The Amygdaloids are four scientists who play rock and whose songs are based on the work they do at their day jobs. Rosanne Cash appeared on their last album and they’ve recently played live with Lenny Kaye, Steve Wynn and The Kennedys. Tonight, in honor of it being Friday the 13th, they’ll be doing some fear songs to kick the evening. They’ve also promised to premiere some new tunes as well. See the details for this show at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.
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No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
OTBKB Music: Phosphorescent at The Brooklyn Bowl Tonight
Phosphorescent‘s album from last year, Here’s to Taking It Easy, made the Now I’ve Heard Everything Best Albums of 2010 list. Their show at River Rocks last year was near the top of my list of favorite live shows for that year. So recommending tonight’s show at Brooklyn Bowl is almost a given. Musically, Phosphorescent reminds me a bit of early 70s Neil Young, (and I think that their song, Los Angeles, off of Here’s to Taking It Easy works pretty well with Neil’s Words (Between the Lines of Age)). Details of the show are available at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.
–Eliot Wagner
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
This Thursday: Brooklyn Blogfest at 7:30 PM at The Bell House
You can still get tickets to the Brooklyn Blogfest at the Bell House website or you can buy them on the night of the event.
Last year the Brooklyn Blogfest made headlines, including a special feature in the New York Times. Some called it a blast. Others called it a debacle. Some said it was a sell-out, others found it inspirational, fun, and a really good time.
Don’t you just LOVE controversy?
Find out what we do this year to top last year’s event, which featured Spike Lee, Lemon Anderson and all the flavored vodka you could drink.
Please buy your tickets today at the Bell House Website. We’re really looking forward to seeing on May 12th at 7:30PM.
“Where better to take the pulse of this rapidly growing community of writers, thinkers and observers than the Brooklyn Blogfest?” ~ Sewell Chan, The New York Times
Since it was founded in 2006, the Brooklyn Blogfest has established itself as the nexus of creativity, talent, and insight among the blogosphere’s brightest lights. This year will be no different as Blogfest presents keynote speaker, Jeff Jarvis, blog visionary and author of What Would Google Do? Jarvis blogs about media and news at Buzzmachine and is director of the interactive journalism program and the new business models for news project at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Jarvis’ must-see presentation will focus on new business models for bloggers (in other words: how to make money blogging!!).
Blogfest is for bloggers, social networkers, journalists, creative entrepreneurs and those who want to start a blog. Whether you live by a blog, blog to live, live to blog (or are thinking of starting a blog) you’ll want to join us on May 12th.
Blogfest is proud to present a stunning opening video by award-winning photographer Gabriela Herman portraying bloggers at night lit by the light of their screens (see photo above). Also on tap: a video tribute to Brooklyn’s most visionary photo bloggers (by Adrian Kinloch of Brit in Brooklyn), Blogs Aloud (directed by Elizabeth Palmer of Midnight Cowgirls), special networking sessions for like-minded bloggers (i.e. Blogs of a Feather), and a roof-raising after-party with a cash bar, food and music!
Here’s a final list of the break-out groups, aka Blogs-of-a-Feather (see below):
Parenting with Nancy McDermott of Park Slope Parents
Place and/or Hyper-local Blogging: Dan Myers of Here is Park Slope and a writer from Sheepshead Bites
Photo & Video Blogging: Atiba Edwards of Visual Stenographer
Food, Craft and Home with Phyllis Bobb of Reclaimed Home
So You Want to Start A Blog: A general how-to with Louise Crawford of OTBKB and Cathryn Swan of Washington Square Blog
Eclectic with John Guidry of Truth and Rocket Science and Elizabeth Palmer of Midnight Cowgirls
Journalistic Ethics for Bloggers with Brenda Becker and Eliot Wagner
New Business Models for Blogging with Jeff Jarvis of Buzz Machine and CUNY Grad School of Journalism
Culture and Arts with Michael Sorgatz of Art in Brooklyn and Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
OTBKB Music: Last Ulysses S. Grant for Now; 31 Free MP3s and A New Steve Wynn Video
Although Ulysses S. Grant was a great general, a bad president, is buried in Grant’s Tomb and is pictured on the $50 bill, none of that has anything to do with the show at 9pm tonight at The Living Room. The band named Ulysses S. Grant is made up of a number of New York musicians who all play in other bands: Pete Harper, J Blynn, Jim Campilongo, Rich Hinman, Chris Morrissey and Dan Reiser. This band was put together to play some country tunes. That’s what you’ll hear them doing tonight. This is the last of the three shows that the band is playing in the area right now, so if you missed them last week, jump on this chance to see them. Get the details at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.
