It’s been an eventful week at New York Shitty, a terrific Greenpoint blog. And this is the opening weekend of the “Newtown Creek Nature Walk, a new park at the sewage treatment plant. More deets here from NYS.
What a week! First I was on the Leonard Lopate Show. Then it was Poles without pants. After that I discovered the CRACK PROS. And last— but not least, I finally got a photo of Greenpoint’s very own Jeep-riding Doginator.
How can I possibly keep up this kind of momentum?
The Brooklyn Paper did the footwork and got the story about the film shoot in Brooklyn Heights last week. My Brooklyn Height’s source, who refused to be identified, told me that it was a Joel and Ethan Coen film that stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt.
But BP says that John Malkovich is in it, too. How’d my source miss that?
My refused-to-be- identified source also told me that they were turning the Heights into Georgetown.
With a little bit of paint, some movie magic and the blessing of the
historic preservation society, directors Joel and Ethan Coen
transformed State Street into Georgetown.Not only did the
big-screen brothers paint three brownstones pastel colors, but they
built two phony facades on existing buildings, added decorative
shutters on several others and built a brick wall out of plywood to
make the Heights look more like the Washington, DC neighborhood that is
the setting for their upcoming film, “Burn After Reading.”Some
local residents were ticked off, not just because the production has
already robbed the block of most of its parking spaces, but also
because they didn’t like the idea of Brooklyn standing in for someplace
else.
A friend sent me a note about a new kind of physician in Williamsburg. He even has a blog.
I checked out Dr. Parkinson’s web site and it’s VERY interesting. He is most definitely not your typical doctor.
Check out the info below. Thanks to my friend for sending this in.
Dr. Jay Parkinson, a 31-year-old general practitioner, is opening a
solo practice today in which he plans to treat young, healthy,
uninsured New Yorkers in person by house call and over e-mail, IM and
video chat.For a transcript of this interview, visit wavLength.
http://www.jayparkinsonmd.com/
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/
I got this note from Paula and Elyse, the twin-authors of Identical Strangers. Just so you know, my sister and I are interviewed in the book. It’s one of the later chapters. I am very pleased to be included in this very poignant and interesting book about twins.
Hi everyone,
The moment has finally arrived…well nearly. "Identical Strangers: A
Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited" will be available in
bookstores on Tuesday, October 2nd.Please spread the word to friends, family, co-workers, strangers and enemies. We’re hoping to get as many people as possible to buy the book on Tuesday.
Also, if you want a sneak peek of the book, tune in to "CBS Sunday
Morning" this Sunday, Sept. 30th at 9 a.m. ET.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/27/sunday/main3304885.shtmlIn addition to doing several local readings in NYC, we will be
heading out on a book tour soon.We’re constantly updating our web site, so check it early and often!
www.identicalstrangersbook.comThanks for all of your support!
Paula and Elyse
For more information go to bam.org
BAM 25th Next Wave Festival / Wild Cursive / Kronos Quartet: More Than Four / Next Wave Ticket Giveaway
Special Fall Event / King Lear / The Seagull
BAM Rose Cinemas / Eastern Promises / In the Valley of Elah / Once / 2 Days in Paris
BAMcinématek / Du Maurier on Film / Brooklyn Close-Up / Trapped Ashes / The Emotional Camera: Mikhail Kalatozov
BAMcafé Live / Moisturizer
BAMart / Next Wave Art
BAM Membership / Make Your 25th Next Wave Festival Experience Even Better
BAM about Brooklyn / Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival
Other Events / Atlantic Antic
There’s an interview with the creators of Future Perfect, the interactive installation of Prospect Heights before and after Ratner, that can be experienced at the DUMBO arts festival starting tomorrow.
Check out the demo video. It has some cool renderings of the neighborhood based on children’s drawings.
Future Perfect will be showing beginning tomorrow at the d.u.m.b.o. art under the bridge festival, 20 Jay Street, Unit M24, Mezzanine Floor.
