It’s an action packed weekend in Brooklyn town. As usual there’s too much to do and too little time. My mother-in-law is visiting, which means I will probably catch more of what’s going on than usual. Oh yeah and it’s Target First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum,which is FREE.

Also: The ING New York City Marathon is on Nov. 7, 2010 and it’s so much fun to watch. Catch it somewhere along the route.

Continue reading OTBKB’s Weekend List: Nov 6-7! →

On Veteran’s Day, November 11 at 8PM: Brooklyn Reading Works at the Old Stone House presents Writing War: Fiction and Memoir by Veterans of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan with Matt Gallagher, author of Kaboom, Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War, Juri Jurjevics, Roy Scranton, Philip Klay and Jacob Siegel.

The Old Stone House, the site of the Battle of Brooklyn, one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War, is an appropriate setting for this literary event, which will highlight writing by those who know war first hand. All of these writers have transformed their experience of the violence, the chaos, the devastation, pain, fear and even hilarity of war—in Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan—into honest and searing prose. As Roy Scranton writes in an essay published in the New York Times that chronicles his path from youth to soldier to civilian writer in New York City  “The prior four years of my life hung over my days like the eerie and unshakable tingle of a half-remembered dream — “my time in the Army” — and the sense of chronic disconnection was getting to me. I walked between two worlds: the New York around me and the Army in my head.”

Writing War begins at 8PM and there will be a Q&A following the readings. A $5 suggested donation includes refreshments and wine.

The Old Stone House is located at Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn. 718-768-3195. Click on read more to see the author’s bios.

Continue reading This Thursday: Fiction & Memoir by Vets →

Tonight at ISSUE Project Room is the  last night to catch “Theoretical Music: No Wave, New Music, and the New York Art Scene, 1978-1983”, a series which examines the intersections as well as the failed encounters of art, music, and cinema in downtown Manhattan from 1978-1983.

The series which started on Wednesday night concludes with a concert performance headlined by the first New York appearance in years by the fearless, crucial downtown band, Ut (Friday, Nov. 5).

Ut

Ut returns for its first U.S. concert since 1991.  Sprung from the downtown No Wave scene, Ut (Nina Canal, Jacqui Ham, Sally Young) originated in New York City in December 1978.  They were joined by filmmaker Karen Achenbach in February 1979 before resuming as a three-piece with the original members in May 1980.  Migrating to London in ’81, they released records on their own label, Out Records, and then on Blast First/Mute.  Ut played what was thought to be their last gig in Paris in March 1990; their next performance was an announced set in London in July 2010. “The raw power and sheer drive of Ut is quite straightforward and unmistakable. This is a true threatening guitar band.” (New York Rocker)

NY Art Book Fair: Art in Brooklyn

Excursion: Brooklynometry

An emphatic yes: Do the Math

RIP Professor Lal: The Spiral Staircase

What’s going on Friday: Brooklyn Vegan

One hundred years of ‘tude: Truth and Rocket Science

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: Self-Absorbed Boomer

“Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story”:  NY Times

Here are the best picks for the weekend of November 5-7. As usual there’s too much to do and too little time. But hopefully you’ll take advantage of the fact that you live in one of the most culturally active cities in the world. I for one am going to try. My mother-in-law is in town which means I will probably catch more of what’s going on than usual. Oh yeah and it’s Target First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum,which is FREE.

Also: The ING New York City Marathon Nov. 7, 2010: is so much fun to watch. Catch it somewhere along the route.

Continue reading OTBKB’s Weekend List: Nov 5-7 →

There are two very good shows tonight waiting for you.  First up at 8pm is Charlie Faye, who released one of my favorite records of 2009, Wilson St.   Charlie’s music consists of rock, blues, country and folk blended into each other and she has a rich, melodious voice.  Then at 10pm, Boston’s Hey Mama will be playing.  A mostly electric blues-based act, Hey Mama features the amazing and powerful vocals of Celia Woodsmith, who you may also find playing washboard on a song or two.  Get the details on these two excellent shows here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

This just in: Laura Cantrell, New York’s wonderful real country singer will be playing a free show tomorrow (Saturday) at The Brooklyn Museum as part of Target’s First Saturday there.  Laura will be joined by Jeremy Chatzky, Mark Spencer and Skye Steele and will go on at 6pm.  And since this show is part of First Saturday, it’s free.

–Eliot Wagner

Bouncing back to Brooklyn: CasaCara

The inner anatomy of the Statue of Liberty: Style File NYC (new blog)

Life in the living room: Brooklyn Limestone

Clouds: Swiss Miss

I made this, I am proud: My Coney

Are there really skinny mirrors, fat mirrors?: Apartment Therapy

Before and after kitchen tables: Design Sponge

Thanks to the Brooklyn Paper for running a story about Writing War, the November 11th Brooklyn Reading Works at the Old Stone House. It should be an excellent event:

Parades are nice on Veteran’s Day, but commemorate the day in Park Slope-style by attending a reading from five authors who know war best.

The veterans-turned-writers will present their prose and answer questions at the Old Stone House on Nov. 11 at 8 pm.

“These authors can help us understand war in a way that we may not see in the news, or on TV,” said organizer Louise Crawford. “They’ve come back, and are going to tell us something we don’t know.”

“But are Park Slope residents ready to listen?

The neighborhood didn’t support America’s recent wars, but Crawford hopes that the community can set politics aside and look at the conflicts through the soldiers’ eyes.

“They have a lot to say about a war that’s been on our consciences,” Crawford said. “And I think a good writer may make you understand points of view that you can’t even imagine.”

“And the vets will do that by personalizing battles that are usually talked about on a scale of troops and battalions, according to Matt Gallagher, author of “KABOOM: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War.”

““It’s a personal story about me and 20 other guys trying to do the best we could in a pretty s—ty situation,” he said.

• Juris Jurjevics, the founder of Soho Press and a Vietnam vet.

• Phil Klay, an Afghanistan vet.

• Roy Scranton, an Iraq war vet who has written for the New York Times Opinionator blog.

• Jacob Siegel, an Iraq War vet.

“It’s not going to be pretentious,” Crawford said. “But the question-and-answer session should be the best part.”

“Writing War: Fiction and Memoir by Vets of Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan” at Old Stone House [336 Third St. between Fourth and Fifth avenues in Park Slope, (718) 768-3195], Nov. 11 at 8 pm. Tickets are $5 (suggested). For info, visit theoldstonehouse.org.

Yesterday, fortuitously, I happened upon the opening of Somewhere Else, the latest show curated by Krista Saunders and Jill Benson of  G-Train Salon at Urban Alchemist, a Fifth Avenue shop that sells artisan  jewelry, clothing and objects d’art.

Fanny Allié, a young French artist who now makes her home in Brooklyn, was assembling clay alphabet letters into a sentence for display in the front window of the store. She has created five sentences that tell a very short story, which will appear during the course of this, the latest G-Train Salon exhibition.

I was intrigued.

As pictured above, the letter are clustered in an interesting looking pile that could be the artwork itself. That the artist arranges them into an ambiguous narrative is even more compelling.

Allié told me that she likes to use language in her work though she is not a writer.  “I write for myself, notes, journals. I like words and I think in English now,” the native-French speaker told me. In her artist statement she writes: “I explore the notion of trace 
that indicates the existence of others and my own. 

Trace also shows the passing of time. Many of my projects suggest the course
 of time as they examine memories, past actions or incidents, and events that 
happened at a specific and recorded time.”

Although the artist doesn’t live in Park Slope she pointed at that she used Park Slope locations in the story (Fifth Avenue. Ginger’s Bar. Stone Park Cafe): “I want people who walk by to connect to the story,” she told me.

The story now on display in the window of Urban Alchemist begins: “The stranger was walking on Fifth Avenue in my direction when he got close enough he started talking to me.” Stop by the Park Slope shop to see what happens next.

The G-train salon made its debut in a living room on Flatbush Avenue and it is committed to showing the work of emerging artists from Brooklyn and Queens (hence the name G-train) in intimate and unusual settings. A discussion with the artist is an important part of the concept and adds immeasurably to the experience, the curator told me.

Leslie Mendelson is one of my favorite local musicians.  In years past you could find Leslie playing her original piano-based songs (including a great one about Coney Island) and some inspired covers around town often.  But she took much of this year off and tonight emerges from woodshedding for only the second time in 2010.  This time she’s calling her band Melody Kills.   Get all the details on tonight’s show here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner