Category Archives: arts and culture

arts and culture

Stitch This at the Brooklyn Museum

To all you crafty minded people who aren’t going to a beach this weekend, I’ve got something for you to do on Saturday, July 21 at the Brooklyn Museum, which is very well air-conditioned.

I just heard from Julia Santoli a member of the Adult Programs division of the Education Department at the Brooklyn Museum.

This Saturday, July 21 at 2 pm, the Brooklyn Museum is holding a Creative Art Making program called “Stitch This.”

Led by Etsy artist Jessica Marquez, participants will create bold, graphic works of art combining thread and paper with images and text. Participants will need to bring their own image (preferably as 5 x 5-inch photocopies), or be inspired to create something original.

There is a $15 materials fee, and registration is required. Register at www.museumtix.com or at the Museum’s Visitor Center.

Sounds fun, eh?

arts and culture

Marissa Mayer, New Top Exec at Yahoo

File under: maybe Yahoo won’t be such a crappy site/email service anymore.

The talk yesterday at a blogger’s event for a certain frozen yogurt shop in Park Slope, in addition to what flavor of yogurt to try, was about Marissa Mayer, the brand new executive of the troubled Yahoo (and my email service).

Many at yesterday’s event for mostly twenty-something Brooklyn social media mavens were enthusiastic about the choice of Mayer, who was a very early employee of Google, is a trained engineer, with a masters degree in computer science from Stanford. She ran Google’s search group, location and local division.

Good cred, I’d say.

The company has not had great luck with leadership recently. A slew of execs have come and gone, including. Terry Semel, Jerry Yang, Carol Bartz, and Scott Thompson.

A young woman who works at Small Girls, the PR firm that is handling said new Park Slope yogurt shop’s PR suggested that Mayer might render Yahoo a cool place to work.

The plain yogurt was my favorite and I’m excited to see if Mayer, who happens to be pregnant, brings something new and exciting to the Yahoo table.

arts and culture

An Upright Piano on Third Street

About a month ago, someone on Third Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues in Park Slope) wanted to get  rid of an upright piano. They wrapped it in plastic and left it in their building’s front yard. Perhaps they were waiting for someone to take it, to sell it, or for bulk garbage day.

The Department of Sanitation provides “free curbside removal of large non-commercial ‘bulk’ items (items that are too big to be discarded in a container or bag) from residential buildings.”

A piano is definitely too big to be discarded in a container or bag.

On Monday afternoon, in preparation for bulk garbage pick up, the piano’s owners left the piano on the curb.

A talented local musician I know tried to convince his father to carry the piano to the apartment where he lives. When THAT didn’t happen, he had the idea to make a video of himself performing two songs using that piano. A group of his friends arrived on Third Street with a video camera and professional recording equipment.

The shoot lasted an hour or more. The piano is broken and more than a little out of tune. The local musician was able to make the non-working peddles work.

It was, I thought, a sight to behold. In the golden light of a summer afternoon, a young musician sat on an old television set, playing an out-of-tune upright on the Third Street sidewalk, surrounded by friends.

The songs, they were beautiful.

 

arts and culture

Brooklyn Social Media: My New Company is Growing

File this under: unabashed self-promotion.

On May 24, 2012, I announced my new venture, Brooklyn Social Media with a post on OTBKB. I made a quick logo (which is about to change), set up a Facebook page, and went out in search of clients.

Well, it didn’t take long.

I’ve had an exciting two months. From my office in Park Slope, I worked hard to define and refine what it is I have to offer. In the process, I’ve developed a rather extensive menu of deliverables, including a Social Media Kit, Blog Tours, a Social Media Strategy and an Editorial Plan for blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Video, Constant Contact, podcasts and more. I also offer coaching and short-term consulting and brainstorming.

First and foremost, I am helping creative entreprenuers and authors of all kinds (published, self-published, print-on-demand, etc) reach a wide audience using social media. One of the ways I do this is by interacting with book and special interest bloggers, who do book reviews and Q&As with authors.

You’ve heard of a Book Tour, well now a Blog Tour is the thing. And it’s armchair travel for the author. Some of these book bloggers can be quite influential when it comes to recommending books, featuring authors on their blogs, giveaways, and Q&As.

There has been a wellspring of interest in this from authors and publishers and I am currently hard at work on behalf of an interesting group of authors including Peter Matthiessen Wheelwright, author of As It Is On Earth (forthcoming from Fornite) and Ora Shtull author of The Glass Elevator, to name just two.

I am also happy to be working closely with Marian Brown PR. Marian has been called a new author’s dream. She was Anne Lamott’s publicist. Lamott writes: “Marian was my publicist when Bird by Bird came out, and it was a true pleasure to work with her. She was brilliant and efficient, hardworking and fun.”

I can tell you, Marian Brown is truly someone you want on your team.

Another client I am happy to be working with is  Legacy Portrait Films, award-winning filmmakers who capture and preserve elderly loved ones on film. This is an amazing and urgently important service (and gift) for those with aging parents.

Today, I set up a twitter account for Brooklyn Social Media (@bksocialmedia) so please become a follower and I will be sending out tweets about all kinds of interesting books, authors, events, music, stores, people. Sort of like OTBKB but by tweet.

To you the readers of OTBKB, I ask you to please do a couple of things to help me create a sustainable business:

Please LIKE Brooklyn Social Media on Facebook (facebook.com/brooklynsocialmedia) AND become a friend.

Please FOLLOW Brooklyn Social Media (@bksocialmedia) on Twitter.

With gratitude.

 

arts and culture

Tom Martinez, Witness: DeJesus Painting at BWAC Color Show

July 28 through August 19 see how the artists of the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition  responded to the challenge: “What is color?”

There will be over 1000 works of art in all media exhibited in BWAC’s amazing 25,000 square foot Civil War-era warehouse gallery with great views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty.

The first floor of the exhibit will be devoted to a special juried show of 120 works of art in all media submitted by artists from around the country. Brooke Kamin Rapaport was the show’s sole juror. An independent curator and contributing editor and writer for Sculpture magazine, she is also the former curator of the contemporary art department of the Brooklyn Museum. 

Ms. Rapaport writes: “Through the deliberate choice of riffing on color, artists work in cellophane or video, digital photography or ink jet prints, acrylic or oil paint, loom loops or felt, and corrugated cardboard or collage. There are traditional landscape photos tweaked to magnify the photographer’s vision of a polychrome cityscape. There is an assortment of abstract painting, some referencing color theory and much of it looking nostalgically to 1950s and 1960s modernist canvases. There are great swaths of color in these installations, sculpture, paintings and photographs.”

arts and culture

New Poetry From D. Nurske: A Night in Brooklyn

D. Nurske was the Brooklyn Poet Laureate two poet laureates ago (Tina Chang currently holds that honor). His books of poems are published by Knoph, which makes him an unusual poet because “major publishing houses” don’t publish much in the way of contemporary poetry.

He’s considered a major American poet, I guess.

A resident of Brooklyn, he is the author of nine books of poetry, including Voices Over Water, The Fall (Knopf) and, Burnt Island. He has received in Whiting Writers’ Award, two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Tanne Foundation Award.

I’ve saw him read at Park Slope’s Community Bookstore in 2008 and he was quiet, thoughtful and compelling, as are his poems.

Now he has a new book out called A Night in Brooklyn, which you can get as a paper-and-glue book or as an eBook. Here’s the wonderful title poem from the book and it’s about a night of love in a narrow Brooklyn bed. I love it.

A Night in Brooklyn

We undid a button,

turned out the light,

and in that narrow bed

we built the great city —

water towers, cisterns,

hot asphalt roofs, parks,

septic tanks, arterial roads,

Canarsie, the intricate channels,

the seacoast, underwater mountains,

bluffs, islands, the next continent,

using only the palms of our hands

and the tips of our tongues, next

we made darkness itself, by then

it was time for daybreak

and we closed our eyes

until the sun rose

and we had to take it all to pieces

for there could be only one Brooklyn.

arts and culture

Saturday Night Fever at Celebrate Brooklyn Tonight

To mark Saturday Night Fever’s 35th anniversary, Celebrate Brooklyn is screening the original film with the career-making performance by John Travolta as Tony Manero and the hit soundtrack by the BeeGees.

Staying Alive.

It also put the Bay Ridge, Brooklyn disco scene on the map.

Staying Alive.

There will be a pre-film set by Tragedy performing a heavy metal tribute to the Bee Gees. Tony Manero costumes welcome.

arts and culture

RIP: Else Holmelund Minarik, Author of Little Bear Books

Do you remember the Little Bear books, I ask my 21-year-old son. “That was the very first book I ever read,” he tells me.

I’d forgotten that.

Else Holmelund Minarik has died at the age of 91. Those books were very popular when I was a girl; it was the very first I Can Read Book. Elsa Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak wrote and illustrated respectively these lovely, simple stories.

There was one called “Birthday Soup,” Who can forget “Birthday Soup.” Little Bear can’t find his mother and assumes that she has forgotten his birthday.

Guests are set to arrive and there is no cake in sight. So Little Bear prepares a birthday soup Just as everyone is about to sit down for birthday soup, Mother Bear shows up with a big, beautiful birthday cake. “I never did forget your birthday, and I never will,” she says.

To my son I say: I will never forget the first book you ever read. I promise.

 

arts and culture

July 21: Brooklyn Castle at Rooftop Films

Brooklyn Castle, a new documentary, is the story of a public school chess team at Williamsburg’s IS 318. With rankings higher than Albert Einstein’s and students from mostly low-income and immigrant homes, this dedicated chess team has captured over 26 national chess titles, more than any other  middle school in the United States.

