Get out of the house tonight and spend some time with Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds. See all the details at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
–Eliot Wagner
Category Archives: arts and culture
Au Revoir to Bed-Stuy Banana
Bed Stuy Banana, a highly creative and influential blogger, has decided to call it quits and I know that many are going to miss the great blog with the great name.
Sounds to me like BSB is moving on for all the right reasons: she’s got new and exciting things to do. Still, I will miss her unique take on the world and the glorious pictures she takes, often of signs and interesting graffiti, in the neighborhood she calls home.
Nearly three years ago, BSB named the blog after a bright yellow bodega sign. She described herself this way: “A yellow girl raised in a white suburb shacked up with a white boy and had a tan kid in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a primarily black neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York. Here’s a look at the few blocks that comprise our world and a little bit beyond.”
With her partner and her pre-schooler, she walked every street of Bed Stuy photographing everything from memorial murals to old signs. In her writing she describes her struggles with gentrification, financial hardship, and the joys of being both a parent and a part of a new community.
No one can deny that BSB was feisty and full of attitude. She wrote honestly about her life and the neighborhood around her. Scroll down on the far left column of her blog and find what she calls “the most viewed/praised/reviled posts” to get an idea of BSB in action.
Sometimes she was criticized for not being more of a neighborhood booster on her blog, which rubbed some people the wrong way and delighted many others. To the nay-sayers she had this to say:
My intention was never to portray Bed-Stuy or its long time residents in a bad light. It was to take a closer look, to really see what was in front of me instead of easily dismissing or condemning it and hopping on the train to spend my time and money in Manhattan. To comment about what I find quirky, interesting, and unique in our neighbourhood in what I thought to be a light-hearted way.
BSB says that the blog will stay up for about a month and then it’s going to go away so get on over there and check it out before it is no more. In her good bye note, BSB hints that a photo book may be in the works. I certainly hope that is true.
Here is BSB’s farewell letter and reasons for saying good bye:
So 581 posts, 802 days, and 174 miles later, I’m saying good-bye. Lately I’ve just been managing to keep up this blog as a sort of notice board for various Bed-Stuy causes – but they can be just as easily, if not better, served by Bed-Stuy Blog. For now I’ve got to focus my energy on keeping the amazing job I have (especially in these economic times), which my employer has told me I’m going to need to put more hours into – no more 9-5); on my wonderful partner, Big Joe, my fantastic kid, Little Joe, and myself. 2010 means finally starting the self-defense class I’ve wanted to do for the last 10 years but didn’t have the money for, on continuing with my anger management classes, my recovery meetings, meditation and physical fitness. And maybe one day this blog will materialize as a book and I’ll re-photograph every street in Bed-Stuy with a better quality camera. And my biggest dream – that I’ll finally get a book published.
BSB: Thanks for your great, groundbreaking blog. You will be missed. OTBKB wishes you the best of luck in everything you do and I for one am looking forward to that book.
Brooklyn Bloggage: 01/08
Some of the stories on Brooklyn blogs today:
Community activists are Brooklyn’s newest council members: Brooklyn the Borough
These I like: Tracy Collins Photography
Mom taking pictures of ducks: Prospect: A Year in the Park
Brooklyn is alive with birds if you look for them: A Brooklyn Bachelor
It’s been fun but now I’m done: Bed Stuy Banana
Who gives a shit: Help me, help you: Fucked in Park Slope
The Weekend List: Mulch, Cinders & Anamanaguchi
MUSIC: The PS 321 Neighborhood Concert series presents: Bach and Beyond, featuring Simone Dinnerstein and the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). Sunday, January 10, 1020, 2:00 pm in the PS 321 Auditorium. Tickets are $15 and are available at www.ps321.org
FILM: Broken Embraces, Up in the Air, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and Nine at BAM.
SHOPPING: Holy crap. The Flea is taking over the insanely gorgeous former bank at One Hanson for the rest of the winter. The clocktower Art Deco building at Flatbush Ave., across from the Target mall, will be the Flea’s fancy new home every Saturday and Sunday through March, for 12 weekends only. 10am-5pm, 100 vendors, all your favorite foodies, 3 floors (stunning mezzanine, over-the-top bank, awesome vault), past, present, future.
MUSIC: Radiates, Crayons, Starscreen and Anamanagucci on Friday at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg. Mother Courage at the Tank on Saturday. All ages.
