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Leon Freilich, Verse Responder: Stand By Your Man (The Hillary Version)
Four-time divorcee Tammy Wynette is the subject of a biography just published by Jimmy McDonough.
Stand by Your Man–
The Hillary Version
Stand on your man
Dig in until he’s bleedin’
And knows just what he done wrong
When he ran roun’ a-seedin’
Stand on your man
And tell the folks you hate him
Cause he was bad since he began
Stand on your man
Stand on your man
And try forgettin’ the times
The bastard knocked you on your can
Stomp on your man!
Tonight: Blarneypalooza at the Old Stone House
BLARNEYPALOOZA: On Thursday, March 18th at 8PM, Brooklyn Reading Works presents Blarneypalooza, a literary celebration of Irish writers, music and influence planned with Saint Patrick’s Day in mind. Donation: $5
Ann Beirne, Jill Eisenstadt, Barbara O’Dair, David Freiman, Greg Fuchs, Patrick Brian Smith, and Michele Madigan Somerville.will read/perform at the historic Old Stone House in Washington Park on Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope.
POETS FOR HAITI: On Monday, March 22 at 8PM at the Old Stone House, Louise Crawford and Michele Madigan Somerville present POETS FOR HAITI, an entertaining and inspiring benefit designed to raise funds for relief efforts in Haiti.
Poets/performers Sharon Mesmer, Joanna Sit, Wanda Phipps, Roy Nathanson, Bill Evans, Ellen Ferguson, Christopher Stackhouse and more will performa the Old Stone House in Washington Park in Park Slope (Fifth Avenue and Third Street). Donation $10. for Doctors Without Borders.
Beware the Ides of March
Caesar:
Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music
Cry “Caesar!” Speak, Caesar is turn’d to hear.Soothsayer:
Beware the ides of March.Caesar:
What man is that?Brutus:
A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
Drinking With Divas – Jen Shyu
Sarah Deming met vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu at the Tea Lounge to discuss her composition “Red Sands, Raging Waters,” which she will perform at McCarren Hall in Williamsburg on Friday, March 26.
Based on an ancient Chinese narrative form called Shuo-chang (literally, “talk-sing”) and Brazilian poetry, “Red Sands, Raging Waters” features Portuguese, Mandarin, Tetum, and Taiwanese vocals (Shyu), dance (Satoshi Haga), clarinet (Ivan Barenbaum), cello (Daniel Levin), vibraphone (Chris Dingman), and percussion (Satoshi Takeshi). For more information, go here.
Sarah: Tell me about the genesis of this piece.
Jen: I got a commission to compose a new vocal work for the Jazz Gallery. At the time, I was traveling through China and Taiwan studying Shuo-chang and other traditional music, and the motif of flooding seemed to show up everywhere. After I gave a concert one night, we had to drive home through knee-deep rainwater. A month later, the day after I left China for Taiwan, someone read my Mayan horoscope and told me my sign was “Red Moon,” whose power is “Universal Water” and whose essence is to purify. The next day, I read an email from my host in China, saying that the day after I’d left, the pipes had burst in her apartment where I stayed! I thought of this story of a girl who caused flooding wherever she went. Then I learned this Chinese legend about a flood hero named Da Yu or “Yu the Great,” because my friend in Beijing was named after him. I collaborated with a poet named Patricia Magalhaes, who wrote Portuguese lyrics based on the Da Yu myth.
Sarah: What’s the myth about?
Jen: Yu’s father had unsuccessfully tried to save China from flooding by building dams. Yu succeeded by digging canals instead. Taoists love this story because it demonstrates the superiority of working with nature’s flow, rather than trying to subdue it. It’s also about the conflict between love and duty. Yu married his wife but he only spent five days with her before he had to leave. He told her to name their son Qi (啟) which means “Five Days” after the number of days they shared. They say Yu passed his own door three times while busy fighting the floods. The first time, his wife was giving birth. The second time, his son was taking his first steps. The third time, his son was waving at him and begging him to come home. But Yu never went inside. The same night I learned about Da Yu, a woman served me tea named after him, and she said, “He didn’t love his wife.” This was different than all historical accounts about him, which praised his abandoning his family in order to fight the flood waters. I wanted to give the wife and her suffering a voice in the piece, too.
Sarah: Is it important for the audience to understand all the words you are singing?
Jen: Well, I had a program with translations for the premiere of the piece. I’ve tried singing parts of it in English, but I felt it ruined the mystery. I like giving people a reason to absorb other cues, to look deeper. If they don’t understand the story, they can make up their own. When you go to a ritual, you don’t try to understand it – you just experience it. Maybe one day I’ll write some simple love songs, I don’t know! But I fear cliché. Even if the source material is transparent, like a folksong text, I want the music to retain some mystery. Just like people have mystery. At least, the people worth knowing.
Sarah: What kind of music did you grow up listening to?
Jen: Mostly classical. I played piano and violin, and my brother played piano and clarinet, so there was always a lot of practicing, and we entered competitions. My dad would make us these great cassette tapes with all the movements and names of classical pieces written out in his beautiful handwriting.
Sarah: When did you decide to use your own ancestry as an inspiration for your music?
Jen: My degree at Stanford was in classical singing, but I had started singing with some jazz ensembles, and I was reconsidering my path. I met this activist/saxophonist Francis Wong, who said to me, “Why don’t you check out your roots for inspiration?” Nobody had ever said this to me before. I dug out these Taiwanese folksongs my father had given me, and I started to learn and arrange them. Then I gave a demo to Steve Coleman in New York, and he told me, “You have a nice voice, but what do you want to do with it?” I told him I was thinking of going to Taiwan to study indigenous music, and he said, “What are you waiting for? You could die tomorrow.” He was right. We build up walls of excuses. I quit my teaching gig and broke the lease on my apartment. My parents were willing to help me pay for the trip, and I realized I couldn’t let pride stand in my way.
Sarah: I love the strength of your voice.
Jen: When I started singing as a kid it was in musical theatre, so I’ve always loved the strong voice. I find myself channeling Cassandra Wilson sometimes. I love the incredible depth and richness she has. You hear the air behind it. And even though what she does is difficult, she makes it sound easy, like water falling down. I’m over my “pretty singing” phase, and now I am interested in more primal emotion. Like these villagers I would listen to in Taiwan. They would be doing their work, chewing betelnut – none of this protective singer crap – and then they would open their mouths and the most beautiful sound would come out. It had nothing to do with technique. Knowledge comes in many different forms.
IN PRAISE OF YERBA MATE
Like great music, yerba mate is meant to be shared. The Tea Lounge serves mate the way it’s served in South America: in a gourd with a metal straw called a bombilla. The gourd can be refilled many times, the mate becoming sweeter and milder with each re-steeping. Mate is high in Magnesium, slightly bitter, and strangely addictive. As the adorable barista Matthew remarked, “It’s caffeinated, but in a different way than coffee. It gives you a mellow feeling. The more you drink it, the more you want to drink.”
Trees Down in Brooklyn
I heard from my friend over at Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn who had tree troubles during the weekend storm.
Our big, Ol’ evergreen came down in the storm as did our neighbor’s…completely uprooted. No damage but phone and Internet service out(sending this on bb). My daughter her way to her weekend job on Cortelyou road took this photo of a tree that blew over onto a house at East 17th and Foster. Will send u a pic of our tree down separately..rough winter or global warming here we come?
A member of Park Slope Parents had this report from Prospect Park:
I just ran the loop and saw at least 15 large trees down–two blocking the road on the back side. Third st playground has two trees down on top of the playground equipment and another large one down on the road.
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Diaper Diva Says No to Day Camp
Diaper Diva has been stressing lately about where to send Ducky for summer camp. She just couldn’t decide — and there are so many choices (and they’re all so expensive).
As is often the case, she called Smartmom to meet for coffee at Sweet Melissa (Dumb Editor note: That is not a cheap plug for a fellow Brooklyn Paper columnist!), where they have most of their “there’s something I need to discuss with you” conversations.
Smartmom could tell that Diaper Diva had done her homework. She knew about all the camps in the area. She’d been online, read the mailers, and garnered a boatload of information from other parents, who were stressing about the very same thing.
“Scone-loving Mom is sending her daughter to Beth Elohim,” she said. “And Flirty Dad is sending his son to Park Explorers,” Diaper Diva told Smartmom.
The Diva was reeling with stories about what all the other kids are doing this summer. Buddha knows, she wanted the same for her daughter. It would be downright cruel to deprive Ducky of all that fun.
Would Ducky enjoy an arts camp? A drama camp? A traditional day camp with bug juice and lanyards? A daily trips camp? A tennis camp? A soccer camp?
The possibilities were limitless — but Diaper Diva’s budget is not. In these dark economic times, it’s not like money is growing on the trees in Prospect Park.
So Smartmom made a radical proposal: How about not sending Ducky to camp?
Diaper Diva looked like she might fall over. She was uncharacteristically speechless. Her face went pale, and Smartmom thinks she saw her head spin around. Twice. The Diva looked at Smartmom like she had just proposed sending Ducky to Fresh Kills landfill for the summer.
“What about the summer she’s entitled to?” Diaper Diva sputtered.
Entitled to?
Since when does a 5-year-old have to go to summer day camp? Sure, Diaper Diva and Smartmom went to day camps. But back in the 1960s and ’70s, you didn’t have to take out a second mortgage to afford it. And the truth is, they didn’t even like Hudson Day Camp and used to write musicals, yes musicals, which they performed for their parents, about how much they hated that camp.
So who’s got the entitlement issues? Smartmom thinks it’s the parents. Truth is, it’s perfectly OK to not spend money you don’t have on some inflated sense of what summer has to be. The kids will survive. They really will. But will the parents?
If she’s unemployed, Diaper Diva might be around in July, and she and Ducky can do Camp Mom (as one friend of Smartmom calls it) and go to local pools, zoos, museums and parks. If the Diva is working, their wonderful babysitter can take Ducky.
There was an odd moment of truth between the sisters. Then Diaper Diva went in for the kill.
“What about you? You always sent Teen Spirit to day camp,” Diaper Diva asserted. Clearly, she was looking for a loophole in Smartmom’s idea.
It was true. But they sent him to the inexpensive Park Explorers, which he loved, for years and years. The Oh So Feisty One hated day camp from the get-go. And that was that.
People complain that kids these days feel so entitled, but isn’t it the parents who set that up? Isn’t it the parents who, in an effort to outdo their own childhoods, insist that their children have an action-packed life filled with 24/7 activities that cost lots of money?
Diaper Diva thought about it. And then she thought some more. It was a radical idea. It was also, she realized, liberating.
There was no reason that she had to do exactly what all the other parents are doing. Sure, it would be fun for Ducky to go to that camp in Staten Island (which costs upwards of $2,500), but maybe this just isn’t the summer to do it.
And the kids will be just fine swimming at the Red Hook pool, touring around Central Park, visiting the Museum of Natural History.
It’s the parents who feel deprived if they have to say no; that’s the toughest word in the English language — for the parents, not the kids, though.
It’s One Hour Later Than You Think It Is
We switched to daylight savings time this morning at 2AM. You probably know by now. But it’s that spring forward thing. In other words, you lost an hour.
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Debbie Almontaser Vindicated
Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vindicated Debbie Almontaser, the Muslim teacher who helped found Brooklyn’s Khalil Gibran International Academy.
The Commission said that the city Education Department discriminated against the former principal, when they forced her to resign, a federal commission ruled this week.
“DOE succumbed to the very bias that creation of the school was intended to dispel,” the commission wrote this week, finding Almontaser faced discrimination on “the basis of her race, religion, and national origin.”
No comment as yet from Almontaser but she is still seeking to return to the job of leading Khalil Gibran. Her lawyer, Alan Levine, said he was “gratified.” “Debbie Almontaser was victimized twice, first when she was subjected to an ugly smear campaign orchestrated by anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigots, and second when the DOE capitulated to their bigotry,” he told the NY Daily News (who reported this story).
Tree Down on Cortelyou Road
The wind is really howling out there and there’s a tree down on Cortelyou Road. You can see more pictures at Ditmas Park Blog. There are almost certainly other trees down on this stormy, yucky night in other neighborhoods of Bklyn.
March 18: Blarneypalooza, March 22: Poets for Haiti at the Stone House
BLARNEYPALOOZA: On Thursday, March 18th at 8PM, Brooklyn Reading Works presents Blarneypalooza, a literary celebration of Irish writers, music and influence planned with Saint Patrick’s Day in mind. Donation: $5
Ann Beirne, Jill Eisenstadt, Barbara O’Dair, David Freiman, Greg Fuchs, Patrick Brian Smith, and Michele Madigan Somerville.will read/perform at the historic Old Stone House in Washington Park on Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope.
POETS FOR HAITI: On Monday, March 22 at 8PM at the Old Stone House, Louise Crawford and Michele Madigan Somerville present POETS FOR HAITI, an entertaining and inspiring benefit designed to raise funds for relief efforts in Haiti.
Poets/performers Sharon Mesmer, Joanna Sit, Wanda Phipps, Roy Nathanson, Bill Evans, Ellen Ferguson, Christopher Stackhouse and more will performa the Old Stone House in Washington Park in Park Slope (Fifth Avenue and Third Street). Donation $10. for Doctors Without Borders.
The Weekend List: The Crucible, Battlefields, Dysfunctional Forest
FILM
–Alice in Wonderland, The Ghost Writer, Shutter Island at BAM.
–Also at BAM It’s Montgomery Clift, Honey festival of the actor’s films.
MUSIC.
–Saturday at 8:30 at the Jewish Music Cafe: Kol Dodi and the 7 ft. bassist, Jootsy Szaba
ART
–Mary Ting, Excerpts from the Dysfunctional Forest at Kentler International in Red Hook through March 28th
–Battlefields, the first New York solo exhibition by Nebojsa Seric-Shoba. Taken over a 10 year period (from 1999 to 2009), the featured photographic works, documentations of actual battlefields, call into question the autonomy of “place:” the disparity that exists between historical events and the geographic locations in which they occur. Dumbo Arts Center through April 25th
THEATER
Saturday and Sunday at the Old Stone House: The Crucible directed by Claire Beckman. Brave New World Repertory Theatre presents an exciting, site specific adaptation of the Arthur Miller classic. $18. Reservations necessary. Order tickets and reserve on-line at www.bravenewworldrep.org or call 718-768-3195. I just found out that the run is sold out but maybe there’s a waiting list.
Yassky Nominated to Head the Taxi & Limo Commission
David Yassky, the former City Councilman for the 33rd District (which includes parts of Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Williamsburg and Greenpoint), has been nominated by Mayor Bloomberg to head the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission .
I’d been hearing rumors for weeks and the mayor announced Yasskys nomination on his weekly radio show. Does anyone listen to that show? Just curious.
After his failed run for city comptroller in November I was wondering what Yassky was going to do next. So here’s the answer. The nomination is subject to approval by the City Council.
Here’s what Bloomberg had to say in statement reprinted in the NY Times:
“David is the right guy for the job. He led the way in the Council in introducing fuel-efficient taxis to the City, part of our PlaNYC agenda, and as former Chairman of the Small Business Committee, he’s familiar with the issues and concerns of running a small business and many taxi drivers are in fact small business owners.”
Coming Soon: Interview with Peter Hedges
I interviewed Peter Hedges about his new novel, The Heights a few weeks ago. We had a interesting and far reaching conversation and I can’t wait for you all to see.
His first novel “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” was made into an acclaimed film that introduced Johnny Depp to the world. Hedges also directed the beautiful, Pieces of April with Katie Holmes and Patricia Clarkson.
My interview will be up and running on Monday. Stay tuned.
Fun New Novel about Brooklyn Heights
Peter Hedges scores with his new book, The Heights, about Tim and Kate Welch, parents who live in the upscale neighborhood on Tim’s salary as a teacher at the fictional “Montague Academy.”
When his wife gets a good job in Manhattan Tim is able to quit his teaching job become a stay at home dad and finish his dissertation.
The trouble starts when Anna Brody, a mysterious, alluring and fabulously rich mother buys the biggest house in the nabe and the Welches are forced to grapple with issues of friendship, fidelity, parenting, money, envy and the ties that bind.
In this breezy, intelligent third novel by Hedges, who also wrote the book and film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, the author uses humor, smarts, good plotting and excellent observations of the Brooklyn Heights life to tell his human tale. He creates believable characters that are interesting, quirky and complex.
Most importantly, he sketches an insiders view of the upper crust world of Brooklyn Heights complete with references to the 100-year-old Brooklyn Heights Association, familiar locattions, cafes with (sometimes but not always) fictional names, and people you can truly imagine at the Promenade Playground.
One of my favorite scenes comes after Anna’s daughter is injured in a playground accident:
“Earlier that night Sophie Brody-Ashworth tripped over/slipped off/fell headfirst from the top of the circular slide at Pierrepont Playground. Her mother, Anna, saw the whole thing happen/dind’t see a thing, wasn’t even at the playground. Sophie’s injury was just a scarpe/a deep cut/a nasty gash that exposed her skull bone…
Hedges is a pro when it comes to telling good stories. In addition to writing Gilbert Grape, he directed Pieces of April (a film I loved), Dan in Love and About a Boy.
It great to have a talent like this writing about the neighborhood life in Brooklyn.
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Call For Proposals for Artwork for Construction Fences
The Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), in partnership with the MetroTech BID, seeks proposals from Brooklyn-based artists and collectives for artwork to be installed on construction fences on 3 sites in downtown Brooklyn.
Proposed works should have strong visual impact and should be accessible and appropriate for the general public. Artists are encouraged to create installations that fit within the context of the site and create a visual identity for the area. Applicants may apply for more than one site and are required to complete separate applications for each site. Three artists/collectives will be chosen, one artist/group for each site.
Chosen artists/collective will receive a $1,000 fee for honorarium. Each site includes a supply budget not to exceed $2,700. For more details and to apply visit http://www.brooklynartscouncil.org/documents/1413.
Deadline: April 5, 2010 by 5 pm
Monday Night: Community Vigil Against Hate
39th district City Councilman Brad Lander is joining with Lambda Independent Democrats and other elected officials (including the Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, and Borough President Marty Markowitz), Carroll Gardens community leaders and neighbors for a vigil scheduled for Monday night at the site of a hate crime attack. Here’s the note from Lander.
As I reported yesterday, a despicable incident occurred in our neighborhood last Monday night. A young man was walking home from a bar in Carroll Gardens when he was attacked by five individuals who hurled anti-gay slurs at him while beating him severely. Fortunately, the victim of the attack has been released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, but we want to make sure that we show our support for him and make clear to everyone that there is no room for hate or violence of any kind in our community, or anywhere in New York City .
On Monday night, I will join Lambda Independent Democrats, other elected officials (including the Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, and Borough President Marty Markowitz), Carroll Gardens community leaders and neighbors for a vigil at the site of the attack. We need to make clear that we are all appalled and sickened by the attack and that we live in an inclusive and welcoming community that will stand up together for all its residents.
I hope you will join me in showing your support for the victim, your outrage over this incident, and your commitment to a community that is united against hate.
What: Community vigil against hate
When: Monday, March 15th at 8:30pm
Where: Luquer Street , between Clinton and Hamilton
Berkeley Carroll School Gets OK from Landmarks to Expand
Here’s an excerpt from the Brooklyn Paper’s story:
The city has approved a Park Slope private school’s expansion plan, a controversial scheme that vexes some residents who fear that the new building will undermine the neighborhood’s historic character.
On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 8-0 in favor of the Berkeley Carroll School’s one-story annex and rooftop playground at the rear of its campus on Lincoln Place between Seventh and Eighth avenues.
The addition is four feet taller — and occupies a larger footprint — than an existing portion of the school that will be razed.
The project was approved because it “does not involve the removal of historic fabric, and the addition is not visible from a public thoroughfare,” said Landmarks spokeswoman Lisi de Bourbon…
…Some residents of St. Johns Place, whose backyards abut the Berkeley Carroll School, vow to fight on.
