Category Archives: Civics and Urban Life

A Great Idea: Brooklyn Takeout Taxi

The City Section has the story that’s been much blogged about:

IN the six years since Donna Walrond moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant,
Brooklyn, she has found much to like about the neighborhood. Her rent is cheap, the neighbors are friendly, and crime is decidedly down. There’s just one problem.

“We
have two good restaurants,” she said the other day in the toy-strewn
living room of her three-bedroom apartment on MacDonough Street. “And
they don’t deliver.”

Ms. Walrond, 31, is a single mother of two
boys, ages 3 and 5, and her full-time job — cleaning homes and offices
around Brooklyn — leaves her with little time or enthusiasm for cooking
dinner. A few months ago, it dawned on her that she was not the only
local mother who would be grateful for delivery options other than
pizza and Chinese food, and so she posted an online ad on a bulletin
board for a neighborhood mothers’ group: For $5 to $8, she would drive
as far as Carroll Gardens to pick up a takeout order and deliver it to
one’s door.

When the phone calls began coming  in, Ms. Walrond established  a Web site, brooklyntakeouttaxi.com,
and had a thousand postcards printed. She said she began handing them
out near a Kingston Avenue subway entrance “like a crazy woman.”

      

This Saturday: Support the Old Stone House

The Old Stone House is a major cultural center for Park Slopers. It’s hard to imagine life in Park Slope without the Old Stone House. That’s why you must come to the benefit costume party this coming Saturday. It’s only $40 per person and you will have a great time.

The Old Stone House is operated as a
historic interpretive center dedicated to its crucial role in the
American Revolution and in the evolving histories of Brooklyn, New York
and the United States. It also serves as a dynamic community resource through its
education programs and events. In addition to historical exhibits open
to the public, the House is available by appointment for tours, classes
and rentals.

And there’s so much more:

How did we live without Piper Theater at the Old Stone House. Last summer’s Coney Island themed Midsummer’s Night Dream was wonderful.

What about Shakespeare Camp with John McEneny. Parents are still swooning about what a great time their kids had.

How about last summer’s Brooklyn Film Works. Did you see The Candidate or The Manchurian Candidate and other great films?

How about the Harvest Festival today? More than 1,000 kids and adults gathered for pony rides, face painting, costume making and MORE.

How about Barbara Ensor’s show currently on view of her fanciful fairy tale silhouettes and cut outs?

How about Poetry Punch, the Memoirathon, the Edgy Mother’s Day, and other great readings at Brookyn Reading Works?

Concerts, readings, films, theater, gatherings of all kinds. We love the Old Stone House and they need this community’s support: Order Your Tickets Now!

This coming Saturday, October 25, come to the First Annual Makin’ History Costume Party Bash

A benefit for the Old Stone House @ the Brooklyn Lyceum

8-11 pm. Tickets:  $40

Advance tickets: http://www.nycharities.org/event/event.asp?CE_ID=3129


Tonight at 8 Sharp: Jesus H Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse

8 p.m. SHARP! Jesus H Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse

9 p.m. Les Sans Culottes

10 p.m. Fall On Your Sword

We sure would love to see you for this very special CD release show.  Dress inappropriately.

Still the homespun operation you love.

www.jesushchristrocks.com

The Where and When

October 20 at 8 p.m.
The Blender Theater
127 East     23rd Street
New York, NY 10010

Doors open 7:30.  Ages 16+.   Tix $7

Uodos for Obama a Ravishing Success

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Updos for Obama, Saturday night’s fun fund raiser for presidential hopeful Barack Obama at Medusa Hair Salon in Park Slope raised nearly $2,000 for the campaign.

The organizers of the event estimated that 40-50 people crowded into the small Seventh Avenue shop; many paid $75 to get Palin-esque updos.

In the back of the shop, there was music and a reading from a book called Submerged, Tales from the Basin edited by Lauren Gonzalez, who with Kelly Gola, was one of the organizers of the event.

And let’s not forget Yvonne who came up with the amazing flyer and is the genius behind the website Heck of a Job George. 

According to Kelly Gola, who is a stylist at Medusa (and about to enter a PhD program): "These ladies were really
instrumental in putting the "UpDos for Obama" event together and I
could not have done it without them." 

The finale of the evening was a Sarah Palin look-a-like contest and a town meeting for Sarah Palin wanna-bees.

Kudos to Kelly, Lauren, Yvonne and everyone else for doing such an imaginative and successful benefit. Picture by Goldfield for the NY Daily News.

Harvest Festival is a Big Success

There were crowds. Boy, were there crowds. On a perfect fall day, over 1000 kids and parents showed up at JJ Byrne Park for the Harvest Festival co-sponsored by the Old Stone House and Park Slope Parents.

It was quite a site: pony rides, face painting, costume making and more. My sister and Ducky waited 45 minutes for a pony ride and 30 minutes for a fantastic face painting session.

"I’m a butterfly princess," Ducky told me. A purple and pink butterfly around her eyes with sparkles: she was a site to behold. I’m sure she hasn’t washed it off yet. She’ll want to be a butterfly princess for as long as possible.

At the Old Stone House children were making Halloween costumes and stuffed animals. Some of the kids just seemed to enjoy playing with the soft stuffing.

There may have been a big clean up job, but it looked like the kids had loads of fun. And don’t forget. Support the Old Stone House by attending their big, fun event for grown-ups.

On Saturday, October 23, it’s the 1st Annual Makin’ History Costume Party Bash

A benefit for the Old Stone House @ the Brooklyn Lyceum

8-11 pm. Tickets:  $40

Advance tickets: http://www.nycharities.org/event/event.asp?CE_ID=3129

Nov 3: Greensboro: Closer to the Truth Screening at Brooklyn College

Just heard from my friend Adam Zucker that there will be two screenings of his documentary Greensboro: Closer to the Truth upcoming in the New York city area. Here are the ‘tails. One of the screenings is at Brooklyn College at the Tanger Auditorium.

Sunday October 26 the film will be shown at the Ethical Culture Society
as part of a day long workshop regarding public forgiveness. The film
will be screened at 1:45 in Ceremonial Hall on the 4th floor. Ethical
Culture is at 2 West 64th Street, more information available at http://www.nysec.org/2008/10/26/

 

Monday November 3 at 6:30 the film will be screened at Brooklyn
College, in the Tanger Auditorium in the Campus Library. Photo IDs are
needed to enter building, and inform the guards at desk that you’re
going to the screening. For travel info, http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/pub/visitbc_directions.htm

 

I will be at the Brooklyn event (which is the 29th anniversary of the
killing at the heart of the film); I don’t know yet if I’ll be able to
make it to Ethical Culture. Principal characters from the film
(survivors Paul and Sally Bermanzohn and Greensboro Truth Commissioner
Pat Clark) will be at both events.

About the film:


On November 3, 1979, members of the Communist Workers Party were holding a Death to the
Klan rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. Suddenly a caravan rounded the corner, scattering
the protesters. Klansmen and Nazis emerged from the cars, unloaded an arsenal of guns and began
firing. Five people were killed in what became known as the Greensboro Massacre.

Greensboro: Closer to the Truth reconnects 25 years later with the players in this
tragedy—widowed and wounded survivors, along with their attackers—and
chronicles how their lives have evolved in the long aftermath of the killings.  All
converge when the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission ever held in the United
States is convened in Greensboro from 2004-2006 to investigate the Massacre. As the
Commission struggles to uncover what actually happened and why, the participants confront
the truth of their past, and struggle with the possibility of hope and redemption.

Tom Martinez, Witness: Latest Creation

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97 yr. young Toni Rowe with her latest creation. Toni ventures into 
Manhattan from Brooklyn once a week for an art class held at her late-husband’s union on 14th Street.
Photo by Tom Martinez

Note from Tom: "Toni is a truly amazing woman.  She remembers a time in NYC prior to 
electricity when the gas lights were lit in Washington
Square Park. 

As a young girl she lived above a blacksmith’s shop in the village that kept busy making wagon wheels.  About fall she chides her son, Dave (who’s included in this email) saying, ""People go upstate to see the changing leaves.  But
we’ve got beautiful leaves right here in Brooklyn!""

Today: Harvest Festival in JJ Byrne Park

Harvest Festival – Sunday, October 19th, 11 am – 4 pm

Farmstands,
pony rides, petting zoo, face painting, music… It’s big fun with OSH,
the Park Slope Farmer’s Market, the Park Slope Civic Council and Park
Slope Parents outdoors in JJ Byrne Park, 3rd Street and 5th Avenue,
Brooklyn,

The Where and When
Sunday, October 19, 11 am 0 4 pm
Harvest Festival
in JJ Byrne Park
3rd Street and Fifth Avenue

Nov. 6: Brooklyn Power Breakfast

This event about local and small businesses in Brooklyn is for people who want to learn about the many exciting changes throughout the borough, from the establishment of major, anchor stores in Central Brooklyn and the installation of art work in Clinton Hill, to the creation of buy local campaigns and the development of green spaces.

