Yesterday, Election Day, a school holiday, of course, you could find many of the children of Park Slope at one of the daytime screenings of “Bee Movie” at the Pavillion.

The 2 p.m. show sold out at 1:40 or so. We were lucky to get tickets at all. There was a ticket holders line and a general air of anticipation and fun on the crowded line which snaked around to 15th Street.

“How was it?” I asked a mom leaving the noon showing of the film.

“It was cute,” she said.

I considered going to the simultanous screening of “Dan in Real Life” or “Michael Clayton” while OSFO and her friend went to Bee Movie but decided I wanted to see Jerry Seinfeld’s movie with the kids of Park Slope. And I’m glad that I did.

The film, a bee’s-eye-view of the world, is buzzing with one-liners a la Seinfeld. While it does have gorgous Dreamworks-style animation and some pretty great sequences about working in a hive, and views of Manhattan from a bee’s perspective, the fun of it is Jerry Seinfeld’s portrayal of a bee, a cross between his usual Jerry schtick and Benjamin from “The Graduate.”

The theater was noisy throughout much of the film as it is rated PG and the average age was probably 6 years old. OSFO and her friend weren’t crazy about the film. She saw “Martian Child” last Saturday night and loved it. At 10, is she growing out of Dreamworks cartoons?

Probably not. And I certainly havn’t outgrown the films of the studio that brought us Shrek 1 through 3. I enjoyed the film immensely as I admired the carefully crafted lines throughout the film. Seinfeld didn’t let us down. The film is funny, quirky, and very New York.

Even if it is about bee’s.

We got flowers yesterday from a friend. Hepcat was home when they arrived and was completely confused.

“Are we celebrating something?” he asked when I phoned mid-day.

This was before he opened the huge box of flowers that arrived around noon. He ran through a list of all the likely reasons for flowers: our anniversary, someone’s birthday. Valentine’s Day.

“Why don’t you read the card,” I said.

There was a lovely ‘thank you’ note from a friend.

When I got home I delighted in the voluptous bouquet of red and orange roses. Hepcat arranged them in a vase (with the flower food provided) and placed it at the center of our dining room table.

Ahhhhhhh.

There is nothing like getting flowers from a friend.

Today at the 42nd Street branch of the New York Public Library is hosting, There You Go Again: Orwell Comes to America, a symposium for historians, linguists, cognitive experts, journalists, government officials, and political consultants to assess the current state of public discourse — and journalism’s response to it — one year before a hotly contested presidential election.

The panels explore the past, present, and future of deceptive political speech, and assess what can be done to bring more realism and honesty into the conduct of America’s public affairs.

New York Public Library
Celeste Bartos Forum
Humanities and Social Sciences Library
5th Avenue and 42nd Street

Hosted by Live from the NYPL
www.nypl.org/live

Head on over to Fourth Avenue to watch the NYC Marathon with the rest of Park Slope. It’s Brooklyn’s marathon through mile 12.

Park Slope is 6 miles in (that’s an educated guess). So most of the runners still look energetic and sprightly. Make a sign. Hand out a cup of water. Call out words of encouragement.

Wear a raincoat if you’re doing water duty. You can get pretty wet trying to hand a cup to a runner; splashed by a cup being tossed away….

Yesterday was the Mexican Day of the Dead. I went to the funeral of my 84-year-old Uncle Jay, where two rabbis and five family members spoke eloquently about an exceptional, larger-than-life man.

Poems were read. Hebrew prayers recited Even a Hopi prayer was intoned.

But in the end, a line of black limousines and cars followed a hearse to the cemetery, where my maternal grandparents are buried. We mourners shoveled dirt onto my Uncle’s grave.

That was the business of the day.

The rabbi explained that by shoveling dirt into the grave, Jews do the work of burying their own and “creating a blanket for the dead.”

We were told to use the back of the shovel; a symbol of just how difficult it is to cover one’s loved one in dirt. Nevously I waited for my turn. Would I be able to dig the shovel into the dirt, lift it, and turn it over into my Uncle’s deep grave?

I did it when my turn came. I was moved by the site of others, young and old, doing the same.

The rabbi led the group in the Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead. Traditionally, sons are required to recite the Kaddish three times a day for a year. In the reform tradition, of course, daughters are allowed to say Kaddish as well I am glad to say.

According to The Jewish Virtual Library: “the word Kaddish means sanctification, and the prayer is a sanctification of God’s name. Kaddish is only said with a minyan (prayer quorum of ten men), following a psalm or prayer that has been said in the presence of a minyan, since the essence of the Kaddish is public sanctification. The one who says Kaddish always stands.

All present placed a single purple tulip in the grave. There was a chill in the air. I looked down at the large, pine casket and lingered for a moment of unthinkable thoughts. Finality. Endings. Where are we going?

The rabbi told the group to make two lines facing each other so that the immediate family could walk through and feel surrounded by the love and support of friends.

Back at my aunt’s sunny apartment, the mirrors were covered with wrapping paper and cloth. Another Jewish custom: to cover mirrors during mourning as a way to ignore the physicality of the world and ourselves; a way to focus on the reality of being a soul.

I could see myself through the shiva coverings anyway. The apartment filled with relatives that, sadly, I see too infrequently, on Thanksgiving, at Bat Mitzvah’s, weddings, and funerals.

When I was younger it surprised (even embarassed) me that people could be festive after a funeral. But now I understand. Life goes on in spite of pain and loss.

Mexicans know that. The Day of the Dead is an upbeat celebration honoring the deceased. Mexicans believe that death is not the end but the beginning of a new stage. Some families build altars or shrines, and on this day, they pray and tell stories.

Some wear shells on their clothing so that when they dance the dead will wake.

That afternoon, the conversations were rich, vibrant, full of life. What are you doing? Where do you live now? Your children, what do they do?

The voices were loud. There was laughter. Stories about my Uncle. Memories shared. Were these our shells?

There was wine and good food. Rugalach, cheese cake, cookies, dried fruit. Friends and family caught up with each other.

Life goes on and yet…

On every surface, photographs of my Uncle and others who have died.

They go on. They do. Through us. Within us. They do.

Join your friends and neighbors at the Halloween Parade down 7th Avenue beginning at 6:30 p.m. on October 31.

The Parade starts at 7th Avenue and 12th Street and ends at Lincoln Place. You are welcome to join the Parade at any point.

Wear a costume. Or don’t. It’s still the great event it’s always been.

Park Slope desperately needs day care centers. But rules are rules. Especially the rule about there being two separate exits onto the sidewalk (means of egress). It’s all about fire safety and that’s very important when children are concerned.

Still it is very time consuming and costly to get a day care center off the ground. Legally that is.

There must be a way that the city can help expeditie this process. The alternative is more illegal daycare. Is that really better?

Parker Place, a new South Slope daycare in the space where Baby Bird used to be, is having trouble getting the permits required by the City to stay open.

The owners have excellent intentions and many interested parents. The space just didn’t meet code

The City Room lists some of the reasons why Park Place was denied permits:

For one thing, applicants have to secure a change in their site’s certificate of occupancy from the Department of Buildings, a process that can take months.

One of requirements that has proved trickiest is that day care centers must have two separate exits (or “means of egress,” in city lingo) onto the sidewalk. The rule applies to “family day care” centers, smaller facilities run out of their operators’ homes, too, and enforcement was intensified in November 2005 after the city’s Health and Fire Departments and the State Office of Children and Family Services met to clarify their policies

Hopefully, Parker Place will be up and running soon. The neighborhood needs it. So do the kids.

Last night I noticed that workers were doing something related to improving the sidewalks on the west side of Seventh Avenue between 1st and 2nd Streets.

It was a welcome site.

That’s been a bumpy stretch of sidewalk. The work is creating a bit of a pedestrian obstacle course but that’s okay. Improvements are on the way.

Author Melissa C. Walker, had a tough time finding SpaghettiOs in Park Slope last night. Now she wants to rant about it. Her first novel, Violet on the Runway, is in bookstores now.

I went to six, yes six, delis tonight in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and not one of them had good old-fashioned SpaghettiOs. When confronted about his lack of inventory, one owner said to me, "In this neighborhood, SpaghettiOs don’t sell!"

Neighbors, are we above the cheesy, tomatoey goodness of Campbell’s
classic circular pasta in a can? A food product with Vitamin A, four
essential B-vitamins, Iron, and–wait for it–fiber (an ingredient
which Dr. Oz says is "the most important part of your diet")?

For shame. I may have to move.

AN OTBKB reader writes with "good news":

It looks like the old D’Agostino’s  location on 7th Ave is being divided.  Now they can put two banks there!

500,000 people have been displaced by California wild fires. Some may have had time to take a few things with them as they were fleeing. If you were in that situation, what would you take?

It’s an interesting question…

Flight 001 has  7 stores, including one on Smith Street, which I visited recently.  They are now adding Park Slope to the roster.

Flight 001 was founded in 1999 by Brad John and John Sencion, after
recognizing the need for a shop that would make travel shopping as
streamlined as flying itself.

The shops look like airplane interiors. And they see great luggage and  flight essentials from Mandarina Duck, Samsonite
Black Label, Y-3 by Adidas, Hideo Wakamatsu, Jack Spade, and Orla Kiely
in addition to their own line of unique and highly functional travel
product.

The new location is 58 Fifth Ave in the Park Slope (that’s pretty near Flatbush). It marks another step in "FLIGHT 001’s international rollout spanning the next five years."

Obviously they’ve got big plans. I wonder if a larger company bought them. I hope it doesn’t lose its specialness in the process.

FLIGHT 001 currently operates 7 other stores in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Chicago, Dubai UAE, and the first Brooklyn Store on Smith St. in the Boerum Hill neighborhood.

On Saturday night I sat next to a cinematographer friend at dinner and he told me about an interesting new film called, Able Danger, that was filmed in the Ditmas Park neighborhood.

From what he said, the story is about a character loosely based on Sander Hicks, who owns Vox Pop. Does anyone know when/where the film is showing? Here’s the not very descriptive blurb from the Able Danger website:

ABLE DANGER is a film that is currently pushing the boundaries of contemporary filmmaking.

Shot on location in and around the city of New York, ABLE DANGER’s contemporary take on film noir distinctly selects this conspiracy theory thriller as new breed of cinema. Mixing classic imaging with the latest technology, and finishing in some of the most well respected post facilities, ABLE DANGER look is a perfect companion with the compelling story it puts forth.

Here’s the blurb from IMDB, which gives a better idea of what the film is about.

Tom Flynn, the idealist owner of a left-leaning radical café/bookstore and the quixotic publisher of a hard hitting 911 conspiracy expose, finds himself entangled with a mysterious Eastern European beauty, Kasia, who is on the run from strong hand of a global 911 cover up.

In this contemporary take on film noir. When Tom is implicated in the murder of his friend and employee, he is forced to unravel Kasia’s complex web of lies. As it turns out, Kasia possesses the smoking gun that proves the identities and methods of the real architects of 911, and Tom Flynn is willing to die to expose the truth.

My office mate’s friend, Jessica Dorfman Jones, just published her first book called The Art of Cheating. My office mate, who has never cheated in his life, says that the book is a "snarky guide to getting your way in life." He enjoyed it a lot.

The author will be reading on November 6th at Union Hall on Union Street just east of 5th Avenue.

Here’s the blurb from the book:

Who
says you should always tell the truth? With this handy informational
guidebook you can con your way through life — from finessing your
resume, to lying about your age, to getting a date. Whether you’ve
decided to cheat out of sheer desperation or the need to get ahead, The Art of Cheating
provides essential tips and guidelines for how to be the ultimate
swindler, and how to spot the con artists among us. You’ll learn what
it takes to be a great cheater, and the pros and cons to every swindle.
As a newly minted master of deception, you’ll be able to cheat:

• On a diet

• On your spouse or significant other (or both!)

• On your taxes

• On standardized tests

• Death

And more! With clever illustrations and humorous deadpan delivery, The Art ofCheating
will have you sleeping your way to the top, faking an illness, and
forging someone else’s handwriting — without batting an eye.

A reader wrote in with this litany of shops that used to be on Seventh Avenue. Thanks.

My parents bought my chemistry set at Al’s Toyland (which was actually more of an empire, since they owned three stores on the east side of Seventh Avenue and an "annex" of two more on the West side of the street), so I guess they had at least one educational toy.

Do you recall Herzog’s Deli? Al’s Fish Market? Personal Process Dry Cleaners? How about Danny’s Candy Store, Irv’s Stationary, Lehigh Valley Meats, Wing Wah Chinese Take Out, Stanley Liquor Store…because that was the old Park Slope -repleat with bars like the Iron Horse, Stack of Barley, Coach Inn, and Ryans. Punch & Judy sold children’s clothes, and later Sweets, etc. sold homemade fudge long before Connecticut Muffin sold scones to people with dogs and strollers. I’m still under 40 – just a Berkeley Institute alum. with very fond memories.

Someone on Park Slope Parents is wondering if it is illegal to smoke in children’s
playgrounds? She says that there are no signs forbidding it and when she called 311, they
didn’t know.

Apparently, the Parks Department website doesn’t address this issue. I think she should call the NYC Department of Health.

This PSP member has a plan. If it is illegal, she wants to know if would anyone is interested in helping her get it stopped? I

I am curious how she plans to accomplish this. Is she thinking along the lines of a vigilante anti-smoking squad?

Signs, T-shirts, buttons, public service announcements?

This PSP member says that’s she’s seen people smoking at the playground in JJ Byrne, even when there are kids nearby, and even while sitting
on the jungle gym steps!

Truthfully, this doesn’t surprise me all that much. People are still allowed to smoke outside. And a lot of people could care less about the second-hand smoke heath issues they are creating.

This PSP member was shocked to see a woman smoking near children. But her shock turned to action when the mom/smoker threw her butt on the ground. The PSP member went up to  her and gently told her that a child might pick it up and put it in his/her mouth.

Apparently the woman apologized but that didn’t stop her from smoking right near the swings near other children.

Is this PSP member really going to start an anti-smoking in playgrounds brigade? I can’t wait to see what happens.

I got this exuberant note from Club Loco founder, Lois Wingerson. She is a member of Old First Church and the dynamo behind the Club, a monthly music/social space for teenagers. She got the club off the ground, with an energetic and enthusiastic team of Old First members and neighborhood teens and adults. Now it really seems to be catching on. Here is Lois’ note.

Last night’s opener for our 2007-2008 broke our
records: 104 fans crowded in to hear three great bands:
Banzai, Post No Bills, and Sister Helen.

The scene was so lively that we actually had to bring
the bouncer inside once, and the sound manager had to
make a friendly comment about the nature of dancing.
But it was a great, loud evening with a terrific feel.

Best news of all: WE"RE GOING ON THE AIR. NPR
affiliate WFUV was there interviewing fans and taping
bands. We’re told we’re going to be a small part of an
introductory show and a much larger part of a later
broadcast.

Last night we tried out a new policy replacing
frisking with bag checks and emptying pockets.

The matter of body searches has been the subject of some
disagreements, and was part of a survey we handed out
last night to help make CL even more user-friendly.

But we also want to continue to broaden our reach
beyond Park Slope, so our security policies may need
to keep changing with the times.

We haven’t yet firmed up the lineup for November 17
(or the rest of the year), so if you know of a band
that wants to know about us, please pass on the
myspace URL:

myspace.com/clubxloco

Thanks again for your interest in Club Loco.

Long story short: our gold-colored Volvo died on the approach to the George Washington Bridge in bumper-to-bumper Sunday night traffic.

In a five-hour-trip in unbelievably bad traffice from Kingston, NY, the car kept overheating. We had to stop often so that Hepcat could put water in the engine (or whatever he was doing). The stop-and-go traffic exacerbated the overheated situation.

Accoriding to Hepcat, Goldie blew a gasket.

This was the second time in two weeks that the car has had to be towed on the New York Thruway. The 20-year-old car has 140,000 miles on it. That’s not considered a lot for a Volvo.

We called AAA and they referred us to the GW Bridge Authority. A tow druck driver showed up quickly and told us that he was going to push us toward the bridge and then off the bridge on the New Jersey side.

Fortunately, we landed across the street of a motel and we able to use their bathroom. The woman at the front desk gave me the phone number of GW Taxi.

A driver in blue van with black and white checks arrived and good-naturedly transported us and all our stuff to Brooklyn. Recently, he said, he drove a film production assistant from New Jersey to Park Slope. “The guy was really smart but kinda crazy. He gave me 1 $25 tip and a $25 bottle of wine.”

The driver talked about Philip Roth’s “The Plot Against America” and other books he’s enjoyed recently. Hepcat reccomended “V” and “Gravity’s Rainbow” by Thomas Pynchon.

The fate of Goldie is undetermined.

Will we spend more money to save our 20-year old car?
Will we sell the car or give it an organization that takes cars?
What would you do?

Late afternoon yesterday I saw Pastor Daniel Meeter’s blog post about the homeless men who live on the steps of Old First Church.

I know it took a lot of soul searching on Pastor Meeter’s part to get to the point where he could write that piece and I think he did an excellent job.

Pastor Meeter’s careful articulation and his quest to truly figure out the right way to act makes me respect him even more than I already do.

While this matter obviously causes Meeter a great deal of trouble and anger, he writes beautifully that these men “remain human beings, images of God, and they need to be treated with respect.”

As a spiritual leader, there is no denying that Pastor Meeter has a very difficult situation on his hands.

Meeter says that the church could just get a fence but they don’t believe in that. He recognizes that the steps of the church are an important public space in Park Slope.

At a time like this, Jackie Connor comes to mind.

She used to sit on the steps of Old First at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Carroll. Over a year ago, that corner was officially named Jackie Connor’s Corner.

Sometimes called the Mayor of Seventh Avenue, Connor died in the spring of 2006. She used to push a shopping cart up and down the Avenue. Some thought she was a street person but wasn’t that at all.

In her own inimitable way, she was organizing, agitating, fighting for the rights of the little guy, the streets, and the community of Park Slope.

Civic minded doesn’t even begin to describe Connor, who cared deeply about the neighborhood where she was born and raised. Everyone knew her and she knew everybody; she kept the police abreast of what was going on on Seventh Avenue by cell phone. And she had her pet peeves like flyers on lamp posts, which she waged a one-woman campaign to remove.

Connor was on the street in front of Zuzu’s Petals minutes after fire that ravaged that store, Olive Vine and a Korean market. Fonda Sera, owner of Zuzu’s, will never forget Connor’s unswerving support during what was a devestating time for her and her business.

What would Jackie Connor say now?

I am quite certain that Jackie Connor would not tolerate this situation. I’m sure she had an opinion about people sleeping on the steps of the church. During her time on those steps, the men didn’t sleep there. I may be wrong about that. I’d love to hear Pastor Meeter’s memories of this.

Personally, it disturbs me that these men are making such a nuisance of themselves almost as much as it horrifies me to see them looking so very ill. I’ve observed these men for many years and I’ve seen the ebb and flow of their mental condition. In the last year, they have really deteriorated. Meeter concurs:

I used to talk to them and pray with them. I used to be able to reason with them. That’s no longer possible. They’re drinking 24/7 lately. They are nasty to me too. How long this will go on I do not know. In the short term, it’s people giving them money that keeps it going. In the long term, they are killing themselves. If they manage to get arrested, they will get cleaned up at Rikers, and we’ll have them back in February!

“Before Robert had descended to his current condition, and when he had sober moments, he used to pray very moving prayers for certain people in the area. for poor children, for illiterates (such as himself), for soldiers, for forgiveness of his sins. I hate what has become of him. I always knew it would be coming.This is something, I am guessing, that Jackie Connor would never have tolerated.

The situation is forcing Pastor Meeter and this community to look deeply within to figure out what is the right thing to do.

Already many people have written in to OTBKB to express their views: “People who are actually poor because they may have lost their jobs or suffered some other personal catastrophe don’t end up urinating on themselves and ranting obsenities on street corners. Only the seriously untreated mentally ill do that,” writes Peter Loffredo, a social worker and a psychotherapist.

“While I know that this doesn’t alleviate Pastor Meeter’s frustration with the situation on his church steps, a place to begin must always be to accurately understand the problem. The men are not the “poor” described in the New Testament. Robert, Will and Franklin don’t need money. They need psychiatric treatment in a facility that can also provide structure and teach basic self-maintenance to them. I have seen men like these become functional in such a facility. And I saw the places where such healing took place dismantled a long time ago.”

Three men on the steps of a church. The issues are huge. Are they mentally ill or homeless. Or both. Can they be helped? How and where?

For the time being, we have Pastor Meeter, a deep thinking community and religious leader, who is taking the time to present this complex situation to the community. He is, in a sense, going public with this moral civic conumdrum and seeing what the public has to say. As he writes:

It’s a grief, and we’re at our wits end. We have been unable to find any solution. In a strange way, the three of them are in control. Robert, Will, and Franklin.

They have names. They have souls. They belong to our community. They tell us something about ourselves.

Johanna Clearfield is a serious animal rights advocate, a member of the HSUS (humane society) as well as a wildlife rehabilitator. Her respect for wildlife comes also out of a serious interest in the survival of the planet (eg. having some of the wonder of nature preserved and pristine as a legacy for our children). She is also a passionate advocate for the pigeons of Park Slope. Here is her reaction to the many comments she has received about her post about feeding bird seed to pigeons.

Any and all animal waste is not healthy and the germs and bacteria that result from dog waste are far more serious than any pigeon droppings.

The fact that Bryant Park was horrible in the 1960s and early 70s does not justify robbing the public of park space and injecting a tourist attracting ice skating rink. These are not answers. These are extremes. The fact that Methodist hospital took a neglected piece of overgrown acreage and turned it into a neat paved parking lot is another extreme.

What were there? Only two choices? An overgrown yard or a paved parking lot that (it has been proven) has tripled the amount of pollution in our air — and these were the only two choices? Perhaps a public garden? A playground? An open air performance space? Something that the local high school could have used for their kids?

Such myopic thinking.

If you go to the web page colinjerolmack.com you will see an extremely intelligent PhD candidate who is currently finishing a full length book which explores, investigates and exposes how cities and urban areas have been changing the “norm” of what is acceptable and (what birds or animals) are acceptable in our urban environment. Not long ago pigeons enjoyed a high popularity — many people find them entertaining, amusing and contributing greatly to the general every dayness of our lives. Many people welcomed their presence as many people (today) find sparrows and blue Jays and other birds to be a welcome addition to their urban scape.

It is the success of the exterminating companies, the developers and the property owners who are annoyed with having to clean off pigeon droppings — who have spread this “N” word of “rats with wings” —

Do we question whether or not we want to live in neighborhoods that are antiseptic and devoid of natural and free city birds? Where do we draw the line? Sparrows are cute but pigeons are monstrous?

To add to the arrogance of “pigeon haters” — the bigger picture — our planet and the extinction of so many wonderful and unique species — the extinction of so many animals because of human selfishness — This does not seem to play into anyone’s psychic awareness. We have to look at where we are. Where are we? If we keep destroying all of the natural areas and making the wild animals extinct — will that be when we finally enjoy our planet? When developers don’t have to worry about any spotted owls getting in the way of their John Deer tractors?

We live here in Brooklyn. Do we have any connection to the daily destruction of the rain forests and/or the wildernesses in other parts of the world? Maybe not directly.

But what are we doing to care for what we now enjoy as wildlife in our midst? Wouldn’t it make sense to devise some kind of “living with urban wildlife” scheme and/or program where people like myself — who respect and care for all city birds and animals without distinction — to support such a program? We should be able to have our voice heard along with the overwhelming cries of developers and people like many of the posts here — who selfishly cannot think beyond “rats with wings” They cannot put themselves in the reverse position. Do unto others as we would have them do unto us. How would they feel, if by a freak of nature, they were pigeons in a world of humans? Why is that such a difficult and unwelcome thought for almost anyone to consider?

We as a race, not just on this little plot of land, but on the planet have to stop being so myopic and self centered and lack real respect and consideration for nature and animals — all animals. Look around. The world is in horrendous shape. We are on the brink of a gazillion catastrophes, we have our men and women dying every day over what? Over property? Over money? oil? It is the same thinking and values that have cause the state of disaster we find our world in today. What does it take to start with one simple act of compassion? To think about creatures who are at our mercy? To act without selfishness? To care without condition

I got this email from kid’s music hero, Randy Kaplan, about his winter plans.

I decided to winter in Los Angeles this year. But, before I set out for several shows in the South, Thanksgiving in Dallas, more recording in Kansas, and that beautiful drive through Utah to California I’ll be appearing here in New York a bunch of times:

Saturday, October 27 (Family Show) – BAX – 421 5th Ave. (near 9th St.) – Park Slope, Brooklyn – 11:30 a.m. – $8 kids / $12 adults – buy tickets soon!

Monday, November 12 (Adults Only) – The Living Room – 154 Ludlow St. (between Stanton & Rivington) – Lower East Side, Manhattan – 8 p.m. – no cover/tips only – 21+ w/ i.d.

Every Tuesday morning at 10:30 & every Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 through November 14 (Family Shows) – Perch Cafe – 365 5th Ave. (between 5th & 6th Streets) – Park Slope, Brooklyn – $3

There’s a video of me singing "You Can’t Always Get What You Want" at this past April’s kids’ show. It’s posted on my MySpace Kids’ page which is www.myspace.com/randykaplanjunior.

Just click on the blog link or scroll down to the comments. I haven’t watched it yet. I hope it’s alright.

So, does anyone want to sublet my apartment from mid-November through mid-March? It’s in Park Slope, Brooklyn. E-mail me.
Oh, my two new records (Ancient Ruins & Loquat Rooftop) should be out by December. Should be. We’ll see.
Thanks. Hope to see y’all soon,

Time Out New York served Elementi, the post-Snooky’s eatery on Seventh Avenue, with one heck of a review. And it’s all about the FOOD. The sentence that sticks out: "Elementi is the best thing to happen to Park Slope since al di la." TONY gave Elementi 5 stars out of 6.

"When Snooky’s, a Park Slope hang, served its final pint earlier this
year, locals rallied in protest. Seems that Slopers content to vie for
tables across the street at Sotto Voce (or at any of the lesser Italian
spots lining the nearby Fifth Avenue) were loath to relinquish one of
the area’s remaining blue-collar joints to this capacious Pan-Italian
eatery.