The Brooklyn Blogade Roadshow is this Sunday in Bed Stuy. For more information go to Bed-Stuy Blog.
If you haven’t done so already, be sure to RSVP for the Brooklyn
Blogade event by sending an
email to thechangeling AT bedstuyblog DOT com.
Additional information
on the blogade can be found here. We look forward to seeing you on Sunday!
Not really sure what this is about but it sounds like fun. OSFO says there will be dog adoptions there. Saturday from noon until 6 p.m in JJ Byrne Park on Fifth Avenue and Third Street. Sponsored by the Brooklyn Animal Foster Network.
The Pacific walrus calf was born in June, weighing in at 115 pounds
at birth. His weight has more than doubled since then, making him
Brooklyn’s biggest baby."We are very fortunate that two of our walruses, male Ivek, 13
years old, and 13-year-old Kalusik, and who were rescued orphans from
Alaska, successfully mated last year,” said Hans Walters of the New
York Aquarium."Like a lot of Brooklyn babies, this little 269 pound walrus may
look cute now, but just wait until he’s a teenager, and weighs in at
1,000 pounds. Talk about a Brooklyn attitude, big time!” said Brooklyn
Borough President Marty Markowitz.The baby hasn’t been named just yet. Instead, the public will get to choose one of four names from a Siberian language.
I am sitting at the Tea Lounge with Gersh Kuntzman, editor of the Brooklyn Paper, who pointed my attention to an interesting (and quite prudent) disclaimer in this week’s Brooklyn Paper about what comments they will and will not post on the website.
"Our invitation to posters in our editorial is just that. An invitation. Let’s hear it. But try to keep it clean meaning this: the most important thing is we don’t want to discourage unpopular thoughts. Unpopular thoughts are out there and need to be debated. We just want people not to abuse that."
I’m thinking about doing a disclaimer, too. Here’s an excerpt from the editorial in this week’s Brooklyn Paper.
The Brooklyn Paper has started inviting its readers to add their
comments directly below the articles that appear on our Web site.And now, the deluge.
Certainly,
we would not be opening up our Web site to public comment if we were
not fully committed to encouraging a free and open exchange of ideas.At
the same time, eagle-eyed readers will notice a disclaimer embedded
into the comment box compelling commenters to not post any “abusive,
obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually oriented
material, or any material that may violate applicable law,” on the site.
Editor Gersh Kuntzman sent me an email with the sad news. Reporter Ariella Cohen is leaving the Brooklyn Paper for greener pastures in New Orleans.
Here’s Gersh’s sorrowful note:
And so it has come to this: After two years of outstanding service
to the borough of Brooklyn and The Brooklyn Paper, long-suffering
reporter Ariella Cohen will leave The Brooklyn Paper to singlehandedly
restore New Orleans to its prior greatness.The best thing — or perhaps the only
good thing — that can be said about Cohen’s departure is that it gives
us all an excuse to go to Retreat and order "The Gersh," the bar’s
intoxicating mix of ginger vodka, grapefruit juice and grenadine.
At the Revere Sugar refinery on the new gold coast of
Red Hook, the high ceiling is a silver dome over the South Brooklyn
waterfront. Look past the tree growing in that window and see how the
Statue of Liberty shines on the water, see the skylines of Manhattan to
the north and Sunset Park to the south.
To be inside a factory on the verge of demolition is like visiting a
place of worship emptied by earthquake. The ceilings are high.
Unfiltered sunlight washes over everything: chairs that once held
people, stray leather shoes, a suit jacket, ink-stained ledgers,
bashed-up books. A sapling grows in the arch of a broken, scroll-shaped
window.
I got a press release yesterday bout a rally by Fresh Direct workers and labor leaders on Friday outside the company’s Long Island City headquarters.
There is outrage because of the firing of two employees who were attempting to organize workers secure benefits, reasonable hours and fairer pay for their co-workers.
The rally is Friday morning at 9:30 am at Borden Avenue and 23rd Street in Long Island City, Queens.
Here’s an after-rally update from Evan Thies from Berlin Rosen Public Affairs.
September 28, 2007 – Workers at food delivery
giant FreshDirect rallied with labor leaders and more than 100 protesters today
outside the company’s Long
Island City
headquarters, outraged at the firing of two employees who were organizing to
secure benefits, reasonable hours and fair pay for their co-workers.Warehouse
workers Loreto Gomez and Lonnie Powell were fired from their jobs at
FreshDirect earlier this month after they complained of poor working conditions
and publicly participated in a Teamsters’ organizing campaign at the
Internet-based grocer.
"I walked in to work with a union t-shirt on and FreshDirect fired me soon
after,” said Lonnie Powell, one of the two warehouse workers who were
terminated after encouraging their co-workers to unionize. “All we
want to do is organize so that we can make sure our rights as workers are
protected. FreshDirect is trying to keep us from doing that. If
they ran a business that treated their employees fairly, this would have never
happened.”
The
fired workers cited standard shifts in excess of 12 hours, forced overtime, low
pay and unaffordable benefit plans as their reasons for organizing fellow
employees at FreshDirect. Warehouse workers at FreshDirect start at just
$7.25 an hour while most workers make less than $9, with family healthcare
costs so high that employees can’t afford the plan, workers said.
By comparison, the average Teamster warehouse worker in the Tri-state area
earns $14 to $15 an hour plus employer-paid healthcare and pension
benefits. Teamster workers also start at a much higher wage—$10 to
$12 an hour.
Teamsters
presidents and other labor leaders called the firings at the 800-person
Queens facility inexcusable, demanding swift changes by
FreshDirect to treat employees fairly and guarantee worker safety. The
labor leaders said they would push hard for the workers to be re-instated and
for FreshDirect to allow organizing at the warehouse.
“The
firing of these workers is outrageous,” said Sandy Pope, President of
Teamsters Local 805. “FreshDirect’s employees are sending a
message to the company brass that they feel they are being treated unfairly,
and now that they are trying to give their movement a voice, the company is
trying to shut them up. In order for FreshDirect to be the respected,
thriving company it can be, it has to provide safer working conditions and treat
its workers fairly.
.”
Here’s the blurb I got this morning from the people over at Art Under the Bridge Festival (the caps are theirs).
DISTINCTIVELY DUMBO: THE ONE AND ONLY, ONCE A YEAR, ONE WEEKEND OCCUPATION OF A NEIGHBORHOOD BY ARTISTS: FREE, ACCESSIBLE, MOOD-ENHANCING, SOMETIMES PUZZLING, OFTEN CHALLENGING, CAPTIVATING, PERPLEXING, MISCHIEVOUS, ENERGIZING, CAN BE FUNNY, NEVER BORING, TOTAL IMMERSION VISUAL ARTS EXPERIENCE, WHERE ART & ARTISTS INVADE STREETS, LOADING DOCKS, LOBBIES, SIDEWALKS, FACADES, RIVER, WATERFRONT, BATHTUBS, ELEVATORS, ALLEYS, CORNERS, STOREFRONTS, AND STORES PLUS THE VIDEO_DUMBO FESTIVAL OF NEW VIDEO ART, SCORES OF OPEN STUDIOS AND MULTIPLE EXHIBITIONS, ALL ON A CURIOUS CAMPUS SPANNING 27 BLOCKS BETWEEN THE MANHATTAN AND BROOKLYN BRIDGES, FROM THE FULTON FERRY LANDING TO VINEGAR HILL, KNOWN AS DUMBO, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.
Dumbo Arts Center is the Exclusive Producer of the Dumbo Art Under the Bridge Festival.™
Learn more at www.dumboartscenter.org
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
Contact DAC at T. 718.694.0831 or gallery@dumboartscenter.org
Contact:
Breda Kennedy, Executive Producer
Chris Herbeck, Associate Producer
Two people were killed when they were crushed by a dump truck in Brooklyn early Wednesday morning.
The accident happened around 5:30 a.m. at Atlantic and Washington Avenues in Prospect Heights. Police say a dump truck jack knifed and tipped over on top of a car, crushing it.
The two passengers in the car were killed. No charges have been filed.
In the "Karma is a boomerang" department, Poly Prep Lower School, which just completed construction of its new building on First Street, should invite neighbors in for a thank-you-for putting-up-with-the-construction party and tour.
That would go a long way in easing tensions on that block.
People are trying to like the new building just as they are getting over memories of a year’s worth of noise, garbage, and general construction mayhem.
Construction isn’t easy on anyone. Nor is a brand new modern school building on a beautiful block of landmarked brownstones and limestones.
Poly Prep should at least have a tour and welcome party for the neighbors. It would definitely be a nice gesture.
Marc Kaminsky, one of the Park Slope 100, will
be reading at Teachers and Writers Collaborative on November 9 at 6 p.m, in celebration of the publication of his new book of poetry and fiction, Shadow Traffic, from Red Hen
Press.
2020 Visions: Marc Kaminsky
November 9 at 6:00 PMMarc Kaminsky is a Brooklyn-based poet, essayist, editor, and psychotherapist in private practice. The author of A Table with People and The Uses of Reminiscence,
he developed a model for writing and reminiscing groups for older
adults that has become a standard practice in gerontological settings.
The poems and stories in Kaminsky’s new book, Shadow Traffic,
offer a sustained meditation on living in the aftermath of trauma.
Migrating between disparate countries and memories—America and Eastern
Europe, Yiddish and English, language and trauma—the pieces in Shadow Traffic
constitute a shadow passport that allows readers to journey with
Kaminsky from the Bronx of his childhood to his Brooklyn office, with
multiple stops between.
Several Jewish organizations banded together Wednesday to announce a
reward to help find the person behind several anti-Semitic messages
found in Brooklyn Heights earlier this week.
The American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League and Jewish
Community Relations Council are offering $10,000 for information
leading to an arrest and conviction.
Police say a total of 19 locations were plastered with swastikas,
some were spray-painted on cars, others were found on sidewalks and
houses.
Despite an increased police presence, there have yet to be any arrests.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Because of the Jewish holiday, Sukkot, there is no alternate side of the street parking on Thursday or Friday. Here’s some information about Sukkot from the Jewish Virtual Library:
The festival of Sukkot begins on the fifth day after Yom Kippur. It is quite a transition from one of the most solemn holidays of our year to one of the most joyous. The festival is sometimes referred to as Zeman Simkhateinu, the Season of our Rejoicing.
Sukkot lasts for seven days. The word Sukkot means booth and refers to the temporary dwelling that we are commanded to live in during the holiday. The name of the holiday is frequently translated as "The Feast of the Tabernacles." If weather, climate, and one’s health permit, one should live in the sukkah as much as possible, including sleeping in it.
Got the word from Kate Blum at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Thanks for the info, Kate.
FYI, this Sunday, September 30, is our 15th annual Chile Pepper Fiesta from noon to 6 p.m. Have you ever been? It’s a great event designed to celebrate the chile plant as it is used in cultures all over the world, from the Caribbean to Asia to South & Central America and Mexico.
It’s positively chock full of scorching music, dance, and culinary adventures inspired by these cultures– this year’s lineup includes duo Ringold & Ellis performing fiery feats of flame (including the famous "fire umbrella"), Peruvian dance from Ballet Folklorico Peru, hot Caribbean rhythms from Sesame Flyers Steel Pan Orchestra, the borough’s own Brooklyn Petro hot sauce makers whipping up a batch of their spicy manna, Latin/Jewish fusion cooking from Post Punk Kitchen and much more.
Queen Latifah (real name Dana Owens) has recorded a cover of Phoebe Snow’s great song, Poetry Man. And it’s a gorgeous version. Onetwoonetwo.com writes:
Trav’lin’ Light is Latifah’s second foray into the realm of jazz, soul,
and blues. Once again, she embraces a sultry and saucy mix of fabled
female vocalists who’ve inspired her. Exploring the songbooks of
PeggyLee, Etta James, Sarah Vaughn, Nina Simone, Shirley Horn, Carmen
McRae, Roberta Flack, Mary Wells, Phoebe Snow, and more, Latifah adds her warm vocals and
playful personality to a hand-picked mix of familiar classics and
forgotten jewels.1. POETRY MAN
(Words and Music by Phoebe Snow)
QL’s mom’s favorite song. QL sought and received her mom’s blessing
before recording it. Top 5 Pop hit, #1 Adult Contemporary hit in 1975
for Phoebe Snow.
Brownstoner has the pix and the story of a "Twisted firestarter in Park Slope," who has struck twice in the past week.
On Saturday September, 29: The Dance Studio is having a big Grand Opening Bash with a ribbon cutting ceremony, open house, politicians, a legendary musical group…
A legendary musical group? That’s right. The Persuasion are going to be there. The Persuasions? The acapella group, whose albums I listened to non-stop when I was in college?
Yup.
That’s pretty cool and a great way to inaugurate the new space on Sackett Street.
Until June of 2007, The Dance Studio was located at 808 Union Street for umpteeen years. Then, the landlord raised their rent big time and would not renew their lease. A familiar story in these parts.
Now Kidville, a high-end children’s activity space (the fun place for little city people) is in the location that used to be the Slope’s favorite spot for dance and gymnastic classes for kids and adults.
Longtime owner Jennifer Kliegel searched for a new space closer to her Park Slope client-base but the prices nearby were "through the roof." Then she found the space on Sackett Street, which she spent the summer renovating. It is now a state-of-the-art, air conditioned, and much improved home for the Dance Studio.
Sometimes good things come from bad situations. This is a welcome change for the Dance Studio and a chance to bring even more Brooklynites into the fold.
New Location: 630 Sackett Street, 718-789-4419
12-1: Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
1-3: Open House
A painter, a playwright, and a forensic anthropologist: Brooklyn wins big in this year’s Macarthur Foundation awards.
In addition to Park Slope’s Joan Snyder, playwright Lynn Nottage got the call (and $500,000) as did Mercedes Doretti, a Forensic Anthropologist, working in Brooklyn and Buenos Ares. Her work, according to the foundation, "unearths evidence of crimes
against humanity and seeking justice on behalf of populations whose
immense losses have been omitted from the historical record."
Here’s what the foundation had to say about Lynn Nottage:
Lynn Nottage is an original voice in American theater, a playwright
whose entertaining and thought-provoking works address contemporary
issues with empathy and humor. Her ambitious, expressive early works,
including Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Mud River Stone, and Por’Knockers,
reveal Nottage’s rich poetic imagination as she portrays periods of
American history from unexpected vantage points and crafts complex
characters of a kind that have garnered little notice among other
writers and historians. Her more recent works, Intimate Apparel and Fabulation, are considered to be her most accomplished thus far and represent major artistic achievements. Intimate Apparel,
a prize-winning drama, is the story of a young black seamstress in
early 20th-century New York, a woman working her way through the social
confines of her time – predicaments that continue to haunt us today.
Nottage’s imaginative exploration of history, her ability to find
resonance in unexpected moments in the past, and her sensitive
evocation of social concerns have made her a powerful voice in
theater. She is a dramatist who will continue to provide us with
provocative plays in which her characters confront some of society’s
most complex issues.
Painter Joan Snyder of Park Slope was awarded the coveted MacArthur Award yesterday. This so-called "Genius" award is given out every year to unsuspecting artists, scientists, authors, researchers, educators, and policy makers who receive $500,000 distributed over five years.
It’s the phone call people dream about. Can you imagine. Hello: We want to give you $500,000 to continue doing the great work that you do….
"It is generally considered one of the most prestigious
intellectual and creative honors. The leadership of the MacArthur
Foundation is notoriously reticent to disclose nomination and selection
criteria, but they cited Ms. Snyder’s "fiercely individual approach and
persistent experimentation with technique and materials."Ms. Snyder, 67, while not a household name, has been a familiar face
among the New York artistic elite for four decades. A product of the
1960s and ’70s abstract painting movement, her evolving career —
featuring work that has progressed from formal grid-based "stroke"
paintings to layered creations incorporating text, found objects, and
papier-mâché — has been more of a slow-burn than a flash in the pan.
While her paintings may not enjoy prime real estate at MoMA, she has
had a career retrospective at the Jewish Museum in 2005, a book
published by Harry N. Abrams that same year, and more than 50 solo
exhibitions.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to bestow
landmark status on the three connected buildings, which in their prime
produced three-million pounds of sugar a day.The new status will most likely send the site’s owner, Community
Preservation Corporation Resources, back to the drawing board on their
plans to develop the area. The famous Domino sign would also be
integrated into the development.The firm has said it does not see the need to save other buildings on the site.
I got this note from filmmaker Adam Zucker, an old friend of mine — from college days and days in the film business.
I’m excited because he’s made a documentary called GREENSBORO: CLOSER TO THE TRUTH playing on Thursday
October 18, at 6:30 pm at Lincoln Center in the Walter Reade Theater.
It’s part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Human RIght’s Watch Film Festival. Here’s Adam Zucker’s note to friends and colleagues.
For those who plan ahead, I wanted to
let you know that my new documentary GREENSBORO: CLOSER TO THE TRUTH
will be having its New York premiere next month. The film will be
screening at Lincoln Center in the Walter Reade Theater, Thursday
October 18, 6:30pm.The screening is a production of the Film Society
of Lincoln Center and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
GREENSBORO’s 83 minutes long, and there’ll be a Q & A after the
screening. For more information about the film, check
out the website
Here’s your chance to go to the top of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch in Grand Army Plaza. We’ve been meaning to do it for years. I just go this press release from Eugene Patron of Prospect Park, who always keeps me posted on great events there.
Brooklyn, NY – Three of Prospect Park’s architectural treasures, the Litchfield Villa, Lefferts Historic House and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, are included in America’s largest architecture and design event: the Annual openhousenewyork Weekend (OHNY), October 6 & 7. All OHNY programs at Prospect Park are free. For directions and information see both www.prospectpark.org and www.ohny.org.
The Litchfield Villa is a stunning example of mid-19th century romantic Italian architecture. Designed by renowned architect A.J. Davis, the Villa was built in 1857 for prominent railroad pioneer and real estate developer Edwin Clark Litchfield. Less than a decade later, the City of Brooklyn acquired the Villa for inclusion in newly constructed Prospect Park. Today the Villa houses borough headquarters for City of New York/Parks & Recreation, as well as the offices of the Prospect Park Alliance. Current restorations of the Villa’s interior have been funded by a generous grant from a Litchfield descendent.
On Sunday, October 7, there will be two special guided tours of the Litchfield Villa lead by Ralph Carmosino, AIA of the Prospect Park Alliance, who has overseen the current restorations. These tours at 2pm and 3pm are limited to 20 people each, and are on a first-come basis. Visitors not able to join these tours may view the lobby and second floor rotunda of the building from on Sunday, from 1 – 4 p.m.
One of the oldest structures featured in OHNY, the 1783 Lefferts Historic House will host three special tours showcasing areas of this Dutch-American farmhouse not ordinarily open to the public. Times for these special tours are: 11 a.m. Saturday; and 10 & 11 a.m. Sunday. Call (718) 789-2822 x10 for reservations.
The imposing Sailors and Sailors Memorial Arch at Grand Army Plaza was built to commemorate the victory of the Union forces in the Civil War. Guided by the Urban Park Rangers, visitors can climb to the top of the arch and take in 360-degree views of Prospect Park, Park Slope, and the Manhattan skyline. Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (last tour at 3:30 p.m.).