American Songwriter and CMT have teamed up to give away a 31-song sampler titled The Country Way. In spite of the title, I see all types of music here in addition to country: Americana, alt country, folk and even some rock. The artists include Caitlin Rose. Hayes Carll, Joe Pug, The Civil Wars, Matraca Berg,and Steve Earle. See the complete list, stream the songs, and download them by clicking here.
Finally, there is a brand new video from Northern Aggression, the latest album from Steve Wynn and The Miracle 3. If there is a song that pretty neatly sums up sonically what that band does, this song, Colored Lights, is it. The video is also rather psychedelic. See it by clicking here.
–Eliot Wagner
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
One Magazine, One Story
This was published on Park Slope Patch last week. Thought you might enjoy:
One Story, a literary magazine based in Park Slope, is a publication with a mission, talent, heart—and a great idea.
First, about the mission: in 2001, publisher Marybeth Batcha, a magazine circulation pro, and Hannah Tinti, award-winning author of The Good Thief and Animal Crackers, had the idea to start a short story magazine.
“After 9/11 everyone was having that moment: ‘If I’m going to do something I better do it now.’ We thought it would be a small thing that maybe 100 friends or ours would read,” Tinti told me over the phone. “But it took off in an enormous way. Now we’re one of the largest circulating magazines in the country.”
About the talent: One Story publishes some of the best established and emerging short story writers in the country, including Dani Shapiro, Ben Greenman, Kate Walbert, AM Homes, Michael Blumenthal, John Hodgeman and many more names that are not yet on best seller lists but may be one day.
About the heart: mentorship is at the center of One Story’s mission and it means that master writers and editors are teamed up with emerging writers as a way to nurture a community of up-and-comers headed for publication.
“We help writers build a reader base even after a writer publishes in One Story. They become part of the family, and we support them long after,” Tinti told me.
And what’s the idea? Actually, it’s a very simple one: putting the spotlight on one story per issue, 18 times a year in a small, pocket-sized booklet that easy to handle and easy to read.
I asked Hannah Tinti why One Story chose Park Slope as its home base.
“Our office is in between where we both live in Park Slope and the Gowanus,” she told me. “But there’s a definite Brooklyn sensibility to One Story. Something about the extremely high quality without the stuffiness of Manhattan.”
Clearly, an added perk is that office space in Brooklyn is far less expensive than in Manhattan and the local resources are top notch. “The skill level is high and of high quality,” Tinti told me. But there’s also the added sense of community. “Everyone on staff lives in Brooklyn and rides their bikes to work.”
Tinti also hinted at an effable Brooklyn vibe: “There’s an energy, a ‘we can do this” that made it all happen. It’s a very Brooklyn kind of thing,” she told me.
Not only does a veritable bibliography of writers of contemporary fiction live in Park Slope, including Paul Auster, Amy Sohn, Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Kraus, but also quite a few literary magazine and publishers are setting up shop here. The ever growing annual Brooklyn Brooklyn Book Festival is also making Brooklyn a major literary destination.
I asked Tinti if she shares some of the gloom and doom, which surrounds the current state of the publishing industry.
“We’ve done well. Not gloom and doom at all. We’re on Kindle, Nook, and the iPhone. There may be different delivery systems but I think more people are reading,” she told me.
On Friday, One Story held its second annual Debutantes Ball, which is literally a “coming out” party for One Story writers, who are publishing novels and short story collections. It’s also an important fundraiser for the magazine, which is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council for the Arts, subscribers and the generosity of contributors.
Clearly, the One Story team knows how to throw a good party. Isaiah Sheffer, of Selected Shorts, a public radio staple for 30 years, was the MC and in his wonderful booming voice, he announced the names of this year’s debutantes. Scheffer recently invited Hannah Tinti and the magazine to co-host on his show.
Indeed, it’s been a great year for One Story and the ball was a celebration and a raucous good time.
“We’re celebrating mentorship, one writer doing it for the next. We don’t do it for money; it’s a labor of love for both of us. You do it to give back to the pool, to enrich the lives of others and it’s made my life very rich.”
S’Crapbook by Jennifer Hayden: Rattled
Next Thursday: Brooklyn Blogfest 2011 (Get Your Tickets Now)
I hope you’ve got your tickets to this year’s Brooklyn Blogfest.
Last year the Brooklyn Blogfest made headlines, including a special feature in the New York Times. Some called it a blast. Others called it a debacle. Some said it was a sell-out, others found it inspirational, fun, and a really good time.
Don’t you just LOVE controversy?
Find out what we do this year to top last year’s event, which featured Spike Lee, Lemon Anderson and all the flavored vodka you could drink.
Please buy your tickets today at the Bell House Website. We’re really looking forward to seeing on May 12th at 7:30PM.
“Where better to take the pulse of this rapidly growing community of writers, thinkers and observers than the Brooklyn Blogfest?” ~ Sewell Chan, The New York Times
Since it was founded in 2006, the Brooklyn Blogfest has established itself as the nexus of creativity, talent, and insight among the blogosphere’s brightest lights. This year will be no different as Blogfest presents keynote speaker, Jeff Jarvis, blog visionary and author of What Would Google Do? Jarvis blogs about media and news at Buzzmachine and is director of the interactive journalism program and the new business models for news project at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Jarvis’ must-see presentation will focus on new business models for bloggers (in other words: how to make money blogging!!).
Blogfest is for bloggers, social networkers, journalists, creative entrepreneurs and those who want to start a blog. Whether you live by a blog, blog to live, live to blog (or are thinking of starting a blog) you’ll want to join us on May 12th.
Recently announced: a stunning opening video by award-winning photographer Gabriela Herman portraying bloggers at night lit by the light of their screens (see photo above). Also on tap: a video tribute to Brooklyn’s most visionary photo bloggers (by Adrian Kinloch of Brit in Brooklyn), Blogs Aloud (directed by Elizabeth Palmer of Midnight Cowgirls), special networking sessions for like-minded bloggers (i.e. Blogs of a Feather), and a roof-raising after-party with a cash bar, food and music!
Just announced: A complete list of the break-out groups, aka Blogs-of-a-Feather (see below):
1. Parenting with Nancy McDermott of Park Slope Parents
2. Advertising: Leader TBD
3. Place and/or Hyper-local Blogging: Dan Myers of Here is Park Slope and a writer from Sheepshead Bites
4. Photo & Video Blogging: Atiba Edwards
5. Food, Craft and Home with Phyllis Bobb of Reclaimed Home
6. So You Want to Start A Blog: A general how-to with Louise Crawford of OTBKB and Cathryn Swan
7. Eclectic with John Guidry of Truth and Rocket Science and Elizabeth Palmer of Midnight Cowgirls
8. Journalistic Ethics for Bloggers with Brenda Becker and Eliot Wagner
9. Blogging and Social Networking for social activism or business (leader TBD)
11. New Business Models for Blogging with Jeff Jarvis of Buzz Machine and CUNY Grad School of Journalism
12. Culture and Arts with Michael Sorgatz of Art in Brooklyn and Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times
OTBKB Music: Harper Blynn Plays The Apple Store
Harper Blynn is playing a free show tonight in an interesting venue: The Apple Store on West 14th Street in Manhattan. If you live in Chelsea or The Village, or you don’t like covers or minimums, this is the show for you.
Harper Blynn is a four piece band featuring high energy pop rock, lots of hooks and good harmonies. This past year they released a CD, Loneliest Generation, and a self titled EP. The band is in the studio right now recording their next album.