Facing budget cuts and the threat of losing the chess after-school program, the instructors students and parents band together to help save the program.

This uplifting, must-see film will be presented by Rooftop Films on their very own rooftop in Park Slope/Gowanus on Saturday, July 21. Location: The Old American Can Factory (232 Third St. @ 3rd Ave). Doors open at 7:30PM. At 8PM, there will be a mini-chess tournament. The film begins at 9PM.

arts and culture

Magical Mermaid Mayhem at Mini Jake’s in Williamsburg

The Coney Island Mermaid Parade was a few weeks ago. But here’s a mermaid parade for hipster kids that might be just as fun.

This Saturday from 11AM until 3PM  there’s going to be Magical Mermaid Mayhem at Mini Jake’s on North 9th Street in Williamsburg.

Children (and grown ups?) are being asked to show up in their mermaid or sea related costume for mermaid snacks, mermaid games, mermaid art activities, mermaid raffle and making up mermaid poems.

Melanie Hope Greenberg, a mermaid fanatic and Park Sloper, will be there reading from her picture book, Mermaids on Parade at 11AM.

At 2PM, you’ll have the chance to meet Janna Kennedy, Coney Island Mermaid Parade costume designer and prize winner. And at 2:30, the shop will be having a mermaid parade of its own.

 

arts and culture

Peripatetic Weekend: Southern Wild, Xanadu, Waterfront Walk, New York Poets

MOVIE TO SEE

Beasts of the Southern Wild is playing at BAM starting Friday, July 13th. I saw the film last weekend and loved it. It is worth the price of admission just to see the performance by 8-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis. For all of its magical realism and visual “tropes” it manages to convey the gritty survivalistic life of the impoverished inhabitants of the Bathtub outside of New Orleans nd the horror of Katrina. This visually and viscerally powerful film will make you understand Katrina in a new way.

MUSICAL THEATER AL FRESCO

Friday, July 13 at 8PM: Piper Theatre presents Xanadu, a theatrical reimagining of the Olivia Newton John movie with a young, enthusiastic cast, flying beachballs, and roller skates. 8PM in Washington Park in Park Slope.

WATERFRONT WALK

Sunday, July 15 at 2PM: Francis Morrone, an architectural historian who has written for The New York Sun, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal begins a three-part Walking the Waterfront series (sponsored by the Municipal Arts Society).  It starts at the base of Manhattan, where the initial phase of the new East River Waterfront Esplanade opened in July 2011, and continues through undeveloped sections of the South Street Seaport. The other two tours examine development along the Hudson (Aug 18 at 2pm) and the Brooklyn shorefront (Aug 25 at 6pm).

POETRY AND MUSIC

Sunday, July 15 at 6PM: The Return of Urban Michef with poets Bill Evans, Thaddeus Rutkowski, Joanna Sit, Michele Madigan Somerville and Mike Sweeney will read with percussionists Peter Catapano and Tony Cenicola. Cornelia Street Cafe

 

 

arts and culture

Triple Canopy: Dissolving the Boundary Between the Visual & Literary

 Triple Canopy is a Greenpoint-based online magazine, workspace, and “platform” for editorial and curatorial activities. They work collaboratively with writers, artists, and researchers and try to facilitate projects that “engage the Internet’s specific characteristics as a public forum and as a medium, one with its own evolving practices of reading and viewing, economies of attention, and modes of interaction.”

Phew. That’s a mouthful. But interesting, very interesting. I get email from TC from time to time and I finally decided to take a look. I was very intrigued by the folded poem (see left) by Erica Baum.

On Friday July 20, Triple Canopy and Siglio are presenting an evening with artists/writers, Amaranth Borsuk and Erica Baum,  “who dissolve the boundaries between the visual and the literary, the digital and the analogue, by probing the spaces of the in-between.

Baum is a poet who makes poems by folding the pages of old paperbacks (see picture) and Borsuk has created a epistolary romance that can only be read “in augmented reality.”

This multi-media evening is sure to be interesting and will include performances and a discussion moderated by Triple Canopy editor Dan Visel.

The Details:

155 Freeman Street, Brooklyn, NY

Friday, July 20

Doors 7:00 p.m., performance and discussion 7:30 p.m.

$5 suggested donation

arts and culture

Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer

Every since the madness, mayhem and fun of Brooklyn Blogfest 2010 which was sponsored by Absolut Brooklyn with Spike Lee and Lemon Andersen as keynote entertainment, I’ve been curious about Spike Lee and his latest exploits.

Full Disclosure: Blogfest 2010 was sponsored by Absolut Brooklyn. (Did I already say that?)