Indeed, everything about Elementi—from the yuppified
chocolate-brown decor to the insightful servers—feels at odds with the
humbler side of Brooklyn. Civic unrest notwithstanding, Elementi is the
best thing to happen to Park Slope since al di là. Chef Camilo Bassani
dispatched a garlicky bruschetta to nibble on while we considered the
wine list—a mostly Italian lineup with plenty of modest selections and
a few worthy indulgences, like a divine $79 Barolo. An appetizer of
fish carpaccio—ghostly, translucent sheets of tuna, swordfish and
salmon—melted on the tongue, while long ribbons of fried zucchini
tangled with a tender shrimp-and-squid fritto misto. We delighted in a
heady rabbit ragù threaded with al dente strands of fresh
fettuccine, and savored buttery veal, perfumed with sage and served
over crisp cubes of potato. An unexceptional ricotta cheesecake brought
us back to earth, if only long enough to consider the hefty bill (a far
cry from Snooky’s sorely missed $19.95 steak dinner). Angry Slopers,
avert your eyes: Gentrification never tasted so good.

140 Seventh Ave between Carroll St and Garfield Pl, Park Slope,
Brooklyn (718-788-8388). Subway: F to Seventh Ave. Mon 5:30–11pm;
Tue–Fri 11:30am–4pm, 5:30–11pm; Sat, Sun 10:30am–4pm, 5:30–11pm.
Average main course: $17."

I really appreciate when you write in and tell me about typo’s and missing links to blogs, newspapers, and websites. I also appreciate factual corrections. I especially love it when it’s done in a pleasant way. This is all a very big help!

Thanks so much.

Got this email this morning. It’s from a group called Communities in Support of Khalil Girban International Academy:

Dear Friends,

As you know, the Khalil Gibran International Academy, the first Arabic/English dual-language NYC public school, has sustained fierce anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim attacks by groups who want to shut the Brooklyn school down. Implied in this attack on multicultural education is an attack of interfaith dialogue and coexistence programs. Tomorrow, the school’s founding principal, Debbie Almontaser, will deliver her application to the Department of Education for the position of principal and will speak to the press for the first time since her forced resignation.

As a close colleague who knows the value of interfaith dialogue, and who appreciates Debbie’s shining record as a community leader, please join Communities in Support of KGIA at this event tomorrow. Tell the Department of Education that we will not be silent until the DOE stands up to any anti-Arab and anti-Muslim attacks against the school and invites Debbie to return to her position as principal of the school.

When: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 5 pm
Where: The Steps of NYC City Hall

Speakers will Include:
Debbie Almontaser, joined by her Attorney Alan Levine
KGIA Parents
Councilman John Liu
Reverend Clinton Miller, Brown Memorial Baptist Church
Imam Talib Abdur Rashid
Other speakers TBA

Brooklyn Beat, who has a blog called Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn, sent me word that the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission will be holding a public hearing to review the Proposal for the Landmarking of the Fiske
Terrace- Midwood Park neighborhood in Flatbush on October 16th:

Interested residents are invited to attend the public hearing at the LPC’s headquarters in the Manhattan Municipal Building, One Centre Street, 9th floor at Chamber and Centre Streets. (The scheduled hearings begin at 9:30 AM)

Fiske Terrace – Midwood Park
is a unique, wooded suburban neighborhood within the predominently
urban Brooklyn environment, with detached single family Victorian homes
built around 1905-1906.  Fiske Terrace runs from the Q train subway
line to Ocean Avenue, between Avenue H and Glenwood Road. Midwood Park
is adjacent, bordered by the Q train on the west, Glenwood Road on the
south, Ocean Avenue on the east and Foster Avenue on the north. The two
neighborhoods were developed as suburban communities.

The Historic Districts Council http://www.hdc.org/neighborhoodatriskmidwoodfiske.htm
gives further detail on this unique historic area: 

At the turn of the 20th century, a number of real estate developers
purchased large tracts of farmland and woods near the sleepy market
town of Flatbush, Brooklyn, and began to develop a suburban oasis
affording wide lawns and spacious Victorian houses at a convenient
distance from the City. The historic neighborhoods of Flatbush retain
to a remarkable degree their integrity as early 20th-century suburban
developments more than 100 years later.

Midwood Park
was constructed by developer John Corbin in the first decade of the
20th-century on what had previously been farmland. The houses were
built using Corbin’s method of standardized construction. Buyers could
choose from thirty distinct models, but uniform construction
techniques, materials and assembly methods were employed to minimize
cost and boost efficiency. The wood-shingled houses are relatively
grand: set back from the street on large lawns, they have open porches
and rich interior detailing in the style of the time. The streets have
a landscaped median and are lined with mature trees. The neighborhood
must have represented a striking alternative to city living. Midwood Park
has undergone few inappropriate alterations. It remains a unified,
coherent and harmonious suburban neighborhood in an urban context. The Midwood Park
Homeowners Association is advocating in consultation with the Historic
Districts Council for historic district designation for the
neighborhood.The adjacent Fiske Terrace features more elegant houses
but retains an intimate sense of place through its historical
integrity. In 1905, T. B. Ackerson Company purchased a densely wooded
tract of land and immediately cleared it, laid out streets and
installed underground water, sewer, gas and electric lines. Eighteen
months later, the former Fiske estate had been transformed by some 150
custom-built, detached, three-story suburban houses with heavy oak
ornamental mantels, staircases, beamed ceilings and built-in bookcases,
ornately bordered parquet floors and elaborate cabinetry. A landscaped
median and hundreds of street trees planted at the time of development
continue to contribute to the idyllic feeling of the neighborhood —
Historic Districts Council
 
 
Recent articles in the NY Times and local papers, which included
interviews with Fred Baer, former Fiske Terrace Association president,
who has helped to shepard this proposal through the Landmark
Preservations Commission’s Review process, indicates that very strong
support from area residents and public officials suggest that the LPC
may support a favorable decision on the application for historic-area
designation.  The Commission sent letters to area residents (including
Brooklyn Beat)  in August regarding the placement of the proposal on
the Commission’s calendar in September. The calendaring of the public
hearing last month and the actual public hearing tomorrow
are important steps toward designation.  Fiske Terrace will mark its
official centennial this year.

–Brooklyn Beat

Susan Fox, the force-of-nature behind Park Slope Parents, isn’t naming names, but she’s miffed that bloggers feel free to pick up posts from the Park Slope Parents listserve without first getting the writer’s permission.

"Our privacy policy is on every email, " this civic cyber dynamo told me on Saturday after the Harvest Festival in JJ Byrne Park,

"Content on this group should not be reproduced (or linked to) without
permission of the author. Members should be aware, however, that this is
a public forum, and that any information posted here might appear
elsewhere."

The blurb does, however, acknowledge that PSP is a public forum…

All that she’s asking, Fox says, is that bloggers take the time to get permission from the PSP member before reproducing their post.

Recently, a PSP member was very upset to be quoted on a popular Brooklyn blog. Her name wasn’t used but she was still P.Oed  just the same because her email is on PSP and her identity could be traced.

When I contacted "Lost Boy’s Hat and the "There’s a squirrel in my apartment" person, I found that they were happy to oblige.

I will be the first to admit that I have been guilty of freely publishing posts from PSP members (sorry Ms. Frump). It’s often for expediency’s sake or the desire to get a story out there.

But it’s a journalistic no no and a copyright infringement.

After speaking with Susan, I  realize that it’s
always so much better (and legal) to consult the PSP member to begin with.

If you want to buy advance tickets to Teens for Darfur or just want to contribute money: go to the Teens for Darfur page at  NYCharities

Funds will go to the American Jewish World Service  Refugee Relief Effort in Darfur. Give generously.

Al Gore shares the Nobel Prize with the UN’s
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of thousands of scientists.

Al Gore appeared in the Oscar-winning documentary, An
Inconvenient Truth, in an effort to focus the public’s attention on the dangers of global warming. Here’s what the Nobel Committee said:

"His strong commitment,
reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has
strengthened the struggle against climate change.

"He is probably
the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide
understanding of the measures that need to be adopted."

 SATURDAY: INNER LIVES, DEVELOPING CHARACTERS is
Regina McBride’s monthly writing workshop in Park Slope. 10 am until 5
pm. To register: nightsea21@nyc.rr.com.

Using relaxation, sense memory, and emotional memory (Stanislavski
acting techniques transformed for the writer) a variety of exercises
will be offered to enable the student to find a deeper, richer
connection to the character he or she is creating.

Exercises will be followed by writing periods, and opportunities for
people to read and share their work. The atmosphere will be safe, with
the focus on exploration. The class is designed to help the student
break into new territory with the character, and with the story itself.

SATURDAY: TEENS FOR DARFUR, a benefit concert at the Old Stone House
with Cool and Unusual, Dulaney Banks, Post No Bills, Banzai, and The Floor is Lava. 6 p.m. $10 for adults. $5 for kids
and teens. All welcome. Funds will go to the American Jewish World Service  Refugee Relief Effort in Darfur. Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street in Park Slope.

MOVIES AT BAM: Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution and Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited.