Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

Civics and Urban Life

Brooklyn Paper: MTA To Do A Full Performance Review of F Train

The Brooklyn Paper reports that the the MTA has begun a full performance
review of the F train after repeated
complaints from riders.

The “performance and infrastructure” review, which goes beyond the
agency’s normal oversight of the Coney Island to Queens line, came
after state Sen. Daniel Squadron cornered the MTA’s Albany-based
lobbyist and demanded action.

“I have been getting increasing complaints about the F line from my
constituents and, no less important, my fiancee,” Squadron told The
Brooklyn Paper. “So I asked the MTA to do a full review, and they
agreed.

Monte Ghertler

A Picture of My Grandmother and Grandfather

June 16, 2009 louise crawford 3 Comments

Hilary, Hugh's sister and my sister-in-law, was reading my blog last week and she noticed something interesting:

"Hugh and I both have mothers-in-law with a June 10^th
birthday. So, I added that tidbit of information about your mother into
my family tree and one thing lead to another and I came across a nice
picture of your maternal grandparents. I thought you might want to see
it…Oh, and wish your mother happy birthday from me."

Hilary is a geneaology buff and has created a a huge family tree of her and her husband's family, which includes nearly 1,500 people. I was so excited to see this photograph of my grandmother and grandfather Anna and Samuel Wander. And I was touched that it's included in my sister-in-laws family tree. We called them Nanny and Poppy.

Nanny was born in 1898 in Cohoes, NY. Her mother died when she was a young girl, a trauma she never forgot. She moved to Westminster Road with her father, a stepmother and three stepbrothers. She studied education Adelphi University and briefly worked as a kindergarten teacher.

My grandfather was born in Albany in the late 1890's. He started a plumbing business called Hercules Chemical Company and was a lovely, kind-hearted man who was always well-groomed from head to toe. The company still exists, it was run by my Uncle Jay for many years, and it says on their website: "Sam Wander was known for “walking the
tracks” when he started Hercules in 1915. He went diligently and
enthusiastically from town to town, on foot, selling Drain Pipe
Solvent, Hercules first product. His creed was “I’ve got to take care
of my customers.”

Nanny and Poppy were married in 1920
at a fancy hotel in Manhattan. This picture must have been taken around
that time. She told me stories about their honeymoon; I believe they went
to Cuba on an ocean liner and she was seasick the entire time. They lived with their daughters, Rhoda Hortense and Edna Mae (my mother who was teased "Edna Mae Wander but not very far") in a two-family house in the Midwood section of Brooklyn and later moved to a single family home on Avenue J, where they lived for many years. Later they moved to the Fifth Avenue Hotel in Greenwich Village in the 1960's to be near my grandfather's business on 14th Street My grandmother worked with Poppy at the company.

My sister and I actually spent our first year of life in that house on Avenue J, while my parents looked for an apartment in Manhattan. There are pictures of us in our enormous twin baby carriage being strolled down the streets of Brooklyn.

Once Nanny and Poppy moved Manhattan, I spent many Saturdays with my grandparents and have a vivid memory of going to the Central Park Children's Zoo with my grandfather when a llama ate a banana out of his pocket.

After my grandfather died in 1967, I spent just about every Saturday with my grandmother. She'd take my sister and me out to lunch at the Automat on 57th Street or Schrafts on Madison Avenue.

At the Automat, I'd always have mashed potatoes and carrots from the steam table (and probably a piece of layer cake from one of the the coin operated compartments).

At Schrafts I'd order a turkey sandwich on rye bread with Russian dressing. Funny the things you remember. And for dessert: a hot butterscotch sundae.

We always went to see the exhibitions in the basement of the Hallmark store, which used to be on 56th Street and Fifth Avenue, right next door to Doubleday, another great bookstore no longer in operation.

We'd also go to FAO Schwartz and look at the Steif animals on the first floor. I always longed to own the life-sized giraffe. Nanny did buy me a much smaller one that I still have.

One time Nanny said, "There's a group called The Beatles on the steps of the Plaza Hotel across the street. Would you like to go see them?" I guess she was curious.

The year was 1964 and we had no idea who the Beatles were so we declined. I imagined these large bugs. Can you believe? One year later I remember watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show and screaming along with all the girls in the studio audience. The next morning my cousin Meg called, "Did you see them? Did you see them? Did you scream?"

The Fifth Avenue Hotel became One Fifth Avenue, an elegant coop apartment building int he 1970's. I frequently had dinner with my grandmother in One Fifth, the restaurant on the first floor. She ate there every night and it was a beautiful Art Deco style restaurant with a nautical theme and was quite the chic place to dine in the late 1970's and early '80s for the likes of Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe and others in the downtown scene.

Nanny always dined at 6 p.m.. at the front table near the dessert display. The Maitre'd, whose name was Richard, always said, "Mrs. Wander you look so lovely tonight."

And she always did. The young staff was so nice to her there. Many were gay men in the arts who later died of AIDs. The restaurant was generally empty when we dined there because it was so early. She'd tell us stories about her life in Cohoes and the sad death of her mother. I can still feel the texture of her soft skin when I held her hand.

I was so happy to see that picture of Nanny and Poppy that my sister-in-law found. Thanks, Hilary.

ART

Panel Discussion at the Brooklyn Museum: “WomenGirlsLadies”

On Saturday June 20th from 2-4 p.m. in the Brooklyn Museum's Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium on the 3rd floor there's a panel discussion called WomenGirlsLadies. Sounds interesting to me.

Four feminist authors and activists ranging from Generation Y to
pre-baby boomer reopen a dialogue about women’s lives, power,
entitlement, and empowerment. The panelists are Gloria Feldt, author of The War on Choice; Kristal Brent Zook, author of Black Women’s Lives: Stories of Power and Pain; Deborah Siegel, author of Sisterhood Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild; and Courtney E. Martin, author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters.

Civics and Urban Life

For Those of You Who Missed Your Prom or Want a Prom Re-do

June 16, 2009 louise crawford 2 Comments

Brooklyn Based and Bell House present the Pretty in Pink 80's Prom.

Inspired by director John Hughes and the spirit of one of our favorite decades — the 80s — the Bell House is throwing a specially themed prom just for you…

Get footloose with our 80s DJs and live 80s cover band, THE ENGAGEMENTS (whose
members have played with artists like Q-Tip, Mos Def, Sharon Jones and
The Dap-Kings, Steely Dan, Rod Stewart, Bernie Worrell, Dr. Lonnie
Smith, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, French Kicks, Whitney Houston, and
The Isley Brothers).

Capture the nostalgia in photos with our totally radical 80s prom backdrop! Bathrooms stocked with Aqua Net for heavy primping…

Dress as your favorite John Hughes 80s movie character to win the title of Prom King and Queen and score an iPod shuffle loaded up with 80s music!

** Free Specialty Cocktails From 8-9pm

** Free Snacks & Finger Foods

** $3 Champagne All Night

Civics and Urban Life

Tidbits: City Council Candidates (Petitioning, BBQs and Coffee)

–Looks like Brad Lander is the first of the 39th candidates to announce that he has the 900 signatures needed to qualify for the
Democratic primary ballot in less than one week of petitioning. They will continue to petition until mid-July.

–Gary Reilly, another 39er, took a brief break from petitioning Saturday
night to march in the Brooklyn Pride parade with thousands of others. "To be honest, by 7:00pm
on Saturday I was tired and looking for a chance to rest my feet . . .
but I was quickly reinvigorated by the energy of the crowd. We marched
from Bartel Pritchard Circle all the way to Lincoln Place, and a little
rain didn't dampen anyone's spirits. I truly was awed by the power and
energy generated when people come together for a just cause; after all
that walking, I left with more energy and higher spirits than I arrived
with.

This Saturday Gary is having a family-friendly barbecue in Kensington at the
home of Gaston and Lexa de los Reyes. He writes: "Stop by to share your concerns
about the issues affecting District 39 and New York or just to say
hello and have a hot dog and a cold beverage."

Kensington Barbecue, home of Gaston and Lexa de los Reyes

Saturday June 20, 4:00 – 6:00 PM (RSVP)

69 Clara Street (between Dahill and Chester) GMAP

F train to Church.

Suggested contribution: $10, $35, $100, $175

–Tomorrow Ken Baer, one of the 33s, is set to face OTBKB's coffee cup at Cousin John's in Park Slope. I'm looking forward to that. And I will be meeting with Stephen Levin, another one of the 33s, as well at Ozzie's on Fifth Avenue. Now to just make a plan with Issac Abraham!

June 27-28: NYC Zine Fest at the Brooklyn Lyceum

A Blogfest for Zines. Sort of. Whatever it is I am so there.

First, do you know what a zine is? They are self-published, homemade, independent, and small publications. Sometimes they're artful, poetical, radical, cartoonical, informational. You name it. They're like blogs. On paper! And they pre-date blogs and are very independent and cool.

Okay. Now that we've clarified that: The first annual NYC Zine Fest '09 will be held June 27-28, 2009, at the Brooklyn Lyceum in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It runs from 12 – 7pm each day, and is a FREE event. NYCZineFest.org has all info and the programming schedule.

The mission of the NYC Zine Fest is to circulate and promote self-published, homemade, independent, and small publications called zines.
The Fest aims to support and expand the network of creators who
self-publish these zines, as well as independent publishers and
distributors in and around the NYC metro area.

There will be more than 70
zinemakers, publishers and institutions participating in the Fest,
including Printed Matter, World War 3 and the Barnard Zine Library.
There will be workshops, discussion groups and a screening of zine
documentary '$100 & a T-Shirt' – the latter which will run at 5pm
both days. As zines gain popularity and respect, this fest welcomes a
wide audience to attend, meet the artists, participate in the free
workshops, and buy and learn about zines. There will be food, beer
(supplied by Brooklyn's Sixpoint Craft Ales), coffee, and music!

The
Fest will also include a raffle with prizes consisting of rare zines,
books, gift certificates, art, and more. Raffle donors include
Spoonbill & Sugartown, Printed Matter, Melissa Staiger, Picturebox
Inc., Opal Massage, Microcosm, 92YTribeca and Trong Nguyen.

The NYC Zine Fest will take place at the Brooklyn Lyceum.
The Lyceum, which opened initially in 1910 as NYC Public Bath #7, is a
historically significant, landmarked building which has been host to
many arts events since 2000, most recently it's notable Craft Market
series. It is located on an easily accessible block in Park Slope, at
227 4th Avenue, right atop the R train station at Union Street. More information athttp://www.BrooklynLyceum.com.

For info and programming schedule: http://www.nyczinefest.org.

Official Sponsors: Sixpoint Craft Ales, DUB Pies, Minuteman Press Brooklyn, Brooklyn Creative League, Old Stone House.

Scaredy Kat Moving to a New Location Across the Street

Yup. Scaredy Kat, one of the early settlers on the new Fifth Avenue is moving to larger digs right across the street at 232 Fifth Avenue, right next store to Playa

A neighborhood card & gift shop, Scaredy Kat has been the go-to card and gift shop for me since they opened in July 1999. It's definitely an OTBKB favorite and they've been on the Park Slope 100 for sure.

They have a unique aesthetic that's hard to describe: vintage meets great design. Letter press meets cool illustration. Old photos with zany captions. That sort of thing. Suffice it to say I love the place and their sense of style (and humor).

And they've got a blog called Kat's Treats, too.

Here's what owners Nora and Damond say about the beginnings of the shop:

"Scaredy Kat began as a way to combine our aesthetics, experience, and creative
energies into one project (and to try and make a living as well!). At
the same time, we started a line of greeting cards to satisfy our creative side
as well as keep us busy."

I'm not sure if they're still doing their line of cards but they do produce custom
products such as invitations, announcements, and note cards and they love to do weddings, baby
announcements, birthday parties, holiday cards – you name the event, and they'll work with
you to create a set of cards as individual as you are.

SUMMER IN BROOKLYN

Here’s the Song We Wrote About Park Explorers Day Camp

Park Explorers Song by the Crawford Family

We are Park Explorers
and we love to play
in the Park of Prospect
on a summer's day
We love to go on outings
with our counselors and our friends
We are Park Explorers
We hope the summer never ends

We are Park Explorers
and we love to swim
in the deep blue ocean
sometimes we go in
Holding hands together
with our counselors and our friends
We are Park Explorers
We hope the summer never ends.

We are Park Explorers
and we love to eat
knapsacks full of sandwiches
and a tasty treat
Every day's a picnic
with our counselors and our friends
We are Park Explorers
We hope the summer never ends

We are Park Explorers
and we love to fish
with a pinch of pastry dough
and a hopeful wish
Standing at the shoreline
with our counselors and our friends
We are Park Explorers
We hope the summer never ends.

As you can see we loved Park Explorers, a day camp in Park Slope Brooklyn. We even wrote a song about it! My son was a camper from age 5 until he was in middle school.

It’s June 16: Have You Thought About Park Explorers?

It's June 16th: Do you know where your children are spending the summer? Think about Park Explorers if you're looking for an experience that includes lots of time outside in the summer sunshine (and rain) and healthy fun all summer long (this camp really does run ALL SUMMER LONG). Different activities daily; no two days alike!

Park Explorers (PE) has been bringing children to Prospect Park with trips in and around
the Park Slope Brooklyn area for twenty-five years! I can attest to the fact that children love the
many activities; swimming, sports, arts and crafts, hiking, singing,
dancing, chess, karate, gymnastics, exploring, running, climbing with
plenty of time left for imaginative play because my son was a camper in this program for 6 or 7 years. He loved it and made many good friends there.

Hey, at Park Explorers he learned all his Guy Walks into a Bar jokes from an incredibly funny and smart counselor whose name escapes me at the moment. But he was a great guy.

And the camp really is fun and it's run by Chris Altman, one of the Park Slope 100, a talented woman who understands kids and has YEARS of experience running this camp.

And now the camp has even more activities than ever:

–Actors enjoy PE's intensive Exploring Theater camp.

–Athletes
can join PE's total sports program and new this year is a program that
combines dance, tumbling and circus arts, Rhythmic Gymnastics.

It is certainly true that parents enjoy Park Explorers flexible weekly schedules and extended day options. And the price is right. Call 718-788-3620 if you're looking for something for your child this summer.

Location: Park Slope Brooklyn

611 8th Avenue (corner of 6th street)

Basement of Saint Saviors Church

Season: June 29 to September 4.

Choose the weeks that you want;

the weeks need not be consecutive.