Sure, he was a tad officious towards me during the Q&A, but he’s an interesting  guy, it can’t be denied. Here’s a quote from a recent NY Magazine Vulture Page’s interview. In it he talks about teaching at NYU. At the Blogfest, he spoke about teaching and delivered words of encouragement to an audience member who wanted to apply to the film school. Seems he has a new film called Red Hook Summer coming out on July 30. In this interview, he says he wants to be to Brooklyn what Martin Scorsese is to Manhattan.

“I am glad you asked that, because I am going to try to shake the narrative as much as I can. This is not Spike going back to his roots. Red Hook Summer is another chapter in my chronicles of Brooklyn. I am a professor at NYU—I’ve been one the last fifteen years—and one of the courses they are teaching in cinema studies this summer is “Scorsese’s New York.” The postcard has a map of Manhattan and a dot where each Scorsese film took place. For me, it’s Brooklyn. She’s Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing, He Got Game, Clockers, Crooklyn, and Red Hook Summer.””

 

arts and culture

Vera Trombonita: The Story of a Girl and Her Trombone

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This is a story of a girl (who plays at Rocky Sullivan’s in Red Hook every Wednesday night) and her trombone. Her name is Vera Trombonita and she hails from Germany. It all started with a dream. And a question: ”Daddy I wanna play trombone!”

“But there were no trombones around and no teacher to be found so the young girl’s  dream had to be put to sleep. What a crazy wish the family thought, where did she pick that up?” Vera writes on her website. 

So Vera did the practical thing. She studied to be an engineer and moved to Berlin, where she worked in engineering. And it was there that she rediscovered the trombone.

” The old dream popped up as a refreshing invitation to new adventures and experiences,” she writes. While working as an engineer she started to take lessons…

Vera moved to New York to learn from the best, including Art Baron, Jack Gale, Douglas Purviance, Conrad Herwig, Joe Fiedler and Marcus Rojas. She got her master’s in music at Queens College. Now she plays bass trombone, tenor trombone and also tuba.

Tuba.

Vera writes and composes her own music. She loves Latin rhythms and lived for four years in the Bronx to study it. She also loves Motown, Funk and R&B. Best of all, she plays EVERY Wednesday night Rocky Sullivan’s in Red Hook . Thankfully,  OTBKB Witness photographer Tom Martinez was there last night shoot these pictures.

And that, my friend, is the story of Vera and her Trombone.

 

arts and culture

Telettrofono: Worth a Trip to Staten Island

Poet Matthea Harvey and sound artist Jusin Bennet are the creators of Telettrofono, a “soundwalk” sponsored by stillspotting nyc, a two-year multidisciplinary project that takes the Guggenheim’s Architecture and Urban Studies programming out into the city’s five boroughs..

It opens this weekend and will be open through August 5, 2012.

Telettrofono is a site-specific artwork that, from the sounds of it, is worth a trip to Staten Island. And what could be better than a brief voyage on the Staten Island Ferry?

Here’s what you do: Take the ferry to S.I.; then go to kiosk where you will get a special iPod and take a 90-minute soundwalk along the shore and into the St. George neighborhood.

Telettrofono is about Antonio Meucci, the inventor of the telephone decades before Bell, and his mermaid wife, Esterre. Meucci invented a marine telephone so that divers could speak to ship captains, flame-retardant paint (which he advised using on your underwear),  and improved effervescent drinks, among other things.

For Telettrofono, Bennett and Harvey meld ambient sounds from the borough with invented noises such as pianos of stone and glass, or a bone-xylophone, with a poetic script for an audio walking tour that weaves Meucci’s tragic true-to-life story together with fantastical elements.

Bennett and Harvey envision Meucci’s wife, Esterre – a mermaid who leaves the water for land because of her love for the sounds above ground.

The walk in search of this storied couple meanders along the waterfront, past salt mounds and industrial sites, through historic residential neighborhoods and into places of discovery. The route is designed as a spiral to lead visitors out from the coast into the land, while the recorded story transports listeners out from the external urban environment into a state of introspection.

Participants will listen to the narrative soundscape through an imagined present-day telettrofono, a phone that is “smart” in the sense that it can enable listening under and across the water, dialing into fairytale and fact, mermaid choruses, and real and invented patent applications.

The Telettrofono will guide the listener through changing perspectives on sound and place within the tale of the Meuccis from Florence and Havana, as well as the stories, sights, and silences distinct to Staten Island.

If you would like to know more about the soundwalk, go here for information, tickets and an audio preview.

http://stillspotting.guggenheim.org/visit/staten-island/

Says Mattea, who is a wonderful poet: “I promise it’ll be a unique and wild experience (I don’t want to give away all the surprises…).”

arts and culture

Cobble Hill Video Store Tries Crowd-Sourcing to Raise Cash

Jim Hanas, the Social Media Editor of the New York Observer just got in touch via email to tell me about an interesting article today about Cobble Hill’s Video Free Brooklyn by Kim Velsey; it’s one of the last video rental shops in Brownstone Brooklyn.

