According to the New York Times, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo added his voice on Sunday to a chorus of voices calling for the resignation of Vito J. Lopez, a powerful Brooklyn politician, who is facing allegations of sexually abusing female staff members. Lopez is the leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
The Assembly’s ethics committee censured the Assemblyman who is accused of verbally harassing, groping and kissing two staff members.
The New Kings Democrats, a North Brooklyn progressive, grassroots political organization committed founded by veterans of the Obama campaign, is especially vocal about calling for Lopez’s resination:
“New Kings Democrats demands the immediate resignation of Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Kings County. Lopez was censured and dismissed from his position as Assembly Housing Chair by Speaker Sheldon Silver due to credible allegations that Lopez sexually harassed two female members of his staff.
“Yet again, Vito Lopez has embarrassed Brooklyn and the Democratic Party. We have long been used to stories about his corruption, cronyism and nepotism,” said Alex Low, president of NKD. “Today’s news marks a new low. Vito’s time has come. We encourage other leaders to join us in demanding his resignation and calling for fresh leadership.”
Jake Dobkin, publisher of the Gothamist, tried to interview Amy Sohn, author of the new book Motherland. But all of his questions, which I’m assuming he submitted via email, went unanswered.
Admittedly, he did come on strong. Still, I don’t understand why Sohn didn’t answer. She seems pretty tough. Can’t she take it? She’s pretty merciless when it comes to her satire of Park Slope and its inhabitants.
Jake Dobkin: I read your Awl piece. My first reaction was that some of the stuff you described, like doing “body shots”, partying with your mommy friends till 3 a.m., and blowing guys you aren’t married to, didn’t really happen, or only happened once- like you’re making it up just to troll internet commenters, or you imagined it, like in Fight Club, where the other mommys in your “Hookers, Sluts, and Drug Addicts” club are really just in your head and you’re actually sitting at home alone with one glass of wine most nights. That’s true, right?
Sohn refused to answer any of his questions and gave this reason: “I can’t answer these questions. Even for a writer who bares a lot and writes about her personal life, they’re too invasive and too hostile. And I’m not sure that all of them are really questions.”
I did love this question that Dobkin lobbed Amy Sohn’s way:
Dobdin: As you know, I was raised by radical Stalinists in Park Slope in the 1980s. What really galls me is how the values that I was raised with, which were all about community, sacrificing for others, and avoiding consumption, have given way to the world described in your book- militant materialism, especially around real estate, and the celebration of toxic values like celebrity and fame- here I’m thinking of your obsession with Maggie Gyllenhaal and her husband. Is it true that if you give a liberal a piece of property and twenty years, they always turn conservative? Why has Park Slope turned its back on the leftist values of the past?
Friday, August 24: Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival Fundraiser at the Bell House. Bring a checkbook for silent auction if you’re feeling generous (and flush). Cocktails at 7PM. Show at 8:30 PM.
Music
Friday, August 24 at 9PM: At Sycamore on Cortelyou Road, Mary of Egypt makes “classical and pop perspectives sound so natural together, it’s as if they were never separate” (NYpress). This ensemble, the brainchild of pianist/composer Julia Hatamyar, was established in 2009 and is made up of Eastman School of Music graduates, who perform her hand-notated scores. Incorporating a vast range of musical idioms, including classical, jazz, rock, electronica, musical theatre, and folk.
Saturday and Sunday, August 24-25: The 2012 Afro-Punk festival with Erykah Badu, Gym Class Heroes, Janelle Monae, Das Racist, Toro Y Moi, Reggie Watts, Spank Rock, Ninjasonik, The Memorials, Bad Rabbits, Gordon Voidwell, Cerebral Ballzy, Phony Ppl, Body Language, and more to be added! Plus a street skate competition. Last year the festival was cancelled because of Hurricane Irene. Remember Hurricane Irene? There will be food trucks at the festival with yummy food.
Film
All weekend at the Park Slope Pavilion: Paranorman, the latest 3D stop-motion film from LAIKA, makers of Coraline
All Weekend: Lots of Great Events Commemorating the 236th Anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn
Prison Ships Martyrs Memorial Ceremony at the Prison Ships Martyrs Monument, Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn
Information: (718) 499-7600
–Saturday, August 25, 2 pm – 5 pm
The Great Escape with Reenactors from General John Glover’s Marblehead Regiment at Main Street/Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Join reenactors for an historic depiction of many aspects of maritime history, camp life and community, and the role of Fulton Ferry Landing. www.brooklynbridgepark.org/718-768-3195
–Sunday, August 26
Battle of Brooklyn Commemoration at The Green-Wood Cemetery
5th Avenue at 25th Street
(718) 768-7300 for reservations and more information
And you thought Lance Armstrong was the only one stripped of his privileges today. Nope, Vito Lopez was, too.
Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez, the Brooklyn Democratic leader, considered the kingmaker of Brooklyn politics, has been stripped of his committee chairmanship, barred from employing young people, and censured because an assembly committee determined that he did sexual harass two female employees this summer.
What is wrong with this guy?
Speaker Silver shared these findings with the public via the New York Times: “There were multiple incidents of unwelcome physical conduct toward one complainant, wherein you put your hand on her leg, she removed your hand, and you then put your hand between her upper thighs, putting your hand as far up between her legs as you could go,” Mr. Silver wrote.
What a perv.
According to the New York Times, Speaker Sheldon Silver, Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, United States Representative Jerrold Nadler; and Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer all called for him to quit.
This morning OTBKB reader Brooke Dramer sent me a note that The Landlord is playing at BAM.
So I looked it up and sure enough, on Monday, August 27, The Landlord, a 1970 film filmed in Park Slope is playing at BAM.
And guess what it’s about: Yup, you guessed it. Gentrification.
WASP-y rich kid Elgar Enders played by a handsome Beau Bridges (did you see him in The Descendants?) buys an apartment building in Park Slope back when it was a grittier, less gentrified neighborhood. He plans to evict the current residents and turn the building into a nice home for himself.
When the black tenents refuse to move out, Enders embarks on a comic adventure that results in a personal turnaround on matters of life and race.
The film, directed by Hal Ashby is a comedy about gentrification and, says BAM, “presents a nuanced, daring exploration of race relations inAmericathat is surprisingly ahead of its time.”
I asked Dramer to say something about the film. Here’s her reply:
“This is an e-mail volley between me and Ken Byrne, who has seen even more cult films than I have. Ken can’t recall any quotes from The Landlord–which means, just give up, because no one else would relate to a Landlord quote in the headline.” – Brooke
Brooke: Susan Anspach was pretty calm during The Landlord, walking around smoking a joint and casually spraying air freshener after each exhalation. But Idon’t remember what she said. Or what Beau Bridges said. I just remember the expression on his face–especially when he ran about 1/4 mile while carrying a potted rhododendron in his arms.
Ken: The Landlord…hmm…It was filmed on Prospect Place btw 6th & 7th in 1969…You get to see a young Beau Bridges, a young Lou Gosset Jr. (Yes, he once was young!), Pearl Bailey, also youngish, and Susan Anspach, before she was in the insane Swedish classic, Montenegro. And whatever happened to the lovely Marki Bey?
There are 1,814 artists participating in the Go Brooklyn Arts massive open studio weekend on September 8-9, 2012. Eighty of them are in Park Slope.
That’s a bigger number than I expected. There are a lot of artists in and around Park Slope but most of them don’t have their studios in Park Slope, a neighborhood made up mostly of apartment buildings and brownstones. We don’t have much in the way of loft or industrial buildings.
Go Art Brooklyn is a crowd -curated, crowd-sourced open studio extravaganza backed by the Brooklyn Museum. As an art appreciator, you can sign on as a visitor and actually vote for the artists you like best during your studio visits.
Of the eighty Park Slope artists, I know a few including my husband Hugh Crawford, who will open his photography studio right here on Third Street. “The last few years I have been making photographs I describe as “tangles”. They are of rose bushes, ocean waves, the banks of the Gowanus Canal, amusement park rides, trees, and distressed ground. What I am trying to capture is “the act of seeing.” Since mid-2011, my work is multiple exposures reassembled into single compositions with some of the work printed as large as 20 feet long,” he writes in his Go artist statement.
Also, Bernette Rudolph (above), whom I consider the elder goddess of Park Slope artists, will be showing her prints and mixed-media work in her Third Street studio, as she’s been doing since 1985. “I work in my art studio with music or silence depending on what I am creating. I have been a working artist over fifty years exhibiting in museums and art galleries thru the United States. My current inspiration is photographing the people I see on the streets of New York City and the vast variety of people who ride the New York subways. I use photo shop to turn the photos into works of art,” she writes in her Go artist statement.
In conjunction with GO Brooklyn Art, the huge open studio event sponsored by the Brooklyn Museum, on September 8, 2012, ArtOnBrighton, a multidisciplinary festival will celebrate the creative energies of POST-SOVIET IMMIGRANTS of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and beyond.
Daytime visitors are encouraged to explore Open Artist Studios in and around Brighton Beach, as part of the Brooklyn Museum GO project. The organizers are warning “that you will likely encounter rather interesting sights and characters along the way.”
Sweet.
An evening program will be comprised of live music, art, and comedy presented at the NY Aquarium, followed by a DJ-spun dance party out on the adjacent beach, where a large-scale site-specific art installation, “Brighton is Cool, Ocean is Hot,” made up of 36 WORKING AIR CONDITIONERS (i.e. the poster) will be set up.
Also, there will be the Amazing Water art exhibit, bar and snacks, video projection art and live performances by artists, including Y-Love, The Clox, Lady Aye, Alina Simone, Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band, and Amour Obscur. The host for the evening is the outrageous comedian Kira Soltanovich, as seen on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Out on the beach, DJ Spinach will be spinning a dance party into the night. Watch out for the fire dancers!
Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Visit www.ArtOnBrighton.org for tickets and detailed program information. RSVP on Facebook for updates and invite your friends. https://www.facebook.com/events/342869892463772/
The NYC taxi logo redesign is big news for design geeks and NYC wonks; people who obsess over those sorts of things. Indeed, the logos and signage of our urban environment are part of the landscape of our lives. And when they change, well, we are bound to have an opinion about it.
And a healthy curiosity.
I asked David Yassky, the commissioner of the New York Taxi and Limo Commission, why the change and this is what he had to say. Yassky used to be one of the City Council members in Park Slope.
“The logo redesign project started in conjunction with the “Taxi of Tomorrow” project — figured it was time for a “freshening” — prior iteration has two different fonts for the “NYC” and the “TAXI” and TLC felt that was visually jarring — also, the new vehicle created opportunity for logo designed specifically to look good on that vehicle.
“Reason for deploying now is that with recent fare increase, taxi owners were going to have to change the decals anyway, so figured we might as well roll out the new version.”
How cool is that? And how cool is this poster, a painting by AJ Burkle?
Come one and all to this celebration of fiction, poetry and song by young writers between the ages of 13-19, curated by Hannah Frishberg (a senior at Bard High School Early College). The event will be introduced by Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang and an editor from One Teen Story will be on hand to distribute FREE copies of the first issue of One Teen Story
The Brooklyn Book Festival (on Sunday, September 23rd outside at Brooklyn Borough Hall) is the largest free literary event in New York City, presenting an array of national and international literary stars and emerging authors, readings and a lively literary marketplace.
Young Writers Night happens on Thursday, September 20th at 7PM at The Old Stone House, 336 Third Street in Park Slope ( between 4th and 5th Avenues).
I used to think “dog days” referred to the hot, panting dog breath type feeling of New York City in August. Alas, I was incorrect.
According to Ms. Wikipedia (if she is to believed, and I choose to believe her): “The name comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, in proximity to the sun was responsible for the hot weather.”
One Story, the acclaimed pocket-sized literary magazine featuring one story per issue and mailed out 18 times a year, is published in the Park Slope/Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn by publisher Maribeth Batcha and editor Hannah Tinti.
Batcha is set to launch One Teen Story, a great idea if I ever heard one. One Teen Story, as described by the publisher, will be for young adult readers of every age. Each issue will feature one amazing short story about the teen experience.
The first story to be published in the upcoming first issue of One Teen Story is Gayle Forman’s “The Deadline.”
Leaf & Bean recently relocated to Lincoln Place and guess who’s taking their old spot? Subway Sandwich, the ubiquitous hero sandwich shop (five dollar footlongs and all that).
There goes the neighborhood for the dozenth time. Just saying.
Does that mean they have to take those cute Leaf & Bean letters and respell them as Subway. Let’s see there’s an A, a B, another a…
Reminds me of when there was middle eastern restaurant with huge red letters for signage on the Upper West Side called Cleopatra back in the 1970’s. When a new place, more of a bistro, went in they used the old letters to spell At Our Place .
By email, I did a group-interview with the members of the folk trio, The Tres Amigos. The guys are just back from a 14-state, cross-country tour. Considered one of New York City’s hottest folk acts, they are all about three-part harmony, virtuosic musicianship and catchy self-penned songs.
Who could ask for anything more?
The Tres Amigos are Sam Reider, Justin Poindexter, and Eddie Barbash. You can find them at their September residency at The Living Room. 9/3, 9/10, 9/17, and 9/28. Each week will feature special guests ranging from New York bluegrass mainstay Jon Sholle to Hudson River blues singer/saxophonist Jay Collins (the Levon Helm Band and the Allman Brothers Band).
Our #1 favorite place to play is in people’s living rooms. We’re an intimate band and we like to be as close to our audience as possible. Also we’re big fans of cheeses, cured meat, and spicy salsa, so house concerts always add fuel to the fire.
In terms of traditional music venues, we happily return time after time to Marlboro, New Yorks’ The Falcon. This is a beautiful converted barn space on the Hudson, about an hour’s drive away from the city. Tony Falco, the owner, is beloved by a large portion of the New York music community—he has created a space and a business model that supports the music and encourages his local community to support it as well.
A little closer to home we enjoy the Jalopy in Red Hook, and The Living Room in the Lower East Side, where we’ll be doing a Monday night residency every Monday of September. (Details here: http://www.thetresamigos.net)
What are the best places to eat in your nabe? Or elsewhere
Chavela’s—a Mexican place on Franklin and Sterling Pl. is one of Amigo Sam’s regular haunts. Two dollar tacos for happy hour every day, but he usually orders the cheese enchiladas with molé.
The Candy Rush (as seen in the video) for all sweet things (including a great morning donut + coffee subway deal). Roscoe’s Pizzeria which just opened down the street does justice to the cheap slice without any frills or pretentious toppings.
Best places to shop for music, if you shop for music, or instruments, etc.
Amigo Justin: Main Drag Music in Williamsburg has our favorite guitar guru, Mark Dobbyn. He’s always got some wild projects going on at the shop and plays the best music.
Amigo Sam: Always have a great time at The Thing in Greenpoint—hundreds of thousands of used LPs stacked 6 crates high and 6 crates deep. I think they all sell for $1 a piece? You could you lose years of your life in there…
Favorite books?
Moby Dick
Amigo Sam: Music is My Mistress by Duke Ellington
Best weeknight activity?
Learning scary jazz and country songs that only the older cats know.
Best weekend activity?
Learning scary gospel songs that only the older church ladies know.
Best place to be alone?
Amigo Sam: At home with my accordion. That’s when I get free.
Amigo Justin: At a modern dance performance.
Amigo Eddie: I hate being alone.
Best place to write a song?
Often the best songs appear on the bus or the train. Something about the bleak desperation of that underground tunnel between the 2 3 and Port Authority puts you in the mood to write—especially once you’re in your seat and on the highway. You overhear all sorts of great fodder for lyrics while your on the bus.
That’s usually enough to get the framework of a song together. But when it comes to arrangement, nothing’s holy in a Tres Amigos rehearsal. We push and pull and bicker until we’ve arrived at some sort of tangled impossible arrangement of a tune—then we try to learn to actually play it!
Yesterday I came across With A Brooklyn Accent, a blog written by Mark Naison, a Professor of African-American Studies and History at Fordham University and Director of Fordham’s Urban Studies Program. He lives in Park Slope, where he raised his children.
According to Naison’s biography on his Blogspot blog, he is the author of three books and over 100 articles on African-American History, urban history, and the history of sports. Interestingly and despite the name of his blog, his area of expertise is the Bronx and The Bronx African-American History Project, is Dr Naison’s most recent venture. It was launched collaboratively with the Bronx Historical Society in the Fall of 2002. Here he writes about The Park Slope My Children Grew Up In:
“I would not trade the Park Slope my children grew up in—which was not always ‘safe,” which was diverse in race and class, where new residents, many of them political activists, worked inside local churches with longtime residents as well as building their own institutions; where Catholic school and public school kids came together in local sports programs; where there were almost no upscale restaurants and a big treat was having a family night out in places like “Snooky’s” or “Circles,” and where housing was affordable enough so that you could buy a brownstone on two teachers salaries- for any neighborhood in the country. I could not think of a better place to bring up two children as athletes, as caring people, and citizens of a multiracial society who had in depth exposure to people of different backgrounds in school, on the streets and in the sports programs they participated in.”
Naison is a serious man and With a Brooklyn Accent is a serious blog that he’s consistently updated since 2008. Subject matter includes the Bronx, education, urban history, Stop and Frisk, school reform, politics and more. The following is a post called Things About Me As a Teacher My Students Can Count On:
“1. I will be there for my students whenever they need me, whether they are in my class or not, and throughout the course of their adult lives. Once my student, always my student. 2. I will stay at the job I love until I am no longer able to function. My students will always know where to find me. 3. I will stand up for my students, my colleagues, and the principles I believe in whether my school administration supports me or not, and whether or not my actions make my out of tune with the current political fashion in the nation.”
Do you need to be introduced to the complex and arcane ways of the New York art world by someone very “in the know?” Wouldn’t it be keen if that person was Krista Saunders, aka The Bespoke Curator, who created the G Train Salon.
Then you just might find Saunder’s Introduction to the New York Art World panel at 3rd Ward (195 Morgan Ave, Brooklyn) on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 at 7:30 to be very interesting—and illuminating .
Indeed, New York is an international hub for the art world. But how to break in? Well, you just might learn a thing or two at this panel, where you’ll hear from a diverse panel of art world professionals as they shed light on how to begin and sustain a career.
Moderated by Saunders, the panel will consist of informal conversation with the panelists Brendan Carroll, Kianga Ellis, Laura Pinello, and Henry Chung + Robert Walden of Robert Henry Contemporary.
Few people probably know the name of the designers who designed the subway map many of us look at every day. Few imagine ever getting a chance to hear them speak.
But on on September 12th, Massimo Vignelli and his design partners Beatriz Cifuentes and Yoshi Waterhouse will speak at the New York Transit Museum with Michael Beirut about their famous and controversial 1972 New York City subway diagram and its new appearance in the MTA’s Weekender.
At this special Transit Museum event, Beirut will lead a discussion with Vignelli, Cifuentes and Waterhouse. This will be followed by a brief Q and A. Signed and numbered subway diagrams (limited edition of 1,000) will be available for purchase for $500 each. You can get tickets here.
This promises to be an interesting and exciting discussion with a design team respected worldwide and hugely influential on the city of New York .
In 2008 and 2012, Vignelli updated his diagram to account for changes in station names and toned down the color scheme, adopting uniform colors for each line Vignelli will discuss this in addition to change she made to the map in response to one of the largest criticisms leveled at the 1972 diagram and that was the deceiving square shape of Central Park.
Vignelli simplified the new version by removing parks entirely. Take that.
“Hands down, Lot 2. (and no, not just because I worked there for two years). Because, the food there is like being in mom’s kitchen. Small menu, all prepared with care and love. Fantastic drinks. Definitely a staple for me.
“I also love Giuseppina’s for Pizza. They are the sister to Lucali in Carroll Gardens. Fonda for Mexican is fantastic, especially for outside dining in the summer. If you want a beer, Beer Table is also a staple. so freaking cute and every beer you could imagine. Also the popular Talde is becoming a favorite, on off nights when the wait is less crazy.”
Fave stores:
Hmmm, well there really aren’t too many stores for shopping in South Slope, sadly. But there is a new little shoe store I found that I really like called A Shoe Grows in Brooklyn. I recently splurged and bought two pair there. (Unheard of for me.)
Books. My roommate handed me this great book called Penelope by Rebecca Harrington. I loved it! It’s about a girl who goes to Harvard and doesn’t seem to “fit in” but we quickly learn that she is normal and everyone she meets at Harvard is bat shit crazy. (truth? I wouldn’t know. I went to liberal arts school…..)
Weekends I love picnicking in Prospect Park with friends and sitting right outside of the Celebrate Brooklyn Bandshell. It’s a great spot to hear the music and watch fireflies without dealing with the masses of people. Heading out to Rockaway for some Tacos and beach action is on the top of my list if I can get away. Also the taco trucks in Red Hook at the ballfields on weekends are bomb. I like tacos a lot.
Face Place to film:
Favorite filming spot? Hmm, I think filming under the BQE was pretty neat. Dodging cars and all. I also filmed something once on South 6th in Williamsburg, which was really neat because of the views of the bridge.
Fave secret spot:
Best secret spot for being alone. I like to sit on the bench outside of Southside Coffee. Its perfect for sunning, texting, talking on the phone and saying hello to neighbors like an old lady would. Also the dumbo waterfront is great for quiet time. And honestly, I also enjoy riding my bike around the loop in Prospect park. Nothing better on a quiet morning.
I really enjoyed this video (and the music) by The Tres Amigos. Some orthodox Park Slope parents may find it very un-PC but I love it. Warning: This video features images of kids drinking Mountain Dew, eating candy and lip synching “I wanna get drunk.”
You’ve been warned.
It follows the adventures of three kids who escape from a sleeping baby sitter and and run wild through Prospect Heights, spending pizza money at Franklin Avenue’s colorful Candy Rush (733 Franklin Avenue near Sterling Place) before collapsing in Prospect Park.
“I Wanna Get Drunk” is the lead single from the band’s self-titled debut album, a rousing, eclectic eight song set that showcases the Amigos’ great playing and catchy songwriting.
Last night I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about the mosquitoes with West Nile Virus (WNV) that have been detected in our zip code and in the zip codes of Prospect Heights and Prospect Park.
I even checked the symptoms on the Center for Disease Control website. I don’t want to freak anyone out but here goes: “It is estimated that about 20% of people who become infected with WNV will develop West Nile fever. Symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness, and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash (on the trunk of the body) and swollen lymph glands. While the illness can be as short as a few days, even healthy people have reported being sick for several weeks.”
Sometimes it’s asymptomatic.
I was also stressing about the fact that my son’s window was open. What if a WNV mosquito happens in and stings him? Panic…
We’d had the windows open all day because the temperature was so much lower than it’s been and there was a nice breeze and cross-ventilation.
Now I’m officially freaked out about WNV. No open windows today. Which is sad, because it feels like a nice day for open windows.
My friend Peggy Coon posted on Facebook that there’s a new bookstore coming to Park Slope in the space formerly occupied by Reel Life on Eighth Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets. That video store closed last March.
A new bookstore? A new bookstore? A new bookstore? Can you tell I’m excited??
Peggy linked to a post on Here’s Park Slope about some cryptic signage that went up last week in the front window of of the video store that closed last March.
Apparently, an off-shoot of Powerhouse Books, publishers of photography and specialty books and a bookstore in DUMBO is going in. I am very fond of that bookstore. In fact, the Brooklyn Blogfest was held at Powerhouse Books back in 2009.
According to Here’s Park Slope the message said: “Hi there! We’re going to be a brand new bookstore, reading club, mini-gallery, and community space opening in October. Our mothership is in Dumbo, and we’ll be bringing the best stationery, kids, YA, novelty, cooking, decorating, and style books we have there and more…Maybe some wonderful coffee, hard candy…and other items one might find in a general store (that was also a mini gallery and reading space!)
“We can’t wait; we hope you are as excited as we are!
This video was made by an educator who used to teach first grade at PS 321. It was sent to me by educator Renee Dinnerstein, who writes: “Kathy Collins was a much-loved first grade teacher. Now she’s an educational consultant. She’s written some pretty important professional books about teaching reading.
“Now that people are getting their kids ready for school and teacher-bashing is at an all-time high, I think that this might be something you might want to post on your blog.”
The Park is definitely Brooklyn’s newest tourist and native attraction—something to show the out-of-towners and something to enjoy on your own.
There’s lots to see. Take a walk from DUMBO and check out the fabulous carousel and then walk or bike towards Atlantic Avenue along the river. Or you can do what I just described in reverse starting on Atlantic Avenue and going towards DUMBO.
During the week, check the events schedule because there’s Jazzmobile, free fitness activities like Pilates and more.
As for the movies al fresco, there are only two screenings left this summer at Brooklyn Bridge Park. It’s a remarkable spot to watch a movie.
On Thursday, August 23, they’re showing Unforgiven [R] directed by Clint Eastwood with Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman with a short, The Hunter by Marieka Walsh. DJ Emch Subatomic (of Subatomic Sound System) will be on h and supplying the grooves.
On Thursday, August 30, the final movie of the summer is selected by public vote! DJ Geko Jones (of Que Bajo) will be on hand playing music.
Enjoy this two-minute episode of Big City, a new web comedy series by Lauren Ruff, who lives in Brooklyn (big surprise). It’s about a guy and girl who are roommates and their silly shinanigans in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Sorry, but Zooey Dechawhatever is unfortunately?? not in this series.
With the help of Robotic Raptor, the series was created out of real life and is written by Lauren Ruff, who harks from Oregon. She stars with Zane Carney of the band, Carney and Spiderman: Turn off the Dark. Episode 4 of Big City features Madeline Zima of Californication and Mat Devine of the band Kill Hannah and Spiderman: Turn off the Dark.
Last week I reported that Amy Sohn’s new book was out in bookstores. And now for something completely different. Park Slope’s elder literary statesman has a new book coming out
Did I just call Paul Auster an elder literary statesman?
Well, he is probably one of the best known authors in the neighborhood and certainly one of the most important in the world. Some of his books are considered the most influential books of the late 20th century. It must be said: the man has major cred.
He and Salon executive editor David Dailey met in Park Slope: “We met at a Park Slope cafe not far from his Brooklyn home on a recent rainy afternoon, where the conversation skipped easily from his new book to the New York Mets, and from literary politics to the presidential race,” Dailey writes.
The interview is very interesting and you should definitely read it. Auster talks about his decision to write another memoir. He’s already written three: The Invention of Solitude, the Red Notebook and Hand to Mouth. Now this one. Auster is only 64 and he looks wonderful when I see him on Seventh Avenue. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been seeing him in the neighborhood for twenty-one years, since he was in his forties.
Sure he looks a bit older now, but very dignified. He walks with the weight and intensity of someone who writes every day. He always looks lost in thought. Deeply. Every time I see him I wonder, what has he written today in his writing studio? In the Salon interview he talks about why he felt compelled to write this book:
“I don’t know. As I’ve said, I can never answer why. I wanted to do it, so I did it. Was it the idea of, you know, reaching the age I’ve reached? I don’t know. I’m not sure. I do know that, oddly enough, all these 40th anniversaries that were taking place in the last few years have been throwing me back to the old days a lot. I’ve been speaking about things that haven’t been preoccupying me a lot, and maybe haven’t spoken about. “Invisible” really goes back to Columbia in the late 1960s.
“So, you know, I’m living in the present, thinking about the past, hoping for the future. And then too, there’s another thing I’d like to say: Most of the time, the way I seem to generate books is to bounce off the one I’ve done before, so to negate it, to do the opposite, to reinvent it. The book that came before it [“Sunset Park”] is the first book that consciously I wrote in the now, capital “N,” and it was also immediate, all so much about our present moment, that the impulse was to go back afterwards.”
Those are the boar’s heads that are now on the wall at Pork Slope.
Last night I ventured into Pork Slope, Top Chef Dale Talde’s new classic American restaurant on its opening night and found it to be fun, friendly and inexpensive. It’s so not kosher and it’s so not P.C. It’s actually a welcome—if bawdy and slightly unhealthy—change from the vegan/veggie/healthy/locavore sanctimony of many Park Slope restaurants.
Saturday night, opening night, was noisy and crowded and everyone was in a good mood. Strangers at the bar talked to each other: What do you think? Did you ever go to Aunt Susie’s? We’ve been waiting for this to open. Do you mind moving one seat so my husband, who’s waiting on line, can sit next to me?
A young woman even offered me tastes of her tater tots. Friendly!
Oh, and for the opening, you had to stand in line for twenty minutes or more to order your food.
But it was fun.
I think that was just an opening night thing. I’m guessing there will be waiter-service in the future. The man taking orders at the end of the bar was friendly and eager to explain the sandwiches like the Porky Melt, which is a pork patty with cheese on pumpernickle/rye bread.
Remember pumpernickle/rye bread?
While standing on line, the bartenders were friendly and helpful.
“Hey, can I get a drink for anyone standing on line,” I heard one of the bartenders say.
“I know you left an empty drink glass on the bar. You want something else?” a friendly bartender said to me.
“How much is a PBR,?” I asked a female bartender using the acronym for Pabst Blue Ribbon.
This morning, just days after receiving a $225 dollar Con Edison bill—our penance for using the air conditioner almost constantly in July and August—I opened our windows and turned off the A.C.
Finally. A day without air conditioning. The temperature is 72 degrees. Let the cross ventilation begin.
Bad news for today: According to Prospect Heights Patch, the West Nile Virus has been found in Prospect Heights, Park Slope and Prospect Park. The Department of Health detects the disease by trapping mosquitos and testing them for the virus.
“Evidence of the virus was found on Aug. 10 in the 11238 and 11215 zip codes, although the DOH doesn’t specify which areas,” writes Patch.
Cripes.
This does not mean that any humans i these areas has been found to have West Nile but the trapped mosquitoes do. West Nile also been detected in mosquitoes in Windsor Terrace, Bushwick, Dyker Heights, Greenwood Heights, Marine Park and Starrett City.