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

Music

June 19 at 10 p.m.: Musical Maverick Phil Niblock at Issue Project Room

Hepcat and I used to go to Phil Niblock's music space/loft, Experimental Intermedia, on Center Street back when we were dating in the 1980's. We heard some great music there and saw his slide shows, cool experimental movies and video.

What a great guy. He and Hepcat used to have really interesting conversations as we walked around the loft and looked at his computers.

I hope we can make it over to see Niblock this week at Issue Project Room located in the American Can Factory on Third Street. The show is on June 19th at 10 p.m.

Here's the blurbabge: "Phill Niblock is a New York-based minimalist composer and
multi-media musician and director of Experimental Intermedia, a
foundation born in the flames of 1968’s barricade-hopping. He has been
a maverick presence on the fringes of the avant garde ever since. In
the history books Niblock is the forgotten Minimalist. That’s as maybe:
no one ever said the history books were infallible anyway.

"His influence has had more impact on younger composers such as Susan
Stenger, Lois V Vierk, David First, and Glenn Branca. He’s even worked
with Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo on “Guitar two, for
four” which is actually for five guitarists.

"This is Minimalism in the
classic sense of the word, if that makes sense. Niblock constructs big
24-track digitally-processed monolithic microtonal drones. The result
is sound without melody or rhythm. Movement is slow, geologically slow.
Changes are almost imperceptible, and his music has a tendency of
creeping up on you. The vocal pieces are like some of Ligeti’s choral
works, but a little more phased. And this isn’t choral work. “A Y U (as
yet untitled)” is sampled from just one voice, the baritone Thomas
Buckner. The results are pitch shifted and processed intense drones,
one live and one studio edited. Unlike Ligeti, this isn’t just for
voice or hurdy gurdy.

"Like Stockhausen’s electronic pieces, Musique
Concrete, or even Fripp and Eno’s No Pussyfooting, the role of the
producer/composer in “Hurdy Hurry” and “A Y U” is just as important as
the role of the performer. He says: “What I am doing with my music is
to produce something without rhythm or melody, by using many microtones
that cause movements very, very slowly.” The stills in the booklet are
from slides taken in China, while Niblock was making films which are
painstaking studies of manual labour, giving a poetic dignity to sheer
gruelling slog of fishermen at work, rice-planters, log-splitters,
water-hole dredgers and other back-breaking toilers. Since 1968 Phill
has also put on over 1000 concerts in his loft space, including Ryoji Ikeda, Zbigniew Karkowski, Jim O’Rourke."

To repeat: June 19th at 10 p.m. Issue Project Room.

Be a Bunnette at Nathan’s 4th of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest

http://newyork.timeout.com/make-music/section/mass-appeal

Become a bunnette at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest

They are often overlooked at the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, but their role is critical. Not only must the Bunnettes tally hundreds of hot dogs eaten at a dizzying speed, they must entertain the crowd and serve as ambassadors for the sport.

To ensure that the Bunnettes are equal to the task, Nathan’s Famous will run a Bunnette Bootcamp at its flagship restaurant in Coney Island on June 27 prior to its last regional qualifying contest for the Fourth of July event.

Veteran Bunnette Laura Leu will lead the would-be eating contest boosters through a grueling set of challenges to determine the three candidates best suited to the job. Those Bunnettes who are chosen to be on stage on the Fourth of July will appear before tens of thousands of fans, and millions of television and ESPN viewers, in the traditional Nathan’s Famous cheerleader outfit.

“It’s a gut check when you realize that you’re the one reporting the hot dog count to a horde of media and fans who have traveled thousands of miles to attend this event,” said Leu. “I don’t want to put my girls in that position unless they are prepared to handle the pressure.”

Last year, Coney Island authorities stated that 40,000 fans crowded the corner of Surf and Stillwell avenues in Coney Island to witness Joey Chestnut’s rematch with Takeru Kobayashi. Over one million households viewed the contest’s live telecast on ESPN. Chestnut, a San Jose resident, ate 59 hot dogs in the 10-minute contest and ended up in a tie with Japan’s Kobayashi. Overtime ensued, and in just 50 seconds Chestnut consumed an additional five hot dogs to secure his second Nathan’s Famous title.

Men and women age 18 and older who would like to participate can email info@ifoce.com for information on the event on June 27, 2009 at 1310 Surf Avenue (Surf and Stillwell avenues) in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Nathan’s Famous and Major League Eating reserve the right to determine participants at their sole discretion.

Music

June 21: Participate in the Accordion Forest and Sing-Along

June 15, 2009 louise crawford 1 Comment

The latest from local accordion man Bob Goldberg:

Friends and Relations

This
Sunday, June 21st (Father's Day and Summer Solstice) you are invited to
a Massive Accordion Event, right here in Brooklyn.

Mass Appeal: Accordions (part of Make Music New York)

Old Stone House / JJ Byrne Park

3rd Street and Fifth Ave, Brooklyn. Performance

5pm – 6:30pm, accordion jam until 9pm.

The
Famous Accordion Orchestra – in a special expanded lineup – will be
premiering Bob Goldberg's "Neighborhood Suite" and will create an Accordion Forest for all
available accordions.

The
Main Squeeze Orchestra conducted by Walter Kuhr will then lead a parade
with color guards in formation, and a tango session.

To Participate in the Accordion Forest and Sing-Along, contact Bob Goldberg, famousaccordions @ earthlink.net, to request sheet music and forest instructions. Show up with your accordion at 3:30 the day of the show.

“This
project is made possible with public funds from the Decentralization
Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered in
Kings County by the Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. (BAC).”

VERSE RESPONDER: LEON FREILICH

Leon Freilich, Verse Responder: Jailhouse Bar Mitzvah

June 15, 2009 louise crawford 3 Comments

Jailhouse Bar Mitzvah

Steel bars do not a prison make
When it's bar mitzvah day
And Daddy's obligated to
Celebrate and pray.

So Tuvia Stern, an inmate at
The fabled New York "Tombs,"
Transcended lockup etiquette
And ordered party rooms.

He had the gym festooned with bunting
And rocked with festive strains
Provided by an Orthordox group
That blew out everyone's brains.

Kin and kith and friends galore
All danced and sang out lustily,
Serenading the bar mitzvah
boy
Religiously and
robustily.

They ate and drank like Rahm Emanuel
Or baseball's Leo Durocher,
The food having been most carefully catered
To be ultra-strictly kosher.

Sixty guests held forth in the clinker
For fully six-plus hours
While eight correction officers
Kept guard over baskets of flowers.

The guards as well made sure the party
Remained a private affair,
Keeping other prisoners
From infiltrating there.

The only jailbird to be found
Was the influential dad,
Who may be a convicted scammer
But on this day wasn't bad.

The fraudster's now upstate and serving
Two-and-a-half to seven
But at least he gave his now-a-man son
A taste of party heaven.

And he's done the same for his lovely daughter–
Stern showed his jailhouse dash
Again when he had outsiders in
For her engagement
bash.

Tom Martinez, Witness

Tom Martinez, Witness: I’ve Got My Eye On You

A Staten Island tattoo artist shows off some of his own. I've yet to
get a shot of this particular guy from the front-view since every time
I
ask if I can take his picture he turns to show me the back of his
head–which granted, is interesting. It seems to work in this image,
too,
since so many of the eyes in the image seem to be trained on the
viewer, including of course the one on the back of the artist's
head.

Photo by Tom Martinez

Breakfast of candidates

Tidbits: City Council Candidates (Weekend News)

Pardon Me For Asking reports that City Council candidate in the 39th district John Heyer (pictured left climbing the lamp post) was on hand for the renaming of Palazzo Way, a stretch of Henry Street, between Union and Sackett Streets. The block has officially been co-named "Citizens Of Pozzallo Way" in honor of the Society Of The Citizens of Pozzallo. He even got to climb lamp post and unveil the sign.

According to PMFA: "The Society was started in 1919 by immigrants from the Sicilian town of Pozzallo,
Italy who formed an organization, to 'promote fellowship and friendship
amongst its members and to educate them to the American ideals in order
to transition them to the American way of life and American citizenship.'"

Photo by PMFA

The politicians were out in full force at the Gay Pride Parade on Saturday night. I chatted briefly with Doug Biviano, candidate for City Council in the 33rd district, who asked me to sign his petition. "Sorry, I can't. I'm a 39er." Council Speaker Christine Quinn and City Council members David Yassky and Bill deBlasio were also in the parade.

Brad Lander and Gary Reilly were also marching in the Brooklyn Pride Parade on Saturday night. Brad marched near his synagogue Kolot Chayeinu, which is informally
Brooklyn's gay & lesbian synagogue) so he wasn't up with the
other candidates and electeds.

A plan to honor gays and other non-Jewish victims of Nazi persecution
in Brooklyn's Holocaust Memorial Park inspired Assemblyman Dov Hikind to say ridiculously: "the Holocausut is a uniquely Jewish event."

Mole 333, who writes a blog for Daily Gotham (and seems to be a supporter of Josh Skaller) had this to say: "And remember this is the same Dov Hikind who is helping City Council
Candidate Brad Lander in the Hasid community. Dov Hikind has previously
expressed support for racial profiling and segregated neighborhoods and
now denies the right of anyone but Jews to consider themselves victims
of Nazi Germany. I am now calling Brad Lander out on this one. Does
Brad Lander condemn the racism and intolerance of his political ally
Dov Hikind? How does Brad Lander feel about Dov's vilifying of
Muslim-Americans and African-Americans? How does Brad Lander feel about
Dov's Holocaust denial. And let me be clear on this: Dov's version of
Holocaust denial is JUST as disgusting as that of Iran or neo-Nazis who
deny that Jews were targeted for genocide."

