New from the New York Times. And check out the blog roll over there.

The newspaper city room was once a vast, loud, smoke-filled place filled with reporters and editors banging away at manual typewriters amid paste pots and clattering Teletype machines. While the tools have changed — laptops, digital recorders and cellphones come to mind — the modern city room has much in common with its lively ancestors. Reporters still hit New York streets with the time-tested methods: asking pointed questions, digging through records, knocking on doors.
A few days ago, the Metro staff left the old Times Square city room for good, but we aim to keep that spirit alive in our new newsroom and on this blog, which has been named with a wink and a nod to our past.
The emphasis here will be on reporting, not punditry or snarky commentary. The blog will feature news-maker interviews, documents, Web resources, photos, videos and other multimedia, as well as updates and follow-ups on the day’s news.
But the most important feature, we hope, will be the reader discussions. We think New Yorkers have a lot to talk about. In his 1949 essay “Here Is New York,” E. B. White wrote, “To a New Yorker the city is both changeless and changing.” Then, he described the dismantling of the El, the growing gaudiness of Broadway, the decline of the great East Side mansions.

Jerry is the quintessential old time Park Sloper. He’s been here like forever. Like me. But he bought his own house and did all the work himself. He’s smart, funny, discriminating about local restaurants and very in the know about what’s new in the nabe.

"Hey let’s take Jerry’s block," Diaper Diva said the other day and we walked to Belleville, where we were meeting our cousin before the Louis and Capathia show at the Old Stone House. And what do you know. We ran into Jerry and his wife.

"Belleville is under new ownership," he said ominously. "The old cook left."

"We were there recently," Jerry’s wife chimed in. "It was so so."

One or other of them added that Cocotte got it’s old chef back and it’s been really good lately. Jerry said that Cocotte had gone down hill for a while ("We wouldn’t eat there," Jerry’s Wife added. "But now it’s good.")

Seems that Belleville and Cocotte just did a switcheroo in terms of public opinion according to Jerry.

I asked him about Mura, the new Japanese place on Fifth Avenue.  Jerry made a face. I too have heard mixed.

"The only place we eat sushi is Blue Ribbon Sushi." Jerry’s Wife said.

Our dinner at Belleville was pleasant as always. The Steak Frites was delicious, as was the Salade Nicoise. My only caveat is that they’re using  canned tuna instead of fresh. But it’s a good Italian canned tuna I’m guessing.

I love the decor, the ambiance at Belleville. If the food stays the same we’re still gonna be the occasional regulars that we are.

The Burger Bar is is on Seventh Avenue and 9th Street (take the F to Seventh Avenue).
Here’s the jazzy schedule for the rest of June and July. Ninth Street is quite the music street what with Barbes, Burger Bar, and the Jewish Music Cafe when that resumes in the fall.  Barbes just completed a 3-day Accordionology Festival — woo.

Good food. Good drink. Good music!
No cover.
Music start at 9 and goes to 1a.m. every Thursday and Saturday.

Here’s the cast of characters:
6/21 Kurt Stockdale tenor sax, Charles Sibirsky piano, Dan Shuman bass

6/23 David Farrrer alto sax, Fred Gilde piano, Josh Paris bass
6/28 Gary Levy alto sax, C.S. piano, Joe Solomon bass
6/30 Anders Nilson guitar, C.S. piano,  Dan Shuman bass
7/5 David Farrrer alto sax, Fred Gilde piano, Josh Paris bass

7/7 Gary Levy alto sax, Virg Dzurinko piano, Alex Gressel bass
7/12 Kurt Stockdale tenor sax, C.S. piano, Ray Parker bass
7/14 John Merrill guitar, C.S. piano, Dan Shuman bass
7/19  Anders Nilson guitar, C.S. piano,  Dan Shuman bass

Got a note from Brooklyn Artist Gym in the old in-box yesterday. Shared work space for artists, BAG provides tables, taborets, easels and a large locker for each member in which to store supplies. Additional storage space, including flat files for 2-d work, can be rented for a very small fee. Paintings, drawings, and other works in progress can be stored in our drying racks. Though you share the space with others, you’ll never feel crowded, and often have the space to yourself. It’s a lovely and inspiring space.

