Thursday is home and design day on BB:
Bedroom makeover in Ditmas Park: Better Home No Garden
She’s home from Spain and thinking about gardening: Casa Cara
Doing the math on a home sale: Reclaimed Home
Apartment rental round-up: Bushwick BK
She bought a Chrysler Building sweater: Brooklynometry
2 great DIY Valentine ideas: Design Sponge
Sitt wants to build dorms in Red Hook: Brooklyn Paper
Hidden Brooklyn Heights, a tour by Homer Fink: Brooklyn Heights Blog
I just got this announcement from someone at the Brooklyn Heights Association (BHA), which is in the throes of a yearlong celebration of their 100th anniversary:
The BHA is sponsoring “Brooklyn in Prints: A Special Gathering”, a curated exhibit featuring rare and unusual prints and images tracing the history of the borough from its farmland days to the 21st century. This exhibit, which will be held at the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS), will be open to the public for two weeks from Saturday, February 27 until Sunday, March 14. An opening night reception and gallery talk will be held Friday, February 26, from 6:30 to 8:30. Prints will be available for purchase with a share of the proceeds going to both Heights organizations.
This event will be held at the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS), will be open to the public for two weeks from Saturday, February 27 until Sunday, March 14. An opening night reception and gallery talk will be held Friday, February 26, from 6:30 to 8:30. Prints will be available for purchase with a share of the proceeds going to both Heights organizations.
I always post this piece on February 3rd. It was originally published on February 3, 2005 on my old blog, Third Street (which was the original OTBKB).
Today is the anniversary of Smartmom’s parents. February 3rd. The date is etched in her mind. She and her sister would go to the same gift shop year after year to buy their anniversary gift. West Town House smelled of bath soap and sachet. It was just a block and a half from their Riverside Drive apartment. They’d browse for an hour or more. With only a few dollars folded in their small hands, they’d find something to buy: maybe stone paper weight or a letter opener, which the owner would gift wrap in green paper and a black ribbon bow.
Smartom’s parents aren’t married anymore. They’ve been separated since 1976. But February 3rd still stops her short. And while they’ve been separated for longer than they were together, February 3rd means only one thing: the beginning of something that later came to an end.
Groovy Grandma showed OSFO her wedding album a few weeks ago. A large, white, leather-bound book, the black and white photographs present Smartmom’s parents on their ceremonial day. In a simple and elegant, calf-length gown, Groovy Grandma looks like Audrey Hepburn; her hair is close-cropped like Hepburn’s too.
Groovy Grandpa, with no trace of the beard that would later define him, looks pleased with himself and his bride. Their parents gather around them – mythical parents, they are all dead now. They look happy for this union, for this coming together.
Later, OSFO said, “Grandma doesn’t look like herself,” Maybe she didn’t recognize her 78-year old grandmother as a beautiful young bride. Maybe she was surprised to see her grandparents together; she never seen them that way. It probably seemed strange; a little out of whack.
The separation came as a surprise, dramatic as it was. The rupture was sudden: suitcases packed; black garbage bags, filled with men’s clothing, tossed. All traces of him were banished from the apartment; an anguished wife’s ill-fated attempt at an exorcism.
Smartmom was only seventeen, a senior in high school, on the cusp of going away. It was awful to see her family bi-furcated. She was in the throes of first love, first sex, deciding her future. Now this?
Like an ostrich, Smartmom buried her head in her own sandy concerns while her mother grieved and her father sublet a studio on the other side of town.
And when her first love decided he didn’t love her after all, she bifurcated too. “Don’t leave me,” she cried pathetically for days. “It’s gonna take a miracle to make me love someone new cause I’m crazy for you.” Smartmom played that Laura Nyro song over and over on the phonograph in the living room.
But he left anyway.
February 3rd is just another day. But for someone whose family doesn’t exist anymore, Smartmom will always honor the beginning of something that later came to an end.
Photo of a wedding bouquet by Rebecca Shepherd Floral Design and Adornments
Tonight The Living Room has a great bill with Amy Speace at 8pm and Milton at 9pm, which has now gotten even better with the addition of Kelly Flint at 10pm. Milton will be performing his first album, Scenes from the Interior. Get details and see a video of Milton performing In The City, a song originally released on Scenes from the Interior, over at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
–Eliot Wagner
I’ve been noticing these hideous anti-smoking posters wherever cigarettes are sold. Apparently, if you sell cigarettes and you don’t post one of these signs, you risk a $2,000 fine.