Actually, Brad Lander did have something to say about Dov Hikind's Holocaust comment and it was published on Mole333's Daily Gotham blog.

I strongly support the New York City Parks Department’s
inclusion of the full range of victims of Nazi atrocities – Jews, gays,
Romani, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the disabled, and political prisoners (as
well as Catholics, Slavs, trade unionists, and others) – in Brooklyn’s
Holocaust Memorial Park.

Honoring all victims of Nazi persecution does not diminish the
immensity of the six million Jews murdered by Hitler and the Nazis. It
is important to commemorate all victims of the Holocaust, both to
accurately record history, and to learn its lessons. To me, the lesson
of the Holocaust is never again to anyone, anywhere. I have been proud
to stand with Jews and many others in opposition to genocide in Darfur,
and to vicious bias murders in New York City – activism which stems
from a shared history of oppression, and an unyielding commitment to
human rights.

I am grateful to have the support of Assemblyman Dov Hikind in my
campaign for City Council (as well as Congressman Jerrold Nadler, State
Senators Liz Krueger and Daniel Squadron, City Councilmember Rosie
Mendez, Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr, Ruth Messinger, and many others who
are champions in the fight for human rights). While Assemblyman Hikind
and I agree on the need for affordable housing, support for small
businesses, public safety, strong social service organizations, and
improved neighborhood quality-of-life in Boro Park (where his Assembly
District and the City Council district I am seeking to represent
overlap), I strongly disagree with him on this issue.

real estate

Do the ULURP: Contextual Rezoning of Carroll Gardens

Pardon Me For Asking (PMFA) wants everyone to mark their calendars for the meeting at Long Island College Hospital on June 25th at 6 pm of The
Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) for the contextual rezoning
of the Carroll Gardens/ Columbia Waterfront is starting on Thursday,
June 25th, at the Community Board 6 Land Use Committee.

Says PMFA: "This
is great news! This long-awaited rezoning will give this community the
protection it needs from out-of-scale development and will hopefully
preserve the unique character of our historic neighborhood."

The NYC Department of City Planning gave this overview on the re-zoning:

At
the request of Community Board 6, community and neighborhood groups,
and local elected officials, the Department of City Planning proposes
zoning map amendments for an approximately 86 block area of the Carroll
Gardens and Columbia Street neighborhoods within Community District 6
in Brooklyn.

The
rezoning area includes the neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens and
Columbia Street. The Carroll Gardens portion of the rezoning area is
generally bounded by Degraw Street, Warren Street and Douglass Street
to the north; Hoyt Street, Bond Street and Smith Street to the east;
3rd Street, 4th Street, 5th Street, Centre Street and Hamilton Avenue
to the south; and Hicks Street to the west. The Columbia Street portion
of the rezoning area consists of approximately 14 blocks bounded by
Warren Street to the north, a line between Columbia Street and Van
Brunt Street to the west, Hicks Street to the east and Woodhull Street
to the south. The areas proposed to be rezoned are zoned entirely R6.

The
rezoning proposal has been developed after extensive discussion with
the Community Board, elected officials, and neighborhood residents. The
rezoning responds to community concerns about recent out-of-scale
development permitted under the current zoning by mapping contextual
districts with height limits throughout the study area which would
preserve the existing built character while allowing for new
development and modest expansions where appropriate at a height and
scale that is in keeping with the existing context. The rezoning would
support and promote the local, vibrant retail corridors while
protecting the residential character of nearby side streets.

The
proposed rezoning builds upon the Department’s Carroll Gardens Narrow
Streets Text Amendment which was undertaken at the community’s request
and approved in 2008. That text amendment aimed to limit the size and
configuration of new buildings and enlargements on certain streets with
deep front courtyards which had been defined as wide streets under
existing zoning and therefore permitted a higher density that was out
of scale with the existing built context. The proposed rezoning of the
Carroll Gardens and Columbia Street neighborhoods fulfills the
Department’s commitment to return to the community with a more
comprehensive set of zoning recommendations for the larger area.

Meeting Information

Thursday, June 25th at 6 p.m.

Landmarks/Land Use Committee Meeting
Public Hearing on Carroll Gardens/Columbia Street Contextual Rezoning plan (ULURP No. C 090462 ZMK)

Discussion
and formulation of a recommendation on an application submitted by the
Department of City Planning (ULURP No. C 090462 ZMK) to contextually
rezone Carroll Gardens and a significant portion of the Columbia Street
District neighborhoods to protect the existing built form environments.

Long Island College Hospital, 339 Hicks Street

Music

OTBKB Music: Brooklyn Songwriters Exchange

Stay close to home and get to hear three upcoming singer-songwriters
for free. It's the monthly Brooklyn Songwriters Exchange show at Union
Hall, where you get to sample three performers. Tonight you'll hear:

Rebecca Hart,

Anne Heaton, and

Ben Carroll.