ART: Cinders Gallery presents Know New York. Opens Jan 8th through Feb 7th 2010. Opening Reception Friday January 8th 7 – 10pm with artists: Diane Barcelowsky, Hisham Bharoocha, Robin Cameron, Raul Denieves, Andrew Guenther, Maya Hayuk, Eli Lehrhoff, Dennis McNett, Cameron Michel, Leif Parsons, Carly Rabalais, Johnathan Rosen, Leif Ritchey, Ryan Wallace, and Eric White.
Tabla Rasa Gallery presents: About Face with Jeannine Bardo, Stephen Basso, Simon Dinnerstein, Anita Giraldo, Clarity Haynes, Kiseok Kim. Alexandra Limpert, Alex Pimienta, David Prifti, Stuart Shedletsky and Larry Siegel
GETTING HITCHED: Brooklyn Based is bringing together 30+ local, “Brooklyn-centric” at Wedding Crashers, including designers, florists, caterers, photographers, bands, and DJs. Tickets are $20 to $40. Saturday, 10:30am to 5pm at the Bell House, 149 7th Street.
TREECYCLE: Get your Xmas tree mulched this weekend. You can even take some home for your own garden. It’s happening on Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 2pm at two Prospect Park locations: Third Street and Prospect Park West or Park Circle at Prospect Park Southwest and Parkside Avenues
The Weekend List: Mother Courage, Penelope Cruz & The Bklyn Flea
FILM: Broken Embraces, Up in the Air, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and Nine at BAM.
SHOPPING: Holy crap. The Flea is taking over the insanely gorgeous former bank at One Hanson for the rest of the winter. The clocktower Art Deco building at Flatbush Ave., across from the Target mall, will be The Flea’s fancy new home every Saturday and Sunday through March, for 12 weekends only. 10am-5pm, 100 vendors, all your favorite foodies, 3 floors (stunning mezzanine, over-the-top bank, awesome vault), past, present, future.
MUSIC: Radiates, Crayons, Starscreen and Anamanagucci on Friday at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg. Mother Courage at the Tank on Saturday. All ages.
ART: Cinders Gallery presents Know New York. Opens Jan 8th through Feb 7th 2010. Opening Reception Friday January 8th 7 – 10pm with artists: Diane Barcelowsky, Hisham Bharoocha, Robin Cameron, Raul Denieves, Andrew Guenther, Maya Hayuk, Eli Lehrhoff, Dennis McNett, Cameron Michel, Leif Parsons, Carly Rabalais, Johnathan Rosen, Leif Ritchey, Ryan Wallace, and Eric White.
GETTING HITCHED: Brooklyn Based is bringing together 30+ local, “Brooklyn-centric” at Wedding Crashers, including designers, florists, caterers, photographers, bands, and DJs. Tickets are $20 to $40. Saturday, 10:30am to 5pm at the Bell House, 149 7th Street.
TREECYCLE: Get your Xmas tree mulched this weekend. You can even take some home for your own garden. It’s happening on Saturday.
Sunday, 10am to 2pm at two Prospect Park locations: Third Street and Prospect Park West or Park Circle at Prospect Park Southwest and Parkside Avenues
Brooklyn Bloggage: 01/07
Some of today’s stories on Brooklyn Blogs:
A rare book found at the PS Bookshop in DUMBO: Brooklynometry
A Heartwarming Holiday LICH story: Brooklyn Heights Blog:
Nine Good Teeth, a film tribute to the life of Mary Mirabito Livornese Cavaliere, born in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn on September 8, 1899, the second of thirteen children: Pardon Me for Asking
Rilke, 9 Star Ki Astrology & What was up with 2009?: Cathryn’s World
Parenting as existential experiment with artist Rebecca Olguin: Art in Brooklyn
Art About Face at Sunset Park Gallery
The Tabla Rasa Gallery in Sunset Park has an intriguing show that runs through January 23rd. It’s called About Face and it presents artwork that explores unusual examples of portraiture. Sculptor Jeannine Bardo’s “Eve”made out of birch bark is one of the standout pieces in the show.