The rest of the details are posted at Now I’ve Heard Everything; just click here to see them.
–Eliot Wagner
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
OTBKB Music: Amy Speace Lands Like a Bird
If I had a favorite performance at SXSW this year, it was probably Amy Speace at St. David’s Sanctuary, where she performed songs from her new album, Land Like a Bird, with her new band. You can see a video of the moody, atmospheric but ultimately optimistic title track from that album posted at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.
–Eliot Wagner
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Tom Martinez, Witness: Cherry Blossom Beauty
Marian Fontana: Our Lives After Bin Laden
Here is an excerpt from a piece Marian Fontana wrote yesterday for Salon.com after learning that Osama bin Laden had been killed by the US military.
Yesterday, the sky was a perfect, crystalline blue. The color blue that everyone remembers from Sept. 11, the day my firefighter husband was killed along with nearly 3,000 others. I remember how the black plumes of smoke looked against that blue sky, and I remember how that blue lingered for days and weeks and months as I attended countless memorials with empty coffins.
In the afternoon, clouds rolled in, the wind picked up, and by the time I got home, I was cold. I poured wine and put out cheese for friends in from out of town to attend a funeral. By 11 p.m., the first text came in: “Bin Laden dead. I’m sorry if it’s crass to text you this but I’m having real emotional reaction to this.”
There were more texts after that — friends sending love, thinking of my son, now 15, and me, wishing us well.
When my son finally went to bed, I reluctantly turned on the television and listened to Obama’s speech. He addressed the 9/11 families and our private grief: “the empty seat at the dinner table, the children who were forced to grow up without their mother or father … nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.” He went on to talk about bin Laden’s death in Pakistan, and I found myself feeling the way I often do when overwhelmed, looking through the camera of my life as if it were someone else’s, hoping to feel something other than numb.
Photo by Tom Martinez
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
OTBKB Music: Ulysses S. Grant Live; Caitlin Rose on Video
The band named Ulysses S. Grant is made up of a number of New York musicians who all play in other bands: Pete Harper, J Blynn, Jim Campilongo, Rich Hinman, Chris Morrissey and Dan Reiser. Ulysses S. Grant was put together to play some country tunes. That’s what you’ll hear them doing tonight. You can get the show details at Now I’ve Heard Everything by clicking here.
One of the musical finds for me at this year’s SXSW was Caitlin Rose, a 23 year old country/alt country/Americana/rock/whatever singer-songwriter from Nashville. Getting to see her wasn’t easy: I missed her on Friday and finally caught her on Saturday. But she turns out to be the real deal. So much so that I was not surprised in the least to find out that Caitlin sings on the forthcoming album from Laura Cantrell.
See the professionally produced video which has the studio version of Shanghai Cigarettes just by clicking here. Turning the sound up would not be a bad idea.
–Eliot Wagner
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Mourning Hope Reichbach
When I was covering the City Council race back in 2008, I would run into this incredibly smart and energetic 20-year-old on Seventh Avenue, who was campaigning on behalf of City Council Member Steve Levin.
Her name was Hope Reichbach.
Dressed with preppy pizazz, she was smart, cute and perky in a serious way like a a political character in a Hollywood movie played by Katherine Hepburn or maybe Reese Witherspoon (with her hair dyed brown).
She made an impression on me because she was young and outgoing and it was inspiring to see someone like her so serious about local politics.
She had FUTURE written all over her. Her future, our future, the future of New York City and the United States.
In a word, Hope was inspiring and she inspired hope in me about the state of local politics. And that was just a flash impression from running into her on Seventh Avenue a few times.
After Levin won the City Council race for the 33rd district, which includes parts of Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Hope became his communications director. In 2010, she ran for District Leader alongside Stephen Williamson. I was sorry that she lost that race but assumed that she’d be on another ballot in an another election sometime soon.
Shockingly and sadly, last Thursday Hope was found dead at the age of 22 in her Boerum Hill apartment. An autopsy is being conducted. There is no suspicion of criminality. It seems likely that it was an accidental overdose rom prescription medication.
Today there were services for Hope at a synagogue in Brooklyn Heights. Kristen Brown at Park Slope Patch reports that there were nearly one thousand mourners in attendance, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and others active in Brooklyn and NYC politics and journalism.
Patch reports that her father, State Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach, spoke movingly at the memorial. “Perhaps she is not a star, but a comet, whose blaze lit up the sky, but was extinguished much too soon.”
Donations in Hope’s name can be made to: Nicholas Naquan Heyward Jr. Memorial Foundation, Inc., 413 Baltic Street, Suite 1A, Brooklyn, NY 11217. (More information available at: http://nicholasheywardmemorialfoundation.org/)
Don’t Miss Blogfest on May 12th at 7:30PM
Last year the Brooklyn Blogfest made headlines, a special feature in the New York Times. Some called it a blast. Others called it a debacle. Some said it was a sell- out, others found it inspirational, fun, and a really good time.
Don’t you just LOVE controversy?
Find out what we do this year to top last year’s event, which featured Spike Lee, Lemon Anderson and all the flavored vodka you could drink.
Please buy your tickets today at the Bell House Website. We’re really looking forward to seeing on May 12th at 7:30PM.
“Where better to take the pulse of this rapidly growing community of writers, thinkers and observers than the Brooklyn Blogfest?” ~ Sewell Chan, The New York Times
Since it was founded in 2006, the Brooklyn Blogfest has established itself as the nexus of creativity, talent, and insight among the blogosphere’s brightest lights. This year will be no different as Blogfest presents keynote speaker, Jeff Jarvis, blog visionary and author of What Would Google Do? Jarvis blogs about media and news at Buzzmachine and is director of the interactive journalism program and the new business models for news project at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Jarvis’ must-see presentation will focus on new business models for bloggers (in other words: how to make money blogging!!).
Blogfest is for bloggers, social networkers, journalists, creative entrepreneurs and those who want to start a blog. Whether you live by a blog, blog to live, live to blog (or are thinking of starting a blog) you’ll want to join us on May 12th.
Just announced: a stunning opening video by award-winning photographerGabriela Herman portraying bloggers at night lit by the light of their screens (see photo above). Also on tap: a video tribute to Brooklyn’s most visionary photo bloggers (by Adrian Kinloch of Brit in Brooklyn), Blogs Aloud (directed by Elizabeth Palmer of Midnight Cowgirls), special networking sessions for like-minded bloggers (i.e. Blogs of a Feather), and a roof-raising after-party with a cash bar, food and music!
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
OTBKB Music: A Doubleheader at The Bell House with Steve Wynn and The Miracle 3 and The Baseball Project
Two terrific bands with different approaches and subject mater, but with some overlapping members make up tonight’s double bill at The Bell House. Up first will be Steve Wynn and The Miracle 3 (guitarist Jason Victor, bassist Dave DeCastro and drummer Linda Pitmon). Steve and his band play straight ahead rock with with solid songs and intelligent lyrics. They are supporting their latest album, Northern Aggression. You can expect to hear a few songs from that new album, other songs from Steve’s impressive catalog (which stretches back all the way to The Dream Syndicate in the 80s) and some surprises.
Then it will be time for The Baseball Project, a band whose songs deal with America’s Pastime. You’ll get to see Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon again, and they will be joined by Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, REM touring band) and Peter Buck (REM). Expect to hear songs about the Bill Buckner and the 1986 World Series, Harvey Haddix and his perfect game that wasn’t and man, many more. And tonight, Hold Steady front man Craig Finn will be on hand to sing the anthemic Don’t Call Them Twinkies, an ode to and a history of the Minnesota Twins.
–Eliot Wagner
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
OTBKB Music: May Music Calendar
It’s nearly May and therefore it’s time for the May music calendar at Now I’ve Heard Everything; just click here to see it. Even with 40 events currently listed, this is a work in progress that will be updated, so don’t forget to check the calendar frequently. May starts off with the first outdoor show of the season over in Hoboken. But April ends with two really good shows at The Bell House, just walking distance away. I’ll be back to tell you about them on Friday.
–Eliot Wagner