Thanks to Neil Feldman, who writes the Not Only Brooklyn, I  have the following info. I strongly urge you to sign up for his wonderful free newsletter about free cultural events in Brooklyn but not limited to Brooklyn.

Email Neil directly, with the message "Subscribe to NOB" and your first and last name, so it is legal for him to add you to the subscription list. And now, here’s what Neil has planned for you this Saturday.

You may see Neil at one of these events. He gets around on a bike and tries to make it to a lot of the things he’s so passionate about. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Neil’s newsletter.

At 4 p.m. on Saturday, Neil says Celebrate Brooklyn is the place to be when they celebrates the life and art of Ezra Jack Keats the prize winning artist and children’s books author and illustrator.

He is considered the first children’s author to place his diverse characters in urban environments, an unknowing pioneer of the multi-culturalism he saw growing up in Brooklyn decades before the concept had a name. He also used collage to illustrate his beautiful books. Performing in his honor are adults who understand children. Jamaican reggae and ska singer Rankin Don, who has come to Brooklyn and become Father Goose is perhaps the only children’s entertainer who uses the Caribbean musics. The Sippy Cups are California parents of pre-schoolers who have learned to entertain from their own children. Brooklyn singer-songwriter star Joan Osborne totally rocked out the Celebrate Brooklyn show she headlined last summer, but today she will read from Keats’s books between music sets, as will actor James McDaniel, probably best known for playing Lt. Arthur Fancy on NYPD Blue. Born in 1916 as Jacob Ezra Katz at 438 Vermont St in East New York, he felt compelled to legally change his name after serving in WW II due to the anti-Semitism he encountered in the publishing industry. FREE, but $3 at the gate keeps it great. Prospect Park Bandshell near 9th St & Prospect Park West.

From 5-11 p.m. follow Neil to the Brooklyn Museum’s Target First Saturday:

This is this month’s edition of the best, most heterogeneous FREE! party in NYC will have a distinct Caribbean accent, in honor of the annual world famous West Indian American Day Carnival on September 1, which will be sponsoring steel pan music, stilt walkers and more outside the Museum beginning at 3. Explore the weblinks for full details of the dance groups, film, author reading, gallery talks, Cuban film Life is to Whistle and outdoor dance party with Reggae Retro and Judah Tribe.

From 7 p.m. until midnight, Neil is off to Coney Island for some roller skating fun:

Dreamland Roller Rink celebrates its opening with a blow out party on wheels, with
DJ Julio, Gotham Girls Roller Derby, skate dancers, burlesque and more! You may recall NOB recommending the June fund raisers to help designer Lola Staar, who had a dream of transforming the former Childs Restaurant in Coney Island into a people’s rock rink. She did it!
$10, skate rentals $5. 3052 W 21st St on the Boardwalk.

And at 8 p.m. groove on over to Rooftop Films with Neil for some Home Movies:

Every year Rooftop hosts a program of Home Movies. Usually unfiltered, these films reveal feelings or fleeting incidents that might otherwise pass without thought, but when recorded can provide insights. This dozen films between one and 29 minutes long in this year’s program are different. They are less about the immediate moment than about the reflected moment—less web cam and more video diary.

I guess Brooklyn Councilmember Bill de Blasio is vexed about Long Island Community Hospital’s decision to close their maternity department and sell off buildings in order to get out from under a $117 million debt. He released the following statement this morning.

“I am extremely troubled by LICH’s plan to close its maternity ward. This closing, coupled with the recent termination of the hospital’s rape crisis center, is part of a disturbing pattern of taking important medical services away from Brooklyn families.

“The possibility of LICH closing is unacceptable. Brooklyn cannot afford to lose the services this hospital provides. LICH must work with the community to create a long-term plan for combating its financial problems, and for serving the needs of the Brooklyn.”

Who can orget Richie Haven’s incredible performance as the opening act at Woodstock. I wasn’t there but I saw the movie and have heard that song umpteen times. Freedom, freedom, freedom. Was that the opening of "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child."

I’ve always loved Richie Havens. And according to Park Slope’s Ben Greenman in the New Yorker, he has a great new album just out called Nobody Left to Crown.

“Nobody Left to Crown” (Verve Forecast), Havens’s first
recording in four years, opens with a pair of originals, “The Key” and
“Say It Isn’t So,” which manage to address spiritual themes without
sounding overly earnest, a trick that sometimes eluded the artist in
his younger years. The centerpiece of the album is a majestic cover of
“Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Over his trademark open-tuned strumming,
Havens delivers a commanding vocal performance that fully restores the
revolutionary impulse of The Who’s original; he somehow gets blood from
a song that has been ossified for years. Nothing else quite rises to
that level, though there’s an urgent version of Jackson Browne’s “Lives
in the Balance” and several strong tracks in which Haven applies
Eastern-style enlightenment to Realpolitik—including the quietly
furious title song, which slyly quotes “Home on the Range.”

