Category Archives: Civics and Urban Life
Sat: All Night Movie Marathon at BAM
This sounds so fun: Stay up all night and watch movies at BAM. And the price is right: $15 bucks, includes an all-night dance party and access to all screens.The marathons have really funny names and themes. Little did they know they'd be doing a memorial screening of The Wiz with Michael Jackson at 12 am on Saturday night.
Four movie marathons that are sure to
satisfy the popcorn flick lover in everyone (don't worry, there's one
screen for arthouse lovers, too!). And if you need help keeping your
energy up between film screenings, we'll also be running an all-night
dance party in BAMcafé. Tickets are $15 and include access to all
screens and dance party.
satisfy the popcorn flick lover in everyone (don't worry, there's one
screen for arthouse lovers, too!). And if you need help keeping your
energy up between film screenings, we'll also be running an all-night
dance party in BAMcafé. Tickets are $15 and include access to all
screens and dance party.
Marathon 1: Diana Ross Coming Out
Music, glamour,
and 70s schmaltz collide in this pair of films featuring superstar
Diana Ross. This double feature will have you in rapture from the
moment the words "gowns designed by Diana Ross" hit the screen.
The Wiz
12am
(1978) 134 min
Director: Sidney Lumet.
With Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Richard Pryor.
We're definitely nowhere near Kansas in this urban re-telling of the classic tale.
Mahogany
2:30am
(1975) 109 min
Director: Berry Gordy.
With Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Perkins.
Ross,
in glamorous 70s couture, is paired with Williams—the paramour to her
rising fashion model—while Perkins is the disturbed photographer who
tries to split them up.
Marathon 2: Before They Were Scientologists
BAMcinemaFEST
presents three of your favorite stars as you'd like to remember
them…before the couch jumping, Jenny Craig commercials, and, er, Battlefield Earth.
Top Gun
11:15pm
(1986) 110 min
Director: Tony Scott.
With Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer.
Tom
Cruise stars as Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a hot-shot young aviator
with a "need for speed" in this VHS classic featuring a killer 80s
soundtrack.
Look Who's Talking Too
1:30am
(1990) 81 min
Director: Amy Heckerling.
With John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Bruce Willis, Roseanne Barr.
This sequel to Look Who's Talking finds toddler Mikey learning he's got to "fight for his right to potty."
Staying Alive
3am
(1983) 93 min
Director: Sylvester Stallone.
With John Travolta.
Travolta's crotch practically co-stars in this awesomely cheesy follow-up to Saturday Night Fever. Don't miss the climactic, psychedelic S&M-themed dance sequence.
Marathon 3: All Night Bong
Whether
you're in the mood to see really good, funny movies, or feeling
unusually relaxed, hungry, and/or paranoid, this screen is for you.
Smiley Face
11:15pm
(2007) 88 min
Director: Gregg Araki.
With Anna Faris, John Krasinski.
When
Jane eats her roommate's pot-filled cupcakes, she stumbles through LA
to find replacements. With subtle social commentary throughout, some of
this is actually kind of deep, dude.
Pineapple Express
1am
(2008) 111 min
Director: David Gordon Green.
With Seth Rogen, James Franco.
Green revitalizes the classic pot plot in this 80s-action-flick-inspired comedy. "The Casablanca of pot comedies" (Cinematical).
Friday
3am
(1995) 91 min
Director: F. Gary Gray.
With Ice Cube, Chris Tucker.
Craig
and Smokey share a joint and chillax in South Central when Smokey's
dealer threatens to kill them if they don't pay their debt by the end
of the night. Boyz in the Hood with bongs.
Marathon 4: BAMcinématek Favorites
Among the many films BAMcinématek has shown over the past ten years, these three hold a special place in our hearts.
In the Mood for Love
11:15pm
(2000) 98 min
Director: Wong Kar-wai.
With Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung.
Leung and Cheung star in this lushly photographed tale of unconsummated love.
Millennium Mambo
1:15am
(2001) 119 min
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien.
With Shu Qi, Jack Kao.
A young girl drifts through endless parties and hookups in neon-soaked Taipei.
demonlover
3:15am
(2002) 115 min
Director: Olivier Assayas.
With Gina Gershon, Chloë Sevigny, Charles Berling.
A thriller about corporate greed, porn, and video games, set to a score by Sonic Youth.
The Day the 1970’s Died: Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett Dead
At 5:45 my daughter and I were on our way to her piano lesson when she looked down at her phone and said, "Michael Jackson had a heart attack." I asked how she knew and she told me that a friend, who's father works in the White House, texted her.
"His dad found out because he works with Obama," she said.
I assumed that Jackson was in a hospital in Los Angeles; that he'd recover and we'd hear more later. I did think how strange that he had a heart attack on the same day of Farrah Fawcett's death. Much of the day I'd thought about the sad death by rectal cancer of Fawcett.
She was a very poignant figure.
The public loved her in television's Charlie's Angels but she quit after one season to be movie star. But one film after the next was a flop. A sex symbol who wanted to be taken seriously as an actress, she found herself immortalized by a poster image of her toothy grin and her body fetchingly positioned in a red one-piece bathing suit.
Later she proved herself a true actress with roles in The Burning Bed and other portrayals of tragic women. I was moved by her rekindled relationship with Ryan O'Neil, who stuck by her in the end, helping her through the 3-year illness that would kill her.