I don't know much about
these performers, other than seeing Ben performing with almost everyone
else at The Rockwood Music Hall and The Living Room. But that's
exactly the idea of this finely curated series: get to know someone who
you might not have otherwise seen and do it for free.

Brooklyn Songwriters Exchange, Union Hall, 702 Union Street (at Fifth Avenue), 7:30pm doors, 8pm show.

–Eliot Wagner

Music

Susan McKeown at Barbes

I'd never heard of her but my friend Andrea has been a fan of Susan McKeown for a long time. She and I were emailing, talking about having dinner when she suggested we go hear McKeown, who was playing at Barbes.

I was intrigued and game as I am rarely disappointed by the music presented at Barbes, Park Slope's ecelctic club, which specializes in Slavic soul, klezmer, jazz, Mexican bandas,
Venezuelan joropos and Romanian
brass bands.

Indeed, the very intimate Barbes was a perfect venue to hear the literate and soulful Irish singer/songwriter Susan McKeown, who's stunning lyricism and eclectic sense of melody took my breath away. The performance felt like a conversation between singer and audience as McKeown explained what the songs were about and what lines she had "stolen" from poets like Seamus Heaney, Ezra Pound and Samuel Beckett.

In most cases it was a fragment of a line. Clearly the Dublin-born McKeown is a perfectionist when it comes to the lyrics in her haunting image-filled songs that take the listener down the rivers of Ireland, the death of Ann Lovett, a young girl who died after the birth of a lillegitmate child, green fields, her mother's birth experience and the search for God.

McKeown who sings volcals on "Wonder Wheel" by the Klezmatics, 2007's Grammy winner for Best Contemporary World Album, has an elegant, almost sculptural face with defined cheekbones. Sometimes she sounds like Natalie Merchant, who actually sings on McKeown's 2002 album Prophecy (which McKeown was selling at Barbes). Merchant recorded Mckeown's song "Because I Could Not Stop" on her latest album Retrospective.

Reading her biography I see that McKeown has performed with many musical luminaries in addition to the Klezmatics and Natalie Merchant, including Linda Thompson, Pete Seeger, Mary, Margaret O'Hara, Billy Bragg, Arlo Guthrie, Andy, Irvine, Flook, Lúnasa, and the Scots fiddle master, Johnny Cunningham.

I just added Prophecy to my iPod library and will be spending a lot of time with the songs of Susan McKeown. And I'll be sure to let you know when she's playing at Barbes next.

No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford

VERSE RESPONDER: LEON FREILICH

Leon Freilich, Verse Responder: The Subtractions

The Subtractions

"Escapes" is gone along with "City"–

The Times is getting leaner and fitter;

How long before the Sunday paper's

Delivered in the form of a Twitter?

Leon
Freilich

Tom Martinez, Witness

Tom Martinez, Witness: Festival of Pride

Saturday's Multicultural Pride Festival was held as always at the southwest corner of Prospect Park (Bartel Pritchard Square). The festival included a street fair with community businesses and organizations, food and lots to buy, a play area for kids and families,
and a main stage with live music.

Photo by Tom Martinez

BROOKLYN READING WORKS

Tonight at Union Hall: Brooklyn Writers Space Listening Party

Scott Adkins, who runs the Brooklyn Writers Space, sent word of the last BWS reading of the year followed by a Listening Party at Union Hall tonight at 5 p.m.

My friend playwright Rosemary Moore is reading tonight so I hope to make it over there. Scott writes:

"Come join us for the final readings in the 2008/9 reading series. It's
a fun night with playwrighters, a fictioneer and a creative
non-fictionaire…good times.

Presenting:
**rosemary moore**
Rosemary
Moore is a playwright who has also published fiction and non-fiction.
Her play “The Pain of Pink Evenings” was published in The Best American
Short Plays of 2001 (Applause Books). In 2000 she was selected as one of
five Emerging Playwrights in the Cherry Lane Alternative Mentor Project
for the development and production of “Aunt Pieces" (directed by
Michael Sexton, mentored by A.R. Gurney). She lives in Brooklyn and
teaches writing at Rutgers University.

**lorraine martindale**
Lorraine
Martindale is a recent graduate of the New School's MFA Program in
Fiction. She has published work in the online literary journal
Hitotoki, and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two cats.

**michael lazan**
Michael
Lazan has had plays produced by and at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater,
Ensemble Studio Theater, Workshop Theater Company, Midtown
International Theater Festival (award for best production, nominated
for best play), New York Musical Theater Festival, Naked Angels,
Manhattan Theatre Source, Neighborhood Playhouse, among others. He has
been a finalist for the National Ten Minute Play Festival (Actors
Theater of Louisville). He is a member of the Drama Desk, the
Dramatists Guild and the Brooklyn Writers Space.

**susan gregory thomas**
Susan
Gregory Thomas is an investigative journalist, broadcaster and the
author of "Buy, Buy Baby: How Consumer Culture Manipulates Parents and
Harms Young Minds" (May 2007: Houghton Mifflin) She has written for
U.S. News & World Report, Time, the Washington Post, Glamour, and
Babble.com. She has three children.

