Just heard from Brownstoner about three more Fifth Avenue closings. Stay tuned for more in depth reporting from OTBKB. In addition to Cocotte:

Good Bye: Nancy, Nancy

Good Bye: Biscuit BBQ

Good Bye: Hollywood Video

Hey, the pregnant jazz singer isn’t pregnant anymore. Toby Williams gave birth to a baby girl and she’s itching to start performing again with some members of Cocktail Angst.

So the big news is this, in Toby’s words:

I’m emerging from the homespun, housebound cacoon here with baby Cleo and am ready to sing something other than “Open and Shut Them”.

Please join me at The Marriott Residence Inn this Thursday night, 2/21, for some cocktails and songs.
xo,
Toby

Details:
The Marriott Residence Inn (39th St. and 6th Avenue)
Studio 100 (on the 3rd Floor)
7pm to 10pm
Thursday 2/21
Keith Ganz on guitar
Sean Smith on bass
Toby Williams singing

This just in from a loyal OTBKB reader about the lunar eclipse tonight. He’s setting up on Seventh Avenue. Read below for more details.

There’ll be a lunar eclipse visible from the Northeast this evening. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen him, but there’s an amateur astronomer who frequently sets up his high-powered telescope on PPW or on Eighth Ave.

He offers passers-by a view of the cosmos, with a patient explanation of what you’re seeing. Through his telescope, we’ve seen the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter.

This evening, he’ll be set up on Ninth St., apparently on Seventh Ave., to show off the lunar eclipse, which begins around 8:45 and will be visible until 11pm.

What is a lunar eclipse? Let’s get some help from Wikipedia:

A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, the Moon is always full the night of a lunar eclipse. The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon’s location relative to its orbital nodes.

I just got this email from Victoria Libertore aka Howling Vic about her newest performance workshop at Bax on Tuesdays, March 4-25, 7pm-9:30pm (Tuition: $125).

You may recall that Libertore also teaching burlesque workshops at BAX, which I mentioned on OTBKB last year. Those sounded fun, too. This time around, she’s teaching how to transform an idea into a performance piece. Here’s the blurb in Libertore’s words:

Why wait for someone to give you permission to perform? Create your own work! Victoria Libertore aka Howling Vic will share her unique approach to creating original performance through the use of archetypes, physical theatre, viewpoints and improvisation.

If you’re new to making your own work, you will learn the process of transforming an idea into a performance piece. If you wish to delve deeper into an already existing piece, you will learn tools to command the stage and methods to refine your work and characters. Both text based and movement based work are welcome.

Victoria Libertore (Howling Vic) is performance artist, actress, playwright, and improviser. She has created and performed her work throughout NYC at venues such as BAX, Dixon Place, Joyce SoHo and PS122. Victoria has taught sold-out burlesque workshops at BAX, archetype workshops and improvisation.

BAX offers a wide range of special adult workshops for artists and non-artists. Advance registration is required for all workshops and is on a first come, first serve basis unless otherwise specified. Please call (718) 832-0018 or e-mail info@bax.org to pre-register. Some financial assistance is available. All workshops take place at BAX’s main location at 421 Fifth Ave, unless otherwise specified

String, strings and more strings at Issue Project Room all week. Too much to say here. So check out their web site if you like the best of the best cutting edge, avant garde new music. Here’s Friday and Saturday’s show:

8pm $10Friday February 22nd
alex waterman, kenta nagai + todd reynolds w luke dubois

8pm $10
Saturday February 23rd

dave soldier w/rebecca cherry and winsome brown + elliott sharp’s
all-string syndaKit

Rebecca Cherry performs excerpts from “The Compleat Victrola Sessions”
scored to film collage in collaboration with composer Dave Soldier.

Brilliant young violinist Rebecca Cherry, formerly principal violin in the
London Symphony, will present selections from The Complete Victrola
Sessions, a collaboration with composer Dave Soldier, with pianist Jerome
Tan – an evocation of the allure and danger of addiction in the 1920’s,
using black and white silent film with nostalgic, surreal virtuoso music.

Elliott Sharp’s All-String SyndaKit

performers include:

Eszter Balint
Reuben Radding
Dave Hofstra
Ron Lawrence
Kevin Ray
Jessica Pavone
Judith Insell
Alex Waterman
HaYang Kim
MV Carbon
E#

SyndaKit was premiered in 1998 for Elliott Sharp’s Orchestra Carbon and
has since been performed by the German group Zeitkratzer, the Beijing New
Music Ensemble and ensembles in Vienna, Palermo, Tubingen, Bratislava, Los
Angeles, plus many more.

Constructed of 144 composed cores and a set of simple instructions for
their manifestation and manipulation by the players, SyndaKit creates an
ever-shifting rhythmic matrix, a pulse bristling with vibrating detail
based on the activities of flocking birds, African drum choirs, cellular
automata, hunting packs, and recombinant amino acids. The sum effect is
that of a lifeform that lives to loop and groove, always mutating.

I was interviewed this morning by the Bryant Park Project about — you guessed it — the Union Hall stroller ban.

So what is the Bryant Park Project?

Well, it’s a radio show, a podcast, and a blog. Here’s how they describe themselves:

On the radio, The Bryant Park Project is a morning drive-time news show that will change your life, speed up your commute, and jack your test scores 50 points — in whatever order you choose. On the Web, The Bryant Park Project is a glorious digital river of podcasts, videos, photos, blogging, debating, and giblets so cool we’re afraid to name them.

Do I belong here?
You bet. Look, they let the rest of us in. Our gang aims to make you feel at home, with surprising interviews and tasty segments soaked in fully carbonated NPR smarts. So pull up a chair, will ya?

Why ‘The Bryant Park Project’? NPR New York is right across the street from Bryant Park — which is where they have Fashion Week, which is sort of like the center of the universe, which is sort of like us. Plus, the boss liked it.

What’s the purpose of ‘The Bryant Park Project’ blog? Think of it as a combination laboratory, cocktail party, and invitation to take this outside. We’ll use the blog to experiment with nifty stuff, from story ideas to multimedia wowees. You might catch a glimpse of what’s coming up on the show. You might catch a glimpse of what happened after a story aired. Most importantly, you’ll get a chance to have your say — about The Bryant Park Project in particular, or about the wider news of the day.

Watch the blog for stories to love, sites to get stuck on, songs to set on “repeat,” and true confessions from Bryant Parkers like you … whatev, whenev.

You can hear the story/interview at their website.

Big vote miscount favors Clinton (Brooklyn Optimist)

Assemby or Borough Presidency for Charles Barron (Brooklyn Optimist)

2 more dead and therapist murder arrest (The Murder Book 2008)

Coney Island sign destroyed (Gowanus Lounge)

Mill Basin parents of tot shot by cop to sue (Metro NY)

Citywide Performance Reporting Tool: The mother of all accountability tools (nyc.gov)

To other bloggers, if you receive an email like this don’t respond, I am pretty sure it is SPAM.

When we googled the name of the company, the only thing we found was something in Romania. When I emailed them to send me a phone number, I never heard back. Today I got another one for the Brooklyn Reading Works blog.

We have reviewed your blog at onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.com,
on behalf of one of our clients that would be interested in placing
advertising with you.

We’d like either a 150×150 button, 160×600 skyscraper or 468×60 full
banner (or footer). Alternatively, we may be interested in text-only
advertising.

This would be a weekly, monthly or yearly arrangement. In either case we will require a one time, one day (24 hours) free placement in order to test the quality and quantity of traffic your website can actually
provide*. Within this interval, we will make a final determination, based on the traffic volume, quality, and your asking price. Should we find your terms acceptable, this trial day will count towards the
agreed interval.

Kindly let us know if you would be interested, which arrangement best
suits your editorial needs, and what rates you would like to charge.
We prefer using PayPal but may be able to accomodate alternative
payment methods.

Thank you.

*Please note that we employ software that reliably detects autoclick
and autosurf bots, pay per click and paid to surf type traffic, and
other such non-human traffic. This may be a concern for you,
especially if you are buying “bulk traffic”, or employing the
services of dubious “SEO experts”.

Hey, if you’re an undergrad or grad student, think about becoming an intern at Go Brooklyn, the arts, entertainment, and food section of the Brooklyn Paper.

GO Brooklyn is now interviewing candidates for our spring internship program. If you love arts and entertainment and are enrolled as a graduate or undergraduate student, please send your cover letter, resume and writing samples to GoBrooklyn@BrooklynPaper.com.

Hone your journalism skills while accumulating clips for your portfolio!

Samuel Beckett and John Turturro together for the first time. Actually, I’m not sure about that. Turturro has probably done plenty of Beckett. April 25 – May 18th at BAM.

“You’re on earth. There’s no cure for that.” How true, and when uttered by John Turturro’s Hamm, these words have a raw and awesome power. An always-outstanding favorite of film directors like Spike Lee and the Coen brothers, Turturro endows one of Beckett’s most affecting works with emotional urgency, creating a man who, confined to an old armchair on wheels and unable to see, registers as poignant, deeply sardonic, and proud. Directed by Andrei Belgrader, master of comic and absurdist stagecraft, each character—from Hamm to his recalcitrant manservant Clov, to his ashcan-dwelling parents—wrestles with cosmic questions. Acutely aware that death is inescapable, they remain divinely valiant in the face of it.

The arts in Brooklyn. Aren’t we a spoiled lot with St. Ann’s Warehouse, BAM, Issue Project Room, Music Hall of Williamsburg, and all the other great performances spaces in Brooklyn? Look at some highlights of what St. Ann’s Warehouse has coming up in the Spring:

Two Concerts from John Zorn (Feb 29 and March 1)

A concert to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hal Wilner’s Stay Awake album, various interpretations of songs from Disney films (April 2)

The Toy Theater Festival (May 23-June 1)

MacBeth (June 17 – 29)

Here’s this week’s Smartmom from the award-winning Brooklyn Paper.

Last week, while the rest of the city buzzed about the Giants, Hillary vs. Obama or whether kids should be allowed at Union Hall, a certain echelon of Park Slopers obsessed over which PS 321 fifth graders got into local private middles schools.

Smartmom had this thought: Who cares? It’s your business if you want to send your kid to private school. But it’s really creepy when everyone has to know who got in and who didn’t.

Then again, it’s probably human nature, sour grapes and just the Park Slope envy thing:

Doesn’t everyone want to spend $26,000 on private school?

Doesn’t everyone want to know that her kid measures up to the rarified standards of local private schools?

Doesn’t everyone want to exit the diverse and sometimes messy world of the New York City public school system and enroll in a private Nirvana?

Smartmom is, of course, being facetious. There are plenty of parents around here who, like Smartmom, can’t afford to send their kids to private school. And even if they could afford it, probably wouldn’t do it because they believe in the benefits of a public education.

Still, last week, Smartmom found her mood swinging faster than a cab on Fourth Avenue.

On the one hand, she was fascinated with all the stories about who got in and who didn’t. In fact, she couldn’t get enough of it.

On the other hand, she found herself getting agitated again and again when she heard about children having emotional meltdowns over their rejection letters.

Judging by the way the parents were reacting to the news, it’s no wonder that the kids were taking it so hard.

When Smartmom’s friend told her that her son didn’t get into a certain local private school, she could tell that both of them were deeply hurt. To console her, Smartmom told her friend that she wanted to send a particularly nasty letter to the admission’s department. And she meant it.

Do people actually think this stuff is meaningful? A kid is not smarter, more desirable and more interesting than another kid just because a private school wants him or her.

At Sweet Melissa’s on Friday morning, the air was thick with admissions gossip. “So and so got into Berkeley Carroll.” “So and so got into Poly-Prep and Packer.” “So and so didn’t get into any of the schools she applied to.” “So and so got into all the schools he applied to. With financial aid.” Blah, blah, blah.

One friend’s son didn’t get into one of the private schools on his list. It’s not like he wanted to go there or anything. It’s just that it made him wonder why he wasn’t good enough for that school — he’s got plenty of friends who go there and he just can’t figure out why he can’t go there, too.

Life lesson, some would say. But don’t you think fifth grade is a little young for life lessons? Fifth grade is too early to feel like the jury has already decided that you’re on the B-list and someone else is on the A-list. All of this comparative babbling made Smartmom want to stand on one of the calico-covered banquettes at Sweet Melissa’s and scream, “Stop it! This competitive culture is disgusting!”

And it’s not just private school.

Last week, the public middle school applications were due. With Smartmom’s help, OSFO decided on schools she is interested in. The night before it was due, OSFO filled out the form. In ink. With great seriousness, she selected her first, second, third, fourth and fifth choice.

Now the waiting game begins. In a few months, the talk of Seventh Avenue will be who did and who didn’t get into the hot public schools.

There are going to be hurt feelings and deep dips of self esteem (for parents and children).

Smartmom isn’t looking forward to it. In the meantime, she can try to teach OSFO how subjective and shallow all of this is, how important it is to not let yourself feel judged by others, how important it is to feel strong within yourself.

It’s going to be a hard lesson to teach because Smartmom is still trying to learn that life lesson herself.

Every day. Maybe they can work on it together.

Today there was yet another post on Park Slope Parents about credit card fraud. Yet another gas station in Florida.

What is it about gas stations in Florida.

I am wondering if this is really is a random problem or if the problem can be traced to certain merchants in Park Slope.

Is there an investigation in process and who is doing it — the bank or the 78th precinct? Anyone know?

Did recession talk hurt Valentine’s Day on Seventh Avenue? From anecdotal evidence: maybe.

At 4:30 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, there was a long line at Key Food’s outdoor flower stand, where they were selling two dozen roses for under $30. The Apple Market on Garfield was selling a dozen red roses with baby’s tears wrapped in green tissue paper for $25.

There seemed to be far more pre-prepared bouquets than customers.

The Park Florist, the high-end Seventh Avenue flower shop. seemed to be doing a busy delivery business—I saw workers loading gorgeous arrangements into a van. But the store didn’t seem as busy as previous Valentine’s Days.

Over at Mr. Choi’s Lingerie Shop on Seventh Avenue, one of the owners told OTBKB that it wasn’t a very busy Valentine’s Day.

“Recession,” she said with a frown. “Not a busy day. Same with the flower shop across the street.” She pointed to a gorgeous vase of flowers that her husband had bought for her at the Park Florist. The store was decorated with red cardboard hearts and silky lingerie.

At Possibilities, the card and knick-knack shop on Seventh Avenue near President Street, there were more than ten people waiting on line to buy last-minute cards, balloons and Valentine’s Day gifts. The store was quite crowded.

As for me, I bought Whitman’s valentine’s boxes from Neergard and card and “string doll gang” dolls (from Scaredy Kat) for OSFO and Teen Spirit.

Diaper Diva and Bro-in-Law got a 5:30 reservation at Po on Smith Street. It was the only restaurant where Bro-in-Law could get a reservation a week ago. And at 5:30.

Hopefully Seventh Avenue/ Fifth Avenue/Smith Street restaurants were doing well last night. DD said Po was fantastic. It is now one of her fave Brooklyn restaurants.

We had dinner at home. Hepcat made a chicken dish using the Tikka Masala Indian sauce they sell at the Food Coop and Back to the Land. He added almonds. It was delicious.

Reclaimed Home, the low impact housing and renovation blog for thrifty New Yorkers has a list of houses available in Brooklyn under $600,000.

We’re going into a recession! There’s a housing slump! So does that mean a Brooklyn townhouse can be had for under $600k now? Let’s see….

Here’s something new from our pal Pete of Full Permission Living:

Please read this!
Judith Warner writes: “Americans are being vastly overmedicated for often relatively minor mental health concerns. This over-reliance on quick-fix medication is numbing our nation and dulling our awareness of real and pressing social issues and of non-psychopharmacological therapies and treatments. The notion that American children and adults are being over-diagnosed and overmedicated for exaggerated or even fictitious mental disorders has now become one of the defining tropes of our era.”
Go to Judith Warner’s article called “Overselling Overmedication”

Everyone wants the Book Nerd’s bookshop in their nabe (Brooklyn Paper)

Ice skating rink on First Street (Brooklyn Paper)

Changes to the Parachute Jump (Gowanus Lounge)

Marty: More bling, less art at Parachute Jump (NY Post)

Legendary Staubitz butcher (Brooklyn Paper)

Daily News to be produced in full color by 2009 (NY Daily News)

Renderings of the redesign of McCarren Pool (Curbed)

Coney Island photos in the New Yorker (for this you have to get the magazine)

A Saudi blogger has disappeared (Self-Absorbed Boomer)

Brooklyn Iconography (Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn)

Our man City Coucil member Bill De Blasio is the sponsor of this bill. This from the New York Times:

New York City is a step closer to adopting one of the toughest electronics recycling laws in the nation, despite strong objections from manufacturers and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

The City Council on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would impose a $100 fine on anyone who throws an old computer, printer or other electronic gadget into the trash. Recycling the electronic waste will become mandatory, and manufacturers will be required to take back their own products as well as those made by companies that have gone out of business.

The Council estimated that New Yorkers purchase more than 90,000 tons of electronic products every year. The gadgets contain hazards like lead and mercury, and most end up in the trash.

NPR’s Morning Edition story about one beagle’s triumph at the Westminister Dog Show cautioned against running out to adopt a beagle. They’re not the dog for everyone.

Beagle lovers are celebrating the triumph of one of their own this week at the Westminster Dog Show. A beagle named, Uno, made history as the first beagle to win the “Best in Show” crown. The result could be a surge of beagles in animal rescue shelters.

This is the story of a great Valentine’s Day staged by Hepcat many years ago.

Hepcat once staged the most wonderful Valentine’s surpise. Part of the surprise was that he even did something at all—usually he’s a Valentine’s Day Scrooge, the guy who gets really put out with the whole idea of this Hallmark holiday. But that year he really rose above his own objections to it and planned something big. He told me that he was taking me somewhere but he wouldn’t say where. Ever curious, I kept asking. “You’ll ruin the surprise,” he said again and again.

My expectations rose sky high. Then he told me the location of where we were going — somewhere downtown on the far west side. Hmmm. I didn’t have a clue where he had in mind.

That night, we drove down the West Side Highway and parked on Varick Street near Houston. When we turned down a side street, I saw a small movie marquee in the distance. It said, “Grand Opening on Valentine’s Day. Now Showing: L’Atalante by Jean Vigo.”

I thought I was dreaming. This tiny, recently refurbished movie theater, then called the Soho Cinema, was playing my favorite movie of all time, L’Atalante, on their opening night. Made in 1934, this black and white french movie is the story of Juliette who marries Jean. She comes to live on his river barge along with a cabin boy and the strange old second mate Pere Jules. Soon bored by life on the river, she slips off to see the nightlife when they get to Paris. Angered by this, Jean sets off, leaving Juliette behind. Overcome by grief and longing for his wife, Jean falls into a depression and Pere Jules goes and tries to find Juliette. When he finds her she too is eager to return to the barge. Back together again, they resume life on the river.

It is a simple story told with grace and poetry. It may be one of the most romantic movies of all time. Jean Vigo had tuberculosis when he made it, and was dead just after its release. He was only 29, and had made only four films. A romantic until the end.

We were the only ones in the theater other than the usher and the popcorn guy. Sitting in our own private movie palace watching a treasure of French cinema, it was a Valentine’s Day impossible to forget

Cards: Great cards at Scaredy Kat and A Lion in the Sun at 232 Seventh Avenue (at 4th Street)

Gifts: The Clay Pot, Brooklyn Mercantile, Loom, Rare Device, Diana Kane, and Community Bookstore

Lunch: Elementi or Sweet Melissa’s. 

Candy: Chocolate Girl, Cocoa Bar, Chocolate Room, Neergard for large selection of Whitman’s.

Cookies and cup cakes: Sweet Melissa’s and Cousin John’s, International Taste has their homemade nuts, dried fruit and seed cakes in the shape of HEARTS.

Sexy: Pink Pussycat and Diana Kane

Dinner: Cocotte (Fifth Avenue and Fourth Street) Stone Home Wine Bar in Ft. Greene

Movie: Definitely, Maybe" is playing at the Pavilion. Romantic comedy with Abigail Breslin. 4:40  7:10  10:00 tonight.

Hepcat was very upset about this news as well. Read Callalillie on the demise of Polaroid:

This is totally last week’s news, which should give you some indication on how behind I am on everything these days, but Polaroid has announced that they will stop producing classic instant film as soon as they have made enough of it to last through 2009. I guess this does not impact peel-back film that much, as other companies such as Fuji make compatible versions. But for regular instant film for cameras such as the SX-70, I guess we will have to rely on a different company starting to produce the packs. This happened with the Time-Zero film, which is made as a specialty item now- and is priced accordingly.

Therapist slashed to death in Upper East Side Office (NY Times)

Hasid running for Yassky’s seat (NY Daily News)

Lesterhead is looking for a job (Lesterhead)

Klein: Racial quotas are old school (NY Daily News)

Philadelphia is the new Brooklyn (NY Observer)

Enzo’s Pizzeria on PPW Open (Brooklynometry)

Brooklyn’s super delegates (The Brooklyn Optimist)

Sunday at the Brooklyn Blogade (Luna Park Gazette)

As every freelance writer knows, all good freelance jobs come to an end.

Still, it’s hard when a job you love goes away. And it takes a while to regroup and find something to replace it both emotionally and financially.

For 7 years, I have written and co-edited the Link, a 9/11 newsletter for FDNY families from the FDNY Counseling Service Unit.

It all started started back in 2001 when the city and the FDNY was in a state of shock. I got a call from the director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF), who told me that the FDNY wanted to publish a twice-monthly grief and bereavement newsletter for families who lost loved ones on 9/11.

Over the years, the Link, which was paid for by the NFFF (an exceptionally nice group of people in Emmitsburg, Maryland) evolved into something very special. It was a privilege to work with the CSU under the wise and warm leadership of director Malachy Corrigan and clinical director Diane Kane.

Writing 131 issues of the Link, I learned so much about bereavement, grief, and trauma and the FDNY. I learned so much about the strength and resilience of the FDNY community after 9/11.

In many ways, writing the Link is what inspired OTBKB and the Smartmom column. For the first time, I felt like my writing was having a direct impact on people. This intimate relationship with the FDNY readership was very satisfying and meaningful. This project also helped me deal with my own anxiety and fear after 9/11. It created a nice balance with the websites, brochures, and annual reports I write for non-profits and corporations.

It’s hard to let go of this wonderful project but clearly it’s time to move on. So that’s where I am now. Moving on and looking for the next new thing.

If anyone has any ideas, do let me know. I am open to both freelance and more permanent work. louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com

Clinton Hill blog reports that Park Slope’s Root Stock Quade will be opening a location in Clinton Hill. This should make Lesterhead very happy.

Root Stock Quade is way more than a pretty flower shop. They also provide gardening services to many apartment buildings and houses in the neighborhood. The shop also has a great nursery in back.

It looks like my prayers are finally about to be answered. While I know there are far more practical needs for the neighborhood (cheese shop, bookstore, etc), I’ve been pining for a really pretty flower / plant shop since moving to the neighborhood.

Today, I received word that Root Stock & Quade (who already have a well-established Park Slope outpost) will be opening a store on Myrtle in the old one-hour photo place next to Move With Grace (Myrtle near Hall)!!!!!!

Kosciuszko Bridge demo delay (NY Daily News)

12 Ways to say I Love You in Brooklyn (NY Daily News)

Upcoming meeting on school budget cuts (Gowanus Lounge)

More Atlantic Yards Shutter Club (Dope on the Slope)

Stroller ban coverage (Gowanus Lounge)

Just a little reminder to those of you planning on sending out Valentine’s cards.

My husband and I agree to differ about Valentine’s Day. He hates it and calls it a Hallmark holiday. Grudgingly, he will make or buy a card but his heart just isn’t in it. I don’t get hurt anymore but I do feel a twinge of regret that he’s not a flowers and chocolate kind of guy.

I happen to love Valentine’s Day: the cards, the silver-wrapped chocolates, the heart shaped gifts. It’s fun to browse the jewel-filled windows of The Clay Pot and Treasure Chest. Weeks ahead of time, they are harbingers of the big bright red spot in the middle of February.

As a girl, I enjoyed making valentines with white lace doilies or buying those tiny “Will You Be Mine” cards from Woolworths and giving them to each and every member of my elementary school class.

Even now, I shop for cards well in advance, carefully choosing the right card for friends and family. It is not lost on me that the stores are cashing in on these small gestures of love. I spent $39.99 at Possibilities, the newish card shop on Seventh Avenue (the closest thing we have to a Hallmark). That’s nearly forty dollars plus postage for this much maligned holiday.

Yeesh. The commercial nature of the day really is quite appalling. Shop after shop on Seventh Avenue has heart shaped decorations taped to their front windows — just another way to say: “Spend Money.” All the restaurants post signs announcing their Valentine’s Day dinners. It is said to be one of the two worst days of the year to eat out (the other is Mother’s Day).

But for all that it has going against it, Valentine’s Day does gently force us to acknowledge and say, “I love you” to the people we love in our lives. How bad can that be? It doesn’t need to cost a lot of money. But even when it does, it doesn’t hurt to spread a little love around.

Rose Water. You gotta love a restaurant that not only sends its customers a letter from Paris but begin the letter with this dashing quote from “An American in Paris”:

For a painter, the Mecca of the world, for study, for inspiration and for living is here on this star called Paris. Just look at it, no wonder so many artists have come here and called it home. Brother, if you can’t paint in Paris, you’d better give up and marry the boss’s daughter.
(Alan Jay Lerner (1918-1986), U.S. composer, lyricist. Jerry (Gene Kelly), An American In Paris, voice-over introduction to the film (1951).

Here’s a bit of the note from the folks at Rose Water as they scour France for great wines and ideas. And don’t forget Rose Water for heart’s day on Thursday.

Hello again. I’m in Paris for a few days after an intense week of visiting winemakers from Muscadet to Cheverny. I had the good fortune to travel with a group of American wine professionals on a trip organized each February by Joe Dressner and his partners at Louis/Dressner Selections, a favorite importing company. Many of you already know that we feature many of their wines at RW. They import natural wines, mostly from France, as well as a growing number of Italian wines. They are particularly strong in the Loire.

Joe and Co. work only with winemakers who adhere to strict principles of natural winemaking that result in what is now commonly referred to as Real Wine. These vigneron use as little chemical contact as possible, usually none. They harvest by hand and ferment only with the natural yeasts, producing wines of great character and integrity.

It came as no surprise that the winemakers that we visited turned out to be of great character themselves. From Marc Olivier at Domaine de la Pepiere in Muscadet, (who prepared us pates of wild boar and pheasant to follow dozens of local oysters) to Nadi Foucoult at Clos Rougeard in Saumur-Champigny, to Jean-Marie and Thierry Puzelat of Clos du Tue-Boeuf in Cheverny (who made us a blanquette de veau!), and others too numerous to mention here. It was a privilege to meet them, to taste the new wines, some of which were still fermenting in tank or barrel, and to taste some recent and not so recent vintages. Our first night, for example, Marc Olivier opened nearly every vintage of his Muscadets going back to the late eighties when he began making wine. He then proceeded to taste us on nearly every vintage that his uncle had made from the mid-eighties back to the late sixties! They were fresh and astonishingly vital.

For the last three days of the trip I had the great pleasure of staying with Olivier Lemasson of Les Vins Contes (remember the P’tit Rouquin Gamay from last summer?), his wife Cecile and their beautiful daughter Mila. They live in the tiny town of Cande just outside Blois. Olivier is a young winemaker with a very bright future.

In all, we tasted hundreds of wines this week. You’ll be seeing a great number of them on the list at RW in the months to come, and see below for a special dinner featuring the wines of producers I visited.

And Right in Bay Ridge is on the scene, sort of..