After the piano lesson I overheard some men talking on Seventh Avenue: "Your favorite celebrity is dead," he said. "What are you going to do without Michael Jackson?"
Today was the day the 1970's died. In some
weird way, these two iconic figures from the 1970's will be connected for me by the timing of their demise.
Michael Jackson dead? How is that possible? He's exactly the same age as me. In fact, were born one day apart in 1958 (me: 8/28, he: 8/29). During 6th grade my classmates and I listened to the Jackson Five during breaks in Miss Freston's class. This precocious superstar who never had a childhood spent the rest of his life obsessed with children and juvenile diversions.
In 1982 Thriller thrilled. Who can forget the impact of the best selling album of all time; it permeated popular culture for months and months with its constant presence on the radio and MTV, which was just a few years old. The 14-minute video of the title song was an expertly choreographed, filmic thrill.
Beat It. Thriller. Billie Jean. The album contained one great tune after the next: it did not disappoint from start to finish. And it was such a blast to dance to.
Talent. Tragedy. Intensity. Weirdness. Maybe it makes sense that this man who never wanted to grow up and lived the life of a lost boy in his self-created Neverland complete with ferris wheels and chimpanzees died before he reached the age of 51.
And this woman who wanted to be remembered as more than a bathing beauty died bravely of rectal cancer just weeks after she "suffered in front of the camera, playing out her battle
with disease, and even her decline – and, by doing so, outing her
serious illness," writes internist/blogger Doc Gurley
Both will live on. She through that poster, the TV show, the film roles she was proud of and her brave documentary. And he with his bestselling music from the Jackson Five's ABC to to Thriller, We are the World and beyond: all petrified and ageless like Jackson wanted to be.
Luna Park Gazette: Neverland Farewell
I just read Rob Lenihan's post about the deaths of Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Ed McMahon. Here's an excerpt. Read the rest at his blog, Luna Park Gazette.
It didn’t take long, did it?
Michael Jackson was just dead for a few hours this evening when I witnessed a scramble for post-mortem memorabilia.
I stopped by a used book stand on W. 73rd Street and Broadway to see if
I could add even more paperbacks to my already mountainous collection.
As
I approached the stand, the proprietor—I guess that’s what you call
him—a large African-American man, was arguing with a skinny middle-aged
fellow with glasses who was clutching a copy of Jackson’s Thriller LP.
“I don’t want your money,” the bookseller declared forcefully.
“How much do–?” the other man tried to say.
“—I don’t want your money.”
Brooklyn Paper: Vote for The New Poet Laureate
Bob Hershon
Boerum Hill
ADVANTAGE: A great supporter and publisher of local poetry.
DISADVANTAGE: He’s too busy to be the poet laureate.
Boerum Hill
ADVANTAGE: A great supporter and publisher of local poetry.
DISADVANTAGE: He’s too busy to be the poet laureate.
“The Driver Said”
Boerum Hill?
It used to be
Gowanus.
This ain’t no neighborhood.
If ya butcher
Comes to ya funeral
That’s a neighborhood.
Matthew Rohrer
Park Slope
ADVANTAGE: Has published six books of poetry and sometimes evokes the Mets in his verse.
DISADVANTAGE: Sometimes evokes the Mets in his verse.
Park Slope
ADVANTAGE: Has published six books of poetry and sometimes evokes the Mets in his verse.
DISADVANTAGE: Sometimes evokes the Mets in his verse.
“Morning Glory on the Roof”
You have already noted the girlish beauty
Of the Morning Glory,
The delicate lavendar panties.
Looking around you,
As far as you can see,
Plants are imprisoned.
Each morning Morning
Glories open upstairs,
Out of sight.
Each night the concrete lies
Like a hot compress on the dirt.
Thank you for your brief attention.
Sharon Mesmer
Park Slope
ADVANTAGE: A funny, vivacious poet who studied under Allen Ginsberg.
DISADVANTAGE: Is liable to mention her sexual history. And she has a poem titled, “Holy Mother of Monkey Poo.”
Park Slope
ADVANTAGE: A funny, vivacious poet who studied under Allen Ginsberg.
DISADVANTAGE: Is liable to mention her sexual history. And she has a poem titled, “Holy Mother of Monkey Poo.”
“Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing In Brooklyn”
She’s a white girl dancing braless in his teenage basement bedroom.
He’s a doughy-faced guy with his tonsils in a bottle.
She’s planning to seduce him on the Staten Island Ferry.
He’s marrow-close and loaded with his first true kiss.
She thinks, “You’re nobody ’til you remind somebody of their mother.”
He just wants to go to Bombay and be alone.
She just wants a few near-death experiences.
He’s hungry for a passion bitter and damp as a last cigarette.
She first saw him masturbating off the Brooklyn Bridge on Easter.
He first saw her face down on Christmas Day, repeating, “Don’t I know you from the Poconos?”
She imagined him blonde and bovine between the stale sheets of a Times Square Hotel.
He imagined his next confession.
He invited her over for some chicken pot pie.
He lived in his parents’ wood-panelled basement.
A plastic St. Anthony stood on the lawn.
His mother was on the phone with her sister Rosetta.
He had a low IQ, but figured he could hide it.
His parents being cousins was what caused it.
Someone once told him his dull look was sexy.
He thought he’d be smart to talk about religion.
Her cheap cologne was intoxicating.
His slow tongue was shaking in reverse: words frequent and forgettable as waves.
She was imagining a cocktail party diamond-high above Manhattan
He was imagining excitement like a biblical epic.
Her heart was breaking like an Arctic ice floe.
He put on his blond armor.
She felt numb as needles.
He felt like Longinus on the subway.
They went down to his basement and closed the door.
She spotted “Victoria’s Secret” catalogues under back issues of Intellectual American.
He said, “I only buy them for the articles.”
They watched “Star Trek” videos with the sound turned off.
They played old James Taylor records.
He said, “I’d like to explore the erotic aspect of this relationship.”
She said, “Can it wait ’til the commercial?”
He said, “Have you ever read ‘The Waste Land’”?
She said, “My last boyfriend took me to Hoboken for the weekend.”
They drove around on the Belt Parkway.
They parked in the shadow of the Verrazano Bridge.
They felt like tourists in a phantom America.
He put his hand inside her blouse.
He smiled and said, “You like that, don’t you?”
She felt hot and monotonous, like a country of no seasons.
She fantasized a bath and baby powder.
He had the sensation of running hard on a dark suburban street, feeling skinless and full of eyes.
He said, “Be my Ariadne.”
Ten minutes passed big and slow like clouds.
She said, “What’s an Ariadne?”
He recalled a book by Aldous Huxley: “The Genius and the Goddess.”
He began eagerly to anticipate the terror in the morning, the terror in the evening, the terror at suppertime,
An abuse so true he would touch the stars.
Now she’s a white girl dancing braless
In his teenage basement bedr
oom.
Now he’s a doughy-faced guy flying crosstown towards Canarsie.
Frank Hoier
Bushwick
ADVANTAGE: Singer-songwriter who can reach young people.
DISADVANTAGE: Has only lived in Brooklyn for four years.
Bushwick
ADVANTAGE: Singer-songwriter who can reach young people.
DISADVANTAGE: Has only lived in Brooklyn for four years.
“What Do We Do To Love, When We Talk About Love?”
Do we ruin and rip apart what we love best
When we spout little words about it out of our breasts?
As if a sentence could do a moment justice
As if a book could convey a minute of silence
As if a song could even touch on the sound of leaves
Blowing in breezes on high up in trees
As if a joke could remind ya of your natural smile
As if “I Do” will bring out all of the love in you
What do we do to love when we talk about love?
Are we similar to heart surgeons drunk on gin
Cutting love up to repair it again?
To show off our intelligence and skill to our friends
As we sit round a table as the sunset begins
And we all want to leave but nobody will say when
So we sit here in silence growing darkness surrounding
Do we think love is in the bottom of the bottle we are drinking?
What do we do to love when we talk about love?
Are we like phony fortune tellers predicting the future
So we can tell our friends, “See I told you so” sooner?
Rubbing a fake crystal ball, a patch over one eye
Saying your view of the world ain’t as clear as mine
Listen and learn whether the world is dark or is light
Are we trying to outshine when we try to shine bright?
What do we do to love when we talk about love?
Are we communicating or just vainly pumping our veins
Full of hot blood when we call out love’s name?
Are we sure we are sharing, are we sure we even know how
To show a sliver of who we are under the shroud?
Are our impassioned speeches just more feed for the cows
To get the attention we were never allowed
We call ourselves artists and sing thru our mouths
But where’s the line between art, preaching, and shouting out loud?
What do we do to love when we talk about love?
Leon Freilich
Park Slope
ADVANTAGE: A parodist with a rapier sword and a witty epee
DISADVANTAGE: His poems are a bit of a joke, truth be told.
Park Slope
ADVANTAGE: A parodist with a rapier sword and a witty epee
DISADVANTAGE: His poems are a bit of a joke, truth be told.
“A Cooler 13th”
Steel bars do not a prison make
When it’s bar mitzvah day
And Daddy’s obligated to
Celebrate and pray.
So Tuvia Stern, an inmate at
The fabled New York Tombs,
Transcended lockup etiquette
And ordered party rooms.
He had the gym festooned with bunting
And rocked with festive strains
Provided by an Orthordox group
That blew out everyone’s brains.
Kin and kith and friends galore
All danced and sang out lustily,
Serenading the bar mitzvah boy
Religiously and robustily.
They ate and drank like Rahm Emanuel
Or baseball’s Leo Durocher,
The food having been most carefully catered
To be ultra-strictly kosher.
Sixty guests held forth in the cooler
For fully six-plus hours
While eight correction officers
Kept guard over baskets of flowers.
The guards as well made sure the party
Remained a private affair,
Keeping other prisoners
From infiltrating there.
The only jailbird to be found
Was the influential dad,
Who may be a convicted scammer
But on this day wasn’t bad.
The fraudster’s now upstate and serving
Two-and-a-half to seven
But at least he gave his now-a-man son
A taste of party heaven.
And he’s done the same for his lovely daughter —
Stern showed his jailhouse dash
Again when he had outsiders in
For her engagement bash.
Lynn Chandhok
Park Slope
ADVANTAGE: A bi-cultural poet who would add diversity to the male-dominated poetic world.
DISADVANTAGE: A bit academic, which could hurt her outreach efforts.
Park Slope
ADVANTAGE: A bi-cultural poet who would add diversity to the male-dominated poetic world.