Other artists included in this show are:
Stephen Basso
Simon Dinnerstein
Anita Giraldo
Clarity Haynes
Kiseok Kim
Alexandra Limpert
Alex Pimienta
David Prifti
Stuart Shedletsky
Larry Siegel
The Tabla Rasa Gallery 224 48th Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11220
Tom Martinez, Witness: Stop Deportation of Jean Montrevil
From the New Sanctuary Coalition press release:
At a rally attended by over a hundred people outside the Varick Street Immigrant Detention Center, eight clergy and two community leaders were arrested after stopping traffic for a half hour to prevent vans transporting new immigrant detainees to the center. The participants called for the release of detained immigrant rights leader, and father of four US-born children, Jean Montrevil. They also demanded reform of draconian immigration laws separation of families.
The Rev. Donna Schaper of Judson Memorial Church, where Montrevil’s family worships, stated: “I am being arrested because it is a moral outrage that our government would do this to such a great man and father. These immigration laws that destroy families contradict the values we should uphold as a society. They need to change now.”
Montrevil entered the U.S. from Haiti in 1986 as a legal permanent resident. Homeland Security is trying to de-legalize him for a 1989 drug conviction, for which Montrevil already served 11 years. He has kept a clean record ever since. Detained on December 30th during a routine check-in, Montrevil is now held in Pennsylvania’s York County Prison, where he has begun a hunger strike. “I am fasting side-by-side with nearly 60 others to take a stand against this horrific deportation and detention system that is tearing families apart,” he explains.
“Our son keeps calling Jean’s cell phone, hoping daddy will pick up. He asks me, ‘Why are they pretending daddy is bad, so he will go back to Haiti?’” says Mrs. Montrevil. “Jean made mistakes before we started building a family together. Homeland Security wants to turn me into a single mother.”Jean’s 6-year-old son Jahsiah also suffers from severe asthma, which has been aggravated since his father’s detention.
A community leader, Montrevil became a national spokesperson for the Child Citizen Protection Act (H.R. 182), a House proposal that would bring due process into the deportation system by allowing immigration judges to consider the best interests of American children before deporting a parent. The proposal is part of Representative Luis Gutierrez’s recently introduced bill, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act (H.R. 4321).
“Jean Montrevil’s case is precisely why we need to see the provisions of the Child Citizen Protection Act passed into law–ideally as part of comprehensive immigration reform. We cannot continue to allow inflexible deportation guidelines to separate families with U.S. citizen children,” said Congressman José E. Serrano. “I commend all those fighting on Jean’s behalf, and look forward to a successful resolution of this sad case, and a day when there is more humaneness in our nation’s immigration laws.”
Montrevil has received support from many elected officials along with Serrano author of H.R. 182, including U.S. Representatives Jerrold Nadler, Nydia Velasquez, (all three are cosponsors of H.R. 4321); NY State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick; and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
In a letter supporting Montrevil’s request to ICE for deferred action, Rep. Velazquez writes, “My office believes that his deportation will be a disproportionate punishment to him, his family, and his community.”
At the rally, Dan Zanes performed songs dedicated to the movement to keep immigrant families together, while political leaders including NY City Council Member Rosie Mendez, NY State Senator Thomas K. Duane, and a representative from U.S Representative Jose Serrano expressed their support.
OTBKB Music: News and Notes
The Damwells new album, a DJ spot open in Austin, Mary Lamont sings with The Les Paul Trio and The New York Post agrees with me (not politically, of course). Details over at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
–Eliot Wagner
Tom Martinez, Witness: Queen Mary Under the Verrazano
Skippy McFadden of The Bell House in NY Times
In the City Section blog of the New York Times, check out responses from Jack “Skippy” McFadden, the head talent buyer at Union Hall and the Bell House in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
This week he is responding to readers’ questions about New York City clubs and the music scene in the last 15 years, his career promoting and booking bands and others.
Tonight: Adult Education at Union Hall
Tonight: Adult Ed, the useless information lecture series, will tackle the topic “Stage and Screen” with lectures from Patrick Borelli, Andrea Rosen, Elliott Kalan, and Jason Grote. Hosted, as always, by Charles Star.
ADULT EDUCATION PRESENTS: “Stage and Screen”
Tuesday, January 5, 2009 – 8 pm (doors at 7:30)
Union Hall in Park Slope
702 Union St. @ 5th Ave
$5 cover
http://adult- ed.net
PATRICK BORELLI, “Holy Headshot!”
Borelli walks us through the oddest headshots and acting resumes from his recent book, Holy Headshot!: A Celebration of America’s Undiscovered Talent.
ANDREA ROSEN, “Conquering the Commercial Audition”
Old Navy and mascara are a commercial actress’s best friends. Ad veteran Rosen explains.
ELLIOTT KALAN, “How to Identify the Great Stout Men of Hollywood”
Can’t tell your Edward Arnold from your Eugene Palette? You Lionel Barrymore from your Wallace Beery? Kalan is here to help.
JASON GROTE
“The Acousmatic Theater”
How to move from writing largely irrelevant plays to producing more or less equally irrelevant radio plays in one ill-conceived, poorly executed move.
All hosted by CHARLES STAR.
BIOS
PATRICK BORELLI is a comedian and writer living in Park Slope. He is the co-author, with Douglas Gorenstein, of Holy Headshot: A Celebration of America’s Undiscovered Talent (http://www.holyhead shot.com).
ANDREA ROSEN is a comic, actor, and writer who has appeared in Michael and Michael Have Issues, Flight of the Conchords, Rescue Me, Stella, The Ten, Wainy Days, The Pleasure of Your Company, and The Whitest Kids You Know. She is a regular commentator on VH1, she performs in NYC and at colleges, and she does lots of commercials. She is a proud member of the Variety Shac (http://varietyshac. com), a monthly show at UCB NY.
ELLIOTT KALAN is a writer for The Daily Show and the host of Closely Watched Films (http://bit.ly/ fJk7l), a monthly film series at 92YTribeca.
JASON GROTE is a playwright and the screenwriter of What We Got: DJ Spooky’s Quest For The Commons. He was the co-host of WFMU’s Acousmatic Theater Hour for one year.
CHARLES STAR is a lawyer sans portfolio and a stand-up comedian sans recognition who lives in Brooklyn with his excellent wife, his awesome cat, and a budding baby genius. He’s on the web at http://www.charless tar.com.
OTBKB Music: Now I’ve Heard Everything
As Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn moves into its spiffy new digs, OTBKB Music is taking the first business day of the new year to make some changes too.
I’ve started my own music blog, aptly titled Now I’ve Heard Everything. It’s a continuation of what I’ve published here in 2009, but instead of just posting three days a week, I’ve have something for you six or seven days a week. In addition, I’ll be posting some pieces to explain the technology you need to know to find music on the Internet, where there is a surprising variety of legitimate downloads.
Now, I’m not going to leave you without your Monday, Wednesday and Friday fix of OTBKB Music. I’ll be posting an article summary with the link to it each of those days. And to show how it will work, here’s the summary for today:
Sasha Dobson has released Burn, the first excellent album of 2010. Changes in Sasha’s music and in her life sent Sasha in a different direction this time. Read more at Now I’ve Heard Everything.
–Eliot Wagner
Jan 21: Tin House Reading at Brooklyn Reading Works
Brooklyn Reading Works presents a Tin House Reading curated by Tin House editor-in-chief Rob Spillman.
You won’t want to miss this cool BRW event.
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 reading, Spillman is bringing together 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.
Simply Gorgeous: The Art of Joseph Mariano on Pardon Me For Asking
Recently Katia Kelly visited Gowanus artist Joseph Mariano. Head on over to her blog, Pardon Me For Asking, to read her profile and see more of his work. It is simply gorgeous.
"When Gowanus area resident Joseph Mariano retired in 1996, he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life painting. Standing in his sun drenched studio, he showed me his many works. There were portraits and landscapes, some of Jamaica Bay, some of different scenes along the Gowanus Canal, one of his favorite subjects.
"Very often, Joseph takes a canoe out onto the water and paints the bridges at Carroll Street and 3rd Street. He likes to explore the canal's many inlets, places well hidden from others. Often, he encounters egrets and Night Herons. There used to be horseshoe crabs, too, but he has not seen those in the past five years."
Nov 7 & 8: Flatbush Artists Studio Tour
The Flatbush Artists Studio Tour is on November 7 & 8 from 11AM until 4PM. The opening on Thursday, Nov. 5, 7-10 PM at the Newkirk Medical Center (1414 Newkirk
Avenue (Q train to Newkirk Ave.).
Go to http://www.flatbushartists.org for more details, tour map and directions.
Cobwebs, Skeletons, Mutated Limbs & Recreated Childhood Mementos at Urban Alchemist
The “G-Train Salon” presents intimate discussions with emerging artists from the Park Slope oasis, Urban Alchemist Design Collective. This month, artist Andrea Burgay ushers in the Halloween season with a ghoulish display of cobwebs, skeletons, mutated limbs and recreated childhood mementos. Join us for a discussion and Q & A with the artist as she walks through this poignant landscape haunted by memories, nostalgia and “Hungry Ghosts.” www.gtrainsalon.blogspot.com
WHO: Mixed-media Artist Andrea Burgay at Urban Alchemist Design Collective
WHAT: “Hungry Ghosts,” solo exhibition and salon discussion
WHEN: Saturday, October 24, 2009
7:00pm Cocktails
8:00pm Salon discussion led by artist Andrea Burgay
Exhibition on view through November 19, 2009
WHERE: Urban Alchemist Design Collective
343 5th Street (Off 5th Avenue)
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Friday at 9:30 pm: Rocky Horror Picture Show LIVE at Lyceum
Bring your black knit nurse corsets and heavy eyeliner down to the
Lyceum to relive the classic stage musical of the Rocky Horror Show.
Get into the Halloween spirit and come dressed to kill. The Brooklyn Lyceum is the perfect location to hold all the campy suspense,
with its 3000 sq ft of exposed brick, old bathhouse architecture and
huge steel I-beams, the musical is practically asking to jump out of
its walls.
No other musical blends science fiction with trampy campy sexy
theatrics quite like Rocky Horror. By the end you’ll be humming along " …Crawling on the planet's face, tiny insects called the human race, lost in time, lost in space – and meaning." Love and Light Productions brings the full production to life with a one-night stop at the Brooklyn Lyceum on their East Coast tour.
Director Alicia Starr and her talented full cast come ready to get you
shakin', singing along and primed for the Halloween week ahead. More
info about the cast and production at loveandlightproductions.com.
The Brooklyn Lyceum,
known formerly as NYC Public Bath No. 7, is a performing arts and
cultural center in Park Slope. Originally opened in 1910 as an indoor
bathing facility, it once housed the largest indoor public pool in the
country. Reopened in 1994 as the Brooklyn Lyceum, the old bathhouse now
plays host to a range of performance events, festivals and cultural
activities, including the upcoming production of Bauhaus, by the
resident theatre company Nervetank. Its café is open to the public
daily and offers free wireless access.
The show begins at 9:30 p.m. on Friday October 16th at the Lyceum: 227 4th Avenue in Park Slope, right atop the R train station at Union Street.
www.brooklynlyceum.com. 718.857.4816
William Forsythe: Innovative Choreographer at BAM Fri & Sat
Tonight and tomorrow night at BAM: William Forsythe's innovative choreography at 7:30 pm.
"Forsythe
is the foremost choreographer today, and every performance in his
oeuvre challenges space, movement and the logic of music. These are
works of enduring and unforgettable force." —BOMB Magazine
For
three decades, choreographer William Forsythe has upended traditions
and defied expectations, producing works of enduring power. Last at BAM
with the politically daring Three Atmospheric Studies (2007 Spring Season), Forsythe returns with Decreation,
a work that challenges our notions of dance in the 21st century and
asserts his place as one of the world's most innovative choreographers.
A piece on love, jealousy, and the soul, Decreation explores the forces that shape and rend our relationships—with one another and ourselves.
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
65min, no intermission
Tickets: $20, 35, 50, 70
Issue Project Room: Poetry to the Infinitive Power(s) on Friday
Issue Project Room will be open for business on Friday night for a pre-planned benefit event called POETRY to the INFINITIVE POWER(s), an evening of poetry, dance, live AV projections,
and music. All proceeds will benefit ISSUE Project
Room's move to 110 Livingston.
and music. All proceeds will benefit ISSUE Project
Room's move to 110 Livingston.
Founder and Artistic Director, Suzanne Fiol died on Monday after a one year battle with cancer. The organizers of tomorrow's event say that "it is not memorial; it was, in fact, planned as a benefit party. We plan to carry
on in this spirit, and ask you to join us in celebrating Suzanne's
life and achievements."
on in this spirit, and ask you to join us in celebrating Suzanne's
life and achievements."
Over the past days there have been stories about The Times, the Voice, the Post,
and other media outlets and blogs. ISSUE Project Room sent this list by email.
and other media outlets and blogs. ISSUE Project Room sent this list by email.
Suzanne Fiol,
Avant-Garde Impresario, Dies at 49
(Ben Sisario, New York Times)
Avant-Garde Impresario, Dies at 49
(Ben Sisario, New York Times)
(Christopher McIntyre, New Music Box)
R.I.P. Suzanne Fiol, Founder
and Director of ISSUE Project Room
(Zach Baron, Village Voice)
ISSUE Project Room's
Suzanne Fiol is Dead at 49
(Gersh Kuntzman and Will Yacowicz, Brooklyn Paper)
(Benjamin Sutton, The L Magazine)
In Gowanus, ISSUE Project Room Founder is Mourned
(Nicole Brydson, Brooklyn the Borough)
Suzanne Fiol, A Force of Nature Who Guided ISSUE Project Room
(From Neil Feldman, Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn)
(Patrick Hambrecht, Vice)
(Alex Ross, The Rest Is Noise)
(Peter Matthews, Feast of Music)
(Glenn Kenny, Some Came Running)
(Matana Roberts, In the Midst of Memory)
(Kurt Gottschalk, Spearmint Music)
(Edwin Torres, Harriet)
Read what people are writing about Suzanne on twitter.
Read what people have written on Suzanne's facebook wall.
Downturns & Destiny: Free Outdoor Films in JJ Byrne/Washington Park
Wednesdays in July at 8:30 p.m. at JJ Byrne Playground/Washington Park. Third Street at Fifth Avenue.
July 15th: What A Way to Go directed by J. Lee Thompson with Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum. It happens to be one of Hugh's favorite films.
July 22: Piper Theater Film Workshop''
July 29th: Sullivan's Travels directed by the great Peston Sturges
Tonight: Hamlet in Washington/JJ Byrne Park
We went last night and thoroughly enjoyed Piper Theater's production of Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet on the green in Washington Park. I wanted to ask director John McEneny all kinds of questions about directing Hamlet in a park setting (and maybe I will get a chance to do so tonight).
In terms of staging, McEneny did wonderful things with ladders, chairs, picture frames and a stage within a stage, that created a very physical and dynamic Hamlet that worked well al fresco with a playground nearby complete with screaming children and squeaking swings.
As always with Piper Theater, the actors were uniformly good and well directed in a skillful, naturalistic and always accessible Shakespearean style. I love that Horatio was played by a woman, the excellent Zoe Frazer. Ophelia, Laerties, Queen Gertrude and many of the others were great to watch as the daylight dimmed and the darkness of the play was able to assert itself into the night.
Aaron Novak as Hamlet was especially powerful during the "to be or not to be" soliloquy which he did while standing on a ladder in the middle of the green creating quite a stirring image.
Piper Theater Productions was created by John McEneny with his sister Rachel McEneny. John runs the drama program at MS 51 and the very popular summer drama program for kids ages 10-17 at the Old Stone House. In addition to Hamlet, this summer's Piper Theater productions in Park Slope include, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Lililth, Holes, The Boy in the Iron Mask, Peter Pan and our Town.
For a complete schedule go to theoldstonehouse.org
Mississippi Mermaid: Truffaut, Denueve and Belmondo at BAM
Oh la la. Summer is always a wonderful time for a Francois Truffaut movie. Here, mon cherie, is the blurbage:
At BAM: Fri, Jul 10—Sun, Jul 12 at 4, 6:45, 9:30pm
Mon, Jul 13—Thu, Jul 16 at 6:45, 9:30pm
Mon, Jul 13—Thu, Jul 16 at 6:45, 9:30pm
When
isolated tobacco farmer Louis (Belmondo) meets his mail-order bride
Julie (Deneuve), he’s unsure this beautiful woman is the same one he
has been corresponding with by letter and only seen in photographs.
Ignoring his doubts, he falls head over heels for her and the two begin
a life together…until the day the mysterious Julie disappears with a
large portion of Louis’ assets. Based on a book by William Irish
entitled Waltz Into Darkness (also the source writer for Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black),
this tale of sexual obsession and betrayal unfolds in the lush tropical
landscape of Africa’s Reunion Island. Truffaut draws on themes and
conventions of American noir, while peppering Mississippi Mermaid with eclectic allusions to film and literature such as Renoir, Ray, and Balzac. In French with English subtitles. Courtesy of The Film Desk.
Guggenheim Series: It Came From Brooklyn (The Walkmen, Colson Whitehead Reads Whitman)
Frank Lloyd Wright meet Brooklyn. Or: how interesting that the Guggenheim Museum is doing a monthly series called It Came From Brooklyn starting with a performance by The Walkman, a band I discovered on walking into Virgin Records, where I was was stopped short by the rampage of sound that is the song, The Rat. I Inquired and purchased their first CD on the spot. Awesome music.
Tickets for these Guggenheim events go on sale July 14th. This series is "conceived as a tribute to the recent Brooklyn renaissance and to serve
the visual art scene’s appetite for interdisciplinary creative
exchanges." Interesting.
Upper East Side: prepare to meet Brooklyn.
On August 14, the Guggenheim Museum launches It
Came from Brooklyn, a new monthly concert series that will showcase
Brooklyn’s emerging and established talents in the fields of music and
literature as part of the museum’s 50th Anniversary celebrations.
Conceived as a tribute to the recent Brooklyn renaissance and to serve
the visual art scene’s appetite for interdisciplinary creative
exchanges, each program will feature two live bands and readings by
Brooklyn-based writers from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m.
Came from Brooklyn, a new monthly concert series that will showcase
Brooklyn’s emerging and established talents in the fields of music and
literature as part of the museum’s 50th Anniversary celebrations.
Conceived as a tribute to the recent Brooklyn renaissance and to serve
the visual art scene’s appetite for interdisciplinary creative
exchanges, each program will feature two live bands and readings by
Brooklyn-based writers from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m.
With comedian Leo
Allen serving as MC, the August 14 program kicks off with a special
performance by the Brooklyn Steppers Marching Band, followed by opening
band High Places and headlining band the Walkmen, while novelist Colson
Whitehead reads selections from Walt Whitman between performances.
The second It Came from Brooklyn is scheduled for September 25.
Coproduced by author Sam Brumbaugh, the series will take place in the
Guggenheim’s famed Frank Lloyd Wright–designed
rotunda, continuing the recent tradition of acclaimed performances that
have symbiotically activated the space: Marina Abramovic´'s Seven Easy Pieces (2005), Cai Guo–Qiang’s collaboration with the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (2008), and Meredith Monk’s Ascension Variations (2009).
With comedian Leo Allen serving as MC, the August 14 program kicks off
with a special performance by the Brooklyn Steppers Marching Band,
followed by opening band High Places and headlining band the Walkmen,
while novelist Colson Whitehead reads selections from Walt Whitman
between performances.
Tickets go on sale July 14 at guggenheim.org/brooklyn: $45 for non–members, $40 for members.
Madarts: New Gallery Space on 5th Avenue and 10th Street
On
Wednesday, July 8th, Madarts Studios will celebrate the grand opening of their new Park Slope art gallery with the
exhibition: INTRO. All forty artists of Madarts are featured in the exhibition to christen their new
permanent gallery in the heart of Park Slope: 461 5th Avenue (right on
the corner 5th Ave. and 10th Street).
At the exhibition, which opens at 6 pm will continue with a "meet the artists" after-party at Commonwealth Bar just down the street at 5th Ave. and
12th St.
INTRO gallery hours will be Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 6pm, closing Sunday, August 9th.
For
six years running Madarts Studios has put on shows in the giant
warehouse of art studios just south of their new gallery, which is an airy new gallery venue at Fifth Avenue and 10th Street.
six years running Madarts Studios has put on shows in the giant
warehouse of art studios just south of their new gallery, which is an airy new gallery venue at Fifth Avenue and 10th Street.
Painting by Madarts artist Rebecca Aidlin
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.
BAM’s Next Wave Festival Line-Up Announced
BAM's Next Wave Festival returns
for its 27th season with quite a line-up of contemporary
performance, artist talks, literature, film, and visual art.
There are some familiar artists at this festival as well as new ones and unexpected European celebrities, including Juliette Binoche in In-I and Isabelle Huppert in Quartett, participating in this festival dedicated
to presenting "emerging artists at the forefront of their disciplines
alongside modern masters who continue to innovate, this year's Next
Wave is packed with adventurous art for adventurous audiences."