Sigh.

But this is a video store with social media and crowd sourcing smarts. Rah. They’re using a  Kickstarter-like service called Indiegogo to raise money so they can afford much needed renovations to their shop. Here’s a quote from the Observer article.

“I don’t think it’s any different or less valid than when PBS or NPR ask people to donate for a free tote bag, or the Kickstarter campaign in Detroit to build a life-size statue of RoboCop,” said Mr. Hillis, who has thus far raised about $7,000 (with two weeks to go on a $50,000 campaign) on Indiegogo. “As long as you’re transparent about where the money is going, you’re putting together something that people want to be a part of.”

Anything to keep a real video rental place in business. We miss Video Forum in Park Slope for the convivial conversation and tips about movies.

Sigh.

Here’s the link to Video Free Brooklyn’s Indiegogo page. 

 

arts and culture, Civics and Urban Life

Dear Listen: Should We Be Breastfeeding 7-Year-Olds?

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DEAR LISTEN:

I just read in the New York Post today that the production company behind “Dance Moms” and “American Stuffers,” is developing a reality series based on mothers who breastfeed older children. The Post article included a picture of a Park Slope mom breastfeeding a 3-year-old. What do you think of this phenomena?

Thanks,

Should We Be Breastfeeding 7-year-olds?

DEAR SHOULD WE BE:

Years ago, I remember reading about Viva, one of Andy Warhol’s Superstars (and member of the Factory) in the Village Voice. She said she’d breastfed her son until he could ask for it himself, “Hey mom, give me some tit!”

I remember thinking: that is just so weird. That was, of course, before I had my own children in Park Slope in the 1990’s when attachment parenting was all the rage.

Time’s front cover photo of a toddler boy standing on a chair drinking from his mother’s breast has caused a torrent of opinionating and hyperventilating. I think it’s pretty rare for 7-year-olds to be breastfed.

That said, when is enough enough?

That’s a damn good question. Oh yeah, that’s the one you asked me.

For health and nurturing, breast feeding is the best thing ever during the first couple of years of a baby’s life. It’s fairly easy to do if you’re staying home with the infant. It’s not so easy if you have to go to work. Office pumping is a bit of a nusiance but it is doable if you have a private place to do it at your work place. I was lucky to have an office to myself and I’d just shut the door, put up a sign “pumping in progress” and my co-workers would leave me alone.

But I was lucky to work for a great company at the time. Sad to say, that company is no longer around.

I believe that parenthood is a slow, gradual process of letting go and creating an independent creature that can survive and thrive away from you. That said, a cozy, loving, attentive beginning is fundamental to create a strong, healthy human being.

So, when is enough enough?

Damn it, I don’t know. I think it’s an intuitive thing. My children seemed to lose interest at a certain point. They were each different. If the mom isn’t enjoying it anymore, it’s probably a good time to stop. If the child can ask for it like Viva’s kid and even be spoiled about it I think he or she has had enough. I don’t think you’re doing your kids any favors by prolonging what is essentially an important mother-infant bonding into later childhood.

But hey, I’m not one to legislate what others do. I didn’t breast feed past the age of two but that’s just me.

Sincerely,

She Who Listens

Note: Dear Listen is OTBKB’s new advice column. Send your questions about anything to dearlisten@gmail.com

 

arts and culture

July 15: Spoken Word & Percussion by Poets Who Studied with Allen Ginsberg

I thought the Allen Ginsberg part might get your attention. I know that most of these poets studied with him. Not sure about the musicians.

Poetry, percussion, and poets who stick together through thick and thin. Who can resist? This is a fun-sounding reading with music by a group of excellent New York poets who studied with Allen Ginsberg at Brooklyn College.

Poets Bill Evans, Thaddeus Rutkowski, Joanna Sit, Michele Madigan Somerville and Mike Sweeney will read with percussionists Peter Catapano and Tony Cenicola (of The Unfortunate Buzz Trio).

Every single one of these artists (except Tony Cenicola) has appeared at  Brooklyn Reading Works at the Old Stone House over the last few years!

And it’s at the Cornelia Street Cafe (Owned by Park Slope’s Robin Hirsch) at 6PM on Sunday, July 15th. See you there.

Continue reading July 15: Spoken Word & Percussion by Poets Who Studied with Allen Ginsberg →

arts and culture

What I Read & Watched: Cool Culture Blog

Photo by Dijkstra Rineke

I just discovered What I Read And Watched (notes on what I read and watched and saw). It is a cool NYC blog about arts and culture that’s been around since 2007. The blog is almost like an annotated list of the things that interest the blogger, a she, written as a way to keep track of it all.