DISADVANTAGE: A bit academic, which could hurt her outreach efforts.
“Confetti, Ticker Tape”
I want to say they’re swallows. In September,
when we were feeding everyone we could,
we’d look for them above the tracks on Ninth Street.
What startled me was how their undersides
caught the light, flashed silver, how the group
would swoop and rise like wind itself, the flock
vanishing every time it changed directions,
how the birds hung on air and clung together
circling above us, silver, like the squares
we thought were bits of fuselage or flakes
of skyscraper, falling, until they floated
towards us, lower, landing on our front stoop
and I picked the papers up, but they were blank —
one after the other, blank, burned at the edges.
They Might Be Giants
Williamsburg
ADVANTAGE: Might be the single most-identifiable Brooklyn-based rock band. Ever.
DISADVANTAGE: Let’s be real: it is well documented why Constantinople changed its name to Istanbul.
Williamsburg
ADVANTAGE: Might be the single most-identifiable Brooklyn-based rock band. Ever.
DISADVANTAGE: Let’s be real: it is well documented why Constantinople changed its name to Istanbul.
“Ana Ng”
Make a hole with a gun perpendicular
To the name of this town in a desk-top globe
Exit wound in a foreign nation
Showing the home of the one this was written for
My apartment looks upside down from there
Water spirals the wrong way out the sink
And her voice is a backwards record
It’s like a whirlpool and it never ends
Ana Ng and I are getting old
And we still haven’t walked in the glow of each other’s majestic presence
Listen Ana, hear my words
They’re the ones you would think I would say if there was a me for you
All alone at the ’64 World’s Fair
Eighty dolls yelling, “Small girl after all”
Who was at the Dupont Pavilion?
Why was the bench still warm? Who had been there?
Or the time when the storm tangled up the wires
To the horn on the pole at the bus depot
And in the back of the edge of hearing
These are the words that the voice was repeating:
Ana Ng and I are getting old
And we still haven’t walked in the glow of each other’s majestic presence
Listen Ana, hear my words
They’re the ones you would think I would say if there was a me for you
When I was driving once I saw this painted on a bridge:
“I don’t want the world, I just want your half.”
They don’t need me here, and I know you’re there
Where the world goes by like the humid air
And it sticks like a broken record
Everything sticks like a broken record
Everything sticks until it goes away
And the truth is, we don’t know anything
Ana Ng and I are getting old
And we still haven’t walked in the glow of each other’s majestic presence
Listen Ana, hear my words
They’re the ones you would think I would say if there was a me for you
go to Brooklynpaper.com to vote.
Ohio Volunteers Paint Sanctuary of Park Slope’s Old First Church
Kids Need Something To Do? Summer Stage Play at Brooklyn’s Irondale
Register now for this innovative summer theater program at the Irondale Center in Ft. Greene.
That's right. Irondale is offering performing arts workshops for kids 8-13 this summer. Starting July 13th, there are three fun-filled and affordable programs designed to let your kids experience acting, improvisation and the creation of original works in a collaborative and supportive environment.
Sounds cool and fun and creative. And it's right here in Brooklyn.
To register go to http://www.irondale.org/ssp2009.html and download their summer brochure and registration form. For further information call 718.488.9233.
Scenes from Seventh Heaven Street Fair
Michael Cunningham & Jim Shephard Electrify New Brooklyn Lit Mag
So I ran into Scott Lindenbaum, one of the co-publishers of the newly launched Electric Literature No. 1. On sale now at the Community Bookstore and elsewhere in Brooklyn and Manhattan, the first issue features fiction by Michael Cunningham and Jim Shepard
Some of you may know Scott because he used to work at the Community Bookstore. He got his MFA from Brooklyn College and is now teaching some interesting course over there.
What's neat about the publishers of Electric Literature is that they're strangely optimistic about literary publishing,
That's because they've got a multi-platform approach. Electric Literature No. 1 is "streamlined for all mediums: you can read it as a DRM-free e-book, wirelessly download for your Kindle, pop open on your iPhone on the way to work, or simply slip into your back pocket as a paperback.
Wow.
And what a line-up of good writing. Electric Literature’s Summer 2009 debut anthology features the
first published excerpt from the forthcoming novel by Pulitzer
Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham (The Hours, Specimen
Days).
The issue also showcases new fiction by some of America's most
innovative and important contemporary writers, including Jim Shepard, T Cooper, Lydia Millet, and Diana Wagman.
Stay tuned for a video blurb about Electric Literature No. 1.
Brooklyn Docs at Dweck Center Tonight: Streisand, Librarians, Trinidad
Curator Aziz Rahman, director of the Brooklyn Film and Arts Festival, just called to tell me about his new series called "Brooklyn in Film." Great topic, don't you think? Tonight is the first event at 7 p.m. at the Brooklyn Public Library (central branch) in our all time favorite space, the Dweck Center.
This will be an ongoing series presented by the Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival in partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library’s Brooklyn Collection Department. The program is titled “Brooklyn in Film” and all screenings are at the Brooklyn Public Library main branch at Grand Army Plaza.
These remarkably compelling films have been selected by Aziz Rahman, director of the Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival from the BPL’s own Brooklyn Collection. The Brooklyn documentaries being screened vividly convey Brooklyn’s uniquely complex and vibrant cultural heritage through several decades, ranging from the 1960’s to 1980’s.