And he’s a Brooklyn boy to boot. Born in Bed-Stuy. Here’s the blurbage about BAM’s R&B Festival at Metrotech, where Havens will be performing on August 7 at noon. Marcus Carl Franklin, the incredible kid who played one of the Bob Dylan’s in "Im Not There" WILL BE THERE. Note to self: Don’t miss this.

Born in Bed-Stuy, Richie Havens is gifted with one of the most recognizable voices in popular music—a fiery, poignant singing style that has remained ageless since he first emerged from the burgeoning Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 1960s. His blistering performance at Woodstock helped Havens reach a worldwide audience of millions, and for decades he has used music to convey messages of brotherhood and personal freedom. Joining him is teenage blues guitarist Marcus Carl Franklin, who portrayed a young Bob Dylan in the 2007 fictionalized biopic of Bob Dylan I’m Not There appearing in a telling scene with Havens.      

A gaggle of TV and print news reporters gathered near the path to Lookout Hill in Prospect Park yesterday waiting for news from the Police Department about the man who was murdered there.

The TV journalists stayed in one area, the print journalists and photographers in another. It was an interesting scene.

The reporter from the Daily News announced that the area was called Lookout Hill. Reporters shot out questions to the cops that were guarding the path about the geography.

"The road over there is called Wellhouse Drive," one cop said referring to the path that goes south to north next to the Lake.

Most of the unconfirmed information about the body came from the reporters. One TV reporter, who was rushing off to edit her story, told me incorrectly that they found a skeleton under a pile of leaves and that it was probably an old murder. She was absolutely wrong about that.

A reporter who actually climbed up the hill before the police closed off the area saw the body and said he saw a male, probably hispanic, in a white t-shirt and blue jeans, lying in an area near Lookout Hill.

The reporters stopped runners, who slowed down to see why there were so many police cars, and asked them how they felt about a Homicide in Prospect Park. One reporter said something to the effect of: We need to fan the flames of tabloid-dom. One young  photographer said  to me: I’m supposed to stop people on the road  and ask them how they feel but it’s embarrassing.

Bikers and runners did react to news of the crime. People kept walking up to me to find out what was going on. People looked shocked but not surprised that something like this could happen in our park. One person said, "I’m not going to tell my wife about this because she’s in this park every day."

Some wanted to know if Lookout Hill is a gay cruising spot—as if that would somehow explain a crime of this nature. One guy, a news photographer said, "Some guy was bludgeoned about a year and a half ago on the other side of the park. A known homosexual. It was in the Vale of Cashmere."

Others acknowledged that the inner paths of the park are dark and mysterious and not a place they’d want to go after dark or alone.

I overheard some policemen talking about the hill as the site of the  Battle of Brooklyn, which was fought on August 27th 1776. I didn’t write down what they said so I looked it up today. Here’s Dalton Rooney:

The setting for the first major battle of the Revolutionary War. The
Continental Army lost the battle, but they held the British back long
enough for Washington and his troops to escape to New Jersey.

The reporters watched as the medical examiner’s van drove up the narrow path. Later four detectives in natty suits went up the hill. One looked like Liam Neeson and had a wide white tie.

Finally the van holding the body came down the hill. Someone, I think it was one of the cops said, "Hey guys, here’s your shot."

The photographers positioned themselves to get a picture of the van as it drove by. Later some cops,wearing plastic gloves and holding large brown paper bags, came down.

"No comment," they said brusquely. 

When the well-dressed detectives emerged, some reporters asked for a comment but none was forthcoming.

The TV crews were waiting for permission to go up the path. "Can we go up to the tape?" the attractive news anchor asked again and again. But I don’t think anyone was allowed near the crime scene yesterday. Once most of the police left the scene, the reporters did, too.

The park was peaceful. In other areas no one seemed aware that a man was murdered in the park. They just went about their day at the playground, running the drive, in Long Meadow.

A humid and peaceful weekday in the park.

Photo of Lookout Hill taken by Dalton Rooney. 

BAMcinematek presents Elliot Gould: Star for an Uptight Age August 1-21th. What a great idea for a festival. Brooklyn-born, Elliot Gould starred in a bunch of iconic films of the 1970’s: MASH, The Long Goodbye, Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice, California Split, I Love My Wife.

He was even in a 1971 Ingmar Bergman film called The Touch. Perhaps he is best known for his work with the great Robert Altman. Check the BAM website for the full schedule. Gould will do a Q&A after the 6:30 showing of Little Murders (written by Jules Feiffer and directed by Alan Arkin) on Friday August 8th. He will will also do a &A  after the 6:30 showing of The Long Goodbye (directed by Altman) on August 9th. Here’s the BAM blurgage:

1970: the year of M*A*S*H,
when Brooklyn-born Elliott Gould became a full-fledged movie
star. Time Magazine christened him “Star for an Uptight Age,”
suggesting that the audiences of the 70s, with their own insecurities
and neuroses now reflected onscreen, were welcoming a new kind of
leading man who possessed a greater depth, complexity and a willingness
to go further as a performer. We are pleased to welcome Elliott Gould
to BAMcinématek with this special focus on his extraordinary work in
the 70s, including his three legendary collaborations with Robert
Altman and a rare screening of Bergman’s The Touch.
 

Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby, who run the Brooklyn Flea are working double-time to keep the neighborhood happy despite heated gripes that came spilling out at a recent community meeting in a local church.

The complaints: The Flea is bad for parking. It’s noisy and disruptive to neighborhood life on a summer Sunday.  There are also complaints about the large number of bikes locked up outside the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene. So the latest innovation to keep the neighbors happy: valet parking for bikes.

Starting this Sunday, we are pleased to announce that bike parking
at the Flea just got a whole lot easier. Bike valet is coming to the
Flea! Even better, it’s free.

We love folks to bike, walk, subway, bus, or blade-scooter to the
Flea–and now you can just hop off your bike, park it with our trusty
valet guy/gal right in front of the Lafayette entrance, get your
ticket, and pick up your bike on the way out. No muss, no worries, no
sweat.

The fine folks at Transportation Alternatives
provide this service at a few spots around town, and we’re hoping that
this new partnership with the Flea will kick bike valet into high gear
as a viable option for cyclists around the city at big or small events.

Good bye and good luck to Gabby, Brownstoner’s current managing editor and writer. Today is her last day at Brownstoner and she is leaving to  pursue a freelance career. I ran into Gabby once on Seventh Avenue and we had a really nice chat.

Gabby, we wish you the very best in your new adventure. Jonathan Butler, publisher of Brownstoner, had this to say about Gabby’s excellent work on the blog.

Gabby’s coverage of real estate and retail
development in Park Slope and Gowanus, in particular, have been second
to none and her reliability at staying on top of the news has given us
a chance to step back a little from the day-to-day grind to focus on
the larger direction of the site and related new projects like The
Flea.

And to replace Gabby, Butler has hired writer Lisa Selin Davis, who will begin as the full-time managing editor and writer on Monday. Lisa covers real estate and travel for the New York
Times, Metropolis, Interior Design and This Old House.

I met Lisa when she read excerpts from her novel, Belly, a novel set amid horse racing set in Saratoga Springs, NY, at Brooklyn Reading Works a couple of years ago.

Good Luck to both Gabby and Lisa.

The economy is looking very glum, the ranks of the unemployed is growing and Nydia Velazquez, a Brooklyn Congresswoman, has proposed a bill that would allow people on
unemployment to collect food stamps while they search for work.

As reported on New York 1, Velazquez and other advocates think the government should help the  state’s 500,000 unemployed adults.

"Making sure that in this nation, the most powerful richest country
in the world, that we provide a safety net for those most vunerable,” Velazquez told NY 1.

The body of a 10-year-old girl who disappeared swimming in the ocean at Coney Island was found this morning off the coast of Brighton Beach.

My friend who lives in Coney Island knows the family. The child’s name was Akira Johnson, 10. She lived in Far Rockaway but came to the beach to go swimming on Saturday. Powerful riptides pulled her under and she never came back up.

–In JJ Byrne Park. Third Street and Fifth Avenue at 8:30 p.m,  Brooklyn Film Works presents The Candiate with Robert Redford. This amusing, albeit cyncial, documentary
fiction about "the semi-truths manufactured to market a candidate, The
Candidate shrewdly exposed the effects of the media on the political
process, posing unanswerable questions that have become all the more
pressing with every soundbite-ruled election."

8:30 on the big screen in JJ Byrne Park. Third Street and Fifth Avenue

–At Brooklyn Bridge Park: Music at the Bridge Welcomes Issue Project Room:
Set times:
           John Zorn/Cobra                    6:45pm
           Theremin Society                   7:45pm
           Jonathan Kane/February       8:45pm

This goes out to a friend who recently told me that she wants to explore Williamsburg. This Saturday participate in the last Saturday of Williamsburg Walks, a 4-week experiment in closing Bedford Avenue to traffic from Metropolitan Avenue to North 9th Street.  A way to rethink public space, it’s also a way to experience the main drag of hipster Williamsburg.

I know that a group were trying to organize something like this in Park Slope. Hopefully that can happen next year. For now, read about Williamsburg’s experiment and maybe try to get over there.

This is a “green” event and it is very much in the spirit of the
Mayor’s PlaNYC initiative to make the city a more inviting and livable
place by 2030.

Williamsburg Walks built upon the concept of “streets as places.”
Not to be confused with a street fair or failed attempts to create
pedestrian malls, Williamsburg Walks is taking an already dynamic place
and opening it up to the community.

If you build more streets, you get more cars. If you build more
pedestrian-friendly areas, street furniture and bike lanes, you will
get more pedestrians, bikers and a social environment for the community.

