MUSIC: Bad Teeth and Mother Courage at Vox Pop on Friday, January 15th at 8 PM.

FILM: Park Slope Films present:  “The Apostles of Park Slope.” How do you think a dinner at Two Toms would be for some old neighborhood kids? Screening at the Brooklyn Lyceum from Jan 15 & Jan 16.

–Sherlock Holmes, Avatar and The Princess and the Frog at  the Pavilion

SHOPPING: Find something unique at the Brooklyn Flea at One Hanson (the Williamsburg Bank Building). Saturday and Sundays from 10 AM until 5 PM.

–Artisan wares and Farmer’s Market at the Makers Market at the American Can Factory on Third Street and Third Avenue in Park Slope/Gowanus on Sundays from 11 AM until 5 PM.

THEATER: Shakespeare’s As You Like It directed by Sam Mendez, part of The Bridge Project through March 13th at BAM

INAUGURATION: The public is invited to City Council member Brad Lander’s inauguration. ceremony on Sunday, January 17 at 2 PM at the Picnic House in Prospect Park. Space for the Inauguration Ceremony is limited, so please RSVP at www.bradlander.com/jan17.

MARTIN LUTHER KING CELEBRATIONS: At the Brooklyn Museum on Sunday, January 17, 3 PM – 5 PM. Co-hosted by WNYC’s Brian Lehrer and Celeste Headlee of The Takeaway, the event includes panelists that are members of Martin Luther King’s generation—people who would remember him and were directly affected by his work—as well as younger activists, artists, and scholars who have been indirectly influenced by his vision.

–On Monday, January 18: Old First Church and Spoke the Hub present: Peace Finding & Keeping Workshops from 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM. These family workshops will be held at both the newly renovated Spoke the Hub Re:Creation Center, located at 748 Union Street at 6th Avenue and at Old First Reformed Church, located at 729 Carroll Street at 7th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

It’s official.

According to the Daily Beast , Conan O’Brien is leaving NBC and the network will make a big payout.   The late night talk show host will be able to appear elsewhere on television before his NBC contract expires, despite NBC’s empty threats that they would prevent him from going elsewhere.

The folks at Park Slope Films are screening their latest feature film “Apostles of Park Slope” at the Brooklyn Lyceum on Fourth Avenue and President Street in Park Slope.

The film is the story 12 lifelong pals from the nabe who bond together after the death of one of their parents.

SCREENING DATES & TIMES

Thursday         January 14, 2010 8PM

Friday              January 15, 2010 8PM

Saturday         January 16, 2010 7PM

To purchase tickets for Saturday January 16th go to:  www.apostlesofparkslope.com.  Ticket prices are $10 on the website and $12 at the door the night of.

They will also be screening their latest short film “Sunday Dinner” on Saturday, January 16th before the screening of “Apostles of Park Slope”.

The first NYC revival of Caroline, or Change. Playwright, the musical/play by Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and composer Jeanine Tesori’s (Thoroughly Modern Millie) will be presented by  The Gallery Players in Park Slope from  January 30-February 21, 2010.

Caroline, or Change is produced by Lanie Zipoy (Producer, Mac Rogers’ Universal Robots: 4 2009 New York Innovative Theatre Award nominations; Best Off-Off Broadway play of 2009, Independent Theater Bloggers Association) for The Gallery Players, and is directed by Jeremy Gold Kronenberg.

The Gallery Players is located at 199 14th St., between 4th and 5th Aves. in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Take the F Train to 4th Ave. or the R Train to 9th Street. By car: BQE to Hamilton Avenue to 14th Street.

Set in 1963 in sleepy Lake Charles, Louisiana, Caroline, or Change centers its action on the Gellman family and their African-American maid. Caroline is drifting through her life, nearly paralyzed by her circumstances – a single mother of four working in a service job to a white family.  The thunder of the civil rights movement and John F. Kennedy’s death is distant, yet reverberates deeply through the script, provoking all characters to see their lives in a new light and either embrace or reject the larger social changes that are in motion. Caroline herself ultimately must choose between continuing on as her “implacable” and proud self and her family’s welfare. Does she, or doesn’t she? Caroline, or Change’s rich, soulful score has influences from American spirituals and blues as well as Jewish Klezmer and folk.

Gallery Players
199 14th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215-4827
(718) 832-0617

Last Sunday I enjoyed listening to the band playing at the Makers Market, a fun new place to find art & wares designed and crafted by locally-based individuals & organizations AND a farmer’s market, at the Old American Can Factory on Third Street and Third Avenue in Park Slope.