When: Wednesday, June 24th, 2009, at 7:00pm – 8:45 pm.
Where: Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture Brooklyn Public Library main branch at Grand Army Plaza
Trinidad in Brooklyn - (1985) Experimental film shot by Sol Rubin in a hypnotic style documents the fervor of the Caribbean Day Parade in Crown Heights interspersing joyous celebrants, enthralled observers, local Hasidim and intermingled communities taking in the festivities.
Who Grows in Brooklyn – (1969) Follows a bookmobile and the dedicated librarians who bring books to the inner city. Shows people of all ages using the bookmobile and becoming knowledgeable about the Brooklyn Public Library system.
Incident on Wilson Street – (1964) A special education teacher, Pegi Gorelick at P.S. 16 in Brooklyn and her fifth-grade students face a crisis when one of the students, a girl, assaults another teacher. The girl, who has a cleft palate, is often hurt by cruel remarks by other children. The story involves parents, teachers, and students as they gain an understanding of the causes of the crisis, and work to improve the situation.
I Remember Barbara - (1981) Director Kevin Burns connects with Brooklynites of all stripes as they weigh-in on the legendary Barbra Streisand they once knew. Opinionated hairdressers, former schoolmates, music aficionados, beachgoers, cops, look-alikes, and others analyze and speculate about Barbra, and the influence of her Brooklyn roots on her persona.
Reward Being Offered for Return of Brooklyn’s Statue of Liberty
A just completed poster about the 8 ft. Lady Liberty statue that went missing in the early hours of Monday morning from The Vox Pop Coffee Shop in Ditmas Park states that a reward is being offered for its return.
"Help restore our local beacon of democracy! If you have see her or have any info please call: 718-940-2084."
These posters are being printed and will be papered all over the neighborhoods near the location of the coffee shop. The amount of the reward was not specified.
A Tree Dies in Brooklyn
She was the largest tree on one of the most tree-lined blocks in Brooklyn. Third Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues) in Park Slope, Brooklyn has lost one of its own.
The New York City Department of Parks began the job yesterday and closed the block to cars due to "Emergency Tree Removal." Here are some pictures taken by Eliot Wagner on Monday morning in the midst of that job.
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Breaking News: The Statue of Liberty Stolen from Brooklyn Cafe
The Vox Pop Coffee Shop in Ditmas Park Brooklyn was vandalized last night and the victim was Liberty. Lady Liberty.
An eight foot replica of the statue of Liberty stood outside the popular local hangout and had recently been restored by local artist Renie Weinstein.
A stunned Vox Pop owner Debi Ryan had one question this morning as she opened the cafe. Why? "Everyone was so happy that she was restored."
Vox Pop opened four and a half years ago but it was about to go out of business when Ryan came along and saved it, turning it into a 'for profit neighborhood collective" . That means The Vox Pop is actually owned by the neighborhood residents.
The statue has been part of the neighborhood for years. But when the need for repairs became obvious, neighborhood resident Weinstein took up the work in his nearby home.
A few days ago, he delivered a scrubbed up, restored Lady Liberty — equipped with a 21st century solar powered torch– ready for decades of pleasure and patriotism. Patrons of the cafe were elated.
"Whoever took it must have planned this out. It was no simple prank because she was bolted into five foot wooden anchors, and wouldn't have fit into an ordinary size car or van", said Ms. Ryan as she surveyed the damage. Resident Tom Martinez said, "this is such a window into our little neighborhood. Everyone loved it". Now Martinez, who is a minister at a local church, says he and others are planning to flood the neighborhood with pictures of the missing statue. "looking for lady Liberty in Ditmas Park. Last seen at the Vox Pop Cafe". The Cafe's sign looks over the empty spot and promises "Books, coffee, democracy".
Picture: NYPD Officer Baez takes the report of the stolen statue from Vox Pop manager, Debi Ryan. Photo: Tom Martinez
Rain Stays Away for Seventh Heaven Street Fair
I got out there at 11 am just as the vendors were setting up. It's my favorite time before the crowds. And crowds there were. My 1 p.m the street were packed and it looked like vendors were doing a decent business.
Highlights:
–Music in front of Old First Church, including young folk singer/country wailer Michael Daves. There was also a group called the Meeter Soul 6.
–Children's book authors in front of the Community Bookstore, including Nina Crews, Melanie Hope Greenberg, Barbara Ensor and Jenni Offill. –The very talented jeweler Rebecca Sheperd of the Urban Alchemist collective shared a booth with Nine Cakes, tiny, pretty delicious looking cup cakes.
—Miss Wit was out there selling her original and custom designed t-shirts including: Stimulus Bill, Nobody Like a Smart Alec and I'm a Big Fan of You Work. 
—Alexander Milenkovic had a nice booth of his paintings and prints (which he personalizes with a sketch on the back when you buy one). 
–Kristin Raphael selling her handmade Ttintin children's dresses in beautiful vintage-looking fabric.
—Tiki Girl Shop with her groovy girl bellbottoms and dresses; also her American Girl Doll clothing. —Insiders New York with their leather accessories printed with New York City images like the Cyclone, Love Lane, Imagine, and more.
—Bernette Rudolph with her graphically gorgeous prints.
–Kathy Malone was out there with her Fofolle designs and the Brooklyn Indie Market.
— Moim was serving short ribs and kimchi with rice. Delicious for $8.