I notice that she frequents Celebrate Brooklyn and writes about the shows which is another plus. She seems like a really interesting person and she has excellent and expanisve taste in books, movies and art shows. She’s someone to “follow.” Here are some examples.

WIRW on Keith Haring: “One thing that I really enjoyed, this exhibition completely brought me back to NYC in the early 80s. I could FEEL the city, what it was like back then. It was a special time, a special creative moment, and in that way it made sense to focus on those four years of his work.”

WIRW on The IHOP Papers (a novel): “A wry and amusing voice, very self aware. Great story about a terribly nervous/neurotic young lesbian in San Francisco back in the days where people left messages on each others answering machines.”

WIRW on Dijkstra Rineke show, which is soon coming to the Guggenheim Musuem: “These large, bold, dramatic portraits simultaneously suggested emotional intensities and human frailties.  Photographed in the US and Europe, they depict young subjects. Large-seeming heads and soulful eyes look out over lanky awkwardness and precise stillness.

Bookmark What I Read & Watched. Now.

arts and culture

New York Philharmonic in Prospect Park Tonight

It should be quite a night. Music, fireworks and thousands of your neighbors on the grass.

Each year, the New York Philharmonic graces Prospect Park’s Long Meadow Ballfields with its presence. An amazing free concert on the grass, under the, ur, stars. Bring a blanket, a picnic, a bottle of wine and head on over there They are, after all, one of the world’s greatest orchestras and they’re in our park.

Here’s what’s on the program:
Tchalkovsky, Symphony No. 4
Respighi, Fountains of Rome
Respighi, Pines of Rome
The concert will be conducted by Alan Gilbert.

A fireworks display rounds out the evening. The concert space features a state-of-the-art sound system with a wireless broadcast network and 24 15-foot speaker towers. Park concessions will be on hand, selling hot dogs, ice cream, and other great summertime refreshments.

PHOTO from What I Read and Watched

 

arts and culture, Civics and Urban Life

Brooklyn Reconstructed: New Film Series at Ethical Culture in Park Slope

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I just learned about Brooklyn Reconstructed, a new and ongoing film series at  The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture at 53 Prospect Park West in Park Slope, that addresses issues of gentrification, eminent domain, public subsidies for luxury developments, political corruption, rising rents and neighborhood revitalization in Brooklyn.

Says Adam Schartoff, organizer of the series, “it taps into the borough’s zeitgeist, its wealth of local filmmakers and their recent output of documentaries that address these issues.”

The first film in the series is My Brooklyn directed by Kelly Anderson and produced by Allison Lirish Dean. It screens on Wednesday, July 25th, 7PM. The evening includes a post-film discussion with members of event co-sponsor organization FUREE (Families United for Racial and Economic Equality), Urban Studies Professor and community planning expert Tom Angotti, journalist Alyssa Katz, Urban History Professor Karen Miller and Kelly Anderson.

The schedule for Brooklyn Reconstructed series (all films shown The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture) includes the following dates and titles: July 25th: My Brooklyn (Kelly Anderson and Allison Lirish Dean), August 29th: The Domino Effect(Brian Paul, Daniel Phelps and Megan Sperry), September 26: Battle for Brooklyn (Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley), October 24: The Vanishing City (Fiore DeRosa and Jen Senko), November 18: Made in Brooklyn (Isabel Hill), date TBA: Gut Renovation (Su Friedrich).

 

arts and culture

Greta Gertler and the Universal Thump at Barbes

Greta Gertler sends me press releases from time to time and I read them. At first I read them because of the last name that we share. Her’s, however, is spelled without the annoying—and distinctive—h as in Ghertler.

Now I read her press releases because I know how very talented she is.

Gertler will be  performing with her band, The Universal Thump at Barbes in Park Slope on Thursday, July 26. They will be joined onstage by special guests Alec Spiegelman & Kristin Slipp (Cuddle Magic) and Byron Isaacs (Ollabelle).

The Universal Thump performed an acclaimed “All Things Must Pass” benefit concert/recording project on the anniversary of the release of that incredible record with special guest Rick Moody, Missy Higgins, Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), John Wesley Harding and many others.

Read my ecstatic review of that show here: http://onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.com/tag/the-universal-thump/ Here’s an excerpt:

“Only in Brooklyn could a super group of stellar musicians calling themselves The Universal Thump come together to recreate the Phil Spector-style wall of sound that enhanced George Harrison’s 1970 All Things Must Pass.

“Only in Brooklyn could this dizzying array of vocalists and instrumentalists, perform the entire, yes, the entire three-album set.  In the process they brought down the house not once but numerous times during the three-hour show at The Bell House last night, November 29th, the 10th anniversary of Harrison’s death from cancer and just days away from the albums release date in 1970.”

At Barbes, the band will preview songs from their forthcoming eponymous double orchestral whale-pop album, to be released in the US on October 2, 2012.