Here's what popped out at me:
In-I directed and performed by Juliette Binoche and Akram Khan: Sep 15, 17—19, 22—26
Songs of Acension by Meredith Monk and Ann Hamilton: Oct. 21-25
Itutu by Karole Armitage Gone! Dance: Nov. 4-7
Quartett by by Heiner Müller, Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe, Conceived and directed by Robert Wilson: Nov. 4-, 10-14
Inside Out by Cirkus Cirkör, Live music by Irya's Playground, directed By Tilde Björfors: Nov 12 -14
Really Real choreographed and directed by Wally Cardona with live music performed by Brooklyn Youth Chorus: Nov 17 & 19—21
Kepler by Philip Glass, an opera about Johannes Kepler (1571—1630), a founding father of modern science who discovered the laws of planetary motion: Nov 18, 20 & 21
Janine Nichols: Park Slope Singer Makes Collage Art, Too
Award-winning collage artist Janine Nichols is having a trunk show at Lion in the Sun stationers
on 7th Avenue in Park Slope on Thursday evening, May 7th, from 7-9pm. This is a one night only
event.
A single mother with freelance careers as a musician, producer and promotions writer, Janine Nichols also makes art – collage – at night in her kitchen. One mid-night in 2006 she stumbled on
instructions for something called a packing tape transfer, minimum ingredients for which were clear packing
tape, water and a spoon. Before dawn, she’d found her medium: by layering transparent/translucent images
of various sources, time periods and printing methods (and working them with sandpaper, wire- and
toothbrushes), she creates depths of field that can suggest photographs taken before the invention of the
camera.
Nichols’ work is narrative and non-ironic, composed of images from discarded museum and lab supply
catalogs, poetry anthologies, maps, radio schematics, etc. Prices will range from $5 to $500, encompassing
greeting cards, decorated switch plates, and unframed collage on large (8 x 10 or 11 x 14 inches) vellum and
museum board. All works on paper are offered unframed. Some of the work being offered for sale can be
seen on the artist’s blog, http://jazzpaperscissors.blogspot.com.
Nichols is also the “arrestingly plaintive” (Village Voice) singer in the electric bass and voice duo
Flutterbox and, with Hal Willner, the creative force behind (and frequent performer in) a well-received
series of multi-artist concert events for Celebrate Brooklyn! exploring the music of, so far, Leonard Cohen,
Neil Young, Doc Pomus and Bill Withers. From 1985-2000, she was program director for Arts at St. Ann’s,
now St. Ann’s Warehouse, in its original home on Montague Street. She began her music career in the
1970s as music coordinator for the first run of Saturday Night Live.
Lion in the Sun is located at 232 7th Avenue, corner of 4th Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
God of Carnage: Cobble Hill Playground Parents Subject of new B’way Play
My friend is an understudy in "God of Carnage." which opened last night on Broadway and I'd heard that the play by Yasmina Reza, author of "Art" and "Life x 3" is very good.
The play, which is about two Brooklyn couples who meet to discuss a Cobble Hill playground fight between two of their children, opened last night. Marcia Gay Harden, Jame Gadolfini, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels star. The following is from the Ben Brantley review in the NY Times.
"Examined coldly, this 90-minute play about two couples who meet to
discuss a playground fight between two of their children isn’t much
more than a sustained Punch and Judy show, dressed to impress with
sociological accessories. But there’s a reason that Punch and Judy’s
avatars have fascinated audiences for so many centuries in cultural
forms low (“The Honeymooners” of 1950s television) and high (Edward Albee’s 1962 drama “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”).
"“God of Carnage,” which is poised somewhere in between, definitely
delivers the cathartic release of watching other people’s marriages go
boom. A study in the tension between civilized surface and savage
instinct, this play (which recently won the Olivier Award in London for
best new comedy) is itself a satisfyingly primitive entertainment with
an intellectual veneer."
delivers the cathartic release of watching other people’s marriages go
boom. A study in the tension between civilized surface and savage
instinct, this play (which recently won the Olivier Award in London for
best new comedy) is itself a satisfyingly primitive entertainment with
an intellectual veneer."
The Animated Life in the Times: Jeff Scher’s In Your Dreams
Today in the New York Times, Jeff Scher's short short animated film "In Your Dreams."
"To make the film, I painted multiple watercolors of my wife, who has
always been my favorite subject. I already had boxes full of paintings
to work from, spanning the length of our marriage. They were all
painted in the morning because, with its bright golden luminance,
that’s the light I find most suited to watercolor. And we are both
always quite happy when she can sleep late."