—Jack Rabbit was selling high-end running shoes for $40.
–Slope Sports was selling discounted merchandise and used toys to benefit the Park Slope Childcare Collective
–Josh Goldstein and his Bodega NYC paintings was there as always. I love his work. –The petitioners were out in force.
–Many of the City Council candidates were out. I spotted Jo Anne Simon, Ken Diamondstone and Ken Baer.
–Green candidate David Pechefsky, just back from Africa, was there in one of his fantastic green t-shirts. Where do we get one?
–Many friends and neighbors were out and about…
Building Collapse in Ft. Greene
Here's the Daily News on yesterday's building collapse in Fort Greene:
| http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/06/21/2009-06-21_the_whole_thing_just_fell_building_collapse_in_ft_greene_brooklyn_injures_4.html |
pix from Egan Chin News
No Words Daily Pix: Photograph by Hugh Crawford
Hugh Crawford: Mermaid Parade Video #1
Hugh Crawford: Mermaid Parade Video #2
Hugh Crawford: Mermaid Parade Video #3
Steve Job’s Liver Transplant
Like everyone else I've been wondering what's been going on with Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple Computers. Well, it turns out that he had a liver transplant. There's info at Apple 2.0 blog:
Who leaked the story? Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, remarking on how unusual it is for the Wall Street Journal
to run a front page news item without offering any information about
its source, suggests three theories: 1) A healthcare provider, without
Jobs’ permission, 2) Apple’s (AAPL)
public relations department, with Jobs’ permission, or 3) someone on
Apple’s board of directors, without Jobs’ knowledge or permission.
to run a front page news item without offering any information about
its source, suggests three theories: 1) A healthcare provider, without
Jobs’ permission, 2) Apple’s (AAPL)
public relations department, with Jobs’ permission, or 3) someone on
Apple’s board of directors, without Jobs’ knowledge or permission.
It says something about the state of the news media today that it was a
blogger in San Francisco, not a reporter in Memphis, who seems to have
tracked down Steve Jobs’ Tennessee whereabouts.
Violence in Iran
The New York Times Lede blog has information about what is going on in Iran.
More amateur video has emerged of Saturday protests. A clip posted on the BBC
shows a bus set ablaze and a throng of protesters in an apparent
standoff with security forces on motorbikes in Tehran. As with other
video and images of the unrest, the authenticity of the video could not
be verified.
There's also a article by Noam Cohen called Twitter on the Barracades.
Social networking, a distinctly 21st-century phenomenon, has already
been credited with aiding protests from the Republic of Georgia to Egypt to Iceland. And Twitter,
the newest social-networking tool, has been identified with two mass
protests in a matter of months — in Moldova in April and in Iran
last week, when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to
oppose the official results of the presidential election.
Simon Owens who runs Blogasm sent me this email:
I read your post today about the massive twitter coverage of the Iranian
election protests. I conducted an experiment today where I attempted to
find out how many retweets an Iranian citizen would get when
documenting his experiences through twitter, and found that each tweet
receives an average of 57 retweets from other users:
http://bloggasm.com/tweets-coming-out-of-iran-are-retweeted-an-average-of-578-times
election protests. I conducted an experiment today where I attempted to
find out how many retweets an Iranian citizen would get when
documenting his experiences through twitter, and found that each tweet
receives an average of 57 retweets from other users:
http://bloggasm.com/tweets-coming-out-of-iran-are-retweeted-an-average-of-578-times
Anyway, I thought this was something you and your readers would find interesting.
My cousin Meg Fidler writes:
Truthout has Twitter feeds from Iran – I don’t even know what Twitter is –
most are sentence fragments essentially saying help, some are 30 second camera phone videos taken from rooftops of gun fire.
most are sentence fragments essentially saying help, some are 30 second camera phone videos taken from rooftops of gun fire.
One is a jumpy close up clip of a strikingly beautiful young woman in blue jeans sprawled on her back in the street dying. as screaming men rush to her and surround her, her eyes roll up into her head and blood pours out of her mouth and nose.
I stumbled on it. and certainly don’t want you to go look.
I’m just wanting a third reconsideration of photography from susan sontag. maybe she’d distinguish between this and the “unreality” or movie-like shots of the planes and the tower. maybe she’d again
Sun: Mass Accordians Moved to Bell House Due to Possibility of Rain
Due to the likelihood of inclement weather MASS ACCORDIONS has been moved to an indoor venue.
Hats
off! to the good folks at Bell House, who are kindly lending their
space, last-minute, between their other already-booked shows, so the facility is asking that people not remove chairs which will be already set up for a later gig. Also: Everyone has to clear out by 7:00 pm. Here's more from Bob Goldberg, who's running this event:
off! to the good folks at Bell House, who are kindly lending their
space, last-minute, between their other already-booked shows, so the facility is asking that people not remove chairs which will be already set up for a later gig. Also: Everyone has to clear out by 7:00 pm. Here's more from Bob Goldberg, who's running this event:
THE BELL HOUSE (Main Hall)
149 7th Street (not the avenue), between 2nd and 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn. 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm. The event is still free, but now there's a bartender!!
Accordion Forest and Neighborhood Suite by Famous Accordion Orchestra
Main Squeeze Orchestra and Mass Accordion playalong. Players meet at 4:00 there.
By subway:
Take F/M/R to 4th Ave-9th St.