It's free! Doors open at 5p – readings start 5pish. Join us upstairs after'words' for an end of series drink.

Smartmom

Smartmom: Time for the Prom

June 14, 2009 louise crawford 5 Comments

Here is this week's Smartmom first published in the Brooklyn Paper.

Teen Spirit was dead set against going to his own senior prom. This
Smartmom learned the day after she wrote a $350 check to pay for prom,
senior breakfast, yearbook and graduation.

“No way am I going to the senior prom,” Teen Spirit told Smartmom. “It’s ridiculous!”

“But I just sent in the check,” Smartmom said.

Teen Spirit seemed pretty unconcerned about his mother’s huge output of cash in these dark, economic time. The bum.

“I hate the idea of prom,” he told her.

That made sense. Smartmom couldn’t really imagine Teen Spirit at a
prom — even if it was a groovy prom like the kind they have at his
progressive public school, which does just about everything in a
non-traditional way.

“I’m sure it’s not going to be a normal prom,” she told Teen Spirit.

But normal or not, he wasn’t going and that was that. As you can
guess, Teen Spirit is just not a prom sort of guy — not even in an
ironic way.

So Smartmom just mentally kissed that prom money good-bye. She
figured the senior committee probably needed the money anyway, and only
part of it was for meant for the prom. The rest could go to the
graduation ceremony, the senior breakfast and printing costs of the
yearbook.

Smartmom didn’t give it another thought until it was time for the prom at her friend’s daughter’s private school.

Smartmom got to “eavesdrop” on that whole adventure. She heard about
the girls waiting around to be asked by a boy to the prom, which made
her think, “What a throwback. How anti-feminist. How weird.”

Why couldn’t girls ask boys?

She heard about the girls spending boatloads of money on pretty
party dresses. That sounded fun. Smartmom wondered if the Oh So Feisty
One would enjoy that.

She heard about a group of kids renting a stretch limo to go to the prom in Manhattan.

She heard about the mothers of boys buying corsages for the girls
and pre-prom parties where parents got together and took pictures and
drank wine.

The whole thing sounded so over-determined. The parents were worried
about what would and wouldn’t happen on prom night. Would the kids be
safe? Would they drink too much? Would they stay out too late at the
after parties?

Would they practice safe sex if that sort of thing was going to happen (and it is happening, you know)?

Smartmom worried for the kids. After the big build up and
hullabaloo, what if they didn’t have a good time? Wouldn’t it be
awkward — all the slow dancing and stuff? The whole thing sounded like
an earlier time when things were more formal and ritualized.

And it seemed like an awful lot of energy and agita for something that was supposed to be fun.

Smartmom thought back to her own high school days. Unfortunately,
there was a big hole in her memory where a prom should have been. She
thought and she thought and she thought. She tried to summon up a
memory a fun festive party, a fluffy prom dress, and a fragrant
corsage.

Nothing. Nada. Nicht.

That’s because there was no prom. Graduating from high school in
1976, her classmates (herself included) didn’t believe in such
programmed events.

It was the 1970s. Smartmom and her female classmates met in a weekly
Women’s Group, where they discussed sexism, sexist high school boys and
teachers. They even organized a full-day event for International
Women’s Day.

It’s not like she didn’t like parties. Smartmom and her friends went
to plenty of wild parties in large pre-war apartments in buildings on
the Upper West and East Side, where they drank too much Bohemian beer
and made out with boys on beds strewn with overcoats (in that order).

Smartmom even had a boyfriend who could have taken her to the prom.

But they didn’t believe in proms at her progressive, left-leaning
private school. Proms were elitist, bourgeois and sexist. Right?

So on the night of her friend’s daughter’s prom, Smartmom found
herself envying the kids who were doing the traditional prom thing. It
all seemed so quaint and vintage. It even sounded like fun.

Suddenly, Smartmom understood why she had unthinkingly paid for Teen
Spirit’s prom without asking him. It’s called magical thinking. She
wanted him to go to the prom, so she wished him to go to the prom.

And then her wish came true. A few days after the private school prom, Teen Spirit came into the kitchen.

“Hey, did I tell you, I’m going to the prom?” he said nonchalantly.

“You are?”

“But I’m only staying one hour. One of my friends begged me to go,” he said.

“What are you going to wear?”

“I’ll wear dad’s seersucker suit …”

“And grandpa’s white shoes?”

“Yeah,” he said.

Smartmom was thrilled. It was the first time they’ve been in agreement about anything in ages.

“Should I have it dry-cleaned?” she said.

“Whatever,” Teen Spirit said by way of yes.

So Teen Spirit is going to the prom. Smartmom tried to be blasé, but
she was happy that Teen Spirit was doing something traditional to mark
the end of his high school career.

And in the process, he was making up for that thing she never got to do. Even if it was elitist, bourgeois and sexist. Right?