Located at 168 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave in Park Slope ( F train to Fourth Avenue stop. M and R to 9th Street.), BAG’s website has more information; bag.com or email them at info@brooklynartistsgym.com

Ours is a beautiful open studio space (3,000 sq. ft.) located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. Brooklyn Artists Gym is a membership organization that provides a large space in which visual artists can, as members, do their artwork without the prohibitive expense of a private studio.

BAG is also a gallery where artists can, for a small fee, exhibit and sell their work, with no commission taken. It is, above all else, a place where artists can come together with other artists in a supportive creative community.

For only $220/month our artists have 24-hour/7 day a week access to BAG. (That comes out to only about $7.33 per day!) If you agree to join for a six-month period of time, your dues are only $195/month.

Thursday June 21: Brooklyn Reading Works presents
poets Michael Ruby and Nancy Graham reading texts based on Beckett. The
Old Stone House at 8 p.m. Fifth Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets.


Saturday June 23: Stoopendous, a celebration of the summer solstice on
the stoops and sidewalks of Park Slope. For more information:
stoopendous.org

An 18-month-old baby was killed after being hit by a car in Brooklyn Sunday afternoon. Cops say the a 86-year-old woman was backing out of her Midwood driveway when the infant boy ran behind the car.

Meanwhile, just a few blocks away, five people were hurt in East Flatbush, including three pedestirans that were run over by an out-of-control cab driver.

Unbelievable.

Matthew Schlanger and Nyack Weed Killer were the first people we knew who lived in Park Slope. We visited them once in the 1980’s and were thoroughly confused. What is Park Slope? Where are we? We scurried back to the East Village…

Then we moved here and they moved across the street into an identical apartment and we saw a lot of them. We even had impromptu Sunday suppers of the “what’s in your fridge?” variety. They moved to Nyack two or three years ago and Smartmom was sad. She called them, as a joke, the Deserters. She missed NWK’s window boxes and frequent conversation with the two, who were Smartmom’s friends from college.

Matt has a company called BLACK HAMMER, which is a leading developer of CD ROMs, web sites, games, and trade show exhibits. He is also a video artist and is having a show in Nyack. Here’s the scoop:

Hopper House Art Center
82 North Broadway
Nyack, New York
June 30 – July 22nd.
Reception: July 8th 2-5 p.m.
Talk: 3 p.m.

Stoopendous, a celebration of the summer solstice, is this Saturday, June 23rd. Have you seen the signs?

What are you doing to mark the day? It can be something small like opening a bottle of wine and a carton of lemonade for you and your neigbors.

Or something a bit more organized like a drumming circle, a cocktail party or ice cream fest, a recycling event, a musical performance, a poetry reading, a stoop sale.

There are lots of ideas at stoopendous.org. Check it out.

From the New York Times:

An 18-month-old boy was killed when he was run over by a neighbor’s car in a Flatbush driveway yesterday shortly after 5 p.m., reports the New York Times.

The boy was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The neighbor, who was backing the car out on East 26th Street near Avenue I, was unaware of the accident and drove away from the scene.

It is unclear whether the toddler was being supervised when he was hit. No charges are expected to be filed against the neighbor, the police said.

The Daily News reports that Thor Equities has dropped plans for a highly profitable residential component to its Las Vegas-style amusement park project in Coney Island.

The $2 billion residential project was controversial and had come under attack from city officials and residentsm who believed it would alter Coney Island’s character by including waterfront housing . Thor had originally earmarked 950,000 square feet for residential space.

Now, the plan will have no residential component and no 50-story tower on Stillwell Ave., as had been proposed.

You could have parked yourself at Old First Church on Sunday all day during Seventh Heaven and enjoyed quite a variety of music.

I know I did.

In the morning, Chocolate Chip Music, Helen Richman’s children’s concert series, presented a woodwinds concert of Peter and the Wolf, with dramatic narration by a woman with lovely English accent.

In the afternoon, there was great soul singing by kids from The Urban Academy, an well-regarded NYC high school, directed by Park Slope’s Ethan Schlesser.

Then it was Club Loco’s turn. The church’s monthly teen concert series presented quite a few of the bands that played Club Loco in the winter/spring of 2007, including Dulaney Banks, Tola, Cool and Unusual, Banzai, and others (names to come).

Listening to such a diverse range of music in front of Old Frist made me realize what a musical community has arisen out of there.

While Club Loco was playing in front of the church, Richman Studio for Flute and Piano was inside having their end of the year recital.

I got this email from the Kensington Brooklyn blog. That blog ROCKS.

The F train ‘express’ meeting will be held in a week. We currently have over 1300 signatures on the petition but I fear many more will be needed to persuade the MTA. If possible please pass on and remind your readers of the F train petition!

Thank you!

The petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/bkln4fnv/petition.html

F online petition post here…
http://kensingtonbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2007/06/improve-f-sign-petition.html

with details on why here…
http://firstandcourt.blogspot.com/2007/05/improving-transit-on-cheap-in-south.html

In honor of Stoopendous, a Celebration of the Summer Solstice in Park Slope, here is some information about ancient solstice rituals.

Most societies in the northern hemisphere, ancient and modern, have celebrated a festival on or close to Midsummer. This and more information is from: www.religioustolerance.org/summer_solstice.htm

Ancient Celts: Druids, the priestly/professional/diplomatic corps in Celtic countries, celebrated Alban Heruin (“Light of the Shore”). It was midway between the spring Equinox (Alban Eiler; “Light of the Earth”) and the fall Equinox (Alban Elfed; “Light of the Water”). “This midsummer festival celebrates the apex of Light, sometimes symbolized in the crowning of the Oak King, God of the waxing year. At his crowning, the Oak King falls to his darker aspect, the Holly King, God of the waning year…” 13 The days following Alban Heruin form the waning part of the year because the days become shorter.

Ancient China: Their summer solstice ceremony celebrated the earth, the feminine, and the yin forces. It complemented the winter solstice which celebrated the heavens, masculinity and yang forces.

Ancient Gaul: The Midsummer celebration was called Feast of Epona, named after a mare goddess who personified fertility, sovereignty and agriculture. She was portrayed as a woman riding a mare.

Ancient Germanic, Slav and Celtic tribes in Europe: Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires. “It was the night of fire festivals and of love magic, of love oracles and divination. It had to do with lovers and predictions, when pairs of lovers would jump through the luck-bringing flames…” It was believed that the crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump. Through the fire’s power, “…maidens would find out about their future husband, and spirits and demons were banished.” Another function of bonfires was to generate sympathetic magic: giving a boost to the sun’s energy so that it would remain potent throughout the rest of the growing season and guarantee a plentiful harvest. 6

Ancient Rome: The festival of Vestalia lasted from JUN-7 to JUN-15. It was held in honor of the Roman Goddess of the hearth, Vesta. Married women were able to enter the shrine of Vesta during the festival. At other times of the year, only the vestal virgins were permitted inside.

Ancient Sweden: A Midsummer tree was set up and decorated in each town. The villagers danced around it. Women and girls would customarily bathe in the local river. This was a magical ritual, intended to bring rain for the crops.

Christian countries: After the conversion of Europe to Christianity, the feast day of St. John the Baptist was set as JUN-24. It “is one of the oldest feasts, if not the oldest feast, introduced into both the Greek and Latin liturgies to honour a saint.” 16 Curiously, the feast is held on the alleged date of his birth. Other Christian saints’ days are observed on the anniversary of their death. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains that St. John was “filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb…[thus his] birth…should be signalized as a day of triumph.” 16 His feast day is offset a few days after the summer solstice, just as Christmas is fixed a few days after the winter solstice. 1 “Just as John was the forerunner to Jesus, midsummer forecasts the eventual arrival of” the winter solstice circa DEC-21.

Essenes: This was a Jewish religious group active in Palestine during the 1st century CE. It was one of about 24 Jewish groups in the country — the only one that used a solar calendar. Other Jewish groups at the time included the Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, followers of John, and followers of Yeshua (Jesus). Archaeologists have found that the largest room of the ruins at Qumran (location of the Dead Sea Scrolls) appears to be a sun temple. The room had been considered a dining room by earlier investigators, in spite of the presence of two altars at its eastern end. At the time of the summer solstice, the rays of the setting sun shine at 286 degrees along the building’s longitudinal axis, and illuminate the eastern wall. The room is oriented at exactly the same angle as the Egyptian shrines dedicated to the sun. Two ancient authorities — the historian Josephus and the philosopher Filon of Alexandria — had written that the Essenes were sun worshipers. Until now, their opinion had been rejected by modern historians. 19

From 1973 until 1989, Charlie Morrow and New Wilderness Foundation produced outdoor, site specific events with broadcasts designed to celebrate nature as a common elements in all human societies and all art. In the late 1970’s, I participated in one of his solstice celebrations, an ocarina festival in Riverside Park. My memory is dim but a group of more than one hundred people stood in Riverside Park near the boat basin and blew on ocarinas, which are small clay whistles. It was magical. This experience was much in my mind when I went to the first Stoopendous planning meeting.

Charlie Morrow (b 1942 Newark, New Jersey, USA), is a conceptualist and maple syrup maker whose music work ranges over many styles and forms, from events for media and public spaces to commercial soundtracks, new media productions. museum installations and programming for broadcast and festivals. Assembling expert project groups, Morrow employs a collaborative style that fuses arts, artists, and environment; technological expertise creates the basis for a significant portion of his work, much of which utilizes a combination of the newest and very old technologies. He is president and creative director of Charles Morrow Productions, LLC

Morrow’s later projects included broad participation by artists around New York and around the world. At first these events consisted of artists celebrating in New York with satellite connections to artists celebrating in international locations.

21 June 1973 – Got up early, with the smell of moisture and the likelihood of rain. Grey fog-clad clover is luminous and the sparrows are chirping. It is June 21, 1973 in Central Park fog. Musician, Carol Weber and I walk into the park, having announced our intention to celebrate the first moments of summer for the media.

We invited New Yorkers to join in from their rooftops. The results were so startling that we keep going for so many years, culminating in world broadcasts on radio, then TV. New York City Parks animated with our performances until 1989.

One sun celebration followed another: the sun in the Rockies, the sun on the Pacific, the sun in Lapland, the sun at the United Nations a solar energy event SUNDAY with Robert Redford & Leonard Crowfoot – what a combination, and (as an influence only) the ending of Black Orpheus, the children dancing as the sun rises. Bob Sullivan says “Nature is Robust and Dynamic, Humans are fragile.

For almost two years, NWPB gave a series of designed event concerts with diverse guest artists: poets, dancers, native Americans. From this grew public events, publications, broadcasts, festivals and especially the love of the summer solstice. They were characterized by strong performance art elements and conceptual design by the participating artists. These event concerts stimulated a wide range of activities and developed a community of artists who would participate a wide range of activities.

Emily Berger, an abstract painter who lives in Park Slope, just launched her beautiful website, another great site designed by Good Form Design.

Berger’s site expresses the unique nature of Berger’s work, which often uses the shapes of the city and architectural structures as a starting point for her highly expressive, colorful work.

Berger uses poetry to describe what she she saw out her window at her old Nevins Street studio. Now she’s in another Gowanus art space and her work just keeps growing by leaps and bounds. It’s exciting.  The painting shown is called Ninth Street.

I saw Marty exercise walking with a friend around Prospect Park Saturday morning. He looked just like all the other runners and walkers going around the Park. And very thin, I might add. For the most part, his privacy was observed. One biker shouted, "Hey Marty." But then he got back to being a private citizen on an exercise walk in the park. I wondered if he craved the "Hey, Marty’s" or if he enjoyed the chance to be do his walk in peace.

I ran ahead of them and got to thinking about Marty now versus Marty in the old days when he was State Senator. He used to be Brooklyn’s best cheerleader. He never missed an event, a chance to add his wacky enthusiasm to a PTA meeting, a middle school graduation, Little League Day in the Prospect Park or the Brooklyn Pride parade.

The Atlantic Yards changed all that. One of the most heated and divisive urban controversies in recent memory, it  has divided Brooklyn; and for his support of it, Marty has been demonized by many.

While I don’t agree with his views on AY, I still have good memories of the old Marty. He may have been annoying at times but he exuded a passionate Brooklyn brashness and enthusiasm that brought a lot of attention and to a borough that was, at one time, pretty much off of the NYC radar.

Things are different now. The stakes are so much higher, much meaner, much tougher. The AY developer has lots of money and political support. The opposition has a lot of smarts — but not enough money or power to stop it.

Marty may have expected his fan base to support his push for the Yards — just like they supported the kinds of things he did as State Senator. But he was wrong. In an interview in City Hall, he makes a telling remark about his own inexperience and his inability to get people to go along with him on this one. And he sounds very bewildered by it all.

CH: When it comes to Atlantic Yards, have you been surprised by the process?

MM:
Well I have to tell you, this is my first experience at it. You
understand, when I was a state senator for 23 years, out of 62 state
senators, you’re pretty much hit by the group.  Then you become borough
president or mayor and you’re one out of one. And it really came as a
significant surprise that for the first time in my professional life, I
was not able to bring people together. I have to tell you, I tried my
best. I really did. I have to tell you I tried my best, my support of
Atlantic Yards and my enthusiasm for Atlantic Yards is based on my
true, sincere, full belief that it’s for the best of this and future
generations of Brooklynites, there’s no question about it. And yet in
the first time of my life, I’ve run into a number of people,
significant number of people, feel that anyone who’s for Atlantic Yards
is a sellout, is being schtupped, is being bribed, is being corrupt,
and those are nice words. And never in my life have I met a group of
people that if you’re not with them, you’re the enemy. I’ve never had
that. I’ve had many disagreements when I first started Albany. Gay
rights, abortion rights, those were contentious issues, believe me. But
never with the hostility and hate that I’ve experienced during this
process.

While running in Prospect Park on Saturday mornng, I noticed what looked like a hut made out of tree branches. On closer inspection, I saw that it was a piece of art, which I liked very much. There was a sign that said the piece was created by Leonard Ursachi and is called Hiding Place. Here;s some information about the piece from the Parks Department.

Parks & Recreation, in cooperation with the Prospect Park Alliance, is pleased to announce the opening of Leonard Ursachi’s exhibition Hiding Place. The sculpture will be on view from May 5 through August 31, 2007 at the entrance to Prospect Park facing Grand Army Plaza (Flatbush Ave., Eastern Parkway, and Prospect Park West). There will be a press preview with the artist on Saturday, May 5, 2007 at 3:00 p.m.; following the press preview, there will be a public reception from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Hiding Place, a cylindrical bunker made from willow branches, is over 8-feet tall and 8-feet in diameter. The shelter has three “windows” with mirrors instead of glass.

“Because Hiding Place lacks a door and its windows are reflective shields, viewers can only imagine its interior,” said Ursachi. “It is a receptacle for imagining and the yearning through which its simple iconic form may shift from bunker to refuge to nest-home. With this sculpture, I continue my investigation of the world of porous borders, vulnerable shelters, and mutating identities that is the 21st century experience of home.”

“Just as the birds are busy weaving their nests, Leonard Ursachi’s own willow nest in Prospect Park inspires contemplation about the meaning of home,” said Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “Hiding Place’s placement in Grand Army Plaza, home to the Soldiers and Sailors monument, is fitting as the work also resembles a bunker thus furthering Ursachi’s examination of the shifting definition of a shelter.”

“Prospect Park is such a wonderful setting to display art,” said Prospect Park Alliance President Tupper Thomas. “Especially a work like this that references nature and engages viewers’ imagination. We’re very happy to host Ursachi’s sculpture.”

Leonard Ursachi, a Brooklyn-based artist, left his native Romania in 1980 and has exhibited his work internationally. This is his third public art project with Parks & Recreation. Ursachi exhibited an earlier version of Hiding Place next to a 15th century stone fortress in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains.

Parks & Recreation’s public art program has consistently fostered the creation and installation of temporary public art in parks throughout the five boroughs. Since 1967, collaborations with arts organizations and artists have produced hundreds of public art projects in New York City parks. The program includes approximately 20 temporary art installations per year in New York’s flagship and neighborhood parks, playgrounds, and traffic islands.