To commemorate John Lennon’s 70th birthday on October 9th, the Peace Monument designed by American artist Lauren Voiers, will be unveiled in Liverpool.  Lennon’s son Julian and former wife, Cynthia, will be at the event along with dignitaries from around the world and civic officials from Liverpool.

In New York, there will be the usual birthday gathering in Strawberry Fields, across the street from the Dakota in Central Park.

Saturday night, there will be a free Central Park screening of “LENNONYC,” a new film by Michael Epstein with concert footage and home movies documenting Lennon’s life in New York after the breakup of the Beatles.

This film will be on PBS on November 22nd as part of the American Masters series.

The man who wrote: I read the news today oh boy, give peace a chance, ah look at all the lonely people, you are me and we are all together, and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make, take these broken wings to fly, all you need is love, there are places I’ll remember all my life though some have changed would have been 70 tomorrow.

Imagine.

For some reason I became obsessed with finding a raincoat for my daughter last weekend. Rain was in the forecast and she’s outgrown all her rain gear.

As I soon found out, autumn is not the season to be shopping for raincoats at the usual stores: Gap, Madewell, JCrew, Brooklyn Industries and the small boutiques in SoHo and on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope.

February and March, in anticipation of the April showers that bring May flowers, is the season to shop for a raincoat. I was striking out at every shop where I asked plaintively, “Do you have any raincoats?”

Walking past a fairly generic looking fashion boutique on Broadway near Broome Street in Soho I did see a cute purple trench coat in window. I photographed it with my iPhone and emailed it to OSFO.

“No,” was her swift reply. But I liked it enough (in black) to think that if she saw it in person…(Oh how we mothers deceive ourselves).

“Can I return this? My daughter has very specific tastes and she doesn’t usually like what I pick out,” I told the shop girl.

“You can return it within 30 days for store credit with a receipt,” was her swift reply. I asked her to try the raincoat on because she was tiny like OSFO. It looked really great and her and I was convinced OSFO would love it when she saw it.

Nope.

Continue reading Shopping for a Raincoat →

OpenHouse NY:

openhouse NY Weekend (OHNY)  is America’s largest architect and design event, opens doors throughout New York City all weekend. Your chance to go inside all kinds of interesting buildings, facilities, offices, home and more. Reservations necessary for many events so go to site and browse what you might want to do.

Movies:

The Social Network, The Town, Wall Street Money Never Sleeps at BAM.

Through October 15 at ReRun Theater/Gastro Pub in Dumbo: Red White and Blue, “a vicious but oddly touching horror-thriller about the lives of strangers bound together in blood. The SXSW, Sitges and Fantastic Fest hit from British filmmaker Simon Rumley (THE LIVING & THE DEAD). Erica (Amanda Fuller, TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) is a tough, troubled nymphomaniac with wounds across her soul. For Erica, trolling Austin’s dive bars and sleeping with multiple men forms the core of her life, until she meets mysterious Iraq vet Nate (THE PROPOSITION’s Noah Taylor, in a searing performance).”

Through October 28th at BAM: Post-punk Auteur: Olivier Assayas: Leading contemporary filmmaker Olivier Assayas’ films are thrillingly alive: rich, multi-sensory experiences that draw upon the work of Bresson, Asian cinema, and rock ‘n’ roll to address themes of youth culture, East-meets-West globalization, and the nature of cinema itself. Assayas’ simultaneously cerebral and entertaining films move restlessly and impressively between genres—from hip, hyper-sleek thrillers to intimate chamber dramas to his latest magnum opus: a staggering biopic about Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal.

Theater:

Extended through Sunday, October 16: Murder in the Cathedral by TS Eliot at The Church of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights.

Music:

What’s going on the Brooklyn and NYC music scene on Friday: Brooklyn Vegan

Music for kids this weekend: A Child Grows in Brooklyn

Friday, October 8 and Saturday, October 9 at the Bell House: Brooklyn Soul Festival

Friday, October 8 at The Rock Shop: folk, ambient, a capella, experimental music from Sharon Van Etten and Julianna Barwick

Friday, October 8 at 8PM at Zora Space: Marketa Irglova and Mark Geary

Art:

At the Brooklyn Museum now through January 2nd: a mid-career survey of  Fred Tomaselli’s “unique hybrid paintings and collages from 1990 to the present. These layered paintings combine cutout images of plants, birds, smiling mouths, and hands (clipped from field guides and magazines) with passages of paint and actual prescription pills and hallucinogenic plants to create highly stylized, eye-popping compositions.”