If this four week experiment is a success, we hope to extend it and
consider the possibility that Bedford Avenue could be closed every
Saturday the same way Orchard Street has been closed on Sundays since
the 60s.

We are doing everything we can to ensure that this event is a
success. We want it to be remembered as a clean, safe and
well-organized event. We are trying to be inclusive and address the
needs, issues and concerns of the community. We want your feedback,
good or bad, and we hope to learn lessons each weekend and apply them
to the next.

This is bad news for Park Slope foodies. The A&S Pork Store, a Fifth Avenue institution since 1948, is set to close in October. What we’re losing: a fantastic butcher, deli, and maker of prepared foods that are absolutely delicious. What is my family going to do without their Chicken, eggplant and veal parmesan.

And their breads…I love their foccacia bread, their mozzarella, their other delicious specialties.

And that’s not all: we’re losing the last butcher shop in Park Slope. The very last. And that’s patently ridiculous. We lost Great Western Fine Foods last month and now this. I was a frequent Western Fine Foods customer and noticed that they were showing the space to interested parties.

Now this.

A&S has been a fixture on Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue for a long time. Anthony Scicchitano opened the business on Fifth Avenue in 1948 and eventually expanded to 26 franchises across the city.

As reported in the Daily News, the current sibling owners of A&S, Salvatore and Enzo Bonnello, took over the shop five years ago. According to the Daily News, they were told by Scicchitano that their future was secure. But Sccicchitano died 18 months ago and his daughter wanted to sell the building. The brothers can’t afford to relocate in Park Slope. Their current rent is $5,000. and the market value for other store ronts is now $12,000.

Every time I went into A&S I wanted to tell them: you can’t close this shop, you can’t close this shop, you’re all we have left. The last butcher but also one of the last vestiges of mom and pop Park Slope.

Is there some way that they can stay in Park Slope. Any one out there have an idea? 

The findings of the Straphangers 2008 Subway Report Card are in and there’s lots to read over at their website. Here’s an overview from the site:

–Our findings show the following picture of how New York City’s subways are doing:

–The best subway line in the city is the L with a MetroCard Rating of $1.40.
The L ranked highest because it performs best in the system on two
measures—regularity of service and announcements—and well above average
on three other measures: frequency of scheduled service, delays caused
by mechanical breakdowns and the percentage of dirty cars. The line did
not get a higher rating because it performed well below average on: a
chance of getting a seat during rush hour. The L runs between 14th
Street/Eighth Avenue in Manhattan and Canarsie in Brooklyn. The
previous top-rated line—the 1—dropped to a fourth-place tie.
 

–The
7 came in second behind the L with a MetroCard Rating of $1.30. Both
the 7 and L are in a pilot “Line General Managers” program, which
appears to be benefiting riders. According to New York City
Transit leadership: “the new positions will be responsible for
virtually all elements of the day-to-day operations on both of these
lines [and] will be given their own railroads and the responsibility
for running them to the satisfaction of our customers.”⁶
The 7 performed above average on four measures: frequency of scheduled
service, regularity of service, delays caused by mechanical breakdowns
and chance of getting a seat during rush hour. The line did not get a
higher rating because it performed below average on: the percentage of
dirty cars and adequate announcements. The 7 runs between Times Square
in Manhattan and Flushing, Queens.

–The W was ranked the worst subway line, with a MetroCard Rating of 70 cents. The
W line has a low level of scheduled service and performs below average
on four other measures: regularity of service, car breakdowns, car
cleanliness and announcements. The W did not receive a lower rating
because it performed above average on: a chance of getting a seat
during rush hour. The W line operates between Whitehall Street in lower
Manhattan and Astoria, Queens. In last year’s survey, the W tied for
the worst line with the C.
 

–Overall,
we found a weak showing for subway service. Car breakdowns worsened
from a mechanical failure every 156,624 miles in 2006 to one every
149,646 miles in 2007. Subway car announcements deteriorated from 90%
in the second half of 2006 to 85% in the second half of 2007. Two other
measures showed no sign of improvement: regularity of arriving trains
and car cleanliness. (We were unable to compare the      remaining two measures.)

What is going on in Kensington?

On July 27, 2008 between 6:30 and 6:50 a.m., twelve cars had their tires slashed on Cortelyou Road between Ocean Parkway and East 7th Street.

A group calling itself the Kensington Action Force wants to know if anyone observed this activity on Sunday morning. Send replies to Kaforce(at)yahoo(dot)com

According to the Kensington Action Group and the local NYPD precinct, car vandalism has spiked
recently in the Kensington community. Here’s something that was posted on Kensington Blog.

there’s been about 20-30 car break-in, usually 2-4 a night, that I have seen personally around Ocean Parkway and Cortelyou, along Cortelyou, and on East 7th Street by the side of the
church and between the school,

I usually hit around midnight to 5am,
since i walk my dog regularly at 6am. The best police have done is park
unmanned golf cart decoys on the block. this regular occurance is an
outrage since its obvious to me that they are targeting large suv’s
with out of state plates, always around the same time and always parked
in spots that are not exactly in front of a residence or apt bldg.

Here Brooklyn Beat of the blog, Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn, shares his impresssions of the  Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition’s HOT! Summer Art Exhibition this weekend at the BWAC
exhibition space at 499 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook.

With the sturdy waves of New York harbor lapping against the waterfront shoreline, the BWAC summer show drew a good crowd all weekend.

-Artist Dawn Robin Petrlik’s installation "The Lonely Death of Esmin Green" which combines the artist’s sculpture of a woman’s body, collapsed face down on the floor, along with chairs and a video monitor, to create a meditation on the death of Esmin Green, a patient at Kings County Hospital, who died on June 19 in the waiting room, after convulsing on the floor. Ms. Petrlik’s notes on the installation indicate that it is her attempt to address the simple important fact of Ms Green’s passing, not as "some woman", or "some immigrant" or some "crazy person" but this person."

The audience becomes part of the installation as you walk through the space and see yourself, along with the sculpture, in a video surveillance monitor. Ms. Petrlik indicated that the sculpture, which is not for sale, will "naturally dry out and crumble over the course of the show in a symbolic ashes to ashes gesture." Viewers are invited to make repeat visits to review this process and to remember this story, and this person "with her name and dignity intact."

The late Ms. Green, 49, was the mother of 6 children, ages 14 – 31, in Jamaica; Ms Green came to the US, a church-going member of her community, was working in day care in order to support herself and her family at home. According to CNN, previous psychological problems may have been exacerbated by loss of her job and apartment, which led to her admission to Kings County, where she died, neglected by staff at the hospital’s psychiatric emergency room. A very powerful, provocative and thoughtful work. For more on this installation: http://www.dawnrobyn.com. For more background on the life and death of Esmin Green: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/03/hospital.woman.death/

-Red Hook Cine Soiree! On Sunday, July 27th, guest programmer Joel Schlemowitz presented a salon of experimental and underground films from a band of intrepid, avant-garde cine-artists . The program opened with recorded music – 1920s foxtrots played on a wonderfully low-tech, hand-cranked, Victrola. The films ranged from the sublime to the sublimely ridiculous and somewhere in between. Cats and Pants by Jennifer Matotek, featuring, whatelse, cats and pants, proved to be a big crowd pleaser. Robot Movie, by Fabio Roberti, featuring a dancing robot, a circa 1980s guitar player, and a sound track of electro-madness was described by one critic as "Alien Transmission" and there’s not much more to say than that, although I for one am a better person for seeing it. Five Haikus for the NY Subway by Zaza M. was sensitive and humorously brilliant. Sometimes, while 8 hours of a camera focused on the Empire State Building as Andy Warhol did, might make a statement, a couple of others showed that there is art in brevity, notably, Faces in the Flowers by Jennifer McMillan, which was lovely if a bit twee and just a bit too long for this viewer, but with an affecting soundtrack, while Spidery, by Bradley Eros, films of the micro-natural world backed by a score by Karlheinz Stockhausen, clocked in at 5:55 minutes and, while Lord knows I tried to embrace the aesthetic, it just made me think "I’d Rather Be Waterboarding." But Stan Brakhage, for all his avant-brilliance, can test the soul, too, so, there ya go. Despite my facile comments, clearly every filmmaker here had something to say, something worth saying and therefore worth seeing.

Overall a great program on an alternately steamy then stormy Sunday afternoon. More films and programs to come. Visit the BWAC site. Fine programming by Joel Schlemowitz, guest curated by Mike Olshan. More on the films and the programmer: http://www.joelschlemowitz.com

-Music Saturday by the Big Bang Big Band, a large, percussive and groovy orchestra and blues vocalist, and Sunday by Le Nozzi de Carlo, a gentle, thoughtful, and tasteful Latin-tinged pop and jazz ensemble, were highlights of the weekend. More performances to come. Again, check out the BWAC site.

BWAC proves to be a great place to be for art, provocations and entertainment on weekends 1 PM – 6 PM though August 17.

More on BWAC: http://bwac.org

Brooklyn Based, a thrice-weekly e-newsletter (and site) always contains inspired tips about things to do, places to eat, and really unusual findings in the borough of Kings. Today she’s got a great guide to the foodie pleasures of Brooklyn’s Chinatown. She calls it Foodie Field Trip #1: Brooklyn’s Chinatown. Go to her site and sign up for her newsletter. You’re missing out.

Calling the section of 8th Ave. off the N train “Chinatown” is like calling The Wire “a TV show” or foie gras “food.” It doesn’t do it justice. Yes, you can get great dumplings and buy glazed tripe and chicken feet from street food vendors. There are the usual bins of tiny dried fish and tanks full of live frogs. Fried pig’s head? They have you covered. But what sets the Brooklyn Chinatown apart (and the Chinatown in Flushing, Queens, but this isn’t called Queens Based, now is it?) from its Manhattan counterpart is the stuff that is not the missionary position Ten Ren bubble tea and Custard King.

Last Sunday, while I was still in Block Island, the Brooklyn Blogade met in Prospect Park for a picnic.

I’m so sorry I missed it for what a picnic is was. Hosted by A Year in the Park and Dope on the Slope with generous help from Creative Times, it was quite the event. The Brooklyn Blogade, an outgrowth of the Brooklyn Blogfest, is a monthly meet-up for bloggers, blog readers, those interested in becoming bloggers and their friends all over Brooklyn. The next one is in September and I will, of course, keep you posted. Here’s Brenda on the picnic of a  A Year in the Park  on the picnic. Go to her blog for more words and pictures.

This symphony of thundercloud-colored foliage in the Concert Grove was a perfect grace note for a Brooklyn Blogade picnic bookended by ominous thunderstorms.

We had the Music Pagoda near at hand, and cowered there briefly during some lightning. I hate lightning. I mustered my courage, however, to give a little guided ramble through Battle Pass; the distant thunder was a good atmospheric stand-in for the sound of cannon and musket fire.

We had ample time before the next round of storms to engage in Pagan Blogging Rites around a sacrificial table laden with goodies. Food 1 7-27 The mac and cheese was just as good as it looks; there was also a sublime salad of shrimp, avocado, and cucumber.

Hard
to define and chock full of jams, The Plush Interior brings you a blend
of jazz, funk & rock.  Preview acts by some of Brooklyn’s homegrown
bands like Lily Konigsberg, Hank Crawford, and DJ Dan McMahon and more.

The Old Stone House
Tuesday July 29th
6 p.m.

This
Brooklyn Film Works finale is an amusing, albeit cyncial, documentary
fiction about "the semi-truths manufactured to market a candidate, The
Candidate shrewdly exposed the effects of the media on the political
process, posing unanswerable questions that have become all the more
pressing with every soundbite-ruled election."

8:30 on the big screen in JJ Byrne Park. Third Street and Fifth Avenue

Terrible things happened to a friend of mine on July 27th for three years running. It was many years ago when we were both teens. But I still think of her every year on that day. No matter where we are, she’s always in my thoughts on that day.

This year she is in Germany. You can bet that she’s taking it easy. After the third incident all those years ago, she vowed never to even move on July 27th. I’m sure she doesn’t take it that far any more. But I’ll bet she doesn’t fly on airplanes or do anything risky. I just have a feeling. The day has that kind of power over her. And me, too.

The first incident occurred on a hosteling trip in Camden, Maine. The group was hiking when the group-leader fell off a mountain to his death. That’s all I know. The teenagers had to find their way out of the park to get help. I remember she told me about it a few weeks after it happened and I was stunned that something so dramatic, so real could have happened to her. And it seemed unspeakably sad.

The second incident came a year later. She was also on a hosteling trip. A friend of hers fell into a glacier lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. He couldn’t get out for more than an hour and nearly died. Fortunately, he was saved and lived to tell the tale.
The third incident occurred in a national park in Washington State. Again she was on a hosteling trip. This time the group was poncho sliding down an icy pass. My friend went flying into a tree and broke both of her legs. She had to be helicoptered out of the park (strapped to the outside of the helicopter) to a hospital in Port Angeles where she was wrapped in body cast; she couldn’t leave the hospital for three months. Eventually, she was able to fly back to New York having missed three months of eleventh grade.

The year after that, we were together on July 27th, which felt sort of exciting and scary, too. We didn’t do anything on that day and joked that we were just going to sit very still. After all, the day was cursed. We were in a summer arts program in North Carolina feeling far away from home and family and spent the day in a local park having a picnic, swimming, taking it very easy.

When I was a teenager, I really looked up to this friend (and still do) for her sense of adventure, her fearlessness, her drive. Some people might say that going on hosteling trips three years in a row was pushing it a bit.

Strange to say, I think I actually envied her these disasters: they seemed so dramatic even if they were tragic. Isn’t that what teenagers live for: drama, the real stuff.
I imagined losing someone I’d only known for a few weeks but had grown quite attached to and even called by a cute nickname. I pictured her trying to save her friend who nearly died in that icy Colorado lake. And her stories about the park ranger who visited her at the Port Angeles hospital…It was all so…grown up and, dare I say it, exciting. My life paled in comparison.
Ah, the strange logic of a teenage girl. But that’s how I thought about things then. And I still take it easy on July 27th, try to anyway. I wouldn’t want my life to take a dramatic turn. Not now anyway.

Brooklyn Beat of Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn was kind enough write this post about the the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition HOT!
Summer Art Exhibition

The excitement begins on Saturday, July 26 through August 17 at
the BWAC exhibition space at 499 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook.

