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Civics and Urban Life

Alan Harding’s Food Truck Hits the Road

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Red Hook chef Alan Harding, who writes Alan Harding Cooks, now has a food truck that will finally be open for business on Friday, July 23rd at 825 Atlantic Avenue. “So after three inspections and mucho dinero I, Alan Harding, am a fully licensed mobile food vendor. The hardest part of the whole process was the waiting, every time you fail an inspection you have a two week wait to get a new appointment. I passed on July 13 2010, let the games begin,” he wrote in an mass email announcing the opening of his truck. Click on read more to see the interesting menu that he will be serving from this truck…

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arts and culture

OTBKB Music: Alejandro Escovedo Tonight and Kathleen Edwards Tomorrow

Alejandro Escovedo is a name that you probably don’t know, but you should.  Al shines in live performance.  Tonight he leads his band, The Sensitive Boys (guitarist David Pulkingham, bassist Bobby Daniel and longtime drummer Hector Munoz) into The Bowery Electric for their fourth show in New York City this month.  We are also promised special guests, and one of them will be Garland Jeffreys.  Full details are at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

Tomorrow, Canada’s Kathleen Edwards (who made her Brooklyn debut as an unannounced opener for Sarah Harmer and Luther Wright and the Wrongs at Celebrate Brooklyn back in 2002) will be playing New York City on a Rockin’ the River Cruise around Manhattan.  More details will be available at Now I’ve Heard Everything tomorrow.

–Eliot Wagner

arts and culture

This Saturday: Celebrate Brooklyn’s Field of Dreams

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On Saturday, July 24, 4pm (gates open at 3pm) Celebrate Brooklyn is presenting what they’re calling a DIY world’s fair of music and art. Grammy-winning producer Andres Levin and The Bruce High Quality Foundation are behind this “Bandshell-wide, all day event fit for all the senses.” Musical and theatrical guests include: Cucu Diamantes, Luis Guzman, Pablo Picasso, M1 from Dead Prez, Los Hanky Pankys vs. Yerba Buena, Les Nubians, Raven O, and many more to be confirmed. Click on read more to see the promotional video; it’s actually a lot of fun… Continue reading This Saturday: Celebrate Brooklyn’s Field of Dreams →

Civics and Urban Life

On Thursday in August the Carousel is Free

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Prospect Park’s 1912 Carousel just got better. That’s because it’s free for kids under the age of 12 every Thursday in August thanks to Astoria Federal Savings Bank. Restored in 1990 by the Prospect Park Alliance, the Carousel has 51 hand carved horses, as well as a giraffe, lion, deer and two dragon-pulled chariots.  The Carousel’s melodic Wurlitzer organ has 141 pipes and 16 bells…

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Civics and Urban Life

Does the City’s Land Use Process Need to Be Improved?

The City’s land use process is the subject of discussion at tomorrow’s one’-day conference at the Municipal Arts Society, a non-profit organization that fights for intelligent planning and preservation.

The conference, “Land Use and Local Voices: Is the City’s Land Use Process in Need of Reform,” is based on the idea that intelligent urban planning starts with intelligent conversation. The program will shed light on the city’s land use process and examine whether, and how, it should be improved. The conference is co-sponsored by Municipal Art Society and Manhattan Community Board 1.

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Civics and Urban Life

High School Journalists Learn About (and Assess) Blogs

Yesterday I met with a small group of incoming freshmen at the brand new Frank McCourt High School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, to talk about blogging. As you can imagine it was a lot of fun.

For the past four weeks, the kids have been studying different forms of media and meeting with various journalists and communications specialists. At the end of the course, the brainchild of veteran journalist Leslie Seifert, they will write a report recommending the kind of student-driven news network that they determine will best serve their school community. “That will become a roadmap for beginning to create this news network,” Seifert told me in an email.

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arts and culture

OTBKB Music: The Week Ahead, A Video and Some Photos

There’s a really good show (or two or three) every night this week starting tomorrow; everything from a couple of folk singers sitting around trading songs and stories at The Lakeside Lounge to headliners like Alejandro Escovedo (with guest Garland Jeffreys) and Kathleen Edwards (who is playing on a boat!).  I’ve listed them all for you;  just click here to see the list at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

And since the previously mentioned Kathleen Edwards will be in town this week, I’ve posted a video of her singing In State just to get you in the mood.  You find that video by clicking here.

Finally, James Maddock and his band put on a great show last week and I was able to capture a bit of it in pictures.  You can see them here at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner

Civics and Urban Life

More Than 100 Gather to Honor Slaughtered Geese

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I wasn’t able to attend Saturday night’s vigil for the geese killed in Prospect Park. But according to various reports, there were more than 100 people there joined by some local politicians. Many urged a citizens’ campaign to get the city and the United States Department of Agriculture to rethink its policy about the killings of geese. State Senator Eric Adams spoke to the crowd…

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Civics and Urban Life

Learn About Social Networking for Business in Park Slope

There’s always something new to know about social networking especially when it comes to promoting your business and your brand. That’s why the Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District is hosting a free social networking/media training on Wednesday, July 21st at 9:30 AM at Aunt Suzie’s restaurant (247 Fifth Avenue), where you can learn how to use Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and even YouTube to help promote your small business or cause…

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arts and culture

The Saturday List: Siren Festival, Africa Festival, Traffic Calming Block Party

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Today is Saturday and maybe you’re looking for something to do today or tonight in Brooklyn and other parts of NYC. That’s why I spend hours every week culling the best and the brightest weekend events (Friday through Sunday). I make a list of all the things I’d like to do but probably won’t get around to. Hopefully, you can enjoy some of these offerings. In addition to film, art, theater, shopping and music events I try to list other interesting non-categorizable happenings like this weekend’s Gatsby-style lawn party on Governor’s Island. To see the full list, including info on the Siren Music Festival on Coney Island and Celebrate Brooklyn’s Africa Festival and the Traffic Calming Block Party in Ditmas Park click on read more…

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Civics and Urban Life

Politician Responds to Goose Slaughter

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New York State Senator Eric Adams will join  residents and animal activists in Prospect Park at tonight’s vigil in Prospect Park at 6:30PM at the gazebo on Prospect Park lake (near the entrance at Prospect Park Southwest and Vanderbilt Street in Prospect Park)  condemning the gassing death of over 250 Canadian geese in Prospect Park on July 8. I am sure he is not the only politician who will be on hand Saturday night. In a press release, Adams suggests that citizens write their federal representatives if they are outraged about the slaughter…

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