At Zora Space: One Generation – Seven Artists presents seven Iranian artists graduated from Tehran University, Faculty of Art, during late1960s and early 1970s. “Our group of seven does not claim to have a manifesto; rather we present a collective exhibition from artists who share a lot of similar experiences. We don’t ask why we are all together, but half a century of friendship is the best mortar for our bonding.” with artists: Nahid Hagigat, Hadi Hazavei, Shahram Kari, Abbas Kiarostami, Nicky Nodjoumi, Sudi Sharafshahi, Nasser Vaziri

Ghosts of the Siberian Gulag Along the Old Kolyma Highway: Art in Brooklyn

What’s going on Friday: Brooklyn Vegan

Downtown HS: Brooklynometry

Live in the land and befriend faith: Water Over Rocks

Prayer is projecting anger: Old First Blog

Ornette Coleman: Do the Math

Fela at St. Ann’s Warehouse: Self-Absorbed Boomer

My life with Robert Bolano; Truth and Rocket Science

Tonight it’s OK to leave Brooklyn.  Steve Wynn and The Miracle 3 (guitarist Jason Victor, bassist Dave DeCastro and drummer Linda Pitmon) play The Living Room tonight at 9pm; tickets are 10 bucks.  You won’t see a better live show anywhere else this evening, or the rest of this year for that matter.

Just to make sure you don’t think that it’s the guy with the hotels, I’ve posted a picture of Steve.  And that guy with the hotels?  He spells his name with a “ph.”

All the details of tonight’s great show can be found here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner

Last night I sat at the bar at Rachel’s Taqueria while waiting for the take-out quesadillas I ordered for OSFO to be ready. I ordered a glass of Chardonnay but had to return it because it tasted bad. The bartender was eager to replace it with good glass of Pinot Grigio.

Sitting on either side of me, two people were deep in conversation. Obvious strangers they had struck up a conversation about being new in New York City.

The woman, who works in development at a local college had obviously been in New York for a couple of years. The guy, however, was a real newbie. It was an endearing conversation for me to overhear and eventually become part of.

The young man, who works in a bar in DUMBO, was talking about what fun it is to get to know New York City. “Doing the tourist stuff and then just walking around,” he said. “Part of me wishes I was here before it became so gentrified.

“Well, there are still places you can go to know what it was like,” she said.

At this point I couldn’t resist putting my two cents in.

“You know what they say,” I told them. I don’t think they were expecting me to chime in.

“What?” the guy said. He was an open and friendly person in his late twenties, originally from Arizona.

“Only the dead know Brooklyn,” I said ominously.

“Oooh. That’s good,” he said. “Only the dead know Brooklyn.”

“It’s the name of a short story…and a blog,” I said. “My blog.”

“Hey, what’s your blog?”

And so we were off and running. And I didn’t even bother to tell them about the story written in brilliant Brooklynese by Thomas Wolfe. There was something energizing about being around these new New Yorkers who were discovering the city for the first time. I had the vague sense that both of them would make their lives here. Marry, have children. Years from now they’d remember their early years in Brooklyn, when they were just defining this city for themselves. Maybe they’d remember the woman in the raincoat who told them about that Thomas Wolfe story.

Maybe not.

Natasha Cooke Nieves, a teacher at Park Slope’s PS 282 on 6th Avenue and Berkeley Place, won a $25,000 cash award from the Milken Family Foundation (yes Milken of junk bond fame) for accomplished teachers. Nieves was among four other teachers from New York state to win the grant.

$25,000. Now that’s a very nice prize.

A science teacher at PS 282 for ten years, she now does staff development there. As reported by WNYC, today teachers and students gathered int he school’s gymnasium for the announcement. State Commissioner David Steiner, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, and Lowell Milken of the Milken Family Foundation spoke briefly before revealing the real reason for their visit. Nieves knew in advance but was sworn to secrecy.

