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OTBKB’s Weekend List: October 16-17

Release Party for Insight Magazine Issue 3

Saturday, October 16 from 7-11PM at Triomph Fitness (540 President Street between 4th and 3rd Avenues) celebrate the release of the third issue of INSIGHT: Volume III. View work from issues one and two of the current volume of INSIGHT Magazine. This art experience will feature work by Bishop203, Laura Galvin, Victor Giganti, Michael Malik Jones-Robinson, Jamie Killen, Rick Midler, Michael Sorgatz, John Tebeau, Johanna Treffy, Alejandro Guzman, Bud Ramsay, Maria Baraybar, Peter Patchen, Spring Hofeldt, Cat Celebrezze, Ward Yoshimoto, Steve Riley, Brian Dupont, James Chen-Feng Kao, Jisoo Lee, Genesis Tramaine and more.

Feast on delicious homemade Brooklyn ice cream from Phinizy & Phebe (free scoop of ice cream to the first 11 people), gourmet rice crisps from riceworks and refreshing beverages from Teany. Additional sponsors include Art in Brooklyn, Creative Times, Triomph Fitness and Fresh Industries. F.O.K.U.S. uses the arts as a tool for education, entertainment and empowerment. Since 2003, we have been creating exciting spaces for people to explore creativity and widen their appreciation for the arts. To learn more about F.O.K.U.S., our past events and why we believe art is what unites us. Read their  overview and press kit.

Architecture and Design Film Festival in Tribeca

October 14-17 at the Tribeca Cinemas, the first US film festival celebrating the creative spirit of architecture and design featuring a wide selection of feature length films, documentaries and shorts. Also: discussions with filmmakers, architects and designers about the design process, architecture in film, and the brilliant designs we see and use every day.

Movies

Starts Friday at BAM: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger directed by Woody Allen.

Also at BAM: The Social Network, The Town and Wall Street Money Never Sleeps

Through October 26 at Film Forum: the stunning Barbara Sukowa stars in Vision, a new film about the 12th century mystic and composer Hildegarde Von Binghen directed by the great Margarethe von Trotta.

Saturday, October 16 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm at BAMCinematek: Clean directed by Olivier Assayas (part of the Post-Punk Auteur: Olivier Assayas festival)”Clean is one of the few fiction films to evoke realistically the grubby texture of existence for second- and third-tier rock celebrities crumbling under a combination of fading renown and drug addiction.” —The New York Times

Art

At Proteus Gowanus (543 Union Street, Brooklyn): Paradiso Contrapasso. “In Dante’s Inferno, Paradiso Contrapasso distinguishes each sinner by making his or her punishment uniquely appropriate to the committed sin, so that every soul inhabits a Hell all its own. Observatory encouraged artists to consider divine comedic retribution in all of its possible representations. The emphasis is on “Divine” and “Comedy”, and on our superstitious fear of getting what we wish for!”

Saturday, October 16 7PM – 11PM at Triomph Fitness (540 President Street, Brooklyn) launch party and art show for Insights Magazine.

Literary

Friday, October 15 at 7PM until 10PM at St. Francis College, Callahan Center (182 Remsen Street) in Brooklyn Heights: Poets & Passion provides a forum for celebrated poets and novelists, emerging New York City writers, spoken-word artists, and the general public to share their creativity, experiences, and insights. The fifth season kicks off with National Book Award nominee Marlon James and Rona Jaffe Award winner Tiphanie Yanique. Suggested donation is $5.

On Saturday, October 16, at 8:00 PM at Kingsborough Performing Arts Center (KPAC) founder of Symphony Space, Isaiah Sheffer, will take the stage with a special Selected Shorts program designed for KPAC with Tony Roberts and Marcia Tucci.

Mad Men Finale Party

Sunday, October 17 at 9PM at The Bell House in Gowanus presents an event for Mad Men junkies: Dress up in your vintage wear and get drunk on whiskey while watching the final episode of Mad Men season four. If you dress up you’ll be automatically entered to win a prize. Important note: seated tickets are sold out – the reduced admission ticket link above is for STANDING ROOM ONLY.

Music

Saturday, October 16 at 9PM The Jewish Music Cafe on 9th Street in Park Slope presents Josef Karduner

Up and Coming October 24:

On October 24 Brooklyn Indie Market presents the third annual Steampunk Day at the Dumbo Loft (155 Water Street, Dumbo) from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Steampunk Shopping and Fashion Show at 4 p.m. $20 Victorian/Steampunk portrait sitting with vintage camera by Tsirkus Fotografika $5 entry. Take the F train to York Street Station and travel to a re-envisioned Victorian age that features retrofuturistic fashion, brass and copper clockwork, ray guns, jetpacks, bustles and inventions that go far beyond 19th century technology. Think steam-powered mechanical wonders, brass-fitted computers, dirigibles, goggles, airships, and clockwork inspired accoutrements.

An Improving Real Estate Market Still Faces Challenges

The Brooklyn housing market is on the rise.   The market report, which is available as a PDF, was produced by Prudential Douglas Ellman Real Estate conjunction with Miller Samuel, shows that the average sale prices increased by more than 7% since last year but rates are sill well below levels that existed during the bubble years.

Good news for sellers, but bad news for those trying to crack into the expensive Brooklyn housing market. Apartments are also selling about a third faster than last year.

The average sales price is $583,790 up 7% from last year’s average price of $544,676.

While properties sold more quickly than last year the writers of the report state that the Brooklyn market still faces significant challenges:

The Brooklyn housing market quickly rebounded from the post-Lehman lows. Despit record low mortgage rates and prices well below peak levels, further improvement in the housing market is being restrained by elevated unemployment, shadow inventory and tight credit.

High School Tour Confidential: Brooklyn Latin

Today Hepcat, OSFO, Luvbud and I toured Brooklyn Latin, which calls itself “a replication” of the Boston Latin School, which is the oldest public school in the United States. The curriculum is a classical liberal arts education, that includes Latin, declamation (memorization and recitation of important texts), Socratic seminars, where students engage academic debate, and the International Baccalaureate.

Invigorating.

Hepcat said it was the kind of school he’d like to go to. Now. That said it’s not for every kid. I’m guessing if it’s right for your child you or your child will know it.

The BL students, who observe a dress code of white shirts and khaki pants (or skirts for the girls) of their own choosing, look intelligent, engaged, relaxed, energetic and enthusiastic about the school, which really seems to stress learning for the sake of being a well-rounded and educated member of the world.

That said, the school, which is one of the specialized schools requiring the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) for admission, is college-oriented and we were told that colleges visit the school on a weekly basis during junior and senior year. The girl who led our tour said that she’s hoping to get into Harvard and that’s why she’s happy about doing the International Baccalaureate.

I expected to feel the rigor of the school but I didn’t expect the kids to be so relaxed, good humored and unpretentious.  During the Q&A at the end of the tour, a panel of kids spoke openly when asked what they found most difficult about the school:

“Getting up in the morning,” more than one kid said.

“Scheduling. There so much to do, so much to juggle: school work, classes, meetings, after-school activities and social life…”

“Freshman year it took a while to adjust to the teaching styles…”

Continue reading High School Tour Confidential: Brooklyn Latin

Oct 30: Citywide Scarecrow Design Competition in Central Park

Ya like pumpkins and scarecrows you might like this:

On Saturday, October 30th, NYC Parks will host the annual Pumpkin Festival in Central Park. This event will feature many activities for all ages, such as our Circus Berzerkus Haunted House, a Pumpkin Patch (free pumpkins!), marionette performances by Puppets in the Park, arts & crafts, face painting, hay rides…

There’s also the third annual Citywide Scarecrow Design Competition, featuring up to 200 scarecrows prominently displayed at Bethesda Fountain in Central Park.  Sponsored by Dunkin’ Donuts, this year’s Scarecrow Design Competition gives students the opportunity to share their creation with over 20,000 New Yorkers!

The registration deadline is fast approaching!  Groups must register online before October 22nd to qualify for the competition.  Four categories will differentiate groups by age: elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and adults.  A panel of judges will award first, second, and third place prizes in each category.  Grand prize in each category is $200!  Winning scarecrows will be displayed after the event in the Arsenal Gallery, the only municipally-run gallery in New York City.

Click here for more information about Pumpkin Festival and to register your scarecrow design.