“The community will not stand by and allow … a project so antagonistic to the neighbors,” said John Muir.
D is for Dress at Dalaga
Dalaga has pretty dresses all year round and of course they have pretty dresses for spring AND they were mentioned in New York Magazine for Best Dresses – Best of New York Shopping 2010 — New York Magazine http://nymag.com/bestofny/shopping/2010/dresses/#ixzz0hytuRzVi
The shop is in Greenpoint near the water, a fun place to go. 150 Franklin St., nr. Greenpoint Ave., Greenpoint; 718-389-4049. And here’s what New York Mag had to say:
A lot of boutiques only stock a few dress styles, preferring to focus on easier-to-fit (and therefore faster-selling) categories like T-shirts, knits, and accessories. At Dalaga, Michelle Mangiliman puts an emphasis on the category, so her selection is far more inclusive; you’re just as likely to find a party-appropriate formfitting LBD or vintage-inspired silk style as a crisp, office-appropriate belted shirtdress from a brand like Holy G, BB Dakota, or Alexandra Grecco. Given its neighborhood clientele of twenty- to thirtysomethings, the prices rarely get much over $100, but Mangiliman vets her suppliers for quality and brings in new pieces weekly to appeal to the crowd that might amble past after brunch at Five Leaves.
March 18: Blarneypalooza/March 22: Poets for Haiti at Stone House
Take note of two special events at the Old Stone House on March 18th and March 22nd.
BLARNEYPALOOZA: On Thursday, March 18th at 8PM, Brooklyn Reading Works presents Blarneypalooza, a literary celebration of Irish writers, music and influence planned with Saint Patrick’s Day in mind. Donation: $5
Ann Beirne, Jill Eisenstadt, Barbara O’Dair, David Freiman, Greg Fuchs, Patrick Brian Smith, and Michele Madigan Somerville.will read/perform at the historic Old Stone House in Washington Park on Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope.
POETS FOR HAITI: On Monday, March 22 at 8PM at the Old Stone House, Louise Crawford and Michele Madigan Somerville present POETS FOR HAITI, an entertaining and inspiring event designed to raise funds for relief efforts in Haiti.
Poets/performers Sharon Mesmer, Joanna Sit, Wanda Phipps, Roy Nathanson, Bill Evans, Ellen Ferguson, Christopher Stackhouse and more will performa the Old Stone House in Washington Park in Park Slope (Fifth Avenue and Third Street). Donation $10. for Doctors Without Borders.
Efrain Gonzalez: First Flowers
Park Slope’s Kim Maier, One of 31 “Extraordinary Women”
Kim Maier, Executive Director of the Old Stone House, was selected as one of 31 Extraordinary Women honored yesterday by Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes as he announced the recipients of his fourth annual Extraordinary Women’s event.
“These exceptional women serve as role models because of their selflessness, dedication and compassion”, Hynes told the crowd. “It is an honor for me to recognize these women for their outstanding work, which benefits the people of Brooklyn.”
To each of the 31 women, Hynes bestowed the title of Special Ambassador to their communities. “The women come from neighborhoods all throughout Brooklyn. The honorees all have one thing in common,” said District Attorney Hynes. “They make Brooklyn a better place to live.”
The 31 Extraordinary Women are: Oraia Reid (Boerum Hill), Paula Shirk (Brooklyn Heights), Christine Moore Vassallo (Boerum Hill), Wai Po Tsang (Sheepshead Bay), Aqila Norris (Bedford Stuyvesant), Laurie Windsor (Bath Beach), Chaya Lipschutz (Borough Park), Suzelle Charles Augustin (Old Mill Basin), Sherif Fraser (East Flatbush), Linda Sarsour (Bay Ridge), Mary D. Allen (East New York), Kathleen Snow (Marine Park), Kimberly Maier (Park Slope), Jodie Reznik (Flatbush), Jeanne B. Lambert (Flatbush), Megan Kerrigan (Mapleton), E. Colleen Golden (Bay Ridge), Victoria Aviles (Boerum Hill), Elisabeth Stock (Park Slope), Patricia Reddock (East Flatbush), Dale Mc Reynolds (Sheepshead Bay), Candice Anderson (Park Slope), Renee Flowers (Gowanus), Ismay Griffith (Canarsie), Amy Cohen (Carroll Gardens), Bazay Roohi (Coney Island), Margarette D. Tropnas (East Flatbush), Nancy Carbone (Red Hook), Margaret Cusack (Boerum Hill), Deb Howard (Fort Greene), and Laurel O. Fraser (East Flatbush).
Spring Forward: Daylight Savings Time Begins Sunday
On Sunday, March 14, 2010 Daylight Saving Time goes into effect. Reset your clocks one hour ahead. The time change goes into effect at 2:00 AM.
Current Weather in Park Slope
Brought to you by the Feldman Family from their local weather tower.
The Weekend List: Battlefields, Moonlighters & Dysfunctional Forests
FILM
–Alice in Wonderland, The Ghost Writer, Shutter Island at BAM.
–Also at BAM on Friday, March 12 at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: A Place in the Sun (1951) directed by George Stevens with Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters. George Stevens takes on Theodore Dreiser’s monumental opus An American Tragedy in this adaptation featuring Clift in one of his defining roles: an ambitious social climber caught between his pregnant, working class girlfriend (Winters) and a wealthy socialite (Taylor). Each in their prime, Clift and Taylor’s chemistry and beauty are captured in Stevens’ electrifying, erotically-charged close-ups.
MUSIC
–Friday at 9PM at the BAM Cafe: “A powerful performer” (The New York Times), jazz vocalist Elisabeth Lohninger trades conventional standards for more modern fare, lending her minimalist alto to songs by The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, and others for a series of brilliant, less-is-more re-imaginings.
–Friday at 10 PM at Barbes: Gorgeous vocal harmonies interwoven with guitar and ukulele, the Moonlighters are as comfortable with classic Hawaiian melodies as they are innovative with their original songwriting.
–Saturday at 8:30 at the Jewish Music Cafe: Kol Dodi and the 7 ft. bassist, Jootsy Szaba
ART
–Mary Ting, Excerpts from the Dysfunctional Forest at Kentler International in Red Hook through March 28th
–Battlefields, the first New York solo exhibition by Nebojsa Seric-Shoba. Taken over a 10 year period (from 1999 to 2009), the featured photographic works, documentations of actual battlefields, call into question the autonomy of “place:” the disparity that exists between historical events and the geographic locations in which they occur. Dumbo Arts Center through April 25th
THEATER
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Old Stone House: The Crucible directed by Claire Beckman. Brave New World Repertory Theatre presents an exciting, site specific adaptation of the Arthur Miller classic. $18. Reservations necessary. Order tickets and reserve on-line at www.bravenewworldrep.org or call 718-768-3195.
Bklyn Bloggage: arts & culture
Cool jazz blog by Brooklyn jazz musician: Do the Math
Magnetic Fields played 1st of 3 shows at Town Hall: Brooklyn Vegan
Celebrating Slope “Genius” author David Shenk: Brooklyn Paper
March music calender: Now I’ve Heard Everything
Germaine Greer’s thoughts on Shakespeare and Mailer: WNYC Culture Blog
Punk and hardcore photos: Brooklyn DIY
Bookcourt’s new lit mag: NY Daily News
Playful clothes that make me smile: My Coney
Women buy more movie tickets than men: Women & Hollywood
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: The Written Nerd
The Day They Broke Ground
Yesterday after more than seven years of protest and delays, Bruce Ratner and supporters of the Atlantic Yards project broke ground on the Barclays Center, a home for the New Jersey Nets.
Many of Ratner’s political supporters were there: Paterson, Bloomberg and Markowitz are pictured with shovels. Even Jay-Z (who owns a small part of the Nets) held a shovel.
More than 100 protesters from Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn were also on hand.
The Barclay’s Center is just the first part of Ratner’s proposed 16 tower development, that is opposed by many in Brooklyn.
The arena is set to open in 2012, which sounds awfully soon. It seats 19,000 basketball fans.