Not surprisingly, huge cheers erupted in the packed gymnasium as the students and teachers cheered their own. Nieves reportedly told the crowd: “Without you, boys and girls, we the teachers would not be here. Remember that you are our future and you’re going to be teaching us some day.”

The baseball playoffs start today and The Baseball Project have a brand new song predicting the results of the playoffs  and the World Series.  Well, they have two predictions, actually: either the Twins beat the Giants or the Yankees beat the Phillies in the World Series.  But keep in mind this is the same bunch of folks who predicted that the Cubs would go all the way this year and that the Phillies’ Roy Halladay would win 30 games.

You can listen to or download (free and legal) The Way It’s Gonna Be at Now I’ve Herd Everything by clicking here.

–Eliot Wagner

My friends Mike Sorgatz of Art in Brooklyn and Atiba Edwards of Fresh Industries are throwing an art show and party to celebrate the release of the third issue of INSIGHT: Volume III.

The opening reception will be on October 16th, 2010 at Triomph Fitness (540 President St., Brooklyn, NY 11215). Featuring 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 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.

Check out the Facebook event page.

Zora Space opened on Fourth Avenue near Third Street just a few months ago but already it is evolving into a wonderful—and necessary— art, music, poetry and cultural space in Park Slope.

Zohreh Shayesteh, the founder and director of Zora Space, is bringing the world to Park Slope. Born and raised In Iran. She left Iran before the 1978 revolution and has been a permanent New York City resident since 1981. She studied film production at New York University, and has worked as a T.V producer and director for various Local T.V stations in New York City. Prior to her latest film “Picking apples, drinking tea” She has written, directed and produced two short films “Requiem” and “ Agha Joon . Her documentary Film “Inside out “ was the official selection of 2006 Tribeca International Film Festival.

Clearly Zohreh is infusing Zora Space with her knowledge of international music, poetry, film and art  to the space and that adds a fascinating and unusual dimension to its nightly offerings.

Here’s what’s happening at Zora Space this week:

Arts:

On view now: One Generation – Seven Artists presents seven Iranian artists graduated from Tehran University, Faculty of Art, during late1960s and early 1970s. “Our group of seven does not claim to have a manifesto; rather we present a collective exhibition from artists who share a lot of similar experiences. We don’t ask why we are all together, but half a century of friendship is the best mortar for our bonding.”Curate by Nahid Hagigat

Participating Artists:
Nahid Hagigat, Hadi Hazavei, Shahram Karimi, Abbas Kiarostami, Nicky Nodjoumi, Sudi Sharafshahi, Nasser Vaziri

Poetry and Music:

On Tuesday, October 5th at 7PM: Darryl Alladice is a writer and author of Jaundice, a collection of poems some of which focus on Sickle Cell Anemia. Born and raised in New York his works have been read at various events and clubs around the city including Bowery Poetry Club, Brownstone Books, City College of New York.

Vo-Duo, a duo group with Markus Schwartz and Monvelyno Alexis

Jazz duo interpreting the sacred rhythms and melodies of Haitian Vodou for electric guitar, voice and drum set. Monvelyno Alexis (electric guitar, voice) & Markus Schwartz (drums).  This show will be the debut performance for this project.

Music:

October 8th at 8PM: Marketa Irglová of Swell Season will perfrom solo. She appeared in the film Once, about an Irish street musician and the young pianist he befriends. Among the songs Irglová wrote with Hansard for Once was “Falling Slowly,” which received an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Irglová became the first Czech woman to win an Oscar, and at age 19 she was the youngest person to win an Oscar in a musical category. Hansard and Irglová performed the song live on the Oscar broadcast at Los Angeles’ Kodak Theater on February 24, 2008

Wordsprouts, the Park Slope Food Coop’s Reading Series, presents a reading for teens and young adults with author Torrey Maldonado on Friday, October 15 at 7 pm at the Coop.

Torrey Maldonado will read from his first novel, “Secret Saturdays,” which was published in April by Penguin. Inspired by his life and his students’ struggles with bullying, “Secret Saturdays” is about tough choices, friendships, and wanting to fit in.

Also, note that while all Wordsprouts participants are Coop members, you don’t need to be a Coop member to attend the series.