Bklyn Bloggage: art & ideas

Mighty Tanaka presents Cimmerian Shade: Art in Brooklyn

Interview with Tim Berne: Do the Math

8th Avenue: Brooklynometry

Beware the swamp: The Spiral Staircase

Psalms 52-54: Water Over Rocks

Prayer is praising God in this world: Old First

Slow Air: Fresh Poetry Daily

Rhys Chatham, Glenn Branca: Brooklyn Vegan

Classic Dylan, for the first time: Self-Absorbed Boomer

The truth and stones: Truth and Rocket Science

Long live Joe Drabyak: The Written Nerd

OTBKB Weekend List: Oct 15-17

Architecture and Design Film Festival in Tribeca

October 14-17 at the Tribeca Cinemas, the first US film festival celebrating the creative spirit of architecture and design featuring a wide selection of feature length films, documentaries and shorts. Also: discussions with filmmakers, architects and designers about the design process, architecture in film, and the brilliant designs we see and use every day.

Movies

Starts Friday at BAM: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger directed by Woody Allen.

Also at BAM: The Social Network, The Town and Wall Street Money Never Sleeps

Through October 26 at Film Forum: the stunning Barbara Sukowa stars in Vision, a new film about the 12th century mystic and composer Hildegarde Von Binghen directed by the great Margarethe von Trotta.

Saturday, October 16 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm at BAMCinematek: Clean directed by Olivier Assayas (part of the Post-Punk Auteur: Olivier Assayas festival)”Clean is one of the few fiction films to evoke realistically the grubby texture of existence for second- and third-tier rock celebrities crumbling under a combination of fading renown and drug addiction.” —The New York Times

Art

At Proteus Gowanus (543 Union Street, Brooklyn): Paradiso Contrapasso. “In Dante’s Inferno, Paradiso Contrapasso distinguishes each sinner by making his or her punishment uniquely appropriate to the committed sin, so that every soul inhabits a Hell all its own. Observatory encouraged artists to consider divine comedic retribution in all of its possible representations. The emphasis is on “Divine” and “Comedy”, and on our superstitious fear of getting what we wish for!”

Saturday, October 16 7PM – 11PM at Triomph Fitness (540 President Street, Brooklyn) launch party and art show for Insights Magazine.

Literary

Friday, October 15 at 7PM until 10PM at St. Francis College, Callahan Center (182 Remsen Street) in Brooklyn Heights: Poets & Passion provides a forum for celebrated poets and novelists, emerging New York City writers, spoken-word artists, and the general public to share their creativity, experiences, and insights. The fifth season kicks off with National Book Award nominee Marlon James and Rona Jaffe Award winner Tiphanie Yanique. Suggested donation is $5.

On Saturday, October 16, at 8:00 PM at Kingsborough Performing Arts Center (KPAC) founder of Symphony Space, Isaiah Sheffer, will take the stage with a special Selected Shorts program designed for KPAC with Tony Roberts and Marcia Tucci.

Mad Men Finale Party

Sunday, October 17 at 9PM at The Bell House in Gowanus presents an event for Mad Men junkies: Dress up in your vintage wear and get drunk on whiskey while watching the final episode of Mad Men season four. If you dress up you’ll be automatically entered to win a prize. Important note: seated tickets are sold out – the reduced admission ticket link above is for STANDING ROOM ONLY.

Music

Saturday, October 16 at 9PM The Jewish Music Cafe on 9th Street in Park Slope presents Josef Karduner

Up and Coming October 24:

On October 24 Brooklyn Indie Market presents the third annual Steampunk Day at the Dumbo Loft (155 Water Street, Dumbo) from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Steampunk Shopping and Fashion Show at 4 p.m. $20 Victorian/Steampunk portrait sitting with vintage camera by Tsirkus Fotografika $5 entry. Take the F train to York Street Station and travel to a re-envisioned Victorian age that features retrofuturistic fashion, brass and copper clockwork, ray guns, jetpacks, bustles and inventions that go far beyond 19th century technology. Think steam-powered mechanical wonders, brass-fitted computers, dirigibles, goggles, airships, and clockwork inspired accoutrements.

OTBKB Music: Great Video of New Song from Kathleen Edwards

Canadian rocker Kathleen Edwards opened Celebrate Brooklyn‘s Canada Day show when she was just starting out in 2002.  I had the opportunity to speak to Kathleen briefly last summer and she told me that she loved playing there and that she would love to play there again.  Since she’s in the studio right now recording her next record, she’ll probably be touring in support of it in 2011.

Even if this subtle hint doesn’t get her back in Prospect Park next summer, here is one of the songs that will almost certainly be on that new album.  It’s called Change The Sheets, and it’s about a breakup.  A great video with excellent sound awaits you here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner

Breuckelen Gin Outta Sunset Park

I just watched a video about the Breuckelen Gin Distillery on 19th Street in Sunset Park. Brad Estabrook, the owner, says that he decided a few years ago that he wanted to make something by hand and settled on gin because that’s what he likes to drink.

The name caught my eye because it’s Breuckelen, of course, but also because I wondered if it was Dutch style gin, which I tasted at one of Pastor Meeter’s herring festivals at Two Boots.

I still don’t know if it’s Dutch style, no word about that on the site. The site does, however, have loads of information about how they set up the distillery and how they prepare the gin, which is made from local New York grains.

When Estabrook was laid off from his job in finance back in the dark days of December 2008, he had all the motivation he needed to work full time on his artisan distillery.

“The last year and a half have been a lot of work, sweat, and stress, but we are finally open,” he writes on Breucklen’s website. “We are currently producing and selling our Breuckelen Gin.”

I know it’s available at The Greene Grape in Fort Greene:

As of tomorrow, Friday, October 15, Breuckelen Gin, distilled in Sunset Park, is in!  $35 for a 750ml bottle, call us at (718) 797-9463 to reserve yours.  Because this week’s wine is a spirit, we’ll open a few surprise bottles tomorrow, Friday, October 15 from 5-7pm for our regular wine and cheese tasting.

Cheers. Or should I say proost in Dutch?

Oct 16: Tony Roberts & Selected Shorts at Kingsborough

Hey, all you fans of old Woody Allen movies, Tony Roberts, who was in Annie Hall, Play it Again Sam, Stardust Memories and other Allen masterpieces, will be reading short stories as part of a special Selected Shorts program designed for the Kingsborough Performing Arts Center (KPAC).

I listen to Selected Shorts on WNYC radio on Sunday afternoons but it should be fun to see it live.

On Saturday, October 16, at 8:00 p.m. at KPAC, the founder of Symphony Space, Isaiah Sheffer, will take the stage with a program created especially for KPAC.

According to the press release: “Selected Shorts: Funny Food Fictions will serve up a menu of hilarious short stories about food and love. Stories by award-winning authors T. Corraghessan Boyle, M.F.K. Fisher, and “Yinglish” comic book master Milt Gross will be read by Broadway, film, and television star (and frequent Woody Allen co-star) Tony Roberts, the Tony-nominated stage actress Maria Tucci, and Isaiah Sheffer.”

Anna Becker, KPAC’s brand new Executive Director had this to say about the show: “We are so delighted to have Symphony Space in residence with us this season for three unique programs, starting with the brilliantly entertaining Selected Shorts program…There has been great excitement and anticipation on the part of our audience members as we await a wonderful evening of masterful stories, artfully told.”

Next Week: New Work by Brooklyn Playwrights at Old Stone House

On Thursday, October 21 at 8PM Brooklyn Reading Works at The Old Stone House Presents: New Plays by Brooklyn Playwrights (or three playwrights and a composer to be exact) curated by Rosemary Moore.

The Old Stone House is located on Fifth Avenue and Third Street. in Park Slope. Suggested donation of $5 includes refreshments and wine. Q&A will follow the readings.

The following playwrights will present unstaged readings of their works:

Barbara  Cassidy:   “Anthropology of a Book Club”
Joseph Goodrich:  “Mare’s Nest”
Lizzie Olesker:   10,000 SPECIES
Mary Lloyd-Butler: “Hide and Seek”

Brooklyn’s Barbara Sukowa Stars in Vision

A longtime resident of Brooklyn, the acclaimed German actress, Barbara Sukowa, is currently starring in, Vision, a new film about the 12th century mystic and composer Hildegarde Von Binghen  playing at the Film Forum.

The film, the latest collaboration between Sukowa and German director, Margarethe von Trotta, explores the 12th century world of monastic religion. Stephen Holden in his review of Vision in the New York Times says of Sukowa that, “(she) makes Hildegard a likable and charismatic woman who risks a great deal to do good in an environment that leaves women little room for self-expression. Her intelligence and enthusiasm make her a proto-feminist force to be reckoned with.”

Together Sukowa and von Trotta have created a body of work about strong, female characters, including Rosa Luxemberg, the 1986 portrayal of the Polish born Marxist philosopher and activist, and Marianne and Julianne, the true story of a member of a 1970’s German militant group and her sister. 

Sukowa, who lives in Brooklyn with her husband, painter Robert Longo and their children, also starred in many films directed by Rainer Maria Fassbiner, including Berlin Alexanderplatz and Lola.

Call for State-Wide Freeze on Foreclosures

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, along with Attorney Generals in all 50 states, is calling for a state-wide freeze on foreclosure actions from New York banks and financial institutions.

Bankers Ignored Signs of Trouble with Foreclosures, an article in today’s New York Times, outlines the egregious mismanagement of the mortgage and foreclosure process by banks.

The destabilizing effect of foreclosure adds tremendously to the stress of New York families in a city with an 8% unemployment rate.

The problem is so bad that City Councilmember James Sanders, Jr. is speaking out (in a press release) on the devastating effects that forclosure brings on families and children. Of particular concern to the Councilman is the affect of foreclosures on the performance of New York City public schoolchildren.

“Foreclosure uproots families and devastates communities. The housing bubble was particularly egregious for the predatory actions of many banks when they made these loans.  Now they’re using new and even more unscrupulous methods, such as false affidavits, to force people out of their homes.  The greed is outrageous and needs to end today.

“Kids are far more perceptive than we often give them credit for; they know when mom and dad are under severe stress from the banks, and they feel that pressure too.  When our students are worried about where they’re going to sleep at night or where their next meal is coming from, they are understandably not as focused on their school work as they should be.  We need banks and lending institutions in New York to be good neighbors, and prevent the toll that foreclosure takes on our families and children.”

Barney’s CO-OP Opening Friday

Friday morning the ribbon will be cut as Barney’s Co-Op opens on Atlantic Avenue (near Court Street), their first new location in five years and their only location in Brooklyn.

The pricey (they call it mid-range) fashionista paradise is obviously optimistic that despite the economic climate (and their parent company’s debt problems) Atlantic Avenue’s mix of middle-Eastern food specialty shops, Urban Outfitters and Trader Joe’s, is right and ready for high end clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry and cosmetics from established and emerging designers like Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, Zero and Cornejo, Thom Browne, Phillip Lim, Crockett and Jones, Rag and Bone, Wendy Reed and the Barney’s house brand, Barney’s NY.

OTBKB’s Weekend List: Oct 14-17

Beer and Bread Fundraiser for The Old Stone House

Thursday, October 14 at 6:30 – 8:30 PM: The Old Stone House presents an evening of bread and beer created using traditional 18th century recipes. Taste a variety of delectable early American staples recreated by historic gastronomist Sarah Lohman and brewmasters Erik Olsen and Chris Prout of Brooklyn’s Brouwerij Lane. The tasting will include five courses of bread — representing recipes from the Colonial era including crisp, nutty waffles, savory rusks, citrusy cookies and spicy sweet breads. Each bread will be matched with a beer brewed by Olsen and Prout that is seasoned with flavors such as spruce, ginger, mustard and molasses.

Architecture and Design Film Festival in Tribeca

October 14-17 at the Tribeca Cinemas, the first US film festival celebrating the creative spirit of architecture and design featuring a wide selection of feature length films, documentaries and shorts. Also: discussions with filmmakers, architects and designers about the design process, architecture in film, and the brilliant designs we see and use every day.

Movies

Starts Friday at BAM: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger directed by Woody Allen.

Also at BAM: The Social Network, The Town and Wall Street Money Never Sleeps

Through October 26 at Film Forum: the stunning Barbara Sukowa stars in Vision, a new film about the 12th century mystic and composer Hildegarde Von Binghen directed by the great Margarethe von Trotta. 

Saturday, October 16 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm at BAMCinematek: Clean directed by Olivier Assayas (part of the Post-Punk Auteur: Olivier Assayas festival)”Clean is one of the few fiction films to evoke realistically the grubby texture of existence for second- and third-tier rock celebrities crumbling under a combination of fading renown and drug addiction.” —The New York Times

Art

Opening Thursday, October 14th, 8:00 PM at Proteus Gowanus (543 Union Street, Brooklyn): Paradiso Contrapasso. “In Dante’s Inferno, Paradiso Contrapasso distinguishes each sinner by making his or her punishment uniquely appropriate to the committed sin, so that every soul inhabits a Hell all its own. Observatory encouraged artists to consider divine comedic retribution in all of its possible representations. The emphasis is on “Divine” and “Comedy”, and on our superstitious fear of getting what we wish for!”

Saturday, October 16 7PM – 11PM at Triomph Fitness (540 President Street, Brooklyn) launch party and art show for Insights Magazine.

Literary

Friday, October 15 at 7PM until 10PM at St. Francis College, Callahan Center (182 Remsen Street) in Brooklyn Heights: Poets & Passion provides a forum for celebrated poets and novelists, emerging New York City writers, spoken-word artists, and the general public to share their creativity, experiences, and insights. The fifth season kicks off with National Book Award nominee Marlon James and Rona Jaffe Award winner Tiphanie Yanique. Suggested donation is $5.

On Saturday, October 16, at 8:00 PM at Kingsborough Performing Arts Center (KPAC) founder of Symphony Space, Isaiah Sheffer, will take the stage with a special Selected Shorts program designed for KPAC with Tony Roberts and Marcia Tucci.

Mad Men Finale Party

Sunday, October 17 at 9PM at The Bell House in Gowanus presents an event for Mad Men junkies: Dress up in your vintage wear and get drunk on whiskey while watching the final episode of Mad Men season four. If you dress up you’ll be automatically entered to win a prize. Important note: seated tickets are sold out – the reduced admission ticket link above is for STANDING ROOM ONLY.

Music

Thursday, October 14 at 8PM The Rock Shop on Fourth Avenue in Park Slope presents Circle of Buzzards, Tiny Animals, Basket Full of Kittens.

Thursday, October 14 at 8PM Sycamore on Cortelyou Road in Ditmas Park presents NoHow On and Madeline Adams. “As far as indie cred goes, it’s full of nods to Neutral Milk Hotel, from its curiosity-shop assortment of instruments (banjos, squeezeboxes, shakers, harmonicas, whistles) to its warm lo-fi imperfection, and it wears enough heartbreaking earnestness on its sleeve to recall the Mountain Goats. For just-plain-good-music cred, the trio, having now changed their name to a Samuel Beckett fragment, stands as a testament to the power of melody, something that seems to flow so effortlessly from them that it’s not even fair.” -Mike Conklin for The L Magazine

Saturday, October 16 at 9PM The Jewish Music Cafe on 9th Street in Park Slope presents Josef Karduner

Up and Coming October 24:

On October 24 Brooklyn Indie Market presents the third annual Steampunk Day at the Dumbo Loft (155 Water Street, Dumbo) from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Steampunk Shopping and Fashion Show at 4 p.m. $20 Victorian/Steampunk portrait sitting with vintage camera by Tsirkus Fotografika $5 entry. Take the F train to York Street Station and travel to a re-envisioned Victorian age that features retrofuturistic fashion, brass and copper clockwork, ray guns, jetpacks, bustles and inventions that go far beyond 19th century technology. Think steam-powered mechanical wonders, brass-fitted computers, dirigibles, goggles, airships, and clockwork inspired accoutrements.

Levin Says: Suspend Alternate Side Parking Around Film Shoots

Councilmember Stephen Levin (33rd district which includes Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Williamsburg and Greenpoint)  is introducing a local law to the New York City Council today that would, if approved by the majority of the Council, suspend alternate side of the street parking around film shoots.

“I am thrilled to introduce a bill that makes parking easier during film shoots. Over the last year, I have heard from residents all over the 33rd District from Brooklyn Heights to Greenpoint, Park Slope to Williamsburg , that film shoots have created difficult to navigate parking schedules and regulations. I want to emphasize that I truly appreciate the value of local filming and I have worked hard to make sure that this bill will not create an undue burden on production companies,” Councilmember Levin said.

Nov 11-14: The Power of the Human Voice at ISSUE Project Room

Vital Vox, an ambitious three day festival November 11, 12, and 13, 2010 at the ISSUE Project Room in the Park Slope/Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, will explore the exciting power of the human voice in its many permutations.

The festival will celebrate composer-performers in the vocal arts who stretch  the definition of vocal technique and tradition.

Click on read more to see more details about this festival of performers with a multiplicity of influences that span Taiwan, East Timor, Slovakia, Africa, South India, and more; genres ranging from jazz, experimental, contemporary, free improvisation, “noise” music, and abstract solo opera; and themes ranging from “maintaining one’s composure”, to cinematographic music theater inspired by the life, films and death of the German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder…

What Are You Doing To Help Yourself Through Your Divorce ?

My good friend, Wendy Ponte, a certified life coach and founder of Clear Life Coaching, is running a short-term workshop called, Transform Your Divorce, to help you find positive ways to deal with the process of divorce and to come out the other side having done way more than just “survive.”

The workshop begins on October 27th and there’s still time to register for a spot. If you need more information shoot me an email or get in touch with Wendy at wendyponte(at)clearlifecoach(dot)com.

With Wendy you will:

* Learn exciting new techniques for coping with stress.
* Find out how some of the latest research on the brain can help you cope with divorce.
* Access dreams and ideas you may not have even known were there.
* Create an action plan that will get you through this transition and take you into your new life.

To get more details about this new workshop or one-on-one coaching with Wendy  go to Clear Life Coaching’s website.

Slow News Day: Daryl Lang is Leaving Park Slope

I know, it happens every day. Someone up and leaves this bucolic neighborhood with its high rents, its many strollers, and its multitude of coffee shops.

But for some reason the blogs are afire with news of Daryl Lang’s reasons for leaving Park Slope. Why is that?

Well, Lang has a cool blog called History Eraser Button and he writes marketing copy for a living, has a background in journalism and, as he says on his blog, “I know a lot about the Internet.”

Bingo.

So, this guy’s well-articulated reasons for leaving Park Slope are making news today. The truth is, he’s got some interesting things to say and he says them well. And maybe he’s a little bit right. The neighborhood is changing and not for the better. He doesn’t want to be the local grouch so he’s going. I’m pretty sure people aren’t much friendlier in Manhattan’s financial district,where he’s headed. Whatever. The exodus begins. One of the most over-hyped neighborhoods in America is facing the backlash. Again.

I am leaving Park Slope because I am increasingly impatient with people too socially deficient to act like good neighbors. People who won’t spare five seconds to help an old lady. People who can’t figure out their way around without checking their iPhones. People who don’t say hi to the neighbors with whom they share a stoop. These things are getting noticeably worse. Rather than stew here and become the local grouch, I’m recognizing that I have passed my expiration date in this neighborhood. Time to exit gracefully.

When I moved to the Slope 8 years ago, the place had a reputation as a friendly neighborhood, especially as a haven for lesbians, writers and young parents. I remember walking through Prospect Park in autumn 2002 and seeing dads in fleece pullovers playing with their kids on the swings. “Those guys look like me in 10 years,” I thought, feeling as if I’d found long-term home. The kids were precocious, but there was a Lake Wobegone-style charm to this urban neighborhood where all the children were above average. Today Park Slope has a different reputation. It’s become an insane pleasure island for new parents with no adult social skills. It’s a place where it’s acceptable to be a mom or a dad and stay up until dawn drinking Jack-and-Cokes on the roof of a warehouse. You pay your dues to the Food Co-Op or the CSA not out of any sense of social responsibility, but as absolution for staying out too late on a Thursday eating wings.

A Green Governor in New York State?

David Pechefsky, who ran for City Council in the  39th district as a Green last year, is supporting Green Party candidates  Howie Hawkins for New York governor and Park Sloper Gloria Mattera for Lt. governor and he thinks you should, too

Many in Brooklyn’s 39th district (which includes Park Slope, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, and Boro Park) got to know Pechefsky during the race and were impressed with his energetic and creative campaigning, his intelligence, his knowledge of local politics, his experience as a staff member in the New York City Council and his consulting work in Africa.

We spoke last week at Connecticut Muffin and he urged me to tell OTBKB readers about Hawkins and Mattera because if they get 50,000 votes it’ll make things easier in the future for the Green Party to get on the ballot in New York State, where they make third party candidates jump through hoops just to get on the ballot.

A vote for Hawkins and Mattera is a vote for a more inclusive multi-party system like in other countries. Or so says Pechefsky: “50,000 votes for governor gets you ballot status, ballot status means it is much easier to get people on the ballot in City Council and State legislature races.” In other words: a vote for a Green candidate  is a vote for Greens and that could create a regular spot for the Greens on New York ballots.

Hawkins, who lives upstate, is a Teamster, who works for UPS for a living. He’s been an organizer in movements for peace, justice, labor, the environment, and independent politics since the late 1960s.

Gloria Mattera, who lives in Park Slope, has been active in the Green Party in New York State since 2001 and has run as a Green candidate for City Council in District 39 in Brooklyn in 2001 and 2003 and in 2009 she ran against Marty Markowitz for Brooklyn borough president.

In all likelihood, this is Andy Cuomo’s year and he will win by a landslide. Nonetheless, progressive Brooklynites are afraid to vote for Hawkins and Mattera because they think it’ll be a vote for Paladino, who’s hateful homophobic remarks to a group of Brooklyn rabbis last week created a firestorm.

Continue reading A Green Governor in New York State?

Author To Read From History of Soviet Jewry Movement at Park Slope Synagogue

On Thursday, October 14 at 7:30PM, Gal Beckerman will read from his new book When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone, a history of the Soviet Jewry movement at Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope.

Beckerman, a reporter for The Forward, writes about what happened after World War II, when nearly three million Jews were trapped inside the Soviet Union. Unwanted by the Stalinist state, they were forbidden to leave. Beckerman’s book tells the story of their rescue.

The author was a longtime editor and staff writer at the Columbia Journalism Review and has also written for the New York Times Book Review, Jerusalem Post, and Utne Reader, among other publications. He was a Fellow at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Berlin and the recipient of a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. His first book, When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in September 2010.

So What’s Happening at Park Slope’s Community Bookstore?

SO what’s happening at Park Slope’s Community Bookstore, one of the mainstays of Brooklyn’s  independent bookstore scene?

Lots.

For one thing: Catherine Bohne, the owner has moved to Albania and is in the process of selling the store to a wonderful man named Ezra Goldstein.

I know Ezra from the Park Slope Civic Council, where he is an active member, editor and web master. He is an accomplished freelance writer and journalist, who was at one time senior editor at Long Island Jewish World. Educated at the University of Chicago with a masters in journalism from Ohio University, Ezra has conducted extensive interviews with Holocaust survivors and has had articles on a wide variety of topics published in the New York Times, the Village Voice, American Heritage, New American Drama, Kirkus Review and many other publications.

A longtime Park Slope resident, he’s a very smart guy with a real passion to be the owner of Park Slope’s beloved bookstore. In these times, owning an independent bookstore may not be the most economical thing to do so it takes someone with passion and vision to do it.

Continue reading So What’s Happening at Park Slope’s Community Bookstore?

Myla Goldberg, Stephen O’Conner at Community Bookstore This Thursday

But they’ll be there at different times. See below:

Myla Goldberg, author of Bee Season, will be be signing copies of her new book, The False Friend, at Park Slope’s Community Bookstore on Thursday at 4:30.

FYI: Myla has a very cool looking website where I learned that she  plays banjo and accordion and sings in the Brooklyn art-punk The Walking Hellos.

And later that evening: Stephen O’Connor of New Yorker and Electric Literature fame, will read from his collection of haunting and surreal short stories, Here Comes Another Lesson, on Thursday, October 15 at 7PM.

Here’s the blurbage on Here Comes Another Lesson:

O’Connor, whose stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Conjunctions, and many other places, fearlessly depicts a world that no longer quite makes sense. Ranging from the wildly inventive to the vividly realistic, these brilliant stories offer tender portraits of idealists who cannot live according to their own ideals and of lovers baffled by the realities of love.

The story lines are unforgettable: A son is followed home from work by his dead father. God instructs a professor of atheism to disseminate updated Commandments. The Minotaur is awakened to his own humanity by the computer-game-playing “new girl” who has been brought to him for supper. A recently returned veteran longs for the utterly ordinary life he led as a husband and father before being sent to Iraq. An ornithologist, forewarned by a cormorant of the exact minute of his death, struggles to remain alert to beauty and joy.

As playful as it is lyrical, Here Comes Another Lesson celebrates human hopefulness and laments a sane and gentle world that cannot exist.