I must have put my name on a mailing list because I got an email from the band already. Cool. I was trying to remember the name of the band. It’s Railbird. Here’s the email I received from Miss Railbird:

Thanks for listening to the music at The Can Factory on Sunday and signing the Railbird mailing list. The music you heard was lead by me, Sarah Pedinotti a.k.a Railbird and included Jeremy Gustin of the Rex Complex on drums & percussion and Ben Davis (bass player in Railbird and leader of his own band, Cuddle Magic.). If you’re a music lover, all of these bands are worth checking out and following.  We play in Brooklyn quite a bit and would love to see your faces again.  In fact, it’s possible that we may play at the market once a month!  So I’ll keep you posted on that. I apologize for not having Railbird CD’s available on Sunday.  For those of you who are interested in getting the self-titled Railbird album released last October, it can be found on iTunes. We are also in the process of recording a new album produced by Jeremy Gustin!  Please feel free to check out some “sneak peeks” (rough mixes) on our myspace.   I’ll let you know when the album comes out and I’ll make sure to invite you to our CD release party! Until then, Happy New Year!

It’s Thursday and here are some home and design stories on local blogs:

Sue and Jared’s loft in Brooklyn: Apartment Therapy

She makes her own laundry soap: Brooklynometry

Cute apartment on 9th Street: Brownstoner

Maximize the energy efficiency of your shades: Reclaimed Home

Beautiful Brooklyn Flea: Brooklyn Brownstone

Real Housewives of previous centuries: Casa Cara

PARKING JUST WENT PLASTIC

The meters are state-of-the-art
Far from high-tech coward
Providing a receipt–
What’s more they’re solar-powered.

Bill Withers came from what seemed to be out of nowhere (but was actually West Virginia) to have a string of hit songs in the 70s to the mid 80s and then seemed to retreat back to nowhere.  The truth is always more involved than the 25 words or less summary and now a documentary which fills in the story, Still Bill, is opening in the New York City area.  Part of the movie was filmed at the Celebrate Brooklyn Festival in 2008 during performance of Hal Willner‘s The Bill Withers Project, where many artists covered Bill’s songs and which included an appearance by Bill himself.

You have three chances to see Still Bill over the next few weeks, including a chance to see Bill himself talk about the movie right here in Park Slope.  Details over at Now I’ve Heard Everything.

–Eliot Wagner

Brooklyn Reading Works presents Tin House at the Old Stone House curated by Tin House editor-in-chief Rob Spillman.

Tin House is an American literary magazine and book publisher based in Portland, Oregon and New York City that has a reputation for turning up “what’s still righteous and nervy in American writing.”

For this special Brooklyn Reading Works event, Spillman brings together a stellar group of Tin House authors, including Brenda Shaughnessy, Matthea Harvey and Elissa Schappell. They will be reading their own work plus one poem each by Heather Hartley, the Paris editor of Tin House.

Thursday, January 21, at 8 PM.

The Old Stone House. Third Street and Fifth Avenue. Suggested donation of $5 includes refreshments. Tin House magazines and books will be offered for sale.

And here’s BRW’s winter/spring schedule. All events at 8 PM at the Old Stone House in Park Slope:

January: 21: TIN HOUSE AT THE OLD STONE HOUSE curated by Rob Spillman

February 11: MEMOIRATHON curated by Branka Ruzak. We are accepting submissions for memoir pieces about life during the recession of 2009/2010 (send to louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com ASAP).

March 18: BLARNEYPALOOZA curated by Michele Madigan Somerville

April 15: TRUTH AND MONEY curated by John Guidry

May 13: 4TH ANNUAL EDGY MOTHER’S DAY curated by Sophia Romero, Michele Madigan Somerville & Louise Crawford

June 10: FICTION IN A BLENDER curated by Martha Southgate

It’s that time again.  So get out your Clooney puffy #1 fingers and your Coen Brothers pennants.  The Oscar race is on. The following is one in a series on Oscar hopefuls:

Best Director

I would absolutely love to see the Academy double the historical total of women nominated for Best Director this year.  Sofia Coppola, Jane Campioin and Lina Wertmuller are the only women ever to have been up for the statue. This year, Kathryn Bigelow is a deserving lock for Hurt Locker and a career of strong work.  Lone Scherfig, a dark horse for An Education, gave that film gravitas. And Jane Campion has an outside shot for Bright Star.