The Frenchman who is planning an August tour of Paul Auster’s Brooklyn has some help from two OTBKB readers. Francis Morrone, who is a historian, journalist, author, lecturer, teacher and columnist for the New York Sun had this to say about some of the locations mentioned in "The Brooklyn Follies."

The space that is now Two Boots used to be called Circles Café.
Though he later mentions the New Purity, I can’t believe the Cosmic
Diner isn’t based on the old Purity, at Union Street. Don’t forget he
also mentions La Bagel Delight. Brightman’s is, I think, a pure
fabrication. Stores like Seventh Avenue Books and Park Slope Books came
much later, and before them there were no used or rare bookstores on
Seventh Avenue. Rocco’s I haven’t a clue about. Hope this helps a
little.

Our friend Eliot, who produces podcasts of great contemporary music monthly had this to say.

The Cosmic Diner is pure invention. So is Brightman’s Attic, but I
always thought that Park Slope Books (the place that is now Carmen’s)
was the the model for it.

The original Tea Lounge on 10th Street and Seventh Avenue in Park Slope is now history. The landlord doubled the rent and the owner opted to close the the original of his three branches of this much loved Brooklyn cafe.

Okay, not every one loves the Tea Lounge. But those who love it love it. And I always liked the 10th Street branch. In fact, I liked it more than the huge Union Street behemoth.

Good bye to a nice spot to meet friends and sip coffee.

I’m not in Brooklyn but I’ve been reading the Brooklyn Paper and the Daily Intel and see that there is trouble brewing in Ft. Greene over the Brooklyn Flea.

Seems that not everyone is thrilled about the crowds that pour into the neighborhood on Sunday to particapte in Brooklyn’s latest shopping extraaganza.

Last night there was intense meeting at local church about the flea, which has been drawing large crowds on Sunday.

Those who don’t like the Flea have plenty to say. This from the Brooklyn Paper’s reporting:

“There’s no parking at all and my vehicle was banged up by a
vendor,” said Ramesh Kauden, who’s lived on Carlton Avenue for 40 years.

In fact, some “no parking” signs are hung on the Flea’s side of the
street to facilitate the loading and unloading of antiques, handcrafts,
vintage clothing and furniture, which arrive around 7 am and depart by
6:30 pm. Some parkers reportedly ignore these signs, leading vendors to
double-park near the entrances to the schoolyard between Vanderbilt and
Clermont avenues.

Other residents say litter overflows area trashcans. “It took all this time to clean up this place,
now they want to come and drop more garbage on the neighborhood,”
said Frank, who did not want to give his last name, a Fort Greene resident for 31 years.

The complainers now have the ear of Councilwoman Letitia James
(D–Fort Greene), who said she’s received calls about wandering flea
market patrons sitting on area stoops and locking their bicycles to
gates or on scaffolding in front of Queen of All Saints Church across
the street.

The church has become a hotbed for anti-flea sentiment.

But even in the immediate vicinity of Brooklyn Flea, many people
give the swap meet a thumbs up, though they’re reluctant to publicly
disagree with their neighbors.

“It’s nice to have local artists here, and people buying their
stuff,” said Irene, who didn’t want to give her last name because she
know other people on Clermont dislike the flea market. “It’s true that
sometimes parking is hard on Sundays, but this is the city. It’s always
difficult to find parking.”

The Waterfront Alliance is sponsoring City of Water Day, a way to celebrate the waterfront and waterways!
It all happens on Saturday, July 26, 2008 from 10:00am to 4:00pm on Governors Island.

On July 26th, paddlers, sailors, mariners and many others from around the region will converge on Governors Island to eat, drink and have fun.

Highlights of the day will include:

• A symbolic and inspirational convergence of kayakers, boaters, sailors and ferry-riders onto Governors Island. New York Waterway and the New York Water Taxi will pick kids from across the city and bring them to the Island for this special day of fun, education and adventure.

• Boat parade of working vessels past and present including the retired fireboat John J. Harvey and the Seaport Museum’s tug W.O. Decker.

• Eco-tours of indigenous bird habitats hosted by NYC Audubon and a Hidden Harbor Tour hosted by the Working Harbor Committee.
• Fishing clinics with I Fish New York.
• Live music by Eric Bibb.
• Lecture on Fuel from Algae by CUNY professor.

• Car free biking. Bring your own wheels or rent.

July 30 promises to be one of the best nights yet at "Music at the Bridge," the new free music series hosted by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy. And it’s being programmed by Park Slope’s Issue Project Room.

John Zorn’s legendary "Cobra" opens the show at 6:30pm, followed by a special presentation of electronic music from the Theremin Society.

The show closes with Jonathan Kane’s blues-driven February. ISSUE Project Room has curated this special show for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, which is proud to host its first live music series in Empire Fulton Ferry Park.

Brooklyn Brewery provides
For more information, including a full press release, photos, etc, please contact me.