In light of the current financial crisis and looming recession, the panel will consider the impact of the credit crunch and funding cut backs.  If small businesses are indeed the nation’s economic engine, what will help them survive and if they don’t, what will our neighborhoods look like?

This event is a Con Edison Power Breakfast, one of two hosted annually
by Brooklyn Public Library’s Business Library.  The Breakfasts
highlight economic developments in Brooklyn and usually attract an
audience of 100. They are free and open to the public.

Brooklyn, with its 2.5 million residents, has over 60 discrete neighborhoods, each with its own local shopping district. These 200-plus shopping streets not only provide convenience goods and services to local residents, but are part of the unique character of each neighborhood and are essential to creating a sense of identity and place.  On Thursday morning, November 6, the Brooklyn Public Library will host a forum, Keys to the Community:  Unlocking the commercial vitality of Brooklyn ’s neighborhoods, which will focus on the role successful commercial corridors play invigorating the borough’s economy.

A panel of policy experts and community stakeholders will explore the state of retail in Brooklyn’s many diverse neighborhoods and the contribution local grassroots organizations are making to the vibrant communities that are revitalizing Brooklyn .  The discussion will consider the important impact of purposeful planning and management of commercial corridors; such as the creation of jobs, the generation of tax revenue, and the development of walkable, sustainable communities. 

Dr. Tom Schutte, President of Pratt Institute and Chair of the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project will provide introductory remarks.  Joan Bartolommeo, Director of the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation, the convening organization for commercial revitalization in Brooklyn , will be the moderator.  The panel consists of:

Catherine Bohne, Park Slope Civic Council, Rachel Fuentes, Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, Larisa Ortiz, consultant for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Lori Raphael, Flatbush-Nostrand Junction Business Improvement District, and Stacey Sutton, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, Columbia University.

The Where and When

November 6, 2008
8:30 a.m. until 10:30
Dweck Center at the Brooklyn Central Library
Grand Army Plaza

Oct 25: Sock Monkey Workshop

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I got this email yesteday. OSFO loves to make sock monkeys so we’re probably going to do this.  Not sure where Gold Street is. Think it’s Greenpoint.

Join us for an afternoon of creating original sock monkeys for fresh
art’s sock monkey program. fresh art is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit
organization dedicated to providing expanded artistic, personal
development, and entrepreneurial opportunities to New York City artists
with special needs. The sock monkeys we create this afternoon will be
sold to raise funds to support fresh art’s programs. All skill levels
are welcome, though basic hand sewing skills are helpful.

Saturday, October 25, 2008; 10am-3pm
325 Gold St, 3rd floor, Brooklyn, NY 11222
Ages 12 & up are welcome.
Please RSVP at rsvp@etsy.com for this free workshop.

Hosted by fresh art (www.freshartnyc.org), the NewNew York Team
(thenewnew.blogspot.com), and Etsy Labs (etsylabs.etsy.com).

Join us in the Treehouse room of the Virtual Labs, for an online
workshop with AnnMarie Harris from fresh art for a chat about using
crafts to fund your non-profit organization.
Date & Time: Thursday, October 23, 6:30 p.m.
Where: http://www.etsy.com/virtual_labs.php

Sunday: Harvest Festival with Farmstands, Pony Rides, Petting Zoo…

Harvest Festival – Sunday, October 19th, 11 am – 4 pm

Farmstands, pony rides, petting zoo, face painting, music… It’s big fun with OSH, the Park Slope Farmer’s Market, the Park Slope Civic Council and Park Slope Parents outdoors in JJ Byrne Park, 3rd Street and 5th Avenue, Brooklyn,

The Where and When
Sunday, October 19, 11 am 0 4 pm
Harvest Festival
in JJ Byrne Park
3rd Street and Fifth Avenue

Sat and Sun: Gowanus Studio Tour

Visit artist’s studio’s located in garages, brownstones, and warehouse along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn sponsored by AGAST.