Walk north 2 blks + west 1-1/2 blks towards the Gowanus canal.
Notes: The
Bell House is the former 1920's Gowanus printing warehouse, where MSO
played the Found Magazine party a couple months ago. It also happens
to be a couple blocks from the park, and close to the subway. Capacity
of the main hall is 200-300 people.
Bell House is the former 1920's Gowanus printing warehouse, where MSO
played the Found Magazine party a couple months ago. It also happens
to be a couple blocks from the park, and close to the subway. Capacity
of the main hall is 200-300 people.
People
who still show up at the park tomorrow looking for Mass Accordions will
be re-directed to the Bell House. Many thanks to the Make Music
festival volunteers, Parks Dept, and the Old Stone House museum for
their efforts to date. If weather permits, there may be a parade back to the Old Stone House after the regular set! See you tomorrow! And thanks everybody for supporting free music events for the public.
who still show up at the park tomorrow looking for Mass Accordions will
be re-directed to the Bell House. Many thanks to the Make Music
festival volunteers, Parks Dept, and the Old Stone House museum for
their efforts to date. If weather permits, there may be a parade back to the Old Stone House after the regular set! See you tomorrow! And thanks everybody for supporting free music events for the public.
Tom Martinez, Witness: Cheers
Photo by Tom Martinez
Smartmom: Hepcat and Teen Spirit Bond Over David Byrne
Smartmom had two press tickets to the David Byrne show and the
“Celebrate Brooklyn” opening night gala, but she couldn’t go because
had to teach her invaluable “How to Blog” class at the Brooklyn Arts
Exchange.
“Why don’t you go with Teen Spirit?” she suggested to Hepcat. “It
might be nice for some father/son bonding. And if they give you a
problem, just say Teen Spirit is your photo assistant.”
Hepcat was game and he was also excited to take performancephotographs of David Byrne. Back in the day (30 years ago to be exact),
Hepcat was a music photographer for Rolling Stone.
The night of the show an excited father and son walked over to Prospect Park to attend the before-concert gala.
“Dad, you’ve seen Talking Heads before, right?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, I saw them for the first time at CBGB in
1976. They opened for The Ramones, and I’d never heard of them,” Hepcat
told Teen Spirit warming up for a long nostalgic tale.
“I drove to the Bowery from Bard College with a bunch of friends in
an old Volkswagen that had a dead battery. You had to push it to start
just like in ‘Little Miss Sunshine,” Hepcat laughed to himself.
“That night, we got to sit right in front of the stage. Everyone
knew to sit farther back because Dee Dee Ramone liked to swing his bass
over the first row. We ended up having to duck a lot.”
According to Hepcat, Talking Heads were amazing that night. David
Byrne clutched the microphone and only made eye contact with the
ceiling.
“His vibrato on ‘Psycho Killer’ was more a bad case of nerves than vocal technique,” he told Teen Spirit.
As they crossed Eighth Avenue, Teen Spirit interrupted Hepcat’s rock and roll reminiscence,
“I hear at these big shows that photographers can only take pictures during the first two songs,” Teen Spirit told Hepcat.
“They never did that back when I was doing concert photography,” Hepcat said.
Once inside the park, Hepcat and Teen Spirit approached the Celebrate Brooklyn press table
“Remember: we’re press and you’re my assistant,” Hepcat told Teen Spirit. He handed him a camera.
Photographer and assistant got into the gala without a hitch and were given green plastic press bracelets.
“No flashes during the show and photographers can only take pictures
during the first two songs,” the Celebrate Brooklyn official told them
sternly. Teen Spirit didn’t say, “I told you so.”
Finally, after some proclamations by boisterous local politicians,
Byrne came out on stage with white hair, a white suit, and a white
Stratocaster. When he started playing, the stage filled with musicians
and dancers. Byrne made a tangible connection with the crowd, which
spilled out across West Drive to the softball fields.
Listening to the music, Hepcat remembered the second time that he
saw Talking Heads, a few months after the CBGB show. He was listening
to the radio in his college darkroom and heard that they were playing
in about an hour at Joyous Lake, a folk/jazz club in Woodstock. He
decided to drive over with four of his friends to catch the show.
As it turned out, Hepcat and his friends were the entire paying
audience. When they left, Hepcat wondered if the band was disappointed
when their entire audience got into one Volkswagen like circus clowns
in reverse.
After David Byrne’s second song, most of the professional photographers, obeying the rules, stopped taking pictures.
“Two songs for the photographers,” Teen Spirit said.
Hepcat wondered when Teen Spirit became the concert etiquette know-it-all? Sure, he has his own band and all. But still…
“David Byrne sure looks spry up there,” Teen Spirit said.
“Does that mean I’m spry?” Hepcat asked Teen Spirit. They are, after all, the same age.
“No, Dad, you aren’t spry, you are …” Hepcat didn’t much like where this was going.
During breaks between songs, Teen Spirit and Hepcat discussed the altogether excellent music, stagecraft and choreography.
“It all seems so right, and somehow it all makes so much sense, all
this circling back, all the same only different,” he told Teen Spirit.
“You know, ‘Same as it ever was,” he said quoting a famous Talking
Heads song.
After the show, Hepcat and Teen Spirit tried to decide what to do.
“Are you going to hang out, or are you going to go straight home?” Teen Spirit asked his dad.