 

arts and culture

Tonight: Short Films in Washington Park

Tonight Brooklyn Film Works in Washington Park presents its annual evening of  Asbury Shorts, an exhibition of award-winning short films specially selected from major US & International film festivals by Doug LeClaire. I went last year and was very impressed and entertained by the selection of short films. The program features films that have won Academy Awards or “Best of Show” honors from such festivals as Sundance, Chicago International, Aspen Shorts,The Berlin Film Fest, Melbourne and South by Southwest.

Asbury’s purpose is to present these highly entertaining films to the general public in a real theater setting and not on an iPod or computer.

AT 8PM before the show starts, enjoy special musical guests: CUMBIAGRA @ 8 PM.

The films start at 8:40 PM:

“Friends and Strangers”, directed by Ed Caban

“The Lost Thing” directed by Andrew Ruhemann & Shaun Tanand

“Bye Bye Now” directed by Aideen O”Sullian/ Ross Whitaker

“While the Widow was Away” directed by Adam Reid

“She’s a Soul Man” directed by Caitlin Byrnes

arts and culture

OTBKB to The Guardian: Yes, Brooklyn is a Writer’s Mecca

It seems that across the pond, they’ve discovered that Brooklyn is quite the writerly place. I guess when Brit author Martin Amis buys a house in Cobble Hill, it becomes news over there. I did, however, enjoy the Guardian article and especially this paragraph, which reminded me of what happened when Jonathan and Nicole spent 3.5 million on their house. That sounds like chump change these days.

“Today Sunny’s is popular for bluegrass sessions and literary salons that attract aficionados from across the borough. There is not a night of the week when you can’t attend a reading in Brooklyn, or several. Many take place at the independent bookstores that have proliferated in the last few years, or – like BookCourt in Cobble Hill, where I remember waiting in a long line of young tattooed men and women to hear Bret Easton Ellis read – doubled in size. And writers aren’t just coming here to read; they are flocking here to live. Some, such as Paul Auster, have been here for decades; others, like Martin Amis (a stone’s throw from BookCourt), are fresh off the boat. On Saturdays you can go Pulitzer spotting at Fort Greene’s farmers’ market, where both Jhumpa Lahiri and Jennifer Egan may be found perusing the vegetables. When Jonathan Safran Foer and his wife Nicole Krauss, author of The History of Love, brought a Park Slope townhouse in 2005, bloggers gasped at the $3.5m [£2.26m] price tag.”

I was one of those  bloggers and I remember it well. Rad photo illustration from The Guardian.

arts and culture

Xanadu: Have You Ever (Never) Been Mellow in Park Slope’s Washington Park

Inspired by Xanadu, a theatrical re-imagining by Piper Theatre of the Olivia Newton-John movie playing in Park Slope’s Washington Park on July 12 and 13th at 8PM, I’ve cut and pasted the lyrics to the hit song, Have You Ever Been Mellow, penned by Newton-John, which I can’t get out of my head.

I was like you

There was a day when I just had to tell my point of view

I was like you

Now I don’t mean to make you frown

No, I just want you to slow down

Have you never been mellow?

Have you never tried to find a comfort from inside you?

Have you never been happy just to hear your song?

Have you never let someone else be strong?

Continue reading Xanadu: Have You Ever (Never) Been Mellow in Park Slope’s Washington Park →

arts and culture

Xanadu: Happy, Campy Fun in Park Slope’s Washington Park

What a pleasure to join more than 400 neighbors on the Turf behind the Old Stone House  to watch Piper Theatre’s production of  Xanadu, the theatrically re-imagined 1980’s Olivia Newton- John movie.

Have You Never Been Mellow?

Props to cast, especially Alissa Laderer, MaryAnne Piccolo, who bring much in the way of  joy, talent and enthusiasm to their singing and dancing (sometimes on roller skates). They made it look easy and artful on an extremely humid night. What spirit!

Have You Never Been Mellow?

Truth be told, the show itself has few memorable songs (Have You Never Been Mellow?) but overall conveys a spirited disco feeling with soaring gospel harmonies. The set and costumes are colorful and  campy fun and the glittery, Spandex spectacle is a pleasure to watch from the plastic lawn sipping a beer from The Gate, munching on Starburst (bought at the concessions stand).

Have You Never Been Mellow?

Set in Venice Beach circa 1980, the story, by Douglas Carter Beane (the award-winning playwright of “The Little Dog Laughed” and “Lysistrata Jones”), is about Kira, a Greek muse who descends from Mt. Olympus to inspire Sonny, a street artist with a dream to open a roller disco.

Have You Never Been Mellow?

Silliness, satire and star-crossed love come together in a happy frolic directed by John Macinerney, who was kind enough to provide me with my very own day glow necklace. At the end of the show, the cast joyously tossed beach balls to the audience.

On a very hot Friday night, it felt like we were at Venice Beach being very mellow indeed.

Damn, I can’t get that song out of my head. Dates: July 12, 13, 19, 20 at 8 PM at the Old Stone House (The Turf).

The photo is  by my friend Josh Mack.

arts and culture

Hot Nights, Cool Movie Theater: Magic Mike

I’ve heard that Magic Mike is the PERFECT summer movie because it is so HOT to see Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey as male strippers. Have you seen it? Do tell.

Here it is in a simple sentence: A male stripper teaches a younger performer how to party, pick up women, and make easy money. Directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Here it is even simpler: Air conditioned movie theater like the UA Stadium Court Street 12 on Court Street.   

arts and culture

Xanadu in Washington Park July 6, 12, 13, 19 & 20

It happened last night. The wonderful equity actors of Piper Theatre rolled into Washington Park for six showcase performances of Xanadu.

I wasn’t there but we did drive by and saw the beautiful purple lighting. We do plan on catching the show, which sounds very fun. Roller skates and all.

There are five performances left: July 6, 12, 13, 19 and 20 @ 8 pm. Outdoors under the stars on Washington Park field. Concession, including beer & wine.

Hard to believe, this is the first ever Brooklyn production of Xanadu, a musical comedy with a book by Douglas Carter Beane (Lysistrata Jones, The Little Dog Laughed, As Bees in Honey Drowned), music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, based on the beloved 1980 cult classic film with Olivia Newton John, will be directed by John P. McEneny Piper’s artistic director.

The cast includes Alissa Laderer (Kira), Jamie Roach (Sonny Malone), M.X. Soto (Danny McGuire/Zeus), Kelly Blaze (Calliope/Aphrodite), MaryAnne Piccolo (Melpomene/Medusa), Jake Mendes (Talia), Ricky Dain Jones (Terpischore), Matthew McGloin (Hermes), Jennifer Somers Kipley (Euterpe/Thetis), Linnea Larsdotter (Erato/Hera), Emily Bodkin (Thalia) and Arielle Vullo (Urania).

Xanadu has choreography by Karen Curlee, musical direction by Laura Mulholland, set design by Sarah Edkins, lighting design by William Growney, sound design by A&L Sound Partners and costume design by Lauren Fajardo and Sandye Renz.

arts and culture

Daniel Meeter: Why Be a Christian If No One Goes to Hell?

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The very wise, erudite and wonderful Pastor Daniel Meter of Park Slope’s Old First Dutch Reformed Church has just published a new book with the bold title, Why Be a Christian If No One Goes to Hell?

I have not read it yet but I plan to because I am intriqued by the title and interested in anything Daniel Meeter does. Well almost anything.

The new book, published as an ebook by Shook Foil Books, is blurbed to be “a  warm and friendly tour through the peaceful and positive features of the Christian faith, without judgment of other religions.

Let me say that I am impressed that Meeter decided to go the ebook route. His digital tome is available on Nook, Kindle and IPad. How cool is that?

Sayeth the blurb: “The book is a practical and down-to-earth introduction for the curious, the inquirer, and anyone who wants to discover Christianity in a new light. It confidently clears away the ever-present and negative motivation for being a Christian: the fear of going to hell.”

“The conventional doctrine of people suffering in hell is not part of the original Biblical faith, and belief in hell is not required of a Christian today.

If you are shopping for a religion, want to develop your spirituality, or just want to know more about Christianity, check out Meeter’s book. Chapters include: To Be Spiritual, To Save Your Soul, To Be a Human Being, To Deal with Guilt, To Know God’s Story, To Love Your Neighbor, and many others.

arts and culture

For the 4th of July: Own Some British Soil (It’s Conceptual Art, Too)

Celebrate the fourth of July with this eccentric conceptual art project by an artist in the UK (who used to live in Park Slope).

“I lived on Garfield for a couple of years back in the 90’s. Miss walking the Dog in Prospect and learning to like coffee on 7th Avenue,” says artist Nathan, who has a website called Ancestry Art.

It’s all very conceptual: Nathan is a bonafide conceptual artist from the UK, who uses soil in his paintings to represent all the land (118 counties) of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Each painting contains soil collected from a different county.

The idea is that you can exclusively own your own county and own a part of Britain.

Got it?

Imagine this: you can own land from the county where Shakespeare came from. Or perhaps your ancestors were British. an ancestor. Or just buy up British land before the British grab it. I

Accordint to Nathan, “”t’s the fun way to acquire land without having to use force, coercion, exploitation, ply anyone with whisky, or stick flags in the ground. They say the best investment on earth is earth so I’ve put it into art.”

Check out more images at Nathan’s website.

www.ancestryart.co.uk/wpimages/wp3d8c87b9_05_06.jpg

www.ancestryart.co.uk/wpimages/wpddd1b350_05_06.jpg