We invite you to visit the 12th Annual A.G.A.S.T. tour on Saturday and Sunday, October 18-19, 2008 from 1-6 p.m.   This is a free event open to the public.

Visitors of A.G.A.S.T. have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with
the creators of photography, drawing, printmaking, mixed-media, video,
ceramics, glass, installation, paintings, sculpture & etc. in their
own working studio environment. Artist studios are located in large
industrial buildings as well as garages, brownstones and warehouses
along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. Everyone can be easily found on
the tour map here. The Gowanus area is conveniently located from many
subway stations and the LIRR Atlantic Avenue station between Park
Slope, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and the Boerum Hill neighborhoods.

Us and Them by Park Slope’s David Berreby Out in Paperback

Just got this email from David Berreby, Park Sloper and author of the book, Us and Them: The Science of Identity, which is just out in  paperback from the University of Chicago Press this week. The subtitle of the book has changed. It used to be: Understanding Your Tribal Mind.

On the website Blogging Heads, there’s a dialog (or, ahem, diavlog) posting this Saturday, Oct 18, in which John Horgan and I discuss Us and Them aspects of the 2008 election, whether progress exists,how much people understand why they do stuff, and other cheery topics.

It’s keyed to the paperback edition of my book, US AND THEM, which was
published this week by the University of Chicago Press.

Be grateful to know what you think, if you care to check it out.

Here’s the blurbage from Amazon about Us and Them: 

Democrat and Republican. Meat Eaters and Vegetarians. Black and White.
As human beings we sort ourselves into groups. And once we identify
ourselves as a member of a particular group—say, Red Sox fans—we tend
to feel more comfortable with others of our own kind, rather than, say,
Yankees fans. Yet we all belong to multiple groups at the same time—one
might be a woman, a mother, an American, a violinist. How do we decide
which identities matter and why they matter so much? And what makes us
willing to die for, or to kill for, a religion, a nation, or a race?

In this award-winning book, David Berreby describes how
twenty-first-century science is addressing these age-old questions.
Ably linking neuroscience, social psychology, anthropology, and other
fields, Us and Them investigates humanity’s “tribal mind” and
how this alters our thoughts, affects our health, and is manipulated
for good and ill. From the medical effects of stress to the rhetoric of
politics, our perceptions of group identity affect every part of our
lives. Science, Berreby argues, shows how this part of human nature is
both unexpectedly important and surprisingly misunderstood.
            —Henry Gee, Scientific American

Zuzu’s Petals: They’re All Decked Out in Autumn Colors

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Here’s the occasional—and lovely—note from Fonda at Zuzu’s Petals:

Zuzushopperdears…

I have nothing to say about the Economic news this week …
except one small reference to my lifelong avoidance of roller coasters and other "amusement" rides where one is totally out of control
strapped into some contrivance
which is throttling along an unseen track
pitching one from side to side,
with the  sudden "thrill" of being turned upside down…
while being dropped into freefall.
Am I the only one who felt tossed about?

On to the Joys of the Season.

For purely selfish reasons, I will not encourage you to leave town
and catch a look at the leaves changing Upstate.
We have some very nice colors happening all around us:
Prospect Park, The Botanic Gardens,The Old Stone House Park on Third Street,
not to mention our neighbors’ front yards, our street trees…and of course, The Zuzus.

Stick around this weekend,
save gas,
take a nice long walk in the neighborhood,
head towards The Old Stone House
have lunch out..
what a selection we have to choose from:
‘snice, Stone Park Cafe, Earth Tonez,
Belleville, Get Fresh, Pollio’s ,Brooklyn Bread!
come visit The Zuzus, maybe pick up one of our Recession Proof Seasonal Bouquets
stop in at the new wine shop between 3rd and 4th street
collect dinner materials, do the wine thing again with some friends.

Ditmas Park: Gentrification From The Inside Out

Ditmasvictorians
On the site New Geography read Jan Rosenberg’s account of gentrification in Ditmas Park over the last 20 years. Here’s an excerpt:

Twenty some years ago my husband, 2 young sons and I moved from our
cramped 16-foot wide attached row house in Brooklyn’s trendy Park Slope
to a free-standing, 7-bedroom Victorian house in the Ditmas Park
section of Flatbush with stained glass windows, pocket doors, original
wood paneling, a back yard, front porch, driveway and 2-car garage in a
little-known, tree-lined neighborhood about 10 minutes away – on the
other, high-crime side of Prospect Park. Friends thought we’d taken
leave of our senses!