According to the Brooklyn Eagle via Brooklyn Heights Blog, a bagel shop on Montague apologized to its customers from having to post the poster.
“We are sorry, but by order of NYC DOH we are required to post the sign or face a fine a $2,000 fine,” the notice explains. That was confirmed by Joseph Aceto a partner at Montague Street Bagels, in an interview on NY 1 News.
Customers have complained that the ugly anti-smoking poster is out of place in a deli, he said. It’s in color and approximately 20 by 19 inches in size.
Eating his way through Brooklyn taco experiment: Serious Eats
Best $3.50 breakfast in Brooklyn: Serious Eats
Fort Defiance in Red Hook: Serious Eats
Two upcoming Park Slope restaurant events: All About Fifth
Growlers are mainstream in NYC: Brew Hops
How clean is bagged salad: Consumer Reports
Brooklyn Calexico Rocks: A Brooklyn Life
Easy brunch baked eggs: Undomesticated Me
Scott Turner is set to move to Seattle. This is his last Greetings for a while. He can write whatever he wants.
Greetings Pub Quiz Friends…
Sure, it’s a mawkish way to begin this last Quizmail of the Scott M.X. Turner era.
It’s my last one. I can write whatever I want.
Well, that’s misleading. I always write whatever I want.
Sitting here now, on a scrappy and, by noon tomorrow, already-forgotten snowy night, I stare at the keyboard. Then the screen. Then my blackboard here at Pub Quiz Actual a half-block from Green-Wood Cemetery. See, Homeland Security, you don’t need to triangulate nuthin’. Just keep reading.
Here’s the first thing I can report: The E, A, S, K, O, L, C, N and M keys are really wearing down — N, especially. Without the touch-typing Mrs. Nichols taught in my junior year at W.H. Page Senior High in Greensboro, NC, the ruler-whack-across-the-knuckles-every-time-I-looked-down-at-the-keys school of touchtyping instruction — I wouldn’t know what any of these keys are.
Thank you, Ms. Nichols, you brutal mean-spirited toad.
Here’s what else I can report.
I love Brooklyn.
I hate Brooklyn.
Is it any wonder these battling eternities go hand in hand?
I love Brooklyn for the following reasons: Freddy’s Bar, Rocky Sullivan’s, MissWit T-Shirts, the dead-and-gone Gage & Tollner, Ebbets Field, The Usual on Vanderbilt Avenue, Tom’s Restaurant on Washington Avenue, Coney Island without Thor or Bloomberg and definitely including Ruby’s, the craggy streets, the countless mom’n’pop stores, Neergaard’s on 5th Avenue, Has Beans on 5th, Red Hook, Floyd Bennett Field, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, FUREE, The Spunk Lads, John Pinamonti, Plastic Beef, Seanchai & the Unity Squad, Michael Patrick MacDonald, The Larch, Robin Aigner, the John Sharples Band, Wombat Studios, The Magpies, Alex Battles, Karen Sorenson’s LOVE Project, the Ditty Committee, artists Conor McGrady and Kevin Noble, Paul Lukas’ Uni Watch website, Green-Wood Cemetery and, most favorite of all, Henry Chadwick’s grave and helping Minerva wave at her French sister in the harbor, Sunset Park, the parts of Park Slope that — well, you know which parts those are, Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn, Manson Family Picnic, Norman Oder’s Atlantic Yards Report, No Land Grab, Puzzling New York, Diane and Sirius and Tikkanen and Connolly, Men & Cats, the Knit-A-Jig crowd, Melody Lanes, Tony Avella — yes, he’s from Queens, but over the last five years he’s come to Brooklyn’s defense more often than most Brooklyn pols, the Atlantic Yards Photo Pool photogs (Tracy Collins, Adrian Kinloch, Jonathan Barkey), the Brooklyn Paper before it its editorial independence got swallowed whole by new owner Rupert Murdoch, Chrysalis Archaeology, Michael Hill’s Blues Mob, The Kennel Studio in East Williamsburg, Michael O’Keeffe and the Daily News’ sports I-Team, The Battle of Brooklyn, Joe at John Hlad Plumbing, Chris Owens, Josh Skaller, Bill Batson, the neighborhood interface areas where Orthodox Jews meet Asians meet Caribbeans meet Africans meet Irish meet Latinos/as meet Italians meet WASPs meet African-Americans meet Laplanders meet Orthodox Jews meet…, amazing artist Alyson Shotz, amazing videographer and producer George Lerner, John Costelloe, Roger Paz even though he’s out in Detroit, BCAT, Teddy’s in Williamsburg and the Charleston’s pizza/beer combo, the Fifth Avenue Committee, Park Slope Neighbors, the Brooklyn Greens, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, the Navy Yard, the Brooklyn parrots, the Red Hook vendors, the B77 bus, everyone who’s fought Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards, the F train’s view of the harbor on summer afternoons, Tuniserve Deli — my morning newspaper joint, Critical Mass, Brooklyn Vs. Bush, Mazzotti Music — the kindest and best musical instruments store and now the kindest and best out-of-business music store, Prospect Park and its timelessness any time of day time of year, my dear friends on the DDDB staff — Dan, Candace, Eric, Gloria and loud’n’proud Lucy, and most germane to this dispatch, the crowd for two-and-a-half years that has been coming to the Rocky Sullivan’s Pub Quiz.