Wednesday, July 30: An evening curated by ISSUE Project Room, featuring:
John Zorn’s COBRA
Theremin Society
Jonathan Kane’s FEBRUARY
All free, under the tent in the historic Tobacco Warehouse.
Doors at 6:00pm, capacity is limited.

Cocktails. Hors d’Oeuvres. Dancing. Electric Boat Rides. Silent Auction. It’s the Summer Soiree in Prospect Park, a fundraiser for our great, great park. And what a Brooklyn event it is with catering by The Movable Feast, decor by Root Stock & Quade and music by the DJs of Southpaw.  

Click here to buy tickets online.

Think about attending the Summer Soiree or making a contribution to that Park that gives us so much pleasure.

Big Kahuna ($250) – Includes admission for 1, special recognition on event materials, Alliance membership at the $100 level, special gift
Daddy-O ($150) – Includes admission for one, recognition on event materials, Alliance membership at the $50 level
Land Shark ($75) – Includes admission for one
Party Wave ($250) – Includes admission for four

Neil Feldman of Not Only Brooklyn, the discriminating e-newsletter of free NYC cultural events urges his readers to attend the soiree. If you are interested in receiving NOB, email Neil: arbrunr(at)aol(dot)com

Dear friends and fellow arts enthusiasts,

Many of us spend substantial amounts of time in Prospect Park.  It is world class urban treasure, an oasis that enhances our quality of life immeasurably.  So I want to be sure that you do not overlook the enthusiastic suggestion I sent you in several recent editions of NOB that you join me and other younger enthusiasts this Thursday at the Summer Soiree, a party in the lovely Audubon Center overlooking the Lake to support the Park. Tax deductible ticket packages begin at $75, which is much less than analogous charity parties.

Looking forward to seeing many NOB readers at this party to keep Prospect Park wondrous.

Neil Feldman, Publisher and Editor
Not Only Brooklyn Arts & Events

WNYC’s Ilya Marritz reports that Governor Paterson signed the bill on Wednesday permitting the horizontal drilling but also stipulating that further environmental impact studies be made. Here’s an excerpt from the press release from the Governor’s office.

Governor David A. Paterson today signed a bill that extends the State’s uniform well spacing system to include additional wells and drilling activity, including horizontal well drilling. The Environmental Conservation Law previously established “spacing units” and “set back” requirements only for some types of drilling activity. A spacing unit is the land area from which a well is expected to recover oil or gas; a setback is the distance that a well must be from the boundaries of the spacing unit. The bill also adds requirements about how wells may be located within spacing units.

The new requirements will lead to greater administrative efficiency, result in more effective recovery of oil and natural gas, and reduce unnecessary land disturbance.
Importantly, the bill does not relax environmental safeguards.
“This new law will ensure greater efficiency in the processing of requests to permit oil and gas wells, while maintaining environmental and public health safeguards,” said Governor Paterson.

“Natural gas exploration has the potential to increase domestic supplies of natural gas, create jobs, expand the tax base and benefit the upstate economy. My administration is committed to working with the public and local governments to ensure that if the drilling goes forward, it takes place in the most environmentally responsible way possible.”

The City Council passed a zoning change that will mean a limit on the size of new buildings in Carroll Gardens. First, Second, Third and Fourth Places and
Carroll and President Streets between Smith and Hoyt Streets will be affected by this change.

Interestingly, the very existence of those large gardens in Carroll Gardens allowed the development of large scale properties. It had something to do with the language of the zoning rules that go back to the 1900’s.

Pardon Me for Asking had this to say:

Dear Reader,

You probably already heard the good news about the outcome of the City Council’s vote on the Carroll Gardens Wide Street Text Amendment:

It passed unanimously today. That is wonderful news for the neighborhood.

After almost a year of meetings, hearings and community outreach efforts, there is finally something written into law that will truly help to protect the historical character of the neighborhood.

The amendment goes into effect immediately!

Though this is excellent news, it is just the first step. Next: the entire neighborhood needs to be down-zoned and efforts are already on the way.

Ultimately? Lets hope that very soon, we will be able to expand the existing Carroll Gardens Landmark District.

David Bukszpan over at WNYC radio says that upstate gas drilling could threaten the NYC water supply.

The bill is on Governor Paterson’s desk and he’s got until Wednesday to sign it. This could have major environmental
repurcussions for New York City’s water supply.

In very similar situation in Colorado, 171
substances were put in the ground to help release natural gas, and 92 percent
of those were associated with health effects ranging from sinus irritation to
reproductive organ damage.

Complete audio of the report, plus a transcript and slide
show are available at http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/10415

There’s about to be a natural gas boom in New York
state.   As energy prices rise, retrieving gas buried 7000 feet deep
has become economically viable.  But extracting the gas requires a
procedure that has caused extensive environmental damage in western
states.   As a joint WNYC News/Propublica investigation finds, New
York regulators have been actively—and misleadingly—promoting the
safety of the drilling, and have proved unable to answer fundamental questions
about how they will protect the environment, including New York City’s water
supply.