At BAM on Saturday April 3rd see a film that takes place in 1970’s Park Slope: The Landlord directed by Hal Ashby with  Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands

“Something like a Marx Brothers movie charged up on LSD and left-wing politics… a compelling and adventurous spectacle, which feels simultaneously like a time capsule and a crucial influence on such recent films as The Royal Tenenbaums and Half Nelson.”—Salon

WASP-y rich kid Elgar Enders (Bridges) buys an apartment building in then-gritty Park Slope with plans to evict the current residents and turn it into a ritzy home for himself. When the black tenants refuse to move out, however, Enders is launched into a series of comic misadventures that begin to change his outlook on life and attitude about race. Hal Ashby’s pointed comedy strikingly predicts contemporary concerns regarding gentrification and presents a nuanced, daring exploration of race relations in America that is surprisingly ahead of its time.

FILM

–Alice in Wonderland, The Ghost Writer, Greenberg at BAM; Tyler Perry’s Why Did We Get Married, How to Train Your Dragon, Care Bears Movie, The Last Song, The Bounty Hunter and More at the Pavilion

–Sat, Apr 3 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:30 PM The Landlord at BAM. Directed by Hal Ashby with Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands. Description: WASP-y rich kid Elgar Enders (Bridges) buys an apartment building in then-gritty Park Slope with plans to evict the current residents and turn it into a ritzy home for himself.

MUSIC

–Friday, April 2nd at 7PM at Barbes: Opera is fun. Most people don’t seem to realize how much fun it really is. In order to prove it, Opera on Tap has taken its act to barrooms where they found out that beer on tap enhances the operatic experience. The company is made up of young singers and instrumentalists who relish the direct contact with audiences not inhibited in their reactions by the looming menace of giant chandeliers.

–Also Friday,  April 2nd at  10 PM at Barbes: Jack Grace, The Martini Cowboy brings us his urban take on Country music. “One of the city’s most personable and skilled country stars” Time Out NY.

ART

–Saturday, April 3rd, 5-11PM: Target First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum. To Live Forever is this month’s theme in honor of the exhibition, To Live Forever: Art and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt.  Lectures, film, hands-on art activities and dancing with Egyptian-inspired funk and Afro-beat music.

THEATER

–April 3rd & 4th; The Crucible at the Gallery Players in Park Slope:  “As performed by The Gallery Players, The Crucible is one of the finest examples of [local] theater in recent memory. The ample cast gives strong performances all around. Add in atmospheric lighting and the audience’s rapt attention, and you have a show well worth the ticket.”
-The Brooklyn Paper

SHOPPING

–April 3rd and 4th marks the 4th grand reopening of Brooklyn Indie Market on Smith Street. Touted by Time Out New York, New York Magazine, Italian Marie Claire and fashion blogs as a beloved neighborhood style dealer for your fashion and design fix. Peruse your favorite indie designers of seasons past and get to meet some new-on-the-scene faces as well, offering the public a first glimpse of the many new names in fashion and product design. After a wintery, three month hiatus, Brooklyn Indie Market designers re-emerge with a new bag of design tricks Registration Now Open For New Vendors!

EASTER (with thanks to the Brooklyn Eagle)

–The Annual Brooklyn Heights Spring Egg Hunt takes place Saturday, April 3, 10 a.m. sharp at Pierrepont Playground (Columbia Heights and Pierrepont Streets on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade). Every spring, hundreds of little bunnies and their families turn out to participate. Candy, treats, balloons and good friends have made this a holiday tradition for many families. A bake sale will be held to benefit the Brooklyn Heights Playground Committee.

–Senator’s Easter Egg Hunt: Saturday, April 3, 2 to 4 p.m. in McKinley Park, Bay Ridge Parkway and Fort Hamilton Parkway. Participation is free; the egg hunt will feature music and prizes for the youngsters, who will be occupied searching for the over 1,000 candy-filled eggs. Also part of the fun will be races, face painting and entertainment provided by clowns. (Note: there are long lines and a limit of eggs per child.) For further information, call Senator Golden’s office at (718) 238-6044.

–Urban Meadow’s Second Annual Spring Egg Hunt: Red Hook, 11 a.m. for children 0-4; noon for children 5 and up. Face painting and a real bunny. Bring a basket. Corner of President and Van Brunt streets.

–Prospect Park Audubon Center’s Unscrambling the Egg, from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 3, and Easter Sunday, April 4. Free. The event will feature crafts, games and special exhibits. Enter the park at Lincoln Road and Ocean Avenue, at Parkside and Ocean avenues, or at Flatbush Avenue and Empire Boulevard. 718-287-3400 or www.prospect park.org.

–Easter Egg Hunt and Party: Ms. J’s Gymnastics and Dance at 289 Kent Ave Brooklyn, Saturday, April 3, 4:30-6 p.m. Family Fun time after you find all the eggs; limit three eggs per child. (718) 218-7065. Free for registered families, $10 for non registered families.

–Sunday, April 4: Park Slope Parents All Volunteer Easter Egg Hunt: Meet at Third Street and Prospect Park West entrance. 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Greeters will send groups of up to 20 people into Prospect Park. Each group appoints a hiking leader, entertainers, egg-hiders, etc. The group will keep their kids occupied with music, tattoos (provided by PSP) or other activity. The last group will be sent off at 11:30. Bring: 1) a dozen or so plastic Easter eggs filled with goodies. 2) props (Easter books, guitar players, shakers, etc.) 3) lunch and a blanket if you want to enjoy the park afterward.

–Meet Your Neighbors Breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt: 10 a.m. Organized by the Friends of Underhill Playground group in Prospect Heights, this potluck breakfast of coffee and bagels will include an Easter egg hunt, rain or shine. Some eggs provided, but bring your own plus baskets. Free, just show up! For more information: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/underhillplayground/.

–Prospect Park Audubon Center’s Unscrambling the Egg, from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 3, and Easter Sunday, April 4. Free: the event will feature crafts, games and special exhibits. Enter the park at Lincoln Road and Ocean Avenue, at Parkside and Ocean avenues, or at Flatbush

Paintings by Jonathan Allmaier (see above): Art in Brooklyn

City Walls call for proposals: Creative Times

Music for April: Now I’ve Heard Everything

Looking for pink elephants with MoCADA: The Local

Natalie Merchant new album and tour dates: Bumpershine

Turkish Delights: The Writer and the Wanderer

Maya Lin’s Wavefield: Water Over Rocks

April 2010 movie preview: Free Williamsburg

Three Penny Review 30th anniversary reading: Community Bookstore

Old Mr. Flood by Joseph Mitchell: The Written Nerd

A sermon on our painting: Old First by Daniel Meeter

The group playing at the Lower East Side’s Lakeside Lounge on February 23rd was billed as The Elvis Club.  That was a pseudonym for one of my favorite bands of the 80s, The Del-Lords.  The reformed Del-Lords, containing all of the original members, played Burnin’ in the Flames of Love, a song from way back then.  You can see a video of that performance today at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner

The Brooklyn Artists Gym is stepping up to the next level and looking to bring a Gallery Director on board .

According to a recent email from Peter Wallace, who runs the Brooklyn Artists Gym, they are looking for a Gallery Director who can give the BAG Gallery “a solid, fresh and fiscally fruitful direction.”

Clearly, they need someone with imagination, energy, excellent collaborative skills and terrific abilities in self-direction and follow-through.  “We need someone who knows the New York art scene and can think outside that box. According to the email, they are open to new ideas and new ways of doing things,” Wallace writes.

Here’s what they’re looking for in a Gallery Director:
•    A vision and plan for the BAG Gallery.
•    Execution of that plan.
•    Working with artists both at BAG and elsewhere.
•    Working with curators.
•    Creating and implementing a marketing plan.
•    Taking responsibility for the finances of the gallery.
Salary is by commission.  (Commission is very broadly defined.)

Applications are being accepted until they find the right match. Take a look at their new website to get an idea of who they are: www.brooklynartistsgym.com
•    Email: peter@brooklynartistsgym.com.
•    Subject line: GALLERY DIRECTOR APPLICATION
•    Include: Current resume; Statement of what you want to do; Three references.

Brownstone resuce: NY Times

Art house B&B in Hamptons: Casa Cara

How to deal with a flooded basement: Apartment Therapy

Stilts and swords: Brooklynometry

Living in a League of Their Own: Design Sponge

Brooklyn General: Adventures in Renovating a Brooklyn Limestone

Industrial-strength shredders: NY Times

Simone Dinnerstein’s PS 321 Neighborhood Concerts presents Face the Music, an ensemble of 20 classically-trained musicians ranging from sixth to twelfth grade in a concert called “Beating Down the Doors.” In residence at Kaufman Center and founded in 2005 by Music Director Jenny Undercofler and composer Huang Ruo, Face the Music breaks the boundaries of classical music education and performance.

“Beating Down the Doors” brings Face the Music’s youthful energy to works by five living composers. The centerpiece of the concert is the world premiere of Liquid Timepieces by composer and PS 321 faculty member Joseph C. Philllips, Jr. Commissioned for Face the Music by Simone Dinnerstein and PS 321 Neighborhood Concerts, Mr. Phillips’ piece is cinematic in its intensity and expansive sound.

The teen members of Face the Music will also present four of their favorite works: Graham Fitkin’s sax-heavy Mesh (1992); Marcelo Zarvos’ foot-stomping “Memory” from Nepomuk’s Dances (2002); Nico Muhly’s stop-and-start How About Now (2006); and Jacob TV’s Lipstick (1998), with a playback mix based on clips from American talk shows.

Face the Music’s young players will talk to the audience between pieces and take questions at the end of the concert, making this an excellent opportunity for families with children.

Of his new piece, Liquid Timepieces, Mr. Phillips says, “The years 2010 and 2011 are anniversaries of composer Gustav Mahler’s birth (1850) and death (1911). I wanted to celebrate these ‘Jubilee Years’ by writing a work that honors the profound influence Mahler’s music has had on my musical thinking. Liquid Timepieces is my hommage to Mahler.”

A chart-topping pianist, Ms. Dinnerstein founded the PS 321 Neighborhood Concerts series at the public school her son attends and where her husband teaches. The performances, which feature musicians she has admired and collaborated with during her career, is open to the public and raises funds for the school’s Parent Teacher Association. The musicians performing donate their time and talent to the program.

Here is an excerpt from Repeat Until Rich, a new memoir by Brooklyn’s Josh Axelrad about winning and losing $700,000 as a card counting Blackjack player. It was reviewed and excerpted in today’s New York Times.

They called themselves Mossad after the Israeli intelligence agency. The key honcho was a guy named Jon Roth. I met him just once, and then everything started. I took the subway one evening to Park Slope in Brooklyn, buzzed at the address my contact had given, and was let in by a tiny brunette who introduced herself as Bridget Gould.

She showed me up the stairs. The building was a brownstone, singleresidence — all Roth’s. He was a retired millionaire from Wall Street. Israeli-born, charismatic, three to six years older than myself. I knew these things from Garry Knowles, my mentor.

At the second fl oor, I saw a person dealing cards. A dining-room table had been converted into a blackjack table. There was green felt spread over it like a partial tablecloth. Two strangers sat on the player side, chips in the betting squares in front of them. The dealer was Roth, to whom Bridget presented me.

“You’re Garry’s guy?”

“Right.”

He shrugged in response — not without warmth, I thought.

I can’t say what I expected, but he was certainly a human being: large head, heavy build. Either he was muscular or he used to be. His hair was a few inches long, and his brow was pronounced. He might in a previous life have been some kind of ape king, a silverback.

The others sat watching me quietly.

Roth said to one of them, “Chuck, you want to check this guy out?”

“For spotter?”

Roth gave the thumbs-up. The person named Chuck was dark-eyed, perhaps Greek or Latino. He was physically attractive, and it bothered me. My habitual nervousness had been about doubled since I got off the subway, but as I shook Chuck’s hand, it grew worse. I would never fit in with these people.

He led me to a sofa at the end of the room, where he handed me a “shoe” to count down. That’s a big deck made of multiple decks mixed together, six in this case. As we sat, he went over the rules. He would remove a dozen cards or so, then time me as I counted the rest. I had to do it ten straight times, pretty fast, with a limited number of errors.

I passed this test. Shortly after that we had a pizza break. Roth ate standing up, as did Chuck and a bearded guy, Aldous. They were discussing an upcoming trip.

No one addressed me again until Roth had finished his pizza and lit a cigarette. “Ready for the table test?” he asked.

“I hope.”

This was the final exam. Crusts and paper towels were stuffed into the grease-bruised pizza box. Roth began stacking the deck. The Aldous guy sat on one side of me, Chuck on the other.

Continue reading Vegas in Park Slope? →

Over at Now I’ve Heard Everything, check out the very funny video by Jewmongous performing They Tried to Kill Us (We Survived Let’s Eat) which claims to explain the story of Passover “according to Wikipedia.”  Jewmongous will be appearing at 92Y Tribeca on Saturday, April 3.

Appearing tonight at The National Underground will be The Demolition String Band who go from country to flat out hard rocking.  Details here.

–Eliot Wagner