My grandfather once warned me that hatred is a dangerous tool. But, unlike most Lutheran men born in 1899 who worked their whole lives at the YMCA, he didn’t say “don’t hate.” He said “don’t hate if you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Thanks, Poppo. Here’s that list: Bruce Ratner, Marty Markowitz, Roger Green, BUILD, the local chapter of ACORN, the Atlantic Yards monstrosity, the local construction unions whose myopic embrace of Ratner has condemned countless working-class people — many in sister unions throughout the city — to a worse and not better life, Joe Sitt, Coney Island as envisioned by Michael Bloomberg, the 4th Avenue rezoning plan, Joe DePlasco, Bruce Bender, Barclays Bank, Mikhail Prokhorov, the hypocritical Brooklyn Brewery, Williamsburg/Greenpoint/Bushwick hipsters — yes, an easy target but you don’t get to be an easy target unless you are, simply, a target, the Atlantic Terminal Mall, the Atlantic Center mall, MetroTech, the endangered species that is small-business in this borough, Greenpoint/Williamsburg rezoning, Marty Golden, Carl Krueger, Joe Chan, and most germane to every dispatch I’ve written since I’ve lived here, Brooklynites who’d rather sip expensive coffee and resort to today’s stick-their-heads-in-the-sand — their laptops and iPhones while every class and community is run roughshod over by the worst mayor this city has ever seen, Michael Bloomberg.
Continue reading Greetings from Scott Turner: I’ll Never Love A Place As Much As Brooklyn
First the bad news:
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Chiara String Quartet will not be able to perform at PS 321 this Thursday night.
Now the GOOD NEWS:
The PS 321 Neighborhood Concert series is not cancelling the show because the show must go on:
Acclaimed pianist Simone Dinnerstein and the acclaimed American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) have graciously agreed to step in, and will perform a new program.
Awesome!
The concert is this Thursday, February 4, at 7:00 p.m. in the PS 321 Auditorium, 180 7th Ave., Park Slope. Tickets are available at www.ps321.org, and in the PS 321 lobby Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 8:45 — 9:30 am.
As always, the concert will be approximately one hour long and is not recommended for children under 6 years old.
You won’t want to miss this show. The last time they played together, I am told, it was ASTOUNDING.
You’ve probably noticed that every day there’s a different theme on BKLYN Bloggage. Here’s the schedule:
Monday is Neighborhood Day on BB
Tuesday is Politics Day on BB
Wednesday is Food & Drink Day on BB
Thursday is Home & Design day on BB
Friday is Arts & Culture Day on BB
There is no BB on Saturday & Sunday. If your blog reports on any of the above themse let me know about you.
Not a lot of surprises with the Oscar nominations announced this morning. but the Academy did a tremendous job of making the expansion of the Best Picture nominations count.
With the 10 slots (up from 5 previously), the Academy recgonized certain films that have been overlooked in years past. The Pixar animated blockbuster Up, the critically and commercially successful sci-fi District 9 and the red state mentality of The Blind Side are all the types of work that have been overlooked by the Academy in recent years.
Arguably, the biggest surprises are District 9’s Best Pic nomination the Best Original Screenplay nomination for In The Loop, a script that is highly regarded, while the picture has had a low profile here.
Tuesday is Politics Day on BB:
Did NYC Planning Officials Sidestep Looking at the Bigger Atlantic Yards Picture: Noticing New York
MTA budget cuts a mixed bag for neighborhood: Bushwick BK
FDNY Braces for cuts: NY Times
While city and state fight no new parks: Gothamist
Population density in Sunset Park: Sunset Park Chronicles
Untangling the street closing mystery: Atlantic Yards Report
The Gentrification of Brooklyn: The Pink Elephant Speaks: MOCADA
Painting by Tim Okamura, Stay Strong, 2009. Oil, spray paint on canvas, 76 X 84 from Brooklyn Gentrification show at MOCADA.
A shop that sells artisan bread and slow roasting organic chicken is going in where La Bagel Delight used to be on 5th Street and Seventh Avenue in Park Slope.
The sign says: Coming Soon Artisan Bread Slow Roasting Organic Chicken.
That branch of La Bagel Delight moved to a larger location on Seventh Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets right next door to FIve Guys.
Thanks to Richard Grayson who went to yesterday’s press conference at Congregation Beth Elohim. Brooklyn politicians and religious leaders came out to decry the anti-semitic flyers found on Sixth Avenue Park Slope last week. Grayson posted this report on his blog, DUMBO Books of Brooklyn and was gracious to send it my way:
We were one of the first people at the Temple House of the Reform synagogue and were greeted outside by Rachel Goodman of Councilmember Brad Lander’s office, which organized today’s press conference responding to the incidents.
Like Rabbi Andy Bachman and a couple of others, Rachel asked us, “Who are you with?” and too embarrassed to say, “Dumbo Books,” we just said we were some schlemiel alerted by the post on OTBKB. News12 Brooklyn cameras were there, and maybe other channels, along with real print reporters and probably more articulate bloggers.
Detective Adam Barish (in the camel overcoat) was there to represent the NYPD.
Both Councilmember Lander and Rabbi Bachman, good guys from way back, came over to say hi as we tried to make ourselves unobtrusive in a middle row, sitting there as the various speakers and others came in, although there weren’t many regular people in the audience. The big machers were waiting for Marty Markowitz, and just when Brad Lander said, “We’ll give Marty another minute,” the borough president entered the sanctuary.
Brad Lander spoke first and then introduced the other speakers. Lander said that all the elected officials and their representatives and religious leaders were there to stand up united against hatred, not only in this instance directed toward Jews: “There is no room for hate speech and intimidation against any group in our community…to show our united front against those who would try to divide us.”
Rabbi Andy Bachman welcomed everyone to Beth Elohim and spoke out against anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and homophobia. He noted that the congregation was founded in 1861 during a war fought to end slavery of one oppressed group, and said the inscription over the entrance to the synagogue’s main sanctuary, built in 1909, said, “Mine house shall be a house of prayer for all people” (Isaiah 56:7).Read more at Richard Grayson’s blog, DUMBO Books of Brooklyn.
On Rabbi Andy Bachman’s blog, Water Over Rocks, he’s been writing “19 brief meditations on the 19 blessings of the Amidah.” The Amidah is the core of every Jewish worship service. It literally means “standing,” which refers to a series of blessings recited while standing. Every Amidah is divided into three central sections: praise, petitions, and thanks. This is the 11th:
Sound the great shofar for our freedom, raise the banner to gather our exiles, and gather us from the four corners of the earth. Blessed are you, Eternal, who gathers the dispersed of his people Israel.
This blessing reminds us that danger is ever-present. Just this week, the Brooklyn Paper reported that our neighborhood was hit with a call to “Kill Jews,” a sick expression of anti-Semitism that demonstrates the continued existence of a well-developed and long-standing hatred of the Jew. It brings to mind the idea that we actually are in exile–geographic or virtual–when one’s home neighborhood can be the seat of expression of such hatred. But Brooklyn, thank God, is not Tehran, or Ethiopia, are parts of Russia–where a real, palpable danger still lurks for those who are Jews. This blessing reminds us daily that in our dispersion there is risk and that despite our distance from one another, all Jews are connected to one another.
But this blessing also reminds us more generally that all of humanity is dispersed; that the measure of our character as human beings is the degree to which we acknowledge, as Judaism also teaches, that the human is made in the Divine Image. That is to say, we are all connected: regardless of where we are born, of the color of our skin, and of the God we do or do not worship.
Mark your calenders. This Park Slope Civic Council community forum should be fascinating—and a good chance for you to add your two cents to the discussion about the future of Fourth Avenue.
The PSCC’s March meeting, traditionally a public forum on a topic of great interest to the community, will focus this year on the many issues and opportunities on 4th Avenue. The forum begins at 7pm at St. Thomas Aquinas Church on the corner of 4th Avenue and 9th Street,w ho are hosting this important event in their Church Hall (entrance on 4th Avenue).
The forum will feature a panel of experts and a lively discussion on what is needed and what is possible to transform 4th Avenue into a great destination, while considering the many hats it wears. Come listen and contribute your ideas. After the meeting, a working group will be formed to continue the conversation and to help shape the future of 4th Avenue.
| GROUNDHOG DAY’S PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL You’re watched by quite a mob, Phil, The crowd will go berserk, Phil, |
On Saturday night, I lived out my fantasy of setting foot in The Food Network Kitchen. No, I am not starring in a spin-off of “America’s Worst Cooks.”
To gain entry to the hallowed ground, all I had to do was fork over $50 for a good cause — my kids’ school, PS 107. The school’s Wellness Committee, which is working to improve the school lunch program, held their first-ever cocktail party at The Food Network Kitchen in Chelsea Market.
Lucky guests got the chance to sample an assortment of appetizers created by local chefs from The Farm on Adderley, Egg, Palo Santo and Porchetta.
PS 107 parent Jill Novatt, who has the super-cool title of executive culinary producer at The Food Network, pitched the idea of the party to her boss, who gave her the thumb’s up.
“It’s an immediate way to give back,” said Novatt, who has worked at the cable network since 1998.
Meanwhile, P.S. 107 parents (and friends of mine) Melissa Vaughn, a recipe developer, and Carol Diuguid, an editor at Zagat, helped land the distinguished roster of chefs.
Along with her husband, GQ editor Brendan Vaughan, Melissa is writing “The New Brooklyn Cookbook,” a collection of stories, recipes, and resources from Brooklyn’s dining revolution (to be published by William Morrow). The book was agented by fellow P.S. 107 parent (and friend) Larry Weissman at Larry Weissman Literary.
“There was no cost associated with the party, so every single dollar goes back to the school,” said Novatt, who added that several of her co-workers donated their time and Six Point Brewery contributed the beer.
Me? I drank champagne. And I think I tried every dish. When I took a bite of the delectable, but super-spicy ceviche from Palo Santo, I started tearing up.
“I should put up a warning sign on the green mango with pickled habenero,” said Chef Jacques Gautier.
“No problem. I’m crying because it’s so good,” I said.
In fact, Gautier’s pinto beans sopa with mole de Hongos was perhaps my favorite dish of the night.
Egg’s pimento cheese toast was also a big hit with the crowd.
“It’s a no-lose proposition,” said Egg’s Chef George Weld.
“It’s just cheese toast,” scoffed one dad.
“Stop that, it’s much more than a cheese toast,” chided his wife. “I’ve made cheese toast and that’s not cheese toast.”
Ditmas Park’s famed Farm on Adderly served pear chips with butternut squash puree and apple tempura with roasted pork shoulder and pickled fennel.
Porchetta, the only Manhattan eatery represented served – what else? – porchetta, plus pizza from sister restaurant Veloce Pizzeria. I asked Porchetta chef Sara Jenkins what I should cook for my first-ever dinner party and she said “Keep it simple. Roast chicken, potatoes, and salad.”
Sounds good to me. Now if only she can come and help me out in the kitchen.
I’m sorry I had to miss today’s press conference at Beth Elohim where local pols and religious leaders denounced anti-Semitic flyers found in areas of Park Slope, Brooklyn last week. Wow: what a gathering it was. I am awed by the solidarity of these representatives of our community and the shared sense of outrage expressed here. The following are quotes from a press release sent to me this afternoon.
Brad Lander: “There is no room for hate speech and intimidation against any group in our community…”We are here today to speak out against these kind of anti-Semitic actions, and more importantly to show our united front against those who would try to divide us.”
Representative Yvette Clarke: “I am deeply concerned about reports of anti-Semitic literature found in my district. These hateful messages are meant to bring fear and division among our community and are totally unacceptable. I stand firm with the 11th Congressional District in decrying this heinous act of prejudice and bigotry.”
Assemblyman Jim Brennan: “Anti-Semitism, which unfortunately continues to persist in our community, obviously has no place in Brooklyn. I stand in solidarity with other elected officials, religious leaders and members of the community to say that not only will such hateful behavior not be tolerated, but strong, united action is required to denounce it, stop it and apprehend the perpetrators.”
Councilman Steve Levin: “I am appalled by these notes. They are hurtful and unacceptable.
State Senator Daniel Squadron: “The distribution of hateful, anti-Semitic tracts in Brooklyn is becoming a borough-wide problem, and we must put a stop to it. Today I join my colleagues and our community to send a clear message that threatening hate speech will not be tolerated.”
Borough President Marty Markowitz: “Brooklyn is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel so it’s particularly disturbing that we are still seeing despicable incidents of intolerance such as the cowardly, anti-Semitic words of hate found in Park Slope. Brooklyn ’s diversity is our strength, and ultimately there is more that unites us than divides us. So we must remain vigilant in condemning hatred and discrimination against anyone—not only in Park Slope and Brooklyn , but around the world.”
Rabbi Bob Kaplan of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York: “Statements, symbols or acts of hate are simply unacceptable as they tear at the very fabric of our society. We need to insure the voices of inclusively and understanding are our guides in face of those that seek to destroy our American values.”
“Reverend Daniel Meeter from Old First Reformed Church: “Hatred against one is hatred against everyone. Because we hold each other sacred, we have no room for this in our community.”
Mohammad Razvi, the Executive Director of the Council of Peoples Organization, a local Pakistani Group: “We stand here united against all hate crimes. A crime against one is a crime against us all.”
Rabbi Ellen Lippman from Congregation Kolot Chayeinu: We learn from the early sage Hillel that ‘if I am not for myself, who will be for me?’ Therefore I stand with my colleague rabbis and other concerned Jews to make this anti-Semitic hatred public and to strongly condemn it. Hillel also taught, ‘If I am for myself alone, who am I?’ We call on all who condemn such hatred in our neighborhood to stand with us in determined opposition. And Hillel asked, ‘If not now, when?’ The time is now, without delay, to make public this outrageous display of cowardice and hatred, and to call for immediate investigation into its origins and perpetrators.”
Rabbi Andy Bachman of Congregation Beth Elohim: “These recent statements of ‘kill Jews’ are deeply troubling. Hatred of this kind, against anyone, anywhere has no place in our neighborhood, our city, or our country. It only strengthens our resolve to build a tolerant and peaceful world.”
Today at 2:30 Park Slope City Councilmember Brad Lander, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, other local elected officials, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York City and local religious leaders will gather on Monday to collectively condemn the anti-Semitic flyers that said, “Kill Jews” that were found distributed on 6th Ave in Park Slope last week.
It seems that similar flyers have been found in other parts of Brooklyn in past weeks, and the leaders believe this to be part of a growing problem.
WHEN: Monday, Feb 1 at 2:30pm
WHERE: Congregation Beth Elohim, 274 Garfield Place, Brooklyn, NY
I just heard from Rachel, one of the organizers of a Park Slope Parents of Teens group about a meeting tonight.
We’re having a spur of the moment meeting tonight at the Old Stone House at 7:00PM It’s a first time meeting so if you have a teenager and would like to chat with other parents dealing with some of the same issues that you are … come join us! Bring a snack and some stories to share!
Where: Old Stone House, which is in the park on Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope.
When: Tonight, Feb 1 at 7:00pm
Who: Parents of Teens only (no kids)
Why: To chat, support, vent
RSVP: to Rachel: rachelfran(at)yahoo(dot)com
Plans are underway to meet regularly so if you cannot make this meeting but are interested in future meetings on a better day, let me know.
The Fifth Avenue BID (Business Improvement District) is busy organizing all kinds of Valentine’s week and Fat Tuesday specials and promotions.
Starting Monday, Feb. 8th through Sunday, Feb. 14th, stores along the avenue will have special Valentines Week sales and many will have special treats for shoppers! In addition, on Valentines Day, there will be strolling violinists going in and out of Fifth Avenue stores and restaurants from 6:30 to 8 PM!
Tuesday, Feb. 16, the Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID is celebrating MARDI GRAS! There will be jazz musicians walking and playing and giving out bead necklaces, starting from both 18th Street and Dean Street. They will meet up at Washington Park (3rd St & 5th Ave). Some some restaurants will feature special New Orleans or pre-Lent meals!
Artist Marko Vuorinen wrote to tell me about his project, Sleepers, New York City, a website starring ordinary New Yorkers sleeping in public. There is currently a show of these photos in Helsinki but there’s no need to go there.
The whole thing is on the web.
Vuorinen shoots photos of people sleeping all over New York City. He writes: “A person sleeping in the public is irresistibly intriguing. In the public your fate lays in the hands of other. With each photo there’s a location, date and time and a brief explanation written by the artist. For one photo, the photographer recalls about one photo
“As I was adjusting my camera he woke up and wanted to know what I was doing. The fellow didn’t much appreciate my artistic intentions and suspected them to be sexually oriented. At the end of our brief encounter he asked for some change, or as an option he offered to give me a blow job for $20.”
He wrote nothing about this photo of the man with the shopping cart on the F-train.
February may be the shortest and coldest month, but it seems more musically abundant than usual. See who is playing where this month and plan your musical nights out with this February music calendar.
Looking to go out tonight? You can start the month off by checking out Richard Julian at The Rockwood Music Hall.
Details, as usual, at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
–Eliot Wagner
I saw this story about a suspicious fire that swept through a Bensonhurst tenement building killing five people on the local TV news last night and was very moved. Here is an excerpt from the story in today’s New York Times:
In Brooklyn, a Guatemalan immigrant grieved for his wife, killed after their tenement apartment burst into flames as they slept. His eyes red from sobbing, his hand stitched and bandaged beneath a new black funeral suit, the man could do no more than console his toddler son while waiting to see if his infant daughter would live.
Back home in the mountains of western Guatemala, three sisters who had heard about the fire on Saturday steeled themselves for the worst. By late Sunday, the worst seemed all but certain: Their three husbands, who had made their way to America together last year in search of work, all appeared to have perished in the same Brooklyn blaze.
This Thursday acclaimed classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein presents the Chiara Quartet at the PS 321 Neighborhood Concert Series. With this series, it is Dinnerstein’s aim to bring interesting and innovative classical programming to Park Slope.
What a gift that is to the neighborhood.
On Thursday, February 4th at 7 PM: Beethoven and Beyond, featuring the Chiara Quartet in the PS 321 Auditorium 180 7th Ave., Park Slope. Tickets are $15.00, available at www.ps321.org
The Seattle Post calls the Chiara Quartet “vastly talented, vastly resourceful, and vastly committed to the music of their time.”
The New York Times describes them as “luminous” and “searing.” And Strings Magazine used these words: “soulful,” “biting,” and possessing a “potent collective force.”
Dinnerstein has more than a casual connection to Park Slope’s acclaimed public elementary school. Born and bred in Park Slope, Dinnerstein was a PS 321 student, her mother was a a teacher, her son is now a student and her husband is a teacher. The PS 321 concerts, which feature musicians Ms. Dinnerstein has admired and collaborated with during her career, are open to the public and raise funds for the school’s PTA.
Talk about giving back!
Sign up here for The Sixth Sense, the informative CB6 newsletter, that is the brainchild of CB6 District Manager, Craig Hammerman. Here’s an excerpt from this month’s issue:
One of the unique mandates of the community board is to disseminate information to the community about government policies, programs and projects that may affect daily life in the district. No other City agency or elected official is tasked with this role. You can imagine how challenging a job that is having access to very limited resources. Our newsletter is one way of introducing, involving and inviting you in the ongoing work of the board. An engaged community ensures that the community board continues to be truly representative; the more people who get involved – make a phone call, report a service complaint, write a letter or email, circulate a petition, attend a meeting, organize a group or join the community board – the more attention we receive. Certainly, there is no shortage of activism in our communities!
Now is the time of year to apply for community board membership. Community boards are not self-appointing bodies. Our 50 Board Members are appointed by the Borough President, half of them at the recommen-dation of a local City Council Member. They serve voluntary 2-year staggered terms. Becoming a member is a serious responsibility that requires a commitment of time and interest. If you’ve ever thought about getting involved in the community you can start today! Then consider escalating your level of commitment as your interest piques and personal circumstance will allow. When you’re ready to apply you can call the Borough President’s Office at (718) 802-3700, visit their website, or contact your local Council Member. Deadline for 2010 applications is February 22.