In December, I was thinking that this would also be the year for Michael Haneke, arguably the most important European filmmaker of the last twenty years, to be recognized.  But The White Ribbon doesn’t seem to have the necessary scratch behind it.  Lee Daniels, his whacked-out style so perfect for Precious, should be there.  From there, I just hope a number of noble projects, some by Academy faves, don’t elbow out those who have done some truly outstanding work in this category this year.

-Pops Corn

I’ve always had a thing for the movies of Eric Rohmer, the French filmmaker and critic, considered one of the founders of the Nouveau Vague (the French New Wave) and the director of more than 50 films, including Claire’s Knee and My Night at Maud’s.

I especially loved the films Pauline at the Beach, Full Moon in Paris, The Aviator’s Wife, Le Rayon Vert. About a series of films he called “Six Moral Tales,” Rohmer once said, “What I call a conte moral is not a tale with a moral, but a story which deals less with what people do than what is going on in their minds while they are doing it. . . .

“The people in my films are not expressing abstract ideas – there is no ‘ideology’ in them, or very little – but revealing what they think about relationships between men and women, about friendship, love, desire, their conception of life.”

Some find his films unbearably slow and talky. But I never did.

He died yesterday at the age of 89.

Some of the stories on Brooklyn blogs today:

She’s daydreaming about Maxwell Montes, the tallest mountain on Venus: Brooklynometry

Bourbon, lemonade, and a little bit of maple syrup: Brooklyn Bachelor

104 year old strongman killed by Brooklyn mini-van: Gothamist

One year since the airplane landed in the Hudson: City Room

Park Slope Netflix Cues look like this: Fucked in Park Slope

Cool salvaged crate cabinets: Reclaimed Home

The 2010 No Pants Subway Ride went off without a hitch: Improv Everywhere

Painting by Nicholas Battis featured on Art in Brooklyn.

Nava Tehila will perform at Congregation Beth Elohim on Thursday night at 7.30 pm in the Rotunda. On CD Baby, the band’s latest record, Dancing to the Glory, is described this way:

New and exciting melodies for Friday night prayers. East meets west, Klezmer meets Flamenco, Reggae and Blues in this beautiful collection of songs and chants from Jerusalem.

You can listen to their music on their MySpace page: www.myspace.com/navatehila. Congregation Beth Elohim is located at Garfield Place and 8th Avenue in Park Slope.

Debi Ryan, who runs Vox Pop on Cortelyou Road, invites one and all to a big benefit for Vox Pop on Tuesday, January 12 at 8PM  at Jalopy (in Red Hook):

For one night only, some of the greatest blues musicians on this planet are coming together on the same stage to share one voice with a single purpose. To save one of the pillars in the foundation of a community. Calling themselves the Vox Pop Ultimate All Star Blues Extravaganza, Michael Powers, Bill Sims, Jr., Fred Scribner and Little Sammy Davis to name just a few (the line up just keeps growing) will be headlining. More bands to follow. Hosted by our very own Mike Fiorito, this promises to be one of the greatest blues shows ever. Tickets are being sold for a suggested donation of $25.

WHEN: January 12th at 8 pm
WHERE: Jalopy
315 Columbia St.
Brooklyn, NY 11231

Buy your ticket online now!

David Byrne, a musician first with The Talking Heads and now on his own, author, bicyclist and all around intelligent and interesting guy,will be at The Bell House tonight at 8PM not to sing, but to present a short talk.  After the talk, stick around for Outsmarted, the music trivia night.  Details over at Now I’ve Heard Everything

–Eliot Wagner

Dan Zanes is all over the place these days. And I don’t just mean that I keep spotting him pushing a Food Coop shopping cart on Union Street.

The new Matthew Broderick movie called Wonderful World written and directed by Josh Goldin features songs by Zanes. Broderick plays a frustrated children’s music performer. I think Zanes even appears in the film as a member of Broderick’s band.

But that’s not all. Zanes has a new album of Broadway tunes coming out with the likes of Carol Channing, Matthew Broderick and Brian Stokes Mitchell singing vocals with him.

76 Trombones features many B’way faves including I Won’t Grow Up, Tomorrow, Before the Parade Passes By, I Can Do That and Hello Dolly.

Sounds like a great idea to me: Zanes doin’ B’way. Way to go Dan!

On February 6th at 2PM & 5PM you can catch Dan Zanes at BAM’s Sounds Like Brooklyn Music Festival, where he will be performing old favorites and new songs in English and Spanish, and featuring special guests such as tap dancer extraordinaire Derick K. Grant, buzuq player Tareq Abboushi, The Brooklyn Symphony Youth Orchestra, and an African drum and dance ensemble from Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration’s Youth Arts Academy. For all ages.

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
60min
Tickets: $15, 25

Park Slope is the home of the Jazz Mindfulness Program (JMP), an innovative music program for teenagers. This program is the brainchild of  Park Slope musician and jazz educator Adam Bernstein.

The weekly program, aimed at teens aged 12-18, meets for two hours on Monday evenings, 5:30-7:30pm. A new semester is starting up on 2/22/10-5/24/10. Each semester will culminate with a Community Concert. The first concert will be on Fri, 2/12/10 at 7PM. All are welcome.

http://www.shambhalasun.com/news/?p=8603

The group will be playing the music of Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, Tito Puente and others. They will also perform free improvisations created in the moment.

The students meet every Monday evening at the Brooklyn Zen Center. They’ve been sounding great and they’re looking forward to sharing their music with you.

For more information on The Jazz Mindfulness Program, contact Adam Bernstein at jazzmindfulness(at)earthlink(dot)net or 917-992-5662.

The Brooklyn Zen Center
505 Carroll St. (btwn 3rd and 4th Ave.) NEW LOCATION!
Park Slope, Brooklyn 11215

Have you ever been to the Secret Science Club at The Bell House. I hear it’s fun and very interesting:

This week: Computer scientist Christ Bregler of NYU’s Courant Institute will be at the Secret Science Club on Tuesday, January 12 at 7:30 PM at The Bell House.

He is investigating motion capture, pattern recognition, and “Intrinsic Biometrics” techniques to detect and analyze human movement signatures. His work is an interdisciplinary collaboration with other computer scientists, engineers, dancers, animators, biomedical experts, game designers, and producers. Watch out for the flying “Squidballs” which Dr. Bregler will use to demonstrate marker-based motion capture techniques.

On Thurday, January 14 at 8PM at Barbes (9th Street near 6th Avenue in Park Slope):

Hillbilly Hit Parade: local film/video curator Russell Scholl delves back into the archive to share more highlights of vintage Hillbilly music performances on film. Bring the family to enjoy songs of laughter and pain, drinkin’ and cheatin, true love, heartaches by the number, moonshine and murder — as well as songs in praise of God, mother and home. Included will be rare musical short subjects, Soundies, television and film appearances, and the even the odd music video-Country and Western, Old Time, Western Swing, Bluegrass, Honky Tonk and more.

And here’s BRW’s winter/spring schedule. All events at 8 PM at the Old Stone House in Park Slope:

January: 21: TIN HOUSE READING curated by Rob Spillman

February 11: MEMOIRATHON curated by Branka Ruzak. We are accepting submissions for memoir pieces about life during the recession of 2009/2010 (send to louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com ASAP).

March 18: BLARNEYPALOOZA curated by Michele Madigan Somerville

April 15: TRUTH AND MONEY curated by John Guidry

May 13: 4TH ANNUAL EDGY MOTHER’S DAY curated by Sophia Romero, Michele Madigan Somerville & Louise Crawford

June 13: FICTION IN A BLENDER curated by Martha Southgate

In conjunction with BAM’s  2010 Spring Season and The Bridge Project production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, on Wed, Jan 27 (post-show) members of the exceptional transatlantic cast will answer questions from the audience and discuss their roles in the play.

As You Like It runs from January 12-March 13 at the BAM Harvey Theater

Some of the stories on Brooklyn blogs today:

Memories of the Brighton Beach Baths: Gowanus Lounge

The universe, spatially and temporally: Self Absorbed Boomer

The story of a trip to rural Amazonia in 1993: Truth & Rocket Science

Great big boundaries are necessary for artists and freelance professional moms; Hip Slope Mama

He flew out on Xanax Air and arrived in the City of Angeles in a drooling stupor: Luna Park Gazette

Freddy’s Toast to George Will: Found in Brooklyn

Photo by Shooting Brooklyn Blog

Here’s Wendy Ponte on the weekend in Brooklyn free or cheap:

Some of the stories on Brooklyn blogs today:

Park Slope author Mary Morris likes to write in Key West: The Writer and the Wandererer

A run in with the avatar of the Queen of Hearts at Saved on Fifth: Brooklynometry

Brooklyn reflections on Bob Dylan: Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn

A year in photos: Ditmas Park Blog

Beatles Skate Fest: Brokelyn

Deep Fried Cupcakes at the Chip Shop: Fucked in Park Slope

A Word to the Cold

Coping with the freeze?

Here’s the footdoc’s news:

Wear two pairs of socks

And three pairs of shoes.