Built early last century, our neighborhood Long has been known for its
architecture, with the largest concentration of Victorian houses in
America. It’s the kind of neighborhood sensible new urbanists dream
about it; the only block in New York with subway stations at each end.
This was a tribute to the clout of the neighborhood’s original
developers who had a strong commitment to building “suburbs in the
city,” and secured the best in public transportation for their
customers.

Correction to Berkeley Carroll Eviction Story

An OTBKB reader wrote in with some information about the Berkeley Carroll eviction story. I’d like to thank her for doing so. She said that she was having trouble posting a comment. A lot of people say that to me. Just so you know, I moderate all comments so your comment won’t show up immediately. I thought there was a message about this but I guess not. Will look into it.

The tenant dispute concerning
BC school is about a building on Carroll St., not the Child Care Center
building owned by Methodist Hospital. We got a letter from Head of
School today and I thought you’d be interested.

I thought it was the building that houses the Berkeley Carroll Child Care Center, which is actually owned by Methodist Hospital. The building is on Carroll Street near the school. Oh so that’s why the want to use it for extra classroom space. Got it. Sorry for the mistake. The original article is below with the corrections, cross-outs, etc.

Ella Taliercio moved into her Park Slope two-bedroom on Carroll
Street
in 1958, the year I was born. She’s been living in that
apartment for as long as I’ve been alive and has raised three
kids there. Two of them died and are buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.

Now the Berkeley Carrol School, which bought the building a few
years ago, wants Taliercio out so they can turn the building into
classrooms. Why do they need classrooms so far away from the school buildings on Carroll Street and Lincoln Place? The whole things sounds fishy to me.

According to Gothamist: "The
apartment is rent-stabilized—Taliercio paid $33 a month in ’58 and
$147.08 today—but Berkeley Carroll has non-profit status, enabling the
school to evict the couple. Taliercio tells the Daily News through tears, "It’s my home. How do you just shut the door on something where you’ve been for so many years?" Don’t worry, Ella, Berkeley administrators will have the eviction marshal help you with that."

This is a publicity nightmare for Berkeley Carroll, portrayed in
various local newspapers as a fancy school that charges more than
$25,000 per child a year. There must be a better way to handle this. Is
Berkeley Carroll  finding Taliercio a new home in the Slope. I heard
they offered her $20,000 but that doesn’t sound like enough to me.

There must be a way that Berkeley Carroll can handle this situation with grace and humanity.

News Flash: Buy in Brooklyn Snowflake Celebration is On!

Great News: Buy in Brooklyn is doing the Snowflake Celebration, a shop local campaign, this year. The Snowflake dates are the first two Thursdays in December (4th and 11th). But many local businesses will also  stay open late on the third Thursday and
possibly run additional programs.

However, most of the festivities will center
around these first two two evenings.

If you nibbled your way down Seventh Avenue during Restaurant Night back in September you experienced how FUN these events can be. That event was like trick or treating for adults (with loads of kids in tow). It was fun to wander in and out of restaurants, sample tasty treats and run into friends and neighbors.

That’s what the Snowflake celebration can be like with the emphasis on Christmas and Hannukah shopping. Buy in Brooklyn wants to encourage Park Slopers to do some or all of their gift  shopping on Seventh and Fifth  Avenues; it’s a win win for local businesses, great fun for the locals and a real economic enhancement for the community.

If you have any questions about Buy in Brooklyn or the Snowflake Celebration you can contact buyinbrooklyn@gmail.com.

Peter Pan at Irondale: GO!

A nice note from the Irondale Center in Fort Greene, a new and vital performing arts center in Fort Greene, where you can see Peter Pan.

Last weekend we opened the new Irondale Center in Fort Greene, three
blocks up Lafayette Avenue from BAM.  450 people stopped by at our open
house, and 200 stayed for dinner followed by five entertainment
sketches.  The "house warming" was sponsored by the Brooklyn Daily
Eagle
and Brooklyn Brewery, and 22 restaurants and other merchants
provided vast quantities of very tasty food and treats. 

Now, beginning next Friday, October 24 (previews 10/22 & 23), we
will be reviving our "somewhat dark" version of J.M. Barrie’s novel, Peter
Pan.
  D. J. R. Bruckner described it in the New York Times in
November, 2001 as, "…a bit unnerving but also very good fun." This
not the original play, nor remotely like its animated Disnification. It
is a child’s story told for adults with strong psychological
undercurrents. It will run through November 8, Wednesday through
Saturday, with a Saturday matinee.

To find out more about Irondale and to buy tickets, go to
www.irondale.org.  Hope you can join us.

The Oh-So-Prolific-One: Leon Freilich/Verse Responder

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Great Show at Brooklyn Reading Works

Brw08_11x17posterlc
You missed it. But hey, there are still a bunch more you can go to. Here’s the poster (sorry it’s impossible to read in this format).

Isn’t it cool? It was designed by Elizabeth Reagh at Good Form Design.  The next Brooklyn Reading Works is November 20th at 8 p.m.: a reading of Baby Love, a play by Michael Winks.

But about last night. This year’s Poetry Punch was curated by Michele Madigan Somerville and it packed a punch alright. And the punch. It was a tad sweet. But the spiced run was a nice addition. Michele did a great job of gathering poets you should know about. Some of them have events coming up:

Ilene Starger is reading tomorrow night, Sat. Oct. 18, 6 p.m. at the Dactyl Foundation, 66 Grand St. between Wooster and W. Broadway in Soho. She is the featured
reader and will read for about 25 minutes or so, followed by an open
mic.

Jeff Wright runs Live Mag at the Bowery Poetry Club. The next show is this Sun. October 19th. Bring your poems and be "published" in Live Mag! #6 as co-hosts
superstar Bob Holman and Gary Parrish, editor of Farfalla Press, read
poems from audience submissions. Find out who these publishers are
excited about. Plus hear spotlite poets Akilah Oliver and Edmund
Berrigan. Free copy of Live Mag!

Joanna Sit will be reading at the Dweck Center on Wednesday, October 29,  7:00 p.m. as part of the Visions Launch Party with Elizabeth
Nunez, Linda Susan Jackson, Joanna Sit and Gregory Pardlo. Medgar
Evers College creative writing students will read selections from the
premier issue of Visions, a peer-reviewed, academic journal.

Michele Madigan Somerville’s book, Black Irish, will be coming out in early 2009. We will most definitely keep you posted.

Will Nixon has a lovely new book out called, My Late Mother As A Ruffed Goose.

And Bill Evans. I don’t know where his next gig is but I want to be there. He’s terrific. Read his essay about teaching 8th grade English here on OTBKB here.

Death by Design: The Macabre at Urban Alchemist

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…complete with a saw player and paintings, accessories, objects and photography with a decidedly macabre and spooky vibe.

Urban Alchemist invites you to join them on Friday October 24th. Four feature artists. Paintings, accessories, objects, and photography.
~Live music at 7pm. Saw and accordion player
~Enjoy poison punch and ghoulish treats

The Where and When
Friday, October 24th
Reception 6-10pm
Death by Design: A Collection of Macabre Artists
Urban Alchemist
343 Fifth Street (just east of Fifth Avenue)

 

Donate to the Crandall Public Library in My Father’s Name

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Thanks to those who have donated to the Crandall Public Library in Glen Falls, NY in my father’s name. The Crandall is a small, vibrant library that my father loved; he always had loads of books out from there when he was spending extended periods of time upstate. I hope you’ll consider sending a donation in the spirit of Monte Ghertler, a man who devoured books and loved libraries. He was so pleased to have a decent library near his upstate home. A great community needs a great library. This is especially true in small town America, where resources are sometimes limited. In Glen Falls, they’ve got the Crandall.

The ‘tails

Crandall Public Library
251 Glen Street
Glens Falls, New York 12801

Much To Do at the Old Stone House: Halloween and Beyond

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Here’s the schedule at the Old Stone House for the next few weeks. The big news is the OSH benefit/costume party bash at the Brooklyn Lyceum. This is a not to be missed event. Get your tickets NOW.

Saturday, October 25

1st Annual Makin’ History Costume Party Bash

A benefit for the Old Stone House @ the Brooklyn Lyceum

8-11 pm. Tickets:  $40

Advance tickets: http://www.nycharities.org/event/event.asp?CE_ID=3129

The Where and When

Saturday, October 25

8 p.m – 11 p.m.
Brooklyn Lyceum
227 4th Avenue @ Union Street
Brooklyn

Sunday, October 19

4th Annual OSH Harvest Festival!

Pony rides, petting zoo, face painting, music & more!

Sponsored in partnership with the Park Slope Civic Council & Park Slope Parents

11 am – 4 pm

Saturday, October 25

1st Annual Makin’ History Costume Party Bash

A benefit for the Old Stone House @ the Brooklyn Lyceum

8-11 pm. Tickets:  $40

Advance tickets: http://www.nycharities.org/event/event.asp?CE_ID=3129

November & December 2008

Barbara Ensor’s Thumbelina

A story in silhouette – an OSH Great Room Exhibit

Tues/Sat/Sun 4 pm – 6 pm; Thurs. 4 pm – 8 pm or by appointment

Tuesday, November 4

Circle Singing with Ben Silver

Learn and practice this improvisational musical form taking rhythmic and melodic cues from a skilled leader.

7-9 pm. $25 suggested donation.

For more info & reservations: ben@bensilvermusic.com

Thursday, November 13

Five Dutch Days!

Edwin Burrows:  Forgotten Patriots

Join us for a book talk about the prisoners
of war who remained in Brooklyn and Manhattan during the years of the
Revolutionary War

7 pm

Friday, November 14

Five Dutch Days!

An Evening of Classical and Contemporary Dutch Compositions with Hans Pieter Herman

Presented by The New York Opera Society, the Five Dutch Days Festival and the Old Stone House

Sponsored in Part by the Netherland America Foundation

8 pm. Suggested Donation: $20 for Adults, $15 for Students/Seniors.

Advance Tickets:  https://www.nycharities.org/eve

Tonight: Young Rockers Rock out for Barack

Lyceum_2
Hear some of Brooklyn’s best teen bands. What a line-up, what a great cause! And at the Lyceum, Park Slope’s most unusual venue (a former bath house). And they’re all doing it for Obama. How can you NOT come out in support of this great event?

Vote Obama Benefit at the Brookyn Lyceum tonight at 7 p.m.

8 acts, $10 at the door
Lily
Calamus
Le Rug
Rainbow Party
Radiates
Psycho Thriller
Banzai
Michael Jordan


The Where and When

Brooklyn Lyceum

4th Avenue at Union StreetDoors open 6:30
Show at 7

Continue reading Tonight: Young Rockers Rock out for Barack

Sat: Park Slope Salon Doing UpDos for Obama

Medusa Hair Salon is out-doing itself for change in the White House.

Think you have more foreign policy experience than the GOP VP?….Well, you probably do. Are you more equipped to handle the economy? Most likely. Think you would make a better VP than Sarah Palin? Definitely! So what are you missing? I’ll tell you….That amorphous bundle of good ol’ fashion small town kitsch resting safely atop Mrs. Palin’s head. Which is why the ladies of Medusa are bringing the Sarah Palin updo to Brooklyn. For $75 the Sarah Palin updo is yours and places you in the running to win best Sarah Palin look-a-like. Winner claims a prize valued at over $200 and ALL PROCEEDS FOR THIS EVENT GO TO OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN FUND! The ladies "Submerged: Tales from the Basin" will be reading excerpts from their anthology; a book dedicated to hair (a portion of the books proceeds go to Katrina victims). And if you would like to participate and are running low on funds $25 allows you to enter the competition. Please bring your checkbooks and lipstick and don’t forget to brush up on your Tina Fey impressions.

The Where and When
Medusa Hair Salon
Saturday, October 18 at 7 p.m.
177 7th Ave (btwn 1st St. & 2nd St.) Park Slope, Brooklyn

 

Crane on Seventh Avenue Today

Here’s the crane report from Craig R. Hammerman of Community Board 6.

As
you are aware the crane operation was planned for today but an
insurance issue prevented the transformer from leaving Ohio. 

The
transformer is scheduled to arrive at 7:30am Thursday.
Arrangements will be as we discussed previously but one day later.

Crane Operation Summary:

Transformer removal and installation is scheduled to take place today, on Thursday, October 16, 2008 between 7am and 4pm.

Bus stop on east side of 7th Avenue near Sterling Place (between Sterling Pl. and Park Pl.) will be discontinued for the day.

Northbound
bus will stop at the next stop on Flatbush Avenue which will still be
convenient for bus to subway transfers. Southbound bus stop on 7th Avenue between Flatbush Avenue and Park Place will remain in use.