and phrases arranged through chance operations from Thoreau’s journals.” The vocalist-performer-arrangers of Varispeed (Aliza Simons, Dave Ruder, Paul Pinto, Brian McCorkle, & Gelsey Bell) and special guests augment their voices with a bevvy of electronics, “while spatializing sound and action into a Cagean feast for the senses.”

Varispeed is a newly formed collective of composer-performers from experimental theatre group Panoply Performance Laboratory, ensemble thingNY, and Why Lie? that creates site-specific, sometimes-participatory, oftentimes-durational, forevermore-experimental events. Their new arrangements in Perfect Lives Manhattan made Time Out New York and New York Times’ critic Steve Smith’s “Best of 2011” list.

Empty Words will continue in three more installments during the evening. Parts II & III will be performed at nearby Exapno (33 Flatbush Ave, 5th floor) at 11 PM and 2 AM, respectively.

And the final installment occurs at 5AM in the morning on the Brooklyn Bridge:

Part IV will be a sound walk across the Bridge at 5 AM. All parts are free and open to the public.

Cobble Hill Resident Hit by Fallen Debris During Storm Dies

July 27, 2012 admin

I just got this statement from the Borough President’s Office about the passing of Richard Schwartz, a longtime Cobble Hill resident and assistant to New York State Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman OTBKB sends its condolences to the family.

“All of Brooklyn is deeply saddened over the passing of Cobble Hill resident Richard Schwartz, who was struck by falling debris at Christ Church during last night’s storms, just a short distance from his home. His passing is an unfortunate reminder about the destructive force of nature and the need for all of us to always be prepared and vigilant. Mr. Schwartz admirably served New York State for more than 25 years as an assistant attorney general in the AG’s office, and I know New Yorkers, his colleagues and the law community will greatly miss his expertise and dedication. Most of all, our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends during this very difficult time.”

arts and culture

Peripatetic Weekend: Animation Festival, The Head & the Heart, Breaking Bad

July 27, 2012 admin

As usual there’s loads to do this summer weekend. This list will grow as the day turns to evening.

MOVIES

Friday-Sunday, July 27-29: Animation Weekend at BAM. Now an annual summer tradition, BAMcinématek presents a weekend with two of North America’s greatest animated film festivals.

MUSIC

Friday, July 27: Official after-party for The Head and The Heart at Freddy’s Bar with Ida Blue at 10:30, Les Sans Culottes at 11:00, (e)motion pictures and Dave’s Tyranny.

Sunday, July 29: New Orleans Grooves with DJ Packrat at 5PM at the Fifth Estate Bar on Fifth Avenue.

TELEVISION

Friday, July 27 at 7:30PM: Opening ceremonies of the London Olympics should be worth a gander.

Sunday, July 29 at The Gate: Breaking Bad, Season 5, Episode 3 at 10PM. Get there early to order a beer and get a seat. Fifth Avenue and Third Street.

ART

At the Brooklyn Musuem: The Newspaper Fiction: The New York Journalism of Djuna Barnes sounds like an intriguing show of the work of a figure I associate with fiction writing. Barnes spent the period between 1913 and her departure for Europe in 1921 living in New York’s Greenwich Village and working as a writer and illustrator for publications including the Brooklyn Daily Eagle andVanity Fair.

At the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts there’s a student curated show called Afrofuturism Imagining Tomorrow. There’s also a film on display called, An Oversimplification of her Beauty by Terence Nance.

arts and culture

Nancy McDermott in Spiked Reviews Amy Sohn’s Motherland

July 27, 2012 admin

As we in Park Slope breathlessly await the release of Motherland, Amy Sohn’s sequel to her bestselling Prospect Park West, Nancy McDermott has published a positive review of the book in Spiked, a British website. McDermott gives the book high praise for its readability and satire: “Motherland is both lightning-fast beach reading and well-observed social satire. Though the book won’t last the summer, Rebecca Rose and company will stay with you well into the autumn.”

McDermott, a moderator on Park Slope Parents before she moved to rural Upstate New York, is an excellent writer and a cogent thinker on the culture of parenting in contemporary society. I love her blogs, The Brown House Years and The Parenting Mystique (Why America is Obsessed with Raising Kids). Here’s an excerpt from her review. Do read the rest of Park Slope Parents Behaving Badly on Spiked.

“Motherland is the sequel to Prospect Park West, Amy Sohn’s hyperrealist novel set in Park Slope, Brooklyn. In the first book of the series, Sohn used a mix of real and imagined people and events to explore the excesses of modern urban parenting culture. In Motherland, she revisits many of same themes and characters, but this novel is not so much about new parenthood as midlife crisis, two life events which, for the first time in history, are tending to occur around the same time.”

arts and culture

Brooklyn Artists Gym Becomes Brooklyn Art Space

July 26, 2012 admin 1 Comment

Seven years ago the Brooklyn Artists Gym opened. A resource for studio and exhibition space for local artists, the space has evolved many times to accommodate the ever growing number of members who made use of it.

As of this week, Brooklyn Artists Gym will operate under a new name, Brooklyn Art Space. There are two cogent reasons for the name change. “First, if the staff gets one more inquiry about fitness facilities, they may just lose it!” the new management writes in an email.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, Peter Wallace, the founder of Brooklyn Artists Gym, is moving on to other pursuits and will pass the torch to his current staff: Rhia Hurt, Director; Ajit Kumar, Advisor; Mary Negro, Gallery Coordinator; Jannell Turner, Consultant; and Rachael Whitney, Marketing Coordinator.

I remember seven years ago meeting with Peter at the now defunct Perch to discuss his new venture, Brooklyn Artists Gym. Perch must have just opened around that time, too. Peter had a real vision about it and many creative ideas that would come to pass.

“Peter’s vision is what brought everyone here, and the staff will continue to expand upon this vision as Peter moves onto the next phase of his creative process. His insight, enthusiasm, and devotion to the studios will be missed!”

And so it is: Brooklyn Art Space is now christened.

arts and culture

Friday Night: The Head and The Heart at Celebrate Brooklyn

Celebrate Brooklyn, one of the great reasons to stay in Brooklyn during the summer months, is presenting The Head and the Heart on Friday night at 7:30.

A Seattle band, the group formed in the summer of 2009 is known for its luscious vocal harmonies and swelling orchestral folk. I don’t know their music but the picture to the left has a decidedly Incredible String Band vibe to it.

Also playing on Friday, Lost in the Trees, who are said to take the listener on a sonic journey that includes stops at American folk melodies, pop and symphonic sound exploration. Sounds like a nice ride.

7:30 at the bandshell. You know the drill.

There’s an “after-party” for the show at Freddy’s Bar, which is now on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope.

Food and Drink

New Owners for Belleville, Again, And New Name (As Yet Unknown)

July 26, 2012 admin 1 Comment

Sending some love to Here’s Park Slope, who has a a story about Belleville, the once lovely and authentic French bistro on Fifth Avenue and Fifth Street, which has changed hands more than once over the years. Apparently, it closed for a couple of days recently and then repopened under new management. Here’s an excerpt from HPS:

“Belleville, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifth Street, would certainly be on the list (along with Moutarde and I’m sure a few others). It appears that the French bistro had a close call over the weekend, as they were closed for a couple days and re-opened with a sign on the front window saying that the restaurant is now under new management.”

Walking by Thursday evening, I noticed a banner saying “Under New Management” covering up the Belleville sign. In addition, the white letters that spell Belleville above the awning have been taken down leading me to conclude that the new business will not be called Belleville. The words “cafe” and “bar” remain.

Stay tuned.

arts and culture

Super Cool Celebrity Sighting at Park Slope ‘Snice: Kiernan Shipka

Yesterday, a very reliable source reports that Kiernan Shipka, who plays Sally Draper on AMC’s Mad Men, was at ‘Snice having lunch. The Park Slope vegan lunch spot is on Fifth Avenue and Third Street. No word on what she ate or drank. We do know that she wasn’t there with her television parents, John Hamm and January Jones. And her TV stepmother, Megan ,played by Jessica Pare, was nowhere to be found.

No one shouted out: We Love you Kiernan Shipka. But we do.

arts and culture

Brooklyn Brewery Contest: Help This Band Win a Trip to Brooklyn Sweden

http://www.facebook.com/thebrooklynbrewery/app_269343296512780?app_data=%2Fentry%2F371523&ref=ts

A friend sent me this link to a music video by Matthew Meyer about the G-train called G Ode. Of course I was interested. He entered a contest sponsored by the Brooklyn Brewery. They challenged Brooklyn musicians to write a song about the infamous G-train.

The prize: a trip to Stockholm, Sweden this Labor Day weekend for the Brooklyn Sweden Music Festival. Have a look. Vote for it if you think it worthy.

Here’s what he wins if he wins:

– 2 Brooklyn Sweden festival passes

– airfare for 2 from NYC to Stockholm

– lodging at the Story Hotel

– lunch with the bands, hosted by Debaser’s house chef

Together with Sweden’s Debaser, Brooklyn Brewery has created the world’s first all-Brooklyn music festival, happening this Labor Day Weekend, Aug 31 & Sept. 1st.

Here’s the lineup: Blonde Redhead, The Hold Steady, Cults, Crystal Stilts, Phosphorescent, Au Revoir Simone, Dum Dum Girls, DIIV, Twin Sister, Widowspeak, The So So Glos, Telepathe, Maluca, Prince Rama, Caveman, Blonds

So why is Brooklyn Brewery doing this? “Well we’ve been selling beer in Sweden for a while and over the years have gotten to know the folks at Debaser, Sweden’s finest rock venue, pretty well (they sell a LOT of our beer). Turns our Brooklyn and Sweden have a lot in common, including great bands. One thing lead to another and we decided to throw a big party, bringing Brooklyn’s best bands from Sweden. Then we thought, why not send two more people? Hence the contest.”

More on Park Slope’s Olympic Fencing Hopeful, Race Imboden

Also watch this cool video about Ryan by @radical media that I posted the other day.

Doesn’t he have the most perfect first name for an Olympic athlete? That said, Race Imboden is a fencer not a miler or a sprinter. But he’s our’s and we’re rooting for him as he competes for a an Olympic medal in the London Olympics, which start this weekend.

I can’t wait to spot him in the Opening Ceremonies on Friday night.

Today’s fun quote from Race is this. He’s talking about his English born mom, Fiona:

“She’s emotional about me competing. She’s always pacing back and forth in big rooms while I’m fencing,” he said. “But she has an assigned seat here, so we’ll see how that works.”

This quote is from an article is by Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo Sports.

arts and culture

Park Slope Art Curator Opens Show in Manhattan

A summer art opening? A little splashy fun?

Park Slope’s Vicki Sher, a painter in her own right, has curated an art show called Cannonball opening at Frosch & Portmann at 53 Stanton Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side on Thursday, July 26 from 6-8PM.

“It’s a collective jump into the pool. Each artist plunges into her/his subject while feeling the ripple of activity in the room. Each distinct body of work claims a piece of its own, and shared, area,” writes Sher.

Inspired by the iconic call of summer, the swimmers’ cry of “Cannonball!” as they jump into a pool, this exhibition brings together artists who dive into specific territory while maintaining a playful spirit. The show connects driven and deeply pursued paths to the lighthearted attitude behind summer vacation.

Many of the artists connect to the show’s title with strong black shapes that pack a punch. In Don Voisine’s paintings and Lauren Seiden’s dense graphite works on paper, the viewer is drawn into the black surface to consider questions of space, balance and rhythm. Denise Kupferschmidt’s black drawings on tile bring to mind icons and talismans; at the same time they act as a lighthearted reminder of the pool’s edge. Paul Wackers’ still lifes use black for contrast, to emphasize the plant’s strong silhouette and power as a signifier of interior life.

Tom Martinez, Witness: Red Hook Goodbye

City Council Approves Park Slope Historic District Expansion in South Slope

Park Slope’s historic district just got BIGGER.

New York’s City Council voted today to approve an expansion of the Park Slope Historic District, making it the largest historic district in the city. The City Council vote affirms the Landmarks Preservation Commission approval on April 17, 2012.

This expansion will include 580 buildings from approximately 7th Street to 15th Street (including the 7th Avenue frontage), 7th Avenue to 8th Avenue, and along 15th Street from 8th Avenue to Prospect Park West (including the western side of Bartel Pritchard Square). A map of the expansion is available at the LPC website.

The extension also includes the former Ansonia Clock Works factory, once the world’s largest clock manufacturer, as well as homes built for its workers.

Here is a statement from the Council:

“The Council’s action not only celebrates a storied part of the city’s industrial past, but the sensitive adaptive reuse of the factory complex and its contribution towards the vitality and historic character of the area,” the Park Slope Civic Council said in an issued statement. “The Civic Council is united in our desire to maintain the neighborhood’s quality of life and to ensure that it is preserved for future generations of Park Slope residents and visitors alike to enjoy.”

City Council Members Want to Fix NYPD’s Traffic Accident Policy

File under: Our City Council Members in action.

This morning, City Council Members David Greenfield, Letitia James, Brad Lander, Stephen Levin, Peter Vallone, and James Vacca announced on the steps of City Hall that they want to establish a 15-member group charged with analyzing the NYPD’s definition of “serious injury” in motor vehicle accidents. Currently, officers do not investigate accidents unless they think the hurt party is dead or likely to die.

Lander, Levin, and Council Member Jessica Lapin have also proposed a law that would require the NYPD to publish crash info online.

Levin wants to require cops to get motorists’ identifying and insurance info even if the situation doesn’t meet the “dead or likely to die” criteria and investigate all accidents resulting in serious injury.

Vote on Park Slope Historic District Expansion Today

The City Council is voting today on the expansion of the Park Slope Historic District into parts of South Slope, making it the largest Historic District in the city. I will let you know what happens.

Food and Drink

August 23: Pig Roast at Rosewater

August 23 is the official date for Rosewater’s annual Salute to Swine Fest!

They’re firing up the Party-Que Spit and roasting a fine piggy from an upstate address over hardwood coals.

The pork will be served with cole slaw, corn on the cob, heirloom tomatoes, cold draft beer and fresh pink wine and you’ve got one swell porcine summer soirée. “We’ll have more fun than a possum in the corn crib with the dog tied up!” is what they’re saying.

Tickets go on sale Thursday, July 26th at 1pm. $78, all inclusive of beverage, tax and gratuity. Get yours quick – it’s always a sellout. 718-783-3800, phone only.

arts and culture

Tom Martinez, Witness: Cobble Hill, Late July

Food and Drink

A Tea Lounge Franchise in Kuwait CIty

Park Slope Patch has a good story today about a Tea Lounge franchise in Kuwait. Here’s an excerpt:

“…you will be able to sit on a couch and drink any of their six organic-and-fair-trade-certified micro roasted coffees or 65 organic loose teas and it will not look too much different from the Brooklyn version.

“The owner of Tea Lounge, Jonathan Spiel, has put a call out to businesspeople to own their own franchise. However, Spiel’s vision is more of an “unfranchise,” meaning that the franchisee (or better yet, the unfranchisee) has more creative freedom in building their very own Tea Lounge.”

According to Patch, a Tea Lounge franchise deal is $25,000, plus a 5-percent royalty and a 1-percent brand development fee. You need to have a net worth of $400,000 and $100,000 in liquid capital.

The initial investment to open your own Tea Lounge is between $145,750 and $346,250.

It’s interesting to consider what it is that is franchisible about the Tea Lounge besides the name. What is the Tea Lounge brand exactly? What stops someone from creating their own funky cafe with old couches and lattes with heart shapes on top in the Middle East? Very interesting. Indeed. What else could be franchised around here for Kuwait, China…

arts and culture

Hearing (Not Seeing) Wilco at Celebrate Brooklyn