“I’ll probably stay a little while,” Hepcat said, energized by the great show.
“I’ll think I’ll skip the party,” Teen Spirit said.
“Too much rampant spryness?” Hepcat asked.
“I guess,” Teen Spirit replied.
“Hey, this was a nice pre-Father’s Day thing to do,” Hepcat told Teen Spirit. He touched his arm.
“Is it Father’s Day soon?” Teen Spirit asked. “When is it?”
“The third Sunday of June, same as it always is,” Hepcat told him.
“You know I’m playing a concert in East River Park that Saturday. That could be a Father’s Day gift!”
Indeed.
This Smartmom is based on writing by Hugh Crawford: hughcrawford.com/David_Byrne
Lady Liberty at Vox Pop
The New Colossos
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
--Emma Lazarus
Photo of Lady Liberty being installed in her spot outside Vox Pop by Tom Martinez
Tom Martinez, Witness: A Mighty Woman with a Torch
This faux Statue of Liberty sculpture was vandalized while
outside Vox Pop recently. Rennie, a long-time Brooklynite, refurbished her and now she is newly equipped with a solar powered torch!.
Witness
photographer Tom Martinez was on hand to help Rennie as he transported Lady Liberty through the streets of
Kensington to Vox Pop, a cafe, performance space and bookstore on
Cortelyou Road.
OTBKB Music: Sunday is Make Music New York
Sunday is the third annual Make Music New York celebration. Previously noted in OTBKB has been the Accordion Forest and Singalong at The Old
Stone House, part of that celebration. Pierre at The Gigometer has provided OTBKB Music with a list of some of the other better performances today:
Juliet Echo (8:00pm) – First Avenue and Houston Street
And The Revellers Fell (6:00pm) – Grand Ferry Park
Maggie Doucet (3:00pm) / Stephen Clair (4 – 5:30pm) – Kill Devil Hill
Joséphine (3:00pm) – Urban Cottage
Lili Roquelin (1:00am) – Astoria Music Shop
Alicia Jo Rabins (6:30 -8pm) – Riverside Park
Athena Reich (1 – 2pm) – La Perla Garden
Tamara Hey (4:00pm) – 2nd Ave and E 10th St
Joe Thompson and the Comfortable Catastrophes (1:00am) – City Hall Park
Cassis and the Sympathies (5:30pm) – Tavern on the Green
Karen Mantler (2:00am) – DeSalvio Playground
Bill Popp and The Tapes (3 – 4pm) / Little Kitten Space Girl (5:30
-6pm) – Washington Square Park
Stephane Wrembel (1:00pm) – Fada Restaurant
Venice Beach Muscle Club – Coney Island
Her Vanished Grace (11:30am ? 12:15pm) / Rebecca Pronsky (2:45 ?
3:30pm) / Sharon Van Etten (5:30 ? 6:15pm) – Sackett St Block Party
Daru Oda (noon – 3pm) – Inspired Design
Hot Box (5:15pm) – Spike Hill
Matt Singer (5:00pm) / Willie Breeding (7:30pm) – Bar Matchless
The Scandinavian Half-Breeds (4 – 6pm) – Lovin' Cup
Randi Russo (4:00pm) / Lorraine Leckie (5:00pm) – Pass Out Record Shop
Amanda Monaco (4:00pm) – The Creek
(For more information about the bands or venues listed above, check The Gigometer)
–Eliot Wagner
Seventh Heaven: Children’s Book Authors at Community Bookstore Tent
The Community Bookstore has a great lineup of children's book authors on Sunday! Come on out and join the fun, including these great
authors and the first ever 7th Avenue Scavenger Hunt!!!
11:00
Emily Goodman :
Plant Secrets
11:30
Robert Weinstock :
Food Hates You, Too
Giant Meatball
12:00
Jenny Offill :
17 Things I’m Not Allowed to Do Anymore
12:30
Marilyn Singer :
I’m Your Bus
City Lullaby
1:00
Pat Cummings :
Harvey Moon, Museum Boy
Our Children Can Soar
1:30
Anna Rich :
Under the Night Sky
2:00
Nina Crews :
Neighborhood Mother Goose
Below
2:30
Barbara Ensor :
Cinderella (As If You Didn’t Already Know the Story)
Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride
3:00
Johan Olander :
A Field Guide to Monsters
3:30
Melanie Hope Greenberg :
Mermaids on Parade
4:00
Daniel Salmieri :
Those Darn Squirrels
4:30
Charlotte Noruzi :
Grow, Watermelon, Grow
New Chef at Rose Water
News from Rose Water, Park Slope's seasonal American restaurant with a strong commitment to local and organic ingredients has news.
Today they sent out an email announcing the arrival of of a new chef. Formerly Chef de Cuisine at Los Angeles' renowned Campanile, Chef Bret Macris is now at the helm of Rose Water's kitchen.
"Bret
brings with him an affinity for all things seasonal and sustainable,
and a great love for the varied cuisines of the Mediterranean. He's
been busy making friends with our farmers and suppliers,
and he's geeking-out over the late spring-early summer produce that's
starting to roll in. You can check out his current dinner menu on the website.
"We
are so excited to have him with us, and the reviews he's getting from
our customers are positively ecstatic. Please help us make him feel at
home here in Brooklyn! We're hoping he's gonna